Looking for a good space colonization game

[Parkaboy]

Hi, there!

I've just read "Aurora", by Kim Stanley Robinson, a novel about a slower-than-light interstellar colony ship sent to an extrasolar earth-like planet, and like I've been feeling much as I felt after reading the "Mars Trilogy" by the same author. I want to play a good game about space colonization.

What I really dream about right now would be a game that gave you control of a colony ship and let you colonize and terraform a planet, worrying about the survival of the colonists, about balancing resources, etc. Something "realistic" (or at least hard sci-fi-ish). Not a combat game where you have to worry about aliens - I'm not looking for a RTS.

Does anyone know a game like that? Would you reccomend it?

[Harry Rhodan]

Does anyone know a game like that? Would you reccomend it?

Outpost. No. Or let me stress that: Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

[LtWhiskers]

Predestination looks promising. It's still in alpha and is essentially a 4X but looks like a focus will be on planetary development.

[Shpaget]

Take a look at RimWorld. It's still in Alpha and being made by a small studio, so it may not be finished soon, but if you wan to support them...

Despite its, looks it's quite complex and has quite a bit of content already. Perhaps I'm not very good at it, but I find it a bit difficult.

[Parkaboy]

Thank you folks for the replies! I knew about Outpost, but not Predestination. It isn't exactly what I'm looking for, but I did enjoy playing MOO II and some of the Gal Civ games, so I'll keep an eye on it.

I also knew about RimWorld from some of Scott Manley's videos. It reminded me of another game, a medieval village management called "Towns", which I didn't enjoyed very much - maybe that's why I didn't give it a shot. I guess I'll reconsider...

[Robotengineer]

Dwarf Fortress. Just imagine that it's in space.

[DestinyPlayer]

Dwarf Fortress. Just imagine that it's in space.

Or install this mod. But yeah, DF is one of the best ways to play colonization, be it space or whatever.

[LordFerret]

Outpost. No. Or let me stress that: Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

I remember Outpost. As a matter of fact, I still have it somewhere in my library. I enjoyed it, but it was buggy, and as a product - unfinished.

Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri was cool too. I still play it, I have a copy of it on an old WinXP laptop.

[Xacktar]

I remember Outpost. As a matter of fact, I still have it somewhere in my library. I enjoyed it, but it was buggy, and as a product - unfinished.

Sid Meyer's Alpha Centauri was cool too. I still play it, I have a copy of it on an old WinXP laptop.

Alpha Centauri was an awesome game. The tech, wonder and story quotes and bits were often fascinating.

Plus the little thing that talked to you every time you tried to quit: 'Please don't go. The drones need you. They look up to you.'

Edited August 2, 2015 by Xacktar

[Barklight]

One of my personal favorites was Space Empires IV by Malfidor something. There are actually five in the series, I've played III, IV, and V and I think IV is the best. V is good too but the early 3D graphics mess things up more than the game play enhancements help.

It's a solid 4X series with a simple idea of "take over the galaxy". You are in charge of a race of aliens or humans who have just entered the golden era of their space age. You start on one planet, build scouts and colony ships, explore wormholes and jump points to neighboring systems, and colonize the galaxy. You manage your planets production queues, what buildings to install on them, the population health, natural accidents and freak plagues, things like that. It's fun. Of course you're bound to meet other aliens eventually. Multiple win conditions from domination to diplomacy, similar to the Civ games. There is combat but it's pretty basic and has an auto-calculate function if you don't want to take time doing battles. Super easy to mod for, too. Like KSP, it's all stored for the most part in plain-text if you want to make your own custom races and ships.

[Ricovandijk]

Outpost 2 is still my favourite, I still play it now and then on my work laptop (an old I5 with internal graphics). keeping an eye on predestination though, looks promising but waiting for a steam sale. spent to much cash already on pre-release games lately

I imagine a way to play a game like this inside KsP. the colonisation mods get really close, but lack any opponent other than the kraken or maybe a failures mod. multi-player would be a solution, but it takes a lot of time to build a base on even the mun or minmus, and only seconds to destroy it. an in-situ build of modules is a must addon, a time to build addon and in-situ tech tree. maybe something to develop in the future.