madhouse
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What are some good recommendations?
Capitalism and Capitalism 2.What are some good recommendations?
It's decent, but you run out of things to do very quickly. Not much depth or strategy to it. I wouldn't really recommend it unless you really like DOS games.Heard good things about Machiavelli the Prince but I haven't really played it.
The original is really short though, Escape Velocity Nova is where it's at. The creator of EV: Override is remaking the game, could go even further from there https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cosmicfrontier/cosmic-frontier-override/descriptionEscape Velocity.
Star Traders: Frontiers has a great feel to it because it has a Dune-like world and keeps to a strict feudal atmosphere. The galactic flight map, where you drive your ship around to different systems and planets, plays in a fairly strict manner. You'll have 40-something or more "characters" (the number of which is highly dependent on your ship AND that ship's upgrades. There are many ships and many upgrades) that will sit in your crew list. The point of these characters is to contribute to a perk and skill pool. There are many skills and perks, and each character has access to most of them, so most of your crew should ideally be leveled up automatically - though you can do it manually if you're a psycho. The ship acts like an aggregate of the skills and perks of every single crew member, and it needs them too because skill checks happen every few seconds when traveling - space is dangerous, after all - and upon anything you do, even landing on planets checks your pilots' and engineers' skills and perks for fuel efficiency.
There are three game modes, but perhaps a fourth depending on your opinion. There's crew combat; space combat; flight map and, if you fancy it as major enough, a sort of text adventure. Each mode depends on crew skills. Crew combat is why you manually level up some of your crew. It takes the shape of four of your crew fighting four enemies in a Darkest Dungeon style of encounter. It's rather brutal. Space combat is more of the same, where your ship and weapons, along with the perks of your crew, matter most. Perks are like cards here, where you play them to alter combat. This mode is much easier than ground combat but it's very easy to get in over your head and get caught with your pants down. Space flight is how you get to your missions and trading opportunity. You land on planets and stations, you run into random encounters, you blockade or spy or patrol planets. The text adventure is the precept to all three, and how situations change and get resolved. You choose your actions, you pass or fail skill checks, you make decisions, you do faction stuff.
You have to keep your crew paid and happy. You do that at every landing, usually allowing crew leave to the spice halls (Not-Dune, remember) and paying their wages. If you don't do that, you'll have crew leaving at the first safe port and never coming back.
There's quite a bit to it. I know this can be someone's favorite game but it's a little dry to me. Definitely try it. It's very unique.
Starsector is another one focused on trading, going so far as to progress from a couple lone ships to a space empire.
I don't seek out these games and I barely play them. What comes to mind with this description is a game like the earlier Paradox GSGs - or even as broadly stretched as to reach OpenTTD. This thread has me interested in something more, and you seem to know a lot about this. What do you recommend for good traders, past or present? I've already gathered a couple of the recommendations from both here and the earlier linked thread, like Patrician 3.In contrast, what I'd call a "Trader" game involves building some kind of financial empire where violence is generally undesired or plays merely a side-role rather than the primary role.
Bear in mind that the Starsector early game is pretty shit. It only really gets good once you get a decent ship, a decent sized fleet and a bunch of weapons and systems. Tinkering with ship builds and big fleet battles is where the game shines. If you're inclined you can try the Nexelerin mod that has accelerated start options.I played Starsector for a few hours, but it didn't hold me despite being very fun.