Is there a preference to your gaming needs like only 3D games or is 2D games acceptable?

In the link area lookup Evochron Legends (there is a demo for this game), I would also checkout FFED3D and Oolite. I also like Independence War 2.

But there is a lot of games talked about here and the link list is pretty large and should keep you busy for a while 🙂

Off hand I can think of space ranger 2 (it’s a 2d game)

Both Northstar and Starpoint Gemini are not out yet, check the threads.

Precursors might fit the bill, but there’s no trading in it.

Hi and welcome to the SSC 🙂

Like Darkone said, it's really down to what you like. You mentioned Freelancer, well there is Taikodom which plays a little like FL and is a free MMO, but not singleplayer.

Then there is the Tarr Chronicles & Dark Horizon games. These are a bit like updated versions of Wing Commander with lots of combat and nice visuals. The combat can be tough, but I like them.

Then again there is all the mods available for Freespace 2. Although this is an old game, there is the Open Source Freespace Project, which updates the game in the graphics department and a host of other things. There is even total conversions like the Babylon Project. One word of warning though, if you are going to go this route, you will need a copy of the original Freespace 2 (which you can get really cheap from GOG.com) and downloading all the Open Source files can take a while. I left my PC running for a full day and night to get them all. 😆 Is it worth all the effort? Yes! 😎

Darkone also mentioned I-War2, there is a load of mods for that too, another excellent choice in my view.

Finally (as Darkone again pointed out) there is the "Elite" route. Right now, you can play for free, heavily updated versions of the original Elite (Oolite, nothing less than a sublime remake to a standard that we all wished the original Elite should have been thanks in part to the ability to install add-ons called OXPs), Frontier First Encounters Elite 3 (FFE3D, a little rough around the edges perhaps, but improving all the time thanks to the efforts of the community) and Frontier Elite 2 (two options here, GL Frontier, an updated Atari version of FE2 made for Windows PCs and Pioneer, which is open source and in early development) Yes, exciting times are afoot in the space sim community 🙂

Wow, that is indeed a lot of games! Thanks, guys!

Yeah, I would prefer 3D since I played Darkstar One and Freelancer. One thing I really want is the ability to collect money/credits by finishing mission and be able to upgrade weapons and buy new ships/weapons. So it would be a bit of freeroam, but it is all tied within a larger story as well. I guess, you know, like Freelancer a bit.

The graphic department is where I could be a bit nitpicky. Freelancer was quite an old game, even though its not that old. I dont know if I can stomach anything older than that, even though I also played Wing Commander series and Freespace a bit. Darkstar One's graphic is actually very good so anything like that would be awesome. Just want to get that feeling of flying in space and enjoy the 'environment'. The only thing is that if the game supports ship-view fighting (again like Freelancer), then I'll be super happy. 🙂

Evochron Legends is something I would really really like to check. The only thing is that the demo crashed on me. Are you able to buy new weapons/ships in Evochron? How is the graphic?

The X series actually looks very good, but I hear that it is super slow paced and needlessly complicated, so I'm not sure I can handle it. I gave it a try once and was put off after spending two hours and still cant play properly 🙁

I also prefer the freeroam, not really a fan of strategy (like Homeworld or SotSE) or one where I have to control a lot of different squads. I'll go check out Elite and FFE3D. Hopefully they can give me the space sim fix that I've been wanting since FL/DS1. They need to pump out more games like these, you know! 😆

I also forgot to mention Space Force: Rogue Universe is a decent game, not totally free roam but graphics are good and you can take your time to do the storyline.

Evochron Legends, I like this a lot because of the customizations you can do with your ship. Your ship is totally modular so you can put your ship together piece by piece and that universe is totally free roam and you can fly down to the planets. The graphics pretty good for Dark Basic and it has a low foot print and installs with a total of 150mb used. Not sure why you are having issues running the demo?

This is more 4x game but Nexus: The Jupiter Incident is a good game imho.

Space Force : Rogue Universe is the exact game that I played a while back and ended up not liking it because of crazy tons of bugs. Did they do any more patches or mods since it was released since I apparently still have the disc. From the first impression though is that Space Force seems to have great graphic, but its just that the ambiance seems dark. I perhaps have to try it again.

I'm not sure whats wrong with my demo of Evochron Legends. Does it have a story? I probably will try give it another try, it does work in Windows 7, doesnt it?

Also, I was looking at Heresy War demo (pretty good, I hope they have out-of-ship view fighting mechanic too) and also the Jumpgate Evolution. Too bad its an MMO, but the graphic looks really amazing. Wish there is a single player game that looks and plays exactly like that....

I checked Independence War 2, Oolite, and FFE3D. They are quite interesting, but being a bit of a graphic enthusiast myself (or whore, whichever you want to call it hehe), I dont know if I can handle graphic after seeing Darkstar One. It was now a bit of a standard for me...

