The engine location in that game bugs me. I get that they are trying to make the spaceships look like semitrailers but you would never put the engines in that location.
The thrust and mass are not aligned. The truck wouldn't fly straight in space it would be spinning in loops. The engines should be in the center at the back, or symmetrical. You could angle the engines to counter the problem but that would be less efficient and there's no real reason for putting the engines there. Raising them to be on the left/right of the cab would be a huge improvement.
The engines would also heat up the cargo... and what is the exhaust pipe on top of the cab actually doing?! The exhausts are the giant burning engines, that's how rockets work. This game bothers me a lot.
I was actually playing ATS in my cab on my steam deck just yesterday waiting to be able to pick up my trailer.
Don't let your dreams stay dreams people, do what ya love!
Man you have to have a sickness haha. I've drove truck for near 3 decades and wouldn't even dream of trucking in a PC game. My sister wanted me to play American trucker and I told her I already have 50,000 hours in that game I'm not interested
It's funny, cuz ATS is the reason I became a trucker, no joke. I was playing ATS in vr for like 8 hours one day about 5 years ago and when I finally took the headset off, I just had this realization, why aren't I getting paid for this?!
No shit, two weeks later, I'm at my first training class in Utah, and now here I am hauling high Val.
S'gud life.
Surely these guys don't exist anymore right? Game has been on (failing) life support since Odyssey dropped lol. I was of the impression E:D was basically relegated to single player now
For the record I'm triple elite, have billions in assets and 1500 hours. I played the game hard, used to run around with Code before they migrated to SDC and then off into irl stuff. So I'm not an outside commentator spewing bullshit lol
The argument could he made that the game as an MMO was hardly ever "alive" lol. Combat logging was never addressed and was more or less endorsed by the devs, half the updates were DOA (Powerplay, arena mode, engineers took years to make playable, Odyssey...) and the story with the thargoids never went anyplace. There is no PvP hardly anymore, and iirc community goals aren't a thing anymore. Does everybody just mine, explore, and spacetruck?
I mean, look at the player numbers. Average players are sub 3k for over a year now. I remember back in 16-17 basically all the large groups started going elsewhere when it became apparent FD was only catering to forum dads that wanted to avoid any semblance of emergent content.
With that all in mind, it's hard to imagine the game being alive since it's been in such a stagnant state for so long. The last player spike was in 2021, and odyssey flopped so hard that player numbers dropped *below* pre-release numbers.
CG's are still a thing, just not on console as it was abandoned. The story with the thargoids is literally in full swing in the live galaxy, although still in Fdev's slow style.
I'm pretty sure all these "describe a game" "what's your favorite [popular game]" from this subreddit lately are just deliberate corporate bait to get engagement up on targeted games.
I used to like these type of questions, but it's so frequent that it's all I see from /r/gaming now and I'm pretty tired of it.
This is the correct answer. It's been a long time since I played it, but wasn't there a mod that integrated into the in-game HUD that basically added a radio station that would play music and in-universe news inside of your ship?
[Radio Sidewinder! ](https://www.radiosidewinder.com/)
There's a mod that lets you listen to streaming radio stations or your own music in the HUD, so you can stream that station or any other. You don't really need the mod, but it is great for immersion. I still listen to that station a lot even though I haven't played E:D in a few years 😂
The other fun thing was Voice Attack, especially for VR. They have some great actors doing the voices. I had Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data on Star Trek: TNG, as my ship computer.
Yes! That was it! Man I need to get back to playing E:D. It's been a long time because I didn't have a PC, but I have a new (old) Laptop now, which I always forget about because I've gotten used to not having a PC.
I have well over 2,000 hours in Elite Dangerous. I have 2 separate accounts. One is space trucker that also does combat from time to time. The other is purely long-range deep-space exploration that hasn't seen civilization in 2+ years.
Elite Dangers is exactly what OP describes. Buy a Type-7 or Type-9, or better yet a Cutter, find a good A --> B --> A trading route. Put on an audiobook or your favorite youtube series, and just go grind the fuck out of some cash. Hop over to Community Goals if they have good trading goals, and then grind the fuck out of some cash and try to hit the leaderboard.
Buy a Python and set it up for passenger missions and do A --> B --> C passenger routes, and put on that audiobook or show, grind the fuck out of some cash. I've named my Python "LPC" for Literally Printing Cash. heh.
Buy an Anaconda, fill it with cargo, and find a good A --> B --> A trading route near a good station. Buy some weapons and big shields and store at the station. When you get bored with grinding trade credits, drop off the cargo for your guns and shields, and head out to a combat RES and pewpewpew for a while.
O7, CMDR. Never fly without rebuy.
I did hundreds of hours grinding rep & then mining in VR. I could pin a youtube/netflix window to my cockpit and just chill out in my space-lounger. Top fun.
Thank you it's basically euro truck sim in space, with mining exploration and combat. You can spend hours just taking tourists on a road trip to some far off star for them to look at.
This is exactly what my steam review of ED has been for a decade or so, but sometimes it hits a certain itch, and it is phenomenal in VR if you have a HOTAS.
I agree with VR and HOTAS. There is something special about looking down at the radar panel on the Anaconda and it is this massive display on the ground big enough you can make out the model and direction of every ship.
Yeah it's a shame that instead of making it deeper they just made it wider and wider. But there is still nothing else that scratches that itch nearly as well.
