Silica

It needs better optimization and stronger communication with its fans and community. Otherwise, it’s a great game with incredible potential to make it big. However, if the developers don’t focus on optimization and raising awareness, it could struggle to reach the audience it deserves.
Everyone I talk to or even those I’ve gotten the game for has never heard of Silica. I want this game to succeed so badly, but I’m honestly not sure what the future holds. Things aren’t looking great right now, but if I were part of the team working with these amazing people, I know I could help make a real difference.

This game is one of those hidden gems, I truly believe that the RTS/FPS genre has so much potential and I don't think a lot of people are aware that this is even a possibility. There are so few games that allow for this type of gameplay--especially those that are kept up to date and still is growing--let alone this type of online PVP dynamic that some other games in the genre just simply don't allow.
I've always been a strong RTS enjoyer, and unfortunately I've always been fond of the smaller indie RTS titles which is honestly stunted by lack of recognition. But enough about me and what does this game have going for it
+The game is visually appealing
+You can play as a commander or soldier, and even as a commander you can play first person which is awesome for a guy like me who really does want to play both interchangeably.
+The Devs are continuing to work on the game
+There is plenty of Variety of arsenal of weaponry
+The vehicles are so very satisfying
+The game has a future ahead of it
Now for the things that are not going for it:
-There is a severe lack of player base which makes finding games difficult every day (people do play a lot on Sundays though according to the discord)
-With the beauty of the game comes the downfall of performance.
-Some controls are not the most obvious for both commander and First person which is mitigated after a couple of seconds of playing around however.
-There should be more factions so each faction has a different play style right now there are only 3.
-the AI is not the best and the pathing--although significantly better--still can work against you rather than for you.
Overall I really do love the game and there are more features coming such as a campaign. I do wish they added Steam workshop and modding capabilities and either the ability to work with multiple commanders (maybe not the easiest to implement) or at least let you queue up as the specific role that you want. So If you really want to play commander you have to join a game first and see if that role is taken before you get to play.
With that being said, truly the biggest issue with the game in my opinion is the player base or lack thereof. WE NEED MORE PEOPLE

