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Good Sci-fi

arg-fallbackName="Prolescum"/>
Dragan Glas said:
Greetings,

To be honest, I had only read the "Prelude" and "Foundation" books - not the whole series. After all, it wasn't worth it.... :lol:

[Owww, hey! Stop pushing .... oww, OWWWW!!!]

Kindest regards,

James


Get 'im, gang!


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borrofburi said:
Yes. It's ok... I think it's called... ah here it is:
Emperor: Battle for Dune

Dune 2000 :)
 
arg-fallbackName="Unwardil"/>
Psh, Emperor was a remake of a remake.

Dune 2 all the way.

It predated Warcraft. Yeah, that old. You couldn't even mass select units, but the BGM was killer.
 
arg-fallbackName="AdmiralPeacock"/>
Unwardil said:
Psh, Emperor was a remake of a remake.

Dune 2 all the way.

It predated Warcraft. Yeah, that old. You couldn't even mass select units, but the BGM was killer.


Hell yeah it did
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dune_II

Widely considered the first mainstream RTS.
 
arg-fallbackName="TheFlyingBastard"/>
nasher168 said:
Unwardil said:
Also Dune and not just because it was the first real time strategy game I ever played.

There's a game of Dune?

Multiple, in fact.

There's Dune, an Adventure-RPG-RTS hybrid.
There's Dune 2, arguably the first real RTS ever.
There's Dune 2000, a remake of Dune 2 on the C&C engine.
There's Emperor: Battle for Dune, a 3D RTS.

But here comes the kicker: There are two boardgames!

One of them is mediocre, but the other is excellent. It's a great six player game in which you take the side of the Atreides, Harkonnen, Fremen, Emperor, Spacing Guild or Bene Gesserit and attempt to conquer 3 out of 5 strongholds on the board with your armies, using your side's respective advantages. It is absolutely awesome, and anyone who likes strategic boardgames and/or Dune should have played this at least once.

In fact, I'm making an online version of this boardgame, so if anyone wants to have a peek, please hit me up. I need some buddies to playtest.
 
arg-fallbackName="Netheralian"/>
Dragan Glas said:
The late David Eddings' The Belgariad, with its sequel trilogy, The Malloreon series and the alternatives, The Elenium and The Tamuli trilogies. Although the themes and even the characters are similar, they're great.

Shit - didn't realise he had kicked it. At least he wasn't in the middle of anything good like Robert Jordan, David Gemmel or Douglas Adams when they died. His last series (The Dreamers) was abysmal.

I have to say that I agree with you on the foundation series. I really didn't find it that compelling. However I felt much the same about Dune. The first book was very good and I know I read the 2nd and 3rd but have no recollection of anything that happened in them, they made so little an impression on me.

Anyway - I had to browse this thread to find some new material to read from the local library. Unfortunately most of it isn't there or is in dutch and that is far too much work. As is the way of things here, I'm half way through the ringworld series and the library doesn't have the rest.

Keep the recommendations coming - the library is bound to have something!!!! Otherwise I'm of to Amazon to look at their recommendations...
 
arg-fallbackName="Dragan Glas"/>
Greetings,
Netheralian said:
Dragan Glas said:
The late David Eddings' The Belgariad, with its sequel trilogy, The Malloreon series and the alternatives, The Elenium and The Tamuli trilogies. Although the themes and even the characters are similar, they're great.

Shit - didn't realise he had kicked it. At least he wasn't in the middle of anything good like Robert Jordan, David Gemmel or Douglas Adams when they died. His last series (The Dreamers) was abysmal.
Agreed regarding the Dreamers - fortunately, I'd only bought the first book and thought - "Eh??".
I have to say that I agree with you on the foundation series. I really didn't find it that compelling. However I felt much the same about Dune. The first book was very good and I know I read the 2nd and 3rd but have no recollection of anything that happened in them, they made so little an impression on me.
I read all three - I think that what (also) disappointed me about the sequels was that you realised that "Paul" - the "muad'dib" of the first book - turned out to be a failure; someone who shouldn't have been, according to the "Prophecy".
Anyway - I had to browse this thread to find some new material to read from the local library. Unfortunately most of it isn't there or is in dutch and that is far too much work. As is the way of things here, I'm half way through the ringworld series and the library doesn't have the rest.

Keep the recommendations coming - the library is bound to have something!!!! Otherwise I'm of to Amazon to look at their recommendations...
We'll try - although it sounds as if you need (access to) a better library!

Maybe you should let us know what sort of SF appeals to you....

