Indie Space Sims - post 'em if you find 'em

[anvi]

Chorvs

 

[ShaggyMoose]

That is what I originally searched for on Steam as well...

 

[Napalm]

Grabbed this one at last steam sale: https://store.steampowered.com/app/283160/House_of_the_Dying_Sun/
Liked the gameplay. Main campaign is really short though, so I just played it multiple times, first on easy to figure out basics and unlock upgrades, and then on hard/very hard.

 

[anvi]

anyone play that?

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

anyone play that?

Yes. It is good, with newtonian physics AFAIR. I think you need some mods to make it work nicely on big screens. All that stuff is here.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Space Bourne has been on my wishlist for a while and this seems like the steepest discount it has ever received (80%). I didn't buy it because I have soooo many unplayed games I am not getting through and I noticed the developer is currently working on a sequel due later in the year. However, if you are looking for something "Elitish" or "Freelancerish", this may scratch an immediate itch at a very low price.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

gameplay

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

Eurgh... Another "space" capital ship game where you fight at speeds of tens of m/s, at distances of meters. And it looks like carriers are as manoeuvrable as fighters.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people are choosing space theme because it requires less assets and work on terrain, instead of actually caring about things being in space properly. Take this game for example. To me, it wouldn't be as jarring and stupid if instead in space it was in luminous aether, the carrier was more of an age of sail wooden thing (not a 1-to-1 transplant of actual sea faring vessels, but something designed in same vein, so not Disney's Treasure Planet, but some less crazy Spelljammer, or even WH40k style without all the skulls), and the fighters were more akin to small muscle/steam/aether powered subs. More Verne, less dollar-store plastic "space ship" models. That way you could still get the asset benefit of large empty spaces, but the whole thing would make more sense and piss off people like me way less. In fact, I would play the shit out of such game.

 

[Joggerino]

I played this when it first came out. It was kinda fun but got bored quickly, since there wasn't much to do. Either maneuver your own ship or fight like in an fps.

 

[anvi]

Eurgh... Another "space" capital ship game where you fight at speeds of tens of m/s, at distances of meters. And it looks like carriers are as manoeuvrable as fighters.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people are choosing space theme because it requires less assets and work on terrain, instead of actually caring about things being in space properly. Take this game for example. To me, it wouldn't be as jarring and stupid if instead in space it was in luminous aether, the carrier was more of an age of sail wooden thing (not a 1-to-1 transplant of actual sea faring vessels, but something designed in same vein, so not Disney's Treasure Planet, but some less crazy Spelljammer, or even WH40k style without all the skulls), and the fighters were more akin to small muscle/steam/aether powered subs. More Verne, less dollar-store plastic "space ship" models. That way you could still get the asset benefit of large empty spaces, but the whole thing would make more sense and piss off people like me way less. In fact, I would play the shit out of such game.

I think it's also easy to run because most of the screen is just blackness of space. In a FPS or RPG you have to fill the world with plants and shit.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Galdred]

Eurgh... Another "space" capital ship game where you fight at speeds of tens of m/s, at distances of meters. And it looks like carriers are as manoeuvrable as fighters.
Sometimes I get the feeling that people are choosing space theme because it requires less assets and work on terrain, instead of actually caring about things being in space properly. Take this game for example. To me, it wouldn't be as jarring and stupid if instead in space it was in luminous aether, the carrier was more of an age of sail wooden thing (not a 1-to-1 transplant of actual sea faring vessels, but something designed in same vein, so not Disney's Treasure Planet, but some less crazy Spelljammer, or even WH40k style without all the skulls), and the fighters were more akin to small muscle/steam/aether powered subs. More Verne, less dollar-store plastic "space ship" models. That way you could still get the asset benefit of large empty spaces, but the whole thing would make more sense and piss off people like me way less. In fact, I would play the shit out of such game.

A simple way to do so would be to have combat happen in hyperspace. Hyperspace can work with whatever magic constrains you want. There was an anime in which most fighting happened in hyperspace (Banner of the Stars I think). It can even have a totally different geometry, and would make more sense than most of the SciFi combat we have (as we could also make hyperspace "smaller", in which something the size of the Atlantic Ocean could map to a whole galaxy in real space.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

A simple way to do so would be to have combat happen in hyperspace. Hyperspace can work with whatever magic constrains you want. There was an anime in which most fighting happened in hyperspace (Banner of the Stars I think). It can even have a totally different geometry, and would make more sense than most of the SciFi combat we have (as we could also make hyperspace "smaller", in which something the size of the Atlantic Ocean could map to a whole galaxy in real space.