2026.4.7
I really love this game, which is exactly why I want to point out its issues and share what I hope to see in future updates. Some features are urgently needed, some are easy to implement (just a few hours), and others can come later.
My feedback covers three areas: Overall, RTS, and FPS.
【Overall】
1. Maps
① More environments: jungles/mountains for infantry advantage, oceans for aircraft, interconnected islands for chokepoints, giant spaceports with space views, intact cities with civilians – urban warfare matters. Expand lore to other planets, but gameplay first.
② Colors/lighting/scenery: current maps still feel empty and monotonous. Take inspiration from Battlefield – add massive structures as decoration. Sunlight is too harsh (helmet should have anti-glare). Many maps are dark, overly green/red, with poor visibility.
③ Weather/events: like BF2042 – sudden meteor showers, lava eruptions, sandstorms. Adds fun.
2. Modes
① Siege mode: bug – cannot select infantry when playing alone.
② Add Breakthrough mode: long map, 4-5 capture points. No mining – fixed income for RTS, FPS kills add funds.
③ Add Domination mode: fight over fixed points; tie broken by total score.
3. Sound effects
① Unit response sounds: missing. Use placeholder sounds (engine for vehicles, bolt-pull for infantry).
② Building response sounds: even SC1 had them. Placeholders fine.
③ Alert sounds: "Harvester under attack", "Base under attack", match start, defeat encouragement, kill streak callouts, vehicle confirmation, "Roger" for infantry joining.
4. Kill feed – clear display in FPS when you kill an enemy. Encourages engagement.
5. Localization – need Chinese and other languages. Use AI/machine translation for a temp version. Accuracy不重要, having it does.
6. Skin system – paid skins for revenue. Cosmetic only, no backlash.
7. Virtual rocks / vehicle jumping – tiny rocks block vehicles. Make small rocks non-collidable, or give vehicles a jump boost with long cooldown.
8. AI difficulty – current RTS AI is too weak. Add Easy/Normal/Hard/Insane. Higher AI gets more supply and income, builds more defenses. Many RTS players prefer PvE.
9. Space warships – one per faction at a time. Ideally appears when main base is destroyed for a final fight, then lands to become new base. Or just a late-game super unit.
【RTS】
1. Human harvester issues – three years and they still get stuck. Let them clip through each other. Gameplay > realism.
2. Unit clumping – multiple units crowd together. Simple solution: like RA3 – hold both mouse buttons to drag a formation (scouts, lights, tanks, infantry, aircraft in rows).
3. Unit commands – attack, force attack, hold position, attack-move, cease fire, abilities, patrol, burrow, altitude toggle, exclude unit from F2.
4. Selecting multiple buildings – bind multiple barracks to one group; building hotkey produces units across them; rally point applies to all. Very important for RTS players.
5. Building placement restrictions – often can't place even with open space. If vehicles can't exit, teleport them outside. Gameplay first.
6. Auto-repair – tedious to click each building. Add auto-repair toggle, or allow repair on multiple selected buildings.
7. Scoreboard – RTS commander contributions not shown (unfair). If stats tracking hurts performance, understandable. But post-match scoreboard is needed – shows what everyone did, saves stats. Currently just prompts next match – no sense of achievement.
8. Faction abilities – like RA2 paratroopers, spy plane, superweapons. Add orbital drop pod etc.
9. Infantry transport – select transports, press "load" – nearby infantry automatically enter. Press "unload" – all deploy. Big tactical impact.
【FPS】
1. Skill point system – start with 10 points to upgrade infantry/ground/air: health, speed, accuracy, range, damage reduction/increase. Very important! Currently FPS players aren't much stronger than NPCs. Players should be hero units.
2. Class system – Heavy: auto-repairs vehicle. Scout: better vision, detects stealth/burrowed. Sniper: temporary invisibility. Commander: marked targets take extra damage or are focused by NPCs.
3. Equipment shop – energy shields, grenades, AoE heal, incendiary, mines, demo charges, one-use AA/AT rockets, jetpack, riot shield + pistol, bayonet, detector.
4. Revive system – like Battlefield: downed state, can be revived. Current infantry experience isn't satisfying; guns are inaccurate.
5. Reduce tracer brightness – or make them glow only after flying some distance. On dark maps, tracers cause light pollution.
6. Slide – movement mechanic.
7. Melee attack / weapon / blocking – needed for indoor infantry combat.
8. Vision brightness – poor visibility in infantry and vehicles. Night vision is bad (alien one tolerable). Aircraft need headlights, searchlights, marker lights. Having the feature matters; using it is player's choice.
9. Reload animations – two types: keep magazine if not empty, discard if empty. Belt-fed: belt should move; reload animation missing the belt feed action. Please complete.
These are my thoughts. I hope this game gets better and more people love playing it!
加油吧！

-Pros
Good sound design and lighting effects
Unit and building size have really good scale
Units have nice animations (besides the infantry)
Late game units have unique designs and mechanics
When a building gets an upgrade it has a visual change
-Bad
Human factions feel the same in the early to mid game with playstyle and design choices ( just commit to the sol going full hover plz)
Even after the pathfinding update air units are horrible at aiming and pathing
Units have abilities that are inaccessible to the commander from the rts view (have to manually control to activate)
Ai commander will cheat via spawning in units
Servers run by players are all mostly private
Some maps are incredibly small given how big the buildings are
Upgrade system is a little jank and feels more of like a placeholder than anything
Sand
-What id like to see
Less sand maps
infantry being able to mount vehicles with one command (Its now a thing as of 7/28/26)
Human factions more varied in design
Infantry coming out in squads rather than individually
Optimization (obviously)
Paradropping
Variety in base defense
Some automation of the ai as the commander
Silica has so much potienal to be a very fun rts, and im here for it even if it takes awhile.

Nice game overall, but I’d really like to see adjustable AI difficulty settings.
At the moment, PvE feels like it’s missing a proper difficult or hardcore challenge, especially for players who enjoy a more immersive co-op roleplaying experience.
Ideally, this could be solved through smarter AI behavior, but I’m aware that developing a truly smarter AI might cause some serious headaches for the poor developer assigned to it. Personally, I wouldn’t mind if the difficulty was handled temporarily, or even long-term, by simply giving the AI additional resources instead.
A tougher AI option would make PvE feel more rewarding, give co-op groups a real challenge to overcome, and significantly improve the game’s long-term replayability.

Growing up playing C&C Red Alert & Tiberian Sun in the 90s as well as Starcraft. This game feels right at home. The atmosphere sound design and music is fantastic. My Son & I really enjoy batting. A must buy.

This game is amazing! I can't wait for more updates.
I only play single player so I don't care about online, so I'm really looking forward to skirmish updates.
It really needs a difficulty setting to make skirmish harder.
Thanks for making such a cool game.