I need a space trade-sim.

But something heavier on the story, more along the Privateer way than the X's. Anything moderately new worth playing? I think I went through all the old gems, starting from First Encounters / Privateer and ending with X games. Wing Commander style games would also do, as long as they have a story and memorable characters, not just mission after mission.

 

There are quite a few actually. My favorites in order of preference:

 

Bah. Was it not for this I would recommend Frontier: Elite 2 as you seem to have played FFE already.

You can try I-War 2, but it seems somewhat diluted compared to those.

 

Games like that are inherently sandbox'y, having a persistent storyline is pretty rare.. Freelancer is one, but i guess you played that already.

DarkStar One has a continuous storyline, but IIRC it's just a combat sim. I may be wrong, never played it. Heard it's good but easy.

Evochron series have a carefully created setting and all feature a story to follow, but they're freeform much like the X series.

Then there's Parkan II. Oh yes, Parkan II, the game that makes Oblivion's voice acting seem like mankind's greatest achievement in comparison. It also falls over it's own legs with the chaotic mishmash of a first person shooter and ship combat.

 

Of course I played Elite 2 and Freelancer. I-War 2 though is something new to me and seems good enough to give it a try.
Freeform, sandbox universe + a continuous story is exactly what I'm looking for, so Evochron also sounds interesting.
In the meantime I bumped on this page: http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=89021 - it lists a shitload of space sims, including Evochron and Privateer remake (fuck yea!).

 

I also recommend I-War 2 (and I-War the original as well actually).

 

EVN is totally worth playing. An indie space sim, you can play six story paths, multiple system trade, lots of ships and actions.

 

I'm also looking for space sims of any kind, but stupid developers are busy making one space mmo after another. Why won't someone make a decent single player space sim?

 

I assume you already know Oolite. If not check it out immediately: http://www.oolite.org/

 

Seconded. I hesitated to put Nova forward, as it doesn't have flashy, EXTREME graphics and fancy shit going on, but it's definitely a great, entertaining game in it's own right.

 

EVN is really good if you are not looking for a firstperson space sim. It´s top down view and the story is entirely textdriven. And Space Rangers 2 is a good alternative. It´s without a flashy mainstory, only a main goal, but has nice textadventures included. Look at the Let´s play thread on the codex.

If you want a storyline I can not recommend Evochron. Even the X-storyline is much better. Evochron is only a paper chase storywise.

If you want things really complicated there is always Universal combat with a shitload of military campaigns you can play. Think of Star Trek combined with Battlestar Galactica and starship troopers. Very hard to learn, very hard to master and with lots of flaws. But the possibilities are great.

Terminus is maybe a good choice too but I haven´t played much of it.

 

Play Space Rangers 2. It has even mulitple ways to destroy the bosses. Including PS:T style "talk them to death".

It also has TEXT ADVENTURES.

Really not "trade-sim" per se but play Star Control 2 (or maybe you've already played it).

 

Starflight and Starflight 2... although both don't have that much of a fleshed out story and are fairly old like 1990ish.

 

Lots of info on space sims can be found here:
SpaceSimCentral

 

Space Rangers 2 is extremely interesting space trader sim. Dont bother with fighting yet, concentrate fully on trade to get money to buy equipment to oufit a big, most efficient, well equiped, fighting ship. Plus a nice nest egg for later trade (think millions here). You will achieve glass ceiling in equipment when you notice it on trade screen that your ship is the best. After that, fighting a few campaigns to liberate some star systems, donate stuff to science stations, to let the science progress a little bit. Then Trade again.

You will notice your prowess as a trader when you can manipulate entire star system with each shipment of yours. Inflating, depressing, hoarding.... hehehe mwahwahahahahah.

 

Space sims are dead.

Space Rangers are not new of course and certainly not a space sim, but an isometric space trader. If you didn't play it - do it now. You can safely start with the last one though, as there is no story. It's just a big sandbox where universe does live.

 

Well, there is a story, but it's really more of an Excuse Plot.

 

EVE Online. Completely player-driven economy. Build up enough skills to pilot a hauler and you'll be swimming in money within a year (real-time, a bit slow compared to other games but time flies when you're addicted). Supply and demand, supply and demand. Oh and good investment. I believe that they've implemented some stock system since I left as well. The game also features fascinating intercorporation politics. Big scams, in-game piracy, and wars featuring thousands of players creates all the story you will ever need.

 

Can their market get inflated or depressed? Can you influence with your meddlings? Because you can do that shit in Space Rangers 2.

 

You can definitely influence it if you are either very rich or are the leader of a corporation. I found this pretty interesting, they've hired an economist to keep track of the in-game economy, viewing it as a kind of experiment which they can then compare to the real world.



But I think it's unlikely to have a depression because employment is basically unlimited.

 

Hardwar.

It's not space but close enough.

 

How the hell can you be a leader of corporation in Space Rangers 2? At best you are a richer-than-Bill-Gates freetrader. Billions and billions of credits in your accound, thousands of tons of highpriced luxury on your ship, but only a single trader.

 

This.

Out of all the space sims, only Space Rangers 2 does give me a feeling that the universe is alive with interestig aliens, instead of just being a black void filled with AI - when you notice that in SR2 there are PIZZA CONTEST and you can also build your own ROCK BAND and see the audience cheering on your performance, you just can't help but feel that the univere is more alive than a MMORPG.

Compared to SR2 all the other space sims sucks in the "creating a universe" part. IMO any space sims in which you, the pilot, can NEVER leave your cockpit and take a hike around a spaceport or a planet are phail.

 

There is a space for improvement for Space Rangers 3 huh?
It does lack building a criminal/trading empire like f.e. in Guild games

 

I'm not sure what your first language is, but I think what I said might have been misleading. When I said "you" I didn't really mean you, I was just talking about people in general. So I was actually talking about EVE, not space rangers. In EVE, there are corporations and this adds huge depth to the trading because you can set up an entire operation with real people hauling stuff, analysing price trends, and you can partner and merge with other companies. For example, in low security space during a war, it might be advantageous to hire a security corporation to take care of pirates and enemy ships.