But adding hyperspace already moves you into magic territory, instead of Science Fiction. You also need to provide a sensible explanation as to why combat happens in hyperspace and why it doesn't in real space.

 

[Norfleet]

Eurgh... Another "space" capital ship game where you fight at speeds of tens of m/s, at distances of meters. And it looks like carriers are as manoeuvrable as fighters.

Honestly, at this point, even real life combat happens at distances that humans can't really see anything at. The reason everything happens at unrealistically short distances, even when it's individual dudes with guns, is because the action no longer fits on the screen otherwise.

If you wanted a space game fought at realistic speeds and distances, you would essentially no graphics cuz you couldn't see jack shit.

Take this game for example. To me, it wouldn't be as jarring and stupid if instead in space it was in luminous aether, the carrier was more of an age of sail wooden thing (not a 1-to-1 transplant of actual sea faring vessels, but something designed in same vein, so not Disney's Treasure Planet, but some less crazy Spelljammer, or even WH40k style without all the skulls), and the fighters were more akin to small muscle/steam/aether powered subs. More Verne, less dollar-store plastic "space ship" models. That way you could still get the asset benefit of large empty spaces, but the whole thing would make more sense and piss off people like me way less. In fact, I would play the shit out of such game.

Yeah, I've thought about that idea also. Of course, at that point you have to question whether it's a SPACE game anymore. Is it really space and sci-fi if it is not actually happening in space as we know it?

 

[Galdred]

Indeed, warp, space magic was a justification for fighting in not-Newtonian space.
As for the warfare justifications, there can be a lot of ways to build the universe to make it work:
If warp weapons massively outrange physical ones, regular space combat would become as common as gunnery duels between post ww2 warships.
Or warp lanes could be narrow enough compared to engagement ranges that you just cannot decline combat if the opponent decides to engage there.

Eurgh... Another "space" capital ship game where you fight at speeds of tens of m/s, at distances of meters. And it looks like carriers are as manoeuvrable as fighters.

Honestly, at this point, even real life combat happens at distances that humans can't really see anything at. The reason everything happens at unrealistically short distances, even when it's individual dudes with guns, is because the action no longer fits on the screen otherwise.

If you wanted a space game fought at realistic speeds and distances, you would essentially no graphics cuz you couldn't see jack shit.

Wouldn't Children of a Dead Earth be the only game to qualify then?
Many space games even have full or semi manual aiming...

I-War 2 left you reach very high speeds, but it made the space combat not really work anymore (it is a bit difficult to manually aim when jousting very fast).

 

[Norfleet]

Wouldn't Children of a Dead Earth be the only game to qualify then?

CoaDE is really more of a theoretical space combat simulator than a game, in truth. No fucks are given for balance, it's really more of an attempt to discern what space combat would realistically be like by inventing it from first principles.

But if you want semblance of range-realism in a space combat game, you pretty much have to go back to the really old text games where it WAS possible to have battles fought at 40K km or more, because there was no need to visually depict the combatants together. Or at all. It occurs to me that this would save bigly on your graphical budget, but the question is: Would you like to play a game where your enemies will never be more than blips on your radar display?

 

[Galdred]

Wouldn't Children of a Dead Earth be the only game to qualify then?

CoaDE is really more of a theoretical space combat simulator than a game, in truth. No fucks are given for balance, it's really more of an attempt to discern what space combat would realistically be like by inventing it from first principles.

But if you want semblance of range-realism in a space combat game, you pretty much have to go back to the really old text games where it WAS possible to have battles fought at 40K km or more, because there was no need to visually depict the combatants together. Or at all. It occurs to me that this would save bigly on your graphical budget, but the question is: Would you like to play a game where your enemies will never be more than blips on your radar display?

That wouldn't be too different from Rules of Engagement, which looks pretty great. It could work if it were more a game about captaining a ship(like Bridge Commander or FTL) than piloting it.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

I don't think there would be much actual piloting in space combat. IMO, it would feel more like auto-battler, with each ship performing a small range of pre-programmed, very simply conditioned manouvers, as there simply wouldn't be any time for too much smart analysis.

So definitely more captaining, and planning, than actual waving your joystick around.

