OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

please, by whatever you find holy, have the merciful generosity not to discuss CIV or SMAC on this thread. debates over those take over too many threads, as it is.

I am interested in hearing SE4 players thoughts on currently released space strategy or space tactical games, or those that are due out shortly that people may have an inside track on. I have tried to leave pure space flight-sims or shooters off the list.

on the upcoming list:

GALCIV: looks like fun, focus is on politics, but seems to have a very linear political progression. I like the description of the MOO3 political system better. boasts about its AI, but is it strong because it cheats? if so, how does it cheat?

MOO3: whats not to say? whats not to read on any review site. probably just have to wait for it to come out.

S!SNG: sure, like its ever coming out.

X2:The Threat: Elite and then some! whoo-hoo. hurry up and find a publisher!

Freelancer: if you liked privateer, its more of the same, from all the pre-reviews I have read.

Elite4: oh yeah, this one will come out right after S!SNG and VGA-Planets 4. in other words, it wont come out.

Imperium Galactica 3: looks to be a super-sweet capital ship combat simulator. other than this, i dont know too much.

Star Peace (name has changed): massive multiplayer sim city in space? eh?

and on the shorter list, games currently out that I am aware of:

Starships Unlimited: seems to be very limited. the focus was supposed to be ship design and combat, but i found this to be less detailed than in SE4. If there was more to it than what was in the demo, no one ever let on.

X:beyond the frontier (with/without x-tension): sounded cool, never really looked at it. how much strategy and economics were there? or was owning space stations simply a way to make money, and the economics were not really developed?

Battlecruiser Millenium: um, whatever. if anyone can tell me that this is an outstanding game, and is very different than the rest of its predecessors, i might listen.

Homeworld and sequel: formulaic RTS in space, but with 3d. more of the same, but its pretty.

Hegimonia: gosh the picutres look cool, but i hear its more homeworld stuff with linear missions, and not much else? but it has spying and colonies and research, so how can it be mission based? I DONT UNDERSTAND!

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

The IG3 Demo is fantastic... I hope the game is moddable so people can create their own stories...

This game is what a RTS space game should be like.

If you liked homeworld or Freespace 2 then this game will rock..

WHen playing the demo I kept thinking it was a movie...

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif You mean there are OTHER games!!! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif I do play (sometimes) Out Post 1 and 2 these are the only others I have http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I dont know if you mean only 4X games, but Impossible Creatures looks like real fun. Ive played the demo and its great.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I got SE4Gold a month ago, and today its the first day i have come out of the cave.

*looks at the sky expecting to see alien transports droping armored troops*

[ February 07, 2003, 20:07: Message edited by: Aloofim ]

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I'll comment on the ones i find worth commenting on, and also read about.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">It most certainly does not cheat, at least not in the way traditional AI's do to be good.
The difference is in the design, a traditional AI, like in SE4 or Civ, does it's thinking between player turns, and because not every players wants to wait 30 minutes for a turn, the amount of thinking an AI can do is limited by the games minimum system requirements.
However, in GalCiv, this is handled differently, it's multithreaded. The AI doesn't do it's thinking at the end of the players turn, but during it, while the player is making it's moves, the AI thinks in the background.
This gives the AI a lot more to think about things, allowing for a far better design, not necessarily more complex. How much time it actually takes, still depends on what the AI has to do, but it will not take more time then it needs, so taking more time to finish a turn will not make the game harder.

Linear political progression?
What exactly do you mean by that?

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Meh...i think it's been hyped a lot, then dehyped by the cutbacks, i'll have to read some player reviews before getting excited about it again.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yes! I've been waiting for tha game so long http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif
I like the developers, they seem to listen to the players complaints. A while ago i've bought X-BTF (the original, found it in the bargain bin) and liked, but i had some gripes with it, that you can't for example buy stations, or own multiple ships, well guess what, the X-Tension had all those things fixed i had gripes about...too bad i can't find it anywhere nowadays.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Say what you will about Microsoft, they usually deliver decent, and solid games (at least the ones i played), i have no reason to doubt Freelancer will be another one of those.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The thought of a sequel and improved Version of IG2 is tempting, but Last i read about IG3, is that it will be mission based, which is a big turn-off for me.

