Globulation 2 is a free 2D real-time strategy game for Linux with a different gameplay than the normal strategies, in which you build structures and have to defeat your opponent(s).

Globulation 2 takes a different approach, in that you give instructions on how your orders are to be carried out and assign a number of units to a specific task, but you don’t control the units yourself. You begin with a structure called a “Swarm”, and workers (called “Globules”) who initially harvest wheat. You will need to build various structures in order to supply for your units. Available resources that can be gathered are wood, stone, papyrus, algae and wheat.

The tutorial is a step-by-step introduction to playing Globulation 2:

For the single-player, Globulation includes a tutorial, a campaign mode and custom games, while multi-player mode offers Internet over the Ysagoon network or LAN. The tutorial is very useful if you want to get started, since the game is not easy to grasp at first being different in gameplay than the usual real-time strategies.

For creating maps and campaigns, Globulation comes with an editor as well.

The editor is available from the main menu:

Creating a new map:

Editing a new map:

To play over the Internet you just have to register a new username with a password while in-game, and that is very easy and straightforward. You don’t need to supply any other information. Unfortunately, there doesn’t seem to be much activity online, so you may have trouble finding an active game.

Tower Defense map:

Although Globulation doesn’t have the heavy, more beautiful graphics, it does offer a different gameplay than most of the strategies out there. Once you learn the basic mechanism it becomes quite comfortable to play.