Space Opera Fans discussion

Greetings Space Opera Fans!

One of our goals in this community is to reverse the 'that's not real Space Opera' attitude of our grandfathers and recognize that, in this day and age of tie-in books/movies/comics/toys/games, it is often the entire UNIVERSE a space opera fan buys into and not simply a piece of literature. Our goal is to snoot-back our noses at the snooty old 'hard' sci-fi diehards and say Welcome! Welcome home.

Now gaming is not an area of my (MOD-Anna) expertise, so I'll have to depend on YOU guys to help me flesh out this section of the community. Below is a Master List of all the various gaming media I am aware of, listed by type and alphabetically. It would make me very happy if any of you have played these games if you would OPEN YOUR OWN BRAND NEW TOPIC THREAD and tell us about the game, how it plays, and how you liked it. As you guys open new threads, I'll come back into this document and post a link to your thread.


SPACE OPERA VIDEO GAMES AND MMO's

Advent Rising
Battlecruiser Generations: Universal Combat
Darkstar: The Interactive Movie
Dead Space
Elite: Dangerous
Elite: Frontier and Elite II
Endless Space
EVE Online - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Firefall- F2P
Galactic Civilizations
Halo
Homeworld
Infinite Space
Kerbal Space Program
Mass Effect
Master of Orion
Ratchet & Clank
Sins of a Solar Empire - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Star Citizen
Star Control
Star Drive
Star Drive 2
Star Ocean
Star Sonata
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
StarCraft
Starlancer and Freelancer
Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance - http://www.faforever.com/
Sword of the Stars - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Wing Commander
X (game series)
X3: Terran Conflict
Xenosaga
X-Wing: TIE Fighter (1994)
X-Wing: Alliance


SPACE OPERA SOCIAL MEDIA GAMES:

Outernauts
Pluto Attacks
Tales of Honor (Honorverse) - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...


SPACE OPERA RPG ROLE-PLAYING GAMES (BOOK & TABLE-TOP SYSTEMS):

Alternity
Cygnus War: ITSG
Eclipse Phase
OtherSpace
Serenity
Space Opera RPG sourcebooks (assorted)
Starblazer Adventures
Star Trek RPG sourcebooks (assorted)
Star Wars RPG sourcebooks (assorted)
The Chronicles of Amber
Traveller
WARS


LitRPG GAMES: (note: not sure this is separate from above, but will keep separate for now)

Edge of Reality
Start the Game


SPACE OPERA CARD GAMES:

Star Trek Customizable Card Game
Star Wars Customizable Card Game
WARS Trading Card Game


SPACE OPERA TABLE TOP / BOARD GAMES:

Azhanti High Lightning
BattleTech
Clue: Serenity
Fifth Frontier War
Firefly
Imperium
Invasion: Earth
MAG Blast
Mayday
Renegade Legion
Risk: Star Wars Original Trilogy Edition
Risk: Star Wars: Clone Wars Edition
Snapshot
Star Fleet Rules
Stellar Conquest
Striker
Twilight Imperium
Warhammer 40,000









And one that Traveller was sort of based on:







Okay Space Opera Fans! Open new threads and tell us all about your favorite space opera games! As you do, I'll add to this list so you guys can easily find each other :-)

What about the great granddaddy of them all? Elite?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elite_%2...

Ronnie wrote: "What about the great granddaddy of them all? Elite?..."

Added! Maybe you could open a thread on it and tell us what it was like to play that game and how you liked it?

I don't think I can remember that far back...

Ronnie wrote: "I don't think I can remember that far back..."

I got quite hooked on Frontier: Elite II. There was a further sequel and I think there's yet another in development.

Steph wrote: "Ronnie wrote: "I don't think I can remember that far back..."

I got quite hooked on Frontier: Elite II. There was a further sequel and I think there's yet another in development."

Maybe you could do a post on it? I just listed I-II under video games.

Are we including role playing games?

Ronnie wrote: "Are we including role playing games?"

Yes Ronnie ... that's the Space Opera RPG Role-Playing Systems category. I just changed systems to games to make it clearer. You got any more for me to list? :-)

[*I like my lists ... nice, helpful lists to help my peeps find all their heart's desires*]

There've been various incarnations of Star Trek RPGs over the years.

FASA published one of the most popular between the late 1970s and mid 1980s. I still have the copy I won in a competition somewhere...

Anna wrote: "...Maybe you could do a post on it? I just listed I-II under video games..."

Hmm... I'll have a think. And maybe crank up my old PC to refresh my memory.

Could we add to the MMO category Firefall- F2P powered armor/exoskeleton class based Military Sci-Fi, and the upcoming Star Citizen, ship based trading and combat game.

Brad wrote: "Could we add to the MMO category Firefall- F2P powered armor/exoskeleton class based Military Sci-Fi, and the upcoming Star Citizen, ship based trading and combat game."

Both added Brad! Feel free to open your own discussion topic under this Games folder to discuss either one of those games one you've played them and I'll post a link here.

