Space Empires: Starfury domo

[Bob McDob]

Has anyone tried the demo of this which came out like two monthes ago>? I couln't find any threads on this so I thought I't take a poll.

The game plays like a 3D Escape Velocity, without quite the color of the former. Escape Velocity really gave you the impression of being part of a real universe, with factions clashing and whatnot. Starfury, on the other hand, has you, pirates, and freighter pilots. Although there's supposedly a hostile alien race and Confed forces, I haven't seen any of them.

Another way in which it differs from EV is that it's a lot easier to make money. Whereas EV had you trekking across the entire sector to make cargo runs, rarely will you ever travel more than three systems (in my experience). You can also save wherever, whenever.

Combat is a bit like Starfleet Command ... no, it's a LOT like SFC, with the addition that unlike Starrfleet, where the action was pseudo-3d, SE:V really IS 2D, so you have to do some maneuvering to avoid ramming the other ship. You don't have specific control over every weapon... instead you organize them into banks, a la Mechwarrior. The destroyer I started our with had four banks of weapons, there may be more.

Graphics are a bit of a weak point, but they still look a lot better than the screenshots would suggest. The biggest complaint I had was that it's not easy to judge movement and direction ... a little thrust "tail", as in Homeworld, would help immensely. Also, there doesn't seem to be any way to browse up and down through the contacts list, so I'd be hitting the "T" key repeatedly trying to find my dropoff point. At least the map is excellent.

It's hard to judge a game based on a prerelease, but Starfury looks like a promising game, and I'll be following (and playing) along.

[Hotfoot]

Starfury's already out and patched. You can change views if the initial view does not give you enough of a sense of speed.

I liked it, but the over-reliance on the mouse (primarily due to the keybuffer bug with the keyboard controls) quickly found me liking the game in concept, but not in practice, as accurate control of your ship can require a LOT of clicks.

Yes, it does feel a bit more empty than EV: Nova, despite there being a lot there. Part of it, I think, is due to the massively out of whack scale of the game. EV: Nova, granted, does not have true-to-scale systems, and with larger ships, you can eclipse planets, but space seems...a bit cartoonish in Starfury, for whatever reason. In any event, I did have fun with the demo, and if they make some tweaks here and there (which, knowing Aaron Hall, he'll work them in all right), and the game itself is extremely easy to mod, like Space Empires.

The best thing to do is to make up your own story to go along with the main one as you play. In any event, the game is primarily a proof-of-concept for Space Empires 5's combat system and engine more than anything else. I may eventually get it, but for right now, X2 looks like it will do pretty much everything Starfury does, and do it better.

So, in all honesty, I don't know if I can recommend purchasing the game. I love Malfador, and Space Empires 4 is among my inner circle of games, but...well, Starfury vs. X2's imminent release...

[Bob McDob]

Yeah, I'll probably get it for the simple reason that it can be modded (which is why I got SFCIII ... bad reason, I know). The only problem I can see here is that there's no skirmish mode. Shame. Free-for-all trading and combat missions have always left me a bit drained and without the will to live :\