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The Space Sims Megathread (NSF56k/Aliens/Enemy Convoys)

TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEONRegistered User regular
edited May 2012 in Games and Technology
Inspired by this post and a little bit of this thread, I've decided to make a thread where we can all talk about space sims in general instead of having to worry about getting off topic, because bringing up TIE Fighter in a Freespace thread derails things almost as fast as bringing up Freespace in a TIE Fighter thread.

Space Sims are Dead, You Idiot!
I humbly submit that YOU, sir, are the idiot! This is a good place to be nostalgic about all those wonderful old games, but this is also a fantastic place to inform everyone about those up and coming space sims that nobody ever hears about.


The Past

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Frontier: Elite 2
Unfortunately I never played this treasure, although perhaps some day I'll rectify the mistake. Elite's pretty much the definition of "free roaming" and it's probably the first that did it, or at least the first that did it well. Apparently it's shareware now and you can get it working with DOSBox. According to Wikipedia and my memory, the game is all about exploring, trading, and Newtonian physics. Wikipedia says the fights consist of "both ships taking slingshot thrusts at each other, lasers being fired constantly at each other, until one of the ships is destroyed" which sounds pretty exciting unless you hate ships firing lasers at each other.

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TIE Fighter
Often considered the best space sim ever, and even among those who disagree, it's easily near the top. It's not hard to understand why: this followup to X-Wing let you play as the bad guys, which was novel back then and pretty novel now, and the fantastic story, dynamic music, and eventually upgraded graphics were all just icing on the sweet, sweet cake. Many Bothans died to bring us this game, because we killed them. Flying TIE Fighters is awesome. This awesome guide tells you how to play X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and the other crummier games in Windows 7 (and with a 360 controller if you're a weirdo). They've even fixed the music, which was a large part of what made these games so amazing.

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Wing Commander
The only contender for the X-Wing/TIE Fighter throne back then was Wing Commander, which went the 2d graphics route instead of the 3d graphics route and had Mark Hammill in its cutscenes later on and now I'm out of stuff to say. I'll let everyone else go on a nostalgia trip about this one.

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Tachyon: The Fringe
BRUCE CAMPBELL IS IN THIS GAME! Okay it's actually got more than just that in terms of having fun. It has a story mode but it's also free-roaming, so it's one of those games where you set out into the inky blackness of space and make a name for yourself doing whatever the heck you want. You can also cut your engines and "slide" or whatever which is pretty tricky. I have fond memories of this game's demo but not much else. It's available on GameTap if anyone's curious. Definitely worth a look if you've already signed up for GameTap, and worth a look even if you haven't!

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Independence War and Independence War II
Independence War and I-War 2 are free-roaming cruiser sims; you're in charge of a medium-sized ship and it's up to you to make your way in the world. IWar 1 might actually not have been free roaming. Never played it! In any case they're both awesome and they both feature super Newtonian physics. They're a lot more realistic and a lot more hardcore than your average sim, although it really doesn't take a PhD to get used to the combat. They're a great change of pace from the turning fights you often get into with fighters. Try it out!

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Privateer 2: The Darkening
This is one of those really weird Wing Commander spin-offs (see Freelancer) that technically isn't a Wing Commander game but it sort of is. In any case it was perhaps awesome (according to darleysam) and probably a good candidate for purchase if you're in a used book store and you see it for $5, which seems to be the pattern for fantastic old space sims these days. The page that link goes to is a review of the game which is so comprehensive that the dude included a freaking bibliography. Wow.

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X-Wing Alliance
Trying to top TIE Fighter is silly, but they tried anyways and they nearly did it. X-Wing Alliance is as close as anyone's gotten to a remake of TIE Fighter, and it has the added advantage of including a level where you fly through the second Death Star in the Millenium Falcon in order to BLOW IT UP. That sounds pretty cool, eh? It's also got a long, involved storyline with more missions than the Alliance lost Y-Wings in the Battle of Yavin. And for extra happy fun times, check out the XWA Upgrade Project which makes it look more like Freespace 2 and less like TIE Fighter. In graphics quality I mean, not in terms of ships. Obviously they are still Star Wars ships.

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Freelancer
I'm putting this in "past" instead of "present" because I'm over it. I mean come on. Mouse support only? No joystick in my space sim? That aside, Freelancer really wasn't too bad. Exploring the galaxy was pretty cool, the storyline did not blow chunks in my opinion, and the combat wasn't awful. There are a ton of pretty sweet mods for the game, ranging from adding new ships (Serenity!) to adding new games (Star Wars!).


The Present

There's a ton of space sims to play right now. Most people haven't heard of half of them. Hopefully this thread will help us all find those fun games that we didn't know existed. Who knows; you might just find your new favorite flight sim! Unless you've already played Freespace 2 and Allegiance.

