Distant Worlds

[mtkafka]

played a few hours last nite. DW can be played very hands off, there is a lot of little detail (but not so much that you can't get the big picture). I particularly like the 'feel' of a living universe the game gives. When you zoom out and see all the freighter, transport and mining ships zooming around... it feels like a functioning empire. I don't get that with ANY 4x game.

The game WILL expand your empire quite quickly on its own from one colony to almost 4 or 5 in less than 30 minutes... so the auto routines are pretty good at expansion. I think the players role is probably most important in diplomacy and war. I let the AI do everything just to see where it would go ... and at about 10 colonies my subordinates declared war and made some crucial mistakes attacking a well supplied empire... I'm like uhh... dont do that yet! My economy crashed after they started raiding all my mining and transports. all within 5-10 minutes realtime.

still scratching the surface but liking it alot so far (the automation makes it very playable for those that arent excel number 4x crunchers).

[Tyjenks]

ooh, that sounds so good. Then you can kind of ease in to the in depth bits by scaling back the automation in small increments. Is that right? The living universe part sounds good. I did and still love the GalCiv games, but it was a little dry. I think Brad admitted as much during a couple of Elemental interviews in that he is trying to improve on the feel of that world.

As with a lot of games over the last several years, I hope this one does not wind up in the "Sounded perfect..and then wasn't for me" thread. With my reduction in games purchased, a lot have turned out that way when I finally pull the trigger. Right now the safety is off and I am beginning with light pressure.

[Ben Sones]

No, seriously. EVE has graphics - rather nice ones.

Eve's graphics are completely vestigial, though. I'f there were a toggle to turn the 3D graphics off entirely but keep all the windows and dialogs, I'm fairly certain the game would still be completely playable.

[JM]

You'd still need something in motion to represent ships. I wouldn't fancy trying to fight as an interceptor without knowing my angle of attack.

[Demorve]

ooh, that sounds so good. Then you can kind of ease in to the in depth bits by scaling back the automation in small increments. Is that right? The living universe part sounds good. I did and still love the GalCiv games, but it was a little dry. I think Brad admitted as much during a couple of Elemental interviews in that he is trying to improve on the feel of that world.

As with a lot of games over the last several years, I hope this one does not wind up in the "Sounded perfect..and then wasn't for me" thread. With my reduction in games purchased, a lot have turned out that way when I finally pull the trigger. Right now the safety is off and I am beginning with light pressure.

One of the things this game does really well is to allow you to change tasks that are automated on the fly. If you want to design all your ships turn off the automation to it. If later in the game you are tired of designing ship then turn it back on. You can do this with a lot of things. For instance my economy started to tank, so I turned off auto taxation so I could raise taxes. I'll do this for awhile until my economy picks up and then turn auto taxation back on. What I'm trying to say is that you can turn off an automated task during a crisis if you feel like you need to control that task in greater detail and then turn it back on after the crisis is over.

[Brian Rubin]

I've played the game a tad more, and am really loving it. It might give my all-time favorite sci-fi 4X game, Imperium Galactica 2, a run for its money.

[Demorve]

I've played the game a tad more, and am really loving it. It might give my all-time favorite sci-fi 4X game, Imperium Galactica 2, a run for its money.

It does seem to have that "just one more minute feel". :)

[Brian Rubin]

It does seem to have that "just one more minute feel". :)

OMG it totally does.

[Quitch]

Wow, that's the first time a tutorial has really scared the crap out of me, and that was only the basic tutorial. There's just so much stuff, I was staring blanking at the screens wondering what it all meant.

On the plus side, the interface always seem to have the button I want somewhere on the screen, it was pretty easy to find a lost ship, select an explorer, bring it over, then send it on its automated way again.

And just for fun I fired up the new game screen. WOW this game has a lot of customisation options, best new game screen since I played Space Empires III, this is what I like to see!

