Space Sims/Strategy Games Catch-All

Well, if there's one thing about Gearbox is that they bring product to market, whatever it is. Most of DNF was done before they touched it, as far as I know. They just consolidated the mess they were given and made some kind of marketable product out of it.

So, it may or may not be good, but there's at least a reasonable chance that they're just not going to sit on the IP, or wait dozens of years before they make use of it.

Right. I suppose the silver lining is that we are almost guaranteed to have Homeworld 1&2 back in a modern PC compatible form ala GoG.

On the Internet, no one can hear you laugh.

Welp, looks like the Strike Suit folks are at it again, this time with Strike Suit Infinity, a game which is apparently just a score-chasing version of the original. Whoopie.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...

Hay guys, me again, finally getting around to my StarDrive preview:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/previ...

I hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks!

Great podcast with Certis, Veloxi. I think the thing that has really killed more recent space combat sims is the lack of real variety in the ships you face. One of the few things that's interesting about Eve is the sheer variety of ship types and mechanics going on in combat. With 4 kinds of electronic warfare, remote repairing, cloaking, bombing, warp disabling, electronic warfare countermeasures, long-range snipers, etc, etc, it adds a fair amount of variety to the combat and it makes target prioritization really important. I think the puzzle-ness of target priorities in games like TIE Fighter and Freespace is what makes them interesting and avoids the "target nearest enemy, chase dot, blow up dot, repeat" style of combat that is so boring.

I think we need more space sims with that amount of variety and depth to ship types and combat mechanics.

Veloxi wrote:

Hay guys, me again, finally getting around to my StarDrive preview:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/previ...

I hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks!

Nice preview. I've mostly enjoyed my time with StarDrive but, like you, found some of the interface can be inscrutable. I'm still trying to figure out why my freighters will not deliver food to my colonies even though I have them set up to. They will take suckers, I mean new colonists, but so far I've only seen them figure out how to take food/production one time in 3-4 games.

TIE Fighter's capital ships and "space terrain" (Mines and fields of fire) also adds a strong sense of place to missions.

Mixolyde wrote:

Great podcast with Certis, Veloxi. I think the thing that has really killed more recent space combat sims is the lack of real variety in the ships you face. One of the few things that's interesting about Eve is the sheer variety of ship types and mechanics going on in combat. With 4 kinds of electronic warfare, remote repairing, cloaking, bombing, warp disabling, electronic warfare countermeasures, long-range snipers, etc, etc, it adds a fair amount of variety to the combat and it makes target prioritization really important. I think the puzzle-ness of target priorities in games like TIE Fighter and Freespace is what makes them interesting and avoids the "target nearest enemy, chase dot, blow up dot, repeat" style of combat that is so boring.

I think we need more space sims with that amount of variety and depth to ship types and combat mechanics.

Yeah, that is one area where EVE does excel is that kind of variety, it's a shame it's just hidden behind a wall of f*cking boredom and an obliqueness. There were some space games that tried different things, like Star Crusader had excellent stealth/espionage missions, for example, but yeah, I totally get what you're saying, most sims are run and gun. Thing is, that's what most folks want, I s'pose. Glad you liked the podcast too.

tboon wrote:

Nice preview. I've mostly enjoyed my time with StarDrive but, like you, found some of the interface can be inscrutable. I'm still trying to figure out why my freighters will not deliver food to my colonies even though I have them set up to. They will take suckers, I mean new colonists, but so far I've only seen them figure out how to take food/production one time in 3-4 games.

Hah, I never figured that out either, eventually I just turned on the AI and said f*ck it. Thanks for the kind words too.

LarryC wrote:

TIE Fighter's capital ships and "space terrain" (Mines and fields of fire) also adds a strong sense of place to missions.

Yeah, that and Freespace 2 were the best at that sort of thing.

Veloxi wrote:

Hay guys, me again, finally getting around to my StarDrive preview:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/previ...

I hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks!

Just curious but how much time does a typical StarDrive game last? In MoO2 I would sometimes hit a boredom point of maxed out techs and combat stalemates after several hours. The earlier hours of exploration & conquest are much more interesting to me than two superpowers slugging it out with Stellar Converters but I still want some depth to the experience.

Hmmmmm, I've never actually won a game, so I dunno, but you can speed up time by a LOT (over 40x) to move things along. Even at 1X things seem to happen quickly.

