Complex spaceflight sims

I built myself a space flight sim cockpit with an X-52 HOTAS stick to prep for Star Citizen, but in the meantime I'm looking at spaceflight sims to hold me over until next year. I've been having a blast with Strike Suit Zero/Infinity even though it's a linear, mission based sim as opposed to my preferred Privateer-style games. I've beaten SSZ, on the last mission of the DLC and I've nearly finished all the missions in Infinity and now I'm looking for something else. I've already played the X series, Darkstar One, Tachyon, Freelancer, all the Wing Commanders, Privateer 1 and 2, and a few others. Now I'm looking for anything else that I can play, preferably that's not too arcade-y since I have this nice HOTAS stick.

Now I'm looking for other games, even if they are linear and mission based. Here are some of the games that I'm looking at:

• Evochron Mercenary
  • This one is complicated and deep looking but the full install is like 350MB so that's not promising.
• Galaxy On Fire 2 HD
  • PC release of a mobile game. Also not promising.
• Starlight Inception
  • Don't know much about it.
• Starpoint Gemini 2
  • 1 didn't get good reviews but 2 might be decent.
• Void Destroyer
  • Early access but might be cool. It's more than just a space combat sim so the space combat sim part probably isn't terribly complicated.

I own all of these, but my free time is limited so I'm looking for opinions on if any of these are worth investing in. Has anyone played any of these -or- are there any that I'm missing? These indie games tend to be short on reviews so there's not a wealth of material out there on if these titles are good or not.

Thanks in advance.

-Byshop

Built a cockpit .... nice man, I bet the immersion is sick.

Well I really dont have any advice for you, but I can say to stay away from X-rebirth. I am trying to get into a space sim myself and I decided to take a shot at that one. Im sure it will be prettly lame sitting in that cockpit only be stuck in traffic jam after traffic jam in what that game uses for a highway travel system.

But I wouldnt mind some advice from you.... I also pre-ordered Star Citizen only because of how much I loved the Wing Commander games back in the day. I have heard Freelancer but i cant seem to buy it anywhere. What game would you recommend?

Also a friend at work keeps on recommending me to play Independence Wars 2. Old school but it looked fun... unfortunately I do not have a stick, and the k/m controls are not good.

It's an Obutto R3volution cockpit with the three monitor mount and flightstick mount options. Strike Suit Zero/Infinity is the only game that I've extensively played with it, but the HOTAS stick and throttle I can do a lot simultaneously in those games. Targeting controls are on the throttle and gun switching is under the largest thumb button so I can flip back and forth easily in combat.

Too late, and yes X-Stillbirth is awful. Independence War 1 and 2 were both great, but they were more like starship simulators. You moved from room to room performing different functions. They were great games, especially 2. Freelancer was fun too, although it was more geared towards mouse control.

I have no idea where to get these games nowadays because I played them all when they were new.

-Byshop

That is sick!! was going to ask you to post a picture... who needs a desk when you got that

That mentality is how I got my wife to agree to the purchase. It's also an "Ergonomic Workstation" so it's easy on the back for long work hours. Here's the website:

http://obutto.com/

Their entry level model will run you about $350, which is way cheaper than most of their competitors. The few people I know who are doing this without wanting to spend thousands are going with these guys.

-Byshop

Hey byshop im also in the kickstarter for star citizen..Joined a guild also..http://atlasdefenseindustries.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=2..This is the team I joined..Ive been looking for a game like this myself for a very long time..Im impressed bye chris and how much money he has raised..Its gone from a simple space game to landing on planets..Also bounty hunting..Hopefully it grows an stays around as long as eve online has..Its some thing im looking to sink my teath into...

Love the set up its great..Hope you don't mind if I take some ideas..lol

I was a late backer but I put down enough for all the early access. Glad you like the setup. If you're looking to build one yourself, here are all the items you see in the pic:

Obutto R3volution Cockpit - http://obutto.com/index.php/gaming-cockpits/r3volution-gaming-cockpit/
Obutto Triple Monitor Mount (add on for the single monitor mount included with the cockpit)
Obutto Flightstick Mount
Obutto Acrylic Tables add-on

Saitek X52 HOTAS (stick and throttle) - http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x52pro.html

The computer stuff is less relevant, but the monitors are Dell u2711s. I also have a Lgitech g27 wheel, pedals and sequential shifter that I can swap in for racing games.

-Byshop

That looks like a good workspace.

You can get I-war 1 and 2 at gog.com

Thanks. That helps enzyme, but does anyone have an answer to my original question?

-Byshop

flight simulater you can use this for also if you go to gog.com..Might have some old games sims on there u can look into

Thanks, but a flight simulator game is not what I'm looking for. I know -how- to search for games on the internet. And for old-school space combat sims I've played pretty much every old title since the Elite, Space Rogue and Wing Commander days. What I am looking for are suggestions from people who have played any modern or semi-modern space combat sims (like the ones I listed) and provide feedback.

As an update to the thread, I put some time into Evochron Mercenary. It's a bit rough around the edges since it's such a small indie game, but the "simulation" aspect is very impressive. The game features a true "Newtonian" physics model and ship control can be flipped from assisted to unassisted. In unassisted, your ship never loses velocity unless you apply thrust to slow down or you are affected by an external influence (collision, gravity, etc). There's very little campaign, but the universe itself seems impressive.

-Byshop

Freespace 2!!! You can download it at gog.com. It's always on Gamespot's all time greatest games lists. They say it's the game that killed the whole space sim genre because it was so good there was nowhere left to go but down. The game is old, but fan communities have modded it to look as good as modern games.

juda hes looking for a game to use the flight stick that is click an use mouse

I forgot to mention that one but yes, I've played the heck out of all the Descent Freespace games. Freespace 2 is definitely one of the best games of its time. Although they are much more dated, honorable mention also goes to the X-Wing vs Tie Fighter series.

Freespace 2 works with a flight stick.

-Byshop