A Game in my Head

[StarBob]

Remember Spore? After you evolve and do all of that crap, you get to this endless game of "Manage the Colonies" that actually just involves flying from planet to planet desperately fighting off pirates and your colonists could never manage. It got old fast.

What I want is a game where you do something similar to that except on a more realistic scale with fewer pirates. Something that involves space travel and colony management... maybe trade and other things people tend to think are boring... possibly some combat. I can't seem to think of a game that really has that kind of approach. I was thinking about X3 Terran Conflict, but that seems to me to be more like Eve Offline single player action. I was something that kind of plays like that aspect of Spore blended with Civ/Alpha Centauri and like... I dunno... something a little actiony.

Anyone know of anything like that?

 

[Fishlore]

X is one of my favorite series of video games ever created. I've never played Eve so I can't compare them. X3 has robust trade, space station complex building, manufacturing, combat, diplomacy, fleet management and a massive world. Out of the box some of these sub systems leave a lot to be desired, but with user made scripts (of which there are many) the game can be spectacular.

I've also never played Spore so I don't know exactly what you're after, but what you've explained can all be found in the X games.

 

[Ennui]

Sins of a Solar Empire?

It's strong in both economic and military gameplay... if you want to focus primarily on economy you can, and it will reward you (as long as you get a teammate to fight your battles for you...), and vice versa. I really love it, but I don't have the patience for true 4x games like X3 or Space Empires.

 

[MJ12]

X3:TC sounds like your game. Despite there being similarities between EVE and X3, they still have very, very distinct differences. There are about 5 different game starting points in X3, and you can branch off from those at any time you please. So if you want to start off with combat, then you can jump right into the military start. If you want to take things slow, start off as a miner, work your way up to recovering lost ships, then work your way to hiring workers to build and manage stations, you can (you can even stay neutral). It is a slow game, and requires some proper research/tips in order to enjoy it in full; but you want a game based on trading and economics, so that is something you should expect.
X3 and EVE have some other big differences, one, in X3, everything is at your own pace. You can jump in and out of the game any time you feel like it, pick up from where you were. In EVE, the world moves on without you. In EVE, everyone wants to grief and backstab you because the player base is made up of the internetz. In X3, you have enemies, allies, neutrals, and people who don't like you; but you don't have to worry about them doing stuff to rape you out of money or blow your shit up just because they are bored. Lastly, X3 involves actually piloting your ship, this adds a lot of immersion, and makes the game more interactive, especially when in dog fights.


Other than that, Sins of a Solar Empire might be for you, though I've only played a little bit and I didn't really like it all that much, or the interface.

Also a space RPG I want to try, that a lot of people enjoy is Freelancer. I think it may be more combat oriented though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSitaX8dZds

Tariler to the game freelancer published by microsoft game studios. Very good game.

800years after the great war of the 23rd centuary. You are a freelancer, build your ship, upgrade it, sell it, join the military, become an assasin, join a group which performs orginised crime. Anything you want.

More then 200 planets and space stations to visit. Many galaxys. Great game.

 

[Stigmata]

Are X3 or Freelancer the kind of space RPG where you get to custom-build your ship?

 

[MJ12]

Visually?

 

[StardogChampion]

Are X3 or Freelancer the kind of space RPG where you get to custom-build your ship?

If you're talking visual stuff that makes no difference, then no, X3 can't. You do have to buy almost every piece of software for them and lasers/turrets/etc.

 

[MJ12]

^This. In terms of actual customization, there is quite a lot. Thrusters, shields, armor, mining, cargo, weapons layout etc. Freelancer, I have no idea, but I am guessing no visual customization. I have yet to come across any game that lets you truly, visually customize your ship; other than, you know "put metal piece x on your ship or put metal piece y on your ship"

 

[Stigmata]

Visuals are nice, but letting you build ships in a functional sense is what I'm looking for. I was afraid it'd be self-contained ships where the only upgrade option is a new model and maybe gun swapping.

 

[MJ12]

Both games are dirt cheap btw-

http://www.amazon.com/X3-Terran-Con...ie=UTF8&s=miscellaneous&qid=1297375267&sr=8-1

http://www.amazon.com/Freelancer-Je...FMR4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1297375374&sr=8-1

No idea if Freelancer can run on Vista/Win7 though.

 

[StarBob]

Does X3 have that colony building aspects I'm looking for? I remeber seeing this one game when I was a kid that was something like MoonBase Colony or something. I didn't buy it but I thought the idea was cool. You build a colony and address the various issues that come about. Kind of what I thought Moonbase Alpha would be like except not as painfully terrible. Anyone remember 10six? That game had a nice concept too - building a base to harvest a new element and sell it to basically profiteer and get badass stuff to help maintain that. Had it been executed by a better developer it would have been one of the early superstar MMOs. I was kind of hoping the planetary mining operations they put in Eve would be like that but it turned out to just be a boring mini game of put the right circle in the right spot and wait. I might try out X3 just to see how it goes. The way people talk and the way reviews are it seems like it went the way of Mount & Blade where people just hate it or think it's a masterpiece.

You know Spore really had just about everything I'm looking for in limited form. Spore was obviously designed to be this really casual friendly experience and so it could never have the depth I wanted. That coupled with the annoying parts made for a pretty rough area. Maybe I can pitch a similar idea to my friend at Lucasarts since Star Wars visuals can kind of be pasted all over the concept just fine. However I am kind of jaded by the Star Wars universe anymore. Even a fun game with that subject matter would get old faster than something new to me.

Oh well I'll check some of these out tonight and this weekend.

 

[MJ12]

I really don't know if X3 has the colonies thing you are looking for, I don't entirely grasp the concept. I do know that you can make your own stations and profit from them by hiring AI or building ships or something. It's a complex game, and I've hardly scratched the surface.

I think it's weird in general how unrefined the Space Ship Travel Genre is. I think it's kind of surprising that no major companies have worked on a mainstream Spaceship RPG with friendly mechanics in the past decade.

Until then, we will have to accept the fact that..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t5cTBuA3yg

 

[StarBob]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zv6LUtjaDyQ

Here's a little video of what spore did. It sounds good but it got old fast. Plus they failed to mention that once you get a colony it's attacked by pirates every 52 seconds and you have to save it otherwise shit's blown up and they steal your resources.

 

[Mr. Djees]

I have the same feelings about Spore as you, and since I had fun with Galactic Civilizations II I recommend that. I loved designing my own custom ships.

 

[MJ12]

I figure this is an appropriate thread to ask in, but what is Homeworld 2 like? Is there resource management? RPG elements?