Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2

This is a great game - with mods it becomes an amazing game
(First up - there IS a simple fix that works for most people that get crashes and can't start the game due to the Unreal Engine error that affects 11'th+ gen intel users. I'll post it at the bottom of the review.)
Battle Fleet Gothic Armada II is a game I love. So much so that I have spent over 1 100 hours playing (and modding) it.
It has everything a space combat game should have in the shape of big ships, even bigger explosions and all based on the old Table Top game Battle Fleet Gothic. It builds on the previous game in the series and adds a lot of functions and variation, not the least through the fact that it has most of the factions in 40k represented in one way or the other. It has some flaws, but I consider these minor - and some are fixed through mods. Seeing your massive ships fire broadsides into the enemy or ramming them into scrap is something I never seem to tire of. For me, this is honestly one of the best 40K RTS games out there. But its not perfect so lets start with the flaws:
The Bad
MP scene is pretty dead. For those that enjoy pvp your best chances are to play either during prime time depending on time zone or setting up games through the games related discords.
Unlike the first game, you do not have the option to customize individual ships in a fleet.
Unmodded the game is sadly very small scale - a fleet consists of one or two battleships and a few smaller ones.
The AI is poor, which means its generally not much of a challenge at a unmodded game level.
The resource management, empire building, and non-battle related functions are poor or non-existent. No grand empires, diplomacy etc. Then again, it is 40K - and the only good Xenos is a dead one.
With the negative out of the way, lets look at the good instead:
The Good
Graphics are excellent. Effects, backgrounds, the ships themselves, its better than most RTS games in the genre to be honest.
Sound is immersive, music good but can get a bit repetitive if you play it long enough. Weapon sounds and explosions, ramming and effects sound impressive.
Gameplay is fun. It mainly features Battle Mode which is just a "pick your fleet - fight the AI" kind of deal and the Campaign, which is where I have spent the most time. You can play as the Imperials (Space Marines, Imperial Navy and Mechanicus fleets) , Chaos, Necron and Tyranid in the campaign, each campaign being from a different viewpoint of the events during the war for the sector. All factions are represented in the campaign except Tau, but you cannot play as any of them except the four main factions in the unmodded game.
Faction variation is great, as you can play 12 factions: in the Battle mode: Imperial Navy, Space Marines, Admech, Chaos, Aeldari Craftworlders, Aeldari Corsairs, Drukhari, Orks, Tyranids, Necrons, and even two Tau factions.
Coop in the campaign is neat.
The Skalgrim Mod
As you have noticed I write "unmodded" more than one time in the review and that's because I am the modder behind the largest mod for the game, the Skalgrim mod, which most people seem to like.
What this mod does in short is turning the base game up to eleven. The mod expands greatly on the base game, rebalance it and adds a massive amount of ships. It changes the game to make it bigger. Fleets are bigger, battles are bigger, and the players ability to customize the experience is far greater while factions function closer to their respective lore.
The Dark Mechanicum as a playable Chaos campaign subfaction (as per 2.2 version).
Tau added in the campaigns as a enemy force
150+ new ships greatly expands on ship rosters (SM and Necrons had like 9 ships each unmodded...)
Playable Titans and Mega Titans (like the Gloriana class titans or The Phalanx, Craftworlds, the Emperors flagship, the Imperator Somnium and so on.)
Greater customization options like insanely massive fleets in the custom campaign mode with hundreds of ships.
Playable in Coop (info about this can be found in the readme or discord)
Has submods that further lets you tweak gameplay like HP/Weapon/Buildpoints increase/decrease.
Campaign submods lets you play as otherwise unplayable factions. (Orks, Aeldari, Tau and so on)
To download or read more about the mod:
Mod discord:
The Unreal Error Fix
As promised this fixes the UE error for most people:
Step 1. Open "Control Panel" by searching for it in Windows search bar, by pressing the Windows button or key.
Step 2. Go to "System & Security"
Step 3. Go to "System" and Press "Advanced system settings"
Step 4. Press "Environmental Variables"
Step 5. Create a new "System Variable" (NOT USER VARIABLE)
Step 6. Enter the following into the Variable name box: OPENSSL_ia32cap
Step 7. Enter the following into the Variable value box: ~0x20000000
Step 8. Now press OK.
Step 9. Restart
Or if you only want it to affect this game and not change your registry:
Step 1. Open Steam and go to your library.
Step 2. Right click on the game in your library and click on properties.
Step 3. Under General -> Launch Options copy & paste this line:
cmd /c "set OPENSSL_ia32cap=:~0x20000000 && %command%"
Step 4. Start the game.
Note: If you are using e.g. the Skalgrim mod the -NoEAC flag needs to be placed after the command.
So, it has to look like this:
cmd /c "set OPENSSL_ia32cap=:~0x20000000 && %command%" -NoEAC
I hope this review has been helpful. Im currently working on a update for the Skalgrim Mod, the 2.2.5 version. You can read more about that or just join the discussions in my discord as linked above. Other than this, I say get the game. Its well worth it, especially during a sale. And that includes the Chaos DLC. Also, I recommend my mod. But Im biased. I would not have spent so much time on it and over 100 000 people would not have downloaded it if it wasn't good I think. ;)
Good Luck Admirals! For the Emperor!

Outside of the frequent crashes at first
i eventually found a fix via this fix
I enjoy the combat loop and the artstyle is phenomenal.

how to fix the game crashing constantly:
Step 1. Open "Control Panel" by searching for it in Windows search bar, by pressing the Windows button or key.
Step 2. Go to "System & Security"
Step 3. Go to "System"
Step 3. Press "Advanced system settings"
Step 4. Press "Environmental Variables"
Step 5. Create a new "System Variable" (NOT USER VARIABLE)
Step 6. Enter the following into the Variable name box: OPENSSL_ia32cap
Step 7. Enter the following into the Variable value box: ~0x20000000
Step 8. Now press OK.
Step 9. Restart
you played star wars empire at wars ? yeah, it's similar to that, excep less focus on hard points and any ships smaller than a corvette, but instead you get to ram ships into each others.
the in game cutscenes are really hype as well, plus cool to look at.

"The Primarchs, Zaa?"
"Their leader, Great One. Like them, but taller."
Race mogged. Mankind won't recover from this.
This is basically World of Warships but RTS and in space. Don't forget to edit the .ini config to unlock FPS before you play. (set frameratelimit to your screen refresh rate)

Bought in Oct 2024. Great game. Runs smoothly on my ancient laptop. Tutorial's slightly too long but once you're past it, game opens up and is really fun. They've nailed the 40k aesthetic and vibe. Different factions feel noticeably different in playstyle as well as just visuals.

Rammed into the enemy and watched all my Astartes die. It is better to die for the Emperor, than live for yourself. (edited)

Very Detailed, Very true to the source material, 12 factions to play with, and plenty of tactical variety. A big improvement over its predecessor and a wonderfully fun game to play.