Alternative ship-based game suggestions

This is a sensible question, not a dig at EDO or FD per se.

I'm finding EDO rather uninteresting, and it's taken ED in a direction that I'm not really interested in - on foot exploration / FPS is well covered by other games. What I really enjoyed about ED previously was the ship-based exploration and combat, and particularly the ship design / tweaking / optimisation.

Can anyone suggest alternative, ship-based games which have that level of ship design, but with more engaging storylines / playable graphics / interesting things to do ?

Thanks
 

Deleted member 182079

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I suggest you give X4 a try. It's currently on sale on Steam (40% off).

The graphics aren't cutting edge but they work well for immersion (and it's still pretty) and it runs very well (mostly maxed out except AA @2k I get between 65-110fps on an i7 9700 RTX2060s).

What does it for me is the scope (you can play it like Han Solo, or become Emperor of a massive fleet, I have only started recently so am playing through the Solo bit still) and internal logic/coherence - like working economy, ship modules can change the appearance of your ship, those kind of things. There's a lot of QoL stuff in it that I'd love to have in Elite, although some is due to the fact it's a single player game. And I'm quite looking forward to eventually purchase and pilot the larger vessels.

Elite and X4 complement each other quite well in my opinion - I often feel I want to play Elite after a session of X4, and vice versa. Since I own it it's also taken the edge of my disappointment (which is still there of course) with EDO.
 

Deleted member 182079

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X4 looks really good - thank you ! I'll try that out.
Just don't expect another Elite, it plays quite differently and the UI is very... Old school PC... It's also a slow burner and it hasn't quite grabbed me yet (only 5hrs in) but so far I liked what I saw. It's got long term potential for sure and I'm willing to give it an honest go.
 

Deleted member 182079

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In B4 NMS. :)
NMS has improved substantially (particularly the latest update makes the game look rather attractive visually) but I don't really consider it a space game in the sense that the OP (I think) is after. It's more a crafting/survival game mostly on-foot with some very basic ship aspects bolted on that isn't particularly engaging.

Having said that, owning the 3 of them is a pretty good fit, each have their strengths and weaknesses depending on what you want to do. It's also half price so if you're into Fisher Price aesthetics while doing a lot of gathering/crafting it's worth giving it a go - definitely not for the spaceships though.
 
X4 is your best choice, it can feel like a running into a brick wall getting into it but once it gets its claws into you and you start to feel its depth you can't not play it.

X4 gameplay depth with EDs galaxy sim/aesthetic/online modes (when they work) would be the perfect space game I think.

Tip - when you start out, whatever start you pick, use your long range sensors and find some asteroids, travel mode over to them and position yourself above them; use your external cameras to get a good view and watch for a little white ping like dot every now and then on some, fly over, shoot off the crystals you find and sell them at a refinery station for early ways to make cash.
 
Yeah, I've tried NMS, and it doesn't really do it for me. As you say, too much survival & crafting, not enough ship design and space things to do.
 
Spacerift and starship Evo tho early access games seem to be quite decent. Tested them when I was in dire need of a space game a few months ago. I also tried x4 but dunno didn't hook me.

In the end tho it's always elite that I tend to stay for longer periods...dunno as of now I didn't find anything even close 🙃
 
NMS is primarily an on foot game, the ship stuff is pretty secondary.

X4 is more in-depth but a very slow burner.

Toodly pipsky
 
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