Games like State.io
The drag-to-attack gesture from mobile conquest games, with real opponents and a map that remembers.
State.io and the mobile conquest games like it are built on one gesture: swipe from a territory you own to one you want, and troops march over and fight. Each level is a map against computer players and lasts a minute or two. Swarm MMO uses the same gesture on planets, against other people, on a map that does not reset.
Side by side
| State.io | Swarm MMO | |
|---|---|---|
| Core order | Swipe from territory to territory | Drag from planet to planet |
| Opponents | Bots | Other players |
| Length | Levels, a minute or two each | No rounds, but a galaxy still ends |
| Map | A new map each level | One persistent shared galaxy |
| Upgrades | Bought between levels | Planet levels on the map, technology on your account |
| Offline | Nothing happens | Production and automation continue |
| Platform | Phone app | Any browser, phone or desktop |
What real opponents change
A bot attacks on a pattern. A player attacks the planet you left thin, while you are looking elsewhere, and remembers who did it to them. Most of the skill in Swarm MMO is reading what the colours near you are doing and keeping a garrison where it will be tested.
The map also keeps what you do. A planet you take stays yours until someone takes it back, produces probes each minute at its level, and can be upgraded for 100 × level² probes, up to level 10. There is nothing to replay: the next session starts from wherever the last one left the map.
What Swarm MMO does not have
- No levels or stars. There is one live map.
- No bots to practise against. Neutral planets hold a garrison, and every opponent is a person.
- No offline mode. The map lives on a server, so it needs a connection.
- No two-minute game. A visit can be that short, but the game itself goes on for days.
Getting started from State.io
The swipe carries over directly. Two things differ. You do not need to take the whole map to make progress, because every planet pays for as long as you hold it. And a planet left empty after an attack is an invitation to the player next to you, so send part of a garrison rather than all of it.
Play in the browser on the same phone, as a guest.
Questions
Is Swarm MMO like State.io?
The gesture is the same: drag from something you own to something you want, and your units go and fight. The opponents are real players, and the map is a persistent galaxy rather than a series of levels.
Is there a Swarm MMO app?
There is nothing to get from an app store. It runs in mobile browsers, and adding it to the home screen installs it as a Progressive Web App.
Can I play Swarm MMO against bots?
No. Neutral planets have garrisons that have to be beaten, but nothing plays against you except other players.
Is Swarm MMO pay-to-win?
No. Credits buy skins, emotes, colours and the Command Center panel, never probes or combat strength, and quests and meteorites pay them out for free.