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Hmm, see my reply to X2 http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
IMO X-Tension is a totally different game from X-BTF, given the major impact of the game changes.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I have played both of them for a long time, but the concept was more or less boring at the end. Most of it is economics, buying stations or remote mining of asteroids, producing different stuff and move/sell it around the galaxy either by remote control of transport ships which can be programmed with buy/sell price thresholds. The most fun of it was capturing pirate ships and sell or use them. Elite-like missions from time to time, pirate bases to destroy or to make deals with. You can live as a pirate also, every ship can be captured, best in lonely quadrants. Graphics and handling are really great! I have heard about the next generation, should be multiplayer as far as I know, but you still can not land on planets. I am not sure yet if it is worth a try.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, there is X-Online, which is a massive multiplayer game in a persistent universe, and X2, which is a sequel to the original X, and a singleplayer game.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

Awaiting MOO3 impatiently.

GalCon, bought the beta. Looks pretty good.

Stars Super Nova, sigh, {gets out old copy of Stars!, lovingly dusts it off, and hopes for the best for them}

The rest of the lot not really to my liking.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

regarding linear political progression in galciv:

i mean, from what i read, that you go from imperal to republic to democracy to federation. each one is better than the Last, and harder to maintain. there are no choices, you cant get different benefits from a democracy or a republic or a oligarchy. you cant choose a socialist or capitalist economy.

you dont decide anything or make any tradeoffs, you just progress from one to the next. or, in theory, move backwards if you were having a better time maintaining party power in a previous form of government.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

GALCIV:
I not really interested.

MOO3:
I wish people who do not yet have the game, would stop reviewing it. (It's not even out!)

S!SNG:
What is it?

X2:The Threat:
What is it?

Freelancer:
More of the same.

Elite4:
Release date: "When Hell Freezes Over"

Imperium Galactica 3:
Looks interesting, nice looking graphics, ? on game play.

Star Peace (name has changed):
Not at all interested.

Your foregot:

Stars Super Nova Genisis:
Looks like it will be a great game, but they can't publish it. That means the likely hood of it ever being released are remote.

Space Empires V
Now your talkin http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

"and on the shorter list, games currently out that I am aware of:"

Starships Unlimited: seems to be very limited. the focus was supposed to be ship design and combat, but i found this to be less detailed than in SE4. If there was more to it than what was in the demo, no one ever let on.

Agreed

X:beyond the frontier (with/without x-tension):
Not my thing

Battlecruiser Millenium:
Lame

Homeworld and sequel:
Fun game for about the first five minutes. Anyone wanna by my disk?

Hegimonia:
Never heard of it.

Lets face it, there are many games out there that promis what SEIV already dilivers, but when it comes time to put their money where their mouth is, they push back there release date in order to "steal" the good ideas of SEIV and code them into their games. (Moo3??)

In the eight years that I have been playing games, 4x games have been really limited. I can only remember about five or six games that actually dilivered on addictive game play. Moo, Moo2, Rebellion, BOTF, *Stars and *SEIII (*I never did play them as I did not know about them. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon9.gif )

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

i have been waiting for a good sequal to the wing commander privateer series so freelancer sounds good to me.
getting back into arcanum, moo2, stars, and mechwarrior series.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I have no expectations for any game. I'm happy with SE4, and since I'm one of those gamers that only play 4 games a year or so.
This year I'm only planning to play, besides SE4 which I got in January, Lords of the Realm 3, MOO3, and probably some other by the end of the year. Oh, I'm I only buy games after they get heavily patched....... http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
I bet my toilet paper that MOO3 its not gonna be playable or fully featured untill 6 months after released. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

Ya, I cought that after I posted Oleg. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/shock.gif

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

When I have time due to delays in the 7-10 PBW games I'm in, I enjoy playing the 101st Airborne Invasion of Europe and am impatiently waiting for release of its sequel, "All American: The 82nd Airborne in Normandy."