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FreeSpace and Freespace 2
Probably your best bet if you're looking to get into space sims today. They're not free anymore, but you can get them off gog.com. Get them now: if you buy Freespace 2, I think you can run the original Freespace mod without buying Freespace 1. Be sure to stop by the Source Code Project to make your game look SUPER AWESOME. I'm serious; next gen graphics, tons of new missions, play Freespace in the Freespace 2 engine, etc. In any case, Freespace and Freespace 2 are probably two of the best space sims ever made. They have epic scope: in some battles you'll be dodging gigantic laser beams and flak barrages going between two fleets, and in other missions you'll be desperately destroying each individual bomb as wings of enemy fighters and bombers try to destroy the convoy you're protecting. Great story, fantastic missions, updated graphics, cheap price: the Rolls Royce of space sims today, or, rather, the TIE Advanced or Millenium Falcon of space sims today. If you're not convinced, you must watch this video .

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Blue Planet
Blue Planet is actually a Freespace mod, but it's pretty much a professional quality space sim. The graphics are enhanced, the story is brand new and not horrific, the production values are off the charts, the planets are blue... what more do you need? It's a must play if you enjoyed Freespace, or free things, or space.

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Allegiance
Three things to know about Allegiance! One: It's freeee! Two: It's incredibly complex and hard to get into. Three: It's a spectacular, intricate game where teamwork is the most important thing and spaceships are the second most important thing. The two teams in Allegiance fight against each other, and one dude on each team is in control of the team's mining robots. He establishes bases and gives everyone orders. Players in scout ships drop sensor beacons to set up a perimiter to detect enemy attacks, players in capital ships and bombers make runs at the enemy base, fighters keep the runs safe, and special players with "nans" (nanite thingers) go straight in to each fight and try to keep their teammates alive. It's nuts, it requires intense coordination, and it's like no other space sim you'll ever play. If you've got the time and the will to get into it, you'll be rewarded greatly. Free Allegiance has all the info you'll need.

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X3: Reunion
Allegiance was hard to get into? Hah. That thing has lots of players ingame to help you and extensive documentation. X3 has a learning curve that looks like a graph of how many people like George Bush nowadays. Sort of. Whatever, it's steep. Freaking hard to learn. X3 isn't just a space sim: it's a universe sim. You can follow the story but that's dumb, what most people end up doing is setting up an interstellar empire focused on manufacturing, trading, and shooting or whatever. I think you can also be a space pirate? Bonus points for having an alien race named, basically, "COCK." A game after the Penny Arcader's heart.

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The Tomorrow War
Based on superpopular Russian book or something. Looks neat! I read one lackluster review that gave it a D minus or something, but either way I'd hold off until there's more info. Preliminary reports: translation woes. Those silly Russians! More info at the always-wonderful Rock Paper Shotgun.

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DarkStar One
You play as Jim Darkstar (no you don't) and you fly Darkstar One (you do), a ship that levels up as you do, growing as the game progresses. Other than that I think it's your typical blow stuff up space dogfight game. Got pretty favorable reviews.

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Wing Commander Privateer Gemeni Gold
This is a free remake of Privateer, and because it's free there's no reason not to try it if you're a fan of free-roaming space sims. It gets pretty frequent updates, all things considered (the last one was at the very end of 2009) and it's Privateer. What's not to love?

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Evochron Legends
In Dashui's words:
Dashui wrote: »
Basically, it's a free-roaming space game where you can do whatever you want, but it has really nice features that the others don't necessarily have. For starters, you build your own ship, component to component, and you can move each part and scale them on an XYZ axis. You could make the engines small and put them in the front of the ship, for instance, underneath the cockpit.

You can also seamlessly fly into or out of the atmosphere of planets, and the effect is really great. You can collect fuel from nebulas and go to any system without the use of jumpgates (although they are there to make travel easier). There are tons of quests to take and you can do it all via multiplayer, too. That's my most favorite feature. I can take my singleplayer ship and go into multiplayer to fly, explore, and quest with other people, and then take that ship back to singleplayer again. The whole game is made by an indie developer, one guy, so it's pretty impressive.

I can't praise it enough. You guys should check out the demo and then maybe we can fly together.

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Starshatter: The Gathering Storm
Starshatter's whole thing, aside from the name that sounds like "starshitter," is that you go from flying a tiny little fighter craft to commanding an entire space war with capital ships that you fly and everything. The campaigns are apparently epic in scope or something. This is also on my "to play" list but the biggest draw is the whole capital ship/running the war thing. Archonex wrote a sweet writeup with the plusses and minussesses.

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Space Force: Rogue Universe
Free roaming game. That's all I know. SPACE!

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Tarr Chronicles
It doesn't even have a Wikipedia page but I'm pretty sure I played the Tarr Chronicles demo and it was pretty fun. It was originally Russian!


The FUTURE!!1~

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Heresy War
There's a demo out, not sure how representative of the final product it is, but I think the gist of it is that this is a game where you're a spaceship that shoots things in space.

