SPACE "RPG" 2000-2004

 🚀2000

01🧭Terminus

🕹The game has similarities to Elite and Privateer, though with more detailed ship and environment simulation (with multiple space stations, Newtonian ship movement physics, and multiple ship components). 

🌟Decide your own career in this 3D simulation and create your own destiny. 

🌟The game also includes a training mode, multiplayer combat (up to 64 players) and a gauntlet.

🕹In Story mode, the player chooses one of four careers (United Earth League military, Mars Consortium militia, Marauder Pirate Clan, mercenary) and follows Terminus's single-player storyline, set in the year 2197. 

🌟In 2000, Terminus was unusual among RPGs in that the player's actions can affect the ending of the storyline. 

🌟Failing a mission, for example, may lead to a different ending than would have occurred if the mission had succeeded. 

🌟One unique feature of Terminus is the story would progress with or without the player. 

🌟The player could begin the game in story mode, then go off and do something else and the story missions/battles would still take place, reaching an outcome depending on which side eventually wins.

🕹Each type of career has different advantages and disadvantages. For example, mercenaries must outfit and pay for repairs on their own ships, while fighter pilots needn't worry about such things 

🕹As a novice space jockey you will probably want to start out with a career in the United Earth League. 

🌟Most of the assignments given to you as a member of the elite Ursa Squadron will consist of low-level reconnaissance and intelligence gathering missions, uneventful cargo hauling, and utterly monotonous patrolling in search of renegade ships. 

🌟You will be graded on your performance as an individual military unit and your ability to carry out orders exactly as they are given. Any deviation from the Command objectives, and you will be reprimanded for disobeying.

🕹Similar to the United Earth League is the Mars Consortium, also recommended for less experienced players because of its simplistic, straight forward assignments. 

🌟As a member of the Mars Consortium, you will be part of the Nergal Squadron which is viewed by other factions as sort of a militia unit. The overall goal of the Mars Consortium is to attain Martian independence. . 

🕹For a slightly more interesting experience, the player can opt to play as a pirate. 

🌟Although requiring significantly greater knowledge and aptitude, playing as a pirate in the Marauder Clan is a notch more satisfying than the other modes. 

🌟Your pirate affiliations mean that you will be in constant danger from anyone, anywhere. 

🌟The element of risk is therefore a factor in making this career more rewarding. Maintaining respect from your fellow marauders will be paramount in keeping your livelihood. 

🕹The fourth and final career offered to the player is that of a mercenary.

🌟As a mercenary you will be a jack-of-all-trades and responsible to no one but yourself. 

🌟The mercenary role is best suited to career managers who have the ability to control things as disparate as financial decisions and intense tactical combat.

🕹Training Mode consists of five missions that introduce you to the basic elements of flying the ships, selecting weapons, choosing assignments, and general navigation 

🕹In Free mode, the player chooses a career and does the same as in Story mode, except there will be no storyline missions. It consists of an endless array of specific mission assignments but has no ending

🕹In Gauntlet mode, the player outfits a ship with near-infinite money at their disposal, and faces several waves of attackers, with the object of staying alive for as long as possible.

🕹Ship hulls are divided into a variety of bays. 

🌟Some are specifically designed for weapons, others for propulsion, and so on. Unless you want to purchase a pre-configured ship, you have to start with an empty hull and outfit your ship from the get-go. 

🌟There are a total of thirteen basic components: computers, scanners, detail scanners, devices, engines, thrusters, fuel systems (and fuel pumps), energy systems, weapons, surge cells, cargo, ammo (unlike most space sims, every weapon requires ammo) and armor.

🌟Additionally, there are dozens of peripheral components available for most slots

🚀2001

01🧭Independence War 2: Edge Of Chaos

🕹The Badlands cluster. 100 years after the first Independence War. Your father was killed by the Corporations for a bad debt. And you've spent 15 years rotting in jail for trying to get justice. 

