Space Sims/Strategy Games Catch-All

Nice! Privateer is still up there as one of my favorite games ever. I still have a cd re-release of it around somewhere. All 32 megs fit nicely in my Dropbox for portable playing.

Mixolyde wrote:

All 32 megs fit nicely in my Dropbox for portable playing.

*blink blink* I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT! Genius, sir, that's what you are.

Veloxi wrote:
Mixolyde wrote:

All 32 megs fit nicely in my Dropbox for portable playing.

*blink blink* I NEVER EVEN THOUGHT OF THAT! Genius, sir, that's what you are.

Oh yeah. I can put in all my small games in there.

I am sooo doing that, I have a 100GB account and am only using 13% of it, so why not?

Veloxi wrote:

I am sooo doing that, I have a 100GB account and am only using 13% of it, so why not?

Totally, I have a half-dozen roguelikes, emulators and roms, old DOS stuff, and other random free indie games in my Dropbox. Also a bunch of table-top RPG rules and board game rules. Handy for reading on-the-go with my smartphone.

Dwarf Fortress and Dungeon Crawl are always in my meager 2.9 gb Dropbox folder. If anyone wants an account I could make good use of the bonus space from referrals.

Veloxi wrote:

Hey guys, I dunno if y'all noticed, but over on GOG, Wing Commander 1+2 and Privateer have been updated not only with what appear to be all of their expansion packs, but Mac versions as well! Yeah!

Not a space sim but Alpha Centauri also had its bits refreshed on GOG with the expansion now included (Alien Crossfire).

Eezy_Bordone wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Hey guys, I dunno if y'all noticed, but over on GOG, Wing Commander 1+2 and Privateer have been updated not only with what appear to be all of their expansion packs, but Mac versions as well! Yeah!

Not a space sim but Alpha Centauri also had its bits refreshed on GOG with the expansion now included (Alien Crossfire).

I have to admit to playing a fair bit of that this weekend.

Hey guys, I'm getting back on the blogging horse with my first review of 2013, covering the little indie gem, Zigfrak. I hope y'all enjoy it.

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/revie...

Veloxi wrote:

Hey guys, I'm getting back on the blogging horse with my first review of 2013, covering the little indie gem, Zigfrak. I hope y'all enjoy it.

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/revie...

... You just sold me a copy. There's a spelling hiccup near the fission hole sentence.

Can you be more specific please?

And yay!

"using your tractor beam to go fishing if fission holes"

Guh, thank you, damn tiny text on a big monitor. Fixed.

Rezzy wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Hey guys, I'm getting back on the blogging horse with my first review of 2013, covering the little indie gem, Zigfrak. I hope y'all enjoy it.

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/revie...

... You just sold me a copy. There's a spelling hiccup near the fission hole sentence.

Yeah that looks pretty great. Strongly considering it now too.

Awesome!

So last weekend I dipped my toe into Diaspora, the BSG total conversion for Freespace 2. All I gotta say is HOLY sh*t THAT'S HARD. The main thing I'm still getting used to is that apparently there's no lead reticule for your guns you have to get the crosshair on the target itself to score a hit. Once I began to adjust to that I began scoring some more hits but still, sh*t IT'S HARD. I mean TONS of enemies all over the place, and it captures the frantic, visceral nature of BSG fighter combat REALLY well, maybe a little too well.

I hope to have a review soon, but yeah, fun times.

Veloxi wrote:

So last weekend I dipped my toe into Diaspora, the BSG total conversion for Freespace 2. All I gotta say is HOLY sh*t!!!

FTFY

So Evochron Mercenary is on sale right now with steam.

Worth it for 6.24 ?

Hooray for an update on Space Rangers HD: A War Apart!

We saw few comments to previous entries, where you guys were asking about how things are going. Well, we were working hard for weeks, but now we have time to share some details with you!
At the moment the game is almost done and being translated to English and other languages. We believe that this translation will be much better than previous one in Reboot.
Release version of the game will be available sometime in Q1 of 2013 simultaneously in Russian and English. You will be able to purchase the game in retail stores and through Steam as well.

I've played Space Rangers 2 more than any other space game (except for possibly MOO 2), so I'm happy to see the update gets a release confirmation.

WOHOO! No more engrish! Hopefully they nix the bugs while they are at it.

I've been looking at picking up Distant Worlds but just want to check I'm getting it right.

Distant Worlds: Base game. £17.99. Not very good on it's own.
Return of the Shakturi: Expansion. £10.99. Better. Requires base game.
Legends: Expansion. £10.99. Best of the lot. Requires base game + Shakturi.

Is all my requires this and this correct? Because that's £47.52 in my basket even with the 33% off, which seems a helluva lot.

Are their boxed copies ever on sale at other retailers?

Veloxi wrote:

So last weekend I dipped my toe into Diaspora, the BSG total conversion for Freespace 2. All I gotta say is HOLY sh*t THAT'S HARD. The main thing I'm still getting used to is that apparently there's no lead reticule for your guns you have to get the crosshair on the target itself to score a hit. Once I began to adjust to that I began scoring some more hits but still, sh*t IT'S HARD. I mean TONS of enemies all over the place, and it captures the frantic, visceral nature of BSG fighter combat REALLY well, maybe a little too well.

I hope to have a review soon, but yeah, fun times.

