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

[MadMaxHellfire]

you wasted your money.

 

[Galdred]

EVE Offline.

Sold.

I thought Eve Offline was Excel.
How engaging is the "low level" gameplay (of pewpewing and making money)?

 

[Blaine]

Astrox is garbage. Trust me on this. It's slightly interesting for a little while, but nothing more.

People who call it "EVE Offline" are the people who think that EVE is about staring at the screen mining asteroids or running NPC missions for untold hours.

That's not EVE. EVE is a PvP-centric game, full stop—and in that, it shines like no other MMORPG (or at least it did while I played from 2006-2012). Anyone who plays EVE for the PvE aspects is a masochistic imbecile.

 

[Norfleet]

And yet there's a lot of such masochistic imbeciles and they're apparently required for the Eve economy to function, as the economy to supply the war materiel that PvPers destroy wouldn't be sustainable otherwise.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

not at all. 0.0 space is perfectly self-sufficient.

 

[Blaine]

And yet there's a lot of such masochistic imbeciles and they're apparently required for the Eve economy to function, as the economy to supply the war materiel that PvPers destroy wouldn't be sustainable otherwise.

It's kinda like real life in that way.

not at all. 0.0 space is perfectly self-sufficient.

Yes, but also no.

>0.0 mineral mining, manufacturing, mission running, complex running, and ratting produce an awful lot of materiel due to the sheer volume of people engaging in those activities. While nullbears could in theory sustain themselves as hermit kingdoms, in practice the hoi polloi allow a lot more ships and modules to roll off the assembly line than would otherwise be the case.

Additionally, lowsec life is the pinnacle of the EVE experience. Other than politics and territorial disputes (i.e. blob warfare), nullsec life has almost as much carebearing as highsec, and a great deal more than lowsec. Carebearing is often safer in nullsec, since alliances defend their territory.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

I bought a little indie game on Steam called Star Fleet Armada Rogue Adventures which is like a much more elaborate variation on Starflight/Star Control 2 that uses the rogue-like approach in that there's no central story - you just start at one small sector of of the galaxy and move from left to right to eventually wipe out your enemy, accruing upgrades, a fleet, stat increases and a shit-ton of other things to discover to help you in your conquest. Tons & tons of configurability, and it's not too easy. Basic mechanics are very similar to the aforementioned SF/SC2 - especially resource gathering on planet surfaces in a virtual clone of SF/SC2 - but with a shitload of mini-games added, which may be an unexpected pleasure to some, an agony to others. I recommend actually buying it like I did because of the major updates/free DLC/bug fixes that older pirated versions don't have. If you can deal with the lack of story, it's the closest thing to true Starflight I've yet discovered.

Also looking at Star Explorers , a lite, less grindy - some say superior - variation on No Man's Sky but with 90s graphics. Still procedurally generated, however, but it looks great. Both these games won't set you back more than $5 or $6 bucks.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Also looking at Star Explorers , a lite, less grindy - some say superior - variation on No Man's Sky but with 90s graphics. Still procedurally generated, however, but it looks great. Both these games won't set you back more than $5 or $6 bucks.

I bought this a while ago on the v4 update, which I assumed would be the last one. However, a v5 update was recently launched which brings new features and polish to the game. It was created by a solo developer and shows, but also is clearly a labour of love. The graphics are basic but have an appealing retro charm, while the user interface is best described as serviceable...

For the very low price, there is at least four hours of gameplay to finish the main story, but you will miss a lot of the game; I have played more than twenty hours and still haven't encountered everything that other players have seen.

I have a spoiler-tagged guide up on Steam if anyone is after tips; I will be updating it based on v5 once I finish my current playthrough.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

Also looking at Star Explorers , a lite, less grindy - some say superior - variation on No Man's Sky but with 90s graphics. Still procedurally generated, however, but it looks great. Both these games won't set you back more than $5 or $6 bucks.

I bought this a while ago on the v4 update, which I assumed would be the last one. However, a v5 update was recently launched which brings new features and polish to the game. It was created by a solo developer and shows, but also is clearly a labour of love. The graphics are basic but have an appealing retro charm, while the user interface is best described as serviceable...

For the very low price, there is at least four hours of gameplay to finish the main story, but you will miss a lot of the game; I have played more than twenty hours and still haven't encountered everything that other players have seen.

I have a spoiler-tagged guide up on Steam if anyone is after tips; I will be updating it based on v5 once I finish my current playthrough.

Yeah, even has that dirty 16-bit color depth look to it, which I'm sure is intentional to help distinguish itself from the ultra HD 4K herd ie No Man's Sky. I just bought this today, btw, to help and support the developer (who is still very much into updating and enhancing it). We need little games like this to grant us a reprieve from the too-slick and rather soulless AAA product out there. I'll be sure to check out your guide.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

JackOfOwls, I recommend you join the developer's Discord channel; he is very active/responsive and you can participate in the beta releases.

 

[SlamDunk]

In the Black - Hardcore Space Combat

https://intheblack.gg

Made by https://impellerstudios.com

THE VISION

In The Black is an intense team-based online space combat simulator with a laser focus on combat. Everything in the game is researched and designed in consultation with aerospace engineers and space scientists in order to put you in the cockpit of the most lethal machines ever devised.

NO FANTASY-BASED PROPULSION

Drives include gas core nuclear reactors, electromagnetic mass drivers, solar thermal and light sails (and there’s a difference between reactor fuel and thruster propellant)

NO MAGIC FORCE-FIELDS, TELEPORTERS OR OTHER TECHNOLOGY THAT VIOLATES KNOWN SCIENCE.

