Offworld Trading Company (Economic Strategy Game)

[Icy]

Any of you checked this?

Just ordered this, there is a 10% off offer both at Steam and GMG plus a 20% coupon at GMG for a total discount of 30% if you buy it there. They will provide an Steam Key too.

It's a very innovative "economic RTS" game from the Civ 4 lead designer, where you don't control an army nor there are any kind of wars but a trading company and your aim is to become the most successful one.

Think on a Transport Tycoon Deluxe or Railroads but based in the future and Mars.

It's still early access but the game is fully finished on features, they just want to keep working on game balance but early reviews say it's really polished already. Read Steam reviews about it, all very positive specially about the challenging AI, it's what convinced me, as I have been waiting for a game like this since the old Transport Tycoon.

Youtube intro video:


and gameplay:

[Barkeep49]

I thought about it yesterday but decided that despite its polish I don't want to order Early Acess games.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

I thought about it yesterday but decided that despite its polish I don't want to order Early Acess games.

Me ttooo

[MizzouRah]

I'm getting close to pulling the trigger on it. EA games make no difference to me, yes I'm a sucker.

[Buccaneer]

Think on a Transport Tycoon Deluxe or Railroads but based in the future and Mars.

Got exciting reading the first part and then they had to go ruin it with future and Mars.

[B & B]

I don't really get all the anti- early access that's rampant here


Now, my experience is pretty limited and I have NOT been burned, but I currently have 2 games recently bought and both are still EA. They are constantly updating and improving them, while im 100 hours in combined.


WOULD RECOMMEND BOTH HIGHLY

Long Dark
Darkest Dungeon

[Abe Sargent]

I'm like 4 times bitten 6 times shy with EA games.

[Brian Swartz]

I both love and hate you for posting this.

I don't think I'm going to be able to resist it based on what I've seen so far.

[Groundhog]

My strike rate with early access is about 50/50, but Offworld Trading Company feels nearly finished to me.

I only had a quick play over the weekend, but my main criticism would be that the UI looks a bit unfinished in places.

[EagleFan]

Trying to remember what I had that was early access (with all the talk of it):

I think Banished was pre release. Have a whopping 3 hours with that game, gets boring for me quickly. More a comment on the game than if it was early access or not.

Castle Story, that was a waste of money. Haven't tried recently but I have seen zero entertainment value from that game.

The Golf Club. Haven't tried recently but this is the most frustrating of them all. It has the absolutely worst mouse swing ever created. It has great promise as a new golf game and it sounds like they focused on making it a console game but last I saw the mouse swing is still pure crap.

The Long Dark, this has promise. The original version wasn't quite as fun as the current version as they have updated it well. If not for the updates it would be a negative but the updates have turned it positive.

Prison Architect, think this was early access. Haven't had much fun with this but haven't tried recently.

SNOW, I haven't tried recently but I thought that I saw this is still in early access but I think it has been over a year since this first came out.


I think that is it. Not a really good overall average.

[SirFozzie]

Looks interesting, but I won't buy anything from Stardock, considering their CEO has been sued for sexual harassment who supports GamerGate.

[MizzouRah]

With so many 4x games I've been playing lately.. OTC is a refreshing break. I've just done the tutorials, but it's a fun game and has me really thinking quite a bit on many different things. It's quite solid thus far.

[MizzouRah]

Can't wait to see what else they add.. I'm really in love with this game. It's not really as frantic as some might think once you get the hang of it and what each colony is good at. (starting with the right one is key depending on resources revealed on the map) The game is a kick butt idea though and quite further along than what I was expecting.

[Brian Swartz]

I officially suck at this game.

I can't get through the tutorials. The first three were easy, the fourth required me to actually think briefly, but the Scientific one is kicking my butt. Almost a dozen attempts now, the last few I get to the endgame even or a little ahead but they always manage to buy out the competition quicker and then have more off-world market rockets than I do. Hasta la bye bye.

I like the game, I'm just not any good at it yet. I will say I've never had a problem beating the tutorials on any game(unless you count Freespace 2 on harder difficulties, no tutorial difficulties in this game).

I am so very annoyed.

[MizzouRah]

Yeah the scientific one is a BEAR!

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

I officially suck at this game.

