Stardrive

[CeeKay]

an new real time 4X space game funded through kickstarter and crowd sourcing.  it sounds interesting, with an emphasis on ship design, and there's a link in the article where you can order the game for alpha access.

[Caine]

Now available on Steam with access to the beta included.  plus it's discounted 15%.  says release date is 4/19

http://store.steampowered.com/app/220660/

looks interesting.  found a lengthy play video on youtube which fleshes out some of the basics.

[USMC Kato]

In!

[Jarrodhk]

This is in my wheelhouse.

[Lockdown]

I just got this as a gift.  Very early impressions are excellent.  I'll report more after I've spent some quality time with the game.

[USMC Kato]

Jarrodhk and I bought this yesterday. Will try later today, I think Jarrod has played a bit already and has favorable impressions.

[Caine]

I also got this as a gift, quite unexpected too.

I've spent about an hour and a half in it.  first impressions are, this game has more detail than I expected.  Very impressed so far.  the fleet management screen is probably the best I've seen as it is more than just a formation/control group, it allows you to build the fleet from scratch and requisition the ships without having to manage that yourself.  it also allows you to specify targets by size and range. 

the ship designer is also far more detailed.  weapon arcs, power management and individual item modeling, so having a power supply blow up near your other components damages those ones and could cause chain reactions, unless you buffer the internal structures. I've gone into some of the designs people have come up with and there's some pretty original ones, like putting all your weapons on one side, armoring the bejeesus out of the other and setting the ship to orbit. 

I spent a good chunk designing even the early ships you research and after seeing what people have thought of, I'm already looking to scrap and rebuild them. 

[Canuck]

Wow this game only got $17,000 on Kickstarter. We could have had a copy of the game for only $10! Missed out on a good deal there.

[Caine]

man, the early game is punishing.  it's almost a guarantee that the first race you meet will want to go to war with you within 10 years after you meet them and is usually no more than 4 stars away.  I've also noticed how quickly they expand.  before I had researched through 3 of the usual starter techs, I'd run across the robot/Owl collective race and they had already claimed 4 other systems.  I think my usual routine of teching up with small expansion to good planets may not be as effective as pumping out colony ships and scouting everything within 4 stars out. 

I also had the misfortune to have a core world rebel on me in my first game, which promptly signaled the damn wolves that I was a target, who then colonized planets in my existing systems and then threatened war unless I left. 

[USMC Kato]

Yeah I've had to abandon a few games due to seemingly bad luck with my neighbors. I'm doing much better this time around even while being outnumbered (population and colony worlds) due to my superior ship tech.

[Soulchilde]

I just got this as a gift.  Very early impressions are excellent.  I'll report more after I've spent some quality time with the game.

AAR
AAR
AAR

[Isgrimnur]

You're six months early for Talk Like a Pirate Day.

[greeneggsnham]

I picked this up the other day on Steam. Got it on the tail end of the sale. Pretty darn good, the ship construction part of it and the combat is definitely the high point of it. I've stayed up way too late playing it over the weekend....