Help me find a great starship game.

[lightingbird]

I'm an old school gamer and I used to play a game that some of you who also fall into that category might know.

It was called Starflight.

It was a scifi game in which you commanded a non military ship for exploration and profit. You got to recruit your crew by creating them from different races. You could spec their stats, they learned and got better, and they could also permanently die.

You could fully upgrade your ship for better armor, science equipment, shields and weapons. The known galaxy was insanely huge and open for exploring. A huge sandbox with no storyline to follow. There were hostile races in the game and you could make allies and even enemies with all of them. Planets that could support life, you could recommend for colonization for money. You could even land on certain planets and mine which was the main way of getting money other than destroying ships and other stuff. For me, I felt like I was actually in a starship as the captain, exploring the unknown in which every decision mattered.

So it was a great game back in 1986 (I did say I was old school ).

Is there anything like this but with a modern element and maybe more to offer? It seems like most of them are mostly fighter shooters or just ship based games with no way to land on planets, other ships, linear storyline, no free will, and no mention of crew members.

So can anyone recommend something similar to what I described? Does it exist?

ALSO - Why in the hell is there no instant reply notification by email on this forum?

 

[Winthrop]

Artemis Bridge simulator is in beta but it is getting updated. Can be fun with friends and if you are willing to record yourself playing it you get it free. Its not everything (you can't land) but its worth a look.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Certainly, I used to play a lot of Vegastrike [http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/] which was pretty damn good.

 

[thelastmccabe]

There's a game on Gog.com called space rangers 2 that sounds a bit like what you are talking about. I think space rangers 1 is similar. You can't get a crew, but you can do all sorts of upgrades to your ship and fly around trading or doing missions for various planets. Your character gets experience and can upgrade various abilities. There is an overarching conflict you can be involved in or you can just ignore it or even be a pirate. There is even an RTS mini game you can play to help out various planets if you want to. You can buy probes and use them to gather materials on alien planets for resale.

Just some caveats though--I couldn't really get into it, but I think it's b/c I don't like the genre that much. Also, it was originally Russian, and the translation as at times not that great, particularly because of grammar and comma errors. It's not a bad translation by any stretch of the imagination, but I found it to be a bit annoying.

I have heard of a game called Freelancer that sounds kind of similar, but I haven't played it.

Star Control II is a bit different, but is an awesome older game with some similar features. It also involves an upgradeable ship, planet landings, and a universe to explore. But it's not really a sandbox game--there's a path you need to follow and there's a time limit before the world ends. You can get it off Gog or for free from reloaded.org.

 

[Kevak]

I suppose someone should suggest EvE here...

Space Exploration taken to the MMO age

Eve went into the shitter with the shitcarna/incarnage update.

 

[AdmiralCheez]

For a purely economic space game, I think it was either Starlines, Inc. or Starship Tycoon (they might have been the same game) where you could hire crew members, buy ships and modules, and choose cargo and passengers. I don't think there was any combat, but I could be wrong. It's been years since I last saw either of them.

Or if you want the whole space empire to run, there's always Galactic Civilizations II.

 

[lightingbird]

Thanks for the ideas so far.

Again, I'm looking for what I described. Nothing like Eve in which you are just one person in a ship, or a fighter, or anything that does not have a crew.

 

[x-machina]

Sins of a solar Empire. You explore space, colonize new planets, wage an inter-galactic war and probably a ton of other stuff that I am forgetting to mention.

 

[Sovereign _909]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander. You take the role of a starship captain and can control the ship yourself or issue orders to a crew on the bridge of a ship.

One of my all time favorite games.

 

[lightingbird]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander.. hmm I'll look that up.

 

[Antari]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander.. hmm I'll look that up.

In the same light as Star Trek : Bridge Commander look up Star Trek : Klingon Academy (wing commander type control with klingon ships)

 

[lightingbird]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander.. hmm I'll look that up.

In the same light as Star Trek : Bridge Commander look up Star Trek : Klingon Academy (wing commander type control with klingon ships)

Thanks but again, I'm not really looking for a fighter game.

 

[Mr Thin]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander. You take the role of a starship captain and can control the ship yourself or issue orders to a crew on the bridge of a ship.

One of my all time favorite games.

I came here to recommend that.

It's sitting on the shelf, staring at me, asking me why I haven't played it in five years.

Is it still playable? Or does it look and handle like crap nowadays?

In any case, it does sound like what you're looking for OP. It is fairly combat-focused, but it's far more than your simple pew pew space shooter.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Freelancer is awesome. Like my favorite game ever awesome.... Like *fanboyisms*

 

[CrystalShadow]

I'm an old school gamer and I used to play a game that some of you who also fall into that category might know.

It was called Starflight.

It was a scifi game in which you commanded a non military ship for exploration and profit. You got to recruit your crew by creating them from different races. You could spec their stats, they learned and got better, and they could also permanently die.

