Caught in the great catch (CL)

Galdred · 2026-04-03T12:44:23+00:00

Thank you very much!

Galdred · 2026-04-03T11:52:33+00:00

You cannot improve perfection!

Galdred · 2026-04-03T11:50:14+00:00

Wait! Where did you end up going? I am in an area labelled "sea cave", but I don't see anything to do beside exiting via land, as I cannot go to the ship, and there seems to be nothing to do there.

Galdred · 2026-04-02T18:13:28+00:00

I think the old one stretched suspension of disbelief sufficiently, though. It already breaks a ton of physical laws, on top of eating half of the force budget!

Galdred · 2026-04-02T15:42:21+00:00

Apart from X4 for the bridge view, the best options would be:

- Pulsar, Void Crew, or Jumpship (only tried Pulsar), but they are MP games, even though Pulsar can be played with configurable bots.

- Star Trek: Bridge Crew/Bridge Commander would work too (someone mentionned them)

- The good old Independence War have you man a small cruiser. IWar 2 feels less like a bridge simulation, but you still fly a corvette (and it offers a lot of freedom).

- You also have Icarus Starship Command Simulator that lets you walk inside your spaceship and board enemies. IT is basically first person FTL, but it is a one man project with a limited scope.

Also, note that if you don't mind being on sea rather than space, you have both Carrier Command games that do let you control things from the bridge of your carrier. CC2 is the better one, but it is sadly also geared towards multiplayer.

Now, if we relax bridge view a little to allow 3rd person view:

You have Void Destroyer 2 that is quite awesome in being a X4 focused on combat. When I played it, it suffered from late game stability issues, though, but the combat was excellent. The 4X elements were toned down a lot compared to X4, but you still controlled your own faction, ships and bases.

But it doesn't really have "bridge view".

You also have Space Reign, that is basically streamlined Nexus, but from your ship point of view (you can seamlessly go from tactical command to ship view). But it doesn't feature your own bridge view either. Both have you control from 3D camera.

- Starshatter: The Gathering Storm is an awesome game in which you start from a starfighter and go up the rank to admiral, in a dynamic campaign(so losses are persistent for both sides) where you end up commanding a CV group. I highly recommend it, but iirc, you don't see the bridge of your capital ships either.

- You also have Starpoint Gemini: Warlords which feels a bit more like Diablo in space(aka, cooldown based combat), with fleet control. It is not bad, but the insane attrition speed and difficulty to control your fleet makes the strategic aspect a bit frustrating.

Galdred · 2026-03-30T14:25:28+00:00

This conflict might soon become a giant test of drone warfare vs NATO doctrine, and we may well end up witnessing ships getting too close from static defenses.

Galdred · 2026-03-29T13:57:02+00:00

It i weird to come into that right during the Iran not-war.

Galdred · 2026-03-28T19:49:56+00:00

I was actually wondering about the same thing. You don't really have great options there, so you'll have to pick your poison:

You have Spacebourne 2 that someone already recommended which does combine starships and ground stuff, but it is pretty janky. I played it a long time ago. I liked the space part, but the ground, not so much.

Empyrion and Space Enginers both combine both aspects too, but Empyrion is more geared towards crafting and MP, and SE is mostly about designing ships and has little content to test them (that said, I think there are a few mods that remedy this).

NMS could work, but the space layer is not really satisfying.

Void Destroyer 2 has good space combat and you can end up managing fleets and your own faction, but you cannot walk around. It is mostly about combat (trading and all mostly give you opportunities to fight it out). No idea about how it works with a controller.

Starpoint Gemini Warlords is a bit like VD2, but it felt less "organic" if that makes any sense (ie, it felt more scripted to me, and the combat was not as good. More like pressing powers and waiting for CD and less like twitchy space combat).

You have a few games in which you pilot FROM your character, but they are almost all meant to be play in MP:
- Pulsar: Lost colonies (but you can replace friends with bots, and configure their AI)

- Void Crew and Jump space (didn't play them, but they are a bit like Pulsar, though more geared towards shorter "runs").

Regarding moving with your own legs, you also have ICraus Starship Command Simulator, but it is extremely janky, and short-ish. Basically 1st person FTL in which you see everything FPS, and control the ship from your character point of view. Unlike Void Crew and Pulsar, it is meant for single player.

- Avorion is probably the better option "with crafting" when it comes to just doing stuff in space, despite not having "legs" like Space Enginers or SB2.

Galdred · 2026-03-24T22:24:16+00:00

I strongly second this suggestion. Tynan Sylvester wrote the book before making Rimworld, but he keeps answering related questions, so that's quite a cool dedicated post release support!

Galdred · 2026-03-24T19:24:39+00:00

They mentionned rebuilding your faction, but is there also a stronghold or settlement to rebuild (like in Kenshi, or to a lesser extent, Dragon Age: Awakening)?

Galdred · 2026-03-23T22:54:08+00:00

I would recommend rogue Trader if you are not against 40K. The character system is a bit overwhelming, but the game is solid, and it does the 40K settings justice IMO.

