Technologies

The Best Strategy Mobile Game I Ever Played Just Came Back After a Decade

Battle Nations is a hybrid base builder and grid-based combat game that feels just as fresh now as it did 10 years ago.

Battle Nations, a free-to-play turn-based military strategy game for phones developed by studio Z2Live, was taken from us too soon on Sept. 28, 2016. And I’m obviously not the only person who feels like the game didn’t have enough time in the sun, because a new version of the game came back to mobile game stores on May 30, 2025 — nearly a decade after the servers shut down for the last time.

I formed a Battle Nations guild with my friends back in middle school to take on some of the game’s raids, but we were always severely under-leveled and outnumbered by our enemies. Battle Nations was released during the heyday of mobile gaming, completely revolutionizing what I believed the platform could do. Endless runners like Jetpack Joyride and Subway Surfers gave way to Battle Nations afternoons, filled with planning our group conquests, and it was glorious.

The new iteration of the game, called Battle Nations Rewritten, was completely remade by a group of fans who came together to form their own game studio, Madrona Games. This team of developers has spent the last several years ironing out legal proceedings with the game’s original publisher, King, to gain the rights to use the Battle Nations trademark. Madrona’s developers honed their skills with the release of another game, Tank Tactics, while publishing beta builds for their Patreon subscribers.

A tight-knit community of Battle Nations fans approached a major corporation with their own take on an old property and didn’t have their fan project taken down. Z2Live was acquired by King in 2015, which is a company that was acquired by Activision Blizzard in 2016, which itself was later acquired by Microsoft in 2023 — and despite this, Madrona Games was able to make peace with Battle Nations’ parent company regardless of large gaming corporations’ penchant for suing fan projects using their IP.

Now Battle Nations is back in all its former glory, allowing a whole new generation of players to build an outpost and expand their military forces in the name of the emperor.

What is Battle Nations about?

Battle Nations was lampooning fascistic empires before Helldivers 2 made it cool. You’re the captain of the 95th Rifle Company of the Imperial Army, a once-renowned military presence that is starting to crack under siege from a rebel army.

As flames of conflict approach the capital, the teenage emperor sends your unit to a far-flung continent in search of resources to create a new superweapon. It’s your job to grow a budding outpost into a massive military complex, fighting off rebels, vicious local fauna and gas-mask clad warriors that your chauvinistic lieutenant has deemed as «raiders.»

Your allies are all pretty atrocious people, but their ignorance is constantly made the butt of the joke in Battle Nations’ narrative writing. Raiders and rebels are consistently better outfitted and more competent than your team, which forces you to work even harder to stay combat-ready as you advance further into the game.

Part city-building simulator and part grid-based tactical battler, Battle Nations appeals to many different types of strategy gamers. I personally enjoyed crafting zany units and utilizing them to defend my outpost as I grew my city-state’s economy.

Once players reach a high enough level, they’ll be able to learn from raider allies to master mammoths and raptors, conduct medical experiments to turn their basic units into zombies and even hire the Team Fortress 2 mercenaries in a bizarre crossover with Valve. (The launch trailer seems to suggest that the famed mercenaries will return in the fan version.)

These advances are only made possible through economic prosperity and strong supply lines. Players need to create warehouses, expand their borders to resource deposits and build facilities to process raw materials into stronger forms if they want to build the best units. I’ve never been gifted at planning out my builds, but the best urban planners will find a great framework to create efficient (and pretty-looking) army bases.

As your outpost grows strong enough, you’ll start to supplement your foot troops with tanks, helicopters and other heavy vehicles. I remember feeling like I was a true military power by the time Battle Nations shut down.

I can’t wait to dive back into Battle Nations’ take on turn-based combat, even if it means I have to start all over with the bog-standard riflemen.

What’s next for Battle Nations Rewritten?

The new Battle Nations isn’t shipping with every multiplayer feature included in the original game quite yet.

Madrona Games has promised that subsequent updates will restore many of the social elements missing from the launch build.

That means the friends list and guilds will be added soon. One of my favorite features from the original Battle Nations was the ability to let an ally raid resource deposits on your outpost to help them resupply materials they were low on, and it’ll be great to see that collaborative gameplay make a return.

Boss strikes are also on the docket for a swift return, allowing players to combine their military might to chip away at a boss enemy’s health bar (and earning sweet rewards if they’re able to fully defeat it).

Beyond returning features, the developers plan to add «new narrative arcs, seasonal operations, time-limited events and more to keep the world of Battle Nations evolving.»

Madrona Games’ Battle Nations Rewritten is launching on every platform that the original Battle Nations was on. That means you’re able to download the game from the App Store, Google Play Store and Steam for free now.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Friday, July 4

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for July 4.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

There are a few July 4-related clues in today’s Mini Crossword. Need answers? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Uncle ___
Answer: SAM

4A clue: It’s full of stars
Answer: SPACE

6A clue: It’s full of stripes
Answer: ZEBRA

7A clue: Month when the American Revolutionary War began
Answer: APRIL

8A clue: 4th of July sales promotions, e.g.
Answer: ADS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Big brand of hummus
Answer: SABRA

2D clue: Foul-smelling
Answer: ACRID

3D clue: Breakfast, lunch and dinner
Answer: MEALS

4D clue: Singer who performed «All the Stars» at Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show
Answer: SZA

5D clue: Lively energy
Answer: PEP

Technologies

Act Fast to Save 15% on This Powerful CarbonMag Portable Charger

This Sharge charger can keep you powered on the go, and right now you don’t have to pay full price.

