Developer Frost Giant Studios revealed its upcoming RTS Stormgate's third playable faction today as the Celestial Armada. An ancient and advanced ci?vilization, the Celestial Armada traverses the universe in massive world-ships ruled by the Sovereigns, immortal beings. Frost Giant also announced an August 13 release date for the RTS Early Access to begin.

Essentially space nomads, the playstyle of the Celestial Armada looks rather unique compared to the two other factions. The Celestial Armada is built around the Arcship, a flying HQ that assists with the creation of new bases rather than utilizing builder units like the other factions. Similar to the Protoss from StarCraft, buildings constructed by the Celestial Armada will generate a cascade fiel?d that expands the possible ??building area for the faction.

Interestingly, the Celestial Armada does not have to worry about supply. This faction starts with the max cap of 300, and can build as many units as their resources allow. Primarily focused on buildings rather than units, the Celestial Armada also has to juggle maintaining an efficient power grid by building power-generating structures to support th??e many buildings it will construct.

Those wanting to try out the upcoming RTS early can do so by purchasing a Founder's pack for acces?s on July 30, or wait until it releases for free into Early Access on August 13, 2024 on PC via Steam.

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Upcoming RTS from developer Frost Giant Studios is set to release in Early Access in the Summer of 2024. The PC-exclusive title had its release date revealed alongside a brief gameplay trailer at The Game Awards. Frost Giant Stud??ios first?? revealed the RTS last year.

The Frost Giant Studios team is made up of RTS developer veterans who have worked on popular titles like Starcraft and Age of Empires. Stormgate will feature an ever-evolving campaign in a science fantasy universe as well as 3-player co-op vs AI, 1v1, and 3v3 matches as well as a map editor. Actor Simu-Liu (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) also made an appearance to reveal his character in Stormgate, Warz.

I'm so ready for this. Starcraft was a big part of my childhood and while there have been some good RTS since, nothing has quite captured the Starcraft and Warcraft 3 feeling.

Stormgate will be released in Early Access on PC in 2024.

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Strategy lives on

Real-time strategy fans got something new to look forward to today. Stormgate is a n??ew free-to-play RTS from Frost Giant Studios, with a beta coming in 2023.

During today's Summer Game Fest stream, a cinematic introduced the world of Stormgate. The two factions shown ??so far seem demonic on one side, and futuristic human resistance on the other. A little of Terrans vs. the For??ces of Hell, so to speak.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLMEIMCmS44

During the stream, a developer from Frost Giant confirmed that Stormgate will be free-to-play, but they're conscious of concerns. That means no pay-to-win and?? no NFTs. There's campaign co-op, as w??ell as versus multiplayer for three-on-three or traditional one-on-one.

New giants

Frost Giant is a new studio of former Blizzard developers, so this one has some pedigree behind it. According to the Steam page, it seems to be going for all the trappings of classic Warcraft and StarCraft. Big story missions showing the war between Earth's defenders and invading demonic Infernals, a competitive ladder with tournament options, and a free-to-play model that avoids pay-to-win. A big draw to my eye is the custom map editor. Those user-made maps made up a hefty bulk of my time in old Blizzard RTS games, and I'm hopeful to see some wild tower defenses and such on ?there.

We'll see what they have in store in 2023, when Stormgate is planned to head into open beta. Popularity for the beta is pretty high, as shown by the Frost Giant site has been dipping in and out as I'm writing this. But once the site is back up, you'll be able to sign up for the beta at this link. Until then, you can still wishlist on Steam and gawk at some screenshots.

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