🌟Now it's time for vengeance. Now it's time to turn back the Corporations before they corrupt the entire universe. Now it's time to take control of the universe's most advanced interstellar hardware and wage war in the greatest space-sim ever conceived. 

🌟Command four futuristic battlecruisers and a band of revolutionary pirates into an all-consuming battle against impossible odds...because there just isn't enough Space for everyone!

🕹Online multiplayer support for up to 8 people. Play DeathMatch, Capture the Flag, and various other unique scenarios.

🕹Physically realistic flight model. All ships use a Newtonian mechanics simulation and move according to the same rules as real spacecraft. This includes a simulation of both linear and angular momentum, inertia and rotational moment of inertia. Ships can use either a free-flight mode or use computer-assisted fly-by-wire flight controls.

🕹Team-up on the enemy with detachable fighters. Keep them on-board as murderous gun turrets or order them to attack as wingmen.

🕹Superior non-linear gameplay spanning 16 star systems, interacting with dynamically-created space traffic.

🕹Command 4 flyable ships and over 30 weapons and ship accessories that can be used in near-infinite combinations.

🕹Get to know the locals. Examples include taxicab ships, freighters, space patrols, and pirates.

🕹Watch the space opera unfold through a rich storyline in four acts.

02🧭Smugglers

🕹You start as a freelance captain of a small spaceship with a desire for glory. You can join the army of each side and help fight the war. 

🌟You may become a peaceful trader, ferrying needed goods from planet to planet and from one system to another. 

🌟You can become a pirate, plundering vessels from both sides and smuggling illegal goods. 

🌟It doesn't matter what you do, only that you'll reach your goal - to become the richest smuggler in all of known space.

🕹Smugglers is a space trading simulator with minor combat aspects. 

🌟In each game you aim to achieve the highest score, based on your net worth. To do so you can buy cheap goods and sell them where they're most needed, or to plunder the ships of your enemies.

🌟The star map is the same in each game, but the shift in prices (viewable from the Trading Information screen that allows you to compare prices), military developments and various encounters are randomized in each game.

🕹You are able to purchase bigger ships, with bigger cargo bays, shield and weapon strength and customize them with special items. 

🌟The local banking system allows you to take loans and each of the two factions will reward its freelance captains who earn enough fame in combat

03🧭Battlecruiser Millennium

🕹Battlecruiser Millennium is a genre mix between space simulation, economic simulation and first person shooter. 

🕹The basic idea of the game is to give the player the freedom to explore the big game world on his own without guiding him in any way - and this includes learning the game mechanics as tutorials are neither ingame nor in the manual but as HTML-files on the disc.

🕹The travelling with the spaceship is a complex simulation with around 120 key commands. 

🌟Because there is no time compression available the player should prepare himself to watch the autopilot for 30-60 minutes while going from one place to another. 

🌟Sometimes the player gets attacked by pirates which he has to fight. When reaching a friendly space station the player disembarks and talks to NPCs (through menus). 

🌟Earning money can be accomplished by trading goods between stations. 

🌟Another possible way to spend the time is to land on planets. There the player wanders around and shoots people in first person perspective. 

🌟There are also multiple vehicles, including flying ones, he can use.

🕹Besides the roaming mode there are also single scenarios and a campaign. 

🕹The player can choose between 12 races, 13 fields of expertise (e.g. diplomacy or shooter) and six careers which roughly represent the aspects of the game, e.g. ship commander or foot soldier.

🚀2002

01🧭Earth & Beyond

🕹Earth & Beyond was a science fiction massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) 

🌟Earth & Beyond is the first online role-playing galaxy. 

🌟This galaxy is filled with monsters and strange new worlds, but it is also home to thousands of other players from around the world. Players create unique characters and starships and can affect the galaxy, but the game persists even after individual players log off. 

🌟Alien encounters, fierce combat, cutthroat commerce, new discoveries, perilous quests, strategic alliances, diplomatic backstabbing, and epic wars await you and the friends you'll adventure with. 

