Distant Worlds - 4x Space game (Real Time)

[Magusigne]

Pax 2 Eminant Domain is by far my favorite.

It's like that you say?

 

[Lumathix]

Damn, now gonna have to check it out.......

 

[zinfamous]

I haven't had any crash issues at all so far (knock on wood), and I've played it for several hours at a time.

I did have some initial issues getting it to run, but that what a .net installation issue and they have a tool to fix that.

You mentioned something about lines on your screen earlier. If this happened in game, then it wasn't a video error, that's how they implement the "fog of war" - diagonal lines.

It sounds like you may be doing what I started out doing - going through the initial Tutorial and then continuing from there.
Don't do it. I got buried in alarms & alerts doing that as well - too much when you're trying to learn what the heck is going on.

What I did was started a new game - 100 Stars, Research on slowest, Pirates off, and so on (everything turned way down). I also picked only two other AI (Random).

Quite a bit calmer, still a lot of info and it can still get crazy when a war kicks off though.

Really liking it so far and still a lot to figure out.

nah, the vertical lines that I mentioned were typical, "take control of the monitor and lock up the system b/c your vid drivers are not happy with you" lines. It was a real crash. ...but that hasn't happened after updating catalyst. i was able to go through basic and advanced tutorial (which is what was crashing) after updating.

I have noticed the diagonals in-game--they are kind of annoying, and I wasn't sure if it was a little hint that my drivers are still a little ticked-off, but grudgingly complying....

well, I actually started a game before completing the tutorial (b/c of the crashes). the problem, though...is that I picked the largest size...yikes! that certainly seems to be the cause of the slow downs, from time to time. 5 other races + pirates. I kind of wanted a trial by fire...but I was hoping that I wouldn't spawn in the same corner as every other race--that's what bugs me, I guess.

I like the pirates--pay them from time to time and they give you locations to check out, abandoned ships and technology and such.

One thing I can't figure out--when your exploration ships discover an abandoned ship, do they have a limited number of crew available to take control of the alien ship? I was approaching this small fleet of ~6 abandoned ships and was able to explore one of them when the game kept crashing. So after restarting, and doing that bit again...my ship would go to the other ships in that fleet, take over 3 of them, but then be unable to investigate the others. I click on it to explore, but it just sits on top and does nothing. annoying.

...and I'm not sure why I would be having crash issues: Phenom II 965, 4 gb DDR3 1333, 5850.... :\

 

[Dorkenstein]

Looks really good actually. I'd like to try it out but I'll have to wait until payday.

 

[zinfamous]

Imperium galactica II was amazing! Nothing else that came along was any good until sins came out and even then that missed colonies/ground combat.

I remember playing it online onetime where i had my massive fleet of iberion? battleships with destructor rays wiped out by some pussy shinari with his ship manipulator crap, he used my own battleships to destroy eachother. But the game was great up until that point lol :thumbsup:

I don't think I played the 2nd one, pretty sure it was the first one...may have to check that out. damn you guys!

can someone tell me if this is illegal? I'll delete, or mod can delete if so. I know there are a few legal downloads for old, jettisoned software like this, but I have no experience with it, so not sure how to vet it.

http://free-game-downloads.mosw.com/abandonware/pc/strategy_games/games_h_i/imperium_galactica.html

 

[zinfamous]

so...anyone else in here picked this up yet? any thoughts?

I've been spending too much time with it. It certainly has that early morning, One more turn playability to it that I both cherish & loathe.

I'm getting the hang of ship design, though nothing useful yet. I've started a few games but haven't gotten too terribly far into each.

Supposedly, colonies are key, tweaking a few designs here and there (explorers, mine defense) are essential, and limiting mine construction, improving research and base construction get the economy humming. Paying off pirates to keep your rivals busy is a bit better than focusing on your own military early. Or just gift your allies, buy and resell tech for ridiculously (exploit, probably) outrageous prices.

 

[SunnyD]

You're going to make me buy this aren't you?

 

[Fanatical Meat]

I wish it was multiplayer and maybe a demo. I may get this I used to love the real old 4x games like reach for the stars and such.

 

[wanderer27]

Yeah, I'm having a pretty decent time with it too.

There's really a lot to learn still on this as far as getting into the details of how everything works.

Supposedly the 1.04Beta Patch is to be released some time today - a few bug fixes, Colony re-balancing, and I think some more features are to be added in this one.

I believe the Public release is targeted for the end of the week.
The next Patch I think is going to be some more features and AI tweaks the last I heard.

 

[zinfamous]

You're going to make me buy this aren't you?

yes, yes I am. :sneaky:

I'm hoping there are plenty of you out there with far more experience in these type of games to feel it around and start posting your tips and strategies.

I feel like I get rolling for a good while, then some bastard civ starts getting randomly pissed at me and starts a war. More distracting than anything, I suppose. I don't know why...could it be b/c I keep hiring the pirate colonies to attack them while I go about my business? :hmm:

I have confirmed, though, that the advisors that keep popping up and tell you what to build, which colony or mine to attack, are always completely wrong. Just ignore them. They are especially wrong when it comes to maneuvering your fleets, lol.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, I'm having a pretty decent time with it too.

