Astrowars

Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
edited December 2003 in Off-Topic
<div class="IPBDescription">Pure, free, quality entertainment</div> Afternoon all (or whatever time you might be at if you are not one of the worlds annointed - ie Australian <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->)

Recently, I have moved out of home, got a job and got 512 unlimited ADSL goodness. Four years of HL on 56k finally over. But thats beside the point. I started playing NS hardcore, broadband gives you an advantage the HPB's can only dream of. Now I had a mate whose still on dialup, and he told me about this webbased space empire building game called Astrowars. He said it r0x0red, he loved it, it pwned ns and life in general.

I told him he was a freakin n00b whose ping had obviously been affecting his brain. So I didnt sign up, just listened to him raving about it for a few weeks. Finally the nagging became too much, and I signed up. At first I thought, argh this is just a MOO hack broken down to extreme simplicity. But oh how wrong I was. The game was incredibly satisfying, researching tech, building up population, colonising other worlds, creating fleets and trading. It was brilliantly designed, with a tight community, it solved the usual problems of joe hardcore smashing everyone and killing the fun, its constantly evolving with a dedicated dev team almost on par with ours.

But best of all was the fact that it doesnt replace you other games. Mad about C&C Generals? Just bought Savage? Sign up anway. You gain production points/research points over time, and your planets dont require mass micromanagement. So you log in every couple of hours or whenever, spend a few points, check up on anything, then go straight back to playing whichever game tickles your fancy. Dont have masses of time to waste on it? Thats fine, all it takes is 5-6 minutes to sort out even the largest of empires.

It doesnt replace your gaming experiences, it just supplements them. Its 56k friendly, no flash or anything like that. And I'd really like to share the goodness - so I'd encourage you all to take a look. I can refer you if you like <a href='http://www.astrowars.com/register/?r=17457' target='_blank'>Click Here</a> to register as a referral, and it will give me a very small bonus.
The homepage is <a href='http://www.astrowars.com' target='_blank'>www.astrowars.com</a>, so have a look there if you want to know more about it. Click about and have a browse of the glossary might also help you to know what exactly you are signing up for.

You wont regret it, its the simple things in life that are often the best. Easy to get the hang of, with a satisfaction rating of 10/10. If you have any questions about the game once you've signed up, feel free to pm me or post questions here.
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Comments

  • Supra_SoldierSupra_Soldier Join Date: 2003-02-02 Member: 12993Members, Constellation
    It sounds pretty freakin sweet, is it like Homeworld at all? Because homeworld rocks. Oh, and do you have to pay-to-play? Because if so I'm out, no game is so good that you should have to buy it once and then pay just to play it.
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    edited October 2003
    Free my friend, Free free free.

    Well it IS webbased okay - its not downloaded. So you can imagine just how simple it will be. But dont let that put you off - its really fun.

    Homeworld is a lot like a more indepth game of Masters of Orion or stars with a twist. So if you liked homeworld, you should enjoy this.

    EDIT

    And here's a thought, when you sign up, try putting NS_"whatevernameyouwant" as your username, so we all know eachother. I'm not trying to start a clan, but if I knew you were a NS junkie then I just might send my battleships and transports to the other guys planet y'know <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    Bump - come on people its an awesome game. I know its pwned by NS but at least give it a go. Anyway, bumpage so more people see it.....
  • GeminosityGeminosity :3 Join Date: 2003-09-08 Member: 20667Members
    I've played a few web-based 'you don't have to be here' games and that really put me off the idea.

    Unlike the others just from having a quick peek though, it seems like this one is nicely presented (for once <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ).
    My main problem with these games is the 'why?' syndrome which strikes with a lot of things; sure it's a nice game and stuff (I'm guessing, still haven't tried it) but if the game doesn't require you there for vast tracts of time with only the occassional checkup to make sure your empire hasn't starved to death or evolved into a giant set of tumbleweed then it's hard to really justify playing it at all.
    I know this type of game appeals to me in real-time with me actually being there 100% to play it but when you slow it down and make it automated enough to live on it's own then my interest takes a flying leap-jump out the window to play gunbound or something <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->

    I'm sure some people will appreciate it but I don't think I'm one of them =)
  • SoulSkorpionSoulSkorpion Join Date: 2002-04-12 Member: 423Members
    11:30AM isn't in the afternoon, and I'm Australian <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • Nil_IQNil_IQ Join Date: 2003-04-15 Member: 15520Members
    I got addicted to Utopia some time ago... I may not want to click that link....
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    edited September 2003
    <!--QuoteBegin--Geminosity+Sep 27 2003, 08:07 AM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Geminosity @ Sep 27 2003, 08:07 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> I've played a few web-based 'you don't have to be here' games and that really put me off the idea.

