Bay 12 Games Forum

Seemingly a little bit of Space Engineers meets No Man's Sky.  Single or Co-op play, explore, mine, build, survive.  I have not seen any hint of weapons or combat, which makes me hopeful that there is actual interesting constructive activity at the core of the game play.

This was a turn off for me on NMS and Space Engineers, they both seems to have their exploration, resource extraction, and construction as a backdrop to the actual game of blowing stuff up.  Astroneer, as far as I can tell, has nothing at all to do with blowing anything up.

Astroneer is game about wonder, discovery, power, greed, mystery, and grand endeavor in a new age of expansion on the fringes of humanity. You will land alone, or with a small crew of friends, on a planet to call your own. Harsh but bountiful, infinite worlds will beckon you to explore, exploit, and ultimately to reshape to your desire.

Video Montage from GDC:    https://twitter.com/astroneergame/status/711288783128436737

Verge article:    http://www.theverge.com/2015/10/8/9483347/astroneer-video-game-space-exploration

Steam Page:    http://store.steampowered.com/app/361420/

Official:    http://astroneer.space/

It seems to be an uncommon circumstance in world gen that Human towns get larger than #.  The only time I have seen one grow to ☼ was when the human civ was totally isolated on its own landmass, free from wars. 

Even then, there not many towns grew to that size.  Few roads developed to grey lines, fewer still developed to white lines.

I feel like previously, human civs would have an easier time building ☼ sized cities, and white-line roads.

I also notice the population tends to taper off at 10,000 - 15,000 living figures, depending on world size and other factors.

One thing keeping populations down is definitly war.  In an isolated environment, civs grow better.

Another factor seems to be factionalism and insurrection.  It is common for me to bring an adventurer into a town and hear about 20, 30, even 40+ factions whom vie for control.  Active insurrections and lethal fights seem common.

I think when a population reaches a certain size, revolutions and bandits and criminals form at such a rate as to completely halt further growth.

Does anyone have any tips for helping to push city sizes just a little bit larger?  I have had best results with low beasts, low, savagery, low civilizations, maximal number of sites.

I would prefer a world with more beasts and savagery, but mostly I want to see more human capitols of the largest size.

[quote Toady One]You can argue over differing values (or if you want, put forth an argument you don't agree with just to start trouble), and there are a few options, including ones that can make people angry. You can change people's values (or change your own if you choose to acquiesce yourself), and it uses some of the conversation skills. I fixed an old issue where brawls would automatically elevate to "non-lethal" status. I also cleaned up some of the performance text.[/quote]

So if you have a fort running along, and some dwarfs with incompatible / undesirable values...

Then you can retire, bring in an adventurer, and argue with them / provoke them into fights / beat them down until they begin to acquiesce and eventually change their values?

So after un-retiring your fort, behavior therapy will have taken effect and you'll have a bunch of happy right-thinking dwarfs?

I wonder how many values you can change?  Can you alter civ ethics and cure gobbos of their murdering and snatching?  Can you convince dwarfs that cutting trees and butchering animals is unethical? 

I wonder if you can pressure the founding seven to all be argumentative violent evangelists, such that they in turn spread their own values to migrants, and your fortress becomes some sort of horrid re-education center?

I figure there are some old Talisman nerds on this forum, so thought I'd post.



This goes on Humble Bundles every so often, so it isnt such a big deal that the Talisman Digital Edition is 90% off on Steam right now.  What /is/ a big deal, is that you can get the DLC (including the Season Pass to all future DLC) for 70% off.

http://store.steampowered.com/app/247000/

What's this about, you ask?  Glad you did.

http://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Talisman_series



Talisman is a GW boardgame from the 80s.  There is no card collecting or deck building, Games Workshop probably wishes they had thought up those money making schemes but this predates all that nonsense.

It is your basic "competative quest" sort of thing, where each player is trying to reach the magical artifact.  You might cooperate when it is convenient, but only one player can win.  You can use a lot of tactics, and better players will win more often, but there is a lot of randomness in the cards and in the dice turn things around in an instant.  Someone with a commanding lead might find themselves turned into a slimy little toad, or having all their strength drained or armor dissolved, or any number of awful things.  The game can turn on a dime, and if you don't think Losing is Fun, then you probably shouldn't play.

But how do you play?  Draw a character and travel around a board experiencing events and interacting with various squares and other characters until you are strong enough to venture into the middle region, where things get a little harder.  Once you meet the requirements, you can open the Portal of Power and enter the inner region, where you have to be pretty strong and well prepared to make it through and seize control of the Crown of Command, which you use to win the game.

That is it in a nutshell.  The game has had various editions.  Second edition build upon and refined 1st ed, adding some board expansions to make the game a little larger.  Third edition strayed from the original rules a bit and was not as well received.

Fourth edition is made by Fantasy Flight Games, and is pretty true to 1st/2nd edition.  They support the game well, and expansions keep coming out.  The Digital Edition is a pretty faithful copy of 4th ed, and they are releasing all of the same expansions as DLC (hence the value of the Season Pass).

Expansions, you say?  Indeed.  A plethora of additional and horribly unbalanced characters (don't worry, you draw them randomly and even the weakest of them can win in hilarious ways) as well as extra rules and more cards, items, events, spells, and such.  Also, major board expansions.  Large corner pieces such as City, Forrest, Dungeon, and Mountains that probably more than double the playing area and add a bunch more to the game.


Currently the major board expansions available in the Digital Edition are Mountains and Dungeon, I think City is up next.

The rules are convoluted and complex!  so it can be frustrating to play, and probably a nightmare to program!  There are a few bugs, but it is constantly updated with the new expansions and bugs are fixed all the time.  Don't expect AAA polish, this is a small development studio.  But it is a good game, and very true to the source.

