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Strategic Assault
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By Larry Garfield, Monday 27 May 2002  
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Larry Garfield takes the Linux port of Eon Games' Strategic Assault for the Zaurus SL-5500 for a spin; despite a few issues, he still wasted the better part of a day 'reviewing' it.
With the release of the Sharp Zaurus SL-5500, a number of companies are beginning to develop software for the new device, both Free and Commercial. Some programs will help you save time, others help you waste it. Falling into the latter category is Strategic Assault, a port by Eon Games of the Xen Games Pocket PC game.
 | Strategic Assault is a straightforward but addictive RTS game
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Strategic Assault is a real-time strategy (RTS) game, in the same family as desktop classic sleep-deprivers such as Command and Conquer and Warcraft. Don't expect the level of complexity of a full desktop RTS game, however. Strategic Assault is much simpler, but still a fun way to waste a few hours. It takes up 812 KB of memory.
There is no apparent plot. You play the "tan" side, and the goal of the game is simply to destroy the "green" computer side before it destroys you because, well, better them than you. Both sides have the same units and buildings available, which includes mostly land units but also a small number of sea and air units. You start each game with a construction yard building that allows you to build other buildings, which in turn allow you to build units to throw at the bad guys. All units are based off of modern militaries, so jeeps, tanks, and helicopters make up the bulk of your forces.
 | Every mission begins with an overview map showing where you start, and where the enemy is
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Resource gathering works a little differently than in traditional RTS games. Normally each player has a worker unit that is used to gather resources from some location and return them to a central building. Often there are multiple types of resources. Strategic Assault has no worker units. Instead there are a number of "strategic buildings" on the map. You "claim" a strategic building by simply running a unit into it so that it changes color to your color. You then automatically get money (the only resource) at a steady rate, at least until the bad guy touches the building instead. The more strategic building you control, the more money you get to buy things. As a result, most battles end up taking place around strategic buildings.
Game play is simple and straightforward. You can select a number of units at once by drag-selecting then, the same as in a desktop RTS game. Any selected unit has a life meter over it that starts all green and changes to all red as the unit takes damage. Different units have more or less life, and different weapon times and ranges. When attacking an enemy unit, the target's life meter will sometimes appear, but otherwise you cannot tell what the enemy's life is, nor can you select buildings to see what their health is. Due to the lack of a worker unit, there is no way to repair buildings or units. You can also assign units to groups and reselect them with a single tap.
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