1.) It was a shoot 'em up with a very good plot...
-It's not just aliens are out to destroy earth... it involves a very good plot of how the action built up, how the battles were fought. And it wasn't just at the start of the war... it was 20 years later.
-Later on, it was further specified on how the Kilrathi fought and slaughtered other races before attempting to conquer humans, and even books were written about it such as Action Stations and Freedom Flight (both took place around WC1 time or before).
2.) It didn't involve just guns, but also had missiles as well.
-And several types... You had IM-Recs which targeted the ship by sight, HS's which target by heat-signature, IFF's which targeted your IFF signature, and the Dumb Fire, which was just your blind-fired rocket. Each missile does a different degree of damage, and behaves slightly differently. It's not just "light missile, heavy missile, super-duper missile"; they behave slightly differently.
3.) There were more than just one type of gun.
-I don't just mean "Light laser, Medium Laser, Heavy Laser". They had 3 types of guns, Laser, Mass-Driver, and Neutron. And each had their own nuances... the laser had the best range, the Neutron had the biggest punch, and the Mass-Driver had the lowest energy consumption.
4.) There was a wide-selection of fighters
-Not just one or two mind you, but 3 fighters to start off with, and 4 in the end. Each one has it's own set of advantages, disadvantages and nuances of it's own.
-The Hornet's fast, agile with good acceleration, and has a jump drive, but it has practically no missile compliment (only 3). It also looks really cool
-The Scimitar's slow as f*ck, and has decent maneuverability, but has extremely heavy armor and a good set of guns.
-The Raptor's big, but fast and well armed. It's got both Neutron guns and Mass-Drivers. Unfortunately it's maneuverability is lacking, but is still good for a ship it's size. It also has a mine which can be tossed out the back and screw up a fighter in chase.
5.) The enemy fighters are also diverse
-It's not just one kind of bad-guy fighter; there are several, and each have their own advantages and disadvantages and strange quirks on each one.
-The Salthi has exceptional maneuverability which far exceeds any Terran fighter, and has a particular noting for yaw rate. She however has fewer missiles than a hornet, and is otherwise lightly armed. Her armor is worse than even a Hornet. Shields are about the same.
-The Dralthi has an extremely high pitch-rate, it also has a good weapon's layout... however its armor sucks, and shields are okay.
-The Krant's a tad too slow, but it's armor and shields are excellent. It's maneuverability is not bad either, in fact, it's excellent to Terran standards. Special notation to pitch-rate.
-The Gratha's slow as hell, but it's armor's great. It's got mine's so watch out. It doesn't have much missiles though.
-The Jalthi's got a nasty bite with it's guns, missile compliment ain't so bad, same as a Gratha actually. Her main weakness lies in her speed which absolutely sucks and her maneuverability, which isn't much better. She makes up for this with thick armor. Highest in the game actually (20 cm in the front quarter, 17 cm sides, 10 cm rear).
6.) Capships are not just big fighters
-Well they didn't get this exactly right. They did better in WC2 with their phase-shields, but the Capships aren't like in Star Trek with their big phaser-cannons and stuff. They have turrets in Wing Commander like real capital-ships have.
-The capships have different characteristics depending on their category. Destroyers are fast, Cruisers are slower, etc.
-Sizes are realistic... Carriers are biggest, Cruisers are smaller, and Destroyers are smaller yet. Corvettes are the smallest of them all, but they're not Capships... at least in WC2 they're not...
-Capships carry lasers, and other smaller defensive weaponry. Some even carry missiles! Of course despite the fact that they almost always carry lasers, they do not necessarily have to have such armament; they just have the longest range.
-They have less maneuverability than fighters. Significant differences. They also are a lot slower. You can't seriously expect a big carrier to move as quickly as a light fighter.
7.) There are some new ships in WC1 already coming online.
-The Fralthi: A new Kilrathi Cruiser/Carrier. She's a nice design which combines both Cruiser and Carrier. Either-or. She's fast, pretty maneuverable, and has decent armor. She's got missiles, and 6 lasers. A decent armament in any book.