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Naumachia: Space Warface
Probably the sim I'm most excited for. Why? It's being made by the people who made The Specialists, that awesome Half-Life mod. So if they can keep that quality level, this will rock. It's a multiplayer space shooter with fighters and carriers and cruisers and stuff. Check out the videos.
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Miner Wars
Basically Descent plus destroyable terrain. If you watch some of the videos you'll probably be blown away by how crazy easy it is to blow open asteroids in this game. They're really touting the whole 6 degrees of freedom thing, so keep your eye on this if sneaking behind an enemy by tunneling through an asteroid from above is your sort of things. Bonus: you play as a miner which is almost as badass as playing as a waiter or a ballet dancer. Miners have a pretty good history in space sims, I'd say, what with Independence War II and... maybe that's it.

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Precursors
If this game ever comes out I'll be "whoa." You can do everything: space, run around on land, and uh, yeah. But there are like a million planets, plus all of space. It's every game in one! It looks incredibly sweet but it's so ambitious we'll have to see if it crashes and burns. Couldn't find a picture of the space combat so here's a purple man riding a space dinosaur.

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Black Prophecy
Space MMO. Think it's got twitch combat. Hilarious trailer on their website, plus it's financed by microtransactions, not by a monthly fee, so that cheap people like me can still play it. We'll just have to forgo space-hats for our ships or something.

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Jumpgate: Evolution
MMO in space. But wait, don't leave! It has twitch combat! So, like the only good bit of Star Wars: Galaxies, you can fly around in space blowing the crap out of your friends because their reflexes have atrophied from years of letting their macros in WoW do all the work for them. Show them who's boss with lasers! YOU ARE THE LASER BOSS.

The Gear
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Logitech Extreme 3d Pro: "The Reliable Phallic Symbol"
This is my recommendation to pretty much anyone looking to buy a joystick. Cheap, incredibly durable, lots of buttons, comfortable, nice hat, fun throttle. What more could you want? How about a silver and gray color scheme that goes well with your Ikea furniture? You've got it!

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Saitek X52: "Only Overkill if Your Priorities aren't in Line"
For those of us who are more hardcore than others of us, or whatever, this is usually the go-to stick. Just look at that thing! Jesus Christ, you could probably fly two spaceships with this and have a hand free to pick your nose.


NOT MENTIONED AT ALL:
  • EVE because this is a thread for shooting people in space, not filling out spreadsheets in space.
  • DEREK SMART because if I say his name two more times he'll show up and this thread will go south faster than a planet inhabited by Spaceballs.
  • Battlestar Galactica Tactical Mod for Mount and Blade because like, whoa?

So, go at it! Let's all talk about space, past present and future! I'll start: TIE Fighter is the best space sim ever, Freespace 2 is #2, and Allegiance is tied with Independence War 2 for #2 or something like that. Nobody can ever compete with Star Wars, but Freespace's epic scale is pretty sweet.

TychoCelchuuu on
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Posts

  • IceBurnerIceBurner It's cold and there are penguins.Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Gosh, TIE fighter ... that takes me back. You start in an unprotected, poorly armed space coffin (AKA a TIE Fighter) and earn your way into the most bad-ass Imperial fighters you never saw on the silver screen, vaporizing those rebel scum.

    I used to have every single mission I'd flown flight recorded up until some event or other meant losing that hard drive. It was always funny how frantically I played; I had to give everything I could just to get by (I played with a mouse because I didn't know better), but in watching those replays I realized that's what those really dramatic space dogfights look like from inside the cockpit. I really miss that game.

    My only wish is that GoG could work its magic on the original X-Wing and TIE Fighter (with their expansions included of course).

    IceBurner on
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  • DartboyDartboy Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    You know the more space games I see and play, the more I realize that the one feature I really REALLY want is for your ship to be a physical location with an actual inside. Since your ship is your life in these sorts of games, the ability to get out of the pilot's seat and stroll through the corridors would be fantastic. The idea of being able to buy shit to decorate your personal quarters, or keep souvenirs and trophies of missions, or even walking to a gun turret to man it yourself would be cool. There've been a couple games that let you walk around on foot in a space station when you dock, but nothing that really lets you walk up the ramp to your ship, open the airlock, and walk inside. Mass Effect does this, and it goes a LONG way towards making the Normandy a memorable place in the game, but it's still not a space sim.

    Edit: Also, Earth and Beyond. Now that was a space MMO.

    Dartboy on
  • BlueDestinyBlueDestiny Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Dartboy wrote: »
    You know the more space games I see and play, the more I realize that the one feature I really REALLY want is for your ship to be a physical location with an actual inside. Since your ship is your life in these sorts of games, the ability to get out of the pilot's seat and stroll through the corridors would be fantastic. The idea of being able to buy shit to decorate your personal quarters, or keep souvenirs and trophies of missions, or even walking to a gun turret to man it yourself would be cool. There've been a couple games that let you walk around on foot in a space station when you dock, but nothing that really lets you walk up the ramp to your ship, open the airlock, and walk inside. Mass Effect does this, and it goes a LONG way towards making the Normandy a memorable place in the game, but it's still not a space sim.

    Edit: Also, Earth and Beyond. Now that was a space MMO.

    I think Star Wars Galaxies MIGHT have let you do this. In any case I really wish more games had that feature.

    BlueDestiny on
  • ArchonexArchonex No hard feelings, right? Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Going to spoil this post, since it's massive. It's a review of Starshatter.

