Galactic Conquest 4K - II

The year is 4096 and all hell just broke loose. Xenophobia got the upper hand, and now all races in the known galaxy are at war. Cruisers are cruising, lasers are blasting and aliens are screaming. There is no surrender, only extermination or victory! Part II!

I’ve made an update to my 2012 entry for Java4K (the old version), since I managed to squeeze out some extra bytes due to an improved compression chain. It’s got improved graphics, more game settings, a history chart, and drag selection. Unfortunately the terrible space monster bit the dust, since it did not seem to add much in the way of fun.

[applet archive=gc4k.jar class=G width=800 height=600]

You can also play the game on the Java4K site or my site.

Controls:

  • Left click = select single star (with nothing selected) or move ships from selected star(s) to this star.
  • Drag with left mouse button down = select multiple stars.
  • Right click = change number of ships to move from each selected star (all, half, one). If you move one or half of the ships, the current star will stay selected (deselect by clicking in empty space).
  • Mouse over an owned star to see its current infrastructure and build project (ship or starbase).
  • C key = toggle mouseover star as collection point. New ships move to collection points automagically.
  • S key = build star base at mouseover star.
  • H key = toggle visibility of balance of powers history graph

Gameplay tips:

  • Choose action game for a quick battle that requires fast reflexes; choose an epic game for a slow, lengthy fight.
  • Ships move faster between owned stars (because of fancy warp accelerator technology), use this to your advantage.
  • Production speed of ships and star bases depends directly on the infrastructure level of the star (i.e. 10% infrastructure = only 10% production speed). Keep your well-developed stars safe!
  • You can support one starbase for each 5 stars conquered (one is free). A starbase provides powerful stationary defense, and a 50% production bonus. While building a starbase, the star does not produce ships however.
  • Try to capture chokepoints and enforce these with starbases. Set chokepoints as collection points to reinforce them automatically.
  • Be sure to leave some defenses at stars in the second line in case the AI slips through.
  • Higher difficulty means that the AI acts more quickly and produces ships faster. Impossible is really impossible :slight_smile:

I played this game and I Loved it, it was AWESOME
It was running very smooth even when there were like thousands of those small adorable little ships.
2 thumbs up for you :smiley:

Yes, very nice game. I like that style of game.

I had only one suggestion:

  • When I selected many stars I don’t see which stars I have selected (perhaps a little red (or other color) drawOval around the planets would help)

Great game, the only thing missing for me too is some kind of selection. Other than that, nice!

I got hooked for a couple hours…wow. Good job! I absolute love these kinds of games. Is there a name for this?

Awesome!

I already liked the version from last year, and it happened again: I’ve lost several hours to this game… :emo:
Thanks!
;D

Haha, thanks! It’s great to hear that you enjoyed the game. I like playing it myself :slight_smile:

[quote]- When I selected many stars I don’t see which stars I have selected (perhaps a little red (or other color) drawOval around the planets would help)
[/quote]
The selected stars actually light up a little, but he effect may be too subtle. I’ll try to make the selection effect a bit more clear.

Nice ;D I’m not sure there’s a name for it, it’s a bit of a mix-up of several types of games. I just tried to make a space strategy game as simple as possible (user-interface wise) and ended up with this.

Really cool game this one, and only 4K.
Excellent!:slight_smile:

Loved the game! However, the game was laggy from the beginning… I think it’s just my computer…

I think what you have now is perfect. The controls and UI are fine, no complaints from me.

After a bit of googling, it seems like these kinds of games are called 4X games, which are a subgenre of strategy games. Well…now I know what games I’m making/buying in the future :slight_smile:

[quote=“ra4king,post:12,topic:40497”]
Thanks :slight_smile: It works quite well this way, glad you enjoy it!

[quote=“ra4king,post:12,topic:40497”]
Games in this genre I’m kind of addicted to are the classic Master of Orion (mother of all 4X games), and games like Sins of a Solar Empire. Yesterday I’ve been looking on Android for something similar, and the closest thing I could find was the cool-looking Auralux. Maybe that’s something for you as well?

[quote=“Apo,post:3,topic:40497”]
When a star is selected it now lights up much more strongly, that should make it easier to see.

Much better! :slight_smile:

Mike

[quote=“Grunnt,post:13,topic:40497”]

[quote=“ra4king,post:12,topic:40497”]
Thanks :slight_smile: It works quite well this way, glad you enjoy it!

I’ll look into Master of Orion, thanks!

Concerning Auralux, it’s only available for Android 3.0+ and certain CPUs :frowning:

Maybe I can make my own 4X game for Android to fill that empty gap…

I’ve just made a wrapper for my Java4K games and compiled it using Excelsior JET, so that people can download and play my 4K games without internet connection, and without the need to have Java installed. Of course, that means the size has increased by a bit ;D It’s also a bit of an exercise for me in Java application deployment, and this approach seems to work very nicely.

Download the collection here if you like.

Is there any way to increase the hitbox-size, as “aiming” gets a little tough in hard mode :’(

I’ve updated the code today, changed some things and fixed a couple of small bugs. Most importantly, the star map is smaller star-wise, but the stars and ships are bigger and there’s some nice explosion effects. The performance should also be much better on slower systems as a result of this change.

I’m really happy that some of you like this game ;D

@toasten: the hitbox is bigger now, which should make the stars easier to hit

I’m really impressed ! It is the most addictive 4k game I ever play !