Recommend me a space sim

[prophetik music]

i love the game freelancer. i've played it through probably five or six times, tried most of the big universe-replacement mods, high-def texture mods, etc.

i tried one of the X3 games, but the learning curve was so steep i wasn't even able to start moving once i started the game. i lasted about five minutes. should i give it another go?

what are some good games that are similar? i'm thinking about trying the Flatspace games, and probably DarkStar One.

i should point out that i found the combat in freelancer to be enthralling, and enjoyed the commerce aspect, as well. the graphics in-game (not necessarily the on-foot sequences) were bloody brilliant for the age of the game, too. i have a kick-ass computer, so i don't need to worry about performance. haven't found a game to max it yet.

well, OCRers, what do you think?

[The Coop]

The Wing Commander series (1-4 and Prophecy especially), Starlancer, Freespace and its expansion, Freespace 2 and its expansion, and Tachyon: The Fringe come to mind.

[Rozovian]

Freespace 2's source code was released, and modders and fans upped the graphics quite a bit. Someone even ported FS1 to the FS2 engine. Not familiar enough with the others, but I second the recommendation for Freespace.

[prophetik music]

The Wing Commander series (1-4 and Prophecy especially), Starlancer, Freespace and its expansion, Freespace 2 and its expansion, and Tachyon: The Fringe come to mind.

i should point out that i'm primarily a more modern gamer. the reason i was asking about freespace is because that's a stretch for me - 2003 is a loooong way back =)

[Gollgagh]

well, you know the coop

give him a genre and he'll generate a list of every game ever in that genre in 0.00354 seconds

he's like a living search engine

[MaxFrost]

freespace may be old, but it's probably one of the best non-starwars space combat sims out there. Both freespace games are well built, very engrossing, and the dogfighting is top notch.

Only downside is that the graphics feel dated. Gameplay itself is tight, but it maxes out at 640*480

[Gollgagh]

Freespace 2's source code was released, and modders and fans upped the graphics quite a bit. Someone even ported FS1 to the FS2 engine. Not familiar enough with the others, but I second the recommendation for Freespace.

would you happen to know where these could be found?

[Sengin]

I have always been a fan of Privateer 2: The Darkening (it's not a sequel). Clive Owen and Christopher Walken? Yes and yes. Though it did come out a while ago (1996). I just recently went through and played it again actually. After that I tried Freelancer and was pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, besides the X series, I don't know of any recent space sim games (it's a dead genre at the moment, since FPS games took its place several years ago in the popularity department - it's hard to pitch a space sim to a publisher these days). I've also heard that Tachyon: The Fringe and Freespace I and II are great space sims, though I have yet to play them.

[Dhsu]

Well there's an hour left in the Shattered Horizon free weekend. If you're interested though, I can give you 3-day gift pass.

[BardicKnowledge]

I know it's older than you usually play, prophet, but IMO TIE Fighter is the best space game ever made easily. The gameplay still feels fresh and modern even if the graphics aren't all that great. I highly recommend giving it a shot if you have access to a copy somewhere.

(Note: the re-release DOES work on modern Windows systems)

[prophetik music]

i would have to pick up a joystick to play the TIE games again, though - i went through them in my first year of college, but had trouble with my POS joystick acting up constantly.

[Tacitus Krekt]

would you happen to know where these could be found?

http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,53206.0.html

[Rozovian]

would you happen to know where these could be found?

For FS1, FSPORT among the mods. Then there's FS2_Open and the the imrpoved mediaVP files.

This reminds me, I should fix my fs2 track and resub it.

[Cerrax]

i would have to pick up a joystick to play the TIE games again, though - i went through them in my first year of college, but had trouble with my POS joystick acting up constantly.

Can't you map an XBox controller to it since the XBox controller is just a standard HID?

[Gollgagh]

maybe he wants an actual flightstick

[OverCoat]

If you want a total timesink you can play EVE Online with me :3

you don't exactly fly your ship around like in freelancer [it's more like click in space to move, like Homeworld or something] but it's got depth, an interesting setting, and plenty of good fun.

[Sir_NutS]

Star Control 2, nuff said.

[prophetik music]

Can't you map an XBox controller to it since the XBox controller is just a standard HID?

not a bad point - the 360 controller's pretty good for flying games, i've found. i like all the buttons on a keyboard, though.