Kindest regards,

James
 
arg-fallbackName="Netheralian"/>
Dragan Glas said:
We'll try - although it sounds as if you need (access to) a better library!
That's the problem with living in a foreign country. I even have to pay 40euro a year to use it!! Good second hand book stores also seem to be difficult to find here. Trying to convince the wife to move somewhere warmer but I still have a couple of years to go.
Dragan Glas said:
Maybe you should let us know what sort of SF appeals to you....
I think I have similar tastes to you as I had read many of your earlier recomendations. You can see my short list on page 1. Fantasy recommendations also appreciated. Otherwise I don't really mind - I just want a compelling book!!
 
arg-fallbackName="Dragan Glas"/>
Greetings,

If you do browse Amazon, don't buy from them!

Use BookBrain to buy from the UK - in fact, although Amazon may appear cheaper than others, you'll find that The Book Depository will be cheaper if a book is listed at around the same price.

Amazon adds P&P to their prices - The Book Depository doesn't: I know - I buy all my books through them. ;)

Kindest regards,

James
 
arg-fallbackName="Netheralian"/>
I don't - the postage to the netherlands is expensive. I use it's recommendations to find a book and then buy locally - or go to the library.
 
arg-fallbackName="Dragan Glas"/>
Greetings,
Netheralian said:
I don't - the postage to the netherlands is expensive. I use it's recommendations to find a book and then buy locally - or go to the library.
The Book Depository's FREE Worldwide Delivery

Not to mention that the books are up to 40% cheaper than in a bookshop.

You can always check with them first to confirm that p&p is free.

Kindest regards,

James
 
arg-fallbackName="Netheralian"/>
Dragan Glas said:
Greetings,
Netheralian said:
I don't - the postage to the netherlands is expensive. I use it's recommendations to find a book and then buy locally - or go to the library.
The Book Depository's FREE Worldwide Delivery

Not to mention that the books are up to 40% cheaper than in a bookshop.

You can always check with them first to confirm that p&p is free.

Kindest regards,

James

Nice... Will be remembering that one!
 
arg-fallbackName="TheFlyingBastard"/>
Dragan Glas said:
However I felt much the same about Dune. The first book was very good and I know I read the 2nd and 3rd but have no recollection of anything that happened in them, they made so little an impression on me.

Anyway - I had to browse this thread to find some new material to read from the local library. Unfortunately most of it isn't there or is in dutch and that is far too much work.
One might actually explain the other. I can't read Dune in Dutch. One of the great things about Dune is the way it is written, its proze. It just doesn't carry over to Dutch.
 
arg-fallbackName="Gunboat Diplomat"/>
ExplorerAtHeart said:
I'm looking for some good scifi books I can sink my teeth into. A good space adventure or exploration. What do you guys recommend?
It would be useful if you were a little more specific. Are you looking for hard or soft sci-fi? Are you looking for technical detail or strong characterization? Does "adventure" include political intrigue? ...or social commentary?

Rendezvous with Rama is probably the paragon of hard science fiction. It's the story of the exploration of the first alien ship encountered by humanity in the early 22nd century. It offers incredible detail, both technical and descriptive, perhaps at the cost of flat characterization and simplistic plotting...

Ringworld is the story of the exploration of the titular planet. The idea for the videogame Halo is a rip off of this story . I would consider it soft, despite it's enormous (and interesting!) technical detail, mostly because many aspects of the technology in it are just impossible (although it can be argued that any sufficiently advanced technology would appear this way to us, what the hell is scrith supposed to be made out of? It's clearly not made out of atoms!). It has decent characterization, despite also having great technical detail. It also has a good dose of humor, much like a modern American action flick...
 
arg-fallbackName="Gunboat Diplomat"/>
Dragan Glas said:
I tried Asimov's Foundation series, but wasn't that impressed with it - no real sci/tech in it. His Space Ranger series was more to my liking - science and technology were important. Frankly, I found his "Robot" books uninteresting - strange, since I ended up in the computer industry! [His non-fiction books, particularly his science-oriented ones, were great.]
Dragan Glas said:
I also read Foundation as a teenager - yes, it's good "space drama" - but the technology side (apart from space travel, the only bit I remember was "The Mule" turning dials to control people's emotional responses) was lacking. And there wasn't much else in terms of culture or politics to make up for the lack of science and/or technology.
The "technology side" was "lacking?" Did you forget psychohistory? ...the mathematics of population behavior? That was a powerful piece of technology and the premise of the entire series!

The Mule was a mutant with psionic powers. He was a statistical pathology that threw off psychohistoric calculations and thus a problem for the two Foundations...

Also, there wasn't enough politics and culture in the deterioration of the Galactic Empire?
 
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