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Very new/inexperienced with Space sims... looking for some advice


Mitovo
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Hi all,

As the subjects states, I'm really new with Space Sims, and am interested in diving in and learning them. I've delved into several games recently ('Oolite', then Elite Dangerous, as well as a couple other 3000AD games, specifically Galactic Command Echo Squad: SE, and Battlecruiser Millenium). I've decided to begin my "journey" into this genre with Galactic Command: ES.

Having made that choice,  I'm getting impression that there is no real "shallow end" to this pool, so I'm just trying to find out which corner of the deep end is recommended for someone new to the genre overall?

I've started up the tutorial missions, but feel like I should have a physical printed manual in front of me for that - to follow the tutorial, and for a handy reference to always have in front of me - or at least a cheat sheet for all the acronyms and HUD elements. I suppose I could print something out myself.

Anyway! Not sure if there is any advice beyond "just jump in and start learning", but any help, suggestions, advice is greatly appreciated, regardless.

Thanks!

 

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Hi Mitovo!

Well, most of the 3000AD titles are very niche in that you do have to read the docs if you want to get full enjoyment out of it.  I'd start there first, then jump into the game.  Printing out a "cheat sheet" would probably help out too.

If you have any other questions, please let us know and we'll try to help you out.  There's also a wealth of knowledge on the forum if you use the search box.

-Sho

 

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ShoHashi,

Hey thank you! Yeah, I've been considering printing out a sheet of at least the commands to keep in front of me while I'm playing.

I think, because there seems to be a variety of different content you can do, that I might just try a "free roam" type approach first, and experiment a little with everything. Or, maybe picking more directed activities might  be better.

I'm also jumping into LoD now, so... there's a lot of 3000AD in my gaming basket at the moment.

If I have any questions that I haven't been able to find an answer to myself, I'll be sure to look here, and/or ask.

Thanks again!

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All my space combat games are on the high-end niche end of the spectrum unfortunately. Even GCES which is just a shooter, is a tad complex. But that one is more fighter combat. The Battlecruiser and Universal Combat series are more capital ship combat, but which also have some fps thrown-in, depending on how you play.

The other games I would recommend are:

Ascent // on Steam
Rebel Galaxy // on Steam
Into The Stars // on Steam
Everspace // just got funded on Kickstarter
Infinity Battlescape // on Kickstarter this week

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Many people start with some of the older games. Freelancer, Freespace 2, Starshatter: The Gathering Storm, Nexus: The Jupiter Incident, Privateer, Some of the newer games I would recommend are Starpoint Gemini 2, Rebel Galaxy, Reassembly, and X3: Terran Conflict. I would also recommend to avoid games that are in early access on steam if you ever decide to go browsing. Some of those are dead projects, while others are not even finished such as Into The Stars. Same goes with completed titles as well. Read the reviews before you buy.

But it really depends on what you want. There are fighter sims, starship sims, ones that are inbetween the two, etc. Personally, I like flying capital ships in a sandbox environment because fighter sims have been done to death.

If you have questions about certain things in the 3000AD games, I would recommend to browse the forums. Especially if you get into the Universal Combat or Battlecruiser series, there's some good reading in a lot of the old threads. 

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Hey everyone,

Thanks for the additional feedback, and the suggestions.

I think I have one or two of those games y'all have listed. I know for sure I have Freespace 2 through GOG. 

So, basically, I should pick up some of those older games, as a primer for the 3000AD titles, then? Seems reasonable enough. I dove into the 3000AD stuff because of its complexity, and I figured it'd be a fun challenge to wrap my head around it. But, if playing older games would give me a better context/foundation to help learn, then I can certainly do that.

I do own Freespace 2, so I can look at that for now. I like the look of Ascent, and dig that it's developed by a single person - that's impressive! So I'll likely look into that as well.

Thanks again everyone :)

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So, a quick update.

I did take the advice to go and check out other games. However, I can't seem to get into those, because I'm so dead-set on digging into one of the 3000AD games. Just how I am. If I have my heart set on doing one thing, nothing else is going to keep my interest.

So, I loaded up Galactic Command Echo Squad, and started going through the tutorial (voice-over version). I'm using mouse/keyboard, so I'm learning those commands. For now, I don't have access to a printer (working on that, though), so in addition to using the tutorial manual in-game, I'm jotting down the key acronyms (MFG, NID, etc) as well as keyboard shortcuts on a notepad to keep right next to me here.

I fell behind the voiced-over tutorial somewhere into the "fly to Jupiter then back to Earth space" (just not fast enough for Mother, I guess!), so I just did my best with hopping in and out of the tutorial document (super handy having that easily accessible in-game). I got to the bit where you're placing a waypoint to land near Hadley....

No BS or blowing smoke here... while the whole experience is definitely going to take time to learn (and I'm not even into combat yet lol), I'm loving the hell out of this already. I was sitting here, just spinning the map around where you select a waypoint, laughing, and saying "this is too cool!". When I get that kind of reaction from something, I know I like it.

So, yeah... I'm committed - but not in the straight-jacket, padded room way. That might come later. Who knows.

I don't care how long it takes, I'm going to learn this game and dig in. I've been looking for a game with a lot to learn and wrap my brain around for a long time. Old-school MMOs used to fill that role for me, but even they've become far too streamlined/easy anymore. So, I think this is it. I imagine, by extension, the other 3000AD games work on similar controls/setups (at least for the aspects in common with Calactic Command)? If that's the case, then I'll be digging into them as well at some point.

I'm going to get the tutorial guide and the different keyboard maps and such printed out, to keep them handy, so I don't have to keep pressing ctrl-H, etc.

So... just wanted to share my nerd-gasmic excitement with y'all :)

 

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Appreciate your feedback!  If you like GC:Echo Squad, wait until you play Universal Combat CE (btw, there is a free version of it on Steam).  With UC, you can command a variety of command vessels, jump into shuttles or fighters, land on planets, mine and sell materials, etc.  Heck, you can even walk around on planets!

-Sho

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No prob! I have popped my head into UC, thought "Yeah... way beyond me right now". I decided to stick with Galactic Command because it is kind of a stripped down version of those other games (at least that's my understanding of it). A bit less to bite off all at once.

For UC, I've found a great channel on YT (lazy chan), and he does an awesome job of explaning/demonstrating the basics. So, I'll be relying on those videos when I make the hop.

 

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