Aurora 4X Review

[@MandaloreGaming]

Aurora 4x - aurorawiki.pentarch.org/index.php?title=Main_Page THE LIST - docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_K3ziSxT9zcUUGCddS4sF1uNJTWHSbOwB1CQX2Rx4Uo Aurora now has a proper C# version with lots of quality of life features and updates, with default dark blue visuals instead of eye hell. Audio had to get swapped at the end for copyright to avoid muting the entire video.

[@TheThinkerClown]

Content quality is the only thing that matters. We can wait, if that's what it takes to do a good video.

[@pandashu]

MandaloreGaming lol the notes in your doc are hilarious

[@AbokaseeRed]

Fuck I didn't know you had a dump of games you may or may not go for. I would of gifted Dominions 4. Might do in the near future anyway.

[@Doctorgeo7]

You might wanna put that google doc in every video description from now on. That might prevent some repeat suggestions. Maybe put an annotation to the doc in the beginning of your videos too.

[@XDestroyoxZx]

Where's Mass Effect on that list?

[@TonyPajama]

So basically this is a game where you play as a leader of a galactic civilization that never learned how to delegate tasks

[@xintrosi6829]

"Someone else might have gotten it wrong!" -the guy in the other comment that terraformed his planet to have a chlorine gas atmosphere

[@theicelandicnationalist2.023]

Well, we kinda settled that absolute monarchy/Paranoid Dictatorship was the best system of governance… so we ain’t turning back now!!

[@trompell0]

Everything the state says is a lie and everything it has is stolen.

[@UristMcPerson]

When I first played this, I accidentally terraformed my home planet to have chlorine gas in the atmosphere. It was a short game.

[@jcaskater]

how did you manage that?!?!?!

[@snarkmarx]

Well Urist, was losing fun?

[@jameshaywood2288]

**slow clap**

[@dontwannadie7634]

God damnit Urist!

[@jakerelind5577]

Josephi Why isn't this more common in other Sci-fi space games!? They already allow you to literally have your own Death Star.

[@SuperZergMan]

I only really played Aurora once; I sent my ships out on a training run without engines and they just floated in space for a year until the Earth came back around to pick them up.

[@Aurinkohirvi]

Hah, hah, hah! I bet listening stories about the game play is a lot more fun than the game play.

[@jonskowitz]

There's something about that story that harkens to that "New KSP Experience"

[@charlesbradley7618]

Those orbital mechanics are sus as fuck bro.

[@jmjedi923]

Were they trained by the end of it?

[@user-mn2mw1og8u]

Did the crews learn anything

[@SonofOrion42]

Big news, everybody: Steve Walmsey has just released C# Aurora. It's a complete engine rewrite with a fuckton of revamped and new features. Performance-wise, it's miles ahead of VB6 Aurora. If you wanted to give it a shot, now's the time!

[@eugenebebs7767]

Wait he wrote it on Basic first?!

[@josephbradshaw6985]

@@eugenebebs7767 Lol I know right? I could tell right away, that's what the old Visual Basic games looked like, all those sliders and check boxes were built in features VB I think.

[@thatromanfella8377]

Checking this out, no macOS version (Duh!) But I'm going to try and get it working with wine. However, I have to be approved to the form even if I'm successful! What a werid thing

[@Adjuni]

Cool.

[@Thalanox]

Does the game use multithreading at all? With all that simulation detail, things have to start chugging along once the game really gets into late-game, right?

[@JohnnyLoves]

I genuinely don't think I have the capacity to enjoy these sort of games. There's just a weird tranquility in listening to someone talk about this stuff.

[@pkerch00b1]

Shit man, same here! Am s Star citizen backer and his video made the rounds in the subreddit, I found it highly entertaining and have been following since. The games/subjects he chooses to cover aren't that appealing to the majority of people browsing, but the humour in his writing and editing is top notch.

[@8BitBrody]

Why are you here, too!?

[@JohnnyLoves]

I get around, Brody.

[@apugalypse_now]

yeah, I can't even handle being a king in Mount & Blade without wanting to pull my hair out from all the stress, lol!

[@Avager]

Honestly, I find Dwarf Fortress to be much harder to understand (awful UI control scheme and ASCII graphics, hell... pure text would be easier) and Aurora to be on pair or slightly more complex/harder to grasp at first than Distant Worlds. Nevertheless, all of them are extremely easy once you grasp basics, as Mandalore said. You will just spend learning a bit of UI, in all of these three games... Hell, I would even compare it to any software (graphical in this case (for 2d or 3d)), you spend most of your time learning UI and its functions, once you are done, you just understand that.

