What if Stars! and Dwarf Fortress had a baby...

Treebiter

Treebiter

Treebiter

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12 Jun 2008
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752
They have and it's here:

http://aurora.pentarch.org

Been playing this since christmas and have to say it's one of the best games I've ever encountered. I've been meaning to post something about it ever since as it deserves recognition. However, I suspect most of you will hate it. ;)

Like Dwarf Fortress it's the brainchild and magnum opus of one man. Again, like DF this is not a game for graphics junkies as there's even less here to feast your eyes on than even the aforementioned can sport. The learning curve is horrendous, the reams of data overwhelming and the challenge seemingly insurmountable to start with. When it clicks however, you'll be hooked. I mean seriously "how long have I been playing?.. OMG I've got a beard!" hooked!

If you like Stars!, Gal Civ, Imperium Galactica, MOO, Space Empires and/or Dwarf Fortress, do yourself a favour and put some time aside to 'learn' this game.
 
I can't say I've ever heard of Dwarf Fortress. Stars! (yes, the ! is an essential part of the title) on the other hand is the game that got me hooked on space colonisation games - I can't remember too much of it now, I don't think I've played it since I used floppy disks. Most of what's left is a warm, fuzzy feeling of fond remembrance for something so utterly lost in the past that to drag it into the cold light of day is sacrilege of the most heinous kind - I couldn't stand anyone asking me questions about it, to say the least.

Is it an MMO?
What are the graphics like?
Will it run on my laptop?

To hear there's a modern successor makes me happy - GalCiv2 is a game that's sucked about 200 hours a month from the last 2 yeas of my life, MoO3 had its spot before that.
 
Dwarf Fortress, I spent so much time trying to get the hang of that game. Ended up flooding the place with one dwarf survivour trapped in his room... I made him mine through the wall.
 
It's a incrimental time/turn-based 4x (Explore, Exploit, Exterminate... Er extrapolate? Could never remember the last one :p) space strategy/management game. You start on Earth or on a random planet and are left to decide how your race will take to the stars. Turns are handled by time increments. You can choose to progress the game from as little as a few seconds (Ideal for intense ship combat) up to a month at a time. You have full control over planetary industry, ship building, research... the stuf you'd expect really but with greater depth.

Ship design for instance allows you build a vessel from the base-up, adding engines, weapons, point defence, maintainance hold, damage control centres, bridges... The list literally goes on. Furthermore, you have complete control over the components that will make up the ship so the choices are endless. When building lasers for instance, you can choose the laser type, wavelength, whether they're turrent or spine mounted, how fast and at what range the fire control will be effective at etc. Yoy even get to choose who captains each vessel from a pool of military personel, each with traits and stats.

Terraforming allows you to control what gases are added or remove from an atmosphere. Each species has a tolerance which will dictate what planets can be easily colonised. Tectonics, whether there is water (be it ice or liquid) temperature and atmospheric pressure are all present and have to be dealt with. One of the coolist features however is that civilian shipping companies form over time and end up doing a lot of hauling for you, essentially taking more and more micromanagemnt off of your hands as you empire grows.

The overall best feature however is that the game scales with you. You can start with as many or as few NPC empires out there doing their own thing but even if you choose none you may still encounter them as you explore. The galxy is generated as you and NPC's explore limiting the system drain you experience. There are even ruins of ancient civilisations and... "Other things" out there for you to encounter.

I could waffle on for ages, in fact I have. Just play it. You won't regret it (Disclaimer: Many of you will likely regret it. Treebiter will not be held accountable for and rage-quit related incidents.)

Oh, and yeah. Should run fine on a laptop too!
 
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