What are /r/spacesimgames' favorite Products & Services?

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Hey guys,

I hope it's ok me posting here again, I recorded this video yesterday and am excited to share it.

I'd really appreciate any questions, comments or suggestions you may have.

My latest dev log is up on IndieDB now: http://www.indiedb.com/games/union-cooperative-spaceship-simulator/news/flight-lasers-shields-destruction-dev-log-5

Hi all,

I am the developer of UNION Spaceship Command.

UNION is a space sim inspired by the concept of Artemis Spaceship Bridge Simulator, but with a focus on depth and simulation (while still trying to make it as accessible as possible).

I've been working on the game on and off for years, partially because I needed to learn a lot of new skills to make making it possible, and partly because of life and work commitments. Now though development pace has picked up and I want to start getting awareness of the game out there.

As well as TIGSource you can find UNION on IndieDB: http://www.indiedb.com/games/union-cooperative-spaceship-simulator

I would love to hear any comments or questions you may have.

Thanks,

Mark / Faerdan

The first space game I ever played and what started my lifelong love of the genre. It's a top down action-RPG type game with conversations and quests. You can get it from Myabandonware.com if you're interested in getting a blast from the past.

If you're looking for an updated Elite clone that will run on a mashed potato, check out Pioneer It's free and been recently updated.

Edit: Also, if you're new to it, I suggest starting of on Barnard's Star as it's a space station without any gravity and makes it easier to learn than trying to get into orbit from a planet surface.

Thanks for sharing this Stardrifter. I'm the creator of Universe Sandbox.

Alpha 13 is our biggest update yet where we've unveiled our planetary collision overhaul. We've got lots more features planned as well as lots of polishing to do. I'm so excited by where Universe Sandbox ² is headed.

If anyone has questions... just ask.

I also immediately thought of Eclipse: New Dawn For the Galaxy! And, good news, it's available for both Android and PC (Steam). It used to be on iOS also, but I'm not able to find it now... maybe it got removed?

Download link: https://www.moddb.com/mods/freelacer-advanced-widescreen-hud/downloads/adv-wide-hud-v-10
:-)

While the series literally shaped my life and I'm triple Elite in Elite: Dangerous and I can't recommend it with a clear conscience... It's shallow... Space Engine is not a game. It will display trillions of beautiful worlds to you but that's about it. Rings of saturn was a bit repetitive when I last played it. I can't say anything about Evochron Legacy because I didn't like it.

To my experience there are no grand exploration space simulators. But I did like "Starcom: Nexus", "Outer wilds", "Ring runner: Flight of sages". You might also want to check out "Dark Star One"....

... and the grand master work of all space simulators (no exploration elements unfortunately)... "Orbiter" (http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/)

You could try Oolite. It's free, based on the original Elite game. The base game is... marginal, at best (since it's trying to mimic Elite from the 1980s). But when you add mods (available through the in-game Expansion Manager) it becomes quite the enjoyable trip.

I can. Look at your backlog. Look at all the great games for sale at $5. Look at all the free abandonware. Look at F2P games. Look at the next Steam sale and look at http://isthereanydeal.com/waitlist/

If you don't mind super-old games, there's Rules of Engagement.

It was part of the Interlocking Game System - if you had Breach 2 (a space marine game), it would load boarding actions into that.

I think there was also a RoE2/B3 combo...

Minotaur (was as a Thor in concept art, but got a new name in a game). https://star-conflict.com/upload/image/media/artwork/artwork_thor.jpg

This is a fork (of mostly art assets for now) of the the open source Pioneer Space Sim (which has done the majority of the development for years) which in turn started as a modern clone of Frontier: Elite 2

Space Engine has starships with warp drives, and there are plans to have a game built around it at some point. If you really want to see it happen, throwing them some cash can't hurt.

I suggest you give it a try and see just how painfully slow 1000c really is - that's 2 AU per second. There are 63,241 AU in a light year. Evidently the points of light we see zip past in Star Trek are not stars.

Great questions about Universe Sandbox ²...

> Is this terraforming and deforming mechanic limited to the planets of Sol...

The simulation of climate and atmosphere that support terraforming are still in progress... so generally no.

> Do the land color change with this terraforming?

There's limited support for this currently, with the planned answer being yes.

> Like, mars gets greener?

Not yes, but this is the plan.

> can we export the maps?

Not really on our radar, but it's doable.

> Or even import them?

This is planned.

> I would only ask if the game runs better than the original.

Performance is a major focus of ours.

That could well be enough! What's your ping like and do you know how to use Wireshark to monitor your connection for packet loss etc? Oh and Elite:Dangerous full install clocks in at 5.07GB.

Your android link (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=air.com.bigdaddyscreations.eclipse) is 404ing for me.

EDIT: and the Steam page is missing purchase links. According to some comments on the steam discussion board apparently the publisher of the electronic version went under.

Planets At War is a real-time space strategy game with realistic gravity simulation and auto-generated star systems.

In the video I am mining a black hole, if anyone were curious :)

Check it out on Google Play: Planets At War

Honestly, apart from ED, I haven't played a modern space sim in last 10 years that I enjoyed so much as the old ones. Here are two of my favourites, you might be surprised but apparently some people still play Tachyon MP. Google for Fringespace, they maintain patches and an FB group.

Tachyon: The Fringe

A classic. Bruce Campbell as a freelance pilot and the world seems out to get him. Comes with two somewhat different stories. One working for a mega corp. The other working for the people (aka space colonists militia). Cool ship designs, fun combat, good flight controls, AI is a bit easy though. Good joystick support for its day too, with rudder/throttle and full keyboard bindings and meta keys. See steam discussions for some patches, including glide and a dll patch for the nebula problem.

Edit: Special note, while you play a freelance pilot, this isn't open world. You only launch when you take a job from the board.

Star Lancer (Amazon, sadly MS isn't probably interested in a Steam release)

You play some nameless pilot in 24 multi-stage Wing Commander like missions. You get promotions that unlock increasingly cool ships. There is even a cloaking ship! The MP is dead but the single player is still fun. May need some patches like Tachyon to get to work. AI in this one is definitely much more challenging, especially if you don't protect/target objectives.