GalCiv2 vs SEV vs Distant Worlds.

[TheDespot]

I beleive that Galactic Civilisations 2 and Space empires V are some of the best modern 4X games in existence at the moment. However I was pleasantly surprised to find that distant worlds easily outstrips SEV in concept and in practice. In fact I find it hard to find a clear winner when comparing GalCiv and Distant worlds. Both have decent AI and make gameplay simple yet so full of depth.

I am curious to know how other players rate Distant worlds when compared to other previous 4X games?

[2guncohen]

I know one thing for sure.

If this game goes multiplayer they would be the leading 4x game !!!

[Registered55]

space empires 5 was great with the BMod, but man was it slow,

no multi-threading, the speed of the game killed it for me,

if only SE5 could be multi-threaded, with x3 and x4 CPU's becoming standard now, man SE5 would of been a great game to get into,

but unfortunately I always had to call it a day, 2-6 minutes staring at a "Processing" screen, is not my idea of fun....

on some medium size galaxies with medium amount of AI players game turns could be upto 6-12 minutes waiting for turn processing....................... yeah like that would take off,

SE5 should of been re-written with Multi-threading in mind, but no developer wants or can do it, (same goes to distant worlds aswell)

[TheDespot]

God I remember the speed was awful, I would normally have to flip to a good few news articles to wait it out in between turns towards the end game.
I also found this game to be micromanagement hell with retrofitting being an absolute pain. In addition I found the Ai to be really dumb, for instance often signing treaties that would stop all its research or banning technologies that did not even exist.

[the1sean]

Distant Worlds wins, GalCiv2 was good, but distant worlds has much more satisfying ship design and combat. I also prefer the backstory and races in Distant Worlds to GC2. The big thing with SEV for me was ship design, but it lacked in so many other areas. DW took the best parts of the ship design from SEV, but simplified it and left out some of the more annoying issues (like mines). Some people may prefer that, but I dont.

The big clinchers are the Automation/Suggestion features, and the Living Economy. Pure awesomeness. Distant Worlds is innovative and smart. Codeforce has also supported the game extremely well. I look forward to all the things to come, from little patches that improve moddability, to the planned expansion.

[Grotius]

Well, one big difference is that Distant Worlds is real-time, whereas Gal Civ 2 and SE5 are turn-based. I normally prefer turn-based games, but Distant Worlds has made me something of a convert. Right now if I had to pick only one, I'd go with DW. It's a different experience. I agree with Sean that its galaxy feels more "alive" to me. And with everything set to manual, I feel like I have plenty of micromanaging goodness to keep me happy -- but you can set some stuff to auto if you prefer.

[ASHBERY76]

My 4X ranking
1.MOO2
2.SOTS with all Expansions
3.Distant Worlds


176.Galciv2.

[Gertjan]

Really, why? For me the interface of galciv2 was better, more polished, but the automation in DW is amazing.

[vonboy]

This is one of my favorite 4x games, second only to SE IV (SE V had more features and modability, but turns took forever to process and the ui was crap).

[2guncohen]

ORIGINAL: vonboy

This is one of my favorite 4x games, second only to SE IV (SE V had more features and modability, but turns took forever to process and the ui was crap).

Always wanted to play SE IV Multiplayer [&:]
SE IV is for the moment for me no uno then followed by Distant Worlds.

[Igard]

1. Distant Worlds
2. Birth of the Federation
3. MoO2
4. GalCiv 2
5. Sword of the Stars

That's my top 5.

[TheDespot]

Birth of the federation I had totally forgot what an amzing game that really was. Just so you know they are releasing an official sequel to the game which is in alpha at the moment.
http://www.startreksupremacy.com/

I also agree with Moo2 that was amazing however Moo3 really make Jesus cry!

[TheDespot]

In addition I find SOTS to be a great game, I sometimes wish more games had such attention to combat mechanics.

[adecoy95]

distant worlds would be king if it was moddable

[kentcol]

ORIGINAL: TheDespot

Birth of the federation I had totally forgot what an amzing game that really was. Just so you know they are releasing an official sequel to the game which is in alpha at the moment.
http://www.startreksupremacy.com/

I also agree with Moo2 that was amazing however Moo3 really make Jesus cry!

