Space Sims/Strategy Games Catch-All

I haven't seen any stealth-based space games; the only time I've even seen stealth mentioned in a space game is the heatsink idea in Mass Effect, so that the ship is less visible to infrared scanners. And that was never anything but a plot device, not an actual thing you could use.

If you're willing to substitute running a single, fairly realistic ship, Independence War 1 was quite good. Best with a joystick. You were running a small corvette, and I remember enjoying myself quite thoroughly.

Yonder wrote:
Kier wrote:

Please forgive me if I am missing a post in the last 120 pages but I wanted to ask if anyone knows if there is a game like the following:

Silent Hunter, but a space ship.

I want to play a Captain, not a pilot.

Artemis comes close but I think I need a single player game.

Nexus: A Jupiter Incident had a few missions like that, but in the latter part of the game you were commanding 2-6 ships.

Infinite Space for the DS is also like that, but its more of a Space Opera RPG than the traditional western space exploration game.

Hmmm thanks everyone. I have looked into the games suggested. Nothing seems to fit right but that might be because there is nothing recent.

What got me thinking about this was FTL. I loved the game but I felt it could have been so much more, or at least a similar premise would allow for more.

athros wrote:

Sooo...apparently, Justin Coombs is a little pissed off. You know, one of the brothers in on Star Command.

In a Kuckstarter update (you have to scroll down a bit), apparently, if you don't like his game, you can have a knuckle sandwich. Seriously.

" ... if I could meet them [detractors] face to face I would punch them - I literally would beat them up - because moderate physical violence can prove a point, and makeup for an insult ..."

This continues to make me happy about not giving them any money.

So... the Pocket Tactics preview wasn't exactly glowing. I wonder if they have face punches incoming.

Wow, that certainly doesn't sound like the game I was expecting. If I want FTL I'll play FTL. Ugh.

Veloxi wrote:

Wow, that certainly doesn't sound like the game I was expecting. If I want FTL I'll play FTL. Ugh.

Yeah that makes me rather said, as it also looks no where near as elegant as FTL. When I first saw bits of the game it looked awesome but the more game play I saw... Unless some reviews are pretty damn glowing it looks like a miss.

If you haven't played the StarDrive Beta (you get it if you preorder on STEAM) I think you are missing out. I haven't delved too deeply into it, but it has a nice healthy mix of gameplay. Strikes me as a cross between Distant Worlds (simplified interface), GalCiv, MOO, with a pretty interesting ship building aspect. The game strikes me more as evolutionary than revolutionary, but it should definitely appeal to the 4x types in the audience.

Is there anything unique about StarDrive? One thing thats striking me about this spate of 4x games lately is that they're all way too similar, basically all just rebuilding MOO2 without deviating far enough from the formula to stand out. Endless Space was certainly that way, as is the Sword of the Stars series. They scratch that itch but without being a real game in their own right, more of an homage.

The previews for Star Command are...middling. Looking over the gameplay footage, it's firmly in the "Not a game for me" category.

Here's PocketGamer's preview.

Above average is what I got out of it.

Disclaimer: I'm cherry picking interesting comments out of the whole article:

There's certainly some strategy to proceedings, but it feels more like time management than tactics. It's all about deciding your priorities, and keeping a cool head, as you go through the motions of both defending and attacking.

Another hint that Star Command is not a strategy game is the selection of mini-games you have to play before you can fire your weaponry.

It's simple stuff - like a rhythm-based game where you tap the screen as a spinning dot overlaps three circles - but it's still a pain when you waste a crucial opportunity to attack because you messed up on a goofy Guitar Hero reject.

and

Another downer is that many elements of the game are not made especially clear. There's no way to get more info on a specific room or character or interface element to find out what it does, for example, and there's a lot of trial and error as you sort stuff out.

And one of the best:

But the game is still in constant flux. In the few days we've had access to this preview build it has gone through numerous changes, fixes, and difficulty tweaks.

At this point, it feels like the game needs to be physically pried out of the developers's hands if it ever wants to see the light of the App Store.

The first 20 minutes of gameplay, from IGN. The commentary is...interesting.

This deserves a Veloxi style post:

OMG!!111 INFINITE SPACE 3 KICKSTARTER!!!!! WHY ARE YOUR WALLETS NOT OUT?!

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/GskToya.gif)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/IneUNVF.gif)

IMAGE(http://i.imgur.com/FLbpOpx.gif)

Looks good - I got a lot of play out of Weird Worlds.

Thanks for covering me LM, been dang busy.

And more on Star Command from Pocket Tactics. I'll just let you read for yourself.

That makes me very sangry (sad and angry).

Veloxi wrote:

That makes me very sangry (sad and angry).

You are not allowed to use the English language for 30 days.

Infinite Space 3? So I guess Weird Worlds was the sequel to something else?

Strangeblades wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

That makes me very sangry (sad and angry).

You are not allowed to use the English language for 30 days.

What about Klingon? Is Klingon allowed? Pig Latin?

Tamren wrote:

Infinite Space 3? So I guess Weird Worlds was the sequel to something else?

Yes. Yes it is.

If they can put less repetition in I'm all for it.

Funny thing is I saw that Kickstarter a week ago but didn't say anything to yall. Oops.

LiquidMantis wrote:

This deserves a Veloxi style post:

OMG!!111 INFINITE SPACE 3 KICKSTARTER!!!!! WHY ARE YOUR WALLETS NOT OUT?!

I'm confused. Is this not a sequel to the DS Infinite Space? Because that wasn't a rogue-like.

Weird Worlds was quite good. I kicked in $25 for the sequel. I didn't love the original enough to pony up any more, but I'm in for $25.

The original was sort of a lunchbreak game, at least if you got an hour for lunch.

Strangeblades wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

That makes me very sangry (sad and angry).

You are not allowed to use the English language for 30 days.

Aww, its not that badong (bad and wrong).

Sangry is a perfectly cromulent word...

Yonder wrote:
LiquidMantis wrote:

This deserves a Veloxi style post:

OMG!!111 INFINITE SPACE 3 KICKSTARTER!!!!! WHY ARE YOUR WALLETS NOT OUT?!

I'm confused. Is this not a sequel to the DS Infinite Space? Because that wasn't a rogue-like.

No, it's a sequel to these games:

http://www.digital-eel.com/sais/
http://store.steampowered.com/app/22...

Basically a game of Starflight in 20 minutes. Great stuff.

Robear wrote:

Sangry is a perfectly cromulent word...

Thank you, you are very kinderous....

Veloxi wrote:

Basically a game of Starflight in 20 minutes. Great stuff.

Wait, what? Why haven't I already installed this game already?

Hey that thing is free. Might try it out before thinking about kickstarting the sequel.

Stele wrote:

Hey that thing is free. Might try it out before thinking about kickstarting the sequel.

Definitely, just keep in mind that it's an older game. Weird Worlds is only $10 now too, although you'd probably be better off at the Kickstarter tier that gives you a Steam key for it if you like SAIS.

Yeah, the original is worth trying just to get the concept. I had great fun with both games.

So am I a bad person that Distant Worlds just didn't click with me? I respect it tremendously for what it does, but it's just not what I'm looking for.

LiquidMantis wrote:
Stele wrote:

Hey that thing is free. Might try it out before thinking about kickstarting the sequel.

Definitely, just keep in mind that it's an older game. Weird Worlds is only $10 now too, although you'd probably be better off at the Kickstarter tier that gives you a Steam key for it if you like SAIS.

I'd do that, but I'd also say it's worth passing on the KS and getting WW on Steam as I expect the KS to be a success.