OT: Civilization style space games for mac?

[MacDude]

Sorry for the OT post, but I thought the mac civ community would be best able to answer this inquiry.

I'm wondering if there are any good civilization type games that take place in outer space available for the mac. I personally love Star trek (nerd, I know) and was thinking how cool it would be to have a game like the show; i.e. a game where you explore space as a race, form alliances with species (ala federation), war with others (ala cardassian, romulan, etc) trade, develop new technologies, and explore the beauty and vastness of space.

There HAS to be a game like this out there, right? Seeing the success of civilization (not to mention the success of the star trek) I would assume someone has taken the civ formula and applied it to space. I vaguely remember a game called PAX Imperia, but this was a LONG time ago.

Any suggestions?

 

[gfeier]

Nothing much out there right now. My PC-using gamer friend is bemoaning the lack of really good new space games on the PC side as well. Some older PC games were pretty good. Looks like a job for Boot Camp.

 

[Eddie81]

Spaceward Ho!

It's more of a simplified master of orion than civ style, but it's close and it's wicked wicked fun.

 

[gfeier]

Spaceward Ho!

It's more of a simplified master of orion than civ style, but it's close and it's wicked wicked fun.

I used to play that one! Does it still run on the new machines?

 

[Eddie81]

It's up to version 5 now i think. Cant say for sure if it's a universal binary, as I'm still with powerpc.

 

[vyeh]

You'll have to contact Delta Tao about their plans for making Spaceward Ho! universal. They're big Mac fanatics so it might be in the cards.

You can download Spaceward Ho! at http://www.deltatao.com/files.html. Until you buy a serial number for $29.95, it will play in demo mode.

 

[beetle]

Was Master of Orion 2 ever carbonized? Can one still buy the Classic version? (Stay away from MoO3, it was even more disappointing than Civ3.)

 

[dojoboy]

Was Master of Orion 2 ever carbonized? Can one still buy the Classic version? (Stay away from MoO3, it was even more disappointing than Civ3.)

MoO3, for some, became a very good game w/ community mods. I, myself, was never able to make the transition.

The best space strategy game out there, I believe, is GalCiv2. It's a TBS game, but it's not available for the mac. This is one game that has me wanting to install XP.

 

[Welnic]

I installed Spaceward Ho! on my iMac last night, it worked fine. It is a much simpler game that even Civ I, but it is still fun. It runs fast enough that it is not a problem that it isn't a universal binary. You can get a pretty good feel for with the Demo.

I found my MOO and MOO III disks, but I haven't found MOO II yet. MOO definitely needs classic to run as it was originally written for OS 7. I didn't try MOO III as I never even made through one game when I first got it. Spreadsheets in Space is the best description I've heard of it.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I also downloaded the Spaceward Ho! 5 demo and played it through on my G4 Mac Mini. Although less complex than CIV or even the Reach for The Stars game that I still play on my old Apple IIgs, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I decided it was something I would like to play in the full version and would probably play many times. So, I paid for it and am waiting for my code to unlock the full version now.

My thanks to MacDude for asking the question and to Eddie81 and Vyeh for telling us about this game!

 

[Eddie81]

While we're on on the subject of mac space games, if any of you have played the classic Myth: The Fallen Lords, or Myth II, I recommend a game called Homeworld 2.

Great detailed single player storyline, excellent voice acting, and the in game visuals and battles are FANTASTIC. Not too high requirement either, I can run it with everything turned all the way up on my iMac G5.

On game play, unlike Myth, it does have a resource gathering component. But it is very similar to Myth in that the combat is very tactically based, and the units are very highly balanced against eachother. (which is what keeps me coming back)

And if you havent played Myth, OMG. It's been updated by the community for OS X, and is universal. It's an old game, so the graphics look a bit dated, but the game play is unmatched. From one mac gamer to another, give the multiplayer a shot. You'll like it I swear.

Just tryin to spread the love...

