The kind of friends who have been overwhelmed by all the freebies in the App Store, and now refuse to shell out on apps? I know the kind, them cheap bastards A good thing they can still recognize quality when they have it gifted up their behinds
"I think any creative person who has followed Star Trek at all has been inspired by its ever-evolving aesthetic over the years. For the Humans, I quite intentionally decided to tap into my own inner-trekkie and render some of my own variations on that style. I think any science fiction artist could appreciate the chance to do that, and Im glad I got to. The concept goal for this fleet was familiarity. The Humans are meant to feel instantly recognizable." - Jason http://www.chimerasw.com/starbaseorion/?page_id=190
... but does it have Turn-based Tactical Combat? MOO 2 Supercession Checklist Turn based game? Yes Can you design races? Yes Can you design ships? Yes Multiple planets in a star system? Unknown No starlanes? Unknown Planet and Ship leaders? Unknown Unique Tech Tree, wherein techs are unique, and not just +1, +2 etc: Unknown Turn-based Tactical Combat, just like Master of Orion 2? Unknown {GENERATE BURNING QUESTION} Does Starbase Orion have Turn-based Tactical Combat, wherein a player can control each and every ship in his or her armada, just like in Master of Orion 2? I am a MOO2 purist, simply because MOO2 is my favourite game, bar none. I even bought the Mac version, just because it sounds different than on the PC. I have played every turn-based 4X game created, with the exception of the extremely rare Remember Tomorrow (as it is only in Russian), and never since the release of MOO2 in 1996 have I found a game to be its successor. Typically, a developer just can't be bothered to exert a thorough effort when creating a game. For example, Free Orion has starlanes because its too hard (apparently) to create a system wherein each star can be reached from each other star. Having worked in the software industry for a brief period, I can categorically state that cutting corners is Job One (as Ford used to say). A more galling example (at least in my mind) is that Galactic Civilizations 1 and 2 have no combat engine to speak of, period. In defence of this omission, Brad Wardell of Stardock (their creator) went so far as to say that human players have an unfair advantage in Turn-Based combat over AIs, in that we can use strategy (Zounds!) whereas AIs cannot. Worse is that since GalCiv 1 and 2 have done rather well, a number of other developers are following suit, thus condemning their creations to mundanity and non-description. I'd much rather wait for a game that I know will be good, like Diablo 3, than hold out a futile hope for a game that "might" do one better than Master of Orion 2. Please, Chimera, PLEASE make sure that you include turn-based tactical combat. With baited breath, Rip the Jacker!
Yes. Starbase Orion supports free roaming, just as MoO2 did. Random wormholes exist that connect distant star systems, again similar to MoO2. I can't speak for those other games and what their issues were, but I can confirm our AI kicks ass. Planet and ship leaders will not be in the initial release of SO. We are not ready to release specific techs yet, but I can confirm that there is a mixture of unique techs and refinements on those techs. For example, one might research a new unique weapon like gauss turrets, and then opt to research the next refinement on that (gauss turrets II). Yes, there is a turn-based tactical combat system in SO. No, it is not exactly how MoO2 did it. The ship combat in SO is probably the biggest break from the MoO2-like gameplay we made. I don't want to go into too much detail as the topic deserves its own full article on our site. However I can point you to SO's vision statement. Every gameplay decision for SO was made with multiplayer matches in mind. The game-within-a-game tactical combat in MoO2 is awesome for single player plans, but it does not scale vey well for more than 2 people. The combat in SO is designed to provide strategic decision making while not requiring the other players to wait for all combat to be resolved before galactic play can continue.
"The Vass are probably the most varied from ship to ship. I see them as perhaps a more enlightened species compared to the others, and their resulting design aesthetic is more experimental and artistic. I have to admit that the Protoss had some influence here too. The only real constant is their crystals, which they inhabit in some ethereal way in contrast to the traditional means of having cockpits and corridors. From there I saw the rest of the ship as being made up of just the inner workings for the ship, and so there's no obvious, 'that's where the mess hall would be, and there's the bridge.' " - Jason http://www.chimerasw.com/starbaseorion/?page_id= 214
Exciting news! Back in "Strategy Mode" again - just finished off another game of Distant Star during lunch!
Official Release Date Announced Starbase Orion has passed review by Apple, and will be available in the AppStore alongside iOS 5 this Wednesday, October 12, 2011. It has been a long road for Starbase Orion, and I am extremely excited for everyone to get a chance conquer our galaxy later this week!
Already? I figured there were weeks and months to go. Wonderful! I find it strange that Starbase Orion has not generated more hype, considering the unique nature of the game. TA people, if you happen to swing by this thread, cobble together a piece on Starbase Orion and its impending release. For many of those of us into asynchronous online play, this is the biggest thing to come along since Carcassonne, possibly for ever.
Thankfully the guys over at Space Sector have been very good about featuring SO news. They are also in the process of writing a comprehensive review of the game Still, I would certainly enjoy some love from the TA staff
instabuy! wednesday is gonna rock. So glad I installed the GM already so instead of updating I can spend my time playing these awesome games.
