Space Sims/Strategy Games Catch-All

Cool. Lots of responses on that post about being unable to record your audio. Glad you got it worked out.

garion333 wrote:

Cool. Lots of responses on that post about being unable to record your audio. Glad you got it worked out.

Me too, thanks! Lots of great responses, but I'm really glad I found a simple solution that didn't require any special mixing or anything. I'd TOTALLY have messed that up.

Veloxi wrote:

Hey kids, I was finally able to record video of TIE Fighter, yay! Please enjoy the first in what will likely be many Let's Play videos covering this amazing game.

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

Fantastic - TIE fighter was one of the games I bought with my first PC, that brought back a heck of a lot of memories !

davet010 wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Hey kids, I was finally able to record video of TIE Fighter, yay! Please enjoy the first in what will likely be many Let's Play videos covering this amazing game.

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

Fantastic - TIE fighter was one of the games I bought with my first PC, that brought back a heck of a lot of memories !

Happy to hear it!

Veloxi wrote:

Hey kids, I was finally able to record video of TIE Fighter, yay! Please enjoy the first in what will likely be many Let's Play videos covering this amazing game.

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

Heh, you grunt and swear a lot when you play these games apparently.

Hahahahah, yeah, I get into it man...

Why hello there gouraud shading. Haven't seen you in a long time.

Hahahahahaha

Does anyone (and by anyone I mainly mean Veloxi) have any experience with Ascendancy on iOS? From the screenshots it kind of looks like one of my favorite all-time games, Stars!

padriec wrote:

Does anyone (and by anyone I mainly mean Veloxi) have any experience with Ascendancy on iOS? From the screenshots it kind of looks like one of my favorite all-time games, Stars!

It's..oh..never mind, I'll let Veloxi answer.

I currently own no iOS devices, so I can't speak to Ascendancy. I played the original to death back in the day, even with it's brain dead AI, which has since been fixed in patches IIRC. Wonderful game that I hope would find a good home on iOS.

Veloxi wrote:

I currently own no iOS devices, so I can't speak to Ascendancy. I played the original to death back in the day, even with it's brain dead AI, which has since been fixed in patches IIRC. Wonderful game that I hope would find a good home on iOS.

That sounds like an endorsement. It's on sale right now for $0.99, so I may have to give it a go.

PWAlessi wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

I currently own no iOS devices, so I can't speak to Ascendancy. I played the original to death back in the day, even with it's brain dead AI, which has since been fixed in patches IIRC. Wonderful game that I hope would find a good home on iOS.

That sounds like an endorsement. It's on sale right now for $0.99, so I may have to give it a go.

iOS specific
It's a good one. They did a good job translating the mouse input to touch controls. They made some minor graphical improvements, put out a book with the original manual (free download on iPad, though it's huge - clocks in at 1.1 GB - and hints at Ascendancy 2). They added in ship templates, so you can save and load your designs quickly, rather than have to put every module in one at a time.

I'm also pretty sure they included the AI Patch that made the AI's tougher, though I don't know for sure.

General overview

Pros:

  • Battles are tactical, and in 3D space. Planets can actually take part in the battle, if they have the right buildings built.
  • Battles also take place in the system without jumping to a different screen (like MoO2 does). So, when you're colonizing a system, knowing where the Star Lane entrances are relative to your planet (which orbits) can be important.
  • Where you build things on planets matters, since squares give bonuses to certain types of buildings (Very simplistic: Green = Food producers, Red = Industry, Blue = Research, White = No Bonus, Black means you can only build transport tubes, or Terraforming to connect to other squares). You have to build on squares adjacent to squares you have already built on.
  • The customizability of the ships is great without being overwhelming (GalCiv2 is seriously overwhelming to me.)
  • The races are varied, and each has a special ability

Cons:

  • The 3D everything can get confusing. Getting the right perspective can take upwards of a couple of minutes.
  • There's no planet tracking, so if you find a good planet to colonize, you have to remember where it's at, since there's no way to put notes in.
  • There are obviously better tech choices, and weapons that deal damage are always better than the special weapons (stasis, damage over time etc).
  • The AI Govorners suck, so turning them on means a sub standard builds.
  • There can be long waits between things. It takes 30-85 turns to build your first ship, techs take 30-250 days to research, the first buildings on a planet take 30 turns to make, and sometimes that translates into another 10 days afterwards for population to grow. There is a way to skip turns until something happens, it's a button to get used to.
  • Some of the Racial abilities suck hard enough to pull a golf ball through a garden hose, some are only so so, and others are so overpowered they make the game easy mode (I'm looking at you Goron's and Camachies!)

All in all, it's a complex Space 4X, with actual 3D movement, 3D space and combat that happens per turn, and is very tactical(considering in a good sized fleet engagement, I usually have 1-4 planets with orbital missile batteries + 10 or so ships vs an aggressor with 15-20 ships.

I've had it on my iPad more consistently than the other really good Space 4X on iOS, Starbase Orion.

athros wrote:
PWAlessi wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

I currently own no iOS devices, so I can't speak to Ascendancy. I played the original to death back in the day, even with it's brain dead AI, which has since been fixed in patches IIRC. Wonderful game that I hope would find a good home on iOS.