    Unlike the others just from having a quick peek though, it seems like this one is nicely presented (for once <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif'><!--endemo--> ).
    My main problem with these games is the 'why?' syndrome which strikes with a lot of things; sure it's a nice game and stuff (I'm guessing, still haven't tried it) but if the game doesn't require you there for vast tracts of time with only the occassional checkup to make sure your empire hasn't starved to death or evolved into a giant set of tumbleweed then it's hard to really justify playing it at all.
    I know this type of game appeals to me in real-time with me actually being there 100% to play it but when you slow it down and make it automated enough to live on it's own then my interest takes a flying leap-jump out the window to play gunbound or something <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->

    I'm sure some people will appreciate it but I don't think I'm one of them =) <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    But you do have to be there, just not all the time. I mean you can log in every 30 seconds and spend resources bit by bit, or you can log in every few hours if you like and spend them in one big hit.

    All I'm saying is this is not the first web based game I've ever played, but its certainly the most fun, especially given that waiting is part of it, micromanagement is important but not essential, and it keeps things simple. Yet satisfying. It finds that really fine line between having so much control that you have to be there all the time, and having the whole thing so automated you might as well just sign up and leave the game to run itself. Really, give it a few days. It wont take much of your time at all at the start, and you have nothing to lose.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    ok, i signed up. i dont know why, but i did

    looks intersting, need to take a bit of time getting to know everything, but looks like it could be fun
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    Ahahahah exactly the way I felt at first Boogle. Not even slightly interested, but what the hell its only 7 minutes of my time gone. Then I remembered my planet about 2 days later, came back and spent a few resources on colony ships, built a few farms and factories, and slowly the wonder of watching my planet improve and making alliances grew.

    Then I would go and play a few hours of NS, come out, and then go, oh, wonder how my planets doing. Just knowing that my resources were growing while I was off playing ns started to give me a warm fuzzy feeling, and before I knew it, I was thinking more about astrowars then NS. I played NS to pass the time for more resources. Then I sent a colony ship to another planet and it was like giving birth.

    Small tip, try changing your science research field to social science straight up, it gives you a bit of an advantage. And I find building factories, then farms till both are about lvl 4 to be really helpful as well.
  • ZupiCoZupiCo Custom titles rule&#33; Join Date: 2003-03-22 Member: 14792Members
    Ok, I signed up as NS-ZupiCo, seems really interesting, but I have a couple of questions. <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

    1. What is your nick on Astrowars, Marine01?

    2. Is it possible to form alliances, and in that case, how?

    Well, back to waiting for production points. <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    1. Avenell (No NS because I didnt think of that idea until later....)

    2. Unfortunately at this stage, alliances are oral. Full integrated alliance support doesnt come until the next beta. So you really have to trust those who you ally with. When you go to the map, click on the star system in the middle of it. It will give you a list of names of those people in you star system. Then click on the name, and then "Send Private Message" down the bottom. Then ask for an alliance.
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    well, my name is boggle. (surprise surprise) it doesnt have an NS tag because you hadnt thought of it

    Is there any particular reason you are not supposed to have more than one account?
  • ElectricSheepElectricSheep Join Date: 2003-04-21 Member: 15716Members
    It doesn't work for me. When ever I try to logon it says "Please Login Again" I do and then it still says "Please Login Again" Any help?
  • ElectricSheepElectricSheep Join Date: 2003-04-21 Member: 15716Members
    My windows based machine is broken and I have to use my mac which is why it isn't working I think. Someone can have my account on Astrowars cause it doesn't work.

    ElectricSheep
    Mjolnir

    PS: thats not my forum pass.
  • DiablusDiablus Join Date: 2003-03-31 Member: 15080Members
    edited September 2003
    oEDIT: Ok nvm, im in. i am confuseeed as hell, do u see the abtteles? or does it says in words, Diablus starship killed (name) road runner ship! because if it does, u can count me OUT!!!!!!!
  • xioutlawixxioutlawix Join Date: 2002-11-05 Member: 7118Members, Constellation
    Just started playing myself, not bad, provides a lil distraction every couple of hours,interesting to see what's happening.
    Any tips for just starting up though? I'm gathering that its centered around building up PP's, so I started with robot. factories, and hydro.'s to build population. Beyond that, clueless.
    Is the game supposed to take this long to get the ball rolling initially? Lotta waiting around at the beginning to accumulate some pp's.
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    edited September 2003
    Sheep its okay man - every so often they will update a feature of the game, and while you are doing it you cant log in for about 20 minutes. Also check that you are getting the case right with your login name and password, and make sure you have got that email from the server that you click to activate your account.

