Space combat/trading simulation games

[sleepysugarlump]

EVE's take on PvP is part of what makes it what it is. By making every flight a risk, EVE creates a specific atmosphere that is essential to the game. It drives the creation of player corps, keeps you watching Local, makes you take your life in your hands each time you make a journey. Do you go the quick route and hope no ones camping the gate? Do you fly straight from the gate to the station and risk being bubbled? Do you carebear your way around highsec and try not to get war-decced?

 

Honestly, I want to like EVE. I sank a lot of money into trying to like it. It's thrilling and atmospheric and free (as in freedom). It's a more truly open world than any other yet created.

 

But for me, there are two problems. Firstly, there is little to no skill element involved. Sure, a little savvy can go a long way, but once you're locked in combat you can do nothing except watch the maths do its work. Secondly, I never managed to find a corp that was relaxed enough. I work long hours and have lots to do in my spare time, so when I do play a game I want to have fun. EVE can only be fun if its players recognise that it's just a game, and I could never find anybody who did.

 

Oh, and grinding. I cannot and will not grind in any game, ever. I'm glad it's there as an option for people who are into that, but I just can't do it without wanting to shoot myself.

 

Back on topic, Oolite is a free remake of Elite with better graphics. One of the more basic space trading games, but a complete and refined experience. It also has a lot of mods which add quite a bit of functionality.

[Halororor]

But for me, there are two problems. Firstly, there is little to no skill element involved. Sure, a little savvy can go a long way, but once you're locked in combat you can do nothing except watch the maths do its work.

 

Yeah, most of the skill requirements for the game goes into knowing how to fit your ship, which is something I'm too lazy to sit and work out. :P

 

Secondly, I never managed to find a corp that was relaxed enough. I work long hours and have lots to do in my spare time, so when I do play a game I want to have fun. EVE can only be fun if its players recognise that it's just a game, and I could never find anybody who did.

 

I know exactly what you mean. I recently joined another industry focused corp, and then we got wardec'ed, so I got told I'm not allowed to leave the station (just like my old corp did) until the wardec was over. I said screw that and left. Not wanting to pay the overly high taxes of NPC corps, I then simply made my own corp. It's casual, but industry focused (mining, manufacturing, trade), but accepts any profession, with a very low tax rate. Haven't recruited anyone yet, but oh well, as long as I'm not paying high taxes. It has an awesome name, though. Zewp Industries. :D

 

Will probably start recruiting when I resub, which should be next month seeing as my subscription money went to a Collector's Edition of ME3.

 

Oh, and grinding. I cannot and will not grind in any game, ever. I'm glad it's there as an option for people who are into that, but I just can't do it without wanting to shoot myself.

 

I love doing monotonous tasks. I can spend hours mining, leaving my ship to mine away at the asteroids while I read a book or something.

[RitualBlack]

I love the WC3 solar conquest map. It isn't all that in depth but you pick a tech tree (economy, military or technology) and specialise in it. Each person gets a planet and you have to fight for resources and/or make friends. You have to fortify your planet both on the ground and in space to try to stop oncoming attacks or biological weapon drops :laugh:. If you focus in the economy tree you have to build trade ports and manage civilian buildings more than normal. They scaled the units and unit speed down a lot so it takes a fair amount of time to travel the solar system and when you double click a planet it zooms into it. Gives it the feel of a fair sized map. If you have WC3 and a few people to LAN with than the custom game mode is definitely worth a try if you like space combat and a bit of economy simulation.

[Vagrant0]

Oh, and grinding. I cannot and will not grind in any game, ever. I'm glad it's there as an option for people who are into that, but I just can't do it without wanting to shoot myself.

That's one aspect I'm really digging about STO (Star Trek Online). Leveling and pretty much everything is metered fairly well. There are more missions than it would take you to hit the maximum level, so anything you do outside the storylines is just bonus towards equipping your ship and crew to be better, or earning extra money to buy things. You aren't ever just flying around grinding on mobs for exp, even if that was what you really wanted to do (some fleet actions (mass instanced PvE) come close, but there is still a mission aspect to them).

