Thinking about buying this. BUt still have doubts.

[malkuth74]

So I have seen the game compared to things like MOO3 etc... which well MOO3 sucked. LOL. Also compared to SOTS and I liked that game for the limited sense that it was. IE mostly space battles.

But my favorite games so far are actually MOO MOO2 and galactic Civ II with all expansion etc.

Will a galactic civ player be happy with this game. I noticed it has real time combat and stuff which sounds more like Sins of solar empire to me. Which again is Real Time.

So whats to the ship building in this game is it like the GCII games and MOO games or is it pre built ships like Sins?

[Tormodino]

The glorious, yet deeply flawed achievement that is MOO3 will one day be recognized.

I like the ship building a lot. It allows you almost complete freedom to build the ships and bases you want (within the limits of the game , of course).
You can make enormously expensive capital ships or tiny escort ships, and anything in between.

As technology advances you can build them bigger and bigger, and components become more space efficient, but even from the start you can make interesting design choices.

Graphically, not so much. The ships look good, but they can not be tweaked like in GalCiv2.

[malkuth74]

So you have a set ship, that you can add anything you want to it.. Sure they must have some sort of hull limits and stuff which is cool.

The weapons and stuff are they interesting, or do we have a system like rock paper scissors where one weapon type beats the other etc.

Also the maps seem extremely huge. like impossible to control huge. LOL. I remember the boredom in Galciv 2 after you become powerful enough its like you spend the next half day taking over this planet that planet etc. Gets kinda boring. And Galciv 2 had some huge maps.... But the movies I have seen on this game make those maps look like a joke. Sounds like a micromanagement nightmare. I know there is a lot of automanagment to the game you can choose.

But what happens when you get extremly large in empire wise.

Also what about the AI, does it have a challenge to it. Diplomacy etc. Just wondering moneys tight and I can't afford a lemon. LOL. And I love space stradegy games. Since I have bought just about all of them in the past. But things change and I don't want to waste money.

[Tormodino]

You assign a role to a ship and get some basic requirements for it, like warships require some weapons and defences along with the usual life support and such. You set the size yourself within the limits of your technological capabilities by just adding components.

The weapons are simply damage vs defences (shields and armour). No silly paper/rock/wool thing. I suppose there could be different damage types according to weapon types, but I prefer this simplification.

You can let the AI automanage everything. You don't have to do anything other than say yes, no and answer the occasional diplomatic message from start to finish. Might not sound like fun, but you can go the other way and micro every single aspect of the game yourself. Except the civilian sector, which handles itself (which is preposterous from a despotic point of view ).

AI does well, from what I can see. I haven't played enough to see if it can challenge me late game, but as it stands now it challenges me early game, so...
Diplomacy works well, it gives you money if it thinks you are nice or is afraid of you, and it will threaten and demand if it doesn't like you, or even just feels superior to you.

For me it's a great package. I haven't played anything like it, tbh.
It's a sum of parts being a greater whole thing.
I recommend it, but I also recommend waiting for a few days as the developers iron out a few unforeseen crash-bugs which is plaguing some players on certain systems (like my own) in cause you should be affected by them. They have said that the fix is incoming very soon.

[Erik Rutins]

Hi Malkuth,

If you haven't already, have a look at the videos here, starting with the introduction:

http://www.matrixgames.com/products/379 ... ant.Worlds

Next best thing is to read this forum, especially the AARs and the preview that was posted at the Wargamer.

Also, take a look at the Ship Design AAR here:

tm.asp?m=2411040

This game is not like SOSE or other RTSes - the real-time aspect is more a part of the simulation of a living galaxy than a playstyle. I think a GC2 player would be pretty happy in Distant Worlds. I've played GC since my first copy that I had on OS/2. I enjoy that and find a lot of enjoyment in DW as well.

Pretty much everything in the game can either be managed directly or automated. The automation is pretty good IMHO and the AI is pretty good as well. Once you get used to the game and develop your own playstyle, I doubt you'll have a problem managing large empires - I do not at this point. But the galaxy is very customizable to your playstyle, as is the game itself.

Regards,

- Erik

[HsojVvad]

ORIGINAL: Tormodino

The glorious, yet deeply flawed achievement that is MOO3 will one day be recognized.

I like the ship building a lot. It allows you almost complete freedom to build the ships and bases you want (within the limits of the game , of course).
You can make enormously expensive capital ships or tiny escort ships, and anything in between.

As technology advances you can build them bigger and bigger, and components become more space efficient, but even from the start you can make interesting design choices.

Graphically, not so much. The ships look good, but they can not be tweaked like in GalCiv2.

Put it this way. If there was no MOO3, there would be no Distant Worlds. Did the game fail? Yes, but it was the first game that I know of that tried to do a 4X space game on the Macro scale instead of micro scale. I find it extremly funny people complain about the late game of micro scale games, so Moo3 tired to fix it. And these same people still complain. Yes it was rushed but the blame falls onto Atari more than QuickSilver.

I belive CodeForce did a good job at keeping it Macro and fun playing. I still havn't got to the late stage game yet, so will find out in due time. I am hoping CodeForce lernt the mistakes from Moo3.

But again, to rip on Moo3, if Moo3 didn't do what it tried to do, then there would be no DW. At least Moo3 got into peoples heads to learn how to do things Macro instead of Micro, wich all the people who say Moo3 suck coudn't do.

[Mad Russian]

That's an opinion I think is unsupportable. It's like saying if Ford didn't invent the assembly line one else in the history of the world would.

Good Hunting.

MR