Other space combat sims: Tachyon: the Fringe

However I would like to see a game that would allow you to fly fighters in space, land, and jump out of said fighter into a FPS type game. Years ago I asked around to see if anyone thought this was possible and of course at the time the answer was no. Jump ahead a few years and now we have UT2004 with this ability, Half-Life 2 looks as if it will allow something like this.

You forgot about Halo before UT2004, and Battlefield 1942 before that, and Tribes 2 before that, and Tribes before that... and you get the picture. Anyway, I kind of like that idea but kind of don't. Maybe a Wing Commander game based on the marines of the Terran Confederation would be a cool idea. It just wouldn't be wing commander though. I do however think it would be really cool to be able to walk around the carrier you're on in first person instead of the point and click interface with static images.
 
yeah, the final missions are ship intensive. the final mission has about 50 fighters, 3 or 4 capships, and a massive space station. it's pretty sweet.

Personally, I like the textures and such on the fighters and capships better, I also think the sense of scale is a bit better.
 
the one game ive seen that really did privateers feel for me, and nicely put a "getting out of the spacecraft and wandering about" edge on things was Earth and Beyond, sadly with its closure, no more will i bound from planet to planet and from station to station trying to find the parts to build myself a 200% x3 missile launcher - seriously though, that game had some real quality in it, and i was lucky enough in my summer of playing it last year to get some of the really killer battles to take part in

to be honest though, marine/space combat cant mix in the WC world, you cant really fly into a carrier with marines and hop out and kill everyone, because youre a pilot unless you were some special combat unit it just wouldnt work. however, if the game were worked like "Space Above and Beyond" it would work really well.

as for other space games, i tend to collect most. tachyon is ok, but its not superb, the combat is nice though, and definitely the AI roasts some of the older WC AI (perhaps even prophecy's) X and X-BTF were tough ones to call, managing in the 2 of them to be linear and open ended, and to generally be a bit wierd, they were worth it though. on the other hand, theres few games ive anticipated as eagerly as X2 and i can safely say it was worth it, a little suspicious here and there, but when i got the UK version (which comes pre-patched) it was so much more stable and much much happier running on my pc. the game does take forever, after a few weeks id managed to get a power station, a couple of transport ships, and id managed about 3 missions on the storyline. the true beauty of the game is in that, working to make an empire of industry - just what the privateer doctor ordered!

independence war's demo is all i ever managed to play, but i can say that one was fun, the sequel i havent gotten around to finishing yet (or really playing) but the demo of that was good too.

on a slight sideline, starlancer was excellent but the last mission always crashed out for me, faulty cd or whatever ive never seen the last cutscene, it dies either when i see the admiral and his cutscene or when i see the last boss' fighter. (and it dies with and without no-cd cracks)

ive always wanted to play archimedean dynasty because i heard good things about that back in the day, but sadly i never got a chance, however the aqua nox games - which are archimedean's children - are both good, and whilst very linear (not quite sub-culture, which i loved the randomness of) - are very fun.

finally team17 (maker of worms) did a space game a year or 2 back called phoenix, which is short but sweet and worth looking into.

that said though, dont let the CIC's aged members fool you, theres som really nice looking games coming out in the next couple of years (see fileplanets movie collections, one of them is a space marine type game as discussed) and whilst the space game market seems relatively slow, it by no means seems unwilling to spend on at least one beautiful work a year
 
Independence War1 is an awesome game. I remember the first time I played it with the 3dfx patch installed- everything looked so beautiful. I often stopped during the missions when possible, just to llok at the scenery around me, the background nebulas were done very well, they had soft transitions and faded into the darkness smoothly, contrary to the backgrounds in other space sims like FS2 retail where space with the random nebula blobs looks like it's suffering from some freaky disease. and the setting was immersive too...there were many non combat missions(scan things, destroy asteroids/objects which threaten planets, bases, first contact, spy missions) which were very interesting.

I-War2 is good too, though I immedeatly got turned of at the beginning because in the first chapter, the main character was still a child(I gues I don't like children too much, I hated that boy in Episode 1 too), but in the later stages, the game was very much fun.

