Im looking for a game..

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-12-30 07:51am

The SOA mod for homeworld is actually better than the SWR mod IMHO. The phaser and photon toppedo effects are top notch and the ships are stunning. If you want the best of both worlds get the SWI mod. It has a ISD II model in it that'll make you weep.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-12-30 05:43pm

I played Independence War 1&