There's really a lot to learn still on this as far as getting into the details of how everything works.

Supposedly the 1.04Beta Patch is to be released some time today - a few bug fixes, Colony re-balancing, and I think some more features are to be added in this one.

I believe the Public release is targeted for the end of the week.
The next Patch I think is going to be some more features and AI tweaks the last I heard.

Nice! it seems that a lot of the community has been complaining about Matrix's failure to market their products, or simple unwillingness?

Funny, even wikipedia deleted the Distant World's web page (created by fans, I think) because the two reviews that exist (the same that you linked), were deemed "unofficial websites" or whatever, for wikipedia to allow the game it's own wiki page. The DW page was also labeled as obvious advertising, with no content. Odd...

It seems the last year's crackdown has sent wikipedia into a legitimacy frenzy when it comes to what people are allowed to publish on their pages. I kind of get that...as it limits the often ridiculous entries that used to flood the site, but it seems ridiculous for games like this (when other games and related products are allowed their pages) that certainly do exist, and could use the kind of exposure.

 

[SunnyD]

yes, yes I am. :sneaky:

Well, it better be on sale for 50% off (otherwise I happily accept donations :sneaky sometime soon. I'm tapped out until next month.

I was playing Civ4:BTS last night, and was shocked when after being at war for some 300 years (other Civ just camped me, didn't attack much anything at all) and no allies to help me, one random civ decided to gift me iron to help with my war effort. There's a first for everything...

 

[Lotheron]

Well, it better be on sale for 50% off (otherwise I happily accept donations :sneaky sometime soon. I'm tapped out until next month.

I was playing Civ4:BTS last night, and was shocked when after being at war for some 300 years (other Civ just camped me, didn't attack much anything at all) and no allies to help me, one random civ decided to gift me iron to help with my war effort. There's a first for everything...

Ha, I've had a friend over for about a week and the only thing we've been playing is CiV4:BTS multi player.

It's been hella fun.

 

[Dorkenstein]

Ha, I was playing BTS last night Hotseat and got all depressed that the AI is always so stingy and greedy.

I still want to pick up Distant Worlds sometime but I'm afraid it will be over my head.

 

[zinfamous]

I've barely played BTS since purchasing it last year. I only got it b/c I wanted to play a modded Latvian Civ, and took me a while to realize that i needed BTS to activate it...still haven't gotten the damn mod to work, and never played a game long enough to access the BTS mechanics.

I hadn't played Civ4 since a few months after it's initial release...so as you can imagine, I was waay behind how it had progressed.

 

[zinfamous]

Well, it better be on sale for 50% off (otherwise I happily accept donations :sneaky sometime soon. I'm tapped out until next month.

I was playing Civ4:BTS last night, and was shocked when after being at war for some 300 years (other Civ just camped me, didn't attack much anything at all) and no allies to help me, one random civ decided to gift me iron to help with my war effort. There's a first for everything...

Yeah, Matrix would do itself a great service by working with steam, and hopefully having this game on a weekend deal some time soon. I'm already a bit happy paying $40 for it--even though these type of games are beyond me. $20 is a no-brainer.

 

[SunnyD]

Urgh... digital river is their digital distribution partner? They limit how many times/how long you can download the title for and charge you extra for "longer" periods to do so.

 

[zinfamous]

Urgh... digital river is their digital distribution partner? They limit how many times/how long you can download the title for and charge you extra for "longer" periods to do so.

you can copy the downloaded installer, though. I moved mine over to a backup HDD.

 

[wanderer27]

Urgh... digital river is their digital distribution partner? They limit how many times/how long you can download the title for and charge you extra for "longer" periods to do so.

Just copy the download file & Serial number to a back up and you're good to go.

For the extra $10, I just went for the getting a DVD mailed as well.

 

[SunnyD]

you can copy the downloaded installer, though. I moved mine over to a backup HDD.

Just copy the download file & Serial number to a back up and you're good to go.

For the extra $10, I just went for the getting a DVD mailed as well.

Yeah, but that puts the onus on my to remember the serial and maintain the installation "media". Something Steam & D2D does for free.

 

[zinfamous]

Yeah, but that puts the onus on my to remember the serial and maintain the installation "media". Something Steam & D2D does for free.

that is what I love about steam. in the "add non-steam game" option, does this essentially work the same way?

I'm assuming it doesn't save the install of these type of games on their servers, does it?

 

[SunnyD]

that is what I love about steam. in the "add non-steam game" option, does this essentially work the same way?

I'm assuming it doesn't save the install of these type of games on their servers, does it?

No, it does not.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Yeah, Matrix would do itself a great service by working with steam, and hopefully having this game on a weekend deal some time soon. I'm already a bit happy paying $40 for it--even though these type of games are beyond me. $20 is a no-brainer.

I was sad when I could not find this on Steam.... I will give it a couple of months to move to steam, and if it never shows up on steam ... then meh ... I might order it from elsewhere....

 

[zinfamous]

big update today...looks pretty good.

 

[KaOTiK]

Game looks cool, hopefully it comes to Steam. I really don't want to bother with another service to DL or spend more to get a disc version.