[@aurex8937]

I never used cocaine, but I'm sure Aurora is just as addicting. Played 6k hours, once built a fully working gigantic carrier that could explore the Galaxy, use gas giant to refine its own fuel, then drop infrastructure on a resource rich planet when everything onboard kept breaking down due to maintenance clock and the complexity of the ship so my carried colonists (crew) could live there, extract resources and the feed the shipyard my carrier could TUG and overhaul the ship itself. It was BSG on crack. By the time I explored 259 star systems and made first contact with 6 nprs (bombed 2 into the stoneage with my bombers) a 30 days turn would take 20+ minutes.

[@gabriel300010]

maybie I sould bomb my npr... it just slows the game down so so much

[@Leverquin]

i can't start game like won't launch ...

[@cookies23z]

damn, that sounds amazing

[@nwahnerevar9398]

Cocaine helps people get laid though

[@chanlennox8133]

@@nwahnerevar9398 That's like saying getting fat helps you get big breasts. Sure it works but what the fuck happened to you that this was your last option.

[@Tentacle]

And to think IGN struggle to understand Football Manager...

[@joaquimpereira4995]

Tentacle LOL you serious?

[@Tentacle]

Sadly this is not a joke comment. IGN's US branch had this one guy with next to no experience on the sport or genre review it. Within the mere few paragraphs wrote, he spent the entire time comparing it to FIFA (Because that's a natural comparison right?) and was baffled as to why he was not allowed to play the matches and the menus being "dated" amongst other questionable comments. Safe to say IGN received a lot of backlash and the game was swiftly re-reviewed by someone knowledgeable of the genre. IGN's US website even has an apology wrote in it's place, regarding the review if you wish to search for it using: "IGN US Football Manager 2009"

[@TheFlyinSquid]

IGN struggles with alot of things. For example properly reviewing games.

[@reignick1133]

nope it's Dean Takahashi's painful to watch failure at Cuphead... I swear the so-called "games journalists" once they are out of their depth really are paste eating morons.

[@keloid123]

+Tentacle link?

[@GatorMilk]

I know that because Aurora uses Windows for its user interface, you can set the Theme you are using in personalization to have a grey Windows Explorer Background; this will fix the eye strain!

[@ryleighs9575]

Thank you for this! I just went to test it with the first dark theme, and it's way easier to look at, plus having dark purple title bars and green accents for that extra space-y feel! Great suggestion.

[@Loregamorl]

I also find that if you want to you can also on Windows 10 turn on night mode Also makes it easier on the eyes

[@blah007001]

If you want a detailed spaceship simulator that's a bit more accessible, you should check out Children of a Dead Earth. You design your own spaceship and spaceship components based off of real world physics. Which means that if you successfully design a nuclear reactor to power you ship, you should be handed an honorary degree in nuclear engineering.

[@kenetickups6146]

blah007001 thanks for the recommendation

[@trebot9292266]

Probably checking out both of these, Thank you for the recommendation. I figure i'll figure it out sometimes next decade.

[@johnmandark6391]

Gotta remember that one

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

+John Mandrake Its basically the ship design interface from this one except it has a rel time 3d part where you can whach your 10000 nuclear shapes charge missiles in glorious 0.1 FPS.

[@davidcolby167]

@@ineednochannelyoutube5384 I remember the metagame for CODE shifting from railguns to lasers to railguns that fire nuclear bombs...it was fun.

[@5000cz]

well, might as well get your PHD before attempting to play this game.

[@thatoneonewhitelatinowhogo8320]

Talivus seems like it since there's seemingly millions of options

[@kofManKan]

PhD holders wouldn't have the practical abilities required to play this game. Typically all they're good for is reading, arguing and talking shite, IMHO.

[@Selvyre]

@@kofManKan Are you.. bitter, or something? Most PhD holders I've personally met have actual practical abilities. Are you sure you don't just mean "shut-ins"? Or are you the kind of guy who thinks uni is just a scam or whatever?

[@mr.bluesky4130]

Talivus gonna be hard to beat seths review, that shit is cash.

[@Intestine_Ballin-ism]

@@Selvyre well, newsflash. because it is in the US and shit-tier EU

[@VarvasNukka]

He actually did it the absolute madman.

