Distant Worlds: Universe

Classic and one of the best

The best game experience with Expansion Mod + DWUR

I cannot get this game to work. I checked all the boxes on the support tab and searched the web for fixes. It opens in task manager but then fails. Please comment if you can help

Well what can I say. I had this game in my library for a couple of years reluctant to start playing as it seemed overwhelming. Boy was I wrong and wish I'd started earlier. Everything can be adjusted to your playstyle. Heck you can even automate everything and just explore the galaxy Star Trek style.

To get the game to run on win 11 just go to the setup ini file and change the intro video to 0 rather than 1 so that it skips the video at the start avoiding a crash.

For all those who encounter a crash on startup: try editing startup.ini in the game folder. Change "Play Movie 1" to "Play Movie 0".

After putting more than 750 hours into this game over more than 10 years, I am finally ready to write a review.

This is it. The space 4x strategy game that I keep coming back to among all the others. I have played Stellaris, Sins of a Solar Empire, Masters of Orion, StarDrive, Endless Space, even space 4x games as far back as Spaceward Ho! and Stars!, which probably gives away my age. I've even played through Distant Worlds 2 (though not since some major updates were made). None of them keep me coming back time and again like Distant Worlds Universe.

The graphics are 2D, and fairly simple by today's standards. The UI is complex and often difficult to understand. The learning curve is very steep. Planet management is a bit lighter and less involved than other space 4X games. With such a huge barrier for new players, why then do I put it at my #1 spot? I have a lot of reasons.

Grand Scale: Galaxies can have up to 1500 stars, each with their own system of planets, asteroid fields, resources, ancient artifacts, ruins, and the occasional primitive civilization. Sprinkled between those stars are anomalies, space monsters, abandoned star bases, derelict ships (which you can repair or salvage for research), a rich history of a galactic war that happened centuries ago, and a looming threat of the return of a savage species.

Control Customization: You can take full control and micromanage every little detail throughout the game. Or, you can handle a single starship flying around the galaxy while the AI handles everything else in your empire. Or anything in between.

Heroes: Leader (one per faction), ship captains, fleet admirals, planet governors, scientists, spies, ambassadors. Each with their own set of perks and drawbacks. Some scientists might be very skilled in one or more areas of research, but might also be a foreign spy, which gives other factions a much greater chance of stealing research from you. A fleet admiral might be an excellent tactician, leading to greater targeting accuracy and damage, but might also be a drunkard, leading to slower hyper drive speed and greater ship maintenance costs.

Espionage: Distant Worlds Universe has the most involved, compelling, and choice-rich espionage system of any space 4X I've played. Each mission requires that you send one of your hero spies (no nameless, disposable spies in this game!), and a mission failure is a very real loss--if your spy is captured, he's gone for good, along with all of the work you've put into carefully developing his skills. And if your last spy is lost, then you are unable to perform any espionage missions until a new agent appears!

Ship Design: I've seen many different ship designers in space 4x games. Some are decent, some feel really dumbed-down (I'm looking at YOU, Endless Space!). But Distant Worlds and StarDrive have by far my favorite ship design mechanics. You can design a ship literally any way you want! You can create a flying fuel cell with barely enough hull to protect the crew from the void of space, designed to speed out and scout distant areas while still making it back with any fuel to spare. You can create colony ships with double capacity to give you a head-start in a new colony. How about a missile boat that deliberately stays at long range to pelt enemies with a shower of long-range missiles? (Yes, you can give each ship class specific directives on how to behave when encountering enemies.)

Design star bases, construction platforms, research facilities, resort hotels (yes, your people need entertainment too!), mining outposts, deep space observatories (for spying on enemy factions or getting early-warning notice when enemy fleets are inbound), and orbital defense platforms to help protect your colonies from surprise invasions. Just like with ship design, base design is wide open as to what components you want to put into each base type.

Scientific Research: There are three entirely different research sections: Weapons/Armor/Tactics, Energy/Construction, and High Tech/Science. You can conduct one research project from each of them simultaneously. The speed at which they are researched depends on the size of your population, along with the specific skills of your scientist heroes and how much research "capacity" you have constructed (in the form of research facilities).

Exploration: With a vast galaxy, limited fuel, and warp speed requiring research before use, in the early game just exploring your own starting solar system is exciting, as you discover what resources are available and try to find that oh-so-elusive "warp field precursors" data left on one of your system's planets by the few survivors of a centuries-old galactic war. Early research advancements in fuel capacity, engine thrust, and directional thrust are critical in how efficiently you explore and exploit the resources available in your home system. By the time you are ready to leave the cradle and travel to nearby stars, exploration starts all over again with your first barely warp-capable scouts travelling and discovering critical fuel-resources in order to extend your empire's reach. In fact, exploration is viable and fun throughout the early- and mid-game, and by the time you hit end-game, your scout ships' purposes shift to being deep-space scanners to be able to see through the fog of war.

I could go on: Race variety. Diplomacy. Resource mining/management. Planet-destroying super weapons. Fuel management. Race-unique win conditions.

This game is a dream for those who love this genre. Buy this game. Have the patience and courage to get past the obtuse user interface and complex game mechanics, and you will find a gem of a game where I, after more than a decade of play later, am still learning new things.

game does not launhc on windows 11, tried lots of supposed fixes

Looks like something I would enjoy, but takes a ton of time to learn, at least I would think, to play as in-depth as I would like. Game ran perfectly, despite being on modern hardware, and performed well... just seems to be one hell of a micro management game (which I typically enjoy) with tons of automation, partially or fully, which turn it into more of a macro game. Gives the feel of Starsector, but in a more basic sense, as attacks appear to be more HP based instead of location based, and stats and systems are items (could be wrong, just saw all the items my ship had, like cannons, sub-systems, etc.); Figured I would like it, and likely buy it again, so I refunded it for now to buy something that's much more basic and helps me to not focus too much on the death of my best friend...

Lots of fun.

wont work, makes you figure out how to trouble shoot the game not worth the money if i have to do all the work.

Original approach to 4x genre. You can automate almost everything and still it is satisfying to play.

“Distant Worlds: Universe is my favourite space strategy game. Not my favourite space strategy game released this week and not my favourite space strategy game released this year. It’s the definitive version of the best space strategy game I’ve ever played and I want to share the excitement with everyone”. Rock Paper Shotgun.

Probably. However I will never know since the game is not launching. There exists a forum post with tips to get this to run, but none of those work. This game has been dropped from support so you are on your own.

Such a shame.

plays better than dw2 but dw2 looks better but I am having a blast exploring the cosmos in 2d

No longer works, disappointed with lack of support or updates by devs for win10 and beyond, just a list of things customers (who bought the game) should do on their own - basically, you're on your own if you bought this game...

probably best to avoid distant worlds 2, it's probably going to be a similar disaster for people who purchase the game!

Game was great but doesn't work anymore. There are some tips in the community to get it going but none of it worked for me. Avoid unless you want to spend hours fucking with settings and ultimately go nowhere.

nice game to play

This game will not launch. And is apparently a known problem. There is a pinned forum post with suggestions to get this to run, but the steps are old and several mentioned folder locations that don't even exist on a new game install. Windows 11 Pro, less than a year old... Why do I need to jump through so many hoops to get this to work? I'm a fan of quite a few Slitherine games, but this one? Nope, uninstalling and requesting a refund.