For those of you who haven't experienced this type of game, you control each soldier in your "stick" and try to complete your mission after parachuting out of a plane. It's very challenging and fun. Also somewhat realistic, while being a turn based game so you aren't rushed to make bad decisions....Greybeard.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

Well, since most of those games mentioned probably have hardware requirements that I don't have, I'll just keep on playing SEIV Gold. At least I know this game delivers.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I don't plan on getting too many of the games already mentioned. I just don't feel like they could give me what I want after playing SEIV. I do plan on getting Starfury, and SEV once they are out though. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
One of those games that I will buy right away if it ever gets published is S!SNG. That game looked really promising until they couldn't find a publisher. I just don't see them releasing that game anytime soon, which is a bummer. Oh well, long live SEIV. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I most certainly must buy Starfury and SEV. Of course, that will entail me using a very scarce resource as of late, that is, moolah. College kids are so poor

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

In case anyone is interest, Freelancer went gold
http://www.microsoft.com/games/freelancer/

And i tihnk GalCiv has a lot going for it, off course, you can say they've stolen ideas from SE4, but any game steals ideas from previous games, especially if they are good ideas http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif
The strong point of GalCiv is it's AI, and the dedication from the developers. They already scheduled 1 year after the release, to work on updates and such, now you may think they're just releasing a glorified beta then, but imo, if it doesn't have any gamestopping bugs, and you get what it says on the box (*cough*CIV3 MP*cough*), then it's a full game. All the updates that will be added are bonusses. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif
Plus, the hardware requirements aren't that high, probably similar to SE4's reqs.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I think you answered your question http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/image...s/rolleyes.gif If you had taken a few minutes to investigate WHY the game has been continually pushed back for the past few months, you would know that it's because they've been trying to squash virtually EVERY game-stopping bug they find. From what I've read just glancing over the MOO3 forums, the single player mode has functioned pretty much perfectly for months, and they've spent all this time trying to fix late-game multiplayer problems. This personally annoys me, as I have no intentions of playing multiplayer, and could care less if the game crashes on turn 789 when the fleets of 8 different players numbering exactly 361 ships arrive in one system at the same time.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

I will buy MOO3 when it comes out, in a couple weeks. I will buy GalCiv when it comes out, a few weeks after that.

I will finish the Grit Tech mod.. I will play more SE4.. I will find a new job.. I will make more reasonable resolutions..

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

Are there other strategy games that have something similar to PBW? Once you play humans AIs just aren't that fun.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

There are only two games...
SE4 and STARS!

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">What is this GalCiv you're all talking about? I read PC Gamer, but I can't recall a game by that name. I hope the game reqs are similar to SE4, but in my experience, most games coming out now are appealing to all of those who want super duper graphics and 3d. I can live without all of that as long as the game is good and is bug free.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

actually, it looks decent for a 1 player game. www.galciv.com

moderate graphics, fairly low system requirements. I think the beefier your computer is, the smarter the AI will play.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, VGA Planets was pretty good, Winplan was OK.
Havent tried VGA 4 yet.
But SE4 is more fun than VGA P and Winp.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The company making it is relatively small, and thus has trouble getting previews printed. There are a decent amount of previews Online, most of them, if not all, are linked from www.galciv.com.
The sys reqs are around 600 Mhz, with 128 MB RAM, and 8 MB video, now don't run away yet. I know there are steep requirements, especially for the SE4 crowd. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif
The reason it asks for so much Mhz is the maximum galaxy size. At the max galaxy size, an avg ship takes 240+ turns to cross the map.
Compare that to SE4, with 255 systems, let's assume a square, 16x16 systems, and ~2 turns to cross a system. That makes it crossable in 32 turns. So i think you could still play a SE4 sized galaxy, and have the game run fine on a slower computer.
There are reports that larger then medium galaxies also play fine on a 400 Mhz machine, and i suppose that in theory it could run on a 200 Mhz machine, just don't play the big galaxies. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon12.gif

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">No, the AI will take as much time as it needs, not more, not less. So if you have a slower pc, the AI will still do all that it needs to do, it will just take longer to finish thinking. But with the multithreaded design, that shouldn't be as annoying as it is in standard TBS games.

Re: OT: SE4 players thoughts on OTHER games
 

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Well, VGA Planets was pretty good, Winplan was OK.
Havent tried VGA 4 yet.
But SE4 is more fun than VGA P and Winp.</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Let us not forget the classic MOO2, eh?

If you play it on Impossible and win, then I got some suggestions for you to continue playing.

KirbyEF