Does anyone miss asteroids?

V

Vinman

Vice Admiral
They're still around, but they aren't quite the navigational hazard that they used to be. In your opinions, was this a change for the better, or for the worse?

I'm kind of torn. I have memories of asteroids and minefields being a real pain, but their absence as an obstacle ever since Privateer has made me miss them.
 
They were kind of random, it would be unrealistic to have people navigate them if at all avoidable. If they were on Nav1, it'd be simpler to just AB your way trough.
 
They are a fun tool In WCP multiplayer. I don't know if it's my monitor settings but I can never really see the things though. They're a good mix in Arena though.
 
One of the things space games have done very poorly is make space iself interesting, and nerfing asteroids in WC3+ was part of this. The "arcade" asteroid fields in WC1/2/Privateer may not have been realistic... but gosh darnit, they were hard to complete and rewarding to finish. I don't really know why they even included asteroids in WC3 and 4 - they were nothing but set dressing.

Space games need to make space itself *more* exciting - a giant vacuum with nothing in it may be real, but it can't compete with the likes of Half Life. Lets see nebulas that are something other than bad gamma correction, lets see black holes that you have to fly away from to avoid being sucked into, lets see asteroid fields with giant planetoids with caves and such to fly into.

The best asteroids I ever saw in Wing Commander were in the Proving Grounds addon for Armada - they had a WC1-style asteroid field plus several giant ones. The giant rocks showed up on your radar and could hide your fighter from your opponent if you hid near them. I wish they'd gone on with that concept.

(And a nod to Arena, of course - it's a different type of game, but the Boneyard asteroid map is coool... and the Meteor Storm mode is similar to the fields in WC1. I'd love to fly through the Boneyard map in a 3D setup.)
 
Kligon Academy had the best space enviroments out of any space game Ive played. One problem with having space hazards is that they are only dangerous when near them and in space that could take a long while to get there.
 
I think Freelancer did a good effort in making space interesting... Even on the first map, the radioactive asteroid field was very interesting. And some of the maps were just beatiful...
 
Bandit LOAF said:
I'd love to fly through the Boneyard map in a 3D setup.)
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Ain't that the truth! Arena has many inspired ideas in its levels - I'd love to be able to hide a small fighter in the skeleton of that transport, crashed into the Boneyard.
 
Bandit LOAF said:
The best asteroids I ever saw in Wing Commander were in the Proving Grounds addon for Armada - they had a WC1-style asteroid field plus several giant ones. The giant rocks showed up on your radar and could hide your fighter from your opponent if you hid near them. I wish they'd gone on with that concept.
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Agreed. I'll have to make sure I have Armada/PG installed and ready to run for the 10th. I wouldn't mind getting a few games of it in along with WCP MP and Arena...god it is so great to have so many options for WC to play with friends now!
 
Delance said:
I think Freelancer did a good effort in making space interesting... Even on the first map, the radioactive asteroid field was very interesting. And some of the maps were just beatiful...
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Amen to that! Now those are the BEST asteroid fields EVER
I remember flying into an asteroid field in the California system and discovering an enemy base right smack in the middle. Now I was flying one of the early story fighter models (kinda weak on shields and firepower) but I was able to use the asteroids as natural cover to evade enemy fire and swing around for the kill shots. I ended up dogfighting waves after waves of bad guys for over 15mins. Pure fun.

Anyway the point is; Freelancer asteroids=good
Other games asteroids=bad
 
A while ago I played the "Beyond the red line" demo and they had an very nice Asteroid field. The guys have done a realy greate job.

If you like the new Battelstar Galactica series you might want to check it out even more.
 
Why do people insist on making asteroid field when those are completely unreal?
If you want a navigational hazard, make a debris field, simple as that.
 
Pff, realism has no place in my WC games. Asteroids are fun! :) But I wouldn't mind a debris field once in a while, for a change from asteroids and mines.
 
Me, I'd really like to see an occasional rock field like they had in the Privateer intro, where Burroughs uses one to scrape off missiles, and sneak around behind a guy to wax him.

Or, at least I would with a more "traditional" WC control physics. Arena is WC, but between the game physics and the overly sensitive (for me, anyway) 360 controls maneuvering around lots of rocks (boneyard and satellites maps in particular) is a pain in that game. :p
 
and that sort of asteroid field isn't exactly unrealistic, sure it is in *our* solar system... but if a planetoid were to crack up for any reason, it would take thousands to hundreds of millions of years for the debris to spread out across its entire orbit. those sorts of asteroid fields are probably common in unstable systems.. not to mention planetary rings don't have to be made of ice.
 
Death said:
Me, I'd really like to see an occasional rock field like they had in the Privateer intro, where Burroughs uses one to scrape off missiles, and sneak around behind a guy to wax him.
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Like the ones in Proving Grounds, then? Although I had the luck to have a missile following me run into an asteroid in Arena. Pure luck, of course.

Death said:
Or, at least I would with a more "traditional" WC control physics. Arena is WC, but between the game physics and the overly sensitive (for me, anyway) 360 controls maneuvering around lots of rocks (boneyard and satellites maps in particular) is a pain in that game. :p
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Amen - especially in light fighters as they are so fast, and especially especially in a Darket with 80 cm shields.
 
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