A couple of board games based on the RPG Traveller:

Mayday
Invasion: Earth
Fifth Frontier War
Snapshot
Azhanti High Lightning

And one that Traveller was sort of based on:

Imperium

There was also a set of miniatures game rules:

Striker

And last, but not least (and not Traveller-related):

Star Fleet Battles

Robert wrote: "A couple of board games based on the RPG..."

I just added them to the master-list! Thanks. Remember that community members are always welcome to start a gaming discussion under this folder and chat about a game, or simply to compare one game to another!

Kerbal Space Program! You start from where we are now and explore the entire galaxy, so pretty much the beginning of every space opera's history.

Zapjohnny wrote: "Kerbal Space Program! You start from where we are now and explore the entire galaxy, so pretty much the beginning of every space opera's history."

Kerbal is added :-)

StarDrive and StarDrive 2. The games are the spiritual successor to MOO, and designed for single player.

Advent Rising is such a great game. I get a little sad every time I think about how no more will come out to complete the story. It's understandable why game developers distanced themselves from Card, but it's disappointing none the less.

All you Elite fans out there..

Did you know that the creator David Braben has released an new version of the game. It's called 'Elite: Dangerous' and looks great. Has anybody played it yet?

Here's a link:
https://www.elitedangerous.com/?utm_s...

Another one you missed off the master list of video games is X3. Latest iteration is X3 Terran Conflict.
http://www.egosoft.com/games/x3tc/inf...

You also missed the various BattleCruiser games. Ending with Universal Combat that lets you exit your battle cruiser and go down to the planet and play as a FPS.
http://www.3000ad.com/games/universal...
If your in the USA you can download this for free from Amazon for some reason...
http://www.amazon.com/3000AD-INC-Univ...

I would just like to interrupt this discussion to say: Traveller yay! Activate black globe screens!

You may now carry on with your discussion.

This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone ...
Mayday, Mayday ...
we are under attack ...
main drive is gone ...
turret number one not responding ...
Mayday ...
losing cabin pressure fast ...
calling anyone ...
please help ...
This is Free Trader Beowulf ...
Mayday ..

AndrewP wrote: "
Another one you missed off the master list of video games is X3. Latest iteration is X3 Terran Conflict."

X (series) is listed already.

Aaron wrote: "AndrewP wrote: "
Another one you missed off the master list of video games is X3. Latest iteration is X3 Terran Conflict."

X (series) is listed already."

Opps, sorry your right. Missed that when I read the original post using the less than stellar phone app :)

Whoops! Hadn't noticed the new discussions! Just updated the sub-editions of things, hope I got it right? Thanks!

AndrewP wrote: "This is the Free Trader Beowulf, calling anyone ...
Mayday, Mayday ...
we are under attack ...
main drive is gone ...
turret number one not responding ...
Mayday ...
losing cabin pressure fast ...
..."

I love Traveller and all its works, though I loathed Traveller: The New Era. I never appreciated, until I bought several Steve Jackson Games publications, what a bold step GDW were making in trying to sell something to Americans that made use of the metric system.

Just added LitRPG games to the masterlist. Not sure it belongs separate from the tabletop systems as I haven't played them, but I'll keep them separate for now as they appear to be different based on my perfunctory research.

LitRPG isn't an actual game. It's books that have rules that operate exactly like an RPG world maybe it even is in a VR world or somthing. It exploded on the webfiction community maybe a decade or so back, and is just starting to hit mainstream.

The X-Wing series of flight simulators (1993-1999) had excellent storylines, especially TIE Fighter (1994) and X-Wing Alliance (1999)

Could you perhaps add year and sort them by year instead of alphabetically?
It would make it easier to find good games that are not too old...

Nobody playing at Supreme Commander : Forged Alliance ?
https://www.google.fr/url?sa=t&rc...

Niels wrote: "Could you perhaps add year and sort them by year instead of alphabetically?
It would make it easier to find good games that are not too old..."

Unfortunately Goodreads does not make it easy to manage data ... it's super clunky and everything has to be done by hand. Alphabetical is easiest for the mods as we can just periodically go through to add your suggestions without being required to do an (unpaid) manual data search to get dates correct.

Sorry :-(

The list has several 4X games like Master of Orion and Star Control, but my favorite of that kind of game was one of the first Indie games I was aware of, made by fans for fans, and was one of the first of this type of game to include multiplayer mode (in fact was built because there was a lack of it in games at that time). It could be played singleplayer, or multiplayer via email or server host.

The 1995, originally shareware, Stars! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars!

Very low on graphics, but an awesomely customizable game that was very intellectually satisfying (until you had to manage 50+ planets!).

It's the only game I ever found that would successfully run off a Zip drive disk.

And then there was the 1998 Battlezone: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlez...

It was a weird blend of alternate reality, first person shooter, tank simulation, real-time strategy game. It takes place on the Moon, Mars, Titan and Europa. Americans vs Soviets fighting over alien tech.

...and Descent: Freespace, also from 1998. Often compared to favorably Wing Commander (on sale at steam for $6, he he).

One that comes to mind immediately is "Freedom in the Galaxy [1979]" a Star Wars inspired board game from Simulations Publications, Inc. at the time one of the biggest producers of conflict simulations. It also shows how far back I get to go. I have enclosed a link if anyone wants to see what we played before the dawn of computers and such.
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgam...