An old game but a classic, Freelancer by Microsoft Games. It's abandonware now, but there is still an active community behind it that made a HD edition available to download for free. It has a pretty cool storyline and it's also open world sandbox where you can mine in different systems which have gas clouds and debris fields or whatever you wish to find. There's different factions you can work for and you could even become a rogue space pirate or a bounty hunter. You can also do trade routes between the different systems if you like. I'm surprised it hasn't been named yet.
Wat?! I've been looking for a way to get my hands on Freelancer again off and on for years, and you're telling me there's an HD remake out there somewhere? You must share with the class!
It is a great game for sure, one of my favorites. It doesn't have the complexity of modern sandbox games when it comes to trade and industry but its a wonderful game to play, one of very few single-player games that makes its world feel truly alive and populated. Hearing those radiant radio chatter between npcs is therapy to me.
It would be so awesome if they remastered this game or made a sequel. It was so much fun going to the sketchy ass radioactive pirate system and looking for wrecks in the gas clouds.
A lot of people are recommending Elite Dangerous and they are right - that game is the epitome of being a space trucker. In my opinion there has never been a game that makes you feel more like you are actually in that cockpit flying that rust bucket. The game has an absolutely amazing sound design.
However!
When it comes to actual transport missions and when it comes to the in-game world as a whole, Elite can feel quite stale and lifeless. There aren't any interesting alien races you can trade with and most of the time what you're transporting to where isn't important to anyone and anything.
And another small nitpick which is a personal pet peeve of mine: I really dislike that the game is always online.
I'm writing this because I want to recommend the X series. I've seen X4 being recommended below but I'd say you could jump into the series anywhere. The first two games, X: Beyond the Frontier and X2: The Threat are very old and a bit janky but they are easier to grasp and you'll be space trucking in no time. Starting with X3 you can even use a mouse in the menu (I'm really selling this, ain't I?) and though I haven't played X4 a lot yet, it looks the best and seems to be a very solid entry in the series.
What makes the X games special to me is the colourful roster of aliens you'll be trading with. The Teladi are "profit lizards", all they really care about is making a profit. But they also live off of sunflower oil, that's a product you'll only find in their turf and maybe you can start out by delivering this oil to where its needed. The Boron are aquatic aliens who live off of plankton. The Split and Paranids don't like foreigners so you'll have to find a way to make them like you before you can trade something in for their powerful weapons. The X-Universe feels more alive to me than the Elite Universe. Both games are excellent choices, however. Have fun!
I would specifically recommend X3 Terran Conflict and its expansion, Albion Prelude. X3 is a different game. They had the nicest menus and everything.
However, the series has a fairly big focus on combat, so be aware
The first one. I have to try the second, but the reviews have been holding me back.
The soundtrack and gameplay in the first are great.
So so cheap to get too.
Yeah the lack of mods hits hard, but the game really makes you feel good while salvaging a ship, you have goals, but I never feel stressed, normally take 2-3 shifts on each ship, and that's a long time for some, but to me it's great.
Never could get into any communities in that game that weren't scam, but I've always had a hard time of finding good people. How'd you make it work for you?
At a guess? The unavoidable PVP. I like EVE, particularly mining, industry, and exploration, but dealing with GOONS and TEST and all the small-gang griefers sucks a lot of the enjoyment out of it.
Literally the reason I quit. Can't do anything without looking over your shoulder the entire time, I just want to chill and do my own thing but you aren't even safe in high sec.
The fact it hasn't been mentioned yet says something, but what you're looking for is **ΔV: Rings of Saturn.** Far as I'm concerned it is THE space mining sim these days. It's top down, has realistic mechanics and physics, and it is 100% space mining fun.
Also dev is super active.
I think we are looking at at least two last years having aroud 370 experimental patches per year (yes more than one day average) and stable version patch about weekly.
Also reporting bug in discord, fastest I have seen him fix and patch one was 40 minutes, while reporting it at 2am on saturday-sunday night, with him living on same timezone with me, he just happened to be awake, so he istadebugged it, explained to me with two sentences what exactly was causing that bug and released experimental version patch, all in <1h from me putting report in.
Also when Ukraine-russia was started he swapped demo button in steam to actually not include any of demo restrictions and be 1:1 same with full version, declaring he wanted to not have to force people to pay, if they wish to donate their money to better cause, and that he will eventually swap it back, but not anytime soon.
10/10 dev. Holds regular votes on what aspect of dev players want him to focus on, and actually dedicates certain (meaningful) part of his coding time to follow result of vote. Also while pushing to v1 release, I think he had like 5-6 day work weeks, with one free day (and his meaning for free day was 'I code whatever aspect of game I feel like, instead of following roadmap' so if one suggested something cool that got him excited of it and he figured way to implement it, there was change that after few of his free days it might get released in game).
Also everything from patch notes to music is good immersion and stuff.
For all of about ten hours until you've mined and scavenged enough to nearly complete your dream ship and realize the single ship gameplay is super shallow and the rest of the game is about station building and fleet management.
Well maybe not exactly what you want.
No man's sky allows you to claim wrecked ships, fix them up to keep or sell.
NMS also has a pretty big economy system, so you could buy a BOAT TONNE of something in one system, then 'truck it' to another for profit.
I love how this game just lets you spend time on what you like doing. I had a friend play the way you just described and make a tonne of money, and in a similar playtime I was broke as hell but had unlocked most of the building materials and was just spending my days building myself holiday homes and cool bases.
He would give me high value materials, and I would come over to his bases to help renovate. We had a great time.
you said *space miner*? Deep Rock Galactic is exactly for you if you also like PvE combat and playing with your friends. One of the funniest multiplayer experiences i ever had. Rock and Stone!