[@Onychoprion27]

My first battlr was intense. Since it was my first, my missile ships were designed only to match what I imagined a hypothetical enemy would be. The missiles were fast, long-range, and deadly. As good as I had the tech for. The ships carried hundreds. But once the enemy saw me, I realized my ships were too slow. They were deep in the system, and immediately turned around to run back to the jump point. The enemy, for the moment nothing but heat signatures on a scope, pursued. Once they got within missile range my fleet opened fire, unloading their entire arsenal into the void. It only took a few minutes to unleash the missiles, but it would take houts for them to hit their targets. I had no idea how big or armored the enemy was, and so my flert continued their retreat. Hoping that they could reach the JP before they were caught. Hopong their missiles would at least disable the enemy ships. The missiles started impacting. People manning the sensors and scopes watched eagerly, using the data to learn more about this foe. Explosion after explosion in the blackness behind them, and still the enemy came. For every missile that hit four were shot down by CIWS, but we were doing damage. Tearing apart their armor, but it seemed like not much else. Did They have missiles? Had they already launched? I couldn't know. My fleet was close to the JP, watching their weapons puff against the enemy armor, watching the enemy ships not slow, not show any sign of damage. Only a few dozen missiles left,in the space between fleets, and my crew had given up hope that they could win the battle. If only they could escape with their lives. I don't know if the enemy had missiles. What weapons they sported, since the moment my ships reached the JP they were gone. Returning to base foe a refit. To be joined by a growing fleet of carriers and second-generation missile ships. The second battle we didn't even move from the JP. The enemy was close. Fighters launched, with missiles close behind, and laser-wielding battleships for a last stand defence if those failed. But they didn't. Whether the first battle had worn them down or the fighters were just that good, they ripped the enemy to shreds, even before the second missile salvo had time to reach. Aurora is an intense and fun game. For sure.

[@SecuR0M]

My first anti-ship missile FAC squadron had a commander who was a drunk alcoholic woman with a neurotic personality and of low birth. The second-in-command was a noble born officer from a high status family who was very much about decorum and people having proper places in society. The only real way to learn this was to look at the leaders individually and see the "traits" box, which is meaningless mechanically but gives some funny RPG elements, like the above.

[@Kratos-eg7ez]

Damn sounds awesome, think I might check the game out hopefully it'll run on my crap laptop. Doesn't seem too intensive but if mandalores is lagging I kinda doubt it'll even load

[@SecuR0M]

@@Kratos-eg7ez The version Mandy was using was written in Visual Basic. It gets very slow because it's accessing a database (your game file), which is slow in VB, which is limited by how VB is written, not by your computer specs. A faster computer won't necessarily be better at chugging through VB because at some point you're hitting the wall of the language. The newest version is rewritten in C# or C++ so it's much, much faster, but also different enough that this video might not be a huge help in figuring out how to play. There are lots of changes to ground combat and some aspects of ship design and the UI between the two versions off the top of my head. That said, if you can run Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets you won't have a problem with this game. It may get slower sooner, but that's it.

[@moguldamongrel3054]

Honestly I spent hours on end just in the ship designer menu. Making geo survey drone carriers was intriguing. Making jedi hyperdrive sleds for fighters was interesting as well. Reading the forums alone was interesting as many people took different approaches to expansion rather then the cookie cutter stereotype of mainstream sci fi. Judging from the comments most people sound like they want to be the guy shooting the lasers from the millennium falcons turrets. This game asks and answers the question of is your turret fast enough on the swivel to hit a target flying at 7k mph at a range of 100km out. You as a person could never eyeball that so you better make sure your scanners are spec'd to even pick up that tie fighter in the first place. Let alone have a targeting computer capable of hitting that tie fighter. Most games are played by gamers who want to fire the rifle not make sure it doesn't blow up in your hands when you pull the trigger by designing it. Wish Steve would let the community chip in to make some visuals for this style of in depth game.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

Engineers are a distinct subset of gamers. They are the ones who build working computers in minecraft and code AI in From the Depths. Games like this are for them.

[@connormac2855]

I need no channel youtube! How the hell do you code AI in from the depths?

[@SecuR0M]

I wish Steve would release the game under GPL or some other open source license and allow forks on GitHub so people could add their own art and he could just work on his game how he wants. Then everyone wins. Sadly he is almost 60 so I think GPL might be too new for him.

[@elcidbob]

That's because I can, with relative ease, build a gun or burning laser. Why simulate what I can do? Can't get into a dogfight off of Io though...

[@silver1340]

@@SecuR0M Eh, last time I checked, he made a fuss about the modding community, so I highly HIGHLY doubt he'll make an open-source release.

[@rocwood]

11:50 It's like that one time when someone forgot to put enough fund in their bank account to fill an automated payment to their mercenaries in EVE Online and an entire system went to war. It never ceases to amaze me how minute details like paperworks can cause massive disasters.

[@evanmagolor1812]

Like how an unsent/lost letter caused the Opium War.

[@SimaoRodrigues...]

A

[@niccolospecter3664]

Both this game and the effort that went into this review...holy shit

[@BigSchim]

My first encounter with an alien in this game, I had (what I thought was) a decent warship with lasers. It was coming towards me and I decided to not let it inspect me or anything so I ordered my crew to FIRE! ...Oh my god, why aren't they firing? Turns out I had a completely green crew and just because you tell them to start attacking doesn't mean it's going to happen the next time you tick over time. The ship rammed me over and over and disabled my engines. I had to design a rescue ship to get my crew and my ship. The enemy alien ship was just one of their probe ships and it beat the best Sol had to offer.

