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To be honest I understand perfectly well why it exists. These days I played "Everspace 2" and it felt great, controls-wise, the physics are not that good thoug

To be honest I understand perfectly well why it exists. These days I played "Everspace 2" and it felt great, controls-wise, the physics are not that good though. And I wanted a more simulator thing. I then tired up all space simulators I could, played a little, tried to see if any scratch a specific itch, and found out the only ones that DOES scratch that itch, are ancient games, some that had Roberts involved. The reason people is plunking money in Star Citizen is that people want a game that basically doesn't exist, and Star Citizen promises to be that game. (if it will actually pull that off is another story...). Elite could have done it, but they didn't, their controls aren't that interesting and the entire series has the same repeating issues (of course, open source clones have the same issues). X series are basically an RTS with first person controls, another genre entirely. Evochron I didn't tried, but heard the controls are batshit insane and the interface is bizarre, the game is good but hard to understand. Among open source stuff, the one that came closest to what I want is clones of Chris Roberts games (for example games using Vega Strike engine). Freespace could work, but the contols of that game is really wonky, I couldn't get used to it or make it work with my mouse, and I don't own a joystick. Now if you are willing to go 2D there are more options, sadly some of them are trying to screw themselves too (looking at you "Celestial Command" that started as a 2D realistic physics game and is now a 3D game with crap physics because they couldn't make the AI work properly).

pmoriarty 5y ago
Check out Astrox Imperium. Don't expect Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen... but it's made by just one developer. For that it's amazing, and honestly, for me it's come closest to capturing what I want out of an Elite-style game, even though it's still got a long way to go to meeting its potential.
- airstrike 5y ago
  Very interesting! One reviewer on Steam summed it up as "Eve Offline" which is a great moniker
- paulluuk 5y ago
  I really like the basic concepts of Astrox Imperium, but the fact that almost the entire game revolves around getting from station to station in a desperate attempt not to run out of air was a big turndown for me. It eventually made the game unplayable for me, as I found myself in a savegame where no matter which direction I went, there simply wasn't a single station closeby enough that provided air, so I was essentially stuck and had to start a new campaign.
  - pmoriarty 5y ago
    "almost the entire game revolves around getting from station to station in a desperate attempt not to run out of air was a big turndown for me" That's not been my experience at all. Just invest in buying life support equipment upgrades whenever you find them and you won't have any problem surviving your trips from station to station, even in the most hazardous star systems. Also, don't go in to hazardous star systems unless you're sure you have the necessary life support equipment to survive there and get back. There is a timer at the bottom of the screen (if I remember right), which tells you how long your life support will last inside the star system you're in, and if you see it very low when you enter a new system just go right back out. To me it sounds like you either ignored that warning, didn't notice it, or thought you could get away with surviving in a very hazardous system without enough life support, but turned out to be wrong. Just don't do that and buy life support upgrades whenever you can and you'll be fine.
    - paulluuk 5y ago
      I did play the game in october 2020, and from I remember there were no life support upgrades back then. And back then I don't think there were "hazardous systems": it was just that some systems were completely empty (no stations at all), while others were not, and the only way to know was to actually go there. So you might not realize you were without air until you're 3-4 systems away.
      - pmoriarty 5y ago
