While there’s a good number of planet types (marshy swamp, continental, volcanic, ocean, etc.), each colonizable planet really only has two distinguishing traits: size and quality. There’s little in the vein of Endless Space ’s anomalies to keep things feeling fresh, and the range of planets you’ll find is somewhat limited. However, while there’s a lot of stuff to explore, there’s not a whole lot of variety. Investing in a big fleet of long-range scouts helps you beat the competition to the juiciest mining locations, which keeps your construction on-schedule and your economy in top shape. Additionally, eXploration gradually reveals the background of the Distant Worlds … well, universe.ĮXploration is also critical in developing your economy. You’ll uncover fledgling minor colonies, powerful controlled substances, derelict fleets of powerful ancient warships, and much more. Fortunately, the AI does a reasonably good job with auto-explore orders, so after you visit the first few neighboring systems with your snail-pace Warp Bubble Generators, you can pretty safely turn it on auto if you want.īut what good are all those planets if there’s nothing interesting there? Rest ye assured, there’s plenty. There are few games that can give you as much sheer physical real estate as Distant Worlds. All of these have gameplay value – even that nebulous gas cloud can host a vital fuel depot for your explorers or warships. Most of these systems have at least several planets, many of which will have at least one satellite. Where we’re going, we don’t need warp lanes.Ĭan you keep 1400 of anything straight? Because that’s how many systems Distant Worlds will throw at you on its highest setting. We’ve got a lot of space to cover, so let’s dive in! So while still a trailblazer, DW:U is now one of several recent games seeking to chart a new course for the space strategy genre. The last true expansion, Shadows, dates back to May 2013. The latest expansion, Distant Worlds: Universe, brought the game to Steam in May 2014 but didn’t provide much in the way of new content. Developer CodeForce and publisher Matrix Games launched Distant Worlds back in March 2010. If those things are important to you, you’ll want to proceed with caution.īefore we get on with the review, I should mention that this game came out a while ago. It’s clear that the focus has been on big-picture items and innovations, at the expense of polish and shine – things like a tidy UI and impressive graphics.
Those that set out to innovate will often be rough around the edges and lack the polish and shine of their iterative cousins, and that is certainly true of Distant Worlds, even after several expansions. They’re generally two very different creatures.
Now, innovative games (those in the “revolutionary leap” category) are not inherently better than iterative games (those that methodically experiment). Fortunately, we space sim enthusiasts can stop yearning because Distant Worlds is one of those leaps. Still, the yearning for the next revolutionary, transcendent leap applies to all areas of human endeavor. Of course, the good Academician was actually talking about scientific progress, not 4X games.
Acknowledging our debt ( milwaukee attorneys) to the former, we yearn, nonetheless, for the latter.” To quote one Prokhor Zakharov, “There are two kinds of ludological progress: the methodical experimentation and categorization which gradually extend the boundaries of gameplay, and the revolutionary leap of genius which redefines and transcends those boundaries. Editor’s Note: As a “Legacy Article”, this article does not have its original images (we migrated to a new platform in early 2020.
0 kommentar(er)