 

The game is also fairly designed for casual play, where missions don't become unavailable, you're allowed to play and advance at your own pace without many pressures. If you feel like instant combat, you can get instant combat without having to wait for a scheduled raid party. If you want a longer story driven mission, in addition to certain episode and side missions, there are dozens of user-created missions which have almost no combat that can take between 1 and 4 hours to complete. Even by means of duty officers (NPC type characters who work for you), you can get a fairly large amount of exp, and money daily just by logging in, assigning them, and logging out again.

 

Oh, and the other neat aspect... Most of the official content works off of cannon, and may even be cannon itself.

[Illiad86]

EVE seems interesting, but far too complex for my liking haha. My boyfriend started a trial again, he played it a few years ago. They've changed a lot and it looks quite nice, but it's still not worth shoveling out 14.95/month. He'll play it for the 2 weeks then probably go back to playing Diablo II or Terraria lol.

 

You could give Evochron Mercenary a try, it's like a free EVE. Has all the mining, exploring, trading, etc. but it seemed less complicated. There's a demo on their website :)

 

Also give Battlestar Galatica Online a try if you want. Free to play and lots of very friendly people to help you out. It actually looks pretty fracking (lol) good for a browser based game. You sort of have to know the remade series to understand some points of the game, but it's pretty fun. There isn't any trading so far from what I've seen, but you can mine asteroids and the combat is pretty decent. I like it, but I like the TV series a lot too.

Edited February 22, 2012 by Illiad86

[Halororor]

EVE seems interesting, but far too complex for my liking haha. My boyfriend started a trial again, he played it a few years ago. They've changed a lot and it looks quite nice, but it's still not worth shoveling out 14.95/month. He'll play it for the 2 weeks then probably go back to playing Diablo II or Terraria lol.

 

You could give Evochron Mercenary a try, it's like a free EVE. Has all the mining, exploring, trading, etc. but it seemed less complicated. There's a demo on their website :)

 

Also give Battlestar Galatica Online a try if you want. Free to play and lots of very friendly people to help you out. It actually looks pretty fracking (lol) good for a browser based game. You sort of have to know the remade series to understand some points of the game, but it's pretty fun. There isn't any trading so far from what I've seen, but you can mine asteroids and the combat is pretty decent. I like it, but I like the TV series a lot too.

 

 

I bought Evochron a while back when it was on sale on Steam, but I haven't played it yet. Not for lack of interest, but more due to lack of time. Looks pretty good, though. Especially like the idea of procedurally generated galaxies.

[sleepysugarlump]

Ah, yeah, Evochron! Forgot about that one. Bought it on steam (a week after the sale :sad: ). It looks really good, but I haven't had a spare 900 hours to go through all the tutorials yet. The controls are extremely comprehensive, and somehow allow for *optional* newtonian physics. Ingenious!

[Nadimos]

STO could hook you for a short while. It is indeed well made for what it is. Better then most free to play games. Plus have you tried Homeworld yet?

Altho it is RTS.

Edited February 25, 2012 by Nadimos

[Xahstur]

Well tnx all for suggestions but im now on X3:Terran Conflict and i like it,the sad part is that there are not so many SCT simulation games that require my attention :S,i personally loved Privateer 2 The Darkening when i was a kid ^^.

 

 

Illiad86@

Diablo 2 you say :D well ask your bf if he wants pvp match xD hehehe.

[Illiad86]

Haha, you'll probably lose, he's 10 year veteran of DII ;) :P

 

Heh, I knew it, bf gave up on EVE in a week. He's back to playing Battlestar Galactica Online. Cool game actually, they give you daily logon bonuses...which is normally some money, ammo, and fuel. Yesterday, he was in a party and they raided a Cylon outpost :D Colonials almost got the whole star system taken over, it changes very fast though.