So was there anything to the rumors, or...?

[Nomad Terror]

S

Sadly, no. My first WC game was WC4 and then WC3. Didnt get to play the first two until years later when I bought a used copy of Kilrathi Saga on eBay. Totally worth it, though.

I have heard a great deal about Privateer 1. And 2, although many consider that one not as 'open' as the first one. Wished I could have played them.

It's your lucky day! You can buy Privateer and play it legally right now!

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/wing_commander_privateer

It's fairly common on ebay, too.

If you don't want to spend any money, you can try Gemini Gold, but it's not quite the same as playing the actual, original game.

 

[Icelandic_Boy]

It's your lucky day! You can buy Privateer and play it legally right now!

http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/wing_commander_privateer

It's fairly common on ebay, too.

If you don't want to spend any money, you can try Gemini Gold, but it's not quite the same as playing the actual, original game.

Oh, sweet! I know about that website, I just recendly bought Arcanum there, but I didnt think about seeing if they had Privateer there! Thanks!

Gonna check it out after getting home from my nightshift. And gotten some sleep, of course.

 

[AD]

Yay Wing Commander! I'll be first in line. Everyone else can find the DRM discussion here.... Behave.

 

[Dyret]

Any idea how Roberts wants to include the FPS-elements?

I thinks one kind of highly trained professional soldier (fighter pilot) also being another type of different highly trained professional soldier (SPACE MARINE) is difficult to justify... I'd love to see the main character fps-walking around the carrier talking to people and exploring (achievements, yay,) maybe with one or two special missions were you are caught unaware and have to help the rest of the crew repel boarders, or a "marine-blair scenario" of the kind seen in the original film-script, and/or a 'shot down' scenario as seen in various episodes of academy, but I don't feel it need to be part of the core mechanic.

 

[Dundradal]

You can get Privateer from GOG for $5!

What are you waiting for??

 

[Ilanin]

What I'd like to see (and I know I never will, because what I'm describing is rather less mass-market and somewhat harder to make than the game we'll actually get) is a game that actually takes the name Wing Commander seriously. We're in command of a fighter wing? Right then, let's do that. WC3 and WC4 went some way towards this inasmuch as you were theoretically given objectives rather than missions, but it was Blair rather than the player who did everything but flying the missions. I'd like to have more control. Simulating the entire battlespace so that the player can plot his patrol, recon and strike routes is almost certainly not going to happen but would be awesome, but there's at least the easier option of assigning pilots to different squadrons and roles - and of course all the man-management and leadership aspect that would provide the room for a character-driven story while actually making you feel like you were in command.

 

[Zelvik]

What I'd like to see (and I know I never will, because what I'm describing is rather less mass-market and somewhat harder to make than the game we'll actually get) is a game that actually takes the name Wing Commander seriously. We're in command of a fighter wing? Right then, let's do that. WC3 and WC4 went some way towards this inasmuch as you were theoretically given objectives rather than missions, but it was Blair rather than the player who did everything but flying the missions. I'd like to have more control. Simulating the entire battlespace so that the player can plot his patrol, recon and strike routes is almost certainly not going to happen but would be awesome, but there's at least the easier option of assigning pilots to different squadrons and roles - and of course all the man-management and leadership aspect that would provide the room for a character-driven story while actually making you feel like you were in command.

If somebody remembers the Red Baron, Aces over XX series, you had something like that. They lacked a story but the latter iterations, like Red Baron 2/3D had a well working squadron command interface (given you reached the necessary rank). I doubt that such type of game would realy fit the current market, but it still would be great to see some kind of career/command system in a Wing Commander game. On the other hand it would make story telling quite difficult - and thats the core strength of the WC games - if the franchise ever steps up again something like this would be an interesting secondary release like Wing Commander Armada.

 

[Flashpoint]

I think if it were simpified a bit, to you getting the missions for your whole wing from your commander and you had to choose which pilots went on which missions (yourself included), with what fighters, etc.

