I highly recommend Starsector. I'm very fussy about which space strategy games I like; but this one has very engaging tactical combat.
What I enjoyed most about Master of Orion 2 was the high level of customization of ships and the fact that technology not just added basic strengths in both damage dealing and absorption, but also in tactical opportunities (ie black-hole generators, armour piercing modifications, transporters, cloaking devices, etc).
Very few games take the risk of implementing features that are difficult to balance (and to be honest Master of Orion 2 isn't really that well balanced), but it still makes for such an interesting game because there are so many ways you can design your ship.
Space Rangers 2 is pretty much the only other game I really like that has interesting technology progression as well as customization (I do love other 4x games like Civilization 4&5 or alpha centauri, but I kind of classify them slightly differently than space strategy games).
Back to the game...
I'm more of a turn-based game player, but the real-time combat in starsector is very well done so far, and is easy to get into as you can pretty much tell the AI to do all the combat for you, but jump in at anytime during the engagement to take over a ship.
Each ship has a special ability which can be used during combat. For example one of the first frigates you can start off with (wolf-class) has the ability to teleport short distances in order to quickly catch up to a target, or to quickly dodge out of the way of the firing arc of a powerful weapon.
Another Frigate (Monitor-Class) sacrifices the speed and firepower of the wolf-class to have an extremely resilient shield; with it's special being the "Fortress Shield" allowing it to absorb very large amounts of the enemies firepower.
Weapons damage and absorption is based on the level of "Flux Dissipation" and "Flux Capacity" your ship has.
Most weapons generate flux when being fired so your ability to dissipate flux quickly (and hold a large amount of it) allows you to fire for longer (Kind of like Mech Warrior 2's heat management).
In addition most shields require a constant level of flux to maintain and will generate 'hard' flux that can't be dissipated without dropping your shields. So while shields make you effectively immortal, if your flux gets too high, not only might you have very little excess flux capacity from which to fire your weapons, but you risk an overload which drops your shield automatically, disables your weapons and cripples your ship for a short period of time, making you easy prey.
This game though unfortunately lacks development for everything outside of combat, but the creator is aware of this and is working to improve it (fingers crossed!).
Still I have had heaps of fun with the combat in the game (mostly because of the ability of trying any new weapons loadout immediately in a simulator - it is very satisfying to create a ship configuration that can take on a larger class on it's own). I think with the amount of time i've put into the combat system, it is a worthwhile purchase and I really hope to see it on GOG when it is ready.
I've really only covered combat, because that is the part that is most developed so far, but there is a basic campaign which generates bounties for which to build your cash reserves up; as well as star systems for which to explore. This allows you to improve your standing with the several factions that are so far available in starsector (still a work in progress) which is important in order to obtain more powerful ships to add to your armada (I think the limit is around 20 ships at the moment).
For Example improving your standing with the Hegemony unlocks larger more impressive ships that while aren't very technologically impressive (generally weak shields, few Energy weapon slots), they still offer impressive levels of projectile and missile weapon slots as well as heavy armour to absorb large amounts of damage.
The Tri-Tachyon on the otherhand offer high-tech ships (and some of their rarer frigates are extremely impressive), but you need to improve your standing with them in order to access these.
All a work in progress, but very good so far.
Post edited July 15, 2015 by Jamie.monro