    Speaking from personal experience, I thought Starshatter was a much more entertaining game then Freespace ever was. It also features planetary combat, along with the ability to transition from space to the surface of planets, so long as the ship you're given is capable of atmospheric flight.

    For those interested in it, it's a somewhat buggy game, but if you can get over the bugs (Which have probably been ironed out now. I originally bought it about two years ago.) it is fun as hell.

    The game starts off in a sort of tutorial campaign that's limited to only one solar system. However
    toward's the end the shit hits the fan in a big way as you find your small battlegroup literally surrounded on all sides by an armada of enemy ships. The last time I played the first campaign I ended up going way past my mission parameters with my wingmates, since the reinforcements that warped in to back us up got ambushed at the edge of the solar system.

    It was pretty much a one hour dogfight against about eighty fighters and bombers and one cruiser, with only about 20 operational, underarmed fighters and one heavily damaged battleship, two heavily damaged destroyers (Both of which went down over the course of the fight.) and one carrier on our side. Off in the distance you could see massive nuclear sized explosions going off as the battlegroup that was moving to reinforce us got blown to hell. The campaign ended in a "victory", with our battlefleet jumping away just as the enemy armada finished wiping out the battle-fleet and started moving towards us.

    For referencing, the original mission I took as a pilot was only supposed to be a short, ten minute patrol around the space of the carrier. I only got involved because I noticed a massive amount of contacts show up at the fringe of the battle-group after we mopped up a wing of fighter-craft, causing me turn back toward's the fleet. I ended up exhausting all of my missiles twenty minutes in. The battle-group that was moving to support us was also supposed to survive, however, the enemy AI outwitted my side's AI. As a result, we were put off-guard and would have lost if I hadn't of stayed out and helped fend the hordes of enemy fighter-bombers off. Ironically, after that mission I was promoted to the captain of a destroyer for my efforts, which was a great way to cap off an absolutely insane defense.

    After the first campaign, the gameworld expands. With each campaign, the war expands, until you're literally fighting in an entire galaxy, with dozens of armadas moving around, and tons of battle-groups moving around. I never did unlock the final campaign, which is pretty much a galactic war scenario, as I understand it.



    Anyways, part of the fun comes from the fact that you don't have to take over the entire war. The computer can handle the entire thing, and it tends to do a decent job at it. Nevermind the fact that it tends to vary it's strategy immensely depending on the circumstances.

    Attacking capital ships is also a massive affair. As an example, a typical assault on a small battle-group is approached in stages if you're wanting to minimize casualties/loss of assets. Fights aren't constant, rather, the "battle" is spread out over ingame days, as wings of bombers launch lightning raids to take out critical ship systems (Like the engines! You sure as hell can't escape if you can't move.) and ships, capital ships position themselves to take advantage of weaknesses (And occasionally duke it out.) and then finally the two sides clash in an epic battle once one side is sure it can take out the enemy safely.


    Of course, it doesn't always work out like that. Sometimes another fleet warps in from out of system or a storyline objective comes up, or a raid on a planetary base occurs, or generally, something happens that causes all hell to break loose. That's when the game gets really fun.

    That being said, it is definitely a niche game in a niche genre. Setting aside the bugs back when I played it, it's definitely one of the most hardcore space sims i've played recently. The game features three different physic systems, newtonian, arcade, and one other (I forget which one.) and they can radically alter the game. Playing with newtonian physics is not easy by a long-shot. Especially when you've got a frigate literally pumping out a couple thousand rounds of flak in your direction and missiles inbound on your position.

    It can also be frustrating at first. When I reached the second campaign I ended up getting royally pissed at the fact that the campaign was ending about half an hour in for what seemed like no reason at all. It was only when I chanced into a raid on civilian assets that I realized I was failing the campaign because the enemy was nuking the objectives when I wasn't looking.

    The bugs are a major issue. Just from a quick check on the main forums for the game, it seems like it's largely unsupported by the developer, so there's no guarantee of quality control there I suppose. If I get a chance i'll install my copy of Starshatter and update it and see if it's any better then when I last played it on that front.


    I'd also not recommend playing the demo if you want an accurate impression of the games . The demo is the first part of the first campaign, and literally shows you nothing of the games action. It stops just short of the enemy fleet warping in and stirring shit up.


    Edit: Star Wars Galaxies did have that feature. They even let you get a Yacht that could serve as a space-based house.

    Archonex on
  • TurkeyTurkey So, Usoop. TampaRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I clicked on this thread thinking it was about a new Sims game.

    That said, Freelancer is the only spaceship game I like, because of the controls.

    Turkey on
  • tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Freespace 2 is the best game ever made, let alone the best space sim.

    tbloxham on
    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Did anyone else play FreeSpace 2 with a mouse? Or was I the only one?

