Starsector - CAMPAIGN MODE OUT (formerly “Starfarer”)

[Swadius 2.0]

Star Control II

[AK47]

I'll buy it once the freeplay mode works. Looks pretty cool.

[Captain_Octavius]

How does this compare to X3: Terran Conflict? That's also a sandbox space game, you start small and can trade, fight and do mission, and eventually you can build an empire of space stations and huge fleets of all kinds of spaceships. It looks prettier than this as well.

Edit: Ah, I watched a video and these are 2D graphics with top down view... X3:TC is first person and always 3D. This could be fun, but not immersive enough for me.

[Swadius 2.0]

Bah, play this like tetris. It's 2D, due to the art style being purposefully reminiscent for those of us who remember shooters like these:

[Moss]

The first thing I thought of when I saw it was:



Definitely keeping an eye on this, shows a lot of promise.

[Swadius 2.0]

New version seen here: http://www.livestream.com/minecraftgirledition/video?clipId=pla_883af7f8-c782-456d-af38-b3fc88ee3769

Looks pretty awesome.

[Swadius 2.0]

New update here: http://fractalsoftworks.com/2011/08/19/starfarer-0-35a-preview-release/#comments

The most striking thing being the new command system to address issues with too much time spent in the war-room and not enough time meandering about in your flagship.

[Wellenbrecher]

Alright, damn you Swadius. I'll get this once I get paid.

[Swadius 2.0]

http://fractalsoftworks.com/2011/09/17/new-feature-damageable-modules/

Ship parts take damage in battle. The effects of this are seen in this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNRM2yUXCEQ

Guns go down when hit too many times in their general area. Engines also suffer from this. They can come back online after a certain amount of time though. This last aspect is modified by certain types of modules you put in.

[Theoditus]

I like the new control system as it takes micromanaging away. It is actually surprising that I rarely even piloted any ships when I played those missions through, computer guidance does good job, perhaps even better than I could in some situations. I just focused to strategy part and gave orders and ships executed them well. It is surprising to see so good combat AI performance, considering some other games.

Next update should be pretty good, with custom battles, ship layouts and damageable ships parts.

[Swadius 2.0]

It'f funny you should say that, Alex says he doesn't want people to stay too long in the control room and wants most of their time to be spent in the helm of their flag ship .

Strategic layer is supposed to get its bones after this next update too.

[Theoditus]

I do spent plenty of time watching video feed too when my troops carry orders. Manoeuvring fleet, ordering strikes and trying to keep my ships out of harms way has it's charm.

It'f funny you should say that, Alex says he doesn't want people to stay too long in the control room and wants most of their time to be spent in the helm of their flag ship .

Many of those alpha release missions have so challenging difficulty, that spending time into flagship helm is luxury what ambitious commander can't afford to do. Fleet movements must be precise if one wants to survive against overwhelming odds. There is no time to go for a joy ride when the fate of thousands worlds lies on my shoulders!

Another thing is, putting flag ship into front line combat too soon would cause it's destruction so it should move with rest of the fleet until time is ready for counter measure, at least in some of those more trickier missions.

I look forward custom battle builder and campaign as well, perhaps spacing can be made threre bit more leisure so there would be more time to cruise around, right now those missions seems to be focused as tactical challenges.

Creating own flagship would help too, I think I would prefer bit more agile crafts.

[Swadius 2.0]

I think one of the updates Alex released was intended to make ships and squadrons much more independant and competent at staying alive while following your orders. It also imposed a general limit on how many commands you can give at one time to try and put you back into the helm for the greater duration of the game.

There's also a very interesting update today: http://fractalsoftworks.com/2011/11/22/crew-management-and-you/

http://fractalsoftworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/screenshot195.jpg

[Theoditus]

I like the approach he is going with this game: minimising mundane tasks so player can concentrate to the core gameplay which is combat, tactics and perhaps adventure too once development gets far enough. Especially when those combat elements holds well on their own, so there is no need to add game hours for player micromanaging huge amount of things, which would slow things down and keep player away from the fun part, which is blowing space crafts apart!

It's a fresh, player friendly way to make game, keeping game flow fluent. I think the trend at least some years back was to throw as much stuff for player to manage as possible, that could had happened especially when designing this kind of game, but it is nice to see he puts some serious thought about it.

[Swadius 2.0]

Too busy playing, can't do info.

http://fractalsoftworks.com/2012/02/14/starfarer-0-5a-preview-release/