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Author Topic: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale  (Read 3201 times)

The_Explorer

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https://store.steampowered.com/app/1638300/Solargene/

For an indepth look at the game, this guy probably has the best let's play/tutorial series

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYYLIhUH_Eg&list=PLoUZf1UXR9qtqvwP1jqCv8o_269inTIk1

This is the exact type of game bay12 likes.

The closest I can compare it to is Hazeron, mixed with Rimworld, Sims (just very little) and maybe tropico in some ways (at least those are the vibes I get).

Genres I'd put it in is tycoon, economic, simulator and colony builder, if that helps more than comparing it to the above games.

You have a choice to start a colony on the moon, mars, one of jupiter's moons (look at Io ;) ) or saturn's moons, or my favorite start (but the hardest by far), the cradle start where you must build a ship and then go to the moon and setup a colony there and succeed the contract before it runs out. The easiest start most recommend is actually Mars, because mining is pretty good there and you don't need to worry about long nights (long nights without a LONG lasting energy source can be death). Also the cradle start, you got to ferry people over to the moon, which is quite a learning experience in itself.

The premise of the game is you build a colony, and eventually get to a stage where you can then fund independent colonies that are owned more by you (early on got to take a colonizing contract to get initial funds, you can break the contract if you earn enough money to pay to break it, Io and Mars are the only starts probably possible for that. After that the game becomes vastly more relaxing and more sandbox)

Its early access and is a bit janky at the moment, so bare that in mind. However this is probably the most indepth colony builder (its more a colony simulator really) that I have played. The tutorial is there but not very helpful, the learning curve is rather extreme.

You do get tourists that can come to your colony (you can set how many tourists if any at all), and I believe there is not really a population cap to a colony...do note I may be wrong there, but I haven't found any hard stopping point, so MIGHT be able to turn a colony and make it into an actual city with tourists and stuff residing there. One can build VERY big and VERY tall buildings, for example I built a 30ish sized apartment building which is enough for well, 50 staff or tourists. Process of expanding it to 50 apartments. But its definitely more a colony builder. Though the logistics of supplying so many people would become hard with oxygen and food. But you do get farms can grow, so maybe not too hard, and the farms produce oxygen.

You can build a massive space station too, I haven't really done this yet, but nothing stopping me from making a huge space station outside one of the planets.

Future updates will expand past the solar system (pretty sure that will be a thing), and also there is going to be terraforming apparently. Not sure what else is going to be put in.

Also you can mine asteroids. No idea what that entails or how to do that.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2022, 01:39:02 pm by The_Explorer »
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EuchreJack

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2022, 01:13:45 am »

I like the concept, but the photos and reviews show it to be a jumbled mess of a game.

George_Chickens

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2022, 07:09:29 am »

Shores of Hazeron? Jumbled mess of a game!? Oh my god, count me in!
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Ghosts are stored in the balls?[/quote]
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EuchreJack

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #3 on: March 12, 2022, 12:04:23 pm »

It reminds me of an old game called Space Colony, only expanded so the player can control multiple colonies.
Still trying to get my first colony working.  Thankfully, I'll be dumping it on Japan in 17 days, so my design mistakes are their problem.

EDIT: Apparently, I screwed up the contract, so now I've lost contact with Japan.  I also got gimped by an EU contract, so they also won't talk to me anymore.
They're loss, I'll just have to help the other countries expand into space!
(Also the game is easier when you have less countries, as it cuts down on the cafe diversity)

EuchreJack

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #4 on: March 14, 2022, 10:59:50 pm »

So, I've been fiddling with this game for a few days now.

I'd say the build ship for Nation X is the easiest mission early on.  You can just build it above Earth.  Just make sure NOT to recruit any miners, since you're not actually going to go to an asteroid with this ship-for-sale.  You also don't need Good Research, so you can skip the server room and science lab supporting equipment.

I've found out that in order for a station to be able to transfer supplies, you need human crew.  The Robots do NOT count, yet Tourists DO count.  :P

Speaking of tourists, I now know that a tourist visiting a Martian colony with 4.5 stars earns you about 10,000 credits, and you get paid when the Tourist arrives.
Also, you can make money out of tourists even if you have no food to feed them...  :-\

EuchreJack

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #5 on: March 15, 2022, 07:16:01 am »

Shit, I think I just broke the law in the US by purchasing this game.
I blame Steam.

The_Explorer

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #6 on: March 15, 2022, 09:56:55 am »

Yeah, the first mission seems to be building a ship is easier, and don't have to worry about colonizing contract. And at least for the cradle start, might be what is intended as need a ship to traverse space. As for the post above, that be more on steam if they send the money and not hold it back, though I don't think the US targeted game developers if steam sends money anyway, that and the developers are against what is going on, but don't need to bring the ameripol politics into here too much.

as for the game, sadly the stairs are pretty buggy. built this awesome highrise apartment building, but they don't know how to use stairs properly :(
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The_Explorer

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #7 on: March 15, 2022, 01:40:27 pm »

added a link to a youtube tutorial/let's play series, shows the game pretty well I think and shows roughly how to play it. There isn't much out there, its by far the best (and think last I looked the only one in english) series out currently.

As for my thoughts as I've kept playing. Its kinda what I like about hazeron tbh, colonizing planets with colonies, and a rather indepth (though again rather janky and buggy game) without all the other stuff hazeron has to worry about (gameplay wise).
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EuchreJack

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2022, 02:05:20 pm »

Tip regarding doors: If you select to place a door on a wall multiple times, it will cycle through the left and right door placement. Specifically, I think it goes Left-NoDoor-Right, but it might be the opposite.

Relevant especially regarding stairs, since they need to align with the door if different rooms.
I've actually found the stairs not to be the problem, but rather a symptom that whatever else the person wants to interact with is inaccessible.

EuchreJack

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #9 on: March 16, 2022, 11:07:54 pm »

Discovery: You don't HAVE to take contracts to start out.  You can dump a FREE landing site onto a FREE colony, then accept tourists.  They'll land and give you 10,000 credits each.  Screw you Nation States!

Gabeux

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #10 on: March 24, 2022, 11:48:44 pm »

Shores of Hazeron? Jumbled mess of a game!? Oh my god, count me in!

Never has a forum post represented me quite like this.

I got this game on release due to the how it looks like it could be a Kerbal Colony Building without dealing with Kerbals and Rockets, in a way. And of course, for some reason it reminded a bit of Hazeron - including jankiness - so I'm glad to have heard similar things here too!
I didn't have the time to play yet, as I'm scared I'll go down a rabbit hole with it just like I'm going through with X4 Foundations for the past weeks.
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It honestly feels like a lot of their problems came from the fact that their entire team was composed of cats, and the people who were supposed to be herding them were also cats.

Culise

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Re: Solargene - A very realistic colony SIMulator on a solar system scale
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2022, 11:21:50 am »

Shores of Hazeron? Jumbled mess of a game!? Oh my god, count me in!
Heavens, yes. I've been looking for a proper replacement for Outpost 1 for two decades now.  I'll be watching this with interest.
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EuchreJack

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News: This game just got an Epic grant.

Info on Epic Grants

So, has been clarified to me that this grant exists to promote Unreal Engine, and does not restrict publishing.

The_Explorer

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News: This game just got an Epic grant.

Info on Epic Grants

So, has been clarified to me that this grant exists to promote Unreal Engine, and does not restrict publishing.

That is good to know. Hopefully that is 100% official. If so, that is great for the future of the game. And I suppose that means Epic saw a good potential future to Solargene, as I don't think they do that very often.
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