BREAKING NEWS: Wing Commander Armada on GOG (November 21, 2013)

Bandit LOAF

Long Live the Confederation!
The last PC Wing Commander game has finally been released via GOG! Wing Commander Armada, the multiplayer installment of the saga that was years ahead of its time, is now available for purchase for just $5.99. As always, the game comes with extras (Voices of War and the Armada Playtester's Guide)... and hopefully this will generate a new group of players willing to go head to head in the Wing Commander universe! You can pick up your copy here.

To celebrate this event, GOG is having a 50% off sale for anyone completing the Wing Commander series... which means that Armada is just $2.99 if you've purchased everything else released so far! The sale lasts just 48 hours, so get in now!




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Original update published on November 21, 2013
 
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Silly question (and not a critique) is this release multiplayer limited to LAN party play via COM port? I didn't have internet when this was first released, and only once managed to network a pair of PCs together to dogfight despite months of trying, many cables, lots of cursing.
 
Silly question (and not a critique) is this release multiplayer limited to LAN party play via COM port? I didn't have internet when this was first released, and only once managed to network a pair of PCs together to dogfight despite months of trying, many cables, lots of cursing.

It's not likely that they've updated the game to support TCP/IP LAN. I'm buying it anyway, been waiting for this one for ages!!
 
O wow, this is news to me... Never even knew it existed. This just gets better!

Only discovered it myself a few months ago; haven't had opportunity to try and connect yet. Now that it's on GOG, I might have better luck finding human opponents.
Problem with that, of course, is that y'all are liable to be pretty damn good...as opposed to the people I used to fly against.......
 
Love love love love love love love love that new "box art" for the game. Any chance someone has it without the text? It would make a perfect Facebook banner.
 
I am going to have to get this. I have had Armada on CD for years but was never been able to get it to run.
 
Ten days ago I updated the Armada "request" thread with a plea to cure my OCD needs. GoG Gods have answered. Although I'm beyond 100% positive that talks were under way long before I mentioned it here, I like to think that my nearly four year campaign for Wing Commander games on GoG is finally at an end! :)
Hehe - and under circumstances such as this, it actually gives me great satisfaction to admit I was totally wrong in the above-linked thread, as clearly EA did get onboard with GoG :). I'm still a bit surprised about it, actually, because it really makes no sense, but whatever, I guess they simply decided that farming these games out to someone else is easier than building a service of their own. EA's online strategy has always been a little wonky.
 
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It's not likely that they've updated the game to support TCP/IP LAN. I'm buying it anyway, been waiting for this one for ages!!

I don't believe they've changed the actual game, but DOSBox itself has been upgraded over the years so that Netbios/IPXNet features are built-in. So you might have to back out to the DOSBox console to enable just the right things, but basically it's possible for unpatched Armada to be played online now. If someone doesn't beat us to it, we'll put together some instructions at some point to get GOG Armada online.
 
Well Dosbox emulates an IPX local connection via UDP/IP, it doesn't emulate the Netbios protocol. In order for that, you must launch Netbios prior to connecting the two dosboxes before starting Armada. It also emulates a serial modem/nullmodem with TCP/IP, which does work as well but you are of course limited to 2 people and the max baud rate the game supports.
 
Ahh, Armada, finally the series is complete. Just played the Kilrathi gauntlet - I only got to the last nav of the second Jrathek mission and got shot down by an Arrow. Armour seems to go that much quicker than shields. Still, it's fanatstic. And Aramada really has good sound effects (the best even, I think with Priv close behind it) and the best shield effect of all WC games.
 
And Aramada really has good sound effects (the best even, I think with Priv close behind it) and the best shield effect of all WC games.
Definitely. We ended up using some Armada and Priv sound effects in Standoff, but looking back, I wish we had done a more complete job of it, replacing many more sounds. And yeah, the shield effects were just plain spectacular.
 
I know that people claim that in multiplayer the Kilrathi ships are good but playing the Kilrathi gauntlet and then switching to the Terrans...boy, do the KIlrathi fighthers suck. I mean, the Shok'lar is great and the Jrathek is ok (eventhough inferior to its counterpart, the Wraith) but the Dralthi and Kor-larh are next to useless and the Goran, while a tank and havning good missiles, has such pathetic guns...
 
I don't believe they've changed the actual game, but DOSBox itself has been upgraded over the years so that Netbios/IPXNet features are built-in. So you might have to back out to the DOSBox console to enable just the right things, but basically it's possible for unpatched Armada to be played online now. If someone doesn't beat us to it, we'll put together some instructions at some point to get GOG Armada online.

This would be brilliant... will tinker with it in the meantime.
 
Does Armada have a server? I remember many games that came later (think Quake, Half Life, Unreal etc...) had stand alone server consoles that could be launched even if you weren't in the game. I would be glad to run a community server on my 35x3Mbps connection (upgrading next year to 50x5), 24/7 for everyone, if that's an option.
 
Does Armada have a server? I remember many games that came later (think Quake, Half Life, Unreal etc...) had stand alone server consoles that could be launched even if you weren't in the game. I would be glad to run a community server on my 35x3Mbps connection (upgrading next year to 50x5), 24/7 for everyone, if that's an option.

The game itself doesn't have that option. It's all peer to peer networking through ipx or modem, and the host is a player. but dosbox behind it can connect to a server kinda like a perpetual host that you can relay the games through.

For this, there are a few options:

There is this community driven service that is available for many dosgames and armada is supported. http://www.classicgamingarena.com/ You can get their dedicated server program for and use it for armada. I'm glad you are offering a server cause armada could use one. It's a pretty neat service, has a chatroom lobby for organizing and such and their server program allows for voice over ip. It practically sets the game up for users in their browser. A little restrictive but it gets the job done. It just needs people to use it!

But if you want something simpler like just an ip tunneling server for dosbox, then there is always this too.
http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000/tunnelserver.html
 
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The game itself doesn't have that option. It's all peer to peer networking through ipx or modem, and the host is a player. but dosbox behind it can connect to a server kinda like a perpetual host that you can relay the games through.

For this, there are a few options:

There is this community driven service that is available for many dosgames and armada is supported. http://www.classicgamingarena.com/ You can get their dedicated server program for and use it for armada. I'm glad you are offering a server cause armada could use one. It's a pretty neat service, has a chatroom lobby for organizing and such and their server program allows for voice over ip. It practically sets the game up for users in their browser. A little restrictive but it gets the job done. It just needs people to use it!

But if you want something simpler like just an ip tunneling server for dosbox, then there is always this too.
http://home.arcor.de/h-a-l-9000/tunnelserver.html

I have created a "classic gaming arena" server at Arena.BFGs.org - in the CGA list of servers it is named "WC Armada." If any of you have a chance to give it a try, let me know how it works, if there are any bugs. I probably won't have a chance to even check it out until this weekend at the earliest.

-NuAngel
 
I gave it a try, seems to work. Did you not want voice over ip to function? or have you not figured it out? I should ask CodeJunkie to support Proving Grounds as well.
 
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