Space Engine: Lights and Shadows in the Merope System

This footage is from Space Engine
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Soundtrack is from the Space Engine game: Akira - The Blithering Heights

[@Partan.]

I’d never heard of Space Engine; thanks for the video. An intriguing program

[@MihajloLikevic]

Hi, RaSWB! Recently, I've developed an interest in wargames, and after seeing a couple of gameplay videos of various games, I've stumbled upon your KZbin channel, and I have to admit that I love the videos you upload with games of this particular genre, and I especially love HOW you play them. ‌‌‌‌ I'm contacting you because I wanted to ask you what wargames in your opinion do you consider are the best? I'm looking for some recommendations on what war games to play to spend my free time, so contacting someone who has experience with this type of genre is what I had in mind since I'm new to it :) Real-time or turn-based, complex or simple, all that stuff doesn't matter, because what matters to me is that the game's timeline is set in modern, or near modern times (like the early 2000s, or a few decades in the future (since the game's release)). While I would prefer a modern game, if you don't have many recommendations for them, something set in older timeline is okay as well I guess, as long as it's set in the Cold War era. World War 1 and 2 are the areas I'm not particularly interested in, as I'm mostly interested in the technologies we have today, or from the CW era, so feel free to ignore those WW 1 & 2 types of games. Some games that come to mind are: Command: Modern Operations, Combat Mission series, Wargame series (AirLand Battle, European Escalation, etc.), Fleet Command, Armored Brigade, WinSPMBT, etc. One more thing that I would like to mention is that graphics DO NOT matter to me at all. I don't mind if the game is pixelated or as realistic as possible. As long as I can run it, all that matters to me is what I wrote above. And that's all from me. Apologies for writing you such a long message, hopefully, it wasn't too much to read. Looking forward to your suggestions, and next uploads! Best wishes!

[@RealandSimulatedWarsBlog]

Hello! Thanks for the kind words. I'm so happy to hear about your gaming interests and see we share many preferences. The list of games worth to play is quite extensive and I may miss some: TACTICAL Steel Beasts GHPC Arma 3 (modded) Combat Mission Cold War Combat Mission Black Sea Combat Mission Shock Force 2 Squad Battles (Wargameds.com) Armored Brigade (Matrix Games) Armored Task Force (HPS Sims) I'm not too much into the "RTS" side of things but I play some of these when I have the time: Regiments Warno GRAND TACTICAL/OPERATIONAL Command Modern Operations (Matrix Games) Flashpoint Campaigns Southern Storm (Matrix Games) Decisive Action (HPS Sims) Flashpoint Campaigns Southern Storm (Matrix Games) Modern Campaigns (Wargameds.com) The Operational Art of War 4 (Matrix Games) This list is not complete, but I have to go now. I hope at least it serves to continue your explorations! Cheers, JC

[@MihajloLikevic]

@@RealandSimulatedWarsBlog Thank you for the response and for the suggestions for the games you've mentioned, I'll be sure to check them out! One more question that I would like to ask you is: Do you happen to know of any Wargames that have an educational aspect to them? Something like a "war academy" that teaches you real-life stuff. Or maybe something like an in-game tutorial, training, or "battle academy", (or even outside the game, like in a manual or some other document that comes with the game) that teaches you about combat tactics and strategy to use with that and that unit, or something like what your army should be composed of (infantry, tanks, aircraft, etc.), and how many units of each role you should have, how to use each of those units effectively, and so on... The only game that I played so far that has something like this was Arma 3, and I loved how that game features many tutorials and advices on infantry combat, tactics, strategies, and so on. Now however, I'm looking for something on a larger-scale, like with the whole armies, and learning what beats what, how to beat that and that, all those tactics and strategies that would be used in modern-day combat (as far as we civvies know), which is one of the reasons why I've developed an interest in wargames recently. Unlike my previous request, this time, feel free to recommend games that have this sort of thing from ANY timeline, as it doesn't matter. Even sci-fi is welcome, as long as it has lessons that are (or can) be used in modern battles. Now, I know this is a bit of a stretch for a video game, but honestly, I like to learn about stuff like this (even tho I don't plan on joining the army or becoming a general or anything like that lol), and having games that have this educational aspect to them would bring great value to it and be more immersive in my opinion. Do any games like that come to mind?

[@RealandSimulatedWarsBlog]

@@MihajloLikevic Almost every wargame has some educational value, it all depends how you play it. The only games that I remember deliver you with "sorta" guiding documents on how real life operations are conducted are: Armored Task Force (Shrapnel Games) and Steel Beasts (eSim Games). Falcon 4.0 (BMS remake) is also choke-full with documents about air operations. Other than that, I would suggest a personal learning process in which you can go through doctrinal publications, non-fiction books describing operations, professional journals like Armor, Infantry or the Proceedings of the Naval Academy. Cheers, JC