And what makes Maelstrom different from a lot of real-time strategy games is the dynamic nature of the gameplay itself. The idea of terraforming the world during the game is a key concept, and you'll see this in many ways. Explosions will form craters in the ground, and these craters can fill with water, which can play a role later on. The aliens, being aquatic in nature, must flood the Earth, so they'll pump large amounts of water to the surface and inundate large areas of the map, rendering it inaccessible to most human units. However, to get around this, human technology can freeze the water, or, on the flip side, melt ice, so you can use this to your advantage. If the enemy is attacking your position over a frozen lake, use lasers to melt the ice and watch them sink to the bottom, then freeze the lake again and encase them in the ice.