[@BigSchim]

Also it was a moment of real terror when I saw the red blip. My comfy research and building game became hostile and I knew we both knew that we didn't know what the other thing is so there's only one outcome, survival. Long story short. I don't think we'll fare well if we ever run into spacecraft out there for real... that and the fact that our technologies won't be anywhere near each other's because of time and distance.

[@lordscorch3167]

@@BigSchim that is step by step exactly what first contact was in halo and mass effect, so i think you may be right.

[@gigachadgaming1551]

bro demonstrated the dark forest theory

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

This is literally the Droplet scene from The Dark Forest.

[@HirohitoSyndrom]

You don't need poor Supervision to play this Game while working, if you are the It Guy at work and your Boss doesnt understand shit about It (which isnt that unusual) you can probably make your Boss think that this Game IS YOUR WORK 😂

[@dabdab10]

xD

[@_Muzolf]

My management thinks the Dwarf Fortress interface is some incarnation of SAP.

[@kava2340]

If your IT guy you could be playing gta on your xbox in the office and convince your boss it's your work

[@tygerproductions9128]

armybull52 don’t even need to hide it

[@Rafael-ie1uf]

While you could probably make your boss think that it's your work, playing it would also probably be harder than just doing your work.

[@leonl9123]

I actually payed money for this game as a kid, some small games shop just printed out some Artwork for the cover, copied the game on a disk and sold it for 30 Euros.

[@niallreid7664]

Sounds... illegal?

[@leonl9123]

@@niallreid7664 It probably was.

[@Winnetou17]

Damn 30 euros, that sounds like a lot. If it was 5-10 I'd say it's ok for the effort and the disk itself/themselves.

[@jetex1911]

I need a source for that beginning. *GRAB YOUR FEDORA, IT'S TIME FOR AURORA*

[@cartoonfreack9671]

Punchweasel He commissioned a dood to say it

[@patavinity1262]

Fucking epic line.

[@gfr9109]

@@ihavenoson3384 What does that have to do with anything?

[@_colonial_]

Probably just recorded himself saying it and fucking with the pitch and speed in Audacity.

[@DrReinmann]

Speaking of Dwarf Fortress, you ever going to do a video on that? it'd be real neat

[@STaRgaTeBG]

It's on his list but at the middle so 20 years from now?

[@mattrg320]

One does not simply 'make a video' of Dwarf Fortress, friend.

[@accidentaltoast9928]

im seconding this

[@vidsmaker556]

if you can make one video on aurora 4x you can make one video on dwarf fortress.

[@DarthTellor]

But DF is a *must review*. Great, popular game. Expecting a fun video.

[@Aaron5345Anderson]

I have such an appreciation for the amount of depth you're willing to go into for these videos. Seeing and hearing how complex these games can be and how you tackle them is actually quite admirable and interesting. Good luck in the future!

[@nielsgroeneveld8]

tbh the review was pretty shallow

[@garlonschuman1014]

@@nielsgroeneveld8 how so?

[@nielsgroeneveld8]

@@garlonschuman1014 Idk man. I just rewatched it and it's pretty good.

[@CameronAB122]

I want that hypothetical dnd simulation of Rome now damn it

[@Gonzakoable]

Cameron Booth do like that guy. Nobody is making it, sobmake it yourself

[@Ironwizard42]

To be honest, Dominions by Illwinter is kind of like that. It's a 4x style TBS where each unit has RPG style stats and individually tracked HP, fatigue, experience and wounds such as lost eyes. Or lost heads (for zombies or things like hydras).

[@LolLol-ok4lr]

Gonzakoable but that kinda robs one of the things that are most enjoyable in games like exploring new game mechanics and interactions and stuff

[@icecold1805]

What? Dwarf Fortress?

[@Ptaku93]

Dnd is too powerful, try Shadow of the Demin Lord as your base

[@BidnessGoose]

I feel like this game would work well if you could get your friends playing the same faction and allow people to take specific roles, like science, combat, colonization and so on...

[@anybody277]

There is a mod now

[@awsomebot1]

​@@anybody277whats it called

[@lethalfelix]

I genuinely don't get exited to see new videos pop from channels... except for yours. Excellent as always.

[@_Muzolf]

I play dwarf fortress, i enjoy SS13, i torture myself with Mordheim and i micromanage the hell out of 4x games. But this thing? I could not even start a game without getting lost and giving up at a point.