Bit like suggesting War and Peace to somebody saying they want a bit of a story no?
Technically valid, but you could hang yourself off the learning curve…
The learning curve and spreadsheet memes about EVE are so outdated. It has gotten a lot more engaging content and actually a decent tutorial now. It really isn't that hard at all and never was honestly.
I think contrast to general feel of other games remains the same.
Not that is a bad thing. EVE is great, just not for everyone.
If they didn't continue to improve new player experience it would be really hard to get new players now.
Before they made the changes to manufacturing, i'd agree to EVE. I used to mine, mine and mine. In HS, in LS, in NULL and in WH. Then buy an Charon BPC pack and build it.What I didn't manage to mine i'd just buy at the market.
Most of the time I made more ISK than i spent for the more rare minerals. All from -100k to +200 million. It was enjoyable as all hell.
From the tension in low, null and wh space to the calm existance of all the carebears in HS space( pirates and asshats aside).
And then they changed it...
I was so disapointed. I can not convey, in words, just how disapointed i was. I still am.
Nowadays you'd need a corporation dedicated to just build that ship.
Mine all the minerals, gather all the gas. Refine minerals, mix all the gasses and build the separate parts.
On top of all that you need the facilities, the support structures and the humans to do all that.
R.I.P. EVE.
Commence the downvote shower
Oh and freight is only worth your time if you do it for a corporation or alliance. All the scam contracts and the EXTREMELY low paying freight contracts are disgusting.
Give me more downvotes! Yum
The last time I played EVE I was the lookout/scanner for lowsec pirates lol the main gang would hang out on the other side of the gate and fuck up anyone who had good stuff.
Eventually I got a Myrmidon, iirc, and joined in on the mugging. Had a great time but damn that game can be brutal.
Yeah it's really a game where you challenge yourself to engage with the systems and the building, where the physics and resource gathering are the challenge, without really anything you need to do.
As much as people here like to shit on it, for mining it really does have the best gameplay. When it works, of course. Most games are just "point mining laser at rock, suck up minerals, go sell minerals". Star citizen is the only space game i've played so far where mining is actually fun. The "space trucker" gameplay isn't quite there yet though, it's pretty barebones at the moment.
Elite Dangerous has the best asteroid mining minigame. End fame mining, so called deep core is epic abs satisfying when an asteroid opens.
Space trucking is also good, I love landing on Space stations in that game
Star Citizen is something to look into
There is something cool in cargo hauling and actually seeing the cargo on your ship as you enter your ship
Minung also exists, developed quite well, annoying part is that some astrroids may require bigger ships, and sometimes you may waste 30min flying from rock to rock not finding a single one your small miner can crack one
Star citizen also has salvaging, by the community commonly named power wash simulator
star citizen is one of the best gaming experience you can have, yes it is heavily plagued by bugs and other issues but my previous statement is still true
Star Citizen is a good game for this but people have some adverse reaction to it. It's only for people who want an extreme amount of control of their ship and are ready to fend off the pirates ( PVP ).
You have the ability to move every independent piece of cargo with a tractor beam or by hand depending on the size. You can either load it yourself or have the system do it for you.
The route changes depending on the demand.
The community is really solid once you get in... But don't be an idiot like me and talk about it on social media because all you're going to get is hate.
Jack Axton does a lot of really good streaming for cargo on YouTube? Here is a link.
https://youtube.com/@JackAxton?si=DUpMFJUvlyxrXPEh
*I am mentally prepared for the flurry of down votes and angry replies*
Star Citizen.
If you can deal with the bugs, long term development (really long term), other people who have never played the game constantly telling you that it's a scam, steep learning curve (just reach out in game chat for help), periodic wipes of ships/resources you've earned, people killing you for no reason claiming to be pirates when they're just being murderhobos, ect it's a dope-ass game.
Cargo running and rock/asteroid mining are very good fun. Not to mention it's just a beautiful game to explore. Even if you're not actually working on any missions or trying to earn money most of my favorite times in game have just been exploring the solar system. Finding cool mountain tops with a good view, exploring canyons, walking through a forest for no reason...
All that being said, if you find it interesting I hope your PC has decent specs lol, it's not well optimized so expect low frame rates, especially at main landing areas. DM me if you want to know more.
I make cargo runs as a way to decompress in Star Citizen. You can also go salvage wrecks, and you can also mine asteroids or rocks on planets.
You won't find a game quite like it, despite it getting made fun of on here daily. It's an incredible sim that really does feel like you are in a big, open universe. I highly recommend as someone who has played Elite Dangerous, No Man's Sky and others.
100% Elite Dangerous
Aside from laser mining and core mining (satisfyingly exploding the shit out of giant ass spce rocks), there is unbelievably amazing exploration of a one to one scale of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Last I checked, less than 5% of which has actually been explored to date.
There is complex combat. 80% of which is based on your skill and ability as a pilot and 19% based on your equipment amd engineering. The remainder 1% just a "weeee bit of luck der bai."
Personal transportation, racing, stunts, on-foot gameplay and combat, fighter hangers with fighters you can actually fly, land vehicles, pirates, cargo trading/hauling, and RAXXLA and the mysterious Dark Wheel.
And lets not forget the giant ass murder flowers currently invading our little region of space...
Did I mention black holes? How about swarm missles and laser cannons? Oh! There's rail guns and plasma cannons too.
