Armada 2526 or Distant Worlds or neither?

Distant Worlds is THE best 4X game I've played. The new version to be release this month looks even better. It plays like a space opera where there is always an opportunity or a threat that involved strategic choice - and this can spin on its head at any time. Every game is different and the galaxy is a living thing. Some complaints are that the game is unbalanced and can be difficult to learn. I like the unbalanced nature of what happens within the game and while there are a number of things to learn - you can put the game down and start playing months later without needing the re-learn everything. Another complaint is the pace of the game. It is a RTS but feels like a TBS game - which is also my preference.

I never really got into Armada 2526 but there are people who really like the simplicity of that game.

I would have to agree with Das123. I honestly did not enjoy Armada too much, but I can see why people would. Anyways I enjoyed the unique aspects of Distant Worlds. It feels like a fresh new game. It plays very much differently from other 4x's. It really makes you feel like an emperor, rather than some guy building theaters or micromanaging stuff. You can still micromanage a lot if you want, but the game is more about the grand scheme. You can also automate anything you want making the learning curve easier..

But basically the game is like a mixture of things. It includes a different storyline for the base game and expansion which gives the universe some life. There is things to explore such as discovering abandoned bases or derelict spacefleets from some old power, along with ancient temples or materials to find. While the story and other things may come in giant text blocks or simple windows. It truly makes the game itself feel more like a world. I won't delve to far and spoil the expansions story, but it has some really neat additions that make the game more dynamic and add to the feel.

I think what I really like is that the game feels fresh. Your ordering fleets around giving them missions and can let the AI doing it, making you feel more like an emperor, rather than a general,mayor,governor and a billion other titles. Sure you can micromanage every single thing if you want, but the game has a lot going on in the background. There will be pirate raids on your transports causing patrol ships to dash out to the rescue. Then you discover that pirate base and order the big fleet to take it out. Then suddenly another faction becomes irritated with your encroachment on their territory and begins firing in undeclared war. Suddenly your pitted into war against them to defend your private sectors mining. The private sector division that the game has really adds a lot to giving that emperor experience, and makes you feel like you have an actual economy instead of just a spreadsheet of income numbers. I think if you do buy it you really need do have to grab the expansion also. It changes some of the games design for the better and adds a lot of new content.

Overall I would say Distant Worlds is the better choice. I would say that Distant worlds is by far the best 4X ive played to date. Armada 2526 feels a lot like Master of Orion 2, but just has some weird ways of playing. Again it might be the game for you, I just didn't like it myself.

I have both. I really like Armada 2526 with the Supernova expansion. Armada is 19.99 USD at GamersGate vs 29.99 at Matrix Games. Armada plays quickly and straight forward like Sins does as far as the tech tree. There are 18 unique races to chose from and each race has at least one additional faction. They each have unique victory conditions and war is not inevitable and can be negotiated out of.

Distant Worlds is my vote. I love how you can just sit back and watch a living breathing galaxy.

They have a expansion coming right around the corner with new awesome stuff

New character system, including Leaders, Admirals, Generals, Ambassadors, Governors, Agents and Scientists, all with defined skills and traits and the opportunity to advance and improve
New modelling of borders and spheres of influence (around 600 new art assets!)
New expanded gameplay with race-specific events and victory conditions, new creature, as well as a new hidden faction!
Expanded technology tree, including dedicated carriers, cutting lasers, rail guns, new planetary facilities and wonders
Improved AI and an updated Diplomacy system with refuelling and mining rights as well as immigration policies (difficulty slider now)
Improved fleet management and automation, including fleet postures
Improved modding support, including full race and character modding

There's a preview of a on going AAR of the new game here in the link

With each expansion any problems I had with the game are dealt with like managing your empire (yes there are a few issues left but that list is shrinking). The game just gets more awesome!

Ya the game can be a beast to learn true but thank god for turning on automation letting the AI handle stuff and once in awhile screw around with stuff and learn the ropes. I still have some auto on. Sometimes I will step in for research or build orders in certain situations. The AI does a good job for the most part.

Matrix games also is good to its customers with plenty of updates, helping you out, answering questions, votes for new features and contests for new creatures and what not.

Both games are great (both need their addons).

Armada 2526 with Supernova is a classic 4x (turn-based) in the line with MOO 1 & 2. It's my favorite. The basic game wasn't very sexy and many have kept that in their head but the game has made a huge progression...

Distant Worlds with the forthcoming second addon is the deepest 4x game in the market...it's just superb. The game is real-time so needs more concentration.