-The Rapier: A new Confed Fighter. She's got the neutron-guns of the Raptor, the Lasers of a Hornet, the 5-missile loadout of a Medium fighter and the Raptor as well, the shields of a heavy fighter, and average armor. Think of it as a combination of a Hornet and a Raptor, with even better maneuverability than a Hornet, Better shields than a Raptor, and the same armor as a hornet, actually much better, but she's no Raptor. She's also got a jump-drive. Her speed puts all Confed fighters to shame... She's still exceeded by some Kilrathi fighters, but who cares, those things are insane anyway.
8.) The actions of your character affect the outcome of the plot.
-If you lose a mission, it could adversely affect the course of the war.
-If you win a mission, it could beneficially affect the course of the war.
-Certain actions produce certain results.
-There is a winning outcome, and a losing out-come, and several inbetween outcomes.
-You can win medals.
-You can get promoted based on good performance. As high as Major.
9.) You have a diverse cast
-You have one chinese (Chen), one japanese (Tanaka), an african-american (Khumalo), a belgian (Devereaux), two americans (Blair, Shotglass), a canadian (Casey), an australian (Ian St. John), and one person not even of Earth (none other than 2nd. Lt. Todd "Maniac" Marshall; he's from Leto, Proxima Centauri IV), this includes 2 women in the cast (Tanaka, Devereaux) not just "American's in Space". You later see a Maori (Etienne Montclair "Doomsday"), another American (Zach "Jazz" Colson), a Russian ("Bear" Bondarevsky), and even an Alien! (A Kilrathi, Ralgha nar Hhallas "Hobbes")... not to mention K'Kai (A Firekkan), also a female.
-Probably a more diverse cast than Star Trek actually...
10.) You get to fly a Kilrathi Fighter!
-That's right, in WC1:SM2 you get to fly a Kilrathi fighter... okay that's a bit far off, since SM2 isn't really the original WC1, but an add-on, but hey, I'm on a roll, and I need 10!
-Concordia
-It's not just aliens are out to destroy earth... it involves a very good plot of how the action built up, how the battles were fought. And it wasn't just at the start of the war... it was 20 years later.
-Later on, it was further specified on how the Kilrathi fought and slaughtered other races before attempting to conquer humans, and even books were written about it such as Action Stations and Freedom Flight (both took place around WC1 time or before).
2.) It didn't involve just guns, but also had missiles as well.
-And several types... You had IM-Recs which targeted the ship by sight, HS's which target by heat-signature, IFF's which targeted your IFF signature, and the Dumb Fire, which was just your blind-fired rocket. Each missile does a different degree of damage, and behaves slightly differently. It's not just "light missile, heavy missile, super-duper missile"; they behave slightly differently.
3.) There were more than just one type of gun.
-I don't just mean "Light laser, Medium Laser, Heavy Laser". They had 3 types of guns, Laser, Mass-Driver, and Neutron. And each had their own nuances... the laser had the best range, the Neutron had the biggest punch, and the Mass-Driver had the lowest energy consumption.
4.) There was a wide-selection of fighters
-Not just one or two mind you, but 3 fighters to start off with, and 4 in the end. Each one has it's own set of advantages, disadvantages and nuances of it's own.
-The Hornet's fast, agile with good acceleration, and has a jump drive, but it has practically no missile compliment (only 3). It also looks really cool
-The Scimitar's slow as f*ck, and has decent maneuverability, but has extremely heavy armor and a good set of guns.
-The Raptor's big, but fast and well armed. It's got both Neutron guns and Mass-Drivers. Unfortunately it's maneuverability is lacking, but is still good for a ship it's size. It also has a mine which can be tossed out the back and screw up a fighter in chase.
5.) The enemy fighters are also diverse
-It's not just one kind of bad-guy fighter; there are several, and each have their own advantages and disadvantages and strange quirks on each one.
-The Salthi has exceptional maneuverability which far exceeds any Terran fighter, and has a particular noting for yaw rate. She however has fewer missiles than a hornet, and is otherwise lightly armed. Her armor is worse than even a Hornet. Shields are about the same.