    Suggestion to startup, change your science to Social Science asap. Then build a robotic factory, then a hydro farm, then a factory, then a farm etc till you have lvl 4 in factories and lvl 4 in hydro farms. The PP should be flowing in nicely by that stage. Get a few galactic subnets (the more you have the more your culture increases by each hour, the more culture you have the more planets you can colonise/take over), and then get research lab. If your Culture gets to level 2 try building a colony ship and getting a nearby planet. Dont bother upgrading your starbase unless someone launches a fleet heading to your planet. You will get a warning if they do that tho.....

    Time is a big part of this game xioutlawix, its not the sorta game that you play for hours on end. Go play NS for a couple of hours, come back when the PP have accumulated, spend them, and then go do something else. Just check up every few hours or so, just to make sure no-one is attacking you.

    Yeah there is a reason Boogle, do not under any circumstance create a second one without resigning the first account and never using it again, because if you do they will land on you like a ton of bricks. Multi-ing as it is called is heavily frowned upon, because people will create 5 different accounts, and just have one Main account, and merely use the others as a supply farm. In the game you can cash production points in, and then transfer cash to other players. Thus some lamas would just use their other accounts as cashcows for the main, and it really screwed the game up.

    So they developed a pretty good system based around IP addresses and a few other things and if you get caught multi-ing, you'll be deleted. If they think you are multi-ing but not sure, they will give you code yellow. You then have one week to contact an admin and explain yourself (ie my little brother plays it too on the same connection), or your account gets nuked. They are pretty reasonable mostly, and I havent seen multi-ing being a serious problem, it only really matters a lot to the extremely serious guys, and since they are in the core worlds and you are in the outer rim, you probably wont see them this round
  • es_quatroes_quatro Join Date: 2003-06-18 Member: 17468Members
    edited September 2003
    Evening all

    I highly recommend getting into Astowars. I signed up Marine01 for it. I got into it after a combination of waiting for my ADSL to be connected (still 8 weeks and counting) and university is starting to get crazy so little time for hours of online gaming.

    I think the interface could be alot more user - friendly. The glossary is just as bad, not too logical, but I think the creator is German, so we won't hold that against it <!--emo&;)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/wink.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='wink.gif'><!--endemo-->

    The game is continually improving, give it at least half a week and you will be addicted, you will live, breathe and eat ASTROWARS. I have tried a few online MMOG web based games and this is simplistic enough when you get really large. Simple things in life are often the best.

    This game is awesome. Give it half a chance and you will love it. I haven't signed up anyone yet that isn't signing in on a daily basis. I am near the centre of the universe for this beta. you can find me at (-6, 3) on the starmap.

    Ah, I could go through all the answers to common questions. but I think I will be available to answer any if any.

    I learnt a combination of just clicking and guessing and looking on the forums. There is not much to dislike about astrowars. Which reminds me I am off to send a fleet to take back a planet that was so stolen from me. <!--emo&:angry:--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/mad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='mad.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Okay they are sent. Goodbye Loupescalou (dirty French so and so.) <!--emo&???--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/confused.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='confused.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Feel free to post questions,
    oh yeah, one more thing one reason why you may not be able to log on, every day around 2pm GMT it has a bit of trouble. It is usually right within the hour though. Maybe high server load.

    <!--QuoteBegin--Z.X. Bogglesteinsky+Sep 28 2003, 05:46 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Z.X. Bogglesteinsky @ Sep 28 2003, 05:46 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin-->

    Is there any particular reason you are not supposed to have more than one account?<!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    This is because people get a couple of accounts and send money to the main account. Alliances used to work that way until beta 3 where they capped the amount of fleets in transit and also introduce a tax on money transfers.


    Optimal
    The original AW - ASTROWHORE -
  • DiablusDiablus Join Date: 2003-03-31 Member: 15080Members
    ok so i hear about these alliance things going on, why dont all or most ns forumers form a giant aliance called the NS alaince? =p then we can go and.. do stuff.. like invading other plaents.. if you can do that...
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    Oh yes you can, simply siege an enemy planet and then send over the transports.... When my scanners increase so I can see any of you guys I'll be in that alliance like a shot. Should be heaps fun.
  • DiablusDiablus Join Date: 2003-03-31 Member: 15080Members
    edited September 2003
    <!--QuoteBegin--Marine01+Sep 29 2003, 06:11 PM--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>QUOTE</b> (Marine01 @ Sep 29 2003, 06:11 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'><!--QuoteEBegin--> Oh yes you can, simply siege an enemy planet and then send over the transports.... When my scanners increase so I can see any of you guys I'll be in that alliance like a shot. Should be heaps fun. <!--QuoteEnd--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--QuoteEEnd-->
    you bet ^^ im looking foward to having an alliance thats pretty big and we could take over the galaxy mwuahahah! man im so evil, i really hope i dont somehow gain control over a huge army, or else ud all be ruled by me! <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->


    err not in the game.. in the real world lol please dont crush my small begining butt all you well huge fleet ppl <!--emo&:(--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/sad.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='sad.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • LegionnairedLegionnaired Join Date: 2002-04-30 Member: 552Members, Constellation
    edited September 2003
    I signed up, I'm NS_Legion.