I have both and recommend both.

I'll offer a minority opinion. Neither.

Distant Worlds is a real-time, macromanagement game. (Full disclosure: I love micromanaging and hate macromanagement games.) It's a game that aims at achieving the strategic depth of a traditional game and the tactical depth of a real-time game, but succeeds at neither. The game has too many mechanics at the strategic level for its pace. The upcoming expansion will only add to this. Sins navigates this tension by jettisoning strategic complexity, and I think that if real-time is a must, then this is a necessity. At the same time, tactical combat is weak because implementing a more robust system just isn't possible given its scope.

Armada 2526 is a traditional, turn-based, micromanagement-oriented game. Unfortunately, it has a clunky interface and lacks the streamlined charm of the better games in the genre. It's interesting from a design standpoint since it was written under severe resource constraints (for example, the designer and sole programmer chose to write the game in C#, because it wasn't practical for him to write it in C/C++).

That said, there's at least one good reason to buy both, even if you won't enjoy them. They're both produced by devoted, indie developers trying to do something new (although this is more obvious with Distant Worlds) in a genre that doesn't receive much attention from major studios. That's in itself worth supporting.

Thanks for your opinions folks. Sadly, it hasn't helped me decide.

Legends video to help you out.

This game will hold me over until GalCiv3 comes out!

Just going to throw this out. I heard negative reviews about both games when they came out (I know, they both got better - think monty python - "i got betta"). As a result, I still haven't purchased. I'm thinking don't bother and wait for sins rebellion. It's due out soon enough. Sounds like a good call if you love sins already. Anyway, that said, your choice, but I still think passing on them both is the best call.

I have buy Armada 2526 at the release date... was with so much bugs that i was impossible to finish a game... after 1 patch, several of the major bugs was not resolved and i have remove the game from my computer... i don't give a second chance to a game who is released in a unplayable state... don't care if it work better today with the expansion pack...

As for the gameplay, when it don't crash, strategic map level is not so bad but real time battle are more like a space invader from the 80's... not very good since they have promise before release that the game will be similar to a total war in space...

For me, Armada 2526 is a epic failure !!!

pacov- When you say soon for Sins Rebellion you mean Spring 2012 right? I wish sins was coming soon.

Quoting Thoumsin,

reply 10

I have buy Armada 2526 at the release date... was with so much bugs that i was impossible to finish a game... after 1 patch, several of the major bugs was not resolved and i have remove the game from my computer... i don't give a second chance to a game who is released in a unplayable state... don't care if it work better today with the expansion pack...

As for the gameplay, when it don't crash, strategic map level is not so bad but real time battle are more like a space invader from the 80's... not very good since they have promise before release that the game will be similar to a total war in space...

For me, Armada 2526 is a epic failure !!!

Sorry but this is not true...Armada 2526 has always been extremely stable on many computers i have at home. I guess you were very unlucky with your computer. The last patch for the basic Armada 2526 is 1.4...you should see if it solves your very specific issues (the patch also adds some new races).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkuwtxrHAHk[/video]

The reason why Armada 2526 Supernova is my fav game is that it's really nice to relax: slow game pacing, quiet music and turn-based. I can stop playing and come back 30 mns later and continue (it's a great game when you have kids).

Quoting pacov,

reply 9

Just going to throw this out. I heard negative reviews about both games when they came out (I know, they both got better - think monty python - "i got betta"). As a result, I still haven't purchased. I'm thinking don't bother and wait for sins rebellion. It's due out soon enough. Sounds like a good call if you love sins already. Anyway, that said, your choice, but I still think passing on them both is the best call.

You can't seriously compare Sins: Rebellion with Distant Worlds and Armada 2526? This is a completely different game.

Distant Worlds.

The fun thing for me is you can automate all, nothing or anything inbetween.

One game i just sat and watched how the games played itself, asking me only for diplomatic directions.

One game i took charge of just one single fleet, build on it, upgraded it conquered with it. Playing like some kind of fleet admiral hampered by the constraints of an empire i had no control over.

Just once i tried to do everything myself ... and failed miserably.

Its also very nice that you can change all the option while in game.

I think the graphics are bad, even for an indie game, but at the same time i have never played a game that oozes that much style, cool gameplay and a living, breathing environment.

One of the best games ever created.

Quoting Hawawaa,

reply 11

pacov- When you say soon for Sins Rebellion you mean Spring 2012 right? I wish sins was coming soon.

oh... thought the beta was due out soon. Oh well.