    I think the high point of that campaign was probably the NSF undercover missions. You wouldn't expect that sort of storytelling potential in a space sim. I mean, I dunno about you, but I actually found myself forming a relationship with Commander Snipes, the undercover handler. The voice actor did a great job fleshing him out. And then later, when he goes missing... it's just crushing. It seemed Commander Snipes just ended up being another faceless casualty in the grand NSF war. Like tears in rain.
    Until of course you go rescue him in that SOF nebula mission. The only nebula mission I really got irritated with. It got so frustrating finding and losing the various nav buoys. The fact that you got to pilot the sexy Erinyes didn't *quite* make up for that.

    I really wonder how long FreeSpace 2's development cycle was. Cause if ever there was a game that was perfectly polished and stable on launch, that's the one I'd point to. It got one patch, but I think that was just correcting some minor multiplayer issues.

    Delta Assault on
  • tbloxhamtbloxham Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I played it with my Force Feedback Pro, set to maximum feedback. When I got hit by a missile, I knew about it! Keeping the ship on target while taking enemy fire could get pretty tough.

    tbloxham on
    "That is cool" - Abraham Lincoln
  • Delta AssaultDelta Assault Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I'm not sure if you guys agree with this, but the way I see it... FreeSpace 2 still holds up today. You can play it and it'll hold up in both graphics and gameplay. Annnd... I don't think you can say the same for most old games. Mind you, I'm not talking about Open FS2. I meant playing it without mods, it still holds up. Obviously the mods make it look much better of course. But you install vanilla FS2, and aside from some small issues like the text not aligning correctly, the game still looks and plays great. And this is a game that was released in 1999, ten fucking years ago. You really have to wonder what sort of drugs those Volition folks were on back in the day, to craft a masterpiece like that. It's very telling when the worst thing you can say about a game is that its pilot avatar pics look a little ugly. What else is there to say? I dunno. It's a crying shame it wasn't a financial success.

    Delta Assault on
  • DashuiDashui Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I wish you talked about the Evochron series more, because it's fantastic. And Renegades in your list is a little obsolete. He has a new one which came out this year that improved things a good deal called Evochron Legends. You should definitely try the demo.

    Basically, it's a free-roaming space game where you can do whatever you want, but it has really nice features that the others don't necessarily have. For starters, you build your own ship, component to component, and you can move each part and scale them on an XYZ axis. You could make the engines small and put them in the front of the ship, for instance, underneath the cockpit.

    You can also seamlessly fly into or out of the atmosphere of planets, and the effect is really great. You can collect fuel from nebulas and go to any system without the use of jumpgates (although they are there to make travel easier). There are tons of quests to take and you can do it all via multiplayer, too. That's my most favorite feature. I can take my singleplayer ship and go into multiplayer to fly, explore, and quest with other people, and then take that ship back to singleplayer again. The whole game is made by an indie developer, one guy, so it's pretty impressive.

    I can't praise it enough. You guys should check out the demo and then maybe we can fly together.

    Dashui on
    Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
  • CherrnCherrn Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I'm disappointed that this thread wasn't about The Sims in space.

    I tried out Darkstar One, but I'm really not a big fan. Just play (or re-play) Freelancer, as it's better in every imaginable way. God, I want a new, great space sim, but Dark Prophecy is the only one I've seen that has real potential. And I can't stand MMOs.

    I guess some of these Russian games could turn out okay. I hope so, anyway.

    Oh, by the way, did you know that they were making Freelancer 2, but it got canned? Even though it looked fucking magnificent?

    Cherrn on
    All creature will die and all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai.
  • KhavallKhavall British ColumbiaRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    EVE because this is a thread for shooting people in space, not filling out spreadsheets in space.

    Then why did you mention X3?

    One of the two games I play where I have to print out/display extra information on my second monitor to play correctly.

    I have a map printed out that I set under my monitor, and a station profit/loss calculator on my second monitor.

    The other game, for an example, is Space Empires V, but only when I'm doing my Let's play(Which I'll be starting up again soon... goddammit I'm going to finish it once I have time to) so I can talk about the techs and development.

    Khavall on
  • KingMoleKingMole Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Archonex wrote: »
    Edit: Star Wars Galaxies did have that feature. They even let you get a Yacht that could serve as a space-based house.

    Bit more than that now
    Rebels:
    YKL-37R Nova Courier
    Incom X-4 Gunboat

    Imps:
    VT-49 Decimator
    YE-4 Gunboat

    Freelance:
    YT-1300
    AEG-77 Vigo Gunboat

    Neutral:
    Y-8 Mining Ship
    YT-2400
    Sorosuub Luxury Yacht

    SWG's space combat is essentially the only fun bit left in it. Gunboat's are hilarious if you get one fully kitted out.

    I'm also disappointed X-Wing Alliance isn't listed up there.

    KingMole on
    doomrider_sigPA.png
  • SmurphSmurph Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Precursors pretty much sounds like the game I've been waiting for except for being in the same ship the whole time. Someone needs to make a game where you can be either an industrial tycoon like X3, a fighter pilot flying around pew pewing things like a multitude of other games, or an Officer commanding a fleet like Nexus: the Jupiter Incident or Homeworld. That would be the perfect game.

