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Space Strategy Games


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I've played some Galactic Civilizations (haven't beat it yet) and, while I think it was a good idea, it has some serious flaws (a hokey space bug of some kind and the fact that all races eventually get all technology). Still, I think it was on the right track and it was turn-based which is a good thing.

 

I've heard lots of good things about Master of Orion 2 and I'm wondering if that is my best bet (even though it is also fairly old) or if GC 2 is it or something else.

 

Anyway, I would love to hear your thoughts on space strategy games.

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MOO2 is indeed awesome and for me the best space strategy game of all time.

 

The little I played of GalCiv2 was also great, and there's an expansion out now, I think. Furthermore if you get GalCiv2 you'll be supporting a great PC game developer.

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You could also try Stars!. It's insanely addicting.

 

I don't know where to get it though.

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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Master of Orion 2 is still my all time favorite as well. The sheer magnitude of its tech tree and the resulting slew of possible ship combinations you can build makes the game incredibly fun to replay. Add to that the possibility to create your own fully customizable race with balanced upsides and downsides and you're in replay heaven! For example, it's a lot of fun fun to create a Borg-like race governed by Unification or a Subterranean Mind Controlling race somewhat similar to Babylon 5's Shadows. :ph34r: Oh and, you can eventually terraform planets from barren wastelands to Gaia-level paradise environments with proper techs. You can even create artificial planets from asteroid fields and/or Gas Giants. :cool:

 

Anyway, what I really enjoyed the most in MOO2 was its tactical turn-based space combat. As I've already said, the possibilities of designing any kind of ship you like are simply unmatched by any other game I've played. And even better, you get to experiance the benefits of your meticulously researched techs first hand. One of my favorite strategies was to lower a ship's shields with targeted blasts, make it immobile, board it with elite marines and finally take it over. After the battle I would repair it and use it as my own or sometimes scrap it to get a hold of some obscure tech which it had installed on board. Good times. :)

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I only have two major problems with MOO2. One is that "Creative" is massively overpowered/underpriced and the other one is some of the reproducable bugs that crashes the game (hitting enter without entering a filename when saving and when having the warp interdictor device when the computer AI tries to retreat from a losing battle springs to mind). It's still the best of it's kind around though.

 

The only two runners up I know of is Reach for the Stars for Commodore 64 and Space Empires IV. The first is from before half of the people around here were born and the latter just isn't as fun as MOO2 :)

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I only have two major problems with MOO2. One is that "Creative" is massively overpowered/underpriced and the other one is some of the reproducable bugs that crashes the game (hitting enter without entering a filename when saving and when having the warp interdictor device when the computer AI tries to retreat from a losing battle springs to mind). It's still the best of it's kind around though.

 

I think both of those were fixed in patch 1.31. Personally, I never used the Creative trait for my custom races. It was simply much more fun to trade/spy/steal/pillage technologies from other races. :D

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You could also try Stars!. It's insanely addicting.

 

I don't know where to get it though.

 

 

yeah, I just did a massive search and all the links to the downloadable demo seem to be down or broken.....no one is serving it up independently it seems....huh.

 

If it really is impossible to get, you could always try less legal ways of getting it. :ph34r:

"My hovercraft is full of eels!" - Hungarian tourist
I am Dan Quayle of the Romans.
I want to tattoo a map of the Netherlands on my nether lands.
Heja Sverige!!
Everyone should cuffawkle more.
The wrench is your friend. :bat:

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I'm also wondering about Empire At War...is it good in its own right?  Or does it just ride the SW coat tails?

 

 

I got it for Christmas, it seems ok but I not sure about the longterm fun

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Moo2 is old school awesomeness!

 

 

:)

 

What is MOO then?

Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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You could also try Stars!. It's insanely addicting.

 

I don't know where to get it though.

 

 

yeah, I just did a massive search and all the links to the downloadable demo seem to be down or broken.....no one is serving it up independently it seems....huh.

 

 

Sadly, the developers of STARS! were workign on a follow up called STARS! Supernova. But as usual with independent games, they couldn't get any sort of funding or even find a publisher. They had it pretty much finsihed, but last I had heard it just dried up and died a feew years ago.

 

Too bad, STARS! is a fabulous game.

Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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Moo2 is old school awesomeness!

 

 

:huh:

 

What is MOO then?

 

Dear god, MOO is probably the game I have played again and again the most. You could get totally insane armies in MOO. Stackable ships anyone? Up to what? 32 000? It was freaking insane. :) :cool:

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I've been reading through the forums over at the still-in-development Horizon game website and it seems the devs over there are quite aware of what to avoid in a space strategy game and what makes it fun.

 

One thing that I think they will avoid is tech combos (faster than the other guy) = game lock...also, they talk about good AI that is adaptive, not of the cheat variety.

 

however, it does seem like they will go the Gal Civ route when it comes to terraforming.....no go. IMO, that is unfortunate simply because that is the kind of micromanaging that is just fun (doesn't really matter if it makes a strategic difference) .....still, it looks to be a solid game in the making.

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I enjoyed MOO2, except the AI cheated badly and it was still an easy game to win.

 

MOO 1 otoh was revolutionary for its amazing AI and was a damn hard nut to crack. I stil have my MOO strat guide which is like 300 pages long or something.

Notice how I can belittle your beliefs without calling you names. It's a useful skill to have particularly where you aren't allowed to call people names. It's a mistake to get too drawn in/worked up. I mean it's not life or death, it's just two guys posting their thoughts on a message board. If it were personal or face to face all the usual restraints would be in place, and we would never have reached this place in the first place. Try to remember that.
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