Quoting Anguille,

reply 13

You can't seriously compare Sins: Rebellion with Distant Worlds and Armada 2526? This is a completely different game.

Well, i can compare 2 completely different games... even 3. Seriously even. Just sayin'

Quoting pacov,

reply 15

Well, i can compare 2 completely different games... even 3. Seriously even. Just sayin'

Nope. You can't.

Quoting Anguille,

reply 16

Quoting pacov,
reply 15

Well, i can compare 2 completely different games... even 3. Seriously even. Just sayin'

Nope. You can't.

I'll side with pacov on this one.

You can compare games on a lot of things besides genre (in this case RTS vs. TBS). Graphics, UI, writing, technical features, multiplayer features, campaign length, gameplay systems (like economy, balance) etc. etc.

Oh, and since its the new / old meme: Seriously!

Aaah it's a conspiracy....seriously.

Quoting Anguille,

reply 12

Sorry but this is not true...Armada 2526 has always been extremely stable on many computers i have at home. I guess you were very unlucky with your computer.

No problem with my computer...problem with the game shader and nvidia card...

"If you are experiencing crashes or freezes in space battles, this seems to affect some nVidia cards at higher graphics settings. Turning all the in-game graphics settings down will allow you to get around this issue until we can fix it in an update."

In fact, set the graphic to low was not enough, disabling fully the shadow solve it...

Several of the problems was solved with the help from Neutron ( members/admin ) from the Armada forum... it was a installer problem who don't detect that a more recent .net version was already installed on the computer ( was replacing some .net 3.5 files by .net 2.0 files )...

Other people was with similar problem... all the "exception" error was due to .net problem...

"It appears that there may be some additional .NET requirements beyond the .NET installer included with the game. We will include an additional .NET installer in the next update"

Well, it is only one example... a other example was the "save" who don't save !!!... well, there was numerous problem at launch time... and in place of release several little patch once one problem was solved, they have wait to much long and release a big patch...

I have read comment that now the game is stable, but i don't forgive them for the launch chaos... it seem that it is the actual trend to release game in a state that we can call pre-alpha version... it was not before the patch 1.02 from February 2010 ( 4 month after the initial release ), that the game have become playable...

Quoting Anguille,

reply 12

The last patch for the basic Armada 2526 is 1.4...you should see if it solves your very specific issues (the patch also adds some new races).

Well, i cannot test it... the game was uninstall long time ago... have buy it on matrix game with a extended download time ( 1 year ) in 2009... it was the first place who have release the game... and i cannot download it anymore today... well, i can download a pirate version and use my legal serial but i don't wish...

Too bad you didn't backup your install exe.

How is the Distant Worlds expansion?

Quoting StevenAus,

reply 21

How is the Distant Worlds expansion?

The second expansion should come out next week.

I just followed the link to the Distant Worlds site in the OP, and was surprised to see no mention of an expansion. The price was listed as 31.99 EUROS for the digital download only version of what appears to be the vanilla game with no expansion. (I live in Germany so I will need a digital DL, not having anything physical shipped here.) That seems like a steep price, is it available on Impulse or something for less, with expansion, or is it still "new"? It got quite unfavorable reviews, which surprises me after reading what you folks have written here. Granted, I am more of a traditional TBS person myself, but I'd be keen on giving something "fresh" a try. Your input for a dollarless European appreciated.

Quoting onomastikon,

reply 23

I just followed the link to the Distant Worlds site in the OP, and was surprised to see no mention of an expansion. The price was listed as 31.99 EUROS for the digital download only version of what appears to be the vanilla game with no expansion. (I live in Germany so I will need a digital DL, not having anything physical shipped here.) That seems like a steep price, is it available on Impulse or something for less, with expansion, or is it still "new"? It got quite unfavorable reviews, which surprises me after reading what you folks have written here. Granted, I am more of a traditional TBS person myself, but I'd be keen on giving something "fresh" a try. Your input for a dollarless European appreciated.

Matrix games delivers in Europe too. Distant Worlds and it's expansions is a Matrix exclusive edition. The basic game has been released in germany though (boxed german edition with translation) but so far not the addon. Armada 2526 with the Supernova addon are both available in Germany (released by Iceberg Interactive). You find these on amazon.de or in good shops.

Cheers

http://shop.dtp-entertainment.com/index.php?link=detail/B004PKPONY

Thanks. It is, however, against my religion to purchase localized versions of games. I will not purchase a Germanized version of anything, I do not wish to spend my afterlife in hell.

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