[@_colonial_]

Man, this game can get complicated. In one of my most advanced campaigns I had this whole constellation of terraforming satellites, which amounted to some terraforming modules strapped to a big honking fuel tank and super efficient engine. It was around 200 ships in one fleet, and I'd just park them in orbit of a colony world and within a decade it'd be a second Earth. Once that was done, they'd refuel from the planet or a tanker and hop to the next job. Their one limitation was a lack of jump drives, so there needed to be full gate connections along their path, but it was still really fucking cool.

[@UpperAquatics]

Noooo this is the last video. I've watched all of them and this is it.. for now. Can't wait for more videos! You're the mitochondria of youtube since you're so powerhouse. Keep up the great work!

[@1scott921]

I'm 13 minutes in, I can't... I don't... Why am I watching this?? I do admire your will to undestand this game tho.

[@gabriel300010]

hey man when you get your stealth battlecruiser fleet thats basically worth an entire solar sistem in minerals and see it facing the galactic invaders as equals on a battle to decide the fate of the entire human race you will understando why this game is cool. and also why it needs a lot of imagination.

[@gabriel300010]

@Succubus Chan not a lot of real physics going on in this game though, lol

[@madcio]

@Enclave Soldier I think skills needed to play this game are pretty different from skills needed for being physics scientist. Not every hard thing is same.

[@jonascastejon5888]

@@madcio Absolutely, he simply has no idea what he's talking about, comparing apples and oranges.

[@Necris94]

It would be incredible to play this kind of game in co-op. It's simply to much information for one person, but if for example there were to be 3 players, one taking care of science and exploration, second colonies and economy and third military affairs, I would play this like there is no tomorrow.

[@GodofKings7]

ah yes i just love games that punish me for doing paper work wrong

[@Insanepie]

Based af game

[@RoyalFusilier]

One of my absolute favorite things about this game is the number of options and setings purely for roleplaying/fluff/decoration. Because it's spreadsheets and dots with almost literally no form of graphics, sound, voice acting, art assets, etc, it's consequently free to give you an enormous range of detail and specifics you can choose from. And in general, there's just tons of detail, like the ability to re-name the rank structure of your own military so the ranks are whatever you think sounds cool. And on and on. This is really the only 4X game I'd ever contemplate playing without opponents, and purely as a 'build my empire' game. Part of that is because it runs so fucking awful with even one CPU active too, that it's far better to have the game roll some dice and generate a new alien empire for you to find on the spot when you explore, even so. Oh, performance issues. You wouldn't think you'd get /those/ in a title of this, uh, nature. But it's easy to even pick the wrong settings, and end up with turn times taking 5-10 minutes to increment each time you click time ahead. Which is truly agonizing. Also, one personal big issue I have is the limitations of 'space master' mode. You can make yourself the GM of your world, instantly do things, change things, but you can't, for instance, see or edit alien empires on the map. Even as the fucking GM. Even if said aliens are giving you worse FPS death than any volume of cats. You need a super special access code from the developer himself to be able to do things like see aliens. That just seems extremely unnecessary and limiting. Game's cool bro

[@RegularCody]

Who else agree this guy has some of the best content on KZbin of last few years?

[@hko2006]

Dived into the 2nd time after a few years, having a blast so far, peacefully exploring until my survey ship got blown up 3:04 shame the new C# version doesn't come with music 5:24 C# has blue background now 8:24 You can get event color mode to highlight important ones now 9:15 lol 9:30 You can use missile and ship optimizer to help you calculate what engine to use, given ship tonnage, speed and range 10:55 You can use Aurora Electrons to help you sort the survey reports now 12:36 Aurora Electrons now gives out what to add/remove to terraform

[@Khainite]

Pretty sure I'm too much of a brainlet to understand or immerse myself in a game like this. But at least I can listen to Mandalore explain it and trick myself into thinking my unevolved lizard brain can fathom its complexities. It sure sucks being 100% stupid. Good review. I need more. A lot more.

[@evanmagolor1812]

People are only "stupid" at things they don't take the time to learn. When I started playing Dwarf Fortress, I had no idea what to do, but with the help of the wiki and some perseverance, it's not that complex anymore.

[@silverhand9965]

@@evanmagolor1812 exactly the answer I was going to give. I used to think I was too much of a brainlet to play Dwarf Fortress. Then I decided to learn to play Dwarf Fortress

[@waporvave5121]

@@cibo889 you could say the same about any game, but theyre still fun to play

[@SpaztallicA]

As soon as I reached your analogy with the "entering a room, forgetting why you went there, getting a snack", i instantly liked the video. You've got spunk, kid. Ya gonna go far.

[@dsintheb]

please give dimitri the help he needs

[@jl3977]

Your house looks like a cross between AVGN and Mr. Plinkett

[@caoimhghinseamusatkinson97]

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be

[@StrikeWarlock]

That's actually his best friend's house, Dimitri. He's the guy who does the Plinkett voiceovers in his old videos since the guy naturally sounds like Mike's version of Plinkett.