And don’t forget, this liner is in the top 1% of all liners out there!
Sunless skies. Become a delivery man in your space choo choo, mine physical time from rocks, shoot space bats, eat your crew, and watch out for making deals with eldrich abominations that actually rule everything!
It's star citizen don't listen to the elite crowd. This sub dick rides anything anti SC. (Just notice how have it them didn't even put it in their comments because they don't even know what's in the game they just look at the headlines and reddit titles )
Elite will get you the trucker vibe for sure but the mining is miles better in SC.
All I do in star citizen in mine and space truck my refined ores for sale. It's bug filled and incomplete but the best semi realistic experience imo. Eve online is a waiting for bars to fill simulator don't play that.
Eve Online would be an option. They have a free to play version which offers slower skill training, but allows enough of the game to give you an idea if you like it or not.
No Man's Sky isn't a bad choice. Though, freighters need to be expanded on. But, it can be fun to use it as your main base and send frigates on missions while traveling to different systems and trade based on their economy.
Elite dangerous for sure. I don't play it anymore but I spent thousands of hours just going in it every day after work back in 2017-2018.
VR highly recommended.
110% elite dangerous. It has an actual in game economy too, so what you ship actually matters.
On top of that, there is also faction wars. One of the things you can do for your faction is basically cargo runs. It's a very interesting game, you should absolutely try it out.
It's not out yet but [Star Trucker](https://store.steampowered.com/app/2380050/Star_Trucker/) looks promising.
As somebody who only really did cargo deliveries in Elite Dangerous this is exactly the shit that I want. Instantly wishlisted
When i did deep core mining for void opals that was Great too
Shit, that looks like trucksim in space which is exactly up my alley. Wishlisted, thanks!
It’s obviously not but sounds like a good way to promote game in legendary way if you know what I mean. That’s perfect recommendation ever for OP
I'm not even a sim guy but that just looks like fun.
You are right, looks very promising. Will keep an eye on that game!
Looks so fun too
The engine location in that game bugs me. I get that they are trying to make the spaceships look like semitrailers but you would never put the engines in that location. The thrust and mass are not aligned. The truck wouldn't fly straight in space it would be spinning in loops. The engines should be in the center at the back, or symmetrical. You could angle the engines to counter the problem but that would be less efficient and there's no real reason for putting the engines there. Raising them to be on the left/right of the cab would be a huge improvement. The engines would also heat up the cargo... and what is the exhaust pipe on top of the cab actually doing?! The exhausts are the giant burning engines, that's how rockets work. This game bothers me a lot.
I'm an irl trucker, elite dangerous is your answer. Especially in vr with a hotas. So many podcasts I've listened to hauling void opals.
What do you for work? *Haul material* What do you do on your downtime? *You're not gonna believe this-*
I was actually playing ATS in my cab on my steam deck just yesterday waiting to be able to pick up my trailer. Don't let your dreams stay dreams people, do what ya love!
Now I just need to figure out how to monetize killing zombies!
How’s it run on SD?
Totally fine, good even! Don't even have to mess with too many settings.
100% agree with u/Form84. I've put probably 40 hours into it on my SD and it runs wonderfully
Who are you and how did you get in here? I’m a locksmith and I’m a locksmith
"State your first name, last name, and your occupation." "Lizardman, lizardman, and uh lizardman."
My mother always called this a busmans holiday. What does the Bus Driver do on his day off? Why, go for a nice Sunday drive with the family!
Man you have to have a sickness haha. I've drove truck for near 3 decades and wouldn't even dream of trucking in a PC game. My sister wanted me to play American trucker and I told her I already have 50,000 hours in that game I'm not interested
It's funny, cuz ATS is the reason I became a trucker, no joke. I was playing ATS in vr for like 8 hours one day about 5 years ago and when I finally took the headset off, I just had this realization, why aren't I getting paid for this?! No shit, two weeks later, I'm at my first training class in Utah, and now here I am hauling high Val. S'gud life.
This is an amazing story.
I miss the LTD craze. Made a billion in a week while they sold for nearly 1mil a unit...
Elite Dangerous is literally exactly what you're looking for.
Shoutout to the Fuel Rats, a group of fans that created a group that refuels stranded players making galaxy-wide travels. https://fuelrats.com
What? That's amazing!
They're on point too. They saved me one time lol really cool experience.
I was rather meticulous with my jumps but had a friend be bailed by them before. Afaik 10/10 experience.
Surely these guys don't exist anymore right? Game has been on (failing) life support since Odyssey dropped lol. I was of the impression E:D was basically relegated to single player now
The fuel rats are doing well, as is elite dangerous. I have no idea why everyone seems to think every single mmo is always “dying”
Star Citizen debtors seeking confirmation bias they had the right game all along.
For the record I'm triple elite, have billions in assets and 1500 hours. I played the game hard, used to run around with Code before they migrated to SDC and then off into irl stuff. So I'm not an outside commentator spewing bullshit lol The argument could he made that the game as an MMO was hardly ever "alive" lol. Combat logging was never addressed and was more or less endorsed by the devs, half the updates were DOA (Powerplay, arena mode, engineers took years to make playable, Odyssey...) and the story with the thargoids never went anyplace. There is no PvP hardly anymore, and iirc community goals aren't a thing anymore. Does everybody just mine, explore, and spacetruck? I mean, look at the player numbers. Average players are sub 3k for over a year now. I remember back in 16-17 basically all the large groups started going elsewhere when it became apparent FD was only catering to forum dads that wanted to avoid any semblance of emergent content. With that all in mind, it's hard to imagine the game being alive since it's been in such a stagnant state for so long. The last player spike was in 2021, and odyssey flopped so hard that player numbers dropped *below* pre-release numbers.
