Spacecraft RPGs

J

jaes

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I'm wondering if there are any good spacecraft RPGs and/or hybrid games besides the Space Rangers series?

What I'm looking for/pointers:
- Top-down/isometric combat
- I'm interested in both party-based games and single-character games
- I enjoy all kinds of combat systems: real-time, real-time with pause, turn-based, etc
- A story with a good plot and/or interesting characters
- Don't let the platforms be a hindrance (not that I own every gaming platform or intend to buy them, but still…)
 
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The X series would be kinda close that what you're talking about, but not quite exact. Startopia is a little different angle, but certainly fits the spacecraft theme. There's Space Siege, which was widely panned but probably fits your requirements better than most other options.
 
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There's also Starfarer. I know nothing about except for the name, though. ;)
 
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Oh, there was also Starpoint Gemini, which got coverage from the Watch here. I believe several Watchers played and enjoyed the game, but I don't remember for certain.
 
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dteowner said:
Oh, there was also Starpoint Gemini, which got coverage from the Watch here. I believe several Watchers played and enjoyed the game, but I don't remember for certain.
Click to expand...

Starpoint Gemini is kind of nice, although I never finished it (too many games to play and I tend to focus on the new stuff over finishing the older games I have).
 
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Same boat here. Starpoint Gemini had some interesting things going for it but, all in all, it just wasn't very fun. They were still making a lot of updates at the time but other games came along and I never checked back to see if they made the non-combat quests more interesting.

Space Rangers, maybe? I've played the demo twice, liked it both times, but never could find the time to buy/play the game.

The X series from Egosoft really isn't supposed to be a roleplaying game with stats that increase and such but it sure is a good game for deciding on a character roll and playing it. In other words, it's good for roleplaying but it isn't an RPG. (Which really says something about our naming conventions. Oh well.)
 
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Thanks for the suggestions.

Seems like it's a sub-genre that needs a little more love, both in terms of quantity and quality :)

Star Wolves series probably seems the most interesting right now, but I have to read a little more about it.

Regarding upcoming games, I've heard about, it seems like Starfarer and Drox Operative have potential.

EDIT: Clarified the last sentence.
EDIT 2: Just wanted to add, that Drox Operative seems like a slightly different beast; dynamic storytelling over plot.
 
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If you don't mind much older games:

Starflight 1&2.
SSI's Buck rogers Countdown to doomsday/Matrix Cubed.
Megatraveller 1 and 2.
 
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Yeah, I sometimes play much older games. I'll look into them, thanks.
 
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Some additional suggestions

You could also try Sentinel Worlds: Future Magic. It's pretty old (1989) but enjoyable.

If you enjoy that game, then you can try the spiritual sequel Hard Nova (1990).
 
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The trashy "tap ENTER to win" combat in Sentinel Worlds will probably drive you nuts. I know it almost did that to me. Other than that, it's a pretty cool game that isn't afraid of not holding your hand and has some pretty good writing.

Hard Nova is generally considered a better game than Sentinel Worlds, by the way, and the combat design is a bit better in it.
 
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Coming in late to this thread, but Planet's Edge was an interesting cross between Starcon 2 and top-down iso party-based games. It's not a well-known game; it was created by NWC and was actually a pretty enjoyable game, but it got pulled from shelves because of copyright issues. I remember enjoying it a lot at the time because it combined the starship combat and upgrade mechanics of SC2 with a fairly well done group-based combat/exploration game.

Almost certainly not available for cash, but probably obtainable.

[EDIT] Depending on how far back you're willing to go (and whether you find 3D space sim elements enjoyable in your RPG), Space Rogue is a lot of fun, too.
 
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I had that game, planets edge. It was great but I restarted more then I finished.
 
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Thanks for the new suggestions and comments.

Yes, I like space flight sims, if they're mixed-up with something else. Actually one of my dream games is a first-person space flight sim with planetary exploration and modern 3D graphics :)

I know about Precursors, and will probably play it at one point, but it doesn't seem like a high-quality game.
 
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jaes said:
Yes, I like space flight sims, if they're mixed-up with something else. Actually one of my dream games is a first-person space flight sim with planetary exploration and modern 3D graphics :)
Click to expand...
Yeah that is one of my dream games too. Bascially, the core elements of Starflight but with fully 3D modern graphics and a first person "bridge" or cockpit perspective during space flight. Have a custom-made crew, planet-side adventures exploring alien worlds - the full Star Trek experience.

I know this veers somewhat off of the RPG topic but has anyone tried Evochron Mercenary? It does seem to have some planetary exploration along with the space flight but I'm not sure how deep it goes. Haven't had a chance to try it yet.

Also, Infinity looks to have the most promising seamless spaceflight to planetary engine but their actual game release seems a long ways off.
 
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