        Well, the game has certainly changed a lot since then, as it's under very active development: see the latest dev log from Jan 18, 2022: [1] More here: [2] Now the game has not just life support, but four different life support systems. You will need one or the other of them when you're doing different things. I just get all four of them upgraded as much as possible whenever I can, and don't really worry about which one is for which as I pretty much always have enough no matter what I am doing. Though, whether you actually have to worry about a particular life support system will depend on how you play. For example, if you wanted to go mining for fuel from a star early on, or you happened to go in to particularly hazardous star systems early on, then you'd definitely feel your lack of a particular type (or multiple types) of life support. The way I played last time (where I got far enough that the game basically stopped being a challenge to me) was that I'd stayed within safe star systems and just upgraded my ship as much as possible, focusing on mining at first, then combat and that let me upgrade pretty much everything to max and buy the most expensive star ships. I didn't get in to having multiple ships and mercs, nor in building structures or manufacturing or refining, so there was still a lot more to do when I got bored, but that was after dozens of hours and lots of fun up to that point... and by the time I got done I could go in to the most hazardous star systems (or even up to stars to mine their fuel) without worry about my life support. If anything, survival is a little too easy and mechanical in this game. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bK5kKaS-ng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bK5kKaS-ng [2] - https://www.youtube.com/user/jacemasula/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/jacemasula/videos
Bombthecat 5y ago
Also: elite isn't a multiplayer game.. It plays and feels like a single player game.. You be with 5 people on ship in star citizen and do different things. There is no game like this... None
- therein 5y ago
  I agree. Also seeing `None` in the last line, on its own, my Rust mind went on and decided your comment must be a function that returns None.
seniorsassycat 5y ago
Try delta v: rings of Saturn for 2d. Outer Wilds has fun scaled down space flight.
- shostack 5y ago
  I desperately want some of the mining mechanics from this to be in games like Elite and Star Citizen. The depth and gameplay are amazing.
bduerst 5y ago
Also Angels Fall First, a FPS where you can also command/board capital ships, fly fighters, invade planets, etc. Unfortunately the dev has disappeared recently.
- jhanschoo 5y ago
  Wow, I remember this from its Homeworld mod days
thereddaikon 5y ago
Not trying to gate keep or anything but if you go into a space sim, or really any kind of simulator genre with just a KBM and not the appropriate controller you are going to think the controls are bad and insane. KBM works great for some types of games but sims are not one of them. I couldn't imagine DCS without a stick or iRacing without a wheel and pedals. Its simply a suboptimal experience and one the developers will never put all the much time in to because full fledged simulations cater to the type of player who is willing and able to invest in a specialty control setup.
justsomehnguy 5y ago
> Freespace could work, but the contols of that game is really wonky To each his own, but I would kill for a modern expansion remake of Privateer with FreeSpace controls and physics. And you don't really need a joystick for it, but finding a comfortable configuration scheme... takes time. Easiest would be to have the ship movement on the /keypad/ cursor keys for a coarse directioning and mouse for a fine targeting. That would give you 13 additional keys for the most often used functions: target next target in the reticle target next missile target subsystem in the reticle afterburner (KP_INS) countermeasures (KP_DEL) match speed (KP_STAR) full speed (KP_SLASH) have a power management nearby (INS through PgDown block) and shield management on the regular cursors. /Not that hard after all.../ Also FreeSpace is a space /fighter/ sim, it is somewhat another subgenre of spacesims with it's own peculiarities. Speaking about Roberts - take a look at Rebel Galaxy Outlaw [0], even by the video you will see what it is clearly a modern Privateer in everything except setting/license. [0] https://youtu.be/wKoJKe_yKQI?t=1786 https://youtu.be/wKoJKe_yKQI?t=1786
rozab 5y ago
Have you played Elite Dangerous recently? They made a misstep with space legs (bowing to public pressure from a public who aren't game designers), but other than that it's pretty darn solid.