There’s nothing worse than your phone dying in the middle of the day, especially when finding an outlet means being stuck in an uncomfortable situation. MagSafe portable wireless chargers are a great fix for that, as they snap onto the back of your phone and charge it while you go about your day. One solid pick that won’t weigh your phone down like a brick is the CarbonMag MagSafe portable charger by Sharge. And right now it can be yours for less with this Prime Day deal.

Thanks to Prime Day, you can currently snag it for 15% off with the code QHUAPIWG at checkout — bringing the price down from $70 to just $59. That’s the same cost as the smaller 5,000mAh model, but this one gives you double the battery capacity for the same price.

This device is made out of carbon fiber, which makes it 40% lighter than your usual power banks and 80% more durable than chargers made with the materials normally used. It gets you a 10,000mAh battery capacity, enough to charge your devices multiple times throughout the day. You’ll enjoy up to 15W wireless charging, which can power an iPhone 15 from 0% to 55% in just 44 minutes.

Hey, did you know? CNET Deals texts are free, easy and save you money.

The charger also features ultrastrong (but safe) magnets that maintain a stable hold on your smartphone. You can use the built-in USB-C port for pass-through charging or to power another device at the same time. The only catch? We don’t know when the discount code expires, so you might want to hurry.

Impulse Buys Under $25 That Make Surprisingly Great Gifts

+17 More

See all photos

Why this deal matters

MagSafe wireless chargers can be a game-changer for anyone tired of juggling wires throughout the day. This deal gets you a slim, lightweight, yet powerful option at a $11 discount for a limited time. We recommend acting while you can.

Technologies

Save Up to $35 Off a Baseus Charging Station This July 4th and Stay Powered Up All Weekend

When USB ports aren’t enough, a Baseus charging station is what you need. Power all your gadgets with multiple well-spaced AC outlets and no clutter.

Keeping all your gear charged can be a job unto itself, and it gets more complicated when you have visitors. Whether you’re having guests this Fourth of July weekend or you just need a better charging solution for your family, a charging station could be the answer. But even the best charging stations can only share so many watts between devices, which is why the best charging stations from brands like Anker and Baseus not only feature multiple USB ports but also multiple AC outlets. AC outlets accommodate those few devices that still use proprietary chargers, and it lets you expand beyond the included 2-4 USB ports without sacrificing wattage when you need to top off everyone quickly before heading out.

The Fourth of July deals are bouncing into next week’s Amazon Prime Day to give us some of the best savings of the year a week early. Among the dozens of mobile accessories Baseus has on sale this holiday weekend is a trio of towers that can declutter your desk and keep everything you need ready and recharged. Available in 6-in-1, 7-in-1 for $65, and 10-in-1 varieties, these charging stations all offer two USB-C ports, at least one USB-A port and multiple AC outlets. Just note: You’ll need to clip the on-page coupon to get the lowest possible price.

For the best blend of power and ports, Baseus’ 100W 7-in-1 USB-C charging station can fast charge a laptop at 65W — full speed for all Chromebooks and many Windows laptops — while a phone and tablet each standard charge at 15W and still leave 5W for your smartwatch while your non-USB tech or your desk’s smart speaker can use the AC ports on both sides and the back of the tower. These towers are part power delivery chargers and part surge protectors with surge and lightning protection to keep your digital lifelines from frying should calamity strike.

The Baseus $35 10-in-1 desktop charging station model may sound like it’s the most powerful, but it only offers 35 watts to share between the two USB-C and USB-A ports, leaving the lion’s share of the station’s potential power to the six AC ports. This isn’t to say 35W between four ports is useless, but you’ll want to use those ports for lower-powered devices like recharging your smartwatch or wireless earbuds.

If you’re looking to charge multiple phones and tablets with those ports, you’re probably better off going with the 6-in-1 USB-C Charging Station at $50, which may only have three AC ports but features a retractable USB-C cable in addition to one standard USB-A and one USB-C port. Those three ports share 65W, meaning that you can charge both a phone and tablet at full speed rather than both getting middling speeds.

Why this deal matters

I use a 100W charging station like this at my desk and have another next to my couch for both me and my guests to keep our phones powered and ready. Being able to stick my 65W travel charger into one of the AC ports and fast charge four phones instead of two — well, one phone and my Chromebook — when I have people over and then swap it back to powering my oil diffuser or smart speaker once they’re gone is a godsend, and since the wall outlets are spread out across multiple sides of the tower instead of sandwiched next to each other in a line, I never have to worry about bulky plugs blocking out half my ports.

Because these charging stations double as surge protectors, you can also click their switch to power off and disconnect everything when severe weather comes, unlike standard charging stations you would have to unplug. Living in lightning capital of the U.S. makes this feature more important to me than most, but it can also be handy for parents wanting a one-click shut-off for all the kids’ consoles and computers.

We’re still days away from Prime Day, and deals like these will continue to drop through the next week, but these chargers are all within a few dollars of their lowest prices ever. We’ll watch for further price drops and competing deals throughout the holiday week, including Anker’s plethora of deals on chargers, speakers and smart home appliances.