    Smurph on
  • DashuiDashui Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Smurph wrote: »
    Precursors pretty much sounds like the game I've been waiting for except for being in the same ship the whole time. Someone needs to make a game where you can be either an industrial tycoon like X3, a fighter pilot flying around pew pewing things like a multitude of other games, or an Officer command a fleet like Nexus: the Jupiter Incident of Homeworld. That would be the perfect game.

    I'm really excited for Precursors, but it practically fell off the face of the planet. The website seems to get updates every other month, though. They put new images up just this month. I hope it comes out soon.

    I like their overview page:

    "We plan to release versions for the PC and the Xbox 360. The release date is about the end of 2007 or the beginning of 2008."

    Dashui on
    Xbox Live, PSN & Origin: Vacorsis 3DS: 2638-0037-166
  • AntinumericAntinumeric Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Does Frontier - Elite 2 not count? 'Cause it is totally the best space sim I have ever played. Hell I still play it.

    Also how on earth do poeple get into X3- I got shot the shit out of in the first (forced) firefight, yeah we beat them but now my ship moves at all of 3 m/s, it took so long to get to a place I could repair and when I finally got there the menus are more than a little confusing. That is when I gave up..

    Antinumeric on
    In this moment, I am euphoric. Not because of any phony god’s blessing. But because, I am enlightened by my intelligence.
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    I tried IL2 Sturmovik with my Saitek Cyborg last night, and it seemed determined to keep pulling all over the place when the stick was centred. This has left me worried that the same thing will happen if I load up Freespace :(
    I'm also browsing those games in the OP and still desperately praying for Elite 4 to be officially announced.

    darleysam on
    forumsig.png
  • DockenDocken Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    The lack of X-Wing Alliance is total fail on your part.

    Otherwise the list is good and I heartily endorse some Space Sim lovin'.

    Docken on
  • NightslyrNightslyr Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Also missing from the list: Colony Wars. One of the most under-appreciated PS1 games.

    Nightslyr on
  • HawkHawk ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    What about Jumpgate Evolution (MMO) coming out in June?

    Phage_joining_the_fight.jpg

    Hawk on
  • darleysamdarleysam On my way to UKRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Yeah, Jumpgate's one I'm quite interested in. Space MMO with twitch combat? Okay, you have my attention.

    darleysam on
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  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Updated the OP a bit. I wish Star Wars: Galaxies was free or something; I would play the hell out of Jump to Lightspeed if it was an actual game and not an MMO. I mean, that's basically TIE Fighter 1.5 right there, with customizable ships and everything. I heard some people were making a version of SWG that they could run independent of SOE so they could play it like it was before that stupid combat upgrade came out; I wonder if JTL will get popular there and turn into the best space sim ever.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • MayGodHaveMercyMayGodHaveMercy Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    So... Jumpgate: Evolution looks and sounds pretty awesome. I glanced at the website, etc, but I still have one burning question... How PVP-centric is it supposed to be. I don't want to play Counterstrike In Space (HEADSHOT), but everything else about the game intrigues me, and I do like voluntary PVP from time to time.

    MayGodHaveMercy on
    XBL: Mercy XXVI - Steam: Mercy_XXVI - PSN: Mercy XXVI
  • LorkLork Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    There should be a law requiring that all space sims that come out from now on have Freelancer's controls. There's no excuse for releasing a game that requires expensive peripherals and 60 separate buttons for targeting controls when it's been proven that not only can a game work without them, it'll actually work better.

    Yeah, I'm looking at you, Egosoft.

    Lork on
    Steam Profile: Lork
  • HavelockHavelock Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Oh man, this makes me all nostalgic for X-Wing and TIE Fighter. I cut my space sim teeth on those two. Favorite mission in TIE was the very first one, I think.
    Where you're all in the crappy jalopy of a TIE at an Imperial checkpoint trying to catch Rebel survivors from Hoth, and the first thing that happens is that a YT-1300 corellian light freighter jumps in, and you know it's the 'Millenium Falcon', and that fucker scoots off before you can draw a bead on it or so much as blink.

    Also, Freespace was the shit when it came out. I remember how awesome it was when I found out that the stars would blur when you moved, and that there was actual glare when you turned towards a local star.

    Damn, I miss those games. I also miss my old logitech flightstick.

    Havelock on
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    darleysam wrote: »
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    No..no he didn't.

    I mean sure, it had a pre-famous Clive Owen and Christopher Walken but that's also it's problem...it was part FMV game.

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Kagera wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    No..no he didn't.

    I mean sure, it had a pre-famous Clive Owen and Christopher Walken but that's also it's problem...it was part FMV game.

    Eh I added it in anyways. FMVs can be awesome! Rebel Assault 2 was a whole game that was just FMVs!

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • HawkHawk ColoradoRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    I hate to be picky, but also missing...

    EVE Online - Oops, saw the post. Removed from list...

    And the precursor to Freelancer, Starlancer
    82ie6n8.jpg
    Shoot stuff in space

    Then the game after Tarr Chronicles, Dark Horizon:
    dark-horizon-20080929015304631-000.jpg

    Escape Velocity
    20030916095120945_1_original.jpg

    Hawk on
  • MordrackMordrack Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Kagera wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    No..no he didn't.