🕹Earth & Beyond lets you build your character and career in three distinct ways: exploration, trade, and combat. 

🌟The game is designed around these three activities, and each race, profession, skill, starship, and item affects how well you do these core activities.

🌟Explorers have access to hidden locales, the best sensors, the most accurate maps, the fastest ships, and stealth capabilities. 

🌟Tradesmen make and sell goods, run trade routes, go on trade missions, have the biggest cargo holds, and do whatever it takes to make a profit. Warriors thrive on combat, destroying enemies, going on dangerous missions, and protecting their friends during perilous missions.

02🧭Escape Velocity Nova 

🕹In Escape Velocity Nova (EVN) the player takes the role of a starship captain, warping from system to system, trading commodities and engaging in combat.

🕹The game interface is, oddly enough, a top-down perspective, such as might be found in games such as Asteroids or Star Control.

🌟 To maneuver, players simply point their ship in the direction they want to go and thrust. Stopping is as simple as turning in the opposite direction and thereby thrusting against the ship's current direction.

🕹In addition to the exploration inherent within the game, there are also a number of side-missions that can be picked up by the player at their leisure, as well as a handful of storyline missions.

🕹EVN is a very freeform game; players are not even required to peruse the story missions. 

🌟They can focus on upgrading their ship, become a pirate, or establish a fleet in order to exploit profitable trade routes.

🕹When players engage a ship in combat, it will become "Disabled" shortly before it takes enough damage to be destroyed. 

🌟Players then have the option of stopping their attack in order to board the ship in order to steal credits, resources, or even the entire ship itself (it can either replace the player's own ship or be added to their fleet). Naturally, ship captures are not always successful.

03🧭Space Rangers

🕹Space Rangers sets you up as a member of the Space Rangers, a small group of individuals who are there to protect the universe. 

🌟After a long and bloody time, the four races in the galaxy have learned to live together mostly peacefully. Everything seems to be going well until the Klissans enter this arm of the galaxy.

🕹The Klissans are a race who are bent on conquering all worlds and systems and will not reply to diplomacy. 

🌟Their weapons and ships are much more powerful than the other races. 

🌟Because the Klissans are more likely to target and wipe out large groups of ships, it was decided to have the Space Rangers do battle with the Klissans. 

🌟The military, privateers, and even traders will help out, but it is up to the Rangers to turn the tide.

🕹Choose from any of the four races and then if you want to be a pirate, trader, or warrior. 

🌟Each of these combinations have specific abilities and "inabilities." 

🌟For instance, you might have a bonus to technology, but be hated by one or more of the four races. Choose wisely and then start your campaign.

🕹In the game, you will work to make money by trading and recovering items such as minerals floating in space. 

🌟With that money, you can upgrade your ship with new items - weapons, armor, shields, engines, cargo hook, scanners, and more. You will need these upgrades to survive.

🕹When you get into space, you can collect anything floating around in space, destroy asteroids (try not to get hit by any), fight ships (steal from them, kill the enemies, or protect friends), talk to other ships, and move between sectors.

🕹Battles in normal space are real-time with the ability to pause the battle between turns. 

🌟You can try getting other ships to help you in a battle, or you can do it all yourself. If you survive, you might find some piece of the enemy's ship that you can get and either use or sell.

🕹Other than normal space, there is also hyperspace (worm holes) that connect sectors. 

🌟In these areas, you have the option to stop in different pockets of space where you can possibly find minerals and enemies. 

🌟These areas are set up in an arena fashion with a small area to move around in. 

🌟When battling in these areas, battles are completely real-time without the ability to pause or run from the battle. 

🌟You can run around the arena to avoid being shot, but you can't leave until all enemies are destroyed. There are also powerups in these areas that can help or hurt you.

