'A firefly vibe with space battles' - Rebel Galaxy

sandman2575 · October 21, 2015, 07:03:55 PM

Have to say I'm really enjoying this one so far. $18 seems like a surprisingly cheap price, given the solid quality.

Grim.Reaper · October 21, 2015, 07:12:32 PM

Patch released....

MAC-SPECIFIC FIXES

Mac mouse positioning/camera control issues with various resolutions have been resolved.

In Mac windowed mode, your mouse cursor will become visible when it exits the window, and re-hide upon re-entering (fixes an issue where mousing over the dock shows your mouse, but we can't detect it)

Mac turret mode control improved for mouse/keyboard users.

WINDOWS-SPECIFIC FIXES

You can now enable/disable fullscreen cursor clipping from the launcher.

Expiremental 'fast mouse' mode is now available in the launcher.

Fast mouse mode has had various improvements and tweaks in order to increase precision and responsiveness.

XP machines should now be able to run the game

GENERAL FIXES

If Motion blur was disabled, depth of field was not working properly for skinned characters. 'blurry conversations'. Fixed.

Precision turret control responsiveness has been improved

Abandoning a dead drop mission AFTER you had picked up the cargo would leave it in your hold. Fixed.

'leftover' dead drops from the above bug will now be 'cleared out' as long as you have no active dead-drop missions on load

Mouse camera pitch adjustments will not 're-correct' to default pitch until a 2 second delay has passed.

Barthheart · October 22, 2015, 06:02:11 AM

Played some more yesterday. It's growing on me. The combat is fun even if it's only 2D.

However I had a crash to desktop... which is when I quit as I couldn't face restarting... but I'm sick with the flu and have low patients tolerance so I'll try again in a couple of days.

Jarhead0331 · October 22, 2015, 06:19:17 AM

Had I known there was no vertical plane, I would have skipped it. Nothing irritates me more than no Y or Z axis in a space game.

sandman2575 · October 22, 2015, 06:59:14 AM

You should be able to get a refund, no? (Unless bought from GOG?)

I actually think the gameplay does a decent job of concealing the lack of 3D movement -- in similar fashion to Sins of a Solar Empire. Not quite sure how it pulls off the illusion, but I don't often feel aware of being restricted to 2D, except when I want to mine some asteroids, then it becomes pretty apparent.

I can see how the Elite veterans might be put off by the simplifications of Reb. Galaxy. Still, this has been one of the most pleasant surprises of 2015 for me -- a nifty, well-conceived and well-executed title, with room to grow if the devs want to pursue that -- I hope they will --

If anything, RG has whet my appetite for Elite, which I think I'll reinstall today and give another chance --

Mrs Darwin · October 22, 2015, 07:22:17 AM

As you may have seen from my part of the review, the two-dimensional limits to ship control in battle was my biggest point of frustration with RG. The longer I've played, though, the less this seemed to matter. In larger battles, you really start to notice the matching two-dimensional movement of larger enemy (and allied) ships, versus smaller fighters who zip around you.

Philippe · October 22, 2015, 07:26:35 AM

I'm becoming increasingly fond of Steam's refund policy. It's a great alternative to a demo.

I played this game briefly and realized that it didn't work for me because of the lack of cockpit and lack of vertical dimension.

There may be a cockpit view buried away in there that I don't know about, but I didn't stick around because the lack of a vertical dimension killed it for me.

Nice looking game for what it is, but I think I was looking for an updated Freelancer.

Capn Darwin · October 22, 2015, 07:44:37 AM

Some folks that only like 3D only space sims will generally pass on the game because of the 2d flight and fight, but for the way the game was made as a broadside naval type affair it hits the mark. The game has a lot of action for the price. I think if this game was 3D, it would be a completely different game and I would be taking a pass on it because it would not have the same combat style. It would have to be like all the other 3D space games. Thankfully for us gamers we have a number of various space games to choose from and Rebel Galaxy gives us another choice.

Freyland · October 22, 2015, 09:36:06 AM

Not terribly fond of the combat right now. Others have mentioned how they like the idea of broadsides because then it should feel more like tactical maneuvering with naval vessels; uh... no. Do your Ships of the Line have boosters? 'Cause you use them constantly. The whole thing, at least with frigates, is very twitchy. Also, its frustrating that my turrets do more work towards killing stuff than my all-powerful broadsides. The turrets fire faster, have a greater arc, and auto target while my broadsides, even with precision aiming, are ponderous and inaccurate. Since I really like everything else about the game, I'm waiting for this aspect to grow on me.
I did get a nice lucky event. Hacked a transponder-thingie, found out about a cargo drop. Had a bitch of a fight, but in the process picked up a Mk2 Stolen Mulathi technology broadside weapon. I dont think I am supposed to have something that powerful this early in the game. O0

Capn Darwin · October 22, 2015, 10:29:52 AM

Early on with small ships with more turrets than ports you can beat up enemies and you turrets can do some heavy damage. As you move on and deal with bigger ships with better gear on them you will want those broadsides because (as I found out last night) you can run into something that laughs off those turrets. It was a good twenty minute fight, exhausted my missiles and finally was able to get a shield down long enough to get clean broadsides in. Lots of fun. O0

...and yes getting a cargo pod with advanced tech is awesome. Wish it happened ;) more.

Ian C · October 22, 2015, 10:40:06 AM

Taken on it's own merits for what it is, and not what it should be, I think the game is highly enjoyable. The soundtrack is amazing. Having capital ships on a flat plane while agile fighters zip around is exactly the same type of combat as Star Wars and I don't have an issue with it.
I'm having a lot of fun, and the bonus of adding your own music paths means I can have my own mixtapes playing while I'm blasting the hell out of pirates. This is my combat music folder so far. Although some of these are cheesy, having these playing in combat while hell breaks loose is all kinds of awesome.

Capn Darwin · October 22, 2015, 11:30:27 AM

I need to spend some time to really setup the custom music folders. I have tracks from Heavy Metal in there, but I'm thinking some Bladerunner and Pink Floyd and some Bab5 Christopher Franke to really get it going. O0

Ian C · October 22, 2015, 12:38:51 PM

Easy Listening + combat is hilarious.

BTW, I found this brief guide quite informative:

http://www.pcinvasion.com/rebel-galaxy-guide-hints-and-tips-for-beginner-space-gunslingers

Barthheart · October 22, 2015, 01:59:51 PM

Quote from: Ian C on October 22, 2015, 12:38:51 PM
Easy Listening + combat is hilarious.

BTW, I found this brief guide quite informative:

http://www.pcinvasion.com/rebel-galaxy-guide-hints-and-tips-for-beginner-space-gunslingers

Cool! Thanks fer the link. It had some useful stuff in there.

PanzersEast · October 23, 2015, 12:31:57 PM

The game is just fun..... one of those you can just relax and play. Good job for a 2 man dev team, and one that keeps things streamlined without a lot of clutter and extra junk. The 2d plain is not an issues as the naval style combat with your capital ship coincides, however if you were in a fighter I could see how the 3D plain would work better, however in this context is works well and fits in.

PE