@jpinard
I’ll second this. As steam reviews truthfully it’s a very likeable game. First of all it’s
…great fun to build your ship (addictive if you’re that kind of person) - but it’s more than just toying with blocks, there’s also some serious space-game-physics-theory going on there which makes it a lot more satisfying to build a good ship. And a well built and configured ship (e.g. how you prioritize your ships systems in case of low energy) is key to how easily (or at all) you’ll manage combat.
Other very nice things I like so far (~10 hours in):
…right from the start you can build up a small fleet - at least the first thing I did was to make myself a little minig vessel. So while playing LEGO my other ship brought in the needed resources.
…you can zoom out to get a strategic view of your current sector; from there you can easily communicate whith the stations to see what they are good for (which crew they have, what the buy/sell, etc.).
…you’ll find upgrades which brings up new UI-elements with new information: a market view of your current sector, or better knowledge of what’s worthwhile in the galaxy sourrounding you.
…there is crew, which I find an interesting concept. It works like a rescource too but trainend crew also level up and you have to pay your crew from time to time, which brings in a welcomed need to acutally do something meaningful with your ship.
…there is a clear goal: get to the center of the galaxy. Building, fighting and planing skills are all relevant to how well and how fast you get there; you can just focus on a very powerful ship and go straight there or start making your own little empire, build your own stations, take your time, play it safe (my impression so far)
…LOOT. that good feeling when you see a nice weapon or upgrade floating in space that makes a lovely ‘plop’-sound when it ends up in your inventory
…and progress: it’s quite clear how to progress, how to advance: from iron to avorion and different tiers of items
…you have to be careful with your stuff: your ship will easily get destroyed and you can’t save. But you will keep your items and resources.
So far my random thoughts on why I like the game :)
Is Avorion maybe the best type of game that’s out there right now that fits this class of space game? ie. build a ship, survivally, etc. It’s unreal how many exist now. If not I’d like to hear what other games in this genre are really good (I have Empyrion which is pretty nice).
If someone held a gun to my head and forced me to play one of these survivaley buildey games, it’d be the one I’d choose because it has an actual fucking game in it. The other games are nice and all, but they’re all buildey and no gamey. No bueno.
So on my work Slack today, I show the picture of SF2, because I’m very proud of it. I’m the old man here, as I work for a very young company, so I giggled when a co-worked asked:
"does that say “Need Star Fleet II on 3 1/2 Discs?”
I explained that it came on 5 1/4 disks originally.
“how a 1/4 of a disk” he asked.
He thought that meant capacity, not physical size.
Man I feel old.
I remember having one of each; 5.25 and 3.5 floppies on my computer and then upgrading/replacing the 5.25 to having two 3.5!
I could load a game from my A drive and save on my B drive!
Last time I played it, Empyrion didn’t have much of a game in it yet either. Avorion feels waaaay more alive and gamey.
How’s the mining in Avorion?
I did grab Empyrion on the Humble Store and hoping to try it in a bit.
Point and shoot, just as it should be. You can also build mining drones.
Ok, but is it interesting? Are there rare materials to find? I could literally spend hours mining asteroids if it’s reasonably enjoyable.
Oh yeah, different materials to find for better/stronger pieces.
Cool, thanks for answering all my silly questions. I swear I’m like the seagulls from Finding Nemo:
Mine? Mine. Mine!
Not silly at all, I’m happy to help.
I remember this…it was the basic Trek style game right?
I don’t remember being able to finish a game though…hmmm…
That was the first one. This is the sequel which has planetary Conquest, ship boarding and more.
I miss Interstel almost as much as I miss SSI. I spent countless hours with Star Fleet I, and Empire was my 2nd favorite game (behind Colonial Conquest) until the first Civ appeared. I was bummed that SF2 never made it to ST or Amiga.
How old is that game? Looks like late 80’s/early 90’s?
Starflight 2 is documented to be available for tge Amiga (though not for the ST).
I started fiddling with Avorion in single player mode. A little tough to get started since you have to learn the UI. For example, does changing the size of the blocks also change the actual size of cargo or crew space? Or is it just cosmetic? Need to figure out how to find space stations that will purchase the iron ore I have gathered. I think there is a way to get my mining drone to work on its own but not yet sure how to turn that on.
A lot of things to keep one busy that is for certain and it does grab that part of me that wants to learn how to do all this stuff. Trying to watch some different videos but so far the recording quality of some of them is really bad. Cannot hear what people are saying and it is a shame because I get the impression they have a lot to share.
The tutorial is rough because if you miss one thing it seems to go off a bit. One hint - when you go to build your first ship in the tutorial, make sure you do not try to build a big ship. The tutorial will tell you your ship is too big and to make it smaller but I could not figure out how to do that so I had to start it over. Actually, I had to start the tutorial over about 6 times before i actually had my first ship built.
I found the game intriguing enough to keep trying to get that first ship up and running no matter what. : )
OMG I just tried to play some X:Rebirth. WTAF, as they say. I get to the station I’m supposed to dock at for repairs, come right up to it. Try to highlight it by clicking on it with left mouse button. I THINK I have it highlighted, but do you think I can interact with it in any way? I try the F key to interact. Nothing. I try the official “dock” command, Shift D. Nothing. What am I missing? I thought they’d fixed this, or did that fixing not extend to the campaign mode (thought it would be a quick way to learn the basics).
I don’t get what’s happening. The earlier X games were paragons of user-friendliness compared to this.
