Sci-fi 4X

[Dragula]

So I see Star Ruler, Light of Altair and Armada 2526 on steam for not that much money, which one should I get? If none of them, plz recommend other similiar games.

 

[Malakal]

MoO2. The best of them all.

Unless you want a mindless game focused on huge battles, then Star Ruler seems decent for that.

 

[Dragula]

MoO2. The best of them all.

Unless you want a mindless game focused on huge battles, then Star Ruler seems decent for that.

Huge battles would be fun for multiplayer. Checking out MoO2 now, seems weird I would have missed it.

 

[Marobug]

wtf is light of altair ?

Anyway, stay away from star ruler, it's shit. Armada is rather good if you can ignore the pre 2000 graphics when in battle mode.

 

[Angelo85]

In case you aren't looking for classics like MoO2 the best more recent X4 that I played was Distant Worlds. Here's an LP from JarlFrank:

http://rpgcodex.net/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=42561

This one is in real-time like Sins of a Solar Empire (though you can pause any time). I have to warn you though, there is no Multiplayer in this one.

If you are looking for some Multiplayer fun there is Sword of the Stars (the sequel to this one will come out next month btw.).
This one is more 'streamlined' and focusing on quick multiplayer games with a turn based strategy part and real time battles.
Most online games have a turn timer of 2 minutes for the strategy part and 4 minutes for battles.
In online play It is common to agree only to play out one battle in MP by hand and let the rest be decided by the AI to ensure quick rounds.
There are still people who play this (at this moment right now there are about 12 games going on). But when the second part is released I suspect the player numbers from this will drop.

If you are interested in buying Sword of the Stars don't buy through Steam. It's much too pricey there. Go for Impulse instead. It offers this game for 3.99: http://impulsedriven.com/sotscomcol
While steam charges about 20.

 

[Dragula]

wtf is light of altair ?

http://www.saintxi.com/

AKA a computer game.

 

[GarfunkeL]

Aurora. After that you don't need anything else.

 

[Jocund]

I'm fond of Alpha Centauri (aka SMAC).

 

[Dragula]

Aurora. After that you don't need anything else.

Tried it, but it's buggy as shit on my rig.

 

[Destroid]

I'm told Space Empires V with the balance mod is pretty good. I've not tried it myself.

 

[Kane]

Huge battles would be fun for multiplayer.

go for star ruler

 

[Malakal]

I'm told Space Empires V with the balance mod is pretty good. I've not tried it myself.

I tried it and it has WAY too much micro for my taste. Interface is clunky and slow, ordering things around is a real pain. The core gameplay seems nice and all but I never had the patience to suffer through the micro.

 

[YourConscience]

SEV is actually a nice game and really not all that much micro. The worst offender with this game is its emulated directx9, which makes it slowwwww on modern computers. so slow, that turn times will take forever even on medium sized maps, last time I tried on a Dual Core E8400@3GHz

Add to that the rather stupid AI and that explains why SEV isn't named all that often in such occasions. Or rather, it doesn't evaluate all the possible cheesy tactics that humans can come up with (most importantly it doesn't understand the concept of suicide drones).

edit: also no multicore support, so no significant improvement in the future on the slowness either. There was even a petitions once to make a native directx9 port once, but not enough money could be collected.

 

[Malakal]

Oh true, was thinking about SEIV. SEV what I heard is worse though so dont know if its worth bothering with.

We have a LP somewhere here.

 

[Destroid]

I've played stock SEV and it is not good. The balance mod changes a lot of stuff (including the AI).

 

[Marobug]

Space empires V is pretty good, in spite of the crappy interface.

 

[Ruprekt]

SE V uses GDI intensively, hence it is fucked on vista/win7.

 

[tindrli]

the list goes:

Master of Orion 2 -Its a must have .. whole shit begins with it at least for me
Master of Orion 3 -well the fans hated it but i loved it and i still do.. with a unoficial patches and some mods the game is great if you like 4x

Space empires IV .. this shit.. this is the best 4x for me its even better than MOO2 ... of course you need to install all the patches and balance mods and whole tons of shit that is offered on www.spaceempires.net

Damn i really envy you as you will be able to play this god of all 4x for a first time.

and then there is a

Space empires V which is also a great game once you install whole patch packets balance mods UI mod and like 10000 ship sets . yes.. the AI is retarded buzt the community is very alive and you should be suprised once you install all this and compare it with stock game

and the last you have sword of the stars.. for some reason i culd never get hooked on this one, but you should defenetly try.