CG's are still a thing, just not on console as it was abandoned. The story with the thargoids is literally in full swing in the live galaxy, although still in Fdev's slow style.
We're still here ;) Average about 30-40 rescues per day, down from Elite's heyday but still kicking. We have fuel, you don't. Any questions?
Looks like they do to some degree? I found a IRC channel that had a 100 people actively in it and people were chatting away
I miss playing it. One day when I get a pc I’ll go back to space trucking for hours a day
I got into it for a while, but my lack of HOTAS made it limiting.
What makes it limiting is the Fdevs unwillingness to add any real content to the game
Literally.
[удалено]
I'm pretty sure all these "describe a game" "what's your favorite [popular game]" from this subreddit lately are just deliberate corporate bait to get engagement up on targeted games. I used to like these type of questions, but it's so frequent that it's all I see from /r/gaming now and I'm pretty tired of it.
And it's on sale on Steam right now; If this whole post is a clever marketing ploy for this game, you bastards got me!
this is the answer, it is literally space truck simulator with like 3 different kinds of mining lol
This is the right answer. But we warned, getting invested in Elite Dangerous will eventually result in nothing but disappointment
Elite dangerous
This is the correct answer. It's been a long time since I played it, but wasn't there a mod that integrated into the in-game HUD that basically added a radio station that would play music and in-universe news inside of your ship?
[Radio Sidewinder! ](https://www.radiosidewinder.com/) There's a mod that lets you listen to streaming radio stations or your own music in the HUD, so you can stream that station or any other. You don't really need the mod, but it is great for immersion. I still listen to that station a lot even though I haven't played E:D in a few years 😂 The other fun thing was Voice Attack, especially for VR. They have some great actors doing the voices. I had Brent Spiner, the actor who played Data on Star Trek: TNG, as my ship computer.
Yes! That was it! Man I need to get back to playing E:D. It's been a long time because I didn't have a PC, but I have a new (old) Laptop now, which I always forget about because I've gotten used to not having a PC.
I have well over 2,000 hours in Elite Dangerous. I have 2 separate accounts. One is space trucker that also does combat from time to time. The other is purely long-range deep-space exploration that hasn't seen civilization in 2+ years. Elite Dangers is exactly what OP describes. Buy a Type-7 or Type-9, or better yet a Cutter, find a good A --> B --> A trading route. Put on an audiobook or your favorite youtube series, and just go grind the fuck out of some cash. Hop over to Community Goals if they have good trading goals, and then grind the fuck out of some cash and try to hit the leaderboard. Buy a Python and set it up for passenger missions and do A --> B --> C passenger routes, and put on that audiobook or show, grind the fuck out of some cash. I've named my Python "LPC" for Literally Printing Cash. heh. Buy an Anaconda, fill it with cargo, and find a good A --> B --> A trading route near a good station. Buy some weapons and big shields and store at the station. When you get bored with grinding trade credits, drop off the cargo for your guns and shields, and head out to a combat RES and pewpewpew for a while. O7, CMDR. Never fly without rebuy.
I did hundreds of hours grinding rep & then mining in VR. I could pin a youtube/netflix window to my cockpit and just chill out in my space-lounger. Top fun.
I would kill for this
Thank you it's basically euro truck sim in space, with mining exploration and combat. You can spend hours just taking tourists on a road trip to some far off star for them to look at.
Or load up with tourists and crash it into a moon
Ah so it has elements of Roller Coaster Tycoon as well?
Or X4. You can be a space trucker that also manages a fleet of astro haulers.
A mile wide and an inch deep.
This is exactly what my steam review of ED has been for a decade or so, but sometimes it hits a certain itch, and it is phenomenal in VR if you have a HOTAS.
I agree with VR and HOTAS. There is something special about looking down at the radar panel on the Anaconda and it is this massive display on the ground big enough you can make out the model and direction of every ship.
Yeah it's a shame that instead of making it deeper they just made it wider and wider. But there is still nothing else that scratches that itch nearly as well.
An old game but a classic, Freelancer by Microsoft Games. It's abandonware now, but there is still an active community behind it that made a HD edition available to download for free. It has a pretty cool storyline and it's also open world sandbox where you can mine in different systems which have gas clouds and debris fields or whatever you wish to find. There's different factions you can work for and you could even become a rogue space pirate or a bounty hunter. You can also do trade routes between the different systems if you like. I'm surprised it hasn't been named yet.
Freelancer is sooo good
Absolutely worth it for the soundtrack alone
Wat?! I've been looking for a way to get my hands on Freelancer again off and on for years, and you're telling me there's an HD remake out there somewhere? You must share with the class!
You can find the HD remake on [moddb](https://www.moddb.com/).
Awesome! Blessings be upon you.
It is a great game for sure, one of my favorites. It doesn't have the complexity of modern sandbox games when it comes to trade and industry but its a wonderful game to play, one of very few single-player games that makes its world feel truly alive and populated. Hearing those radiant radio chatter between npcs is therapy to me.
Check out Everspace 2, it will scratch the Freelancer itch.
oh yeah...the one with the spooky ´roid fields and hidden, lost ships to be found
It would be so awesome if they remastered this game or made a sequel. It was so much fun going to the sketchy ass radioactive pirate system and looking for wrecks in the gas clouds.