The latest news for that game was in May, 2008. Not too promising.

[Baleur]

ORIGINAL: Registered55

space empires 5 was great with the BMod, but man was it slow,

no multi-threading, the speed of the game killed it for me,

if only SE5 could be multi-threaded, with x3 and x4 CPU's becoming standard now, man SE5 would of been a great game to get into,

but unfortunately I always had to call it a day, 2-6 minutes staring at a "Processing" screen, is not my idea of fun....

on some medium size galaxies with medium amount of AI players game turns could be upto 6-12 minutes waiting for turn processing....................... yeah like that would take off,

SE5 should of been re-written with Multi-threading in mind, but no developer wants or can do it, (same goes to distant worlds aswell)

Exactly! Especially the HORRIBLE interface (where the individual buttons even lagged more than many AAA graphics hog titles today lol), and the HORRIBLE camera, which was locked on the star and you couldnt even pan, only rotate around >_<

I just could never get over those things, i NEVER enjoyed SE5, ever.. I loved the concept, but the fact that they went 3d "just to be 3d", in a poorly executed incompetent way, ruined the game. Look at Distant Worlds or Galciv2, 2d isnt anything bad, its something GOOD! Especially if it means you can have huge games without horrible controls.

[martok]

Personally, my rankings are as follows:

1.) Birth of the Federation
2.) Distant Worlds
3.) Galactic Civilizations 2
4.) Armada 2526
5.) Imperium Galactica 2: Alliances

ORIGINAL: Grotius

Well, one big difference is that Distant Worlds is real-time, whereas Gal Civ 2 and SE5 are turn-based. I normally prefer turn-based games, but Distant Worlds has made me something of a convert. Right now if I had to pick only one, I'd go with DW. It's a different experience. I agree with Sean that its galaxy feels more "alive" to me. And with everything set to manual, I feel like I have plenty of micromanaging goodness to keep me happy -- but you can set some stuff to auto if you prefer.

I too usually prefer turn-based 4x games, but DW is definitely a notable exception for me as well.

The civilian economy really breathes life into the game, and the automation/suggestion features are a huge boon in running a multi-stellar empire. The AI is also generally good, which -- as someone who nearly always plays games in single-player mode (setting aside that Distant Worlds is solely SP in any case) -- is something I definitely appreciate!

[the1sean]

Well, for the record:

1. Distant Worlds (suggestive helper AI, living economy and galaxy, great enemy AI, Pirates done very well, galaxy feels very old and good story)
2. Master of Orion 2 (almost EVERYTHING was groundbreaking at the time and synthesized well, awesome game!)
3. Galactic Civilizations 2 (great AI, amazing diplomacy, cool galactic wonder and commodity system)
4. Sword of the Stars (wonderful variable tech tree system, real 3d map, and coolest looking battles!)
5. Armada 2526 (unique victory conditions and wormhole system)
6. Imperium Galactica 2 (very cool intergalactic market, a decent stab at interactive planetary surface combat)
(EDIT) #7- Star Wars: Rebellion (cool character/agent system similar to Armageddon Empires, and, well, STAR WARS ships!!!)


Honorable Mention: Master of Orion 1, Space Empires 3 & 4 & 5, Birth of the Federation, GalCiv1, Spaceward Ho! (anyone play that one???)

Distant Worlds has ship design, great AI, and a pretty smooth gameplay system with AI automation and awesome combat. Just needs more of the good things from the other series. Oh, and Distant Worlds barely beat out Master of Orion 2 for first place...

[Shark7]

If I had to rank my favorites at this point:

1. Distant Worlds
2. MoO Series
3. Imperium Galactica 2
4. Armada 2526

[Hertston]

ORIGINAL: TheDespot
In addition I find SOTS to be a great game, I sometimes wish more games had such attention to combat mechanics.

Just balance, really. I'm a huge SotS fan, but have always thought of it more as a sci-fi wargame than a 4X as such because of the emphasis both on tactical combat and fleet movement. There's an awful lot of the usual 4X stuff SotS doesn't even attempt to do, and would probably be a poorer game if it did.