Space 4x titles -- a pet peeve (and silly pointless rant)

[sandman2575]

Hmmmmmm...not sure I can agree with this.  Economy, trade, diplomacy, espionage, heroes, culture, special events, etc. All this stuff and more favors DW as the deeper, more complex game.  On top of this, DW has soul.  I found SR to be more or less a shell of game.  I suppose the elements are there, but for some reason it just feels hollow, even after the long drawn out patching process.

Valid points all -- hard to argue against this, particularly since I've only played original DW and am sure the features you mention have only gotten deeper with the expansions.  No question that the "living economy" of DW is unique, and SR can't touch it. 

The perception that "SR lacks soul" point is clearly widespread, and I see where it's coming from.  It seems to me that it wouldn't take too much to give it that soul -- the "Galactic Armory" mod does a lot to add flavor and interest and complexity (...it's already pretty complex in vanilla).  May sound simplistic, but I think that the lack of good sfx really hurts SR.  Even something like giving the ships engine sounds a la Sins of a Solar Empire would be a big boost for immersion.  (I know there's no sound in space.  But the sci fi convention of space sound effects is by now so well established, it seems perverse for the dev's to leave it out 'in the name of realism.')

[Sparhawk]

I picked up Star Ruler for a good price over the holidays and spent quite a few hours with it and actually enjoy creating ships in this game and pitting them against the AI. At a certain point the AI starts spamming colony ships colonizing any and every rock in the galaxy including sub par planets in your own systems. I've become turned off of the game because of this.

[sandman2575]

Yeah, the ability in SR to colonize any planet type seems wrong to me.  DW is definitely deeper in this respect -- although I do like that in both DW and SR the planets actually revolve around the star (...do they in SotS2? maybe very slowly -- it doesn't seem like they move).

Haven't gotten deep enough into 'Galactic Armory' to see if it improves on the vanilla SR in this respect.   

The heart of SR is the amazing variety of ship design possibilities, no doubt.

[Boggit]

Spaceward Ho! IV

Sounds like a pretty racy game about making a 25th century porn film... ;) or is it just my smutty mind? 8) :P ;D

[Arctic Blast]

Spaceward Ho! IV

Sounds like a pretty racy game about making a 25th century porn film... ;) or is it just my smutty mind? 8) :P ;D

Now THAT sounds like a game I'd be interested in. We need more intergalactic pimping simulations!

[Martok]

After watching a couple of LPs of DW Legends I am going to break down and purchase the game.  From all appearances, this is one of those games that will fill me need far beyond my other 4x titles. 

Woot!  Good to hear you're joining our cult picking up the game, PE.  I think you'll be glad you did.  :)   

The big draw here is all the customization, character interaction, races, etc....  The UI seems functional but not stellar.  I believe I enjoyed watching the LPs as much as they were playing them..... like CK2, a novel evolved as the game played through. 

I second all of this (including the part about the UI being okay but not great).  It was watching some LP's and reading a few AAR's that helped get me back into the game; it really does double as a storytelling device! 

In the end, I don't see anything that is currently developed or being developed that approaches the options and features DW does.

PE

Indeed.  With the obvious exception of Aurora (and that game is mostly spreadsheet-based, with few of the sounds/visuals I feel are often essential to atmosphere/immersion), I don't think there's another space 4x title out there that's as deep or feature-rich as Distant Worlds.  There's obviously still a lot more that could added/improved; but for now, at least, DW is where it's at if you desire options, complexity, and/or replayability. 

Spaceward Ho! IV

Sounds like a pretty racy game about making a 25th century porn film... ;) or is it just my smutty mind? 8) :P ;D

Heh.  :P 


I do enjoy the game's "Western" theme:  All colonized planets wear hats -- your own worlds wear a white cowboy hat (representing you being the "hero"), while other player's worlds wear a hat and a bandana over the planet's "face" (representing them being the "villains" who oppose you). 

The minimal voice-overs get in on the act as well:  Any time you send a ship/fleet to another planet, a man's voice says "yahh!" (as if telling a horse to "giddayup"); likewise, if you then decide to retract a movement order, the same guy says "whoa!" (as if telling the horse to stop).  It's pretty funny; I still chuckle at it.  :D