🚀2003

01🧭Star Wars Galaxies

🕹Star Wars Galaxies is a Star Wars themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) 

🕹The ten species that were available to players included: Human, Twi'lek, Zabrak, Wookiee, Trandoshan, Rodian, Mon Calamari, Bothan, Sullustan and Ithorian.

🕹There were nine professions in the game after the New Game Enhancements(NGE) (34 pre-NGE): Jedi, Bounty Hunter, Smuggler, Commando, Spy, Officer, Medic, Entertainer and Trader.

🌟 Trader was further divided into four separate professions: Domestic Goods (tailoring and cooking), Engineering (droid and vehicle crafting), Structures (shipwright and architect), Munitions (weapons and armor crafting). 

🌟Progress in these professions was divided into three separate experience source groups: combat, crafting and entertaining. 

🕹In addition to these professions, a character could also pursue three optional (they could be advanced in regardless of chosen main profession nor progress in it): Pilot, Chronicler and Politician. 

🌟Pilot sub-profession allowed users to load out and use spaceships specific to three different career paths represented GCW alignment (Imperial, Neutral, and Rebel). Advancement in profession was based on obtaining experience via space combat and completion of missions assigned by chosen wing command (three different available for each faction). 

🌟Pilots may also enter atmospheric flight mode and engage in combat attacking targets on planet surface (i.e. opposing faction PvP flagged players).

🌟Chronicler sub-profession allowed to build holocrons with player created quests: placed props (temporarily existing in game world items and NPCs), objectives and narration. 

🌟Advancement in profession is based on obtaining experience via constructing holocrons and having other players complete and rate such creations.

🌟Politician profession allowed users to create and manage a player city. Acquired and completed automatically when a player places a structure belonging to him.

🕹The Jump to Lightspeed expansion made individual ships attainable by players for the first time. 

🌟This allowed players to acquire and pilot ships of various sizes. 

🌟Ships ranged in size from small one-man fighter craft to larger gunships with up to three decks. 

🕹Characters can erect, own and decorate a variety of buildings, including houses, cantinas, theaters, hospitals, guild halls and city halls.

🌟These buildings, when grouped, can be organized into cities. Players hold elections via ballot box for Mayor. 

🌟Elected mayors grant city members certain rights to place structures within the city and disallow the use of various civic structures by individual players as needed. 

🌟Elections are held every three weeks. If another player wishes to run for mayor they can add their name at any time to the ballot box to run against the incumbent. As cities grow in population, they become eligible to add services and facilities such as vehicle repair garages, shuttleports, cloning facilities, hospitals, cantinas and garden displays.

02🧭X²: The Threat

🕹X²: The Threat is the sequel to X: Beyond the Frontier. 

🌟The player takes the role of Julian Gardna, a space pirate in search of his missing father. 

🌟A new mysterious and hostile alien race, the Khaak, emerge on the horizon, and Julian will have to learn about their origins, intentions, and a possible connection to his father's disappearance. 

🕹Like its predecessor, the game is an open-ended space trading and combat simulation.  

🌟The player is generally free to go anywhere in the vast X-Universe, provided he has enough resources and credits. The game features a dynamic market economy: prices rise and fall depending on many factors, which the player should consider before making purchases. 

🌟The player can acquire weapons, equipment, entire space ships, and eventually space stations of unlimited amount, as long as he has enough credits to afford them. 

🌟It is also possible to build factories to produce goods such as weapons and shields.

🕹Numerous alien races populate the X-Universe. 

🌟The protagonist's reputation among the socially inclined races can be built up by undertaking missions on their behalf, defending their space, or though trade. 

🌟The way these races treat the protagonist and the nature of the missions given to him depend on his reputation rating, which is divided into "Mercantile", "Combat", and "Notoriety" categories.

🌟Some races are irreversibly hostile, and will leave the player no choice but defend himself in space ship combat. However, the player can also choose to be aggressive, piracy being an available option together with trading, mining, and bounty-hunting.

03🧭EVE online

🕹EVE Online is an online RPG which is set in a futuristic galaxy. 