I can't get through the tutorials. The first three were easy, the fourth required me to actually think briefly, but the Scientific one is kicking my butt. Almost a dozen attempts now, the last few I get to the endgame even or a little ahead but they always manage to buy out the competition quicker and then have more off-world market rockets than I do. Hasta la bye bye.

I like the game, I'm just not any good at it yet. I will say I've never had a problem beating the tutorials on any game(unless you count Freespace 2 on harder difficulties, no tutorial difficulties in this game).

I am so very annoyed.

They just released a patch and made the scientific tutorial easier.

[MizzouRah]

From Mr. DQ (Bill Harris):

Go here for the full read on OTC: Dubious Quality

but this little tidbit is exactly the way I feel about this game...

Something else tremendously satisfying about this game is that it plays like a symphony. There are so many different resources, so many decisions, so much to do (and always at a high pace) that it's possible to reach this incredibly immersed state where data is processed at an unbelievable rate inside your head. The nature of the game requires that kind of focus, and the feeling you get with that level of focus is just fantastic.

[Brian Swartz]

Bill Harris is the man.

Thanks for the patch info as well, I'll have to give it another go this weekend.

[NobodyHere]

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...g-company.aspx

The game looks intriguing, but I'm wary of spending $35 for an early access game.

[MizzouRah]

Another patch today!

[Alan T]

Any other thoughts on this game from anyone that has it? I've watched some videos of the game play, and it seems like the type of game that I would like. I just don't play multiplayer RTS ever, so am curious if it would have enough immersion to play it for a while as single player or if it would get old quick (at least right now before other stuff is added to it)?

[Warhammer]

Anyone playing this now that it has released? I've played a bit of multiplayer and like it quite a bit. If anyone wants to get a game together, let me know. Steam acct is Warhammer1274

[Abe Sargent]

I picked it up post release this week after investing around 36 hours into Stellaris, and I liked it so far, but I want to give it some more time. Right now I'm in the early stages.

[Warhammer]

I have close to 40 hours into it and finally won a skirmish against 3 AI at the manager level. Considering each game is 30 minutes, the AI is a challenge. I really enjoy the fact each corporation is slightly different that requires different nuances vs. completely different strategies.

[MizzouRah]

Wow... it's been awhile since I checked up on this one. Installed it again today and they really have added a ton of stuff since EA. Probably been a year since I fired it up (so many games out there).

Much more streamlined and much more to do.

[Abe Sargent]

Played a little more just now and enjoyed it, two more games under my belt.

[Abe Sargent]

So I like that you can play it in in a small amount of time, and there's enough depth for that short game to be worthwhile. But the game seems like there's not that much to do, right? I mean there's just two types of mines, and two types of quarries, and then grabbing. That's it for resources. Grab some power from a place, and then you have a handful of structures to make more advanced products like a Steel Mill for steel, and then just a handful of structures that can use 2nd level stuff for high end glass or electronics. And some structures can do two things - one makes both O2 and fuel. And that's it, right? Sure. And there's just 5 special buildings, may of which you'll rarely build, a black market with a handful of dark and darker options, which you'll often skip by as well, unless the specific situation calls for it.


But again, it's just a half hour. and the differences between teh needs and abilities of the four major companies, and the quality of the AI at harassing, fighting, and winning against you is pretty solid. And the result is a fun blast you can okay anything for 30 minutes to an hour. And it works.

[Warhammer]

Originally Posted by Abe Sargent

So I like that you can play it in in a small amount of time, and there's enough depth for that short game to be worthwhile. But the game seems like there's not that much to do, right? I mean there's just two types of mines, and two types of quarries, and then grabbing. That's it for resources. Grab some power from a place, and then you have a handful of structures to make more advanced products like a Steel Mill for steel, and then just a handful of structures that can use 2nd level stuff for high end glass or electronics. And some structures can do two things - one makes both O2 and fuel. And that's it, right? Sure. And there's just 5 special buildings, may of which you'll rarely build, a black market with a handful of dark and darker options, which you'll often skip by as well, unless the specific situation calls for it.


But again, it's just a half hour. and the differences between teh needs and abilities of the four major companies, and the quality of the AI at harassing, fighting, and winning against you is pretty solid. And the result is a fun blast you can okay anything for 30 minutes to an hour. And it works.

Exactly! I enjoy the online play as well. What is fun is setting up markets only to tank them when your opponents get into them. Or using your underground nukes to devastate their base resources giving you a monopoly on a resource, etc.