Sorry for being a noob, but whats a 4X game? :p

Where all a noob in some ways 🙂 But a 4x game means eXplore, eXpand, eXploit and eXterminate style of gameplay. Like X3 and other games like it.

Haha I am starting to become a gfx whore myself, because I pay enough for the gfx card I want to work its ass off 🙂 Nothing wrong with that. That's why I cannot wait for Black Prophecy to come out (check that out) and Jumpgate Evolution and for single-player games Heresy War, Starpoint Gemini, Shattered Origins and Naumachi: Space Warfare all of those have areas here.

On Space Force I have been able to play the game generally fine on my machine. Make sure you have the latest gfx drivers and you have installed the patches (both 1 and 2).

space-force-f24/space-force-rogue-universe-patches-t22.html

Is Black Prophecy SP or MP? I'm interested toward SP myself, which is why Jumpgate Evolution is exciting and incredibly sad at the same time for me. Graphic is super awesome but its MMO and P2P model.

Heresy War looks good, hope they can come out with it soon and have FL-like features. Out of those other games that you mentioned (Starpoint Gemini, Shattered Origins and Naumachia), which one do you think will have free-roam and ship/weapon upgrade/purchase feature?

I guess I'll give Space Force another try. Last time it was quite an awful experience. 😆

Black Prophecy graphic is up there with Jumpgate Evo, the only thing is WHY IS IT MMO?!?!? 👿

If they at least have a free-to-play model, that would be quite cool actually.

Starpoint Gemini's graphic looks a bit 'unrefined', but I'll see how it looks like and whether it has story when it has more news. The RPG concept seems to be really good, though. Just wish they have lotsa combat ships to upgrade 🙂

Shattered Origins looks awesome, although I'm not sure why everything looks distorted. And is it a single ship comandeering or is it more like a simulator/tactical where you switch between units? Not sure if I want it that way, though, but definitely on my watch list.

And Naumachia is pretty much RTS/multiplayer focused so kinda lost a bit of interest after seeing that, although it gave me this X-wing vibe, but not what I'm craving for right now...

You forgot tachyon: the fringe and drift: when worlds collide!

Cant find those two anymore now 🙁

I tried firing up SpaceForce last night and was wondering why the graphic is all blurry. For some reason when I begin the mission, it suddenly just threw 3 fighters at me and I couldnt even kill one of them before I got killed. I think that pretty much summed up my experience the first time I played it, which was why I dropped it. Sad times. The control is a very stiff and why oh why is the graphic all blurry again. Is there some settings that I missed?

So I guess until now there has been no good free-roaming space combat/trade simulation/RPG games that are as good as Darkstar One or Freelancer? The Drift and Tachyon are both quite linear from what I read, and there isnt much space to roam around. Is that true?

Can't speak about The Drift, but Tachyon was a fun little game with lots of atmosphere. Ships handled well in my view. It did have some systems you could visit once you unlocked the jumpgates by way of plot missions. After this there was a general range of missions on offer to earn cash to buy better ships. Mind you, graphics wise, it might not come up to the standard you want. They are functional rather than spectacular, a bit like X Beyond The Frontier, which is not that surprising since they came out at around the same time, give or take a year or two. Then again, I have always put gameplay first and graphics second, so maybe I am biased. I would say go for it if you find a copy on Ebay or Amazon. Should be really cheap to buy these days.

And Geraldine and Starlord forgot to mention one important thing about Tachyon... it has Bruce Campbell doing all the voiceovers for your character 🙂

I understand completely your perspective, Geraldine. The only thing is just after looking at DarkStar One's graphic, I started wondering why dont they have another game like that (or maybe have similar gameplays to all of those games) with the same engine, or improved engine. I mean what fun is it to cruise through wide open space, killing stuff or trading commodities, if the graphic is all blocky and low res. I have been playing since Descent, so I know the gameplay is there, but why dont they ever build on that? Is it because there are not a lot of demand?

In either case, I'll probably look at Tachyon then, not sure if it is like Freelancer. I honestly like it a bit simplistic, not overly complicated like the X Series. I fired up SpaceForce and couldnt understand why the texture look all blurry, must be something wrong with my setting.

I still couldnt get Evochron demo to even play. As soon as I load the game up, screen goes black, then back to desktop saying the program has stopped working. Any idea?

I think there is a patch for Spaceforce, IIRC my solution to the fighter at the star of the game was kill them with the missiles then run back to the station and buy some more missiles to get the other one but it does leave you with less money to trade with.

Couple of older free roaming games you might want to have a look at are Terminus and Hardwar, you can find Hardwar in the download section. Couple of other free games are Deathwar 3030 again in the download section, it’s a 2d game and Ad Astra, check the links page or the threads.

Have a look here at my old thread, there’s some links in there too space trading games.

general-space-sim-chat-f10/space-trading-games-t122.html

mmm, terminus! 😀

almost a ben bova novel for the PC in itself...

Also, here's a great video, if you get my DRIFT... 😉