Epic Exploration of Space War Game (1rst Post & Long)

[Chosen]

I am a Empire Building/Strategy War Game Sci-fi Junkie of sorts with some statements, questions and suggestions.

First off...what should a space war game be? Well Full of Space stuff and War stuff! This will make it fun...

Its been YEARS sense a new space war game came out that actually follows this simple mantra.

Above all it needs to be a game in the sense that it is FUN! So with that in mind lets move on to some suggestions.


Developers please follow the main goal action items.
1. Fun
2. Cool Space/Sci Fi stuff
3. War

This will give you a successful game. The best graphics, macros, details, wow factors will not save you unless you keep it simple.

Fun = well I put forth the coolest part of a game is the x factor being able to be repeated over and over. For instance, every time I play it is a new game because the map, story (if there), and strategy must and are changed. But it cant stop there. It must not only make me want to play it over and over...it must keep me playing it even when my wife is threating to destroy my computer it I dont stop playing. For this i require the next turn itch at all phases of the game. Give me something that makes me want to take JUST ONE MORE TURN!

2. Cool Space/Sci Fi stuff = races, planets, galaxy "things", governments, ships, tech, variety as massive as the galaxy is large...all to the level where each game I play is not even close to the last one I played. So random events, unexpected trade/war/famine etc etc all must be random and exciting...even it it meens my empire is likely to fall apart from the bad luck!

3. War = War! Not sissy display of a handfull of ships shooting at eachother. IM TALKING HUGE SCALE! I would rather see a galatic scale than cooler graphics. So thousands or even tens of thousands of ships on the battle map/screen. And give me the ability to make the ships the way I want. War is faught in many ways. Diplomacy is as important as say technology, spies, trade, and population problems, stratgey on the battlefield, and racial qualities.

I am eager to see what is on the Horizon (pardon the pun) and would love to get paid to help make this game the next Civilation Series in popularity.

When and if this project becomes a multiplayer game I will enjoy crushing you all with my far more powerful mind...and Empire, ooh and race...technology, spies, ships, strategy, - well you get the picture, all while flashing you a smile from accross the abyss we call space

Chosen

[Therlun]

[Chosen]

When I was talking huge I should have pointed out the variance between Master of Orion and Master of Orion 2.

MOO Had major battles with even 100k plus ships on either side...it gave it a feel of epic galactic scale.

MOO2 was a hand full of ships fighting...felt like a skirmish compared to MOO.

MOO Was in no way a micro manage game neither more nor less than MOO2

Plus...size could compisate for technology in MOO and not so much in MOO2.

For instance - you may 10-15 years ahead of me in weapons tech, but I have 100,000 ships to you 10,000 ships....you kill 80 percent of my fleet with your better weapons, but I win the battle because I had superior numbers.

That never really happened in MOO2 - once someone had Class III shields before you did you were dead...or some other 1 advancement would tip the scale instantly.

I prefer to think and play with more options, if I am lagging in technology I want the option of superior numbers.

This method does not exclude the "OMG I LOST MY BATTLESHIP!" because in MOO you could get HUGE battleships that could take on 20-30k small fighters because you designed it with anti small ship weapons.

Anyhow - thanks for the reply

[Therlun]

im a truly big fan of moo1, but i think the space battles are one of the weaker parts.
they were fun and all, but not tactics or strategy won them, but design and industrial power.
both are of course correct, but i never had the feeling of commanding a space fleet...
it was more like a game of tic-tac-toe.

in respect of micro moo1 was ... nearly perfect!

[Sobriquet]

Chosen, welcome to the forum. It's always a pleasure to see a fellow game meister voice his opinions.

There were no real tactics in MOO space combat, unless you count the move begind the planet trick. It was all about industrial might. Superior tech, imo, always outlasted superior numbers.

I like the notion of smaller numbers, say dozens, of ships in combat. Like Therlun said, if you only have 6 super carriers, you are going to spend considerable effort keeping them from being destroyed. In the MOO series, you made hundreds of the largest ships and hundreds more whenever you wanted. I want to care about my fleet. Not just produce cannon fodder.

[Therlun]

chosen i hope you didnt get the impression we piled up on you.

[Chosen]

chosen i hope you didnt get the impression we piled up on you.
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Not at all.

I do however think one of my favorite come from behind tactics in MOO1 was this.

Im behind in tech, production ability, and colonies. I am being attacked and it looks like certain death.

I build a small class ship with inertial advantage and daeth spores. head to a planet and get wiped out but comepletely clear the population and destroy the planet. Rinse Repeat and I no longer have any problems except for the rest of the game the other races hate my guts for commiting attrocities.

Could never pull that move off in MOO2.

Although - I loved building ship capture ships in MOO2 and stealing an attaran ship and reverse eng the tech out of it. That was awesome.

Loved both games and and even consider moo3 to deserve the right to be called MOO.

However, I am totally jazzed about Horizon and look forward to bending my will on the Devs.

Chosen

[Therlun]

i see the space battle of moo3 as one of its stronger parts.

the ships were ugly, and there were only few designs.
the control was terrible, and no pause avaible! but what for a pause if you cant give orders to your ships anyway?
AND it was bugged... (PD anyone?!)

and despite all this, it was fun for me!
it just looked.... entertaining and stylish how the ships fired at each other.
how the fighteres attacked and were vaporized.
and how the missiles slowly approached....

so chosen, be patient (and perhaps get an avatar) and you will see, and maybe influence, the birth of a new, perhaps great, game!

[Zaimat]

Welcome chosen!

I appreciate your comments. To answer your question, in Horizon we have decided to go with tactical combat and thus we have taken the view that ships are expensive, important and a limited resource. A taskforce composed of a mothership and several cruisers with escort ships is the norm and a serious threat.

If you are militarily inclined you can still build more ships and focus more on numbers than others. And technology while very important will not automatically dictate how well your military does. As well as there will be counters to large fleets.

I know the initial reaction is from the perspective of older games but a lot of it does not apply because in Horizon space is large and open and a lot of other things have effect on how you conduct battle and what makes a strategy successful.
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Horizon - Lead Designer