From the new ones i only tried armada2526 and distant worlds but its just not.. dont know how to explain

 

[Ruprekt]

Biology
Potatoes are stubby monocular veggienoids with a thin layer of brown skin covering their inner bodies and long flailing limbs. They breathe carbon dioxide and prefer temperate climates and flat, low lying plains. Potatoes vary in size from 8-12cm in height and 200-300g in mass. They possess above average strength and in additional to their single main eye, multiple simple eyes may be present on their body. Despite their extra eyes, Potatoes have relatively poor vision and compensate with their ability to detect electrical impulses. Potato bodies contain high levels of starch reserves, allowing them to go without food for extended periods of time. Reproduction is infrequent and occurs when a female egg is fertilized by a male Potato and seeded in rich soil. Gestation lasts for approximately ninety days before the young potato emerges. Potatoes require a diet rich in carbohydrates and minerals for growth, with healthy individuals reaching 30-40 years of age.
Society
The majority of Potatoes are organized in a democratic union under the guidance of an elected Premier and Senate. The Premier's power is in the form of 11 votes (compared to 1 for each Senator) that can be dispersed as seen fit in legislative actions. General elections are held every 3 years. Potatoes are guided by a strong work ethic that has contributed to an overall high level of achievement of the population as a whole - although varying levels of economic disparity are still prevalent. Potatoes are not particularly spiritual or moral, but actively uphold their Code of Rights, a tenet declaring equal rights and freedoms for all, and establishes honorable living guidelines. Previous racial and regional conflicts continue to fade in times of increasing cultural integration and globalization. The Potato economy is driven by wide scale agriculture and industry, with an emphasis on resource extraction. Most Potatoes reside in vast subterranean cities that dot the landscape.
History
For most of their history, Potatoes were divided across national and ethnic boundaries with little interaction between them. The rise of industry and new technologies brought increased interaction and trade, but also conflict and war. After a long period of relative stability and growth, the Potatoes were struck by the great Blight plague. The potent disease spread quickly and killed more than 80% of the population. The Blight destroyed most of the existing government infrastructure and until a cure was developed, chaos was commonplace. In the aftermath of the Blight, the founding of the Co-operative Council to rebuild the Potato homeworld became the first wide scale agreement of the Potatoes. The success of the Council in its efforts, led to a global referendum and the formation of the Potato Republic. The Republic became the first planet wide governing body of which more than three-quarters of the population has joined. The stability of the Republic has continued to push the Potatoes forward towards the future.

http://sfe.captainkwok.net/empires/potato.php

 

[Raapys]

Master of Orion 1-3 should all be played. They're basically the definition of the genre. MoO3 is the best I'd say, but it's also very different from the previous two and it needs the mod pack to be good.

SE5 is rather poor because of too many stupid design decisions. The Balance Mod fixes...well, game balance and AI( to an extent), but it doesn't( and can't) fix the actual game and UI. Long turn-processing times is also a game-breaker.

SE4 is great, but can feel somewhat soulless without mods. Not much effort was made to make distinct races/technology and such. Plays best in multiplayer.

Aurora is both good and bad. Plenty of cool options and features, stuff you'll be wishing you had in the other 4x games. On the other hand it doesn't get more spreadsheet in space than this; no atmosphere, no graphics, etc. It also has more micromanagement than anything else out there, plus tons of quirks and a UI from hell. The game breaking thing for me though is the extremely slow pace caused by the time it takes the computer to accelerate the time, even with my very decent computer and cpu.

Distant Worlds, with expansion, is the best I've played in a long time. As opposed to the others it's not turn-based, but the rtwp system works fine. It lacks the colony management of the other games here, but it does the rest really well. Arguably the best economy system of any 4x game, since it has computer-controlled civilian ships/bases.

Star Ruler is so-so. It's got a cool scale system where you can build ships of almost any size and ship design works fairly well too. That, however, is pretty much the extent of what's good about it. The rest of the game is utterly bland and still feels incomplete.

 

[MasterSmithFandango]

Whoa, slow down. Distant Worlds? Give me the dets... that sounds interesting.

 

[tindrli]

i still think that he should first play SE IV with all that comunity made in a last decade

 

[Raapys]

Well, Distant Worlds has all the classic elements; colonize, research, design, conquer, etc.

What separates it from most of the rest is that it has several different types of resources/fuel which are required to build ships and develop colonies. These are found on planets, moons, gas giants and nebulaes. This is the part that the AI civilian sector of your Empire handles. It'll build gas/mining stations above planets and such, or it'll send ships to mine these locations. It also handles transportation of resources to your planets/construction yards and trade with other empires. So it adds a layer without really adding much, if any, micromanagement. These ships and bases can of course be destroyed, potentially crippling an economy.

Another element is how exploration actually pays off. You discover ruins with galactic history, technology and clues, ancient space testing grounds or battlefields with advanced ships, etc. The expansion even brings with it a story that fires off some time into the game.

It's not completely without problems though. Most of the resources are abundant enough that you're unlikely to see much of a shortage, and the AI is no match at all for a player who has learned the mechanics. Then again, the latter can be said for any 4x game, and the former might be more of an issue with an AI capable of exploiting those mechanics.

But yeah, definitely one of the better 4x games I've played, with another expansion coming near christmas I think. The quality of the first expansion really improved upon the original game a great deal, so the second one can hopefully do the same. Only wish they'd really open it up to modding, as I can see a great deal of potential still untapped.

 

[DakaSha]

stupid fucking game

 

[Dragula]

What about Sword of the Stars I/II?