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[Idiom]

I'm posting this here as I assume the hardcore DF fans don't mind learning curves, bad (or non-existing) manuals, and poor or no graphics.

Battlecruiser #1, #1 version 2, Millennium, and Universal Combat have been released for free. Gold/special editions with last-minute addons are still sold.
Infamous, ambitious, horribly complex. But the few people who play it seem to enjoy it for the complexity it allows. I'm going to try. Try. Why? This:

"If you ever wanted to command a starship, pilot a fighter and shuttlecraft, drive a planetary vehicle and lead a team of marines all at the same time, this the game for you."
"The most complex I've had it (so far) is, on a planet, having a naval group giving covering artillery fire to a detachment of infantry marines assaulting a planetary base backed up by armored cavalry whilst, at the same time, in space, having my carrier class ship attacking a starbase with support from two battlecruiser escorts and using its fighter wings as a guard against enemy reinforcements entering the system whilst my AE was using a shuttle to trade to raise some money and having a couple of drones on a planet doing some mining."

That and the X series of space sims just did not offer enough options. You could have my own monopoly on a product, and that's about as far as you can go in the X games. I get bored with simple games, hence I play DF.
If I like BC30K, I may buy the Universal Combat Collectors Edition, which contains every single one in the series for 30$. Worth it just for these alone though:
-Full 96-page printed manual
-Printed keyboard sheet with color galaxy map on reverse side

Any others that are worth it once you get the hang of them?

[ May 26, 2008: Message edited by: Idiom ]

[wallish]

For me, strategy games are the way to go.  Pretty much everyone has heard of the Civilization series, which doesn't have a steep learning curve but is at least harder than most games to master.  Also, another great game (which I personally like more than Civilization) is the Space Empires series.  Space Empires V is the newest and a great game.  Takes a while to get used to it and really get yourself into the groove, but once you do you'll be wiping out your enemies in the furious light of their own star, ignited by your newly researched star destroying component.  Or wipe them out with a series of plague bombardments, convert their star into a black hole, land invasion parties, etc... Whatever you're most comfortable with.

[Ioric Kittencuddler]

You're forgetting the artificial planets!  Don't forget the artificial planets!

As for BC.  I've tried it a few times and got bored with the crappy controls and not having any idea how to use them even after an hour of experimentation.  The demos never had decent tutorials either.  Also, from what I've heard Derek Smart is a total asshole.  The kind of person I'd avoid buying a game just to keep from supporting.

[Kagus]

I remember watching as Malfador Machinations, a group of a few college kids who took up programming games for their friends (and themselves, of course), rise to fame and fortune.  It's one of the rare success stories you find on the web.

[Devastator]

I already mentioned Allegiance.

[lumin]

I really do want to play Battlecruiser and Universal combat, but whenever I try to do it I feel like I'm putting in extra hours at work instead of having fun.    I've read and re-read the manual, but it is really vague on some instructions.  Is there a more user friendly Wiki, or strategy guide out there on tips for getting into these games?

By the way, what is the difference between BC and UC?

[ May 27, 2008: Message edited by: lumin ]

[Cthulhu]

I took about two hours, hunting and pecking across the keyboard and checking the hotkey guide, starting new game and new game, and I finally figured out how to play.  Turns out, it's a sucktacular game.

Also, yes, every bad thing you hear about DEREK SMART is most likely true.

[Dasleah]

Agreed. Universal Combat is an awful game.

Anyone play Uncharted Waters 2? (old sailing / trading / RPG game for PC / SNES) I recommend the hell outta that. First few time's you'll starve before you even get out of Europe, but man, is it worth it. I still remember that time I got caught in the mother of all storms during a gold run from Cuba to the Netherlands, and got blown massively off course to the arse-end of Africa. So what did I do?

Decide to circumnavigate the globe. Discovered New Zealand. Never found the north-west passage. And then died.

[Keiseth]

I played Uncharted Waters 2 / New Horizons on the SNES! That game was fantastic in every single way. Always liked to play as Ernst, because his scenario was literally "Go wherever you want." -- Though he was easy prey for pirates early on. I must have played that for days at a time... finished his scenario *twice*!

Oh, and about Derek Smart... I'm pretty certain the whole "holier than thou" act is really... an act. When in an argument, nobody brings up the "I am in a higher caste / you do not have the right to speak to someone like me" arrogance sincerely. Think about it; his acts of arrogance actually drew huge amounts of attention to his games.

[lumin]

Uncharted Waters 2 is/was a fantastic game.  The game was completely open ended, and you could spend hours gaining cash to be the best ship so you could try to sail around the world or go in search of some lost civilization.  I wish somebody would remake something like this.  Instead we get kiddie crap like Sid Meyer's Pirates.

I kind of ruined the fun when I found out you could cheat on blackjack by using save states in an emulator.  

[lumin]

Star Wars Rebellion is another one that I think is totally worth learning, especially when playing against a friend.  The game got only mediocre reviews and didn't sell very many copies, but this is definately a pretty gem in the "Lucasarts" rough.

SWR is similar to other 4x space strategy games out there, but the game runs in real time.  I can't tell you how much fun it was racing to hunt down my friend's rebel base with the Death Star, and then suddenly see Coruscant get taken over by the rebels.

It's cool to have your special units like Jedi or assassins go on missions as well and try to upgrade their abilities.

The real-time space battles were pretty cool too.  You can see your massive star destroyers pump out tie-fighters and change your tactics on the fly.

[Torak]

quote:Originally posted by lumin:
<STRONG>Instead we get kiddie crap like Sid Meyer's Pirates.</STRONG>

I'd agree if Pirates! wasn't a great game.

[Cthulhu]

Just looked up Rebellion, it looks pretty nice.  Does anyone know whether or not it's Abandonware?  I don't want to do eBay or anything, and I don't fall for that Steal-From-Greedy-Corporations Robin Hood bull.  The law is the law, and it should only be broken when someone really needs to go away(Fred Phelps).

[lumin]

It's not Abandonware yet.  I bought mine off Ebay for like $10.00 a few years ago.

[Cthulhu]

Nuuuuu!

One day, you will be mine.