Anna wrote: "Unfortunately Goodreads does not make it easy to manage data ... it's super clunky and everything has to be done by hand. "

Ok, how about adding the release-year in paranthesis then?

That wouldn't be a bad idea actually, though it might mean more work for the mods than is fair now given how the list is. I'll edit my post above to add that info though.

Sure, but perhaps it could be crowd-sourced?

Right now there are some 75 titles on the list so the thing that will take most time is for someone to google the games and find the release year and drop them in a post.

Heck, if four people take 20 games, copy-paste them from the original list, add the year, and post them, the mods can just copy-paste the dated list into the original post...

Walking the talk, here are the first 20 on the list:

SPACE OPERA VIDEO GAMES AND MMO's

Advent Rising (2005) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent_...
Battlecruiser Generations: Universal Combat (2004) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Univers...
Darkstar: The Interactive Movie (2010) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darksta...
Dead Space (2008) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sp...
Elite: Dangerous (2014) https://www.elitedangerous.com/
Elite: Frontier and Elite II (1993) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frontie...
Endless Space (2012) http://store.steampowered.com/app/208...
EVE Online (2003) https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Firefall- F2P (2014) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefal...
Galactic Civilizations (2003) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galacti...
Halo (2001) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_(s...
Homeworld (1999) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeworld
Infinite Space (2009) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinit...
Kerbal Space Program (2011) https://kerbalspaceprogram.com/en/
Mass Effect (2007) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_Ef...
Master of Orion (1993) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_...
Ratchet & Clank (2002) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratchet...
Sins of a Solar Empire (2008) https://www.sinsofasolarempire.com/ - https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...
Star Citizen (TBA 2016) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Ci...
Star Control (1990) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Co...

Just remembered. Steve Jackson Games put out a sourcebook on The Lensmen for its GURPS system. Not sure if there was just the one book (which I think there was) or if there were some adventures as well. See if I can find out.

Alright I did some digging. Said book is out of print (it figures) and I cannot find a date for it either. The entry on Steve Jackson games gives one all sorts of other information but not that. I will post that entry below for anyone who is interested. There is a link to a short bio of E.E. Smith that I actually learned something from.
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/Le...

I am listing my Wargames that came in magazines and came across one based on Poul Anderson's HIgh Crusade. Pretty sure it was in an issue of Ares Magazine when it was being published by TSR. Will try and go through my box of said magazines (which is unfortunately in chronological order) and see if I can find it;

It's sort of on the list, but Masters of Orion is back this time by the wargaming guys(world of tanks/warships/planes) and they are throwing serious $$$ at it and it's certainly a project of love. The game is in early access and already has tons of polish it's just missing features but they have been adding them fast. So far I like the game a lot, and while it's not on the level of Stardrive 2 or Endless Space yet, I feel by release it will surpass both of them. Endless Space 2 will probably be coming out in early access shortly after MOOs full release and I imagine that will be their only competition as the Sid Meyers attempts at bringing back space games and Stardocks(MAKE ANOTHER SINS GAME!!!) have been pretty poor as of late. I'm tempted to go back and check how Sword of the Stars 2 is doing and if they ever fixed that complete disaster, but the damage was done and the game is dead.

I'd place Destiny on the list as a space opera video game as well.

And 343 Industries released in 2008 Interactive Strategy Game (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3...) and then Fleet Battles just in this past year (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1...). I don't know if these would fall under the general Halo category under video games, or under the board/tabletop category too.

Abby wrote: "I'd place Destiny on the list as a space opera video game as well.

And 343 Industries released in 2008 Interactive Strategy Game (https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3......"

To me it is borderline as far as being a boardgame, but them I am old school. ft definitely has playing pieces and from the pictures it has a playing board so I guess it fits into the category.

This is the second scifi gaming thread I've looked into recently and this ones specifically for Space Opera style games and I have to say I'm terribly saddened by the lack of love for one of the best games ever made:

SID MEIERS ALPHA CENTAURI

All the best things about his Civilisation games, fantastically compelling nations and groups, great leader characters with distinct personalities, a living planet that is both friend and foe in the game, brilliant concepts for technology as you progress, a great storyline that weaves and changes depending on your choices AND a rich, organic world of politics, war, mind-games and just enough philosophical and culture insight in the narrative to really make it interesting.
I remain amazed till this day that not more people like this game.
But maybe it's just me. :D

Also, I'd like to add in my voice to support Firefly on the board-gaming RPG list, first time around I was iffy at the complexity but once you find a groove it is fantastic and has such great repeat value!

Aurora4X, it's the dwarf fortress of 4X and the most mind-numbingly complex thing ever. Only play if you want to watch hours of tutorials before attempting to play.

Akshay wrote: "I remain amazed till this day that not more people like this game."

Pretty much all my friends were hoping Civilization Beyond Earth would be the return of Alpha Centauri, which partially contributed to the distain some of my friends have for that game. Plus the game is one of the few generally respected among the 4X community.

Twilight Imperium is a really great board game :-) Takes a while to set up, and needs a big table, but provides hours of fun.