Games with good ship-to-ship combat? Sea, space or other.

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I've been playing recently Shortest Trip to Earth, which is FTL-clone with a bit more simulationist approach, and was considering installing Star Trek -Starfleet Command; which got me thinking, "what are good games with ship-to-ship combat? What do those have in common? Do same mechanics work in historical and sci-fi settings?"

What I'm looking for is FTL styled games where maneuvering is abstracted into dodge change or games where player has more direct control during combat like in ancient Pirates!
Single ship vs single ship or between very small squadrons.
Don't care if its historical, sci-fi, fantasy or whatever as long as it's good.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Sea Dogs had cool naval combat IIRC. It was generally a cool game, though buggy as hell.

Also, maybe Master of Orion 2? Dunno if that's what you're looking for exactly but the space combat in MoO2 is very cool.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Sea Dogs had cool naval combat IIRC. It was generally a cool game, though buggy as hell.

Also, maybe Master of Orion 2? Dunno if that's what you're looking for exactly but the space combat in MoO2 is very cool.

MoO 2 space combat isn't between small squadrons when you get your economy running.

I'm looking for something with smaller scale where's there is maybe 1 or 2 ships duking it out and focus is in crew and systems control.

 

[Darth Roxor]

It's small squadrons of doom stars, ok

 

[Alienman]

Played the shit out of this one. Was looking forward to the sequel, but it felt nothing like the original.


Also good one. Capital ship vs. capital ship basically. Nice story too.


Pretty kewl Lovecraft submarine game. Big focus on multiplayer, really shines in co-op, but you can play it solo (which works fine). The AI isn't the greatest though.


Weird steampunkish ship to ship combat, can get pretty cool, but last time I played it it was lacking a reason to play - like a campaign or any kind of progression. Might be in it now.

 

[toro]

Battlezone

 

[Please No]

Silent Hunter III is the game you are looking for, for sure. The second and fourth games are good too, but I liked the third one the best.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

Can't really say that Star Fleet Command is all that comparable to FTL, though it is amazing. FTL doesn't consider movement IIRC and SFC doesn't really let you do specific targeting unless you're already full-hog about to crush them anyways. Probably the best Star Trek game, minus all those bits about "non-violence" and "communication", the only communication you need there is whether or not your photon torpedoes are overloaded or not.

 

[downwardspiral]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/494840/UBOAT/
Has some crew management. You can walk in the ship for immersion.
There is a campaign and progression for some role playing elements.
Gameplay is pretty arcade, Don't require any understanding of submarine so it is easy to get into.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/268650/From_the_Depths/
No crew management, design your own ship and weapons then you can play it like RTS or man your own flagship.
There is a large campaign map going on where you can travel in your fleet and take over resource point of other factions.
You can aim the weapon youself or write AI to target specific target or points.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/476530/Children_of_a_Dead_Earth/
Ship to Ship battle. You can dodge and select where to attack.
Design your ship and weapons. But targeting system is not very customizable.
No campaign just ship to ship shoot out.
Apart from some physics and targeting shortcoming the battle is great.

 

[mondblut]

I'm looking for something with smaller scale where's there is maybe 1 or 2 ships duking it out and focus is in crew and systems control.

Starships Unlimited.

 

[reversependulum]

Uncharted Water 2: New Horizons has good medieval ship to ship battles.

 

[Citizen]

Children of the Dead Earth

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Man O'War Corsair has good sea fights, if you're ok with the Warhammer setting.

 

[Kitchen Utensil]

World of Warships

 

[deama]

Freespace 2 has pretty good space dog-fights, as well as squad dog-fights (you always get a squad I believe).

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Can't really say that Star Fleet Command is all that comparable to FTL, though it is amazing. FTL doesn't consider movement IIRC and SFC doesn't really let you do specific targeting unless you're already full-hog about to crush them anyways. Probably the best Star Trek game, minus all those bits about "non-violence" and "communication", the only communication you need there is whether or not your photon torpedoes are overloaded or not.

I included both as an example since both have the common theme of command of the spaceship on a "dueling" situation, even if the way those games approach that theme is very different.

 

[DraQ]

Children of A Dead Earth:
Hard-assed and turbo-ambitious attempt at making tactical level (so single ships to small fleets) near future (as in RL prototyped tech only) spaceship combat and making it painstakingly detailed (to the point where every single bullet is simulated along with the damage it does depending on its velocity, mass, calliber and thickness, composition and spacing of individual armour layers) no-bullshit realistic. One-man project so some limitations and jank are inevitable, but actually does a pretty good job nailing even visual effects.
Monocrystalline diamond monocle tier.
You can design your own ships and even their individual components (based on RL physical models - down to individual armour layering or deciding how thick is your coilgun wire, what material and how many windings) if you want to, and use them in later missions.

'Dex thread:
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/children-of-a-dead-earth.111131/
Some screenshots doing better job pimping the game than (dated) official stuff:

Spoiler

Nexus: The Jupiter Incident
Pretty cool tactical level space game with some nice (if fake) realistic stylistics.
Gold tier.
https://af.gog.com/game/nexus_the_jupiter_incident?as=1649904300

 

[DraQ]

No campaign just ship to ship shoot out.

Actually has a campaign and custom campaign editor.

 

[downwardspiral]

No campaign just ship to ship shoot out.

Actually has a campaign and custom campaign editor.

Sorry, should be more clarify, no dynamic campaign with progression(core unit, consistent units) compare to the two above U-boat or FtD.
The campaign in CODE is scripted missions story mode.
I am okay with the editor creating my own faction and story.
But to many, lack of built-in progression and dynamic campaign system will affect the motivation to play.

 

[DraQ]

No campaign just ship to ship shoot out.

Actually has a campaign and custom campaign editor.

Sorry, should be more clarify, no dynamic campaign with progression(core unit, consistent units) compare to the two above U-boat or FtD.
The campaign in CODE is scripted missions story mode.
I am okay with the editor creating my own faction and story.
But to many, lack of built-in progression and dynamic campaign system will affect the motivation to play.

OTOH you can design your very own stuff.

 

[Beowulf]

Nexus: Jupiter Incident is a solid one, however you usually command more than 1-2 ships.
CoaDE also involves more ships, but it's a really nice game. Albeit it can be more about efficient space manoeuvring than space combat (which can be decided very quickly).

You could also take a look at this:


I also remember a WW2 game focusing on ship system management. You were basically in charge of setting the damage repair crews to work, ordering who targets who and the manoeuvrers, but there was no direct control.
Can't remember the title right now, but it was something like this, but more modern:
https://www.myabandonware.com/game/fighting-steel-world-war-ii-surface-combat-1939-1942-bet
It had a demo with a Battle of the Denmark Strait, so it definitely fulfilled the 1-2 ships per side duking it out.

Also Naval Action has some good ship management and you don't have to participate in bigger battles if you don't want to:


Atlantic Fleet is more of a strategy but might warrant a look as well:

 

[DraQ]

Added trailers for CoaDE.

 

[luj1]

No one mentioned homeworld?

 

[Farewell into the night]

Homeworld

 

[DraQ]

No one mentioned homeworld?

Mostly literate posters ITT:

Single ship vs single ship or between very small squadrons.

(HW1 is great, obviously, but not quite on topic)