[Brian Rubin]

Heh, there is a lot, but don't let it intimidate you. I find the interface is actually well done for the most part, and pretty damned intuitive, given the size of your empire and the game itself. And yeah, the customization options for new games are damned impressive. I also like how you can edit games on the fly, though I've not done this my own self.

[Spect]

I don't see a demo anywhere. These types of games are so hit or miss with me, I can't just jump in without seeing a demo. Anyone know if there will be one?

[Brian Rubin]

Not sure, honestly. They seem to be working on fixing stuff in the main game primarily at the moment, dunno if they've put any resources into a demo. I'll ask.

[glimjack]

From the forums, it appears that there won't be a demo -- or at least not in the near-foreseeable future.

[Brian Rubin]

Yeah, I asked about it on the forum so I'll let'cha know what they say. Hopefully one will be forthcoming.

[baelthazar]

I doubt there will be a demo, that isn't usually Matrix's policy.

[Brian Rubin]

Heh, this is only the second game I've purchased directly from Matrix, so I didn't know that. Sads.

[Brian Rubin]

Sadly, concensus on the forum seems to be that there won't be a demo. Sorry folks. Hopefully positive reviews, word of mouth, and the awesome AAR thread will convince you of this game's greatness. :)

[Janster]

In some ways this is very similar to AI.Wars, particularly graphically style, its a bit rough around the edges, and also the zoom function is a bit slow and cumbersome.

Space battles looks decent, ship design is a bit like space empires V, lots of details, which is good and bad depending on who you are.

[Brian Rubin]

I've yet to play AI Wars, so I can't tell ya. I did snag it on the Steam sale so I'll give it a whirl and let you know.

[JM]

AI War is a million times more accessible than this :)

[Brian Rubin]

AI Wars is a million times more accessible than this :)

Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

[JM]

A good thing for AI War. A game can be accessible without losing complexity or depth.

AI Wars has also benefited from a serious amount of active development, resulting in something that's pretty damn well fine-tuned. Distant Worlds on the other hand has a long way to go, and a lot of its depth seems to come from obscurity right now.

Not to discourage anyone - it's a pretty good creation, and as I said earlier, watching the empire grow by itself is cool.

[Brian Rubin]

Cool beans, look forward to trying it out. :)

[JM]

This will be your friend.

[Brian Rubin]

Thanks!

[JM]

And before I dash off to bed...

http://arcengames.com/forums/index.p...ic,4479.0.html

A lot of that AAR won't make sense, but as long as you grok the core concept you'll see the scope of the game. You're up against 2 AIs, at the start they mostly ignore you, but actions you take in the game increase the AI progress (AIP) which increases their activity against you. Each planet is connected by wormholes, periodically the AI will send waves of ships against you, you can defend with turrets etc - meanwhile you're trying to get research done and important structures captured, but you can't afford to capture too much or the AI will get too powerful in response.

Each AI can have its own personality that defines how it plays the game, with some being very very different to others. It's all on the Wiki if you're curious.

http://www.arcengames.com/mediawiki/...War_-_AI_Story

[Tom Chick]

In some ways this is very similar to AI.Wars, particularly graphically style, its a bit rough around the edges, and also the zoom function is a bit slow and cumbersome.

I'd say the 2D artwork of space stuff is about the only way DW is similar to AI War. AI War is an RTS. Distant Worlds is a 4x strategy game. They're both pretty bold approaches to their respective genres, but in terms of how they play, you might as well compare Age of Empires III to Civilization IV.

-Tom

[Brian Rubin]

Thanks, Tom, that'll put me in the proper mindset when I try AI War out tonight. :) Probably right before I go back to DW. ;)

[McKnight]

Thanks, Tom, that'll put me in the proper mindset when I try AI War out tonight. :) Probably right before I go back to DW. ;)

You might be pleasantly surprised. Ai War is one hell of a game.

[Brian Rubin]

I've heard it is, but I like to wait until games are on sale before snagging them. Somehow Distant Worlds overcame this rule. ;)