Starport Delta

As I write this, I am currently waiting for materials to build a power plant. But at the same time, I have to trade out materials so my budget doesn't go into the red. A regular strategy conundrum, right?

The problem with Starport Delta is that while I do this, an AI is screaming at me for the 7th time since the last time I was able to build that I'm running low on materials, I watch them barely get over the threshold to build and then trade yanks them down to 5 units.. and the best part? I can't speed up time.

I can't. speed. up. time. Or pause it without hitting escape and then I can't interact with anything.

Starport Delta is an effort by Cloudfire Studios of making a simulation game about building a space station but in the most basic way. It's akin to someone experienced in Maya trying to make a model in Second Life. Someone experienced with computer aided design whittling wood with a knife. A surgeon operating with chopsticks.

It.. looks bland and neon. I can tell the difference between the buildings, but just barely. You're presented with the standard hex layout, but the graphics are nothing to write home about, to be honest. The controls are simple as well - you can scroll using the edges to move on the X and Y axis but you're not going to be using the Z at all except to zoom in and out, which is.. useless you want to make your station very tiny. Along the top, you have money, budget, materials, materials per day, overlays, score, buildings, and inhabitants.

As I said, time is a factor, but you have no control over it. And this is a major, major problem for this game, but one of many, because you have objectives. Take for example the game wants you to build, say, ten mining outposts and have 1,000 tons of material as winning qualifiers. For a lot of strategy games, if you find a good balance between supply, budget, and time, you can sit back and relax as it all works out. AND! You can speed up time to get it done quickly and move onto the next puzzle given to you.

A very good example of this are Zachtronics games, which turn that into art: the less moves you make, the more efficient the machine you've created and the prouder you can feel at the sleek machine you've created. At least, that's what I'm looking for when I go into a game like this, I want to create a space station that runs like a well oiled machine that makes a great profit.

But. You can't speed up time here. And you can't do things willy-nilly here either. There is a prescribed way of building things in a certain order so you do not exhaust either your space bucks (yes, space bucks) or materials. Running out of materials just means your trades won't go through and you won't be exporting materials for money - but if you're running out of MONEY that's a different problem. And should you run low on either of these things, the AI assistant will remind you of this. Constantly. Almost as constantly as Fi from Skyward Sword. Let that sink in.

Other strategy games can let you pause or slow down to let you deal with a crisis. Starport Delta decides you don't have any money and that building has to go.

Oh you just built it? Sorry. We needed the money for upkeep. No upkeep, no station. Even if that building you built will earn you money in 5-10 seconds, if you don't have the money for that $$-50 when it pops up, that building (or any building the game chooses that just happens to be expendable) is poof, gone.

I have restarted missions five and six times trying to figure out specific ways this dumb game wants me to build in order. NPCs will interject with dialog, and something will unlock then, do I build that then? No.. I don't have the money, do I wait? That will take forever. And I can't speed up time. So I wait. Turns out that wasn't right way. Restart. I build all the unlocks it gives me through dialog up front. No money after that, all buildings destroyed for upkeep. Restart.

Starport Delta set out to make an easy sim game, I absolutely believe that, and they did. But they made an easy game that will take you seventeen years to complete, if you have the patience to sit down and try. It's not even a good beginner strategy/simulation game, because in trying to make it easy, they've sat the player down and handcuffed their hands behind their back and forced them to play with their face. You'd think they set out to make a puzzle game, and maybe they have, but if that's the case, they've made a puzzle game with the directions of a sim game.

Civilization may seem daunting, but trust me, you'll get the hang of it a hell of a lot easier than this. And you'll want to hug Sid Meier for letting you control time.