    Let the building of the armada commmence!

    BTW, I'm at (42,21)

    Oh, and maybe we should specialize? One guy builds Cruisers, one guys builds Destroyers, one guy gets transports, and someone gets a bunch of sensors and tech to get it all working...
  • DiablusDiablus Join Date: 2003-03-31 Member: 15080Members
    legionare, i cant find your universe lol i found 42's but not 42,21 lol
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    edited September 2003
    Eheheheh Legion slow down there you're one beta ahead of yourself <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->

    Until next beta, all alliances are in written contracts only. Which means if I send my fleet over to a planet where your fleet is just to say hello - they might not get on as well as you and I do.....

    Actually they will smash each other. So we cant really specialise, we have to have separate fleets with a mix of all three ships. But we can help each other out in the form of sponsoring. Say if Legion is in some serious trouble, I can cash my pp's in for astrodollars, then transfer them over to him, he can buy pp with it and build a fleet.

    Or Legion gets attacked by "Badman X", so to help him out I come and attack the guy seiging his planet. Or I could assault Badmans planets and draw him off.

    It might be a good idea if we all posted our exact login names (capital letters matter), along with the co-ordinates of our star systems. Just so we can guage how close we are to each other.

    My login name is Avenell, and I am pwning in Alruccabah (-17/40).

    To see what coordinates you are at, click map, then click on the stars in the middle, then look up the top.

    If you dont understand a certain building or concept, hold you cursor over its name - it should turn green. Then click it and it will take you to the glossary entry for it. It can be quite helpful to orientate you.
  • NecroticNecrotic Big Girl&#39;s Blouse Join Date: 2002-01-25 Member: 53Members, NS1 Playtester
    Username = Hodge
    Coordinates = 43/-30
    I'm in the Alpha Harp Star region \o/
    I'm sure I played this before..is this the one that evolved from MageWars?
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    edited September 2003
    Hrrrmmmmmm never heard of that before Necrotic, it is possible that one of MageWars developers split off and created his own game. Ever heard of Allesroger? He is pretty much the Flayra of Astrowars.

    EDIT added necro to the list
  • Daza4Daza4 Kerc Kasha Join Date: 2003-04-06 Member: 15233Members
    edited September 2003
    I signed up, got into the game spent some thingies but than a error came NoOooOoO

    <!--c1--></span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td><b>CODE</b> </td></tr><tr><td id='CODE'><!--ec1-->Login - Currently Not Available<!--c2--></td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'><!--ec2-->

    Also how do you find out where you are? like cordinates

    EDIT:Ok got it working In system 30/41 alpha sceptrum name Daza400 <!--emo&:)--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/smile.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='smile.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • Marine0IMarine0I Join Date: 2002-11-14 Member: 8639Members, Constellation
    edited September 2003
    Try again later man, I never get that error so I suspect it happens at a time when I am regularily at work or sleeping. As Es Quatro said, they are either updating the game or unusually high server load. Just give it a while and you'll be right.

    Added Daza400

    Ehehehe loving that sig there <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->
  • BogglesteinskyBogglesteinsky Join Date: 2002-12-24 Member: 11488Members
    Alpha Ras al Asad al Shamali (-38/-17)
  • Nil_IQNil_IQ Join Date: 2003-04-15 Member: 15520Members
    edited September 2003
    Don't forget to add NS_ before your names so we can see you more easily!

    I'm NS_Roadkill, on Alpha Achird, -39/-12 (so i'm right on the edge. From the look of the populations of the galaxy, the game has barely begun, yay!

    I do agree that it takes too long to start up. You should start with a big load of PPs, i'm thinking 100ish. This would speed the game up in the early stages no end. Plus it wouldn't be unbalanced; someone COULD spend all their starting PP's on destroyers, but then they couldnt take your planet because they have no transports, and no PP's left to build one! I should be a dev for a game <!--emo&:D--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html/emoticons/biggrin.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='biggrin.gif'><!--endemo-->

    I love the sheer simplicity! If this game had like 10 types of ship, one of them would be bound to be hugely overpowered and a few would be severely underpowered. I like it as it is, 3 attack units, 5 building types.
This discussion has been closed.