 

[Blaine]

Galdred Outer space is an audience-favorite setting, in addition to being easy on the assets. Starships are an audience-favored phenomenon. The fact of the matter is that actual, realistic space combat would most likely involve managing the team of mathematicians, astrophysicists, and engineers who design and prototype the computer that performs all of the ballistic and/or attenuation calculations.

Combat itself would consist of doing one's best to be somewhere else other than actually onboard the craft toting the weapons and targeting computers. Issuing commands over a relay to a remote drone sounds about right. If nothing else, the lack of a squishy bag of guts on board would allow for far more strenuous maneuvering.

Yaar Podshipnik posted while I was composing the above. Different points, but they're along the same lines.

A much more appropriate setting would be the actual fuckin' water, since clearly "a naval carrier group experience" is what all of these folks are shooting for. Hell, have it all take place underwater. That's been done a time or two and could be a lot more interesting, though would require more assets, probably.

That, or big-ass tracked, balloon-tired, hover-effect, and/or centipede-legged vehicles, including things like carriers and fast scouts, set in a vast desert a la Dune or whatever. Both of these things offer a good excuse to move at human-expectant speeds and engage at human-expectant distances.

 

[Norfleet]

That wouldn't be too different from Rules of Engagement, which looks pretty great. It could work if it were more a game about captaining a ship(like Bridge Commander or FTL) than piloting it.

I actually had an ancient project like this, from back in the MUD days, that I wonder if I could pull together into something, slap a graphical interface on it so the text readouts can be displayed visually rather than polled for by telnet command, and turn that into a game.

A much more appropriate setting would be the actual fuckin' water, since clearly "a naval carrier group experience" is what all of these folks are shooting for. Hell, have it all take place underwater.

Now I'm suddenly drawn back to this concept setting I thought of, where civilization has been destroyed and the survivors of humanity are the ones living in the submarines that helped end civilization, "We All Live In A Nuclear Submarine".

 

[Blaine]

I always liked a similar concept—a post-apocalyptic world, but with orbital space stations whose inhabitants still live and whose generations span the before and after times.

Of course, space stations and submarines are little more than analogues of bunkers/vaults in this context and are virtually identical from a conceptual standpoint (apocalypse arks), so actually we're just wanting different flavors of Fallout. As usual for the last twenty-five years.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

your visions of "realistic space combat" lack one aspect: sensor scrambling. while stealth is pretty much impossible, overloading sensors is quite easy and achievable. once you make fool of sensors you must use visual confirmation to hit targets, and that means that any long range approach is fucked, or at least you go the macross route "shoot 100 missiles in the hope 1 would land" which is still extremely weak against point defense.
by the way, any "realism" would be based only on our current technology level. 130 years ago the concept of "air battles" would have been the most retarded fanfiction ever.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

your visions of "realistic space combat" lack one aspect: sensor scrambling. while stealth is pretty much impossible, overloading sensors is quite easy and achievable. once you make fool of sensors you must use visual confirmation to hit targets, and that means that any long range approach is fucked, or at least you go the macross route "shoot 100 missiles in the hope 1 would land" which is still extremely weak against point defense.
by the way, any "realism" would be based only on our current technology level. 130 years ago the concept of "air battles" would have been the most retarded fanfiction ever.

Disagree with you on "air battles" analogy. 130 years ago we knew fuck all of physics of flight, hence air battles would be a almost unthinkable (unless it meant dudes shooting muskets at each other from balloons). Currently we have pretty good idea how physics of spaceflight works. There are several viable theoretical propulsion systems that would make space battles close to reality. We also have understanding of how some stuff that's strictly on paper now would work, if it works at all. So I would say that currently we can imagine possible plausible scenarios of space combat better than 1890s person would imagine air battles.

Sensor scrambling is certainly a thing. However, you either do it from your mothership, therefore putting a big target on yourself, or you do it from remotely launched drones (for lack of better word), which also become a big bright target. And let's not forget that space is big, and any jamming you're emitting drops of with sqare of distance, while the more power you pump in, the hotter, and more visible, you get.

Shooting multiple missiles/missile carriers is IMO a perfectly viable tactic. Don't forget a missile can have decoys on it, to reduce the efficiency of PD. And any PD system you are going to have is going to have a limit on the amount of entities it can deal with, so it would just be a N+1 game to overload it.