[@Aboveup]

So when's that Harry Potter Analsis video coming out?

[@Demagoguez28]

Wizard Analsis are the worst

[@Inoka01]

What, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality?

[@Demagoguez28]

emphasis on the anal

[@mtotowamidiri]

You spelt anal cyst wrong.

[@SvenS2]

Here's an analysis on the movies while you wait. Chris Columbus was a good director and translated the books into memorable unique movies. Everyone else pretty much made a retarded way too long UK TV Teen Drama with shitty special effects.

[@christianbehier4234]

see you in december

[@dirpyturtle69]

yea me to fam

[@dialaskisel5929]

"I could deal with Dwarf Fortress, but Aurora may be my limit" **OOF** I think I'll stick to low IQ games. Like Distant Worlds. Or Quantum Physics.

[@Bill_Garthright]

Oh, Dwarf Fortress isn't hard to learn. Check out Kruggsmash, here on KZbin. DF is basically a fantasy story-generator. You just have to let it happen. I loved Distant Worlds. And I've really had a blast with Dwarf Fortress. But Aurora was my limit, too, I think. I played it for awhile, and I was fine with all of it except for designing ships (and ship parts). That was where I hit the wall.

[@Misa_Susaki]

Yeah, Dwarf Fortress isn't a hard game, the difficulty comes from learning how to do things. Once you learn though, it just clicks. It is like playing a very simulated game of Stronghold.

[@mickethegoblin7167]

It isn't hard... just hard to look at

[@Rhysman30]

Distant Worlds has the right amount of depth for a casual 4x gamer imo. The only thing I dont like about it is that every game plays the same because the NPcs do the same thing.

[@Draeninful]

Great review! Had a few games of Aurora got pretty far with my empires but the imagination only carries you so far before it becomes tedious so I only really make it to a handful of systems and fighting aliens before it becomes too monotonous.

[@hafor2846]

I mostly shrink the game down to just one system and spawn several civilizations there. Close quarter, really fun action.

[@ineednochannelyoutube5384]

+Vys Erion Single system newtonian 4x es are dreadfully non existent even though it is an awesome concept.

[@TheLolzKnight]

Something helpfull for playing Aurora: You can customize the event log tab to have certain colors, so you can color code events. Useful for stuff at a glance

[@cianrowan8169]

I frequently rewatch your old videos and up until recently I would shake my head at this one and think “How do you even go about starting something like this?” However, having recently gotten passably good at DF (which was another game that looked impossibly complex to me initially) I think I’m gonna give it a try. Pray for me fellow gamers

[@blueninja9263]

Oh wise gamer of the North, give me your wisdom. How was it?

[@cianrowan8169]

@@blueninja9263 regrettably, this one is still beyond me. The raw appearance of the game is really demoralising when I'm trying to learn it. Dwarf fortress at least has mods which make it more readable, plus the new steam release which is a farcry from the old asci art.

[@1tallboi]

Just so you all know, This is the VB6 version In 2020, he updated it to C# from the ground up, which is now at version 2.5.1 as of January 2024. It's still got a solid following, and the subreddit and discord are both full of great people

[@mehmehmeh360]

where is the discord?

[@saintariser8507]

​@@mehmehmeh360 Probably on discord I would guess

[@safe-keeper1042]

You: "I lost it somewhere in my recording studio" Me: "it'll turn up when you tidy your--" You: "I'll probably never find it." Me: "Never mind."

[@Krondon-SSR]

Yer alive? *relieved sigh*

[@WeedDigimon]

I really have to commend you. For the amount you have to cover with this game you did really good job explaining how the game and mechanics work. Looking forward to the next one.

[@justinland1208]

"Going to a room, forgetting why you went there, eating a snack and putting the cereal box in the fridge" - The only downside to smoking pot.

[@VineFynn]

Aside from triggering predisposed schizophrenia

[@CarrotConsumer]

And disappointing your parents.

[@paulcloete4384]

Please oh PLEASE make an Arcanum review! That game was an amazing RPG, an absolute gem for its time.

[@aurex8937]

paul cloete And the music. That game was incredible.

[@paulcloete4384]

Everything about the game was amazing! I really hope Mandalore review's it

[@moguldamongrel3054]

Yea it was. Steam punk dwarf tech and magic together

[@Aleph3575]

6 years later, your wish has been fulfilled.

[@korianderbadger]

ever played chronicles of Riddick escape from butcher bay? it's the only licensed game I know of that's better than the movie

[@MandaloreGaming]

That and Dark Athena are awesome. Completely forgot to add them on

[@RegularCody]

Do riddick, get making I can't handle these waits.

[@Vinnisaurus]

2nd half of Dark Athena is garbage!!!

[@ss-oq9pc]

One of the best games I've ever played. Back in 2013 they said they were going to make another.