    I mean sure, it had a pre-famous Clive Owen and Christopher Walken but that's also it's problem...it was part FMV game.

    Eh I added it in anyways. FMVs can be awesome! Rebel Assault 2 was a whole game that was just FMVs!
    Any game with John Hurt, Amanda Pays, and Jürgen Prochnow is always good, FMV or not.

    Mordrack on
    steam_sig.png
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Mordrack wrote: »
    Kagera wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    No..no he didn't.

    I mean sure, it had a pre-famous Clive Owen and Christopher Walken but that's also it's problem...it was part FMV game.

    Eh I added it in anyways. FMVs can be awesome! Rebel Assault 2 was a whole game that was just FMVs!
    Any game with John Hurt, Amanda Pays, and Jürgen Prochnow is always good, FMV or not.

    But see that's the problem, it's a GAME not a movie.

    Did I like the FMV portions? Sure? But when you put live action shit in games it really fucking limits your ability to diversify it.

    There weren't enough side missions, the main quest was short as well.

    Considering the original Privateer it was basically the same size gameplay-wise which isn't a good thing for a game that came out years later.

    And the fact that I know what Rebel Assault 2 is and played it depresses me. That didn't even have good acting to fall back on.

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • HavelockHavelock Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Kagera wrote: »
    Mordrack wrote: »
    Kagera wrote: »
    darleysam wrote: »
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    No..no he didn't.

    I mean sure, it had a pre-famous Clive Owen and Christopher Walken but that's also it's problem...it was part FMV game.

    Eh I added it in anyways. FMVs can be awesome! Rebel Assault 2 was a whole game that was just FMVs!
    Any game with John Hurt, Amanda Pays, and Jürgen Prochnow is always good, FMV or not.

    But see that's the problem, it's a GAME not a movie.

    Did I like the FMV portions? Sure? But when you put live action shit in games it really fucking limits your ability to diversify it.

    There weren't enough side missions, the main quest was short as well.

    Considering the original Privateer it was basically the same size gameplay-wise which isn't a good thing for a game that came out years later.

    And the fact that I know what Rebel Assault 2 is and played it depresses me. That didn't even have good acting to fall back on.


    Did you get Rebel Assault 2 with the Lucas Arts Star Wars action pack? Because I sure did. It came with Rebel Assault 1, X-Wing, AND TIE Fighter, plus some "Special Edition" discs, and a demo of Dark Forces.

    And yeah, the acting was god awful.

    Havelock on
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Aw fuck now I'm at wcnews downloading ever Privateer 2 cinematic they have.

    THANKS THREAD.

    edit: Yeah no I just got those games separately.

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Updated the OP a bit. I wish Star Wars: Galaxies was free or something; I would play the hell out of Jump to Lightspeed if it was an actual game and not an MMO. I mean, that's basically TIE Fighter 1.5 right there, with customizable ships and everything. I heard some people were making a version of SWG that they could run independent of SOE so they could play it like it was before that stupid combat upgrade came out; I wonder if JTL will get popular there and turn into the best space sim ever.

    I hate you because you totally ignored my huge post about space sims on the flight sim thread. There are lots of Wing Commander info (hint: not all WC games are 2D). D:
    <3<3<3

    Regarding IWar: In the first game you're a military ship commander against the rebel Indies, and you have to do regular, instanced missions. You actually fly a Dreadnought-class corvette, and there are 4 stations you can control, captain, pilot, gunner and engineering, IIRC. Then there is the expansion, Defiance, in which you're an Indie commander fighting the military. You also fly a Dreadnought-class corvette. But it's all graffitied and cool. And the missions are also "normal", i.e., no free-roaming.

    The unique selling point of these games is that they're pretty damn realistic, physics-wise. Space ships move like space ships, not jets in space. you have to learn how to deal with momentum, and can do some pretty nifty maneuvers. There are computer assist systems, but you can override them and go full manual. It's the hardest Space Sim ever made, in the piloting aspect.

    The biggest problem with IWar1/Defiance is just running the game. It has all sorts of troubles with modern PCs, the least of which is running trough a Glide-wrapper. They look pretty decent in 3Dfx mode, better than stuff like TIE-Fighter.

    IWar 2 takes place a long time after, and you're a private pilot who has to become a pirate after an evil corp kills your dad in the lawless frontier space. You can fly many different craft, and you can just go around stealing shit and plundering. It's fun, but it's kinda hard and sometimes you just don't know where to go and what to do... Pirating can be really, really difficult early on, the police and corporate forces can get truly overwhelming. The game is also physically-accurate, but the whole "computer assist" thing is smoother, and so it's easier to fly, while still allowing cool newtonian maneuvers. It also looks gorgeous and runs fine on any windows version, AFAIK.

    darleysam wrote: »
    You forgot Privateer 2: The Darkening!

    I tried IL2 Sturmovik with my Saitek Cyborg last night, and it seemed determined to keep pulling all over the place when the stick was centred. This has left me worried that the same thing will happen if I load up Freespace :(
    I'm also browsing those games in the OP and still desperately praying for Elite 4 to be officially announced.

