What got you into space sims?

[Twyst]

So how did you get into space sims? I've personally played most of the popular ones from 1980's to present day, starting of with the Elite and ending up here. Every single one has been enjoyable in their own right and truthfully that's why I'm here now.

But how did you get here to start with? Although I've had a fascination with planes and science fiction from a young age I was never addicted to either it until I saw BattleStar Galactica in 1978 on the TV.
Hook, Line, Sinker and copy of fisherman's weekly I just *had* to watch it every week. Me and my Bro role played pretty much every role. Every time I played the 1st Wing Commander game I can't help but compare taking off in a hornet and protecting the Tigers Claw vs taking off in a Viper and defending Galatica. Just swap cuddly Kilrathi with metallic Cylons and you're set.

It's old. It's chessy, but every time I listen to it, my blood runs cold with excitement! So without futher ado, the 1978 opening credits to BattleStar Galactica!

So .... How did you get here and what influenced you?

[Justin Tolerable]

It's tough to say, to be honest.  I think I've just always been a sci-fi enthusiast, but with some weird gaps in my nerd education.  For example, I'd not even seen any Star Trek until about a year ago (I love it).  Space sims started properly for me with X-Wing... it just worked for me!  Then a bunch of CR's games.

Recently been re-watching firefly for the millionth time  I need to make those as LEGO minifigures!

[Gorion]

Star trek, Babylon 5, battlestar Galactica

[Vargen]

When I was a boy, my dad rented the Robotech:The macross saga from the video store for me, and ever since the first episode I have loved both Sci-Fi and anime. My dad being a Trekkie I suspect he enjoyed watching it with me as well

After that I got into Star Trek, Star Wars, Babylon 5 +++ and I just can't get enough of it! If I could have my own RL space ship, I would!

[Jamoe]

SC is probably my first Space Sim.

Star Fox on Nintedo was probably my first space'ish flyer. I vaguely remember Tachyon The Fring, although looking at screen shots it's through rose tinted glasses. The next time I thought about a space ships was probably Star Wars Galaxies although that never amounted to much.

For me I love the idea that there could be an FPS battle happening on a some kind of capital ship while outside there are smaller fighters dogfighting.

[TeaLeaf]

As a player of the original Elite on my BBC Model B, I'd say that this was what got me into the space sim side, then I can blame Knights Online for getting me interested in the whole MMO thing which then led me into 9 years of WoW.

[BrotherTobious]

Star Wars,  X-wing vs Tie-Fighter

Sent from my Nexus 5

[sulky_uk]

elite on my acorn electron and elite on my bbc...still got both as well and they work. Then progressed onto oolite many years later, if you cant afford the new elite yet try oolite

http://www.oolite.org/

[Tutonic]

X-Wing was probably my first dabble, loved it.

Freespace and Starlancer were also superb. I really hope SC & ED kickstart a revival, it's one of my favourite genres.

[smilodon]

I'm going to show my age but the first game I remember playing was Interplanetary Voyage on the Philips Magnavox game console in the mid 70's. The Magnavox was the worlds first game console and predated the Atari Pong console by about three years. I remember the game was a combination of a plastic screen that stuck to the  TV set through static, a board game element and playing cards. Other than that I don't remember much except I was utterly hooked on the idea of piloting a space ship and heading off into the dark, exploring and discovering new planets and civilisations. It now looks so dated as to be almost a joke, but at the time I was amazed by what technology could do!

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2831[/ATTACH]

After that I remember Star Trek which I think I played a port of on a BBC Micro Model B

Star Trader which I think a friends had to copy out of a magazine and type into the computer himself !!!

After that as PC games became more mainstream I remember playing Space Rogue, Iron Seed, Tachyon the Fringe, Elite, Wing Commander, Star Trek Bridge Commander, Privateer, Freelancer and of course the great space fighting game MMO World of Warcraft the Burning Crusade :norty:

[Galatoni]

First space sim I ever played was in fact Elite on the Amiga. Cracking game for its time. When Frontier came out I was blown away. Been looking for the same 'fix' ever since. Until Elite and SC came out, I was searching for something for ages to no avail. The X series, Freelancer... they never quite hit the mark.

I guess this is why I'm so excited. These new 'uns are appealing to the little 8 year old boy who was sat in front of an A500 in front of our old chunky TV!