GSB and GSB II are real-time strategy games that you don’t play in real-time. That is to say, all the strategy (and player involvement) comes before the battle is joined and the death-rays leap across the void to destroy the enemy. Acting as a sort of grand admiral of a space armada, you design the individual classes of ships, determine the composition and formation of your fleet and issue general orders that affect your ships’ behavior in combat. Then, you sit back and watch the show, hoping your planning was good and your AI commanders know what they’re doing. “I wanted to design a game where having no control was actually the main mechanic…” Harris says.
From GameWatcher: "Longtime developer Cliff Harris released his spaceship battle indie sequel Gratuitous Space Battles 2 on Steam back in April 2015. The game received middling reviews from critics and fans, and admitted on his blog that he has stopped supporting the game."
Indie game developer and Gratuitous Space Battles 2 developer cliff harris explains how he was not happy with some of the visual effects in the shipping build of GSB2 and how he programmed new versions to make them look better.
Thew developer of Gratuitous Space Battles 2, the space strategy game has added a new feature where you can add custom textures to any component of your ships in the game, and share them online. Weirdly, he demonstrates this by making senator ron paul's head rotate on a space battleship.
