Space Trading/Exploration Games

There was a top-down space exploration game back in the 90s. I don't remember much about it except that it used the Shareware model (I thought it might have been Apogee, but nothing on their wiki page rang a bell) and I played the everloving shit out of the free portion of the game. In my memory it looks sort of like Escape Velocity Nova, but it can't have been the original EV because this was PC not Mac. Any ideas?

Other than that, I really need to stop reading threads that get me interested in new games and game genres that I haven't much played why I'm trying to take part in NNGFAY.

Apogee? Then it probably was the most excellent Solar Winds.

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Originally Posted by lhzr

Apogee? Then it probably was the most excellent Solar Winds.

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That's the one, thanks! According to the wiki page it didn't really feature much exploration, but I sure remember flying around a lot in just the demo portion.

And yeah, it was Epic Megagames, not Apogee. Those two companies pretty much made my childhood.

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Originally Posted by lhzr

Wow, that looks excellent! Also I don't see how you could be more ON topic in this thread than posting about Star Control 2 !
SC2 with beautiful high res graphics.. who woulda thunk it.

Thanks for the link and for doing this!

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Agreed wholeheartedly. I was playing the Amiga-Emulated version of Star Control 2 last week!

Not sure how many here are aware at this early date, and keep in mind it might be a while until this is available to the public, (however I would bet on seeing a functional copy before Infinity):

0x10c: The upcoming open space combat and trading game made by Notch himself - creator of Minecraft.

http://0x10c.com/

From the website at the time of this posting:

Game Features

The game is still very early in development, but here is a list of things we hope to include:

• Hard science fiction. Update: GAH, NO! I'm focusing on fun gameplay instead. I still want to get corrected on glaring scientific errors, though.
• Lots of engineering.
• Fully working computer system.
• Space battles against the AI or other players.
• Abandoned ships full of loot.
• Duct tape!
• Seamlessly landing on planets.
• Advanced economy system.
• Random encounters.
• Mining, trading, and looting.
• Single and multi player connected via the multiverse.

It seems that he will be moving away from the voxel based approach of his previous title and opting for a somewhat higher end rendering method. The game seems from everything they say at the website to fit the bill of the original poster's request quite well, and you can expect this to be massively popular. As a matter of fact, I don't know why I haven't heard more about this other than that its just so new. Keeping my fingers crossed on this one.

I too am surprised why you haven't heard more of it.

Astro Galaxy is a realistic online space exploration game. It's free to play and you only need a browser.

Space exploration has always been a dream of humankind. Since the 20'th century, the dream of exploring another star has haunted humanity. By gaining a deeper understanding of quantum physics and the use of exotic matter, the Wormhole Generator engine (WHG) is discovered. The new technology is vastly superior but required a tremendous amount of resources to develop. Thus, Earth is facing a shortage of resources...

The SOL Corporation is created, a coalition of all major powers dedicated to the exploration of space. The SOL Corporation manages the new technology and issues licenses for new space ships and space stations. Volunteer captains are recruited from the best and each captain is given a ship to start exploring / colonizing space. Vast opportunities arise for the new captains, as they expand and develop their fleets and outposts. In the depth of space, law is non-existent, conflicts for valuable resources are inevitable...

This is where your role begins, as a volunteer captain, you are given a small ship and command of a handful of personnel. You start from Earth orbit and will be able to explore the stars near and far away.
And so it begins...

astro-galaxy.com

Bumping this for opinions on Endless Space.

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Originally Posted by nsane

Bumping this for opinions on Endless Space.

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It's good. I think I enjoyed it much more than GalCiv2, though it doesn't beat Ascendancy nor MoO2. But then, what does?

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Originally Posted by nsane

Bumping this for opinions on Endless Space.

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I'm having fun with it. The UI is really, really slick. Informative at a glance, yet stays out of the way. For me it fulfills the 4x role very well, and I'd say it's the best space 4x in the last ten years. You get a large science tree (which is a must for me), you get to design ships, movement is interesting as there are three types of engines. There are leaders which you can place in systems or on fleets, much like in MOO2.

Some people dislike the combat as you have very little influence on it, personally I like it because I hated the late game management of large fleets or of infinite small skirmishes. I recommend it.

