Been watching this project for a while. I haven't tried there new build yet but its been a long time coming 🙂

Interesting, last I knew it still wasn't in a playable state.

Took some digging to find this thread!   Anyways a new update is out for Free Orion. Grab it here.

Wow, thanks. Haven't fired that up in a long time.

Free Orion is a gem to me now that I have almost left Spacecom (liked the simplicity, but need a save function  ). 

Since I'm quite new to the Space Sim genre (4X etc), I do need to be able to set resistance to the minimum so I can enjoy building my fleets/research more or less "undisturbed".

Could anyone provide some tips on the way FreeOrion produces "Starlanes" and fuel replenishments? Should I send a (military)fleet out beyond the resupply lines? Love this so far and will probably stay with FreeOrion for quite a time due to the OpenSource concept.

Thanks to everyone involved in developing the beauty of FreeOrion!

PS: Also love Star Ruler 1 but seem to loose too quickly, lol. DS

Ok, a little sitrep here.

Playing FreeOrion is certainly my cup of coffe. Love it!

Problem is now, I get beaten to death even at beginner level. Figure I probably research the wrong branches in the beginning wich leave me behind further down the road. For the first enconters, I beat up (my single) easy AI, but was totally eaten around turn 100. My fleets had the power of, say 15 (more vessels than AI) and AI came to me in waves of 36 in firepower (but only 2-3 ships in the group). So where/how do I go about to set up good grounds to meet my (beginners) enemy?

This game is certainly immersive but as you may have noticed I am just jumping into the 4X concept :).

Cheers,

James

Unfortunately I never tried free Orion - probably will now :).

Anyway, one of the most critical decisions in the original MOO was, in my experience, Research. I started by researching tech that gave me the ability to have more RPs - either through increased productivity, increased range/speed for traveling (expansion) or increased planetary population. That mean that the smart guys (IIRC Psylons) were the best race, and I was pretty vulnerable military speaking at the start.

Don«t know if the strategy for Free Orion is similar :p

Hey Pyros, FreeOrion is a gem! I've played it now for a few days (well, on free nights when kids are at bed that is) and I am really hooked. It's simplistic and yet very deep! Devs are very frequently at the forum helping out to get one started with the conceptual thinking and detailed mechanics. Every aspect of the game breathes chess in space! It has a steep learning curve but every little step has been rewarding for me so far.

/broms   

I have known about Free Orion for years now and only haven't played it because I was waiting for development to mature more (current version 0.4.5). Now since not having played it yet maybe I am wrong on my assessment and it plays great. But been waiting, so reading these comments show me that players are not running into any major bugs during play so maybe I might load it up soon.

Yeah, it plays great - at least for me and the path I'm taking at "beginner" level (playing the Humans on first run). Had probably 2-3 crashes/freezes in about 40 hours playtime. I'm playing it slow though just trying to understand the game concept and mechanics. I save a lot of turns so I have never really lost any progress. The devs and testers are very active and helpful at the forums, which helps a beginner like me to get the grips.

Now, I understand enough to overrule my (single) opponent in military power as well as Research and Industry (currently at turn ~200). Love it!

A couple of teasers for you guys tempted to fire it up again (FO works fine with multi-monitor setup)!

Galaxy map and fleets

Research with Pedia (filtered to show only a couple of branches)

Galaxy map, fleets, Pedia, SitRep and Object list

Ship design and outfits with Pedia

@Bromstarzan ... This has improved a lot. Thanks for bring attention back to this game. The only problem I had to overcome is learning to stop saying "one more turn" and save and quit and get some sleep. 

I'm right there, leondhay - no sleep last night :D!

I have quite a unique perspective since I havn't really played any 4X space titles really. FO is very complex, yet simplistic, deep and... addictive! I can (so far) only say that it is indeed playable - many, many hours now and it runs like a freighttrain, on and on... of course there might be bugs/issues in the mechanics/balance etc, but I'm luckily unaware of those for the time being ;).

As a beginner, there's a lot to learn, but I'm starting to get the grips of FO and I can't stop.

I'm no at turn 300 and entering a fight for territory and sabotage, deciding on fronts and mobilizing for battle - just before the deep hard strikes.

The Pedia is brilliant, but the hard parts for a beginner is to comprehend what it all leads to - what is progress and when? What effect has an action, and on what and why? The only thing to do is to play and play some more. I'm writing a little guide for myself :). One can always watch Blades episodes to learn some more.

I used to (and still do) play CMANO and other strategy/tactical games but it's great to be in space too!

I am waiting for the tacrical battle module!!

Sounds interesting ^^

I havn't read up on the roadmap yet, but enjoy the current state. What do you know about the tactical battle module?

Nothing actually. But there has to be one, since MoO II had it!!

There's alot going on in FreeOrion at the moment. Just posting an image of build 160404 to inspire everyone to have a look (return as an old vet or discover as a newcomer ).

I play FO on two monitors so this is a very condensed representation just to show some of the GUI.