"Is there anything better than Full Thrust right now?" Topic

Full Thrust still seems to be the go-to game out there for many clubs. Is there anything better that's on the market right now for handling medium to large sized fleet games?

I was interested in Billion Suns til I heard about the whole contract system that kinda turned me off.

What do you like? What are you playing?

Well, I remain partial to GOBS!
thegobspage.com

How do you define "better"?

Pretty much up to each gamer Stryderg.

Ah, well, then no, not really.

Although GOBS is a serious response (well, semi-serious, considering the nature of GOBS), it really depends on what you want a spaceship combat game to do.

If you want a captain's duel, you want Starfleet Battles.
If you want hard, ultra-realistic space combat you want Attack Vector.
If you want semi-generic small fleet (really a glorified squadron), you have a host of options, including Full Thrust, Starmada, A Call to Arms, etc..
If you want WH40K, you can find Battlefleet Gothic (it's OOP, but legally available for free as a download, IIRC. Sorry, don't have a link myself.)
If you want to load the table with ships you have A Sky Full of Ships.
If you want truly generic, be any setting, and to worry whether the table legs will crack from the weight of lead,* you want GOBS.

But all of these systems vary in mechanics and feel, often a great deal, and what you might like in terms of how the game works may be different. That's why I made GOBS-- I wanted something different than Full Thrust and the others in the marketplace, and I especially wanted to be able to handle more ships, which Full Thrust's ship charts and written orders don't make feasible.

So really, you need to be more specific about what you want, and what you think would be "better."

*Okay, probably not. But it is intended for a lot of ships.

I find that Colonial Battlefleet fits in the same slot as Full Thrust but has a better move/shoot ratio which means you can actually use formations other than the biggest mass of ships wins.

It is actually possible to divide your fleet and then catch your opponent in a pincer when they go for the defeat in detail, and small fast missile boats screaming down the flank with intent to make a run at the rear of your formation are scary and require you to detach escorts to see them off.

And I still play Full Thrust as well, it handles multiplayer games much better and is generally better as a intro game for new gamers.

Robert

SUNDER THE STARS

very simple ship construction and combat
great for getting some ships on the table and fighting it out
not much detail and only 4 types of weapons but very easy to build ships

link

I'm a fan of Starmada.

Starmada is probably the best out there. Lets you design weapons,too.

I confess I'd never heard of Starmada before this post though it seems to be about 20 years old. It has an exceptional Boardgame Geek rating as well so I've Dded it to my Amazon list!

Agree, it depends on what you want in a space combat game.

If you want fast, simple and fun, great for a club night, then Star & Lasers… handles a couple of ships up to large fleets ( and fighters ) also lots of free stuff.

Mac