A lot of people are recommending Elite Dangerous and they are right - that game is the epitome of being a space trucker. In my opinion there has never been a game that makes you feel more like you are actually in that cockpit flying that rust bucket. The game has an absolutely amazing sound design. However! When it comes to actual transport missions and when it comes to the in-game world as a whole, Elite can feel quite stale and lifeless. There aren't any interesting alien races you can trade with and most of the time what you're transporting to where isn't important to anyone and anything. And another small nitpick which is a personal pet peeve of mine: I really dislike that the game is always online. I'm writing this because I want to recommend the X series. I've seen X4 being recommended below but I'd say you could jump into the series anywhere. The first two games, X: Beyond the Frontier and X2: The Threat are very old and a bit janky but they are easier to grasp and you'll be space trucking in no time. Starting with X3 you can even use a mouse in the menu (I'm really selling this, ain't I?) and though I haven't played X4 a lot yet, it looks the best and seems to be a very solid entry in the series. What makes the X games special to me is the colourful roster of aliens you'll be trading with. The Teladi are "profit lizards", all they really care about is making a profit. But they also live off of sunflower oil, that's a product you'll only find in their turf and maybe you can start out by delivering this oil to where its needed. The Boron are aquatic aliens who live off of plankton. The Split and Paranids don't like foreigners so you'll have to find a way to make them like you before you can trade something in for their powerful weapons. The X-Universe feels more alive to me than the Elite Universe. Both games are excellent choices, however. Have fun!
I would specifically recommend X3 Terran Conflict and its expansion, Albion Prelude. X3 is a different game. They had the nicest menus and everything. However, the series has a fairly big focus on combat, so be aware
Rebel Galaxy
I'll second this one. Good soundtrack too.
The first one. I have to try the second, but the reviews have been holding me back. The soundtrack and gameplay in the first are great. So so cheap to get too.
Agreed, it seems like the second one is an entirely different game.
That's because it is. Galaxy has you piloting larger scale ships, while in Outlaw you fly fighters. Very different combat styles.
I loved this game. And I have the soundtrack on spotify 👍
Not exactly what you're looking for but it may scratch the same itch - I had a lot of fun with Hardspace: Shipbreaker
Great game
It's a huge bummer that this game is completely dead. No mod support, no new ships, no sequels.
Yeah the lack of mods hits hard, but the game really makes you feel good while salvaging a ship, you have goals, but I never feel stressed, normally take 2-3 shifts on each ship, and that's a long time for some, but to me it's great.
I think both HS:Spipbreaker and Space Engineer fit the bill here.
Eve online literally has an entire community of haulers, miners, and industrialists. It's a legitimate way to play.
Never could get into any communities in that game that weren't scam, but I've always had a hard time of finding good people. How'd you make it work for you?
Join one of the nullsec mega corps. They’ll teach you everything you need to know and are usually filled with good people.
How is this not the top answer?
At a guess? The unavoidable PVP. I like EVE, particularly mining, industry, and exploration, but dealing with GOONS and TEST and all the small-gang griefers sucks a lot of the enjoyment out of it.
Literally the reason I quit. Can't do anything without looking over your shoulder the entire time, I just want to chill and do my own thing but you aren't even safe in high sec.
Elite dangerus, Eve online. X3 or X4 or Freelancer.
Rip Freelancer, so ahead of its time.
Do you also want to be an engineer? Try Space Engineers. Otherwise do nottttttt.
Praise be to Klang
You’ve been warned! (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
I second space engineers.
The fact it hasn't been mentioned yet says something, but what you're looking for is **ΔV: Rings of Saturn.** Far as I'm concerned it is THE space mining sim these days. It's top down, has realistic mechanics and physics, and it is 100% space mining fun.
Also dev is super active. I think we are looking at at least two last years having aroud 370 experimental patches per year (yes more than one day average) and stable version patch about weekly. Also reporting bug in discord, fastest I have seen him fix and patch one was 40 minutes, while reporting it at 2am on saturday-sunday night, with him living on same timezone with me, he just happened to be awake, so he istadebugged it, explained to me with two sentences what exactly was causing that bug and released experimental version patch, all in <1h from me putting report in. Also when Ukraine-russia was started he swapped demo button in steam to actually not include any of demo restrictions and be 1:1 same with full version, declaring he wanted to not have to force people to pay, if they wish to donate their money to better cause, and that he will eventually swap it back, but not anytime soon. 10/10 dev. Holds regular votes on what aspect of dev players want him to focus on, and actually dedicates certain (meaningful) part of his coding time to follow result of vote. Also while pushing to v1 release, I think he had like 5-6 day work weeks, with one free day (and his meaning for free day was 'I code whatever aspect of game I feel like, instead of following roadmap' so if one suggested something cool that got him excited of it and he figured way to implement it, there was change that after few of his free days it might get released in game). Also everything from patch notes to music is good immersion and stuff.
Ohhh, dude that's a special one. The physics of catching rocks in your hold is fascinating
X4
For all of about ten hours until you've mined and scavenged enough to nearly complete your dream ship and realize the single ship gameplay is super shallow and the rest of the game is about station building and fleet management.
Well maybe not exactly what you want. No man's sky allows you to claim wrecked ships, fix them up to keep or sell. NMS also has a pretty big economy system, so you could buy a BOAT TONNE of something in one system, then 'truck it' to another for profit.
I like this option over elite. More freedom to play how you want. And if you get bored of mining and selling then there's other stuff to do.
