GALCIV type games?

Go over to gamespot and look at the review for GC2 DA... somewhere on the screen you will see "show similar games"... click this and presto, a nice little list of similar games.

Wow, am I this bored today?

Master of Orion 2 (MoO2) was the supposed king of the genre in its day (I actually preferred Ascendancy, myself) but that day was more than a decade ago. Personally, in light of GC2, I can't imagine going back to those games.

At present the only game of the same genre worth noting at all is SEV, which is really only useful for MP (and broken as well, from what I've heard).

Same here. I loved the way the ships moved, but the game was broken. Even with the antagonizer AI. I loved that game though. If you look at the LogicFactory's website.. they have been promising a sequel.. Ascendancy II.... for years.

SEV is okay, it's certainly not much to look at though. Especially compared to GC2. And the multiplayer in it is kind of a moot point, considering you can only do tactical combat in singleplayer. The latest patches supposedly fixed most of those glaring bugs it had at release. I still prefer GC2 over SEV, though.

But about Masters of Orion 2... I still keep two very old computers (AMD K5s, if you remember those) for the exclusive reason of playing MOO2 with some friends of mine. That game is over 10 years old, and *still* no one has made a multiplayer 4x space game that even compares to it. It had multiplayer, it had TACTICAL multiplayer combat (turn based as well), it had ship design, customized races, you name it. The game is still very popular on some gaming web-rings, there's still a Kali league for it with lots of active players. There's even an 'unofficial' patch made by some very devoted fans that fixes/tweaks a few things. It's not a mod; this guy actually somehow reverse-engineered the exe. I have no clue how he fixed one of the well-known crash bugs without the source code...

http://www.lordbrazen.blogspot.com/2005/01/download.html

A lot of games have come very close to achieving what Moo2 set the standard for, but none have surpassed it. And frankly, none have even used the same design scheme. We get these 4x space strategy games that are either real-time, or they're turn based but with autocalced battles, or they're missing multiplayer, or both.

Why can't anyone take the proven Moo2 game model, and run with it?
I mean, half the fun of designing your own ships is actually *using* them in a game of chess-type tactical turn based combat.

Anyway, if you're interested in it, good luck finding a copy. Sometimes I'll see copies of Moo2 on eBay. Just remember that game is extremely old, and is optimized for DOS. Playing it in Windows is not recommended.

Yup, the AI just blew, even with antagonizer. If not for that I'd probably have been playing it right up until I discovered GC2. Ah well.

As to Ascendancy 2, it was going to be an MMO. I can not properly express my horror at the idea, so I'm just as glad it ended up being vaporware.


As to the MOO2 fans that are still die hard after all these years, I think it's a "you had to be there" kind of thing. I guess if you really, really care about MP (I don't) and you've got people that are as into MOO2 as you are it might be worth looking into. In and of itself it's really nothing extra.

Sure, find a copy of MOO2 somewhere and fire that bad ride up. Do NOT get confused with Master of Orion 3 though... Although I played a few games of it, most people considered it pretty unsatisfying... MOO2 is superior.

As long as you're trolling for old school games, load up 'Zork' while your at it... But don't eat the chili-pepper sandwich, you need it for the Cyclops!

Moo 2 was and is the King of space 4X games. It had complexity, tactical battles that had room for alot of creative thinking, multiplayer and customisable races. However it is very old so Im not sure you wont like the gfx compared to todays standard.

For more recent games there are Sword of the Stars and Space Empires V. The latter one I wouldnt recomend as it looks more outdated than Moo 2 even though it was released quite recently.

However Sword of the Stars isnt bad if you like nice gfx and tactical battles. Also has multiplayer but there arent many playing it so it may be hard to find mp games. Furthermore it lacks depths and complexity, there is an expansion in the works that might improve that.

But to be honest, right now, there really isnt any game that rivals GC II. Sadly it has no multiplayer and once you start beating the computer consistently on tough/painful it gets rather dull. The AI is relatively good but it makes some major misstakes when it comes to managing its fleet and as all AI programs it lacks any kind of sight in the future, i.e it cannot really plan for more than a few turns ahead.

Personally Im hoping for Sins of the Solar Empire to be released soon. It's a cross between an RTS and 4X games and it will have multiplayer but obviously it will be nowhere near as complex as say Moo 2.

I'm always on the lookout for space 4x games, as I love them the most. Right now, GCII:DA is the best, although it has some flaws. My chief gripe with it is that it doesn't immerse me enough in my civilization - I always feel a little distant. Perhaps that says more about my expectations than about GC itself.

Ascendancy was the first game I loved so much I took the terrible AI as a personal betrayal. A fantastically designed & structured piece of art that was near impossible to lose since the AI was so stupid.

MOO2 was very good in its day, but I haven't played it in years. MOO3 I hated on first play and uninstalled it in a few days.

I placed SE: IV quite a bit but got worn down the micro-management and the endless options. For me, it crossed the line from being deep to being too much like work. I tried the SE: V demo but if anything the micromanagement seemed greater. If that works for you, then great but it's not what I look for.

There's some game which I can't remember - had Empires in the name - which came out about 7-8 years ago and had some great features. I'll try to recall what it was.

One game I picked up off Stardock recently and had immense fun with was Space Rangers 2. Not a 4x, more a space opera, but a fantastic fun romp. I highly recommend it - greatly entertaining mix of space combat, trading, text adventure, mini-arcade game and an RTS. Not all the parts work great (and the translation from Russian blows) but it's a great adventure and I haven't enjoyed a game that much in a couple years. Cheap too.

Alpha Centauri and its expansion were great games (but just one planet). Some people thought that it was a little too green oriented and the techs were not transparent.

But it a 4x Civ in space. I wish Sid would get his rear in gear and do a follow-up instead of Railroad XXXX.

BTW his next game is Sid Meier's Sid Meier. Then his next is...