[@Random-bj3gf]

Finished that game for the first time this year

[@twitchverbiage4638]

Your genuinaly the only gaming review channel I watch because of your excellent analysis of games and your awesome voice.

[@johnnyvanguard8978]

Hey Mandalore, you should know that from 16:08 your audio cuts out and is replaced with royalty free music, you can't hear anything you say for the last 40 seconds of the video.

[@juergen4ever]

I knew I was not crazy all along.

[@commisaryarreck3974]

He knows The video got struck so he replaced "Video killed the Radio Star" with some royalty free music as an overlay

[@beetheimmortal]

A similar thing happened with old Pyrocynical videos. He explained, that the UI to do this is horrible and not precise at all, so you can't properly edit the songs in, which is why it just randomly starts.

[@maksimdolgikh6487]

It's nice someone made a review on it. A great game if you ask my! Its also cute that space station 13 theme is playing in the background near the end.

[@Mrkabrat]

Dont know why, but the ending credits and music made me nostalgic

[@aceventura4784]

I lost it at the Lost Galaxy montage at the end while you were describing office workspaces. God damn best juxtaposition ever.

[@NDRogueElf]

My husband played EVE online for 10 years as a wormholer. I showed him this video and he said,”oh dear god, why?!”

[@combly7]

Man your videos are wonderfully constructed, fun to watch, and very informative. I have watched this video 3 times and have gone through the rest of your reviews. Keep up the great work!

[@FiksIIanzO]

This game feels like you can get a degree by playing it, if only a degree _in_ playing it.

[@mehmehmeh2421]

I've discovered your channel yesterday by accident. Your reviews are very in-depth, your research is amazingly meticulous, just keep it up ma boi.

[@BitterCynical]

I'm a pretty big fan of Dark Souls. It's not an easy game but simultaneously i feel like any caveman could pick it up at any time and get through it with sheer persistence. This 4X spreadsheet mind melt serving as entertainment is a truly alien concept to me let alone the average gamer mashing buttons on a controller. I suppose to a drunkard or crackhead i'm sophisticated as well, quite the range on this human intelligence spectrum.

[@moguldamongrel3054]

Bitter Cynic its fun. Like the difference between a sniper calculating range wind velocity bullet falloff and other variables over a grunt who shoots first and asks questions last.

[@DavidBrake]

Thank you - I don't think I will play Aurora but I loved Starfire in high school and while I loved it couldn't remember its name more than 30 years later until you showed the cover!

[@BrendanCS]

Its admirable how much you subject yourself to the most tedious games ever made and manage to explain them for our entertainment

[@johnp8830]

Nice video and Thanks for Stellatdrone recommendation. Loved the music

[@Baleur]

9:10 From The Depths, a much more playable game, lets you customize the engines of your missiles =) Its basically Space Engineers but on the seas, with actual enemy factions to deal with or declare war with and instanced "mount-and-blade" style transitions between overworld and combat scenes.

[@darcyhandley7078]

For the first time in one of these videos (which im a huge fan Mandalore) I feel completely and utterly lost. WTF is this....... like it hurts my head thinking about how difficult it is. maybe im too stupid for a game like this but I feel proud I even got through the video :)

[@CassCassCassime]

Game: Stellaris *Stellaris*

[@anonymanonymus4706]

I love it when the game is so complex that the review video sounds like a tutorial.

[@Axonteer]

This game from what i can understand - is basically structured like my job. Im a electromechanical engineer. Say i want to design a Busbar for 2500Amps.. i first need to know from where to where, then define the diameter and wall thickness of it, then draw it in 3D, then define mounting points for it (like tube connectors n such) - then i need to put up all the material numbers and define the material to be used... and that isnt even half of the work required for just one bloody tube...

[@milanstevic8424]

Man, Stellardone (aka Edgaras Žakevičius) became almost as big as Carbon Based Lifeforms and Solar Fields. He's huge. Great respect for the guy. That said, I like Stellaris music. Fun fact: for a trained ear, Andreas Waldetoft (of Paradox) borrows heavily from classical compositions. It is really well done, and hard to nail down where exactly it comes from, but it is what it is. It's been done before, namely for Star Wars, so one can generally claim this technique itself to be an "inspiration". Like Mandalore laughed about "copyright" being interpreted as "copied right" in his Space Rangers HD video :) But I have to say, Eve-Online OST is rather excellent (Jón Hallur Haraldsson et al) kzbin.info/www/bejne/mYOQk2mMjJKgfMk For any of you interested I have to also highly recommend State Azure (try both yt and soundcloud).

[@Doomeiner]

My head... hurts...

[@vianenhive]

Great video, as always. Out of the list I would personally suggest you to cover Darklands and Dominions 4, both games really bring something unique to the table and defenitely deserve more love.