pmoriarty 5y ago

Check out Astrox Imperium. Don't expect Elite Dangerous or Star Citizen... but it's made by just one developer. For that it's amazing, and honestly, for me it's come closest to capturing what I want out of an Elite-style game, even though it's still got a long way to go to meeting its potential.

airstrike 5y ago
Very interesting! One reviewer on Steam summed it up as "Eve Offline" which is a great moniker
paulluuk 5y ago
I really like the basic concepts of Astrox Imperium, but the fact that almost the entire game revolves around getting from station to station in a desperate attempt not to run out of air was a big turndown for me. It eventually made the game unplayable for me, as I found myself in a savegame where no matter which direction I went, there simply wasn't a single station closeby enough that provided air, so I was essentially stuck and had to start a new campaign.
- pmoriarty 5y ago
  "almost the entire game revolves around getting from station to station in a desperate attempt not to run out of air was a big turndown for me" That's not been my experience at all. Just invest in buying life support equipment upgrades whenever you find them and you won't have any problem surviving your trips from station to station, even in the most hazardous star systems. Also, don't go in to hazardous star systems unless you're sure you have the necessary life support equipment to survive there and get back. There is a timer at the bottom of the screen (if I remember right), which tells you how long your life support will last inside the star system you're in, and if you see it very low when you enter a new system just go right back out. To me it sounds like you either ignored that warning, didn't notice it, or thought you could get away with surviving in a very hazardous system without enough life support, but turned out to be wrong. Just don't do that and buy life support upgrades whenever you can and you'll be fine.
  - paulluuk 5y ago
    I did play the game in october 2020, and from I remember there were no life support upgrades back then. And back then I don't think there were "hazardous systems": it was just that some systems were completely empty (no stations at all), while others were not, and the only way to know was to actually go there. So you might not realize you were without air until you're 3-4 systems away.
    - pmoriarty 5y ago
      Well, the game has certainly changed a lot since then, as it's under very active development: see the latest dev log from Jan 18, 2022: [1] More here: [2] Now the game has not just life support, but four different life support systems. You will need one or the other of them when you're doing different things. I just get all four of them upgraded as much as possible whenever I can, and don't really worry about which one is for which as I pretty much always have enough no matter what I am doing. Though, whether you actually have to worry about a particular life support system will depend on how you play. For example, if you wanted to go mining for fuel from a star early on, or you happened to go in to particularly hazardous star systems early on, then you'd definitely feel your lack of a particular type (or multiple types) of life support. The way I played last time (where I got far enough that the game basically stopped being a challenge to me) was that I'd stayed within safe star systems and just upgraded my ship as much as possible, focusing on mining at first, then combat and that let me upgrade pretty much everything to max and buy the most expensive star ships. I didn't get in to having multiple ships and mercs, nor in building structures or manufacturing or refining, so there was still a lot more to do when I got bored, but that was after dozens of hours and lots of fun up to that point... and by the time I got done I could go in to the most hazardous star systems (or even up to stars to mine their fuel) without worry about my life support. If anything, survival is a little too easy and mechanical in this game. [1] - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bK5kKaS-ng https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bK5kKaS-ng [2] - https://www.youtube.com/user/jacemasula/videos https://www.youtube.com/user/jacemasula/videos

Bombthecat 5y ago

Also: elite isn't a multiplayer game.. It plays and feels like a single player game.. You be with 5 people on ship in star citizen and do different things. There is no game like this... None

therein 5y ago
I agree. Also seeing `None` in the last line, on its own, my Rust mind went on and decided your comment must be a function that returns None.

seniorsassycat 5y ago

Try delta v: rings of Saturn for 2d. Outer Wilds has fun scaled down space flight.

shostack 5y ago
I desperately want some of the mining mechanics from this to be in games like Elite and Star Citizen. The depth and gameplay are amazing.

bduerst 5y ago

Also Angels Fall First, a FPS where you can also command/board capital ships, fly fighters, invade planets, etc. Unfortunately the dev has disappeared recently.

jhanschoo 5y ago
Wow, I remember this from its Homeworld mod days

thereddaikon 5y ago

Not trying to gate keep or anything but if you go into a space sim, or really any kind of simulator genre with just a KBM and not the appropriate controller you are going to think the controls are bad and insane. KBM works great for some types of games but sims are not one of them. I couldn't imagine DCS without a stick or iRacing without a wheel and pedals. Its simply a suboptimal experience and one the developers will never put all the much time in to because full fledged simulations cater to the type of player who is willing and able to invest in a specialty control setup.

justsomehnguy 5y ago

> Freespace could work, but the contols of that game is really wonky To each his own, but I would kill for a modern expansion remake of Privateer with FreeSpace controls and physics. And you don't really need a joystick for it, but finding a comfortable configuration scheme... takes time. Easiest would be to have the ship movement on the /keypad/ cursor keys for a coarse directioning and mouse for a fine targeting. That would give you 13 additional keys for the most often used functions: target next target in the reticle target next missile target subsystem in the reticle afterburner (KP_INS) countermeasures (KP_DEL) match speed (KP_STAR) full speed (KP_SLASH) have a power management nearby (INS through PgDown block) and shield management on the regular cursors. /Not that hard after all.../ Also FreeSpace is a space /fighter/ sim, it is somewhat another subgenre of spacesims with it's own peculiarities. Speaking about Roberts - take a look at Rebel Galaxy Outlaw [0], even by the video you will see what it is clearly a modern Privateer in everything except setting/license. [0] https://youtu.be/wKoJKe_yKQI?t=1786 https://youtu.be/wKoJKe_yKQI?t=1786

rozab 5y ago

Have you played Elite Dangerous recently? They made a misstep with space legs (bowing to public pressure from a public who aren't game designers), but other than that it's pretty darn solid.