I agree this would have made the story telling more difficult with back in the WC3 and 4 days, as the amount of video for each outcome would have been prohibitive, but if the a new game were to use cgi (like Mass Effect), it wouldn't be such a huge problem.

Done well this could be awesome. You'd have to get to know the pilots under your command so much better, as you'd have to take advantage of their indiviual skill sets when planning who to send on which missions. You could even have it that some pilots worked much better paired up together, than others. The outcome of a mission or taking of an objective could be massively influenced by these decisions.

It would also create a game with absolutely massive replayability.

 

[Mace]

It really does overcomplicate things still a bit too much...

You have no control over the "other wings" as they fly, so you will end up doing key missions yourself anyway... or end up doing a lot of saving/restoring. WC3 already gave you sufficient options. I think creating a decent branching script itself is problematic enough...

 

[Wojo]

Always seemed to me that you (the player) always did the bulk of the work... especially wc1/2. How many times did you come back for debriefing and have "You took out 11 cats, and [insert wingman] came up empty" or something... Even wc3/4 was a bit like that - so my biggest wish for a new game is more awesome AI. Without cheating.

 

[Nomad Terror]

Always seemed to me that you (the player) always did the bulk of the work... especially wc1/2. How many times did you come back for debriefing and have "You took out 11 cats, and [insert wingman] came up empty" or something... Even wc3/4 was a bit like that - so my biggest wish for a new game is more awesome AI. Without cheating.

I think the rationale was that you're meant to feel as if you're playing a truly big part in the war. If the game could play itself, it wouldn't be as fun. So on so forth.

 

[-danr-]

Oh, sweet! I know about that website, I just recendly bought Arcanum there, but I didnt think about seeing if they had Privateer there! Thanks!

Gonna check it out after getting home from my nightshift. And gotten some sleep, of course.

I am insanely jealous of anybody playing any of the Wing Commander games for the first time - but I was never more excited at a new game than during my first few weeks of Privateer. Enjoy.

 

[Mace]

Always seemed to me that you (the player) always did the bulk of the work... especially wc1/2. How many times did you come back for debriefing and have "You took out 11 cats, and [insert wingman] came up empty" or something... Even wc3/4 was a bit like that - so my biggest wish for a new game is more awesome AI. Without cheating.

If the AI is dependant on the outcome of a mission, then there is no more game to play, you however could put it in the dialogue choices, if they are available, to raise/lower moral, piss off somebody or get people working together, and have the combination of the dialogue's results decide on the outcome of the AI's next mission, and then you could still "fly to the rescue" after youv'e done your own mission.

 

[Wojo]

If the AI is dependant on the outcome of a mission, then there is no more game to play, you however could put it in the dialogue choices, if they are available, to raise/lower moral, piss off somebody or get people working together, and have the combination of the dialogue's results decide on the outcome of the AI's next mission, and then you could still "fly to the rescue" after youv'e done your own mission.

I kind of thought that was the idea with WC3 & 4 - the obvious one being wc4 when you have to choose to side with Dekker or Maniac - and whoever you don't side with makes your next mission a little more difficult. It was kind of a black and white choice though.

I don't quite understand what you are getting at above though - are you saying AI characters fly their own missions separate to the player or something? Would be cool to see after a briefing all the different wings taking off and flying their own missions - rather than the player's mission being the only operation in action at any one time. You would imagine a carrier like the Victory would have multiple operations running concurrently, with multiple wings performing multiple missions. I guess there was nothing to say that wasn't the case in wc3/4, aside from any actual evidence in-game (i.e. you couldn't just fly off and find other confed fighters doing their own thing). Prophecy made it apparent in a scripted sort of way I guess.

The random encounters in Freelancer were probably the closest - it really convinced you that the factions in the game world had their own objectives completely irrespective of the player's actions. Bring on Wing Commander Online, Mr Roberts!

 

[AD]

Are you saying AI characters fly their own missions separate to the player or something? Would be cool to see after a briefing all the different wings taking off and flying their own missions - rather than the player's mission being the only operation in action at any one time. You would imagine a carrier like the Victory would have multiple operations running concurrently, with multiple wings performing multiple missions. I guess there was nothing to say that wasn't the case in wc3/4, aside from any actual evidence in-game (i.e. you couldn't just fly off and find other confed fighters doing their own thing). Prophecy made it apparent in a scripted sort of way I guess.