You could fully upgrade your ship for better armor, science equipment, shields and weapons. The known galaxy was insanely huge and open for exploring. A huge sandbox with no storyline to follow. There were hostile races in the game and you could make allies and even enemies with all of them. Planets that could support life, you could recommend for colonization for money. You could even land on certain planets and mine which was the main way of getting money other than destroying ships and other stuff. For me, I felt like I was actually in a starship as the captain, exploring the unknown in which every decision mattered.

So it was a great game back in 1986 (I did say I was old school ).

Is there anything like this but with a modern element and maybe more to offer? It seems like most of them are mostly fighter shooters or just ship based games with no way to land on planets, other ships, linear storyline, no free will, and no mention of crew members.

So can anyone recommend something similar to what I described? Does it exist?

ALSO - Why in the hell is there no instant reply notification by email on this forum?

Ah... Starflight. I remember that.

Unfortunately there's nothing much quite like it these days.

Bridge commander isn't too bad, but it's nothing like the freedom of starflight.

About the closest thing I can come up with (though still quite different), is the X3 series (X3 Reunion or Terran conflict)

That's a large universe you can explore and trade in. Buy and sell stuff... Do missions for random people...

No landing on planets though, but it does have a VERY thorough economy. (You can buy ships and own a fleet, but you can also buy and manage factories to produce your own goods, which you can then use or sell on. - Managing 100 trading ships and 300 factories can get quite insane. - Assuming you have the patience to build up enough wealth to buy it all.)


But... It's still not quite what you're thinking of.

A special mention also to Battlecruiser 3000AD / millenium, etc. It's a disaster of a game series, but... You can do just about anything. Including manage individual crew members, land on and explore all the planets in the game... (using fighters, on foot, a land vehicle, or even by landing your battlecruiser itself). In the later installments of the series you can also explore the interior of your ship and space stations.

Now, while that may sound great and all, Battlecruiser 3000AD has a reputation for being incredibly difficult to learn, and (for most people) quite boring, despite what you can supposedly do in it.

 

[Chevy235]

Holy mackerel, I think I remember Starflight. Had like an insectoid race I'm pretty sure? I think I remember the mining bit.

 

[lightingbird]

I'm an old school gamer and I used to play a game that some of you who also fall into that category might know.

It was called Starflight.

It was a scifi game in which you commanded a non military ship for exploration and profit. You got to recruit your crew by creating them from different races. You could spec their stats, they learned and got better, and they could also permanently die.

You could fully upgrade your ship for better armor, science equipment, shields and weapons. The known galaxy was insanely huge and open for exploring. A huge sandbox with no storyline to follow. There were hostile races in the game and you could make allies and even enemies with all of them. Planets that could support life, you could recommend for colonization for money. You could even land on certain planets and mine which was the main way of getting money other than destroying ships and other stuff. For me, I felt like I was actually in a starship as the captain, exploring the unknown in which every decision mattered.

So it was a great game back in 1986 (I did say I was old school ).

Is there anything like this but with a modern element and maybe more to offer? It seems like most of them are mostly fighter shooters or just ship based games with no way to land on planets, other ships, linear storyline, no free will, and no mention of crew members.

So can anyone recommend something similar to what I described? Does it exist?

ALSO - Why in the hell is there no instant reply notification by email on this forum?

Ah... Starflight. I remember that.

Unfortunately there's nothing much quite like it these days.

Bridge commander isn't too bad, but it's nothing like the freedom of starflight.

About the closest thing I can come up with (though still quite different), is the X3 series (X3 Reunion or Terran conflict)

That's a large universe you can explore and trade in. Buy and sell stuff... Do missions for random people...

No landing on planets though, but it does have a VERY thorough economy. (You can buy ships and own a fleet, but you can also buy and manage factories to produce your own goods, which you can then use or sell on. - Managing 100 trading ships and 300 factories can get quite insane. - Assuming you have the patience to build up enough wealth to buy it all.)


But... It's still not quite what you're thinking of.

A special mention also to Battlecruiser 3000AD / millenium, etc. It's a disaster of a game series, but... You can do just about anything. Including manage individual crew members, land on and explore all the planets in the game... (using fighters, on foot, a land vehicle, or even by landing your battlecruiser itself). In the later installments of the series you can also explore the interior of your ship and space stations.

Now, while that may sound great and all, Battlecruiser 3000AD has a reputation for being incredibly difficult to learn, and (for most people) quite boring, despite what you can supposedly do in it.

Ah glad I finally came across someone that played it.

Yea it seems that I can't find anything like it. I did look into bridge commander and its not what I was hoping. I'll look into Battlecruiser 3000AD / millenium next.

 

[kidd25]

i Googled starflight and found a youtube lets play of it. so far it seem like a alright game for its time.