Thank you for your response. I agree that the ui looks so much better for sbo but it finally came down to complexity and pricing point. I like the diplomacy aspect of Ascendancy and a 7.99 price tag from an unknown- to me- developer made it difficult to buy. Especially in december with so many great games on the way and all the sales that are coming up or already underway.
Your loss mate this is such a good game regardless of price and the developer is constantly making it better if you don't believe me check the official forums
Starbase Orion v1.0.7 is now live! Special thanks to all of the players whose feedback and ideas have helped to make Starbase Orion one of the best 4X games on iOS.
Starbase Orion v1.0.8 is now live! Thanks again to all of the players for providing great ideas for new features.
Greetings. KittyMac, any news regarding the port of Starbase Orion for earlier iOS devices? (as is my case, I own a good old iPhone 3G, without Game Center support and limited up to iOS version 4.2.1) I understand the multiplayer will be undoubtedly left out, as it is GameCenter based, but I'm a long MOO2 'lone-player' and I don't mind renouncing to MP if I can get a decent challenge against AIs. I remember having read something about this in your own Starbase Orion webpage, but it was some time ago. I hope this idea is still alive and not completely abandoned... Regards L.
Starbase Orion currently supports iOS4 (without multiplayer or iCloud). What SO doesn't support are the 3G and earlier devices; the hardware on these just makes the game unplayable in larger galaxies / late game. I am sorry, but I have no plans add support for the pre-3GS devices at this time.
Bad news indeed. I guess there are few 1st and 2nd generation iPods/iPhones left out here at this time. Thanks anyway for the quick answer. L
Game Impressions Hats off to KittyMac! Outstanding game! I never played this type of game until I tried Ascendancy but I just couldn't get into it. However, this game is awesome and I feel it's far superior even without diplomacy. Thanks for such a great effort and continued support...this truly is one of the best iPad apps available.
Those of us on the SBO forums are in the process of organizing a tournament. Sign ups are at this thread, matches will be 1v1s.
This update is massive; thanks to the developers for continued support. Great game. Here's to more quality 4X on iOS.
Diplomacy and training would propel Starbase Orion to some sort of essential everyone must own best game ever cult status.
Ha, agreed... But definitely still one to check out if you're a fan of the genre. Don't let the price scare ya, it's worth it and more... This update is HUGE! Thank you so much for the continued support! Really, thinking back to the way version 1.0 played... It's undergone some MASSIVE changes and additions. And really, I already consider it an essential of you're a 4X fan... It's got to be the best I've played... But I've only really just gotten into the genre (about a year ago I bought Ascendancy, and have been hooked on 4X since... But still consider myself a noob)... But definitely a GREAT title.
I like the concept, but when I tried this game before, I felt like I was just going to leave the AIs in the dust, unless they got huge advantages. The typical problem with this sort of game is, the human player is much stronger than the AI, so the only way to "balance" the game is to give the AI big advantages, which means it could kill you at the beginning if it wants, but assuming it doesn't then eventually you catch up and the game is too easy. Any thoughts on the best settings or choices to try this game again if I want an extended challenge? I don't really want to play against other humans, unfortunately.
In level of difficulty, from hardest to easiest, all single player: 1) Survival mode, 7 AI's on Impossible, small map. In survival mode its humans vs AIs, so in this mode they won't spend any time attacking each other and focus solely on you. As you noted, the smaller the map the harder to defend early. 2) Survival mode, 7 AI's on Impossible, (bigger) map. Same deal as above, but with the larger maps you have a bit more time to grow before having to worry about defense. 3) Survival mode, (less than 7) AI's on Impossible. You get the idea 4) Classic Mode. This is like it was before, a FFA game where the AI's will spend much of their resources battling each other. 5) Less than Impossible. You shouldn't have much difficulty with. About a dozen SO players help test out the new AI. While it is still not perfect, the general consensus was that it put up a much better fight than before.
Yeah, I can believe this makes it hard but I'm not sure it passes the test for interesting. Are there interesting decisions in this type of game, or do you just wait and see whether the AIs kill you before you get strong enough to fight them off?
What one player finds as "interesting" is different from what another player finds "interesting". In the example you quoted above, I would certainly find it more interesting to have to deal with multiple opponents allied against me than a single opponent. Other players might find it more interesting that the AI now has a few more tricks up its sleeves: it engages in spying, it favors different weapons and combat tactics than before, it uses different fleet management strategies. And finally (even though you said you don't want to do multiplayer), quite a few players find the MP even more interesting. There is a tournament that is wrapping up over on the SO forums; each game played in that tournament turned out completely different. I find that very interesting