This was also something they advertised for WC4 but which only sort of seemed to be implemented. In some of the missions there is quite a bit of comm chatter from the various other wings. Hawk or Panther or others will talk on the comms about their own mission for example. The only instance where it somewhat affects your own mission is when Catscratch screws up his mission objectives and you have to either save him or leave him to die, but that's more scripted then the game actually simulating other pilots carrying out their mission objectives while you do your own. You will see some of the other pilots flying around the carrier after takeoff though.

 

[-danr-]

The only instance where it somewhat affects your own mission is when Catscratch screws up his mission objectives and you have to either save him or leave him to die, but that's more scripted then the game actually simulating other pilots carrying out their mission objectives while you do your own. You will see some of the other pilots flying around the carrier after takeoff though.

There are a few instances where you actually ecounter friendly wings though, as you point out it's normally not plot-changing. In WC4 for instance, you 'relieve' Miner's wing from their patrol duties in the Hellespont system. WC3 also had you joining other missions, I seem to recall on the losing path you encounter Flash requesting assistance at one Nav point in Sol - not forgetting the 'rescue' Flint mission, where she's gone renegade during the time that you've been away.

 

[Bandit LOAF]

There was a plan to add multiple wings to Wing Commander IV--you'd be able to select the assignments and be able to parcel out objectives. It ended up being cut because it was too complex to do on the abbreviated schedule... and instead you have the 'background wing' chatter in a few missions (I've never been sure if the game was still simulating another engagement elsewhere or not...)

 

[Mace]

I don't quite understand what you are getting at above though - are you saying AI characters fly their own missions separate to the player or something?

Not exactly, since when AI characters are flying alone, you as a player would have no influence over it. I mean in the event you can make choices on the carrier, like in 3/4, you could influence part of the script.. with todays tech, and I think it would be a good idea to leave out actors but go for talking heads, like standoff uses.. but with a lot bigger budget and a modern game engine

You can come up with infinte more branching and come up with not specifically more ending scenario's but the road to them could be even more diverse, having Friendly and enemy fleets travelling across systems could be integrated so encounters are not always scripted, sometimes forced to retreat because you have too much losses, and returning later if you manage to do better in a more friendly system... or circumvent it completely... but keeping the main story arch running, much like privateer.

 

[Wojo]

It's funny, in wc1/2 (and privateer) I was all over the navmap. There were times in a difficult mission I would spend the extra time and burner fuel to completely circle around an asteroid field just in case I hit one on the way in or out (I once completed Kurasawa 2 & then forgot to ask the tiger claw for clearance to land - smacked into it and died. It was a long day.).

But in wc3/4 & Prophecy the navmap just ceased to be important to me. Hitting autopilot was very much an equivalent to the console 'press X to continue' in those games. I don't think I ever actually tried to manually fly from one navpoint to another. Maybe the distance was greater. But I felt something was lost. So I never felt the urge to actually see if the wing chatter actually related to a simulated battle or not.

I will bring up Freelancer again, it had an excellent map system that was integrated into gameplay - for those that have not played it, you could overlay 'patrol paths' from other craft to get clues about the location of secret bases etc. It really felt integral to the game experience. Something I hope would be brought over to any new Wing Commander game. (bringing it back on-topic! - sort of)

 

[AD]

But in wc3/4 & Prophecy the navmap just ceased to be important to me. Hitting autopilot was very much an equivalent to the console 'press X to continue' in those games. I don't think I ever actually tried to manually fly from one navpoint to another. Maybe the distance was greater. But I felt something was lost. So I never felt the urge to actually see if the wing chatter actually related to a simulated battle or not.

There was one time in WC4 - possibly the "capture the carrier" mission - where I would swear I remember that after taking too long to complete the objectives, hawk's wing showed up to lend a hand, but of course I've never been able to reproduce this.