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I have always had a sweet spot for space games but over the years I have developed more mix feelings.

Starting out with Escape Velocity in the 90s.
After playing Sid Meyers Alpha Centauri, Iwar, Homeworld, X2, Kotor 1&2, Civ: Beyond worlds, Mass Effect, Elite Dangerous and Stellaris and seriously considered Eve Online, X3&4, Star Citizen, No mans sky and Starfield I have hard to find something that match my current preferences.

- I have limited time, so Eve online and other MMOs are out, I also prefer co-op instead of pvp.
- I prefer games where you control the game pace. Realtime action or long cinematics with dialogs you cannot stop is not on my wishlist.
- Spaceflight simulators is not my thing, I struggled a lot with the flying bit in Iwar and ED.
- It is very hard to both show the vastness of space and also fill it with meaningful and varied activities (so long ED, No mans sky and Starfield)

Guess I am stuck with Stellaris for now, dreaming of a rerelease of Alpha Centauri.
I recently tried Sins of a Solar Empire Rebellion and said no thanks. If I want to do this, I'll pull out Homeworld remastered, although my understanding this is a broader scenario vs Homeworld.
 
Starship Simulator Demo

I'm trying to figure out why you'd want to play this. Highly detailed star ship simulation. There will be crew members I assume NPCs, plus promises multiplayer.

Did Navigation tutorial, detailed exploration info and steps to go through, but I'm not really seeing the point. You are exploring the known galaxy, but what you discover is all made up, and planets are procedurally generated, such as you might technology hits. But what will you do with this info? Will there be any intrigue, physcal exploration? What is the pull here? Unknown as of yet. 🤔
 
My favorite is "Master of Orion" on Steam. It's the remade version of "Masters of Orion III".

Note: Steam says that the game is 32 bit but it is actually 64 bit and runs great under the latest MacOS.

I tried to make it run on my new Studio M4. No luck. It starts up and get to the menu screen, but locks the computer. No keyboard or mouse input. Since I had the ”reopen apps when restart” option on, I had to restart in safe mode to get rid of it. I tried using a recommended launch parameter for 64 bit systems. No change. Maybe the 32-bit warning had som substance?
 
I tried to make it run on my new Studio M4. No luck. It starts up and get to the menu screen, but locks the computer. No keyboard or mouse input. Since I had the ”reopen apps when restart” option on, I had to restart in safe mode to get rid of it. I tried using a recommended launch parameter for 64 bit systems. No change. Maybe the 32-bit warning had som substance?

I'm not sure. It runs without any issues on my M2 and M3 Macs under the latest Sequoia. 32 bit games would not run at all.

Did you try to verify files under Steam ?

It also may be a screen resolution issue. You might try adjusting the graphics within the game settings before hitting the start button.

My settings are 1920 x 1080 Ultra with 2 x aliasing and vsync on. You also might try starting the game in windowed mode and then switching to full screen after you hit start.

I also have the race pack DLC installed which might make a difference.

 
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I'm trying to figure out why you'd want to play this. Highly detailed star ship simulation. There will be crew members I assume NPCs, plus promises multiplayer.

Tbh, this looks weird
A star trek starship simulator that includes real astrophysics and real time interstellar travel but not the star trek universe.

I remember a space travel game from microsoft space simulator - it was mostly a nothing game because of the distances you had to travel, and when you get their, there's nothing there. This reminds me of that.

There's been other star trek games both multiplayer and single player where you and your crew explore, do missions, fight enemies. I don't know about a starship simulator just going from point a to point b. There has to be more to it
 
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When I try to start MOO 2 from the Steam Library page, I see a warning that my M2 MacBook running Sequoia is unable to play 32bit games, and it refuses to start.
I play it using a version I d'loaded from GOG a while ago, simply called MOO 2.app, from the Finder. It starts with a DOS-like interface Launcher asking me if I want option 1 -> play Moo2, 2-> Go to DOS settings, 3-> exit.
Works fine.