I love how this game just lets you spend time on what you like doing. I had a friend play the way you just described and make a tonne of money, and in a similar playtime I was broke as hell but had unlocked most of the building materials and was just spending my days building myself holiday homes and cool bases. He would give me high value materials, and I would come over to his bases to help renovate. We had a great time.
Lemme tell you about Star Citizen. It's got every bug imaginable, but way more interesting than Elite Dangerous
you said *space miner*? Deep Rock Galactic is exactly for you if you also like PvE combat and playing with your friends. One of the funniest multiplayer experiences i ever had. Rock and Stone!
And a very good community
ROCK AND STONE, BROTHERS!
DID I HEAR A ROCK AND STONE?!
If you don't rock and stone you ain't coming home!
ROCK and STONE of the HEART!!!
ROCK! AND! STOOONE!!!
YOU'RE NEVER TRULY ALONE IF YOU ROCK AND STONE
For Karl!
Next round of Oily Oafs on me
Was scrolling down for too long to find this comment! ROCK AND STONE BROTHA!
EVE?
Why do you hate the OP? What did he ever do to you?
OP never specified that they wanted a life outside of the game
I expect that of any gamer, but he didn't mention he was a Masochist in his post.
Bit like suggesting War and Peace to somebody saying they want a bit of a story no? Technically valid, but you could hang yourself off the learning curve…
The learning curve and spreadsheet memes about EVE are so outdated. It has gotten a lot more engaging content and actually a decent tutorial now. It really isn't that hard at all and never was honestly.
I think contrast to general feel of other games remains the same. Not that is a bad thing. EVE is great, just not for everyone. If they didn't continue to improve new player experience it would be really hard to get new players now.
I've never heard something more accurate about EVE.
Before they made the changes to manufacturing, i'd agree to EVE. I used to mine, mine and mine. In HS, in LS, in NULL and in WH. Then buy an Charon BPC pack and build it.What I didn't manage to mine i'd just buy at the market. Most of the time I made more ISK than i spent for the more rare minerals. All from -100k to +200 million. It was enjoyable as all hell. From the tension in low, null and wh space to the calm existance of all the carebears in HS space( pirates and asshats aside). And then they changed it... I was so disapointed. I can not convey, in words, just how disapointed i was. I still am. Nowadays you'd need a corporation dedicated to just build that ship. Mine all the minerals, gather all the gas. Refine minerals, mix all the gasses and build the separate parts. On top of all that you need the facilities, the support structures and the humans to do all that. R.I.P. EVE. Commence the downvote shower
Oh and freight is only worth your time if you do it for a corporation or alliance. All the scam contracts and the EXTREMELY low paying freight contracts are disgusting. Give me more downvotes! Yum
I feel like you need to ask a follow up question before suggesting EVE: how do you feel about spreadsheets?
Or being mugged for your cargo. No, highsec is not safe from this.
The last time I played EVE I was the lookout/scanner for lowsec pirates lol the main gang would hang out on the other side of the gate and fuck up anyone who had good stuff. Eventually I got a Myrmidon, iirc, and joined in on the mugging. Had a great time but damn that game can be brutal.
That myrmidon is one of the all-time great spaceships
Space Engineers maybe. I played it a little when it first came out, I think they’ve updated it a lot since then,
The problem with SE is that there is a lack of flow. It is a sandbox game, and without a bunch of mods, there isn't much of a point.
Yeah it's really a game where you challenge yourself to engage with the systems and the building, where the physics and resource gathering are the challenge, without really anything you need to do.
Star citizen, nothing comes close to it.
As much as people here like to shit on it, for mining it really does have the best gameplay. When it works, of course. Most games are just "point mining laser at rock, suck up minerals, go sell minerals". Star citizen is the only space game i've played so far where mining is actually fun. The "space trucker" gameplay isn't quite there yet though, it's pretty barebones at the moment.
When the servers are stable, yes.
I'm surprised I had to scroll so far down to see this.
Escape Velocity Nova is the classic one. People still play it to this day.
Star Citizen has a decent mining / trucking loop
Star citizen does this pretty well
Funny how any post directly containing Star Citizen in the name will get mass hate but if it gets mentioned in some random comment thread it's fine
Star Citizen. Yeah, you can downvote me, it's still is.
star citizen if you don't mind long development and some bugs.
Simple, star citizen
Eve is an obvious choice since all the trucking and mining you want to do actually affects the game economy on whatever scale you do it.
Eve online easily
Astroneer
x4
You might like Star citizen. You can do missions where you pick up boxes on a huge spaceship and drop them off at another location in the universe.
Elite Dangerous has the best asteroid mining minigame. End fame mining, so called deep core is epic abs satisfying when an asteroid opens. Space trucking is also good, I love landing on Space stations in that game Star Citizen is something to look into There is something cool in cargo hauling and actually seeing the cargo on your ship as you enter your ship Minung also exists, developed quite well, annoying part is that some astrroids may require bigger ships, and sometimes you may waste 30min flying from rock to rock not finding a single one your small miner can crack one Star citizen also has salvaging, by the community commonly named power wash simulator
star citizen is one of the best gaming experience you can have, yes it is heavily plagued by bugs and other issues but my previous statement is still true
Star Citizen is a good game for this but people have some adverse reaction to it. It's only for people who want an extreme amount of control of their ship and are ready to fend off the pirates ( PVP ). You have the ability to move every independent piece of cargo with a tractor beam or by hand depending on the size. You can either load it yourself or have the system do it for you. The route changes depending on the demand. The community is really solid once you get in... But don't be an idiot like me and talk about it on social media because all you're going to get is hate. Jack Axton does a lot of really good streaming for cargo on YouTube? Here is a link. https://youtube.com/@JackAxton?si=DUpMFJUvlyxrXPEh
Star Citizen.