[@dwiz0075]

Thank you for exploring the darkness that us mortals cannot go near.

[@tomcat-ek3bh]

I appreciate the commitment to the bait and switch with the thumbnail and intro.

[@l0rdn0o8skillz4]

I'm gonna necro this 3 year old video to say that Aurora 4X now has a C# version, and you can now design your ground units, formations and specific OOBs. Plus it now has Aerospace Fighters for Orbital CAS, Orbital Bombardment from ship-based weapons and STO weapons to fire at those ships. It's insane... AND I LOVE IT! XD

[@Engitainment]

I really enjoy your editing and video style. Definitely going to keep up!

[@Ikelae]

"commander theme: Warhammer 40k" Good man.

[@TheMatjoo]

I really like your content. Youre the only game reviewer I still watch.

[@Ididntchoosethisname]

I have the strange feeling that 200 years from now when all the other games have been forgotten and we all live in electric dreams, there will still be one dedicated man working on this, having taken over from generations who worked on this game single handedly.

[@laz9533]

I love your deep dives into these obscure games. Great work!

[@ThoughtsOnThoughts]

High quality, in-depth, decent voice and overall quality. I look forward to seeing you improve further :) Great job

[@Garvisonal]

I very much enjoy your reviews, keep up the fantastic work

[@UnknownRex]

The C# version just went live :)

[@niallreid7664]

I'm a brainlet. What does this mean?

[@Karatys]

@@niallreid7664 its a new version of the game where your eyes no longer bleed after the first minute of playing!

[@niallreid7664]

@@Karatys Right thanks haha

[@AB-bg7os]

2:24 oooh is that Empire Earth?! Good stuff >:)

[@sadjack06]

“If you made it this far you probably know what that is” Nobody Me: I’ve gotten this far I’m not giving up

[@Doomsdayparade]

I may or may not have been watching and waiting for you to release a video.

[@BorrisStonoyanovich]

Perhaps the excel nerds will be silent now

[@corvus_monedula]

Great and insightful video. Personally I am really looking forward to a video on Gothic I&II but I'm still going to watch pretty much all of your content. Keep up the good work!

[@kffire12]

I think I'm going to try this game now..

[@theawesomekidman8874]

Fantastic review--exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to get a feel for the game even though it didn't take long to conclude this wasn't a game for me. Thanks!

[@GrahamC1171]

14:08 I hear Spess music. Remember the clown is always guilty.

[@OptionalZero]

You've got a good, informative, professional style. Keep it up, and I am sure you can get proper funding for more projects. And these reviews are more than just a "game review", they are more like an interesting gaming history video-essay. It's very nice. Of all the random "gaming videos" out there there is only one or two other channels I watch with the same level of respect or interest. Seriously: Keep it Up. (I'll try to think of an interesting game or series to suggest some day.)

[@ottokomlos3221]

5:25 That was genuinely hilarious.

[@nicolaslugo9357]

i commend you for sitting down and learning this game, the complexity and detail is....frightening, to say the least. and in regards to the game list you pinned, i would love to see a dwarf fortress or AVP extinction video. I used to play AVP:E when i was a kid and i loved it. dwarf fortress is just bizarre and hilarious, so really either one would be great.

[@MrBones-cu1vi]

love ya stuff my dude i suggest cortex command really cool game sad story

[@adamofblastworks1517]

What's the sad story?

[@MrBones-cu1vi]

game released a major patch and put it at 1.00 and then reviews took it as finished project no more updates it did though like framerate improvements bug fixes and squad mechanic

[@ThatDumbMoth]

I looked up Aurora on steam... They really changed this game.

[@highstricker]

that potter pasta

[@alexanderpalm5262]

You do the best reviews! I rally like your work keep it up

[@esoopthederp7672]

9:20 what about children of a dead earth?

[@MandaloreGaming]

I wasn't aware of it until today. Had a lot of people tell me about it!

[@Shogun0099]

That's not really a 4x strategy.

[@esoopthederp7672]

i didnt say it was

[@esoopthederp7672]

uhh... yes?

[@avtuunainen]

CoaDE is more of a puzzle game that involves ship design. It's really good at what it does, but what it does is reeaaallly niche. Just a word of warning: People in the community read real research papers about nuclear thrusters, whipple shields, etc just to help them make better ones ingame. You don't have to do this yourself if you don't want to, especially now as you can download components and ships out of steam workshop, but frankly much of the draw of the game is that you get to design your own nuclear bombs *that would probably work irl*, and if you don't do that it's not that engaging.

[@wisconsinfirenerd]

I am in awe of this kind of passion project, and I'm genuinely interested in playing with this, but it looks like learning how it works is the equivalent of a college course. Dang. Thank you for the review!