Anybody interested in this game...

Distant Worlds is a vast, pausable real-time, 4X space strategy game which models a "living galaxy" with incredible options for replayability and customizability. Experience the full depth and detail of large turn-based strategy games, but with the simplicity and ease of real-time, and on the scale of a massively-multiplayer online game. Now greatly enhanced with the new Universe release, which includes all four previous releases as well as the new Universe expansion!

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eater of stars
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Feb 06, 2014 6:22 pm

Anybody interested in this game...

Post by eater of stars »

Hello guys.javascript:void(AddText('[:)]'))
i have been playing distant worlds for years now with all the expansion (of course except for universe which is recently).but im getting to the point where the game is getting a little repetitive (just a little. distant worlds is great and maybe my favorite 4x game up to date). so i star looking for something different and i have been looking for a game as depth and complex and entertaining as distant worlds universe is, and it seems i find something but i would like to know your opinion about a game named aurora 4x. it seems quite extremely deep even more than distant worlds universe (something that suprise me a lot)and infinitetly more complicated but for what i heard is far more fun so i would like to know your opinion about that game and if is worthy changing distant worlds universe for aurora.
thanks guys.micons/m10.gif
johanwanderer
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RE: Anybody interested in this game...

Post by johanwanderer »

Aurora is different and, last I check, free. You can always try it out and get a feel for yourself.
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Blackstork
Posts: 802
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 3:45 am

RE: Anybody interested in this game...

Post by Blackstork »

eater of stars - the DW mods which been done recently/in development offer completely new , more complex and deep take on DW experience.
I think if you check mod forum frequently, and update to Universe will provide you the depth/experience you seek.
Most of them been done recently/are still WIP, and they are big jump and improvmenet over vanilla game.
AI mod by Icemania, Extended Universe, WarHammer mod , StarTrek mod, my Beyond mod/modpack which combines AI mod and Extended and adds 1-2 GB assets of race specific art, chaaracters and music and mechanic changes, few other total conversion mods, and upcoming lurchi Research Reloaded mod which been anticipated by many people.
Alien Immersion (WIP) : tm.asp?m=3651979
Beyond Extended Universe (WIP): tm.asp?m=3657646
Lucian
Posts: 279
Joined: Sat Dec 01, 2012 11:35 am

RE: Anybody interested in this game...

Post by Lucian »

Aurora is complicated. Really complicated. It isn't called "the Dwarf Fortress of 4x space games" for nothing. And there's not much in the way of tutorials, I learned most of it by trial, error and reading forums. That being said, if you can survive the climb up the Everest-like learning cliff without falling to your death then the game is actually pretty awesome.

More fun than Distant Worlds? Not really, in some ways its more fun, in other ways its not. It's certainly much more detailed and realistic than DW and has terrific depth of play but doesn't have the same epic "living galaxy" feel to it that DW has, although the maps in Aurora can be truly huge too. Also the graphics in Aurora are pretty much non-existent so be prepared to use your imagination to supply almost all the detail and be prepared for lots of spreadsheets.

Also your enjoyment will depend very much on whether you like realism in space games or not. For example DW follows the Star Trek/Wars trope of fleet combats involving ships separated by a few ship-lengths, all pew-pewing away with relatively short-ranged weapons like 1800's iron clads. On the other hand Aurora ends up with most battles being extreme long-range missile engagements at many millions of KM distance, well outside beam range. Basically one pin-point fleet vs another pin-point fleet, separated by huge distances, both trying to swamp each others point-defense with multiple large waves of missiles, each of which takes many minutes to cross the distance. If you manage to get to beam range then you are basically knife fighting at extreme close range. If you've ever read any of the Honor Harrington books you'll have a good idea what Aurora space combat will be like.

Research is another area of Aurora that showcases its extreme realism and depth. Lets say you've just completed theoretical research on infrared lasers, unlike DW you're far from finished. Now you have to do applied research to design a practical laser for a specific task, like point-defense, ship to ship, turret or spinal mount. If its turret mounted you'll need to design the turret too. Then you have to design the fire-control for the laser system and the active sensors that will be used to identify the target. You'll also need some sort of reactor to power the laser which will again require a practical design. Without all these components working harmoniously together, the laser will not work and your expensive ship will be a sitting duck.
Abraxis
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Joined: Tue Jan 25, 2011 4:36 pm

RE: Anybody interested in this game...

Post by Abraxis »

I gave Aurora a chance maybe three years ago. It seemed really interesting, and extremely detailed.

I started stranded in the Solar System without knowing anything. Eventually I managed to figure out how to travel to other systems, and had some mining operations going (which involved catapulting minerals back to earth). I even started terraforming and moving civilians to a planet I had found some time and effort later.