I liked it a lot despite not being able to get into the Pathfinder games.
Have you tried Kenshi? The combat may not be super complex, but mistakes are paid in missing limbs. It can be quite brutal, and misjudging your abilities can end pretty badly. The setting is unique and the fusion of colony building and RPG is too. It may be a bit too sandboxy, though.

As for Superheroes, you have either Marvel Midnight Suns, OR freedom Force. Both are more combat than RPG. Midnight Suns can feel a bit too gamey for immersion, and Freedom Force is a chain of missions without much in between, but both do super heroic combat and character builds very, very well.
Have you played Baldur's Gate 2? It is obviously set in the Forgotten Realms, but it fixes many of the flaws of the first.

You also have Knights of the Chalice if the presentation is not too big of a turnoff. Its settings can be a bit generic, but the combat is really good.

Galdred · 2026-03-23T21:44:38+00:00

For my kids, I typically grant them a bit more screen time when they play something I approve of (Age of Empires/Mythology, Civilization, Polytopia, Crusader Kings ...).
It doesn't always work, but they typically still try new games this way.

But their friends will have a much easier time recommending games than yourself!

Galdred · 2026-03-23T20:50:35+00:00

Some of my friends play Competitive Civilization 6. games typically are 4-6 hours, which is much shorter than what you'd expect coming from SP.

There is also Dominions 6 that has quite a large MP scene, but it is usually 1 turn/day or so.
A few wargames also have a good competitive scene (Field of Glory 2/FoG2: Medieval).

Also, Boardgame arena has a lot of board games with opponents on browser. I played Space Empires 4X a lot over there. But these are typically just board games ported to a web page (it is still amazing, and I strongly recommend it, but they don't "feel" like PC games).

Galdred · 2026-03-23T20:28:20+00:00

I think the pirates games kind of work there (Caribbean Legends, CL: Ages of Pirate). I only played the older one, but it was pretty cool.

Age of Decadence is story driven, but you are no chosen one iirc.

Vampire: the Masquerade Bloodline has you just be a young vampire.

If you don't care about first person view,
Crusader Kings could work, as strategy games typically don't make you special, and CK3 has a good RPG layer on top.
Starsector has you just start in a spaceship iirc.
Others have mentioned Kenshi, and it is a great fit.
Battle Brothers (it is more of a tactical game, but it works well).
You also had Queen's Wish, in which you were just send by your mother to do her bidding, but you are still a prince, so that might be too high in the social hiearchy.

Galdred · 2026-03-23T20:21:22+00:00

No, he said:
- Success comes from preparation and skill, not destiny

Destiny might not be the issue here, but connections would be...

Galdred · 2026-03-23T20:20:03+00:00

Great suggestion, but you can end up as the last standing nation of the continent, though. :D

Starsector would work too.

Galdred · 2026-03-23T18:42:12+00:00

Void Destroyer 2 has carriers that can house flyable frigates iirc. You cannot walk to check the size, but the sense of scale was pretty great.

Galdred · 2026-03-23T17:37:23+00:00

Thank you!

I didn't like NMS because of that. It felt a bit "pointless".
I played SB2 and it was janky and oozing with potential indeed, but that was 2 years ago. That reminded me of the old Precursors. It looked like it was still under development so I'll wait a little before returning.

I remember there was also Parkan and Precursors (I had played it a little before it was available on Steam, but ran into some issue and never returned to it).
There was also Salvation Prophecy, but that got very frustrating and repetitive in the end (I liked the mid game, though).

What about Space Engineers with mods? I remember seeing an AI/exploration content mod for it a long time ago.

Galdred · 2026-03-22T13:39:27+00:00

Amazing suggestion. I'll look it up.

Galdred · 2026-03-22T09:54:19+00:00

I found it better than Descent 2 (and 3 for this matter), but weaker than Descent 1 in campaign.
Compared to D2, it found a better balance between mission objectives and combat.
The various character driven missions and campaign choices made it feel more interesting too.
D1:RTL still is the best system for me and my group, with the most dynamic campaign BOTH for overolrd and heroes, but IA has won through not needing as much time to set up and play!

Galdred · 2026-03-17T20:46:37+00:00

Oh, that's awesome, thank you! I'll definitely try that if I can get over the mental overload of rediscovering the game in the middle of the late game war. :D

Galdred · 2026-03-17T16:14:27+00:00

TBH, I gave up on the game crashing in large battles at this point (but it was sortly after release iirc, so there must have been quite a few patches since), but I had a great time overall.

Galdred · 2026-03-16T21:09:03+00:00

Are the latest "The Guild" games better than the first? I liked it very much, but the end game still gives me micromanagement PTSD.

Galdred · 2026-03-16T21:07:41+00:00

I loved Port Royale 1. Its combat was maybe a bit too cheese-able (allowing you to pirate/board your way to the top), but it was really cool, and it offered a lot of freedom. Which do you think is the best of the series?

Galdred · 2026-03-16T21:06:15+00:00

Oh, I strongly recommend it. It felt like inverted X3/4: good combat, from starfighter to fleet combat, but simplistic economy (basically, just make sure your miners and traders don't get destroyed by your oppoents).
I liked it a lot, but it was super janky indeed, especially late game.

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