Games with good ship-to-ship combat? Sea, space or other.

[downwardspiral]

No campaign just ship to ship shoot out.

Actually has a campaign and custom campaign editor.

Sorry, should be more clarify, no dynamic campaign with progression(core unit, consistent units) compare to the two above U-boat or FtD.
The campaign in CODE is scripted missions story mode.
I am okay with the editor creating my own faction and story.
But to many, lack of built-in progression and dynamic campaign system will affect the motivation to play.

OTOH you can design your very own stuff.

I created 2 separate fictional world settings each has different house rule restriction and star system with a total of 5 factions each has roughly 10 ships types and their own set of weapon systems and style.
Put in countless hours into the game where my custom made SCI-Fi story is going to fight. But then, I still wish there will be a built-in dynamic campaign
with system that don't require external recording or extra works to record the status of my house rule dynamic campaign.

To bad, the chance of getting a sequel is low.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Galdred]

Sea Dogs or any of the Akella game (all are compromises between mod quality, and bugginess) would work indeed.
Star Traders: Frontiers has a deep combat system, but it was mentioned in the space thread, it is so heavily stacked against you that you'd better just ignore it.

Port Royale 1 had an OK combat system between small group of ships (well, it was mostly kiting, trying to avoid firing arcs while pummeling the enemy ship until it was safe to board, but it is another exemple of the sum being better than the parts. It is a mix of Patrician 3's economic system with piracy. I had great fun with it back in the days, but I don't know how it held out.

Carrier Command is a bit unique, and the remake has tons of issue(the worst being tanks driving AI), but there are not that many games that let you control a carrier with its planes and tanks (yes, your carrier also has tanks).
Hostile Waters and Battlezones are roughly similar, but without the same focus on your carrier.

Icarus Starship Command is kind of First person FTL. Pulsar Lost Colony is the same, but coop focused. I found it too slow (especially walking around in stations!).
Artemis Bridge Command is the same, but without the walking around. It felt a bit repetitive after a while, but was fun for a while with 3 friends.

Starsector also has small squadrons for quite some time (I suppose it has large fleets in the end game, but I have never reached this point...). It has a semi arcadey tactical action gameplay, but it is still relatively abstracted.

 

[Perkel]

Jupiter Nexus Incident or somehting like that. You steer only one ship and it is pretty tactical with heavy emphasis on storytelling.

 

[DraQ]

Jupiter Nexus Incident or somehting like that. You steer only one ship and it is pretty tactical with heavy emphasis on storytelling.

There are missions in Nexus where you command multiple ships.

You also get to launch fighters and some assorted small craft, including boarding parties.

 

[Kalin]

As always I'd recommend Cutthroats: Terror on the High Seas from the same guys who made Gangsters: Organized Crime. You can command a fleet of ships, use different types of ammunition, perform boarding actions etc. Combat is real time with pause and A.I. isn't that good but it's the best pirate-themed game ever made in my book (plenty of people disagree but they're wrong on the Internet).

Another cool game is Star Fleet II: Krellan Commander which is actually being revived by the original developer as we speak:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1470940/STAR_FLEET_II__Krellan_Commander_Version_20/

Note: no faggot 3d graphics or crap like that, just the good old game, still in DOS of course, but with bug fixes and added features. How cool is that huh?

If you're curious about the game there's a swell boomer who only records LPs of Space Games who did a whole series on it:




Or, if you don't want to sink hours into that, just play it for free:

https://www.myabandonware.com/game/star-fleet-ii-krellan-commander-rr

 

[luj1]

Star Trek Bridge Commander

 

[anvi]

There are a bunch of things that come to mind. Battlestations: Midway and others in that series are war craft vs war craft. Plane vs plane, ship vs ship, etc. There is another series similar to that (or maybe that is it) which has huge battleships fighting, and your crosshair has several green dots on it and they go red when all your barrels are reloading. And it was kinda satisfying to click left mouse and all that firepower blasts off. And you gotta aim well at the other ships to hit the right spots and hit them at all. But it was pretty dumb and shallow too so I got bored fast. Starpoint Gemini 2 had interesting capitol ship combat. That was a little bit shallow but not too far from being a great game.

I really like Space Rangers 2, the combat and sense of progression was good. Maybe X3 could be modded into doing what you want, it has enough mods. People argue with me when I say games are shit, but all these years later I still can't be Piccard in anything worth playing.

p.s. Carrier Command Gaea Mission - maybe.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

edit.
This seem to have very reactive gameplay in "push correct button, when blinking light shows" -way.
Probably not my cup of tea.

 

[madhouse]

Good thread. I like the combat in Starsector, but it probably isn't what OP is looking for.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Apparently this was released into EA. Looks too arcade game for me.

Maybe I should just try HighFleet.

 

[anvi]

I saw another game that looks similar, you build a gunboat ship thing and it fights against enemy aircraft and boats and stuff.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I saw another game that looks similar, you build a gunboat ship thing and it fights against enemy aircraft and boats and stuff.