If you loved playing Frontier: Elite II and the original Elite then forget the clones, Elite 4 is on it's way now... Here's the kickstarter page for Elite Dangerous:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...lite-dangerous

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Originally Posted by c-Row

though it doesn't beat Ascendancy nor MoO2. But then, what does?

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Nostalgia is a dangerous disease. I loved Ascendancy, but you can't seriously mean to say that you'd rather play that game (with its virtual lack of AI) than a modern 4X like SotS or Gal Civ 2 right now.

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Originally Posted by vinraith

Nostalgia is a dangerous disease. I loved Ascendancy, but you can't seriously mean to say that you'd rather play that game (with its virtual lack of AI) than a modern 4X like SotS or Gal Civ 2 right now.

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I can't comment on SotS, but GalCiv2 lost its appeal pretty fast. I liked some of its ideas and the presentation was quite good for a 4X game (btw. does anybody remember the excel sheet of space empire sims, Spaceward Ho?) but somehow it never "clicked" with me. Endless Space was the first game that came close to it as it brought back some strategic gameplay elements of old (star lanes FTW!).

I don't know how vanilla Ascendancy would play today, but there is an AI patch available.

Attachment 2172

Whatever. We all know the best space strategy game ever is Anacreon

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Originally Posted by c-Row

I don't know how vanilla Ascendancy would play today, but there is an AI patch available.

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That's from 1996, and it doesn't solve the problem. I wish it did.

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Originally Posted by c-Row

I can't comment on SotS, but GalCiv2 lost its appeal pretty fast. I liked some of its ideas and the presentation was quite good for a 4X game (btw. does anybody remember the excel sheet of space empire sims, Spaceward Ho?) but somehow it never "clicked" with me. Endless Space was the first game that came close to it as it brought back some strategic gameplay elements of old (star lanes FTW!).

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I've tried to like SotS but I just can't. The empire part feels limited and largely pointless, while fleet battles are too chaotic and the interface isn't good. I kind of like the entire ship design stuff but there's way too much stuff for me to micromanage, I just can't be bothered.

GalCiv2 was great mostly for its AI, which were outstanding. But I kind of agree that it loses its appeal fairly quickly, I just didn't find any of the races particularly interesting and sometimes the game gets horribly bogged down.

Endless Space is fairly good but I have two major problems with it. Firstly, combat still seems fairly broken. I remember that for most of the pre-release and after its release glass cannon destroyers were the only thing worth building, and defences were practically useless. Winning was all about stacking the most guns on the ship as you could. Secondly, there's way too much emphasis on expansion. More or less if you're not constantly capturing more systems in the very early game you're absolutely screwed, even for races where rapid expansion doesn't seem like it would make sense.

But that interface... man, it's great!

I keep meaning to go back to Endless Space to see what it looks like now, since it has been heavily patched since release. They've added a new faction, etc.

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Originally Posted by soldant

[In Endless Space] there's way too much emphasis on expansion. More or less if you're not constantly capturing more systems in the very early game you're absolutely screwed, even for races where rapid expansion doesn't seem like it would make sense.

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If I could change one thing about ES, I would limit travelling to starlanes (or put free movement in a much higher research tier) and raise expansion penalties. Instead of capturing systems left and right players would then be forced to concentrate on more significant systems first, be it for resources or blocking access to your corner of space.

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Originally Posted by soldant

But that interface... man, it's great!

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Ohhhh yeah. It really puts some seasoned devs' UIs to shame.

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Originally Posted by c-Row

If I could change one thing about ES, I would limit travelling to starlanes (or put free movement in a much higher research tier) and raise expansion penalties. Instead of capturing systems left and right players would then be forced to concentrate on more significant systems first, be it for resources or blocking access to your corner of space.

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Ugh, I know, it basically renders the starlanes absolutely pointless after a while. Any sort of strategic choke-point planning that the game forces you down suddenly becomes useless. The rate of expansion is absolutely silly, sometimes you're better off just capturing planets for the hell of it. Unless it's changed.

Actually, modding the game's XML files might allow to disable the research benefit. Posts #5 and #6 are discussing this very topic. I think I will give this a try at home and report back.