Very excited about the update. It's amazing the polish the developer has lathered on Starbase Orion post-release over the past year; without additional charges.
Get it whenever you can, its an awesome game! My favorite 4x sim on iOS and one of my top 5 ios game.
Does the tutorial make this easier? Just didn't feel like reading tons of instructions on how like I'm playing the airplane flying game on PC with a 500 instruction manual and a "quick" guide
Thanks! We have three bits of news today: 1) v1.1.8 is now live on the AppStore. It has an all new tutorial with professional voice overs, and it includes some balance tweaks and other bug fixes. 2) Starbase Orion: First Contact is now available as well. SO:FC is a lite version of SO, so if you've always wanted to give SO a try now you can. 3) We are on KickStarter! Help us make Starbase Orion one of the first native cross-platform 4X space strategy games by funding the STARBASE ORION: Now Colonizing Android + PC + Mac project.
Just finished my first playthrough and I'm a bit frustrated. 1. A lot of random crashes on my ipad 3. Surprising for a game as mature as this. 2. Saving your game at the end of your turn doesn't seem to save the things you did ON that turn. 3. Combat was frustrating. Even with every single weapon type installed on a Mammoth Hull, at some point, all of my ships stop firing their weapons (yes, even beam weapons) and get slowly whittled down by a weaker enemy, who doesn't seem to have the same problem. 4. Combat is completely hands-off (except for general orders). I really miss the variety of ship systems and weapons that could be brought to bear in the turn-based combat of Master of Orion. 4X Space Games are my absolute favorite genre but this one just didn't scratch that itch. I really wanted to like it...
I just got this game myself after seeing it had added diplomacy in an update and want to offer a different opinion of it then the above poster. 1. The game runs perfectly on my iPad 3. 2. The game Autosaves after every turn and I don't have to worry about it. 3. The ability to customize and build your own ships is Awsome and learning to use the right battle techniques to win is very satisfying. 4. I'm a big 4x fan and this game gave me a mind blowing single player experience on iOS, it's so satisfying to have this type of gaming on iPad. And I haven't even tried the multiplayer which this game also has
So those who followed it know that our KickStarter to port SO failed. It's not so bad, because it means I will have time to keep improving the current SO With that in mind we've acquired a dedicated server for SO; the plan is that having a server we can control will allow us to implement some cool and innovative features previously unthinkable for SO. As you can imagine, many of those features will be improvements on the current asynchronous multiplayer. That'll include things like real-time chat, contiguous asynchronous turns, game rollbacks and replays, ELO ranking, automated online tourneys, and more. Those interested can read more details here. I am also exploring how a dedicated server can improve the SO experience for single player games as well. The first feature we have ready to go for the next update is "Cloud AI". If you turn this on, then when you press turn your game will be beamed up to the server, processed, and passed back down to you. This will have numerous advantages; speed, crashes (low memory crashes during turn processing can happen on older devices with larger games), and faster bug fixing (if we discover a bug with the turn processing, we can fix it server-side without waiting for a trip through Apple review). Thanks to everyone for sticking with SO! Without your continued support we wouldn't be able to do cool stuff like this
Thanks for the continued Starbase Orion updates; for those of us who have followed the game since pre-release there's been a dizzying amount of positive tweaks and additions. I think SO is the most consistently updated app on my device and it's rare to see world class developer support like that. It's very much appreciated.
Thanks @undeadcow! Here is the next update video; it talks about moving away from GameCenter's "turn stick" async multiplayer and towards a more continuous system.
You know, as you mentioned recently that the Kickstarter failed (sorry to hear btw), maybe that will allow for some more free time to work on updates for Starbase Command, as well?? ;-) Seriously, I dig that game!
@wrath While SC probably won't get an update soon, there might be new titles in the future that scratch a similar gaming itch. Composer Mark Kent has written 30 minutes of new, original sound tracks for SO! They will be included in the next version; you can listen to one of the new tracks in this video update.
I just started playing this again and i'm getting a lot of crashes. I'm using an ipad3 with everything updated.
Good lord! Late to the party, yet again. First, I 'discover' the Ravenmark thread (TBS in the same vein as Final Fantasy Tactics - that I have yet to play), and now I discover a spiritual version of Masters of Orion on iOS (not to mention that I discovered that Ascendancy was ported). I've played more x4 than TBS in my dim and distant past (90s). It's been strictly RPGs since then or MMORPGs (retired). My stumbling block is time, as opposed to money: I've still to finish FF3 (in Eureka - nearly at the end); FFIV; then finish my 3/4 of the way through Avadon; not to mention actually play Autumn Dynasty - which I bought shortly after it came out (despite not being a RTS fan), but have yet to play. Then I can think about Starbase Orion and Ravenmark - to satisfy a number of genre itches. It's facile to even mention Mass Effect 2 (not a patch on Mass Effect) or RDR on my Xbox 360 (back in it's original box)! For all of those who mentioned Master of Magic (all of my university house-mates inc. myself were horribly addicted to MoM - wonderful game), please see the upcoming 'Worlds of Magic' thread.
Heavily considering this, how does in compare to Ascendancy? Seems much more polished. Also comparing it to Carcassonne... How does Starbase fair on the iphone 4? Reading reports of crashes on all devices. Doesn't matter to me as long as I can progress at all.
Im a little late to the party...well, actually I got this back when it launched and never did get into it. However I re-installed this and am looking forward to getting some multiplayer action going! Its a very polished, deep, top-notch, 4X game and its nice too see the Dev so committed to updates, etc.. This fits in nicely on my iPad with Legion, Civilization and Imperium Galactica.
Pssst!! v1.2.1 of Starbase Orion is now live in the AppStore. - 5x faster turn processing, less crashing when using the new Cloud AI feature. - Revamped multiplayer system, adds a galactic fleet worth of new features - Balance changes, combat changes, and AI improvements abound - 30 minutes of brand new music
KittyMac- Thank you very much for the OUTSTANDING SUPPORT and the awesome game! Can I make a request? I would love to have the option of not knowing the outcome of my battles until after I watch it play out....that would add to the fun and excitement in my opinion. Would mainly love to see it for multiplayer! Hope you have continued success and thanks again!
