Distant Worlds 2

[Moat_Man]

2021 release. Beta starting in January.

[Butterknife]

That’s wonderful news! But this time I’m going to wait until all of the DLC is out to purchase it, I’m tired of being nickel-and-dimed and spending too much on a video game.

[Daehawk]

Always wanted the first one but never was able to afford it. It always looked fun . not super detailed but not plain either.

It came out 6 years ago in 2014 and its STILL $60

[Paradroid]

It's pretty exciting. I came very close to loving DW but it didn't quite work for me. It was ludicrously ambitious after all. I'm very curious to see how the developers do this time around.

[Lorini]

Always wanted the first one but never was able to afford it. It always looked fun . not super detailed but not plain either.

It came out 6 years ago in 2014 and its STILL $60

It goes on sale a lot so just wait for a sale.

[Zenn7]

Always wanted the first one but never was able to afford it. It always looked fun . not super detailed but not plain either.

It came out 6 years ago in 2014 and its STILL $60

It goes on sale a lot so just wait for a sale.

I've seen it for $15 or less (think I only paid $30 when I got it; got it when it first came on Steam I think).

[Daehawk]

Its on sale at GOG for that $15 right now for anyone who was interested.

https://www.gog.com/game/distant_worlds_universe

75% off its still ridiculous $60 price tag.

[Daehawk]

Distant Worlds Universe is 90% off on Steam right now..$5.99

[Butterknife]

Distant Worlds Universe is 90% off on Steam right now..$5.99

It is totally worth it for that price! I'd highly recommend it if you don't have it yet and it interests you at all for that cheap.

[hepcat]

Release date set! It’s March 10th! I’m really looking forward to this one.

P.S. the link above for GOG has DS 1 for 2.99 right now.

[baelthazar]

Release date set! It’s March 10th! I’m really looking forward to this one.

P.S. the link above for GOG has DS 1 for 2.99 right now.

This coincided perfectly with my "You have been with us for 16 years" coupon that I got from Matrix/Slitherine!

[hepcat]

I just preordered off the matrix site after verifying you get a steam key too on release, and the price came out to 30 bucks. So they applied some kind of coupon to my order as well. Nice!

[infinitelurker]

I just saw this is out today on Steam. I’m looking forward to impressions to see if I should pick it up!

[hepcat]

I just downloaded it but may not get to it until this weekend. Stupid work....

....and...uh....Elden Ring.

[jztemple2]

In case someone is still interested in getting Distant Worlds Universe, it is on sale on the Slitherine site for 90% off, or $3.00.

[Daehawk]

I got it not long ago on a sale like that. Ive been waiting years. Not got around to giving it a good go yet but it holds a lot of dreams of mine in it.

[Holman]

I bought DW2 and (because I loved DW1) expect great things, but so far the game doesn't know how to stop. When I quit to desktop, Steam still believes the game is running.

Anyone else have this problem?

[hepcat]

I played a few turns but so far it’s not sparking my interest. The graphics are pretty basic, and the gameplay hasn’t shown me anything yet that I haven’t seen elsewhere. But it’s still early, so it may surprise me. At least I hope so.

Edit: This review kind of sums up what’s wrong and what’s right with the game so far. . And it does state that there’s a lot more under the hood than what I’ve seen, which makes me a bit happier.

[baelthazar]

I played around an hour or so, with a pre-warp setup. So far, not much to do, but the systems are interesting and the game is a pretty big graphical and UI leap over the old one. I am not exactly seeing my construction ships following my orders to build mining stations, but it could be that I have set up my automation incorrectly (something that the RPS article mentions as being a big part of getting the results you want). There is a LOT to learn and much of it is in the UI - it took be forever to see where my new ship designs were listed, for example.

This is pretty standard Distant Worlds fare, IMHO. The original game was exactly like this, and was improved greatly by patches and expansions. I haven't dived deep enough to give a good idea of exactly all that is going on yet, so I look forward to continued exploration.

[Hrdina]

I bought DW2 and (because I loved DW1) expect great things, but so far the game doesn't know how to stop. When I quit to desktop, Steam still believes the game is running.

Anyone else have this problem?

I bought DW2 for the same reason. I was pretty late to the game with DW1/DWU, and ended up spending more time watching people on YT play it.

A few people I trust have basically said that DW2 plays a lot like DWU, but with better graphics, a better engine, and a handful of QoL improvements. That's pretty much what I want. I only got a chance to a little bit last night after work, but expect to have a few hours over the weekend to get more involved.

Yes, I saw that same problem last night when I did Exit to Desktop. Steam did, eventually, realize that I had quit the game. I just saw a small update for DW2 in Steam, so maybe someone reported that problem.

For people new to DW, DasTactis is one of the people with good YT coverage. He of course had a "New Players" video on YT that was ready on launch day.

[dbt1949]

DasTactic covers a lot of the games I'm interested in. Unfortunately he is boring as hell.
Do yall feel DW2 is easier to learn than the first one?

[baelthazar]

DasTactic covers a lot of the games I'm interested in. Unfortunately he is boring as hell.
Do yall feel DW2 is easier to learn than the first one?