We offer modular adaptive spaceframes, distributed sensors, & self-healing smart materials

NO DISRUPTOR BEAMS, PROTON TORPEDOES, OR OTHER COLORFUL FANTASY WEAPONS

We have variable yield nuclear warheads, megawatt class lasers and railguns, EMP weapons, and good old slugs of iron.

NO ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY

Down is the direction of thrust, (or the exterior bulkheads of a rotating habitat section)

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Oooooh, that looks sexy! Interested to see how engaging the campaign is; these days the focus seems to be on MP, but I didn't see any mention of that.

EDIT: Well crap, I can't have read their site too closely. Found the game on Steam and it says straight up that it is a primarily a team-based MP game. Hopefully the SP still isn't anemic but my excitement is diminished...

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

online multiplayer

yeah, that's dead on arrival for me as well.

 

[Arrowgrab]

For the very low price, there is at least four hours of gameplay to finish the main story, but you will miss a lot of the game; I have played more than twenty hours and still haven't encountered everything that other players have seen.

I have a spoiler-tagged guide up on Steam if anyone is after tips; I will be updating it based on v5 once I finish my current playthrough.

You seem knowledgeable about this game, let me ask you some questions:

- Early on, I'm supposed to go find Axwhatever crystals on silicate planets for the mothership, then drop an orbital beacon to let them know I've found some. How exactly do I know whether a planet actually has those crystals (and is therefore suitable to drop a beacon at)? Do I just land, go into caves, start picking mineral lumps off the walls, and hope some of them are Axwhatever? Or is there some other way of tellling? Based on reading some Steam threads, I understand that I'll be eventually able to land on the mothership and buy a wider range of goods than what is available through the communications console, but that only happens after I find some Axwhatever. But so far I haven't found any, which is a massive stumbling block.

- How exactly do I refuel? The mothership does sell Axwhatever crystals - do I just buy those and they increase my fuel reserves? Or is actual, proper, refined spaceship fuel a separate commodity (which so far I've never seen the mothership sell)?

 

[ShaggyMoose]

You seem knowledgeable about this game, let me ask you some questions:

- Early on, I'm supposed to go find Axwhatever crystals on silicate planets for the mothership, then drop an orbital beacon to let them know I've found some. How exactly do I know whether a planet actually has those crystals (and is therefore suitable to drop a beacon at)? Do I just land, go into caves, start picking mineral lumps off the walls, and hope some of them are Axwhatever? Or is there some other way of tellling? Based on reading some Steam threads, I understand that I'll be eventually able to land on the mothership and buy a wider range of goods than what is available through the communications console, but that only happens after I find some Axwhatever. But so far I haven't found any, which is a massive stumbling block.

Planets formed of silicate rock are more likely (but not guaranteed) to have fuel crystals, so start looking for these in the appropriate sector. I find its a 50/50 bet at worst, if you find any other crystals (e.g. diamonds) on a given planet, then it is guaranteed not to have any other types including fuel crystals. After landing on a prospect planet, explore any cave looking for the crystals on the walls as you said; they look like pink/blue quartz and are very obvious, exactly the same as they appear in the mothership inventory (and yours). Once you have found the crystals, remember to launch a beacon before leaving to bring the mothership in for mining operations.

- How exactly do I refuel? The mothership does sell Axwhatever crystals - do I just buy those and they increase my fuel reserves? Or is actual, proper, refined spaceship fuel a separate commodity (which so far I've never seen the mothership sell)?

Fuel is just the raw crystals. Click on them in your inventory and use the "refuel" option; you will see your ship fuel increase accordingly.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

ΔV: Rings of Saturn has been released on GOG.
https://af.gog.com/game/dv_rings_of_saturn?as=1649904300

 

[ShaggyMoose]

I haven't been back to the game in a while; I am waiting for the news that it is feature complete before diving in again.

 

[Yaar Podshipnik]

It's not 1.0 yet, just early access on gog as well as on steam. It's shaping up to be really cool though.

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Flight of Nova is an EA game about flight operations in vacuum and atmosphere and looks interesting for those after a sim. This game was flagged by the developer of Saturn Delta V and honestly doesn't sound like there is much in the way of a meta game, its just focused on the flying.

I also found that the Steam genre search is greatly improved since the last time I used it; you can get a quick look at all sales on space games and see what is coming up or popular.

 

[DDZ]

A walking rolling and gliding simulator on different exoplanets. I tried the free prologue last year and enjoyed it quiet a bit. You play as a drone made from plans from an alien signal, the gimmick is it has some kind of (anti)gravity drive. Hold a button to turn on max gravity and when not holding a button down you are cruising around at moon gravity. Hold another button to turn into a disc to glide around. You can build a lot of momentum and get around fast as shit.

Graphics are a bit of a mixed bad, but it looks pretty great 80% of the time. It even has an interesting little story about a crew that has gone missing around Jupiter.

Definitely worth checking out.

Demo/prologue here:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1375530/Exo_One_Prologue/

 

[anvi]

Glorified ASMR for snowflake generation.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[ShaggyMoose]

Interesting, looks like a cross between Descent and Everspace.

 

[Non-Edgy Gamer]

Pretty generic star wars rip off setting with maximum edge. And they make you play some mystery meat girl on top of that.

Could be worse though.

 

[anvi]

Chorvs