****
wooo! Fully funded!

You can still back through paypal or with credit card from the games web page:  http://soltrader.net/?utm_source=kickstarterc.om&utm_medium=header-link#back-us

****

New Kickstarter for this is up, link has been updated.  Dev has been working on the game, still sounds awesome.  I'm updating the original post with some more images to try and glam it up a little:

Sandbox space game!  DF Legends mode inspired history generation!  Detailed social systems, relationships, and connection networks!  Mod friendly!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/852671098/sol-trader

And with new lighting effects:



This is an outdated screen, but you can see how Legends mode and dynamic personality generation was a direct inspiration for this bit here:

It features a complex procedural history generator, inspired by the adventure and legends mode in Dwarf Fortress. Each new game is already two centuries old, with a living history full of characters that are born, live and die before you even exist.

I like the soft aspects of making connections and networking to keep your business going, rather than just living in your cockpit.

When playing the finished game, you might find yourself:

Speeding through a dangerous asteroid belt to avoid pirates
Meeting the President of Earth's Old Federation
Painting your ship the colours of your pirate band
Blackmailing an official for valuable information
Becoming a double agent for two different governments
Trawling the city markets for the best deals by day
Hitting the bars at night to network with important contacts
Getting a friend to repair your ship for a discount
Outfitting your ship with extra powerful engines to escape pursuers
Mining asteroids for rare metals with specially equipped lasers
Collecting satellite and ship debris for a paltry fee
Running out of fuel and calling a rescue ship
Avenging the death of a family member
Gaining lucrative missions from the senate due to your father's political connections
Collecting samples from a far planet for a scientific mission

And don't forget the emergent properties of the dynamic background and relationship system:

I've recently found a few sandboxey type space games that did not have forum topics.  I guess I need pictures and a bit of a feature pitch if I want to hear anyone's impressions about the game, so here goes:

link to the game's download location:
http://www.anarkisgaming.com/download-unending-galaxy/

main wiki page:  http://wiki.anarkisgaming.com/ug:feature_list

Gallery:  http://www.anarkisgaming.com/unending-galaxy-gallery/

Dev website and devblog:  http://www.anarkisgaming.com/

Game Summary


Unending Galaxy is a top down 2D sandbox, simulation and strategy game based in space. The game allows you to play at any level from being a small time pirate to the ruler of a large empire. You can fight, trade, explore, build factories, and amass a fleet to form your own faction and conquer others’. The universe is dynamic and fully simulated, NPC ships live their own lives, factions are able to conquer territories and conduct diplomacy while their economy influences their military production and capacity. Missions are generated based on what’s actually going on in the galaxy, instead of what is usually the other way around.

Unending Galaxy is available for Windows PC. It's a 100% single-player, offline game with no DRM or advertisement.
Unending galaxy is free and already available in early access.

Dynamic Universe
Unending Galaxy features a living universe where the different factions interact in real time through war and diplomacy. Their military production and expansion are tied to their economy in an ecosystem consisting of thousands of NPC ships populating hundreds of sectors. The universe is fully simulated, the NPC aren't generated on the fly.


Diversified Economy
The player and the factions controlled by the game gain money not only through the production and trading of items and asteroid mining, but also through piracy, smuggling, bounty hunting, scavenging and even hunting space creatures. Some factions are more focused on some of these methods than others.

Also, planets can host colonies that contribute to the economy of their respective owners.


Customization
Customize your faction with abilities, laws and traits. Customize the various maps with different rules, set the initial expansion of the various factions, their starting funds. Set the game's pace.

Multiple maps and starting scenarios are included.


Sandbox Gameplay
The game can be played from both the viewpoints of a pilot and of a faction.

As a pilot gain reputation in a sandbox environment by doing missions or saving passengers lost in space. Raid cargo ships or hunt pirates. Peacefully trade medicine or smuggle drugs. Chat with other pilots, buy new ships, build stations, explore strange solar systems. Help or disrupt the AI controlled factions.

As a faction, conquer valuable solar systems and asteroid fields using military fleets built by your shipyards using resources produced by your docks and colonies. Conduct diplomacy, sign treaties or back-stab other empires.


Arcade Combat
Classic 'arena shooter' game controls.

Featuring 50 different ships ranging from tiny fighters to large battleships and carriers. Use shields and weapons like lasers beams, homing mines, missiles, particle cannons, plasma launchers. Quickly give orders to your ships through keyboard shortcuts or via mouse on the map (with standard real time strategy game controls) in battles ranging from small skirmishes to large fleet confrontations.


Automation
In Unending Galaxy, you can micromanage everything yourself or let the various managers handle the tasks needed to run your faction like station/ship building, exploration, trading, or even military operations, so you can focus on the areas that you enjoy the most. Same goe1s for your ships, give them “fire and forget” jobs like scavenging or asteroid mining and let them make a profit while you are busy doing more important things.

A search did not turn up a thread for this, and I'm a little surprised as it seems like it would be right up the alley for the kind of open world indy dev sort of stuff that is popular around heres.

Free to play, with premium access that is supposed to only be important once you are advanced or far along in the game.

I have not tried it yet, so if anyone has experience with it it would be interesting to hear any impressions. 

Linkey: http://www.thespacegame.com/

Premium features explained:  http://wiki.thespacegame.com/mediawiki/index.php/Premium_Access

A bit about the game:

Ascent - The Space Game is an online multiplayer 3D space simulator with Combat, Trading, Exploration, Starbase Construction, Research, Custom-built Ships, Planetary Mining and Farming, Asteroid Mining, Gas Giant Harvesting, Wreck Salvaging and now, Colonization!

Obligatory screens (huge):