After a while, in one system, I lost contact with an exploration vessel. I assembled a brand new recon vessel after reading a ton of guides on how to create the sensory equipment needed to investigate what happened. I sent it to the location where my scout disappeared, it recorded a radioactive blast just as I lost contact with it.
After several more hours of trying to build a vessel with offensive capabilities and defensive measures against what I assumed must have been projectiles carrying nuclear warheads, I finally managed to assemble a bit of a force to find out what was going on. I had an updated recon vessel along for the journey too, with some modifications to resolution and a bunch of other junk (I forget how it all worked now) to hopefully provide more information.
This expedition didn't even make it to the system, due to technical difficulties... I forget the specifics.

Another few hours of figuring out why my ships didn't work and I finally built new ones to reach their destination. Into the danger zone and I managed to pick up the missiles being fired at me. My combat ships even managed to destroy two of them with their counter missile missiles I had designed. That was pretty thrilling in that I was shocked something I made actually worked.
The third, fourth, fifth... ect enemy missiles from unknown source still destroyed my fleet however.

This is where I quit. It was a cool experience and all, if you have a mind for engineering, you'll probably love the game, but it just wasn't for me. I'm normally all over these games too, Dwarf Fortress, Distant Worlds, any of the Paradox Grand Strategies, Eve Online, all of them I've shouldered through the learning curve and played to death. Aurora just didn't grab me. It was cool trying to solve the problems of getting off planet, out of the solar system, laying some groundwork for a colonization, and exploring the design of spacecrafts. Problem was, it got way too frustrating way too quickly. Micromanaging such minute details of spacecraft construction just didn't seem to me as though it opened up much in the way of interesting gameplay. Its value, I think, can only be appreciated by someone who wants to intimately obsess over every possible detail of spaceship creation. Admittedly, it has great value there, though. Before Aurora I thought that sort of thing might appeal to me.

Nope.

I have crazy respect for the guy who made the game though, and admire him greatly for all he's accomplished. I'm also glad such an intensely niche experience exists. I'd really love to love it too, it just wasn't for me unfortunately.

Edit: Here is a previous post I just found in which I discussed Aurora, a few years ago, so it was a little fresher in my mind.
(From tm.asp?m=3073924&mpage=1&key=Aurora)
ORIGINAL: Abraxis

I am currently playing DW, If i wasn't I wouldn't be here, hah.

Before my most recent foray into this awesome game though I was enjoying some Mount and Blade: Warband with Floris' Mod then Sword of Demaclese.

Before that I was on a Crusader Kings 2 kick until I realized how repetitive the game is. It adds character and, a 'reason to care' I guess, that I find lacking from most Paradox grand strategy titles, but after a game or two those characters just become nothing but numbers and the whole things is back to the same stale roots as Victoria or EU (entirely my opinion of course, I wish I liked those games).

Played some X3 for a while too, always fun, put that down until Rebirth comes out though, can't freaking wait [:@]

Every now and again I'll dip into Dwarf Fortress, or a game of League of Legends here and there.

Another game I feel like noting, in case you were looking for other things like DW, but not. Aurora is like a hyper realistic DW. I've tried getting into it a few times, but I swear you need a degree in physics just to design a functioning component of a ship, let alone a ship. The first time I played it I never even got out of the SOL system. The second time I tried it, it took me about two days of heavy play just to colonize another planet. That being said, if you're a smarter and more patient man than me you'll probably get a lot out of it.

You're very much blind when it comes to everything going on, but if you're able to figure out how to properly calibrate signal bandwidth with antenna length in order to achieve the proper range and resolution to even see what may or may not even be there chances are you'll just wonder where that pathetic fleet you spent 5 hours designing and another 5 building went.
The one that experienced failures in multiple systems right out of the gate.
The one you had to mine a long period comet for years to build, before it left system, taking all your mining equipment with it...
but you sent them on their mission anyways.

They weren't destroyed, they weren't captured. All you ever saw from them was some preliminary scans of a few asteroids in this particular solar system, a curious heat signature just barely big enough to register on those medium range high rez infrared scanners you weren't even sure worked (but holy hell was it satisfying after about an hour designing them), then there was a curious nuclear detonation... then... nothing.

That's about where I left it, deciding to play something simple, like Dwarf Fortress.
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Ostwindflak
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Location: New Hampshire

RE: Anybody interested in this game...

Post by Ostwindflak »

Oh Abraxis....

You had me laughing at that line you wrote in your post from years ago about Aurora.
The one you had to mine a long period comet for years to build, before it left system, taking all your mining equipment with it...
but you sent them on their mission anyways.

That gave me a good chuckle.
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