Uhmmm hard to tell, but I'd say Freelancer also .... for the moment 🙂

Freelancer.

For my tastes, there is nothing else even close: Freelancer's easy extendability, mouse interface, and ability to run on a laptop or PC with integrated graphics make it stand far above all others -- including other games by the same developers (Chris and Erin Roberts and Digital Anvil).

The biggest trouble area with Freelancer mods (extending the storyline) has been cracked by smart use of News, Rumors, and "message objects" rather than by trying to make cut scenes. Discovery and Crossfire already make terrific use of this technique. It is easy to implement so we should see more storyline extensions in the future.

In fact, extending the story line this way (without cut scenes) is so easy that SSC members could build our own Freelancer storyline mod. If there is any interest in doing that, I would be happy to help. A really good creative writer would be an asset... the key to a good storyline extension is a good story, right?

(and here's the post that broke the stream 😀 )

X3R for me definitely. Egzotic aliens, an economy that actually works, great story (not storytelling 😆 ), great music. And it actually gives me a challenge! Not to mention the great community 🙂

And, if one day I would wake up being bored of the original, I'd only need to download one of the top-end mods the gamers made (like in TC - I'm waiting for the Xtended to bring back the life 🙂 )

Plus, this is the only game which I dreamt of being part of it 😀

Runner up: EVE

Ticky,so many geat games over the years.I think I would go with Megatraveller 2,sure it has bad

graphic even back in the day they were rubbish and laughable space combat but theres some thing

about the game,I still think it one of the best space adventures ever made.

That's a tough one, but I think I would have to go with I-War 2, with X3 in very close second. It has a number of mods, as well, including B5 based 😀 .

Well, if you can pick any game, even if it is not out yet, then I would opt for Elite IV Deluxe Edition. 😉 Hey it's my fantasy so I can have the Deluxe Edition if I want! 😆 😆

Would really like to see a Wing Commander 6 with good ole Cmdr Blair and Maniac. I will have to agree with Bullwinkle that FL has definitely the most potential if MSoft releases the code to the player base we could really make a great game.

And a wish was the release of that Freelancer 2 🙂

Oh man you shouldn't have shown those vids, now it reminds me again of what we lost :((

I hear you, the source should be given over to the community if they are not going to do anything with it. Mind you, it is Microsoft I am talking about, so I guess there is little chance of that. What a shame 🙁

I always wondered what could happen with a bunch of canceled game source files. If the game source was never used and it is 2-3yrs old they should just give it up to the community. Or just hire a small indie group to make the game on a nice budget.

Remember the hints at Privateer 3... http://www.wcnews.com/news/update/8855

Maybe another company would've released the code but not Microsoft ... no way ! Anyway those vids of Freelancer 2 are from Xbox, I don't even know if they planned to make it for pc.

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there is no other, i'm the one and only dominator 😆

A space Sim of some kind but unfortunately it doesn't exist yet. Have played many from Frontier, Star wars, Star trek, Freelancer, Allegiance, Freespace (Galactica MOD, Bab MOD) and many others but it's very hard to decide because there are literally hundreds of "Flavors" that are equally exciting and fun to play. So to accurately depict my preference I'll brake my preferences into discreet sections of what i liked so far ....

FRONTIER: Space vastness, real stellar data, the coolest and most elegantly simple ships ever made, no cut-scenes when entering planets, docking to stations, hyperjump and not gate-jump, time acceleration.

FREELANCER: The coolest planets and space environment i've ever seen, the most cleverly designed debris fields, the most clever ship flying method, the turret mode targeting method, the excellent plot (although i did expect and expansion pack with more).

STARWARS (Alliance, Rogue squadron): The AI and the strategy involved along with the sense of being a part of a team.

STARTREK (Bridge commander): The ability to directly control almost all aspects of your ship.

ALLEGIANCE (Free): The fact that it's a game that's not a simple point and shoot, the way it keeps you bounded to reality when it comes to combat.

FREESPACE (Babylon MOD): The coolest maneuvers you can make when you turn off the inertial control.

... and what i expect to see in the future.

1. Design my own ship by combining different parts together.

2. Repair and overclock the systems of my own ship to enhance specific features of various ship systems.

3. Have crew that is more interactive, trainable in gunnery, medical services, electrics, mechanical repairs, piloting and that can do the same stuff i can do in the game, only better (like loading cargo, repairing, flying the ship, defending, ... etc).

4. Have more than 1 ships that work independently and make money for me.

5. Better, more usable and more CLEVER GUI, .... omg, i can't stress that enough.

6. Cleverly auto-generated assignments that flow with your personality in the game (can't elaborate for now).

I WANT A SPACE SIMULATOR THAT WILL EVOLVE WITH ME AND HELP ME ACHIEVE ENDLESS GOALS THROUGH ITS INGENIOUS SIMPLICITY OF OPERATION.

I hope i'm not asking too much ... 😆

Single player, it has to be a Freelancer mod 😉

Multiplayer it has to be Jumpgate........nothing else comes close.

http://www.vorlon31.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/sts.htm

Nothing like stats 😀

a ms game never no no way i will hang my self up before i buy any game from ms, definatly no it's a no no no 😈

it could have been the best most realistic (fortunatly it isn't 🙂 ) most exciting , having the coolset best 3d engine ever seen if it's ms no! 😡

i'm really off with them, and getting mad about ms more and more each day, don't ask me why, open your eyes!!

people that try to interfere there customers no i can't find something good about, no.

if you ask me the only company that is interested in spreading viruses 😈 no!

trying to manage their os so it only works fine with software of companies that pay them well? 😈 no!

if it hasn't done allready, punish the customer with so called "security updates" that kills Buttons in a certain software? 😈 no!

two companies i will never buy anymore softs from MS & adobe!

but apart from that:

FRONTIER! rules

right this weekend i will ripp win off my machine, no more trouble my whole life long, what a good day it will be to remember!