I had a great time with it a couple of months ago, and I agree about the difficulty. The big thing that helped a lot for me was realizing that I should be fully aware of where the flak barrier has been laid down and orient myself in relation to it. Of course flying into it is the biggest no-no, but you can also kinda block that sector out of your mind and concentrate on your objectives better when you know where it is. Good luck!

Crhis wrote:

I've been looking at picking up Distant Worlds but just want to check I'm getting it right.

Distant Worlds: Base game. £17.99. Not very good on it's own.
Return of the Shakturi: Expansion. £10.99. Better. Requires base game.
Legends: Expansion. £10.99. Best of the lot. Requires base game + Shakturi.

Is all my requires this and this correct? Because that's £47.52 in my basket even with the 33% off, which seems a helluva lot.

Are their boxed copies ever on sale at other retailers?

Yes, it's all required, and yes, it's expensive. I bought it, found it boring, and stopped playing. Veloxi loved it. I'd read through his review and watch some YouTube videos before dropping 50 quid on the game, as it's fairly obtuse and hands-off.

Crhis wrote:

I've been looking at picking up Distant Worlds but just want to check I'm getting it right.

Distant Worlds: Base game. £17.99. Not very good on it's own.
Return of the Shakturi: Expansion. £10.99. Better. Requires base game.
Legends: Expansion. £10.99. Best of the lot. Requires base game + Shakturi.

Is all my requires this and this correct? Because that's £47.52 in my basket even with the 33% off, which seems a helluva lot.

Yes, you are correct. The base game is good but had some (mostly UI) issues. Shakturi fixes those and adds a lot of extras (more research, more ship type like fighters and carriers, more storyline bits you can find during a game). Legends is semi-optional, I think. It adds leaders, better empire border system, and improved diplomacy. Yes, it is expensive to get all of them at once. I would recommend getting Distant Worlds and Shakturi and then go for Legends later if the initial outlay is of concern. I would not recommend just getting the base game though; it is pretty unwieldy although decent enough if you can deal with less than optimal UI.

Crhis wrote:

Are their boxed copies ever on sale at other retailers?

Not that I am aware of; I've never seen nor heard of there being boxed copies available anywhere else but through Matrix. Personally I don't think it is worth the extra $10 (not sure what that is in British pounds) for a disc; the game is DRM free and complete, just make sure you back up your download(s) and you will be fine.

Edit:

TheHipGamer wrote:

I bought it, found it boring, and stopped playing. Veloxi loved it. I'd read through his review and watch some YouTube videos before dropping 50 quid on the game, as it's fairly obtuse and hands-off.

This is a valid criticism - some people can find the game boring. There is a lot of automation in the game and finding the right balance to keep you engaged without being overwhelmed is critical to enjoying the game but not as straightforward as it could be. Also, since the game is continuous-time instead of turn-based, there tends to be fewer decisions per second than in a game like MoO2, say. A lot of the time, you may not be doing much of anything except have the automation execute your plans, which some find boring. I enjoy it because I feel like a space emperor; I shouldn't have to tell every little thing where to go and what to do - I should have "people" for that. I play with the game set to automate most of the mundane things (exploration, ship design, merchant protection) and do the top-level empire things like diplomacy, fleet management, taxation/budget management, and colonization.

I love distant worlds as well, but it is really expensive especially without a demo. The do everything possible to keep their games niche even when it's good enough to be more then that. Really annoying. I love that game as I hate micro managing anything really. This game is all about macro management.

Distant Worlds is worth every penny, I just wish I had more time to play it. Start with just one ship and watch how the game works, then take over the bits you want and unautomate them. It becomes brilliant once it clicks.

Veloxi wrote:

Distant Worlds is worth every penny, I just wish I had more time to play it. Start with just one ship and watch how the game works, then take over the bits you want and unautomate them. It becomes brilliant once it clicks.

Every time I get a little money, I think this is the next game to try and grok. The price tag just does bad things to me. Perhaps it's time for YouTube to enable me. Any suggested LP''s, etc.?

Why not just buy the main game and forget about the DLC until you decide if you like it or not. That will only cost £17.99.

PWAlessi wrote:

Why not just buy the main game and forget about the DLC until you decide if you like it or not. That will only cost £17.99.

That would make sense with most games. But in this case, it's not really DLC, it's more of an "expansion", kind of like the Sins:Entrenchment/Diplomacy releases recently. The "DLC" adds in game functionality, improves the UI, etc. So basically it's stuff that could be in a patch to make the game v2.0 or whatever, but instead they charge for it... and charge a lot for it...

I say just skip the whole damn thing. There's plenty of other spacey games out there that don't cost such a ludicrous amount.

Just to clear up some things. I got interested in the game because I was searching for spacey/4x websites that had a good accounting of the Steam Sale to see if there was anything I should pick up before the deadline.

While doing that I came across Space Sector, which had this to say in it's Distant Worlds Legends review.

If Master of Orion 2 was the 4X space strategy gaming reference of the nineties, then Distant Worlds Legends is the 4X space strategy gaming reference of the early XXI century. What are you waiting for?

High praise, right? And FWIW all the automation stuff that seems to be some people's issue really appeals to me.

Anyway, I was looking at the basket and noticed the reason it seemed so expensive was because I was getting hit with 20% tax in the UK. If I changed my location to the US my basket was a much more palatable $57.97 (£35.67) compared to the earlier £47.52 ($77.23). $20 is nothing to be sniffed at! If any one has any suggestions of proxies etc. (I'm not typing my CC details in to a public one I guess) then it'd be appreciated.