Starcom: Unknown Space — Manage a space ship, trade, explore, fight, survive.

[rusty_shackleford]

Had a lot of fun with the original, the sequel is now in early access and has a lot of content.


To be transparent, I got the game for free from the developer for testing it.

[Ratcatcher]

Ah yes, the original is indeed very good. A bit OT but did you also play Space Pirates and Zombie? I originally found Starcom: Nexus by looking for other 2d space games, after I was done with that. That and Endless Sky, which is more widely known, I think.

[JarlFrank]

The first game was one of the most pleasant surprises I discovered last year.

Finally a space exploration game that doesn't rely on bland procedural content!

[Nemesis]

Looking at the screenshots, this looks like Starsector. Is it better?

[rusty_shackleford]

Looking at the screenshots, this looks like Starsector. Is it better?

Similar but different, much more focused on exploration.

[Ratcatcher]

Finally a space exploration game that doesn't rely on bland procedural content!

I like Starsector' approach of having predetermined locations and points of interest but a randomized galaxy. Gives each playthrough a different feel and causes the game to be less stale. Establishing fuel-efficient routes in the beginning, hunting for a good location for your first colonization effort, and so on.

Would you qualify that as too much procedural shite for your taste?

(you probably know about it already but SS randomizes planets, systems and galaxy features)

[JarlFrank]

Finally a space exploration game that doesn't rely on bland procedural content!

I like Starsector' approach of having predetermined locations and points of interest but a randomized galaxy. Gives each playthrough a different feel and causes the game to be less stale. Establishing fuel-efficient routes in the beginning, hunting for a good location for your first colonization effort, and so on.

Would you qualify that as too much procedural shite for your taste?

(you probably know about it already but SS randomizes planets, systems and galaxy features)

I find that an acceptable level of randomization. All the really cool stuff was hand-made and hand-placed so there's some proper secret-digging. It's hand-made where it counts.

[rusty_shackleford]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 6622855941

Draconis Update
Default game branch updated to Draconis
The default branch of Starcom: Unknown Space
has been updated to the Draconis build, which fixes a number of bugs, adds some quality of life changes and introduces new content. This build is not save compatible with Betelgeuse, but if you were in the middle of a playthrough, you can still finish it by switching back to the Betelgeuse Rollback build:

Details on Beta updates and how to switch to them can be found here.

Summary of the major changes from Betelgeuse (with minimal spoilers):

Several new story lines, regions, missions, mostly in the current mid-game
Numerous new anomalies and discoveries
Changes to region placements
Buffs to several techs and level II modules
Increase max thermal penalties, slow dissipation
Thermal exhaust modules
Tactical "slicing" to improve item drop probability
Add mission coordinates to mission log entries
General improvements to the tracking and completion of certain missions
Smoothed item drop frequency
Flinger speed increased, fling sound
Change to skill check result display
Menu option to adjust intensity of anomaly image distortion/noise effect
Esc now closes Ship menu
Change player name input to separate first / last name
Fix for issue where NPCs would fail to respawn
Fix for issue for random anomalies not being added
Fix for Plasma/Flinger issue
AI better at avoiding star damage radius (still not perfect)
Edgedar Icons no longer block firing action (also fixes bug where sometimes there would be small a firing dead zone)
Lots of minor bug fixes
Numerous minor mission, balance adjustments
Numerous typos fixed



As always, you can give feedback in game at any time by pressing the F8 key, or in the Steam Discussion Forums.

- Kevin

[Galdred]

Looking at the screenshots, this looks like Starsector. Is it better?

It is very different. I loved both Starsector and Starcom:Nexus. Starcom is about your unique ship, and exploring/solving puzzles.
Starsector is more about making money, and finding a strong fleet build.
Both are great at what they do.

[rusty_shackleford]

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app ... 3048915237

Icarus Build Now Live
Icarus is the New Default Build for Starcom: Unknown Space
Two weeks ago I posted the opt-in beta build "Icarus" for players to begin testing. There have been a couple patches since then to address several minor issues, but overall the build seems to be a solid improvement over Helios and Ganymede (the previous default build). So now I'm promoting Icarus to the default build.

Saves are not compatible between named builds, but if you were in the middle of a game, don't worry: you can always switch back to Ganymede to finish your current game. See here for instructions and select "Ganymede Rollback".

[maidenhaver]

It isn't even a game.

[Rand]

I liked the first one a lot, even though it kind of fell apart for the last third.
New one looks decent. Some improvements. I'll play it.

[Norfleet]

Oh, I remember the original. It seems like the optimal ship design always came out looking like a Klingon Bird of Prey: You wanted a large back wing to max out your engine power, so your ship didn't move like a heavily sedated tree sloth, and then some sort of large projecting front prow, so you could ram your enemies with it, with all the other components being packed into the stalk as a result. Especially early on, the starter weapons were just so laughably hopelessly bad that you simply got better results by ramming. Why shoot, when you can ram?

[rusty_shackleford]

Portrait mod up: viewtopic.php?t=4315-better-crew-portra ... nown-space

Gross pod people:


Semi-normal looking people that belong in a space scifi setting:

[rusty_shackleford]

There's still some uggers but not so ugly that I feel the need to change their portraits.