Without a doubt, it will always be Frontier: First Encounters, especially the D3D version from Russia 😀

Having said that, I'm gonna dig out my Freelancer disc and have a play around with that very soon...

FreeSpace 2, hands down. It perfected the military space shooter genre.

For the trading/freelance kind of thing i would call a tie between the original Privateer, Tachyon the Fringe and Freelancer.

Oh man, I LOVE Freespace 2. The whole engine is beyond brilliant. Everything about the story, from flying the older ships, to switching squadrons was just ace. Playing the original game, with the FS2 engine is awesome as well. Tachyon didn't hold me as much I prefer FL, or EL.

Now everyone has their opinions and mine is this: For a space game, I require combat to be fun, intense, and challenging. FS2 met the bill. FL tried for a little while. (Far too easy imho.) But for FFE, that is what broke the game for me. Elite's combat was fun. FFE's was completely broken and un-entertaining. I can't even play the russian graphics mod, sure it looks pretty, but the combat is still awful. If FFE, had FS2 combat, Im sure I wouldn't be able to stop playing, but when I would rather play a ww2 flight sim, then suffer another rediculous death, or 'jousting match' then there is a problem. I don't care how 'realistic' it is, if it isn't fun, then its not worth my time.

Again opinion. 🙂

For my game, its a toss-up between Freelancer, Privateer, and Evochron Legends. Strongly leaning towards the latter as I put more time into it.

damn, Hardw[a]r is a name I haven't heard in a loooooooooong time. That was a great game, I even wrote a bot that connected with online servers do do narcotics runs for me. The whole game was playable thru a MUD interface, complete with MUD commands. The idea of the game is just great, and it's definitely something that inspired the X games.

On that note, the X games are another favorite of mine, with MOD's installed. To bad the combat in X sucks so much, for combat FreeSpace 2 is my main choice. If they could somehow incorporate FS2's combat with X3's empire building then that would be my favorite. That not being the case my favorite is something completely different:

Space Empires IV (again with MOD's). It's the only game in which you can do of the follwowing:

Open a wormhole to your nemesis' Homesystem, travel through with your cloaked fleet of Deathstars and then proceed to either just blow up their planets, or annihilate their space defenses, land your troops and annihilate their ground defenses, then load up all their population and land your own to take up their place, and as a welcoming gift to your newly populated planet proceed to jettison the previous population into space above said planet.

It's simply the only game I know (except the sequels and prequels) where you can just play the BORG hivemind and annihilate the Federation.

Hardwar is available from the download section and Darkone kindly divided the game up into little chunks so that those of us with rubbish broadband connections can enjoy it too and yes Space Empires IV was fun. A very underrated game. Could you recommend any mods Braindead? I've got the Steam version. Also got Space Empires V too, but just skimmed over that so far. Oh yes the topic! 😳 Elite 2 will always get my vote until Elite IV finally lands............ 🙄

This is a tough one, but I think I'd second Pinback's choice: Megatraveller 2. Not the best in graphics by a long shot, but there is just so much to do and so many directions to go. There have been times I've played MT2 for months on end (a half-hour here, an hour there) and I've never explored every option open to the player. While I've completed the main story thread and have kept playing beyond, and it seems one can keep playing on and on and on 😯

I tend to change my mind. (darn youngins!) So, its a bit tentativly that I finally lock down and choose one game. Evochron Legends. Purely out of play time more then anything else. I'm sure Mercenary will top it when it comes out, but until then EL is sucking up all my space sim time. I just love exploring, and this game has it in spades. I still have yet to find rift space, or the alien menace's home planet, but its so much fun to poke around each planet, mining, and discovering lucrative goods and trade routes. Plus, unlike FFE, the combat is a ton of fun. So many features, in such a small package. Truly an accomplishment, and its surely something I'll play until Evochron Merc, releases.

That being said, I LOVED Moo2, so I'm sure I'd like Space Empires. I only tried a demo of IV, and found it to be rather unnewb friendly. (Strangely, Moo2 is... O_O)

Hardwar Ive never played. I heard good things, but I like exploration, and space. Hardwar apparently takes place underground on one planet. That being said, I'm a sucker for a good space sim, so I might give it a try if it works on windows 7.

my favorite MOD's:

Fyron's Quadrant Mod Deluxe: This one changes the systems and galaxy. Adds some nice diversity and system backgrounds. Also, edit "data\settings.txt" Look for the "Maximum Number Of Systems" setting and change it to something like 500 or 1000 for very long games.

Neo Expansion MOD: Some other MOD's use this. It's adds component/building and some other graphic changes. Doesn't do anything alone.

Devnull's Gold Deluxe MOD: My favorite. Works with the 2 MOD's above. Adds a TON of components and AI difficulty through the use of mounts. (Don't use the mounts tagged with "AI only", you cheater)

TDM-Modpack: Compilation of race MOD's and upgrades the AI for existing AI's. This one I use if I want vanilla to be harder.

I really only use the 3 first MOD's in combination and it adds tons of fun.

There's also some good Star Trek MOD's around but I forgot the names.

Thanks for the info Braindead, much appreciated! 😀