Yup, it's me again, asking for game recommendations. I've been searching for ages for a fun, deep, and entertaining naval combat simulator/game. Ideally one in which you command a fleet of ships, be they ships of sail, or spacecraft, and blast your enemies to bits. I'm a huge fan of the games-workshop title Battlefleet Gothic, (a tabletop miniatures game), and would ideally like to find a computer game with similar mechanics. Different classes of ships move differently, have different weapons, firing arcs, ranges, terrain effects, etc. Time period doesn't matter to me. I love history, and I love sci-fi. So be it the age of sail, or spaceships blasting each other apart with lasers, I want to hear about it! RTS or turn based, I don't care!
Specs are of no concern. My new PC can run just about anything.
Games I've tried and enjoyed/disliked:
Gratuitous Space Battles: This is a really addicting game, but ultimately very shallow. You design ships, (a HUGE plus), but there's no real strategy to it aside from picking guns/armor, and mounting them anywhere you feel like it. You then deploy your fleet, and watch as they mindlessly drive towards each other and shoot. No control over them whatsoever. Fun for a few hours, but ultimately lacking.
Nexus: The Jupiter Incident: Pretty cool single player, and your fleet carries over with you between missions. I had fun playing through this game, but it lacked multiplayer or a good skirmish system. It was also really basic in ship design. This weapon only hurts shields, this weapon only hurts hulls, this weapon can only shoot big ships, this weapon can only shoot little ones, etc. The controls were also horrible. There was no "move to location" command. In order to move your ships, you had to direct them towards an actual object. So the missions all conveniently had probes lying around so you could move.
Homeworld Series: These are great games, and very fun single player. Zooming in on one of your destroyers and watching it pummel an enemy ship from far away is like watching the battle scenes from Battlestar Galactica. Fucking awesome. However there's no real multiplayer anymore, (the game's like 12 years old), and the AI is downright dumber than bricks. That said, I've never found a better 3-dimensional space combat simulator. Awesome game, just not what I'm looking for at the moment. I want something with strategy! Forming a battle line, getting faster ships behind the enemy where they can do more damage, fighters flying CAP to protect vulnerable ships, etc. Not just "I have the most ships and a-move into you and win"
Empire Total War: Obviously only speaking about the naval battles. The naval battles in this game are actually pretty fun... but they get old so fast. You've got no control over the make of your ships, and obviously the rest of the game is lacking, (campaign map, land battles, etc)
Hmmm... I can't really think of many more games I've played. I've heard good things about Sins of a Solar Empire, but I've also heard really bad things. Anyways, I'm all ears for suggestions. Hopefully somewhere out there is a game I've never heard of that's just what I'm looking for.
Or maybe I'm better off just playing BFG online via vassal, lol.
Try this classic bad boy out for some lols! Turn based movement differnet ships have different speeds fastest ships get to go first. after ships move they can "engage" in a real time battle where the boats do a run by of each other you have to aim and fire the cannons and torpedoes and can damage different parts of the other persons boat. weapons satellite engine etc. these damages have real effects beyond the battle. and can be repaired for a time commitment. There are resource objectives and escort objectives as well. I had so much fun with this game for so long! its terrible tho so only play if you have an emulator and a free afternoon.
As a long-time modder of Sins of a Solar Empire I can tell you it's terrible. Homeworld is pretty terrible on the modding front as well, but sins is the worst in terms of gameplay by a longshot. If things like dumb fighter AI in homeworld make you mad, SoaSE would give you a hernia. The combat system in particular is extremely bland.
X3: Terran Conflict is about as deep as you can get outside of EVE I suppose.
/e
Also, Freespace 2 is not on your list. That was definitely the best space-based game I've played so far.
I haven't gotten around to playing this yet, so it's not exactly a recommendation, but AI War is apparently a "big thing" right now, I've only heard positive things about it.
The PTO games are rather good if you want some sort of ship battle simulations, they also have planes. Really fun games though, I used to rent them all the time. I only played the first one though. They are for the SNES so probably best to use an emulator.
On July 07 2011 02:18 IskatuMesk wrote: As a long-time modder of Sins of a Solar Empire I can tell you it's terrible. Homeworld is pretty terrible on the modding front as well, but sins is the worst in terms of gameplay by a longshot. If things like dumb fighter AI in homeworld make you mad, SoaSE would give you a hernia. The combat system in particular is extremely bland.
X3: Terran Conflict is about as deep as you can get outside of EVE I suppose.
/e
Also, Freespace 2 is not on your list. That was definitely the best space-based game I've played so far.
Hmmmm... X3. I played X2 years ago. Do you still need a joystick to really be able to enjoy the game? The controls were horrid with a mouse/keyboard.
I'm more looking for big ship-of-the-line type combat. I'll check out freespace though, thanks!
On July 07 2011 02:18 IskatuMesk wrote: As a long-time modder of Sins of a Solar Empire I can tell you it's terrible. Homeworld is pretty terrible on the modding front as well, but sins is the worst in terms of gameplay by a longshot. If things like dumb fighter AI in homeworld make you mad, SoaSE would give you a hernia. The combat system in particular is extremely bland.
X3: Terran Conflict is about as deep as you can get outside of EVE I suppose.
/e
Also, Freespace 2 is not on your list. That was definitely the best space-based game I've played so far.
Hmmmm... X3. I played X2 years ago. Do you still need a joystick to really be able to enjoy the game? The controls were horrid with a mouse/keyboard.
I'm more looking for big ship-of-the-line type combat. I'll check out freespace though, thanks!
Most games support USB XBox 360 controllers if you can get your hands on one.
Lemme know if you get into EVE, I can hook you up. Plus check the TL EVE thread.
It's not really a naval combat game, though. I will get you a good game. I know I have one at home off the top of my head, HOWEVER I can't think of what the hell it's called..
Basically you micro a small group of ships, and you have to broadside your opponents who are trying to get away, you can aim for different parts of the ship, that sort of thing...oh god damnit what was that game called...ARGGHH
Hahaha, holy shit this game actually looks pretty good. Not the one I was thinking of, but Eskimo-Alex, we should start a TL fleet on this game and mess some shit up.
On July 07 2011 02:53 Tin_Foil wrote: I was going to say homeworld, love those games. I remember it having a good deal of stategy though. Was a long time ago.
Did you ever play the old table top game, Man of War? That's a fun ship game.
Never got into MoW, but I've read through all the rules and such. No one at any of the gaming stores I've ever been to has played it. Just like the starship troopers game. Fucking *fantastic* ruleset, but NO ONE plays it.
I still feel that BFG is a better game than MoW though as far as tabletop navy games go. (Also GW hasn't supporting MoW in like 15 years lol)
I actually kinda like Sins of a Solar Empire, but never got horribly deep into it.
My best suggestion would be Sid Meier's Pirates (the remake newer one), however I don't think the level of depth is as high as you're looking for. It is a whole lot of fun for a few days though.
I can echo the love of EVE online... But it does kinda feel like a huge commitment, as it's a super super super deep game. I'm not quite sure the 'fleet command' aspect you're interested in is very applicable unless you play a lot or are very social within the game, joining large corporations and stuff. You're not gonna be jumping in and participating in fleet warfare for quite a while, most likely.
EPT
![[image loading]](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/Corsairs_Coverart.png)