That sounds like an endorsement. It's on sale right now for $0.99, so I may have to give it a go.

iOS specific
It's a good one. They did a good job translating the mouse input to touch controls. They made some minor graphical improvements, put out a book with the original manual (free download on iPad, though it's huge - clocks in at 1.1 GB - and hints at Ascendancy 2). They added in ship templates, so you can save and load your designs quickly, rather than have to put every module in one at a time.

I'm also pretty sure they included the AI Patch that made the AI's tougher, though I don't know for sure.

Hmm, I may need to get this for my iPad for the next time I travel.

Hey guys, I am REALLY excited about this. I was able to get on Skype with two of the folks behind the Rules of Engagement games this morning for my first ever audio interview. I hope y'all have as much fun listening to it as I did making it.

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/featu...

Thanks!

Veloxi wrote:

Hey guys, I am REALLY excited about this. I was able to get on Skype with two of the folks behind the Rules of Engagement games this morning for my first ever audio interview. I hope y'all have as much fun listening to it as I did making it.

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/featu...

Thanks!

Soak in the glory that is, uh, f**k. I totally flubbed this. Congrats anyway!

Uh...thanks?

Strangeblades wrote:

Soak in the glory that is, uh, f**k.

Veloxi wrote:

Uh...thanks? :)

PROTIP: Do not soak in that particular glory. You'll catch something.

Nice work, Veloxi. You're turning into the internet's best one-man space game resource, what with all of these videos, reviews, articles, and now recorded interviews. Whew! (Pew?)

Audible squee!!! This will keep me me sane through the work morning, thanks Veloxi!

Hehehe, thanks guys.

OMG YOU GUISE, WE HAVE A PODCAST:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/podca...

Yaaaay! Enjoy!

New video from the Rogue System Kickstarter:

Veloxi wrote:

OMG YOU GUISE, WE HAVE A PODCAST:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/podca...

Yaaaay! Enjoy!

That freakin' rocks, V. I look forward to listening.

Veloxi wrote:

OMG YOU GUISE, WE HAVE A PODCAST:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/podca...

Yaaaay! Enjoy!

YOU HAVE MY EARS.

Also, give them back.

On a side note: I am finally playing DW: Legends. As long as everything is automated, I just let the game "flow", and don't really care about winning these first couple of games, it is really simple to play big picture idea mode.

D-Man777 wrote:

That freakin' rocks, V. I look forward to listening.

Thanks man, I hope you enjoy it.

Budo wrote:

YOU HAVE MY EARS.

Also, give them back.

On a side note: I am finally playing DW: Legends. As long as everything is automated, I just let the game "flow", and don't really care about winning these first couple of games, it is really simple to play big picture idea mode.

HAhaa, thank you, and that's not a bad way to start playing DW. Have you tried the one ship method yet?

Veloxi wrote:
D-Man777 wrote:

That freakin' rocks, V. I look forward to listening.

Thanks man, I hope you enjoy it.

Budo wrote:

YOU HAVE MY EARS.

Also, give them back.

On a side note: I am finally playing DW: Legends. As long as everything is automated, I just let the game "flow", and don't really care about winning these first couple of games, it is really simple to play big picture idea mode.

HAhaa, thank you, and that's not a bad way to start playing DW. Have you tried the one ship method yet?

Not yet, I'm kind of just letting the game play itself, more like a "galaxy with alien races sim" instead of diving in with a competitive game mentality this first time. With the extended mod, Shakturi and Legends, I'm just enjoying DW just run things while I make the big decisions right now.

One odd thing I've noticed is that with the extended mod, the alien race pictures don't exactly match up to the race in the game. I could be wrong about this though.

Cool cool cool.

AND OMG YOU GUYS! Someone FINALLY put the much-asked-for Rules of Engagement 2 -- one of the best manuals for a space game ever, IMO -- online!

http://www.scribd.com/doc/120682761/...

Yaaay!

Veloxi wrote:
D-Man777 wrote:

That freakin' rocks, V. I look forward to listening.

Thanks man, I hope you enjoy it. :)

I just wanted to say that I enjoyed the inaugural podcast. It's very dynamic and free-form, and you and Jim have a nice rapport. I liked the suggestion of a "getting old games to play" segment. Perhaps focusing on one game per podcast would be good.

I know your focus is on space games, but you both are easily diverted to classic games outside the space genre as well. I think this is a good thing, as it allows for more breadth and potential topics for the show.

Overall, I'd say an admirable first effort. As another in his "early forties", I look forward to the next one.

TheHipGamer wrote:
Strangeblades wrote:

Soak in the glory that is, uh, f**k.

Veloxi wrote:

Uh...thanks? :)

PROTIP: Do not soak in that particular glory. You'll catch something.

Depends on where you're getting your glory from. The glory holes you say? Yes, well, maybe less soaking is appropriate.

Speaking of glory, please check out my latest TIE Fighter video!

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