~ed

 

[Henrik]

Master of orion 2 will run with classic but it will also crash as soon as someone initiates invassion combat

 

[XxtraLarGe]

While we're on on the subject of mac space games, if any of you have played the classic Myth: The Fallen Lords, or Myth II...

At first, I was thinking "Gee, that's quite the non-sequitir"

And if you havent played Myth, OMG. It's been updated by the community for OS X, and is universal. It's an old game, so the graphics look a bit dated, but the game play is unmatched. From one mac gamer to another, give the multiplayer a shot. You'll like it I swear.

Just tryin to spread the love...

~ed

Myth & Myth II are some of my favorite games of all time. I liked them better than the Warcraft/Starcraft games.

 

[statemonkey]

Hay eveyone,

I am a Mac user as well, and this is my second post to the board.

I loved playing Homeworld 2 as well, and wish there were more Mac space stratage games as well.

The only Masters of Orion game I played was MOO3, and it gets the big stinky cheeze award from me. It was a complicated, slow game that would end without a punch.

//state monkey

 

[gfeier]

Has anybody here tried "Weird Worlds: Return to Infinite Space" from Shrapnel Games? According to Inside Mac Games, they just released a long-awaited patch to fix bugs and bring the game up to the PC version. There's game info and a demo here:

http://www.insidemacgames.com/news/story.php?ID=15700

 

[Eddie81]

Escape Velocity: Nova

I just started to get back into this one after a long absence. I can't believe I forgot to recommend this one!

I played all the ealier EV's in middle/high school, and then played Nova in college. It's a RPG/strat game in space. You start off with a tiny shuttlecraft, and you have to make your own way through the universe. A universe which is completely open. You can do and be whatever you want. Your actions determine the twists of the storyline. And the story is massive.
Be a trader
Be a pirate
Be an explorer
Work for different governments
Theres so many choices. Each Choice opens up different story paths. It's very cool.

A side note: the theme song is Mars: Bringer of War by Holst. The venture bros show parodies the song in one of their episodes. The audio is here http://marsthebringerofwar.ytmnd.com/
I never knew the origins of the song, so the first time I saw it, I completely lost my . .. .. .. .. It's still funny, but it was more funny when I thought it was EV.

 

[s.bernbaum]

I have been looking around the internet for other turn based strategy games for Mac OSX. I have come across these three that sound like they may be turn based. Does anyone know if any of them are turn based? If so, what do you think of them?

Destineer - Rise of Nations Gold Edition
Destineer - Age of Mythology Mac
Aspyr Media - Homeworld 2 Mac


Thanks!

 

[Welnic]

I haven't played Homeworld II, but the other two are real time strategy games, not turn based. I like Age of Mythology okay, but I didn't care much for Rise of Nations.

 

[dojoboy]

I have been looking around the internet for other turn based strategy games for Mac OSX. I have come across these three that sound like they may be turn based. Does anyone know if any of them are turn based? If so, what do you think of them?

Destineer - Rise of Nations Gold Edition
Destineer - Age of Mythology Mac
Aspyr Media - Homeworld 2 Mac


Thanks!

I have all three and they're all RTS games. I've not played HW2 through yet. It's set on a story w/ campaigns, no sandbox play. AoM has a campaign, but it does offer sandbox play. Of the three, my favorite is RoN. Not only does it offer something different among the traditional RTS games, it also has a TBS/RTS mode of gameplay.

None of them will offer you the depth a true TBS strategy game offers in empire management. You might be interested in some of the Paradox titles ported by Virtual Programming. They're RTS games w/ a pause feature for empire management, as does RoN.

VP Ltd. Strategy games

 

[Welnic]

I was interrupted while writing my reply so I just sent the part I had finished. I was going to recommend the same series of games that dojoboy did. Those games don't really play like RTS games because you can pause them to deal with things, and also run them very slowly when things are active. I really liked Europa Universalis II and Hearts of Iron II. EU II is probably the closest to Civ as it spans the most time. It is a great game as long as you don't try to play as a third rate country. HOI II is a highly detailed WWII game.