How Similar is this to Starsector?

[Mr.Person]

I had no idea this existed, how similar is it to Starsector in terms of progression, ship fitting, exploration and such? I love Starsector so I hope its similar to it.

Can you colonize planets or is the game sole-ly focused on upgrading your fleet?

[Hecter94]

It's not that similar to Starsector.

Starsector forces you to build a fleet, whereas Endless Sky is focused more on a single ship/couple of escorts but still allows a fleet. You can play through all of Endless Sky in a single ship if you want.
Starsector is more of a sandbox, whereas Endless Sky is story- and mission-focused, with much more focus on storylines and less about making your own story.
Starsector's shipbuilding is limited to just adding mods/swapping weapons. Endless Sky allows you to completely rebuild all of a ship's internals.

Endless Sky's exploration is a bit easier than Starsector's; you don't have supply or fuel to worry about generally, and you don't need to bring a big fleet, but there is much more interesting stuff to find than in Starsector.
Endless Sky doesn't have planet colonization; it allows tributing planets, but it's a much simpler system where you fight a planetary defense fleet, and if you win, you get paid a daily tribute payment.

Endless Sky is also seamless; when you're in a system, you can see other ships flying around and fighting and plundering each other; you don't need to load into a separate instance to start or observe a fight.
Mining/Salvaging/Plundering, etc., are all done via your flagship, not through a menu or a fleet.

Starsector's fleet management and overall large fleet strategy/tactics are much more advanced than Endless Sky's since that is what it focuses on. In contrast, Endless Sky's single-ship experience is much better than Starsector's.

Overall, other than being two top-down space sims, the two games aren't that similar. Starsector is far more about managing a fleet, handling logistics, and managing a larger empire.
Endless Sky is more of a space arcade experience where you pilot an individual ship in faster-paced arcade-style combat while participating in storylines, doing missions, and heavily customizing your flagship.

[Mr.Person]

Thanks for the breakdown, I'll give it a go sometime. Can't beat the price of free!

[dontnormally]

Originally posted by Hecter94:

Endless Sky is focused more on a single ship/couple of escorts but still allows a fleet. You can play through all of Endless Sky in a single ship if you want.

While I agree for the most part, the Free Worlds story line 'needs' you to have a fleet.

I say 'needs' because sure it's technically possible without one, but most people are just not going to be able to do it in a single ship.

[Hecter94]

Originally posted by dontnormally:

While I agree for the most part, the Free Worlds story line 'needs' you to have a fleet.

I say 'needs' because sure it's technically possible without one, but most people are just not going to be able to do it in a single ship.

Free Worlds is balanced around the assumption that the player will be using a single large ship or a couple of smaller ships. Around $20m total by the end of the campaign.

It is intended to be somewhat challenging, but it should be doable within a few attempts, assuming you've got your ship outfitted well and play it smart.

You do not need a fleet to do any required missions throughout the entirety of the main storyline, and quite a few do not.

[dontnormally]

Originally posted by Hecter94:

You do not need a fleet to do any required missions throughout the entirety of the main storyline

Originally posted by Hecter94:

assuming you've got your ship outfitted well

most people dont know what that is and wont be equipped for infinite kiting, which is what you'll need to take on multiple cruisers at once without a fleet