Freespace 1 was a very good game to me...though the story wasn't exactly brilliant, the missions were full of twists and turns, and some missions in particular were the best I've ever played, like the mission were you have to scan enemy cargo containers in a captured fighter while trying to stay out of sensor range of the enemy patrols.

FS2 then, just plain sucked. It's full of blinking lights and flashy stuff, everything else in it sucked and I thought that FS1's graphics were actually better.

I tried to play the original X, but the first time I fired the game up, I saw how close all the locations and stations in one sector were(you could see them all with the naked eye), I shut the game down and never touched it again.
 
Bad Ass game

off the space topic... but I was thinking about a bad ass game earlier today, where it is default Generals [EA] view (strategic commander view) you can click on an infantry to take his or [EA Battlefield 1942 series(with small squad commands] first person view (of course nice fade, like the zoom from generals extended into the first person mode), or a tank, pilot/aircraft, or structure infiltrating infantry (IE tom clancy [Red storm?] ghost recon style) as well as Tom Clancy sniping.
This would be the bad ass realistic game. (nothing against futuristic games, I like em, hence my presence in the forum) It is also easier to work in than with a WC game, because Generals starts out all aspects of battle (except naval, for an odd reason) where as WC is pilot only. (I think Star Trek: Armada is a space commander game, never played it, take my interwoven idea, rip of Armada and get the space flight of WC, as well as altered gravity fighting (realistic people!)

I like EA owning great companies (Westwood, Command and Conquer and Origin, which made the WC games, and my personal favorite Privateer 2)for Generals and Zero Hour Red Alert 1/2 Tiberian sun, Renegade and the Battlefield 1942 series...wow they are about the allround best game-makers
Red Storm is kick ass on the first person games, hands down, the Tom Clancy games kick ass, I think it was Pandora Tomorrow... great ingame videos, whistling, all those stealth moves, they own it for first person tactical games

EA would be my natural choice to make it, but I would expect some cooperation with Red Storm to make it the kick ass game it could be. this game could be a 10 out of 10 with all aspects, but I dont expect them to make it above a 9.3, I would not complain for an 8 though. Good graphics, great gameplay, good sound. and we gotta have cutscenes and a DAMN GOOD storyline. Multiplayer is optional as a select few would like this game, and most would want to specialize (I.E. sniper, urban warefare, pilot...) making for a faster game speed.
 
Colonel Sanders said:
Let's add another one to the list-

Homeworld and Homeworld 2!

I concur 300%

I also enjoyed Homeworld: Cataclysm


I also really liked ORB... at least multiplayer. I never did finish single player.... Although the latest patch really dumbed down the computer AI.
 
I just found Tachyon at my local Electroics Boutique for the staggaring price of four dollars so I decided to pick it up.
 
So Spien, you should be past the prologue by now- what you think?

Worm Commander? i'm in!

I only have the homeworld demos. I plan on pirating the full versions until I can get to Mommy B's and buy them. I've been getting my Homeworld Jollys by sending 50 bombers and 50 scouts after the enemy motherships in Skirmish mode.
 
to be honest though, marine/space combat cant mix in the WC world, you cant really fly into a carrier with marines and hop out and kill everyone, because youre a pilot unless you were some special combat unit it just wouldnt work. however, if the game were worked like "Space Above and Beyond" it would work really well.

Yes it works and it's actually really fun as well :). I'm currently working on 2 wing commander based ut2k4 maps, one is a CTF level the other is going to be an onslaught level with two durango class destroyers. The idear of the onslaught map is to destroy the power core on the enemy's durango using fighters to get there and turrets to keep enemy fighters off. I think it's great fun :)

click this link to see some pictures of the CTF map

http://margo.student.utwente.nl/cees/Dishwashers_UT2K4Maps/index.htm
 
Tachyon isn't half bad so far, it's no Wing Commander... heck... it's no StarLancer even, but it's worth a look. Campbell really helps you to not take the game seriously. If I had to give Tachyon a different title it would be "Wing Commander Light". It's a good game for people new to space sims in my opinion.
 
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