This or Starcom Nexus?

[Valen]

Which would you recommend?

[Moon-Shadow]

Star Valor

Sand Box , Open World.

Meanwhile extended tutorial, once normal for 3 factions and neutral to choose, and once much further to go where there are 2 ends, so 6 ways to unlock more things to play as you want.

Many ships to choose from and many modules and weapons, you can also build your own weapons, and have a fleet if you want and equip them as you like.

Crew that gets better for your own ship, and can also be given to fleet ships.

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Starcom Nexus

Story based, played once so don't know if any of the locations and environments are random like in Sand Box games which again adds to the game value.

1 ship that is only built from parts, at the beginning almost no parts, and at the end a good selection but visually very same.

Equipment each module or weapon needs a component of the ship, so it limits so far that you need more drives when it gets bigger, because you should make each part what on it because too big and become badly movable.

No fleet, no crew.

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Starcom Nexus 2

Still in developer, don't have it yet, so unknown to me what's there.

[Moon-Shadow]

Star Valor

The following review is in German.

Unfortunately, I don't know of any English review that so good explains what the game has.

But translated with Translator "Deepl" , piece by piece, it should translate reasonably understandable, if Google or whatever browser someone takes it should not translate so well.

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198062231717/recommended/833360/

When I set it to German, my review is displayed as one of the best at the top.

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Best in English is this one.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/klokinator/recommended/833360/

[EvilBob]

I have both. Both is good.

Different slices of the genre. Starcom is more like Star Control, and this is more of a classic star flight model. Both are very good versions of those games.

[phaktory]

I have all 3. I prefer this one. Less story though and this game is iterative as you unlock more and more features to start the game with. You'll find yourself doing runs with a singular purpose of unlocking something.

[quixotic_tinkerer]

Star Control is more arcade style action rpg mechanics with lots of modularity built in. It doesn't have a ton of story yet, that's mainly background plot for blowing stuff up.
Starcom Nexus is also modular but in a much different way. It has more of a story to it, but the pace is much different.

Play is kind of similar, but combat is a bit less involved.
Starcom Nexus is mostly circle target, gunners do stuff, collect loot.
Star Valor lets you dash around in a small ship, dodging fire and picking at small or big targets alike. You could go with a bigger ship which relied on soaking up damage, but brings bigger guns to bear. Do you want to fly an x-wing, the falcon, or a star destroyer?

[Jonathan Hunt]

Star Valor the best

[Daivahataka]

I have all 3, I've sank >500 hours into Star Valor but <50 into each of the other 2, I think that gives a clear view on my stance.
Starcom Nexus 2 is still in development so I'll probably loop back to it as more updates are released but then I also plan to spend more time in Star Valor as more updates come out for it, especially the planned build your own space stations update.

[EvolutionKills]

I have both. I played through Starcom: Nexus once, and spent about 80 hours with it. Not a bad time, certainly a good time to money ratio. But I haven't cared enough to go back and replay it since I beat it. It's quite a bit more of a linear experience, and it really hinges on how much you enjoy the ship building mechanic.

As for Star Valor? I have over 575 hours into it, and I keep coming back. The more open sandbox experience has me trying out new ships, new setups, new perks, new crew, and new starts. It's quite a bit more hands off, and is more about self directed play and exploration, rather than going through a linear story. Meaning you can be a miner, trader, pirate, rebel, collaborator, lone wolf, fleet commander, or anything else.

Both are good games, but I've felt compelled to spend way more time with one over the other.

[Daivahataka]

Another game that might also be worth considering adding to your wishlist to keep an eye out for in a sale is Cosmoteer - recent early access with extremely modular ship building. At the moment lacks depth and you seem to be able to unlock all modules quite quickly. Can construct and crew other ships to form a fleet and if you have the materials can do this/modify any ship even in the depths of space.
Does have a modding community too though so hopefully will grow into something more between official content and stuff modders come up with.

[JokerThief]

Nexus has some good storylines, with clever mission design (try finding out how to reach bird guys homeworld :) ). Lots of customization of your ship, but it leads to almost singular meta outfit.
Star valor is a sandbox. It's between and arcade shooter and Astrox (Eve Offline). A little similar to Starpoint Gemini 2.
The biggest plus is "easy to learn, hard to master" way of things. A little grindy, but that just adds to the charm.

[HellSlayer]

I havent found any other game like this where i just have one single ship and go where I want and buy whatever I want. weapons, ships, crew.

Game needs more story campaign but for what it is.. i sunk in this game more hours than any other space game.

[Elegant Caveman]

Originally posted by HellSlayer:

I havent found any other game like this where i just have one single ship and go where I want and buy whatever I want. weapons, ships, crew.

I know I'm forgetting some, but two come to mind:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/404410/Endless_Sky/

https://store.steampowered.com/app/364510/Transcendence/

I don't think either has crew, though. That's something I've only seen in this game, as far as I remember.

[Moon-Shadow]

Transcendence

Can also be downloaded completely free of charge from the developer page, in the latest version.

It is not a demo.

If you want the DLC's, it's better to buy them via Steam, you can get both cheaper as 1 purchase without a sale via Steam, and even cheaper in a sale.

Important, there are 2 control modes, full keyboard and keyboard with mouse, it is first on full keyboard and the mapping is awkward if you are used to games like "Star Valor" and shooters and the like, so choose keyboard with mouse also changes to a preset version that is set to control with WASD and mouse aiming and shooting, and you there one or the other adjust depending on how you have Y and Z on the keyboard, and you musst maybe one or the other occupy better.

The game has no sideways flying, and you quickly get into a drift, and with just the keyboard you have oversteer with moving ships so that you can't hit targets, so play with keyboard and mouse. / Without mouse the problem is a lot of overshooting and if you have missiles that don't follow the target are also an extreme waste of money.

Missiles and a few other weapons that have ammunition have much smaller quantities compared to "Star Valor" and are much more expensive and take up much more space, "Star Valor" is the ammunition generous numbers and tiny size and super cheap but depending on the weapon sometimes little to much ammunition is used, "Transcendence" ammunition per shot 1 ammunition no matter what weapon.

[Tocs13]

Personally I lean towards Star valor.
And since no one has recommended it yet:
Starsector
Its similar but more Fleet focused and less arcadey.
Its more simulated as well, but also tends to be a little bit slower.
Not yet on Steam, since the Developer only wants to bring it to steam once it's out of early access, if I remember correctly, but feels pretty finished already. Worth a look in my opinion.
And it has a rather big modding community.

[Paradox]

Originally posted by Heliodor:

Personally I lean towards Star valor.
And since no one has recommended it yet:
Starsector
Its similar but more Fleet focused and less arcadey.
Its more simulated as well, but also tends to be a little bit slower.
Not yet on Steam, since the Developer only wants to bring it to steam once it's out of early access, if I remember correctly, but feels pretty finished already. Worth a look in my opinion.
And it has a rather big modding community.

Ya, Starsector is a good game, I actually prefer it over Star Valor and there are so many mods for it, some of which radically enhance it. It's also more complete than Star Valor, "base building" already being a thing there. Don't confuse me liking it more than Star Valor as me not liking Star Valor, they're both decent games.

It has a rather different feel to it, though, almost more like a survival game (early on), what with fuel being such an important part of it (and running out meaning almost certain death).