O.r.b.

[Sarxis]

I haven't kept on with this game, and I hear its in stores.

Any info?

[Lemmy]

what's orb?

[Sarxis]

Originally posted by Lemmy
what's orb?

Looks like a space RTS on par with Homeworld, but I am not sure.

That's why I asked the question.

[Sarxis]

Ok, I went and picked it up.

If its no good, I am blaming EACH AND EVERY one of you for not doing my game research for me!!



But I'll let you know.

[Sarxis]

MY HEAD JUST EXPLODED!!!!

OMG! This IS the next Homeworld!

I am SHOCKED at this game... It takes the basic premises and gameplay of Homeworld, and multiplies it all by a factor of 10!

I just started playing it- good opening FMV (I don't care), nice options for graphics, music is good (another who cares!) but the FRIGGING INTERFACE IS PURE GENIUS!!!

The options are PHENOMENAL! Unit stances and behaviours can be customized up the wazzoo!! The game so far runs smooth on my sub par system at 1024x768x32 with max settings, and is gorgeous, as well as intuitive.

I am going BACK into this game, and see more of it.. I am just so hopped up on NEW GAME SERATONINE that I think I may have passed out at one point!

[Lemmy]

Sheesh, we make him buy such a good game, and not even a "thank you"....

[Sarxis]

Yeah, its really good. I'm surprised this one almost slipped past me.

Like I was saying, the interface is absolutely amazing! The game does play very similarly to homeworld, and some might say it was a clone; I can't do that, because the improvements to the game supercede any notions of copy-catism here. For starters, I am amazed at how smoothly the game is running at the rez I am using; and its not like the maps are mostly empty space. Planets with orbiting asteroid fields, moons, and a lush galactic background give enough eye candy to thrill even the blind! (no offense to the visually challenged).

As I said, the interface is genius! Full 3d space RTS camera control is tricky, to say the least, but cursor position coordinates, a fast transitioning 3d->2d->3d map scheme, hotkey functionality, and many other features have made this the most functional camera control scheme I've ever seen! There is also a tactical overlay mode called 'Verbose Mode' that overlay unique unit icons and command/goto lines for units to make distinguishing your ships easy in the heat of battle.

Ships have EXCELLENT AI! They are smart, and you can highly customize their behaviours through "doctrines". Things like when to rearm, when to retreat, at what distances they will do so, when to attack/stay static and even which one of six formations your fighter-craft will take for each of 3 default and 3 customizable stances are all part of the doctrines interface.

Also, this one isn't just about ships! Homeworld was basically about building a multi-faceted fleet, but in ORB, you get to construct mining bases, repair facilities, and military bases from your mined out mining colonies; and with the proper technologies, you will even get to arm them!

Singleplayer comes with two campaigns- one for each of ORB's races: the Malus, and the Alyssians. The story is engrossing, to say the least, and is somewhat reminiscent of Homeworld, while being original too.

Multiplayer is chock full of options too! Plus, the ORB comes with a map editor right out of the box. I also saw a co-op mode for MP somewhere while reading up on ORB, so I am VERY interested in seeing what that is about. Matchmaking is through an in-game Gamespy interface.

The game does seem to be a bit more 'fighter class' oriented than Homeworld though, but there are capital ships and auxiliary ships too! Each race has about 5 fighter classes and and 5 capital ship classes, with them ranging from stiner fighters, to heavy bombers, to destroyer class vessels, and a library of carrier types.

[Sarxis]

I left the game running on my system while I slept for a while, and it was stable the whole night through! I played it for several hours for two sessions before and after that, and not a single crash! What can I say about THAT? (ALT-TAB worked too, but there was a substantial reload time coming back into the game; probably mostly due to my 229megs of RAM :P ).

Like I was saying about the AI- these fighters are smart as hell! They will break up into smaller formations of 5 fighters each, and will spread their attack if they are part of a larger force. For instance, I had a group of about 40 fighters, and when they had come into contact with an enemy mining colony and a recon vessel, the whole squadron split into two to take each of these on without overkill.

There are hotkeys for a lot of the game's features. But there is no customizability that I can see for them, so that may be one very small bummer (but the default key configuration is on par with other games of the genre, and is intuitively done).

In-game encyclopedia provides helpful info about the ships, techs, and background of both races, and is easy to use (like SMAC's datalinks).

Another twist of the genre that ORB has added is the concept of 'manpower'. For every major installation you build, you get a set number of extra 'manpower' with which to pilot your ships, OR, apportion to reasearching techs, OR, doing covert operations! Depending where you are in the tech-tree, you are only allowed to transfer set percentages of your 'men' to research and covert ops, but the more you set to these two fields, the more effective they become. Covert operations happen automatically, and are random, and consist of such things as prototype/research sabotage, enemy fleet intel, manpower assassination, and counter espionage. An interesting twist indeed!

Well, there is much more to say, but I am going to be too busy playing ORB to write much else.

Btw- thanx for MAKING me buy this game!!

[DinoDoc]

What are the system requirements for the game?

[Sarxis]

Minimum: P3 600, 128MB RAM, 500MB HDD, 3d card with 16MB VRAM, DX8.1, 56k modem for MP

Recommended: P3 1Ghz, 256MB RAM, 3d card with 32MB VRAM, etc..

Though, I am running with a OCed Celeron 566 at 850, 229 megs PC100 RAM, and a Hercules Gf3, and so far the game has run smooth with the aformentioned settings. But I have yet to get into REALLY massive battles.


Just found the units .pdf tech specs in the root folder! Let's see what these buggers are capable of!

[DinoDoc]

I might be able to play it then. I'd have to turn down the graphics a bit but I could play it.

[Sarxis]

Another, hmm, strange thing about the game, which I probably shouldn't even mention YOU BUNCH OF PIRATES!!, but is the fact you don't need the CD in the tray to play. It does require a CD-key though.

Its just nice, you know?

[Sarxis]

ROFL! I just played the first mission to include a troop transport ship: I needed to capture an enemy recon vessel, and so the transport was gifted to me to do so. (Shoulda took a screenshot) But there little marine pods that eject from the ship, and once the marine pods get close to their target, a little space-suited marine pops out and goes to work on the target hull!! It was great! You could see his little cutter going to work with animations and all!!

Plus, I just made my first repair base from a gutted mining colony, and to my surprise, I could zoom in and actually see inside the base!

Don't mean to keep talking about it, but this game is A+ all the way. Sleeper hit of the year!