The Get Info in Finder shows
Kind: Application (Intel)
Size: 360 MB
Version: 10.0.012
 
Tbh, this looks weird
A star trek starship simulator that includes real astrophysics and real time interstellar travel but not the star trek universe.

I remember a space travel game from microsoft space simulator - it was mostly a nothing game because of the distances you had to travel, and when you get their, there's nothing there. This reminds me of that.

There's been other star trek games both multiplayer and single player where you and your crew explore, do missions, fight enemies. I don't know about a starship simulator just going from point a to point b. There has to be more to it
With the navigation tutorial I did travel to Alpha Centauri, Warping helps it was only about 3-4 minutes. Now that's probably accelerated for playability.
 
When I try to start MOO 2 from the Steam Library page, I see a warning that my M2 MacBook running Sequoia is unable to play 32bit games, and it refuses to start.
I play it using a version I d'loaded from GOG a while ago, simply called MOO 2.app, from the Finder. It starts with a DOS-like interface Launcher asking me if I want option 1 -> play Moo2, 2-> Go to DOS settings, 3-> exit.
Works fine.

The Get Info in Finder shows
Kind: Application (Intel)
Size: 360 MB
Version: 10.0.012

MOO 2 hasn't worked for me and I believe that it's 32 bit. I haven't tried it but it probably runs ok under Crossover.

I'm running the remake (2016) on Steam under MacOS Sequoia called Master of Orion. I'm not sure why they didn't change the name to prevent confusion with the original Master of Orion.
 
Starship Simulator Demo

I'm trying to figure out why you'd want to play this. Highly detailed star ship simulation. There will be crew members I assume NPCs, plus promises multiplayer.

Did Navigation tutorial, detailed exploration info and steps to go through, but I'm not really seeing the point. You are exploring the known galaxy, but what you discover is all made up, and planets are procedurally generated, such as you might technology hits. But what will you do with this info? Will there be any intrigue, physcal exploration? What is the pull here? Unknown as of yet. 🤔
That game is in a very, very early stage. It's far from being complete. There will be more to do once it's done.

From it's FAQ:
What is the overall point of the game?
Your primary mission objective is to explore space beyond Earth in search of new habitable worlds, while attempting to make successful first contact with any alien cultures you encounter, and also while managing the ongoing health of the ship and her crew.
You will encounter a wide array of challenges as you explore the galaxy, with each offering its own particular challenge. Your mission will be classed as a success if you return back home to Earth in approximately one piece.
They also mention story campaigns as paid DLC (the base game will be free):
We're also planning to cover ongoing development by way of DLC ships and story campaigns.
 
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I'm not sure. It runs without any issues on my M2 and M3 Macs under the latest Sequoia. 32 bit games would not run at all.

Did you try to verify files under Steam ?

It also may be a screen resolution issue. You might try adjusting the graphics within the game settings before hitting the start button.

My settings are 1920 x 1080 Ultra with 2 x aliasing and vsync on. You also might try starting the game in windowed mode and then switching to full screen after you hit start.

I also have the race pack DLC installed which might make a difference.

Thanks, it helped a lot. Screen resolution was the key.

I had to change it before starting the game.
 
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Steam sale ending soon: Everspace 2, It’s fun and interesting enough. There is a story with character interaction between flying missions. Keyboard Mouse works fine… You fly a fighter.
 
I bought No Mans Sky in August and im having a blast. Cant recommend it enough. Runs great on my Studio/Sequoia.
My impression is that NMS has changed quite a bit since I played it several years ago. @Queen6 has been bugging me to give it another chance, so maybe I will.

What I'l compare it to is X4 Foundations, it is listed as 4X but mostly is seems like a Wargaming RTS, yes there are factions, but I don't remember much of any of a narrative. It's all about mining, trading, gaining faction approval, and fighting for control of sectors. Yeah I ended up abandoning X4. You can read about that in that thread. :)
 
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