-The Dralthi has an extremely high pitch-rate, it also has a good weapon's layout... however its armor sucks, and shields are okay.
-The Krant's a tad too slow, but it's armor and shields are excellent. It's maneuverability is not bad either, in fact, it's excellent to Terran standards. Special notation to pitch-rate.
-The Gratha's slow as hell, but it's armor's great. It's got mine's so watch out. It doesn't have much missiles though.
-The Jalthi's got a nasty bite with it's guns, missile compliment ain't so bad, same as a Gratha actually. Her main weakness lies in her speed which absolutely sucks and her maneuverability, which isn't much better. She makes up for this with thick armor. Highest in the game actually (20 cm in the front quarter, 17 cm sides, 10 cm rear).
6.) Capships are not just big fighters
-Well they didn't get this exactly right. They did better in WC2 with their phase-shields, but the Capships aren't like in Star Trek with their big phaser-cannons and stuff. They have turrets in Wing Commander like real capital-ships have.
-The capships have different characteristics depending on their category. Destroyers are fast, Cruisers are slower, etc.
-Sizes are realistic... Carriers are biggest, Cruisers are smaller, and Destroyers are smaller yet. Corvettes are the smallest of them all, but they're not Capships... at least in WC2 they're not...
-Capships carry lasers, and other smaller defensive weaponry. Some even carry missiles! Of course despite the fact that they almost always carry lasers, they do not necessarily have to have such armament; they just have the longest range.
-They have less maneuverability than fighters. Significant differences. They also are a lot slower. You can't seriously expect a big carrier to move as quickly as a light fighter.
7.) There are some new ships in WC1 already coming online.
-The Fralthi: A new Kilrathi Cruiser/Carrier. She's a nice design which combines both Cruiser and Carrier. Either-or. She's fast, pretty maneuverable, and has decent armor. She's got missiles, and 6 lasers. A decent armament in any book.
-The Rapier: A new Confed Fighter. She's got the neutron-guns of the Raptor, the Lasers of a Hornet, the 5-missile loadout of a Medium fighter and the Raptor as well, the shields of a heavy fighter, and average armor. Think of it as a combination of a Hornet and a Raptor, with even better maneuverability than a Hornet, Better shields than a Raptor, and the same armor as a hornet, actually much better, but she's no Raptor. She's also got a jump-drive. Her speed puts all Confed fighters to shame... She's still exceeded by some Kilrathi fighters, but who cares, those things are insane anyway.
8.) The actions of your character affect the outcome of the plot.
-If you lose a mission, it could adversely affect the course of the war.
-If you win a mission, it could beneficially affect the course of the war.
-Certain actions produce certain results.
-There is a winning outcome, and a losing out-come, and several inbetween outcomes.
-You can win medals.
-You can get promoted based on good performance. As high as Major.
9.) You have a diverse cast
-You have one chinese (Chen), one japanese (Tanaka), an african-american (Khumalo), a belgian (Devereaux), two americans (Blair, Shotglass), a canadian (Casey), an australian (Ian St. John), and one person not even of Earth (none other than 2nd. Lt. Todd "Maniac" Marshall; he's from Leto, Proxima Centauri IV), this includes 2 women in the cast (Tanaka, Devereaux) not just "American's in Space". You later see a Maori (Etienne Montclair "Doomsday"), another American (Zach "Jazz" Colson), a Russian ("Bear" Bondarevsky), and even an Alien! (A Kilrathi, Ralgha nar Hhallas "Hobbes")... not to mention K'Kai (A Firekkan), also a female.
-Probably a more diverse cast than Star Trek actually...
10.) You get to fly a Kilrathi Fighter!
-That's right, in WC1:SM2 you get to fly a Kilrathi fighter... okay that's a bit far off, since SM2 isn't really the original WC1, but an add-on, but hey, I'm on a roll, and I need 10!
-Concordia
. Seriously, WC1 is a great game, but its plot is not really something to write home about.
. Khumalo, BTW, is from South Africa, so he's not African-American. All this, of course, doesn't invalidate your point... if anything, it makes for even more diversity.
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