A Paradox 4X Space Game?

[Bad_Haggis]

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/plan...de-with-moons/

This is the game im most looking forward to ATM.

[Raph]

http://www.pcgamer.com/previews/plan...de-with-moons/

This is the game im most looking forward to ATM.

Not really a 4x IMHO but sure looks fun. Since PI's strategy is to publish niche games, maybe they might step in and publish it?

[Bad_Haggis]

Indeed, it has a few people working on it that were involved in Supreme Commander, my favourate RTS /RTT game outside the total war series.

[FOARP]

I rather dislike the common space 4x games as they feel like "all species are the same with a few bonuses". kinda like star trek universe.

I can name one that wasn't like this, the ancient, but venerable, Emperor Of The Fading Suns. Yes, it was turn-based, and yes, the human races in it did fit into this stereotype, but it also had some awesome non-player species which would ravish the universe, and a complex (for the time) system of galactic governance whereby you could get elected to various posts within the government (i.e., head of the massive imperial fleet, head of the army fighting against non-player aliens which were similar to The Thing, head of an imperial spy service with garrisons watching every planet) . Annoy the church enough and they would declare a crusade against you, attacking with massive forces. Certain technologies were banned by the church, try to research them and the church would come after you and try to destroy the lab where they were being researched. All the while an advanced race with powerful weapons was running around gathering information about the galaxy - the obvious thing they were doing was setting the human race up for an invasion, but I never played far enough for that to happen.

The only problem is that Holistic design probably still hold the license and it might not be cheap to get, but I think you can see how the above game, CK-ified, would be awesome. The combat system (different maps for star-scape and planetary combat) might be a bit hard to play as real-time though, since there'd be a lot of switching between maps to see what was going on, but given sufficient alerts and a sufficient level of abstraction, could still be made to work.

Edit: There does seem to be a vapourware version of the game out there as well - lot's of fan-fare, no product in the end.

[Slaxl]

What I want is Master of Orion 2, redone with a modern engine.

Yes, a thousand times yes. A huge galaxy of thousands and thousands of stars, each with potentially none or dozens of orbitting worlds for exploration, conquest and exploitation. Design your ships, build up your colonies, focus on trade, science or military... I'll tell you what's annoying about GalCiv, every point on the map is a planet, not a star. How is that right? Make each point a solar system. Let people fly anywhere, not along pre-determined routes. Like Imperium Galactica, except larger, more possibilities, more enemies, more friends, more technology. Mooorrreeeee!!

[Cybvep]

I'll tell you what's annoying about GalCiv, every point on the map is a planet, not a star.

? There are starts, planets that orbit them, asteroids, special hexes and empty hexes.

[Slaxl]

? There are starts, planets that orbit them, asteroids, special hexes and empty hexes.

#

When I played it you flew up to a giant ball in space that turned out to be the planet. That was the destination, and the whole 'galaxy' was those planets, no stars. I hope i'm not thinking of the wrong game now... It's been a while.

[Don_Quigleone]

#

When I played it you flew up to a giant ball in space that turned out to be the planet. That was the destination, and the whole 'galaxy' was those planets, no stars. I hope i'm not thinking of the wrong game now... It's been a while.

There are stars and planets in Galciv 2.

In Galciv 1 there were only stars, with planets being on a seperate display for each star.

Either way, Galactic Civilizations always showed stars.

[Chief of Staff]

If I could just interject here with a few words: Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. ;)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sid_Mei...Alpha_Centauri

[Slaxl]

There are stars and planets in Galciv 2.

In Galciv 1 there were only stars, with planets being on a seperate display for each star.

Either way, Galactic Civilizations always showed stars.

Interesting, those SS don't look familiar, I must be mistaken and thinking of a different game. My sincerest aperloagies.

[blue sam3]

I rather dislike the common space 4x games as they feel like "all species are the same with a few bonuses". kinda like star trek universe.

I quite like how Sword of the Stars (and it's sequel) did this, simplistic and dated as they otherwise were. All of the species were actually different (using fundamentally different ways of moving between stars, ranging from straight up warp drive to doing it sub-light the first time, then setting up wormholes, along with some really weird stuff), and played similarly differently.

[Variton]

Just noticed this inthe thread just below:

"Check out Redshift by Messier, it's only being made by one guy and already looks amazing. I can't wait till he releases a playable version but like I said he's working his tail off to get a build out by this month or next month. http://messier8.com/Blog/"

Just what I'm looking for. Realistic grand strategy space game in near future, with Earth powers competiting between themselves.

Only problem is that it is a one man project... Could become the next M&B though, but M&B did take like, what ten years(?), to become a masterpiece.

[Blaaat]

Interesting, those SS don't look familiar, I must be mistaken and thinking of a different game. My sincerest aperloagies.

You're thinking of Sword of the Stars in which every system was just a planet. And the human race (and only the human race) had to travel on pre-determined paths.

[steveh11]

I'd rather play Space Empires 4. Yes, Four, not Five - haven't managed to 'get into' that one.

[kchickenlord]

Well until Paradox provides you with your ideal game, you can try Space Empires IV, you can even play it for free on Gamersgate Void.
It is a bit dated but you can get a whole lot of mods including ones that update the graphics. My only issue is that to fill the screen I have to manually change Resolution to 1024x768.
Although there is even a mod that runs it in a window. They also made the modding very easy even for beginners, so if it is not what you are looking for perhaps you can mod it into the game you desire. For MP they have a system called simultaneous movement. Basically everyone puts in their moves for the turn and then they are resolved. IIRC Diplomacy has similar mechanics.

Couldn't agree more, an excellent game if you can get past the lack of flashy graphics. I find it a good fit for people who enjoy Paradox games.

[brifbates]

I thought Malkari had some interesting aspects to it but unfortunately the combat system was woeful. Galciv 2 had a few pretty major flaws that made it laughably easy once you knew how to exploit them such as ai colony ships leading you to the best planets. One of my favorites was Stars! because the race set-up system was such that the same planet could be utterly useless for one player and utopia for another but it suffered from balance issues and a terribly simplistic economic system.

[Teije]

Distant Worlds is a pretty good space 4X with lots of complexity. I've enjoyed playing that and much prefer it to GC2 (which I loved at that time). Plays similar to PDX games - real-time pausable, tons of different factors to consider, pretty good AI for governing and avoiding micro-management. Make sure you get the expansions - really enhances the experience.

[Cybvep]

Is the game still so laggy, though?

[Junuxx]

I'd rather play Space Empires 4. Yes, Four, not Five - haven't managed to 'get into' that one.

III is still great too, maybe better than IV even.

[AndrewT]

Does anyone remember, even still have, Reach for the Stars? It was first published in 1983 so is probably the first 4X game of all, certainly the first 4X-in-space game. The last re-do of it was released in 2005 and is still available from Matrix Games. It would be completely brilliant if Paradox took up that IP.