    The plane is supposed to be pulling all over the place in Il-2, it's not trimmed, and there are many things that affect the flight model. Especially engine torque. Try binding some keys to surface trimming (ailerons, tail, rudder) and play a bit with it. The stick should work fine on Freespace and any other Space Sim.

    Priv2 is really cool, BTW, but the original is better. The gameplay in P2 is not the game's strongest point. Just spray and pray, and the enemy spam on jump nodes that prevent you from leaving is fucking annoying sometimes. The lack of subtitles on the muffled cutscenes is kinda bad too. Still a fun game. Hard to run on windows, even with DOSBox.
    Lork wrote: »
    There should be a law requiring that all space sims that come out from now on should have Freelancer's controls. There's no excuse for releasing a game that requires expensive peripherals and 60 separate buttons for targeting controls when it's been proven that not only can a game work without them, it'll actually work better.

    Yeah, I'm looking at you, Egosoft.

    You're a terrible person :(

    Seriously, playing with a stick is 1000000x more immersive. I was the pilot in Wing Commander and Freespace and many others. Freelance was nice, but felt more like SpaceDiablo in Space: The Clickening.

    Stormwatcher on
    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
    camo_sig2.png
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Kagera wrote: »
    Aw fuck now I'm at wcnews downloading ever Privateer 2 cinematic they have.

    THANKS THREAD.

    edit: Yeah no I just got those games separately.

    Sorry, double post.

    I got banned from that site's forum (crius.net) because I disagree with the "official line" that A) All other space sims that aren't WC suck (and that Freespace 2 singlehandedly killed the Space Sim genre) and that B) EA Games is not the greatest thing ever invented by man. Oh, I also think that Tolwyn was Space-Hitler in WC4, and they love that guy too much to admit it.

    They're pretty crazy over there. Anyone who disagrees with the main honcho LOAF is banned. They're also all very strongly right-wing politically oriented, and not really into things like freedom of opinion within the site, or the notion that there isn't just one valid truth for anything.

    On the other hand, the site itself (wcnes.com) is the most wonderful place to find all kinds of awesome files and info about the games. And LOAF knows about everything there is to know about Wing Commander. He knows more than the developers and even Chris Roberts. He helped the new guys implement the WC lore in the 360 Arcade game, and gave them lots of cool info to be included in the new manual. The Prophecy devs named a few star systems in the really great galaxy map after the WC News crew.

    They also have the entire Wing Commander cartoon series for download. Apparently it's kinda allowed by EA, they never do anything to upset EA, which makes sense, as EA likes the site.

    Stormwatcher on
    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
    camo_sig2.png
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    It's a hardcore fans site, just like NMA.

    Hell I remember when they used usenet instead of forums.

    They were still dicks back then, especially if you mentioned how bad the movie was.

    Man if only the people who had made Privateer 2 did the movie. My first UK-style media and it was awesomely eccentric.

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • KageraKagera Imitating the worst people. Since 2004Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Also offtopic but I never got the hang of IL2. It was just too much for me.

    Kagera on
    My neck, my back, my FUPA and my crack.
  • StormwatcherStormwatcher Blegh BlughRegistered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Kagera wrote: »
    It's a hardcore fans site, just like NMA.

    Hell I remember when they used usenet instead of forums.

    They were still dicks back then, especially if you mentioned how bad the movie was.

    Man if only the people who had made Privateer 2 did the movie. My first UK-style media and it was awesomely eccentric.

    Wow, I used to use the newsgroup too, cool. Maybe I know you. At least they couldn't censor and ban you back then, freedom of speech FTW.

    I don't really hate them or anything, I just wish they didn't impose their beliefs and had a more open mind attitude. Their forums would be a much cooler place if they didn't work like a dictatorship. It's really a 1984-like atmosphere, you can't say lots of things, it's just thoughtcrime.

    And yeah, the P2 movies were awesome. the art design was all kinds of crazy, it really looked like an european game.

    Stormwatcher on
    Steam: Stormwatcher | PSN: Stormwatcher33 | Switch: 5961-4777-3491
    camo_sig2.png
  • DarkCrawlerDarkCrawler Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    You should put Infinity: Quest for Earth in the OP...it's in development, but there is already a lot of impressive material and screenshots in the website:
    http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/

    DarkCrawler on
  • TychoCelchuuuTychoCelchuuu PIGEON Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    You should put Infinity: Quest for Earth in the OP...it's in development, but there is already a lot of impressive material and screenshots in the website:
    http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/

    That thing's never coming out. Vaporware of the year, basically. Every year.

    TychoCelchuuu on
  • DarkCrawlerDarkCrawler Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    You should put Infinity: Quest for Earth in the OP...it's in development, but there is already a lot of impressive material and screenshots in the website:
    http://www.infinity-universe.com/Infinity/

    That thing's never coming out. Vaporware of the year, basically. Every year.

    Considering the size of the dev team, what they have accomplished is pretty goddamn impressive. It's not vaporware when there is constant progress made.

    DarkCrawler on
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