I guess it depends. I started as Pre-Warp and it really is like having a tutorial mode to the game. Plenty of room to breath, plenty of time to explore, plenty of time to try out new systems and automation.

That said, pre-warp is kinda boring. About an hour or so in, you start getting shaken down by pirates, which is something. You also get the Warp Bubble tech and can send your ships outside of your home system, which expands your options.

I think this is a really great "learning mode," even though there isn't an actual tutorial attached. Think of it as playing Ireland in Crusader Kings 1-3.

[Daehawk]

I put Endless Space in last night. Took a quick look and ran away. DW is more me I think.

[jztemple2]

Green Man Gaming has Distant Worlds 2 at 20% off right now.

[hepcat]

Green Man Gaming has Distant Worlds 2 at 20% off right now.

Did you/will you be picking it up? I’d be interested in some AARs.

[jztemple2]

Green Man Gaming has Distant Worlds 2 at 20% off right now.

Did you/will you be picking it up? I’d be interested in some AARs.

I'm not sure, 20% isn't triggering my "must buy" instinct.

[Hrdina]

Green Man Gaming has Distant Worlds 2 at 20% off right now.

Did you/will you be picking it up? I’d be interested in some AARs.

Do not distract him from his CK3 AAR.

[hepcat]

[jztemple2]

Green Man Gaming has Distant Worlds 2 at 20% off right now.

Did you/will you be picking it up? I’d be interested in some AARs.

Do not distract him from his CK3 AAR.

I'm afraid there won't be any more updates on the CK3 AAR, at least not for awhile. It got to be too much of "been there, done that, got the crown for it". I'm actually playing Transport Fever 2,which apparently we don't have a thread for. I might make one. And, just as off topic, I might mention I'm deep into reading The Cowboy at Work: All About His Job and How He Does It by Fay E. Ward.

So, no DK2 impressions with screenshots from folks yet? I've looked at the Steam store and some reviews but those don't seem to really grasp the gameplay.

[Hrdina]

Green Man Gaming has Distant Worlds 2 at 20% off right now.

Did you/will you be picking it up? I’d be interested in some AARs.

Do not distract him from his CK3 AAR.

I'm afraid there won't be any more updates on the CK3 AAR, at least not for awhile. It got to be too much of "been there, done that, got the crown for it". I'm actually playing Transport Fever 2,which apparently we don't have a thread for. I might make one. And, just as off topic, I might mention I'm deep into reading The Cowboy at Work: All About His Job and How He Does It by Fay E. Ward.

So, no DK2 impressions with screenshots from folks yet? I've looked at the Steam store and some reviews but those don't seem to really grasp the gameplay.

Is "DK2" Distant Kings 2 or something? Sounds awesome.

I've not yet had time to get too deep into DW2. Thursday I came home from work late, and Friday was "pick up the kids from college for Spring Break" day (so I had to drive out to Long Island). I've mostly been playing around with it; everything has that familiar feel to it, but I hadn't played DWU in a couple of years so I've to get my head out of Stellaris mode and back into DW mode. So far I like what I've seen but it's a very superficial opinion.

Rather than reviews from the usual places, I would rely on the various YT/Twitch people that I know were very into DW1/DWU before (Das, Larry Monte, Tortuga, Quill even). Larry, in particular, tends to go deep because he usually plays with most of the automation off. They've all posted gameplay videos from the the beta period, and now have videos from the release version. I haven't really had time to check these out, and TBH probably never will if I want to have time to actually play games or do anything else!

I rarely pay much attention to Steam reviews for games.

[jztemple2]

Is "DK2" Distant Kings 2 or something? Sounds awesome.

It is! It's all about space emperors and such


Thanks for the videos. I'll give them a look.

[Sepiche]

Played this a bunch yesterday, and was really looking forward to it, but I gotta say I'm pretty underwhelmed with what they released.

a) It's pretty buggy. Beyond the performance issues which range in severity, the longer you play the more you see lots of little issues with the automation, poor AI, etc. Pretty similar honestly to the types of bugs in DW1 when it released.

Which brings us to:
b) One of the things I loved about DW1 was all the new ideas it brought into the genre and, after some fixing, it even worked pretty well. All they really seem to have done here after the lengthy dev time is remake DW1 with an okay 3d engine and mediocre UI update. To be fair there is some tinkering on the edges in how things work, but most of the mechanics feel largely the same.

Assuming they get the performance and bugs fixed a bit I think anyone who didn't play DW1 will actually find a lot to like here in a prettier package. Once it's at that point I would certainly play it over DW1, but really feeling like I should have passed on this until it's fixed up and on sale.

[hepcat]

Which brings us to:
b) One of the things I loved about DW1 was all the new ideas it brought into the genre and, after some fixing, it even worked pretty well. All they really seem to have done here after the lengthy dev time is remake DW1 with an okay 3d engine and mediocre UI update. To be fair there is some tinkering on the edges in how things work, but most of the mechanics feel largely the same.

This has been my take as well after a few more hours.