🕹The main focus of the game is open-ended space travel including combat, territorial control, trade and politics. 

🕹In the beginning of the game, you create your character, choosing one of the available empires and races (EVE has no classes, anyone can learn any skill), and customizing the way the character looks. 

🌟Then you are given a space ship, allowing you to begin exploring the game world. 

🌟One of your main goals in the game is to upgrade your ship in order to be able to defeat space pirates and other players. 

🕹Most items in the galaxy are player-made, and there is a robust economy. 

🌟By obtaining money from mining, exterminating NPCs, or cunning market trading, you may also increase your character's skills (for example, Mining, Survey, Refining, Drone operation, weapons skills, and more). 

🕹Unlike most other RPGs, leveling up does not depend on the amount of foes you have defeated, but requires you to train for a certain period of time, dependent on your stats. Training continues even while logged off.

04🧭Freelancer

🕹Freelancer is a third person or first person space simulator and trading game, much like Elite or Wing Commander: Privateer. 

🌟Players, taking the role of Edison Trent, will need to visit several locations on each planet in order to trade cargo, buy and repair equipment as well as obtain information. 

🌟In space, Trent controls his spacecraft from either a first person or third person perspective and is able to use primary and secondary weapons. 

🌟Destroyed enemy spacecraft often leave behind cargo which can be tractor beamed into the cargo hold.

🕹Freelancer is a plot-driven game that slowly becomes completely open-ended. 

🌟As such the player (eventually) has the freedom to fly around 150 planets across 40 solar systems looking for profit. 

🌟As Trent trades cargo and undertakes missions (following an expanding story arc), he will affect the faction status of over 50 different groups (comprising of 3000 NPCs). 

🌟Faction status will affect their attitudes towards Trent, including interaction planetside and in space.

05🧭KOTOR 

🕹Knights of the Old Republic is a role-playing game that uses the Star Wars D20 rule system, which is similar to the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons. 

🌟Character development and combat are handled similarly to BioWare's previous RPGs such as Baldur's Gate series. 

🌟Combat engine follows similar "real-time with pause" rules. There are only three active combatants on the player's side (as opposed to six in Baldur's Gate). 

🌟Several characters join the party and can be switched at the player's will.

🕹Eventually, the protagonist will have to train at the Jedi academy to earn a lightsaber and force moves. 

🌟Force powers include stun, force pull (which pulls opponents or objects toward the player-controlled character), the Jedi Mind Trick, which persuades people to see things the player's way, and many others. 

🌟The player has various weapons at his or her disposal, from the lightsaber to blasters, grenades, ion rifles, etc.

🕹Throughout the game, the player will visit many Star Wars locations that appeared in the movies, such as Kashyyyk, the homeworld of the Wookiees, the desert planet of Tatooine, and others. 

🌟Interacting with characters in various ways and performing side quests influences the protagonist's stand with the forces of Light and Darkness. 

🌟The player can turn the main character into a flawless Jedi, a ruthless Sith, or anything in between. Some of the player's choices influence major events that occur within the storyline.

🚀2004

01🧭Space Rangers 2

🕹Space Rangers 2 is a hybrid game with multiple game types of gameplay.

🌟Players explore a randomly generated galaxy, with each sector featuring multiple stars and planets. 

🌟This leads to a universe with hundreds of planets, each with their own economy, government, and opinion of the player.

🌟 The main goal of the game is to defeat the three command units of the titular Dominators, thought the game allows the player to ignore the main quest in favor of exploration, trade, and other sidequests. The Dominators are much more powerful than the player at the start of the game, forcing the player to evade them, while pursuing smaller jobs to gain wealth, equipment, and experience.

🕹The game's multiple systems are compared to other multi-genre games such as Pirates! or Star Control II. 

🌟The player begins by selecting an alien race and a profession, and is dropped into a dynamic open universe to explore. 

🌟Space travel is seen from a top-down viewpoint, with movement utilizing a turn-based system measured in solar days. 