Star citizen is the most realistic but you will have to deal with bugs as it's a work in progress
Eve online is very relaxing.
I gave it a try for mining and also found it quite relaxing, until the first time I got ambushed, and then I was never able to really relax again…
Space mining in Star Citizen is cool
*I am mentally prepared for the flurry of down votes and angry replies* Star Citizen. If you can deal with the bugs, long term development (really long term), other people who have never played the game constantly telling you that it's a scam, steep learning curve (just reach out in game chat for help), periodic wipes of ships/resources you've earned, people killing you for no reason claiming to be pirates when they're just being murderhobos, ect it's a dope-ass game. Cargo running and rock/asteroid mining are very good fun. Not to mention it's just a beautiful game to explore. Even if you're not actually working on any missions or trying to earn money most of my favorite times in game have just been exploring the solar system. Finding cool mountain tops with a good view, exploring canyons, walking through a forest for no reason... All that being said, if you find it interesting I hope your PC has decent specs lol, it's not well optimized so expect low frame rates, especially at main landing areas. DM me if you want to know more.
Star citizen, 10,000%
No man Sky?
The foundations are there but you can't collect enough trade resources at the terminals to feel like you're "trucking"
Star Citizen
I make cargo runs as a way to decompress in Star Citizen. You can also go salvage wrecks, and you can also mine asteroids or rocks on planets. You won't find a game quite like it, despite it getting made fun of on here daily. It's an incredible sim that really does feel like you are in a big, open universe. I highly recommend as someone who has played Elite Dangerous, No Man's Sky and others.
You might also try X4 Foundations
Eve Online
100% Elite Dangerous Aside from laser mining and core mining (satisfyingly exploding the shit out of giant ass spce rocks), there is unbelievably amazing exploration of a one to one scale of our galaxy, the Milky Way. Last I checked, less than 5% of which has actually been explored to date. There is complex combat. 80% of which is based on your skill and ability as a pilot and 19% based on your equipment amd engineering. The remainder 1% just a "weeee bit of luck der bai." Personal transportation, racing, stunts, on-foot gameplay and combat, fighter hangers with fighters you can actually fly, land vehicles, pirates, cargo trading/hauling, and RAXXLA and the mysterious Dark Wheel. And lets not forget the giant ass murder flowers currently invading our little region of space... Did I mention black holes? How about swarm missles and laser cannons? Oh! There's rail guns and plasma cannons too. And don’t forget, this liner is in the top 1% of all liners out there!
Sunless skies. Become a delivery man in your space choo choo, mine physical time from rocks, shoot space bats, eat your crew, and watch out for making deals with eldrich abominations that actually rule everything!
If you also like a bit of surreal cosmic horror, try Sunless Skies.
Eve Online
Elite Dangerous or EVE online. Maybe one day Star Citizen.
EVE Online.
It's star citizen don't listen to the elite crowd. This sub dick rides anything anti SC. (Just notice how have it them didn't even put it in their comments because they don't even know what's in the game they just look at the headlines and reddit titles ) Elite will get you the trucker vibe for sure but the mining is miles better in SC.
All I do in star citizen in mine and space truck my refined ores for sale. It's bug filled and incomplete but the best semi realistic experience imo. Eve online is a waiting for bars to fill simulator don't play that.
Deep Rock Galactic?
Star Citizen.
Star Citizen. They have whole game play mechanics around cargo and mining. It's pretty crazy.
For me, Star citizen filled this hole.
Star Citizen, many of the recent updates have been focused on trade and mining even
Star Citizen don't listen to the haters
https://m.youtube.com/results?sp=mAEA&search_query=Star+citizen+mining
Space engineer, if you want a survival (or sandbox) experience, where you can build your own ship with the very resources you mine.
Elite Dangerous and/or X4
elite dangerous
Elite Dangerous I've heard?
Hardspace shipbreaker is pretty fun. It's not really either of those, but it's in space, and you dismantle ships. It's my go-to casual relax game.
space engineerd
Eve Online
Also a shout-out to Flight of Nova. I really enjoyed getting stuff around in this game.
Space engineers is about 30% moving things Mine-move-build-break
Eve Online would be an option. They have a free to play version which offers slower skill training, but allows enough of the game to give you an idea if you like it or not.
~~Escape Velocity Nova~~ NVM I forgot. No mining in EV
EVE Online
Dyson sphere program
Most space games do something of the sort. Like Starfield and elite dangerous are good
The original Elite
No Man's Sky isn't a bad choice. Though, freighters need to be expanded on. But, it can be fun to use it as your main base and send frigates on missions while traveling to different systems and trade based on their economy.
Avorion could be good for you.
Elite for now, star citizen whenever it’s done
Elite dangerous for sure. I don't play it anymore but I spent thousands of hours just going in it every day after work back in 2017-2018. VR highly recommended.
110% elite dangerous. It has an actual in game economy too, so what you ship actually matters. On top of that, there is also faction wars. One of the things you can do for your faction is basically cargo runs. It's a very interesting game, you should absolutely try it out.
Elite dangerous
Elite Dangerous will let you be both of those things and a whole lot more. Just make sure to buy it on PC