Boat Crew?
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/boat-crew-motor-torpedo-boat-in-ww2-pacific-theatre.139524/

 

[anvi]

I saw another game that looks similar, you build a gunboat ship thing and it fights against enemy aircraft and boats and stuff.

Boat Crew?
https://rpgcodex.net/forums/threads/boat-crew-motor-torpedo-boat-in-ww2-pacific-theatre.139524/

I didn't know there were so many! Not that but similar.

 

[anvi]

Found it:



No idea if it's any good, I'd try if it gets developed a bit more. Boat Crew looks cool.

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I've been playing recently Shortest Trip to Earth, which is FTL-clone with a bit more simulationist approach, and was considering installing Star Trek -Starfleet Command; which got me thinking, "what are good games with ship-to-ship combat? What do those have in common? Do same mechanics work in historical and sci-fi settings?"

What I'm looking for is FTL styled games where maneuvering is abstracted into dodge change or games where player has more direct control during combat like in ancient Pirates!
Single ship vs single ship or between very small squadrons.
Don't care if its historical, sci-fi, fantasy or whatever as long as it's good.

I don't know if it's exactly what you are looking for, but Battlefleet Gothic: Armada has to be my favorite capital ship scale sci-fi combat.

Battlefleet Gothic was a Warhammer 40,000 spinoff with really cool miniatures, depicting space-level warfare, and it got a game in 2016.

The Imperium of Man's navy has to be my favourite to play as, because they have torpedoes, and it's incredibly satisfying lining them up.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

I've been playing recently Shortest Trip to Earth, which is FTL-clone with a bit more simulationist approach, and was considering installing Star Trek -Starfleet Command; which got me thinking, "what are good games with ship-to-ship combat? What do those have in common? Do same mechanics work in historical and sci-fi settings?"

What I'm looking for is FTL styled games where maneuvering is abstracted into dodge change or games where player has more direct control during combat like in ancient Pirates!
Single ship vs single ship or between very small squadrons.
Don't care if its historical, sci-fi, fantasy or whatever as long as it's good.

I don't know if it's exactly what you are looking for, but Battlefleet Gothic: Armada has to be my favorite capital ship scale sci-fi combat.

Battlefleet Gothic was a Warhammer 40,000 spinoff with really cool miniatures, depicting space-level warfare, and it got a game in 2016.

The Imperium of Man's navy has to be my favourite to play as, because they have torpedoes, and it's incredibly satisfying lining them up.

I'm aware of both BFGs, but haven't bought those yet.
I'll play usually Homeworlds, StarHammer or Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock when I want fleet level tactics.

I made this thread for smaller scale games where player manages maybe just one ship instead of a fleet.
Maybe videos could show what I'm after.
Here's FTL:

Here's Star Trek: Starfleet command:

Gameplay part starts about 5 minutes in.

Now compare scale of those above with Battlefleet Gohic: Armada:

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

how come i missed this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek:_Bridge_Commander

 

[Louis_Cypher]

I'm aware of both BFGs, bt haven't bought hose yet.
I'll play usually Homeworlds, StarHammer or Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock when I want fleet level tactics.

I made this thread for smaller scale games where player manages maybe just one ship instead of a fleet.
Maybe videos could show what I'm after.
Here's FTL:

Here's Star Trek: Starfleet command:

Gameplay part starts about 5 minutes in.

Now compare scale of those above Battlefleet Gohic: Armada:

I've been looking for the exact same thing, and I too found them woefully rare, so I will be watching this thread eagerly to see how people reply too; thanks for brining the topic up. Meanwhile I have some other suggestions. Star Trek: Starfleet Command has a kind of successor in Star Trek: Tactical Assault for the PSP and DS, but I can't attest how good it was; it may be very simplified. Meanwhile, it's not the same sub-genre, but Crying Suns might appeal to you for other reasons. Finally, in terms of the other sub-enre, Ultimate Admiral: Age of Sail recently piqued my interest, but it was on the same scale as Battlefleet Gothic, i.e. small fleet, sorry. I wish there were more.

 

[Jack Of Owls]

If you want to get truly retro, there's PSI 5 Trading Company, which has more to do with one-on-one ship combat rather than trading. I played this on my Commodore 64 years ago (which was ported from the MS-DOS version, I think). Did I enjoy it? No. But it's not really my thing either, the genre the OP is asking about, so...

 

[Van-d-all]

Starsector and Stardrive 2 (even though the rest of the game is totally mediocre) both have nice 2D combat with customizable ships, firing arcs and so on.

 

[Valestein]

Best submarine game out there.



Runner up.

 

[Van-d-all]

Oh and Sword Of the Stars has probably one of the best space battles - customizable ships and firing arcs but in full 3D, the game itself however is VERY atypical for a 4X, it's a good game IMO - in-depth and well thought out mosty, but many things are done in a completely different way than in any other game. You have been warned.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

Star Trek: Bridge Commander has been recommended in this thread more than once.
It's now on GOG.
https://af.gog.com/game/star_trek_bridge_commander?as=1649904300
And so is Starfleet Command III.
https://af.gog.com/game/star_trek_starfleet_command_iii?as=1649904300