Author Topic: Games like Aurora  (Read 43697 times)

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Offline ardem (OP)

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Games like Aurora
« on: December 10, 2010, 09:24:46 PM »
I interested to know if there are any other games out there with about the same difficulty as Aurora but might be for other settings.

I know of
- Dwarf Fortress, but the ascii nature for me is of putting.
- War in the Pacific, is another complex game and not to bad
 

Offline Thyrann

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2014, 04:57:02 AM »
Would like to about other games too.  It looks like Aurora is one of its kind, not suprisingly i suppose. 

Aurora is a great game for those who enjoy MASSIVE detail and complexity in games.  And probably there is not much of us.
 

Offline Paul M

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #2 on: March 20, 2014, 07:08:33 AM »
Instead of War in the Pacific (as it is older than dust) I'd suggest War in the Pacific, Admiral's Edition.
On the same vein is Gary Grigsby's War in the East and soon to come "War in the West"

Both of the above games I have to limit my play time to holidays as otherwise I get sucked into the "just another turn syndrome" quite baddly.

War in the East suffers from a few things.  Logisitics are off since fuel is never critical for the Wehrmacht and it was a driving reason for their actions from 42 onwards.  Also there is a few odd things that happen with the German side later on such as the removal of the 6th Army in early 43 that annoy people.  On the Russian side some of the gamey stuff the German is able to accomplish is a tad annoying as well.  As a Grognard I tend to sit in the middle, there are things which could be better but on the other hand it is pretty good simulation of the eastern front.

War in the Pacific, AE I believe corrected the situation that made it a WW1 Artillary Generals wet dream, but I still find the ground combat mystifying.  Exactly how did my infantry regiment supported by an AT regiment get overrun by an unsported japanese tank battalion?  It does require a great deal of management though, supply lines have to be established and so forth.  I have to admit I learned a lot playing the game, the pacific theatre was never one of my favorites.

Hearts of Iron X is also a similiar sort of game, depending on which country you are playing, as much as I liked some changes in III I never played it as much as II, and I am looking forward to see what gets done in IV.  Victoria and Victoria 2 are as well.  I find the economics in Victoria X baffling.  I managed to destroy the prussian economy in Victoria and the US economy in the Victoria 2 demo neither action should be possible but are relatively easy to do.  I found Rome though not very interesting, but largely because it was totally divorsed from reality.  I had spartan armies ramapaging around in Gaul, something that is just impossible on just about every level concievable.

There doesn't seem to be many publishers offering complex games at the moment.  I keep my eyes on Matix Games, and Paradox since they are the ones I know of.
 

Offline MarcAFK

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  • ...it's so simple an idiot could have devised it..
Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #3 on: March 20, 2014, 07:40:35 AM »
What about AI war?
It's not really like Aurora at all but has a hideous difficulty, I've only ever played the demo and never got far, basically the better you do against the AI the more stuff it will send at you.
" Why is this godforsaken hellhole worth dying for? "
". . .  We know nothing about them, their language, their history or what they look like.  But we can assume this.  They stand for everything we don't stand for.  Also they told me you guys look like dorks. "
"Stop exploding, you cowards.  "
 

Offline Erik L

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #4 on: March 20, 2014, 07:55:21 AM »
I'd also keep an eye on Shrapnel Games.

Offline CharonJr

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #5 on: March 20, 2014, 11:04:11 AM »
Dominions 4 might be worth a look as well due to its pretender design, army composition/tactics (including use of magic), magic research and magic item construction.
 

Offline Defacto

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #6 on: October 23, 2014, 04:34:04 PM »
Jane's Fleet Command is pretty much Aurora, but real time and set at sea in the late 1900's.
Even the map interface is really similar.  FC does have prettier graphics though (despite being from 1999).
 

Offline AcidWeb

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #7 on: October 25, 2014, 01:45:07 AM »
Distant Worlds: Universe
 

Offline ardem (OP)

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #8 on: October 26, 2014, 10:05:11 PM »
Adding to this list of complex games tat come across since I first added this post.

Crusader Kings II, this is a complex game with a lot of options and first 7 games normally ends for you quite quickly.
HOI 3 with the Black Ice mod - It got a fair bit of complexity and micromanagement however it is simplistic compared to WITP, however it allows bigger scope and allows more detail outside historic outcomes.

Played Dominion 4 it is a nice game but the combat is much like risk, higher tech and higher forces always win, the complexity like risk is where you put your troops, the terrible part of this game is there lack of  very few terrain chokepoints, ever the sea you get attacked by sea people. I would not add this under complex game section but, there is complexity it in simplicity (like chess)
 

Offline Canek

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #9 on: October 28, 2014, 08:27:51 PM »
There is one.

Now, when I say that I mean not only in complexity, but in theme.  A true 4x space conquest galore.  It is Space Empires, in two flavors: Space Empires V with Kwok's balance mod, or Space empires IV with any of its great mods.  There is simply not another game that comes closer to Aurora in terms of depth and complexity, even if Aurora is still more complex.  As stated in the first post, perhaps the only other reasonable comparison would be Dwarf Fortress.

I wish someone could prove me wrong showing me another complex great Space 4x.  .  .

 

Offline IanD

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2015, 05:02:44 AM »
IanD
 

Offline nadia911

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #11 on: October 08, 2015, 09:19:28 AM »
Pride of Nations by AGEOD /Matrix

 

Offline Canek

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #12 on: October 08, 2015, 04:48:49 PM »
Quote from: IanD link=topic=3104. msg81641#msg81641 date=1444212164
Anybody played it? It looks vast!

hxxp: www. matrixgames. com/products/515/details/Distant. Worlds. -. Universe

I actually bought & tried this after seeing it in this post.  It is very good, but there's a catch, as usual. 

The thing is, unlike Aurora, I tend to get to an optimal ship design for every spec for every tech evel, and it looks the same regardless race or time playing.  Also, as you can automate most of the game, battles and the such feel RTSish instead of the almost RPG feeling of Aurora, even at full manual control.

I suposse it will give you good entertaining hours, but you'll get back here eventually =D
 

Offline Erik L

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #13 on: October 08, 2015, 04:54:45 PM »
I suposse it will give you good entertaining hours, but you'll get back here eventually =D

We all do. Aurora is like a black hole, sucking us into its accretion disk.

Offline Sematary

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Re: Games like Aurora
« Reply #14 on: October 08, 2015, 04:58:11 PM »
Pride of Nations by AGEOD /Matrix
I can't stand playing anything by AGEOD. As a huge fan of both board games, history, and complex hard games I feel like I should love the stuff they publish but it just feels painful trying to play their stuff.