I'm surprised no one had mentioned "Stars in Shadow" here yet. In my opinion it's very suited for a MOO fan. Gives you familiar (even nostalgic) feelings, but still new and exiting.
It's being developed by two people - a programmer and an artist, - both very talented, skilled and quality oriented.
The playability is already good despite the fact that technically it's an alpha. There is no diplomacy yet (despite basic deals with marauders and "don't attack my scouts and I wont declare you a war"), the strategic map needs improvements, the tactical combat controls are quite raw, but everything together feels right!
It's true turn based, and there are no star-lanes. There are seven quite unique playable races and several more "natives" (the humans are very not generic for a change), marauders and pirates, up to 99 stars. A lot of planet types, each divided to different climate zones, each more suitable to different races - so multiracial colonies is "the must" - should get really interesting after the morale is implemented. Three types of resources - money, food and metal. The research tree is OK (both military and not), and getting better.
The graphics is very good and very original. Races are unfamiliar (for a MOO fan), but that could be a good thing.
It's using OpenGL, so pretty much OS agnostic (in theory, but only Win32 is compiled so far). A decent graphic processor is required. It seems like for now you shouldn't bother lower that Radeon 3000 or GeForce 9000 with the latest drivers from AMD or Nvidia (not from Microsoft). For me it barely works (almost doesn't) on Radeon HD 2400XT and works fine with minor errors on GeForce 9200M GS (the mouse is lagging, but bearable, you just need to wait a few seconds and than press for a second and a half). The author promises to make options lowering the graphics "appetites" - I think he does it sooner if more people with mid-range graphic cards gets really interested.
The site: http://stars-in-shadow.com. There is a forum.
The one of interviews/previews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgRHK28hjcc
For $20 you can preorder, which automatically enters you into the beta program (you probably can get into the beta by just asking nicely, but supporting the project is a good thing). Developers are very responsive and nice.
It's being developed by two people - a programmer and an artist, - both very talented, skilled and quality oriented.
The playability is already good despite the fact that technically it's an alpha. There is no diplomacy yet (despite basic deals with marauders and "don't attack my scouts and I wont declare you a war"), the strategic map needs improvements, the tactical combat controls are quite raw, but everything together feels right!
It's true turn based, and there are no star-lanes. There are seven quite unique playable races and several more "natives" (the humans are very not generic for a change), marauders and pirates, up to 99 stars. A lot of planet types, each divided to different climate zones, each more suitable to different races - so multiracial colonies is "the must" - should get really interesting after the morale is implemented. Three types of resources - money, food and metal. The research tree is OK (both military and not), and getting better.
The graphics is very good and very original. Races are unfamiliar (for a MOO fan), but that could be a good thing.
It's using OpenGL, so pretty much OS agnostic (in theory, but only Win32 is compiled so far). A decent graphic processor is required. It seems like for now you shouldn't bother lower that Radeon 3000 or GeForce 9000 with the latest drivers from AMD or Nvidia (not from Microsoft). For me it barely works (almost doesn't) on Radeon HD 2400XT and works fine with minor errors on GeForce 9200M GS (the mouse is lagging, but bearable, you just need to wait a few seconds and than press for a second and a half). The author promises to make options lowering the graphics "appetites" - I think he does it sooner if more people with mid-range graphic cards gets really interested.
The site: http://stars-in-shadow.com. There is a forum.
The one of interviews/previews: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgRHK28hjcc
For $20 you can preorder, which automatically enters you into the beta program (you probably can get into the beta by just asking nicely, but supporting the project is a good thing). Developers are very responsive and nice.