🌟The game also includes a 3D real-time strategy engine for planetary battles, where the player can take control of any unit to shift gameplay to that of a third-person shooter.

🌟The player can also pursue enemies into space, playing an arcade-style shooter mode,where players use the keyboard to maneuver and fire in an action sequence. 

🌟Players can also survey planets for valuables by launching probes, with some planets triggering text-based quests similar to text adventure games.

🕹The planet encounters can initiate several types of missions, such as hunting pirates, delivering contraband goods, or performing a covert operation against another alien race. 

🌟The player can perform these missions to earn wealth, to buy bigger ships, improved weapons and equipment, or even maps that unlock new sectors of the galaxy.

🌟Players can also earn wealth through a trading system, with the markets for goods changing dynamically due to supply and demand. 

🌟It is also possible to earn wealth through piracy and looting, which risks damaging relations with other aliens and planets, eventually provoking attacks on sight.

02🧭Star Wolves

🕹Star Wolves is a space-based 3D RPG/strategy game. You control a team of up to six bounty hunters to fight the factions in a corrupt future... for a price.

🌟You start the game with only a single ship, best described as a pile of junk, and a small sum of money. 

🌟As you complete the missions assigned to you, you improve your ship, your piloting skills and hire other fighters, each possessing different abilities and personalities.

🌟As a tactical game, you must combine the pros and cons of your teammates in real-time to achieve the best strategy to complete the 40 missions available. Sometimes you will do stealth missions or scouting, or even assault and run.

03🧭Universal Combat

🕹Universal Combat is the fifth installment in the long running Battle Cruiser Series.

🕹The new action-based focus of Universal Combat takes the player from sea to land to space in this space simulation. 

🌟One can engage in space battles, fight ground skirmishes, control naval combat and fly dog fights.

 🌟The player can create his / her character choosing among 12 different races, then explore 250+ planets containing more then 21,000 areas of interest (military bases, cities, star bases).

04🧭KOTOR 2

🕹Five years after the events depicted in Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith have become stronger and more determined to rule the Galaxy. 

🌟The Jedi Order is nearly exterminated. 

🌟A mysterious ex-Jedi has been exiled from the Order and is traveling alone. 

🌟This Jedi had served under Darth Revan (when the latter was still on the Light side of the Force) during the Mandalorian Wars, but due to enigmatic circumstances was forced to retire. 

🌟Now the past is catching up with the Jedi, and soon he or she will have to choose the side to fight on.

🕹The Sith Lords looks and plays very similarly to its predecessor, also being based on the Star Wars d20 role-playing rule set (which, in its turn, is similar to the 3rd Edition of Dungeons & Dragons) and having the same combat engine, character development, and a Light and Dark ethical system, which judges the player's decisions and actions and influences story events and characters' responses. 

🌟Additions to the gameplay include a lightsaber-crafting system, which allows augmenting lightsabers with various items, new Force powers, and the possibility to influence the alignments of the characters in the player-controlled party through conversation choices and other decisions. 

🌟Most of the exploration and the combat sequences is done using a party of three, including the protagonist and two companions. 

🌟However, certain parts of the game will force the player to travel alone, or to control a party made exclusively out of companions.

🕹A large part of the military equipment can be upgraded using any workbench that can be found throughout the game world, including one available at all times on the ship that the player uses to travel between planetary systems. 

🌟Different types of items have more than one piece that can be augmented. 

🌟For example, the armor has two slots for upgrades (overlay and underlay), while ranged weapons have three (targeting, firing chamber, and power pack), and lightsabers have six. 

🌟The easiest way to get additional upgrades is to either buy them or loot them, however they can be created as well at a workbench with the right components and enough repair skill. Medical items are a different sort and they can be crafted using lab stations.

🕹At various moments during the game, the player has the opportunity to play some mini games: a card game called Pazaak, shooting targets using a turret from a first-person view, and swoop racing.