Veloxi wrote:

Hay guys, me again, finally getting around to my StarDrive preview:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/previ...

I hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks!

I watched a video of some major late-game slowdowns with StarDrive. Did you experience that?

Granath wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Hay guys, me again, finally getting around to my StarDrive preview:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/previ...

I hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks!

I watched a video of some major late-game slowdowns with StarDrive. Did you experience that?

I did when time was accelerated, but not as much when it was at 1x.

One of the things about StarDrive I find interesting is how slow you are to tech up, at least in the early game (I have not gotten to what feels like the mid-game yet). This makes deciding which techs to choose really have a lot of weight and the bonuses, while not overpowering, make a big difference.

The fact that most of the really desirable planets have NPC fleets you need to kill before you can colonize helps make the very first decision pretty straightforward (need dem missles! ) but after that? Better farms? More production? Better weapons? More taxes?

Also, non-military ships move pretty slowly (on 1x) so deciding what goes where has some weight to it. You can always change your mind but deciding to send those ships there instead of here when they are halfway to here just means you wasted all that time (sped up or not, it is wasted in game-time).

To kind of sum up, I guess one thing I really like about it is that it makes in-game time meaningful; things take time to do and so make your decisions matter more. I appreciate the dev respecting the player's time by adding in a good level of acceleration, since being stuck at 1x all the time would make the game move too slowly.

Protip: Don't run out of money, it does not end well at all.

Yeah, even though there's a lack of variety in the tech tree on a per-race basis, the decision-making that goes into choosing techs is nicely weighted.

Does Vicodin and TIE Fighter mix? Let's find out!

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

Enjoy!

tboon wrote:
Veloxi wrote:

Hay guys, me again, finally getting around to my StarDrive preview:

http://www.spacegamejunkie.com/previ...

I hope y'all enjoy it! Thanks!

Nice preview. I've mostly enjoyed my time with StarDrive but, like you, found some of the interface can be inscrutable. I'm still trying to figure out why my freighters will not deliver food to my colonies even though I have them set up to. They will take suckers, I mean new colonists, but so far I've only seen them figure out how to take food/production one time in 3-4 games.

Do you have your food set to export on the planet you want to move food from? You also need to have enough freighters to see a noticeable amount. Also the export planet needs to have a surplus.

Wing Commander 3 now available for Mac on GOG!

http://www.gog.com/news/april_mac_ga...

I really just wanted to say that WC3 is awesome. Did anybody ever pick Flint?

I likely went with Rachel my own self.

Also Space Colony HD at GoG. 10 years old apparently, some mix of Sims/RTS... thoughts, anyone?

Iridium884 wrote:

Wing Commander 3 now available for Mac on GOG!

http://www.gog.com/news/april_mac_ga...

I really just wanted to say that WC3 is awesome. Did anybody ever pick Flint?

Always went Flint. I replayed this on GoG a couple of months ago... if you can get past some dated visuals, the game is still a lot of fun. I also replayed the GoG version of WC4, and that game has definitely aged better than WC3, since they used more live sets during FMV sequences, whereas most of Wing Commander 3 is CG.

Stele wrote:

Also Space Colony HD at GoG. 10 years old apparently, some mix of Sims/RTS... thoughts, anyone? :?

It's a very good game. It's no Startopia, but it's a lot of fun, at least it was last I played it, which was years ago.

Iridium884 wrote:

Wing Commander 3 now available for Mac on GOG!

http://www.gog.com/news/april_mac_ga...

I really just wanted to say that WC3 is awesome. Did anybody ever pick Flint?

Who would ever choose the grease monkey?

Hay guys, new podcast, this time we talk to the Infinite Space 3 guys about their game and a ton of other sh*t.

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

Enjoy!

Gave Dawnstar a whirl. Not really what I was expecting. It looked sort of freelancerish and well it is but just not as open. It's more akin to an rpg then anything, which sadly applied to the combat. The combat felt rather slow and well not fun. It's too bad, as the game looks cool.

Haaaaay folks, the first installment of my StarDrive review is up!

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

Yaay!

Veloxi wrote:

Haaaaay folks, the first installment of my StarDrive review is up!

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

Yaay!

Good stuff, Brian! Looking forward to the next installment!

Thanks man, glad you enjoyed it.

Bah, I think you may have just sold me on stardrive...

Cool!!