[Dunnowhathuh]

Freespace 2's source code was released, and modders and fans upped the graphics quite a bit.

Freespace 2 is a darn pretty game even before the source code project. But yeh, can't go wrong with Freespace.

i should point out that i'm primarily a more modern gamer. the reason i was asking about freespace is because that's a stretch for me - 2003 is a loooong way back =)

The thing about space sims is, the genre died out a while ago. Will rarely find any of em nowadays and even if you do, a lot of the time they're just not awesome enough to merit playing. You'll have to settle with older space sims if you want the good ones.

[The Orichalcon]

Play Freespace and Freespace 2.

Freespace itself is a great game that I enjoyed thoroughly, but no game came even close to Freespace in immersing me in the story. Graphics and such still stand up today, even just in the original game. I finished it for the umpteenth time last month.

[Arcana]

If you want a total timesink you can play EVE Online with me :3

you don't exactly fly your ship around like in freelancer [it's more like click in space to move, like Homeworld or something] but it's got depth, an interesting setting, and plenty of good fun.

I was about to mention this. EVE Online is similar to Freelancer in the development of a world, navigating jump gates, trading and buying upgrades, but is not as arcade-like.

Mostly in EVE Online combat is more click-target, attack, wait a bit, click as needed to adjust your target and position.

[Schwaltzvald]

I was about to mention this. EVE Online is similar to Freelancer in the development of a world, navigating jump gates, trading and buying upgrades, but is not as arcade-like.

Mostly in EVE Online combat is more click-target, attack, wait a bit, click as needed to adjust your target and position.

At least until you get into null-space, then you're fucked if you get caught in a bubble where they'd either ransom you for money to let you leave in one piece, or take your money and kill you anyways for shits and giggles.

I'm still reeling from that news about Goonswarm though.. What the fuck...

[HalcyonSpirit]

i tried one of the X3 games, but the learning curve was so steep i wasn't even able to start moving once i started the game. i lasted about five minutes. should i give it another go?

Which one, Reunion or Terran Conflict? If the former, yeah, it's really rough. If the latter... well, it's still rough, but not nearly as much. It's more accessible (and less susceptible to CTDs...). I have both, so I can tell you ALL about them. Also, Terran Conflict has an improved flight control scheme for mouse+keyboard, similar to Freelancer's (which I've also played). I would definitely give it another go; it took me three tries to get into it, but damn, when I finally got moving, I just wouldn't stop.

The universe in X3 is much more extensive than in Freelancer, and you can do whatever the heck you want. Want to go solo? Awesome, go for it. Want to command a fleet? Awesome, go for it. Want to be a trader? Awesome, go for it. One thing I like about Freelancer is that the environment is much more varied, but other than that, X3 is better overall (in my opinion). Plus, there's an extensive modding community for it; you can find practically anything you want for either of the X3 games from the mods and scripts, from new ships, new abilities, and in the most extreme cases, complete universe changes.

I will say, however, that you're going to need a computer with a single-core processing capability of at least 2.8GHz. The engine is single-core only, and the game is processor-intensive, so the single-core capability is essential once you get into larger battles.

[prophetik music]

I will say, however, that you're going to need a computer with a single-core processing capability of at least 2.8GHz. The engine is single-core only, and the game is processor-intensive, so the single-core capability is essential once you get into larger battles.

uh, i got that covered. when i game, i boot into an OC of 4.1ghz on my i7 =)

i'm thinking that i give the X3 games a whirl again. i knew darkstar one was familiar - i played a few minutes of it the other day and remembered why i always go to type it dorkstar...because the voice acting is gawdawful, and the game seems just plain boring and unbelievable.

[Subz1987]

I know it's older than you usually play, prophet, but IMO TIE Fighter is the best space game ever made easily. The gameplay still feels fresh and modern even if the graphics aren't all that great. I highly recommend giving it a shot if you have access to a copy somewhere.

(Note: the re-release DOES work on modern Windows systems)

There's a conversion pack out there that lets you play TIE-Fighter missions using X-Wing Alliance's engine. It almost replicates the game experience from TIE Fighter and has the original in-game dialogue and cutscenes. You can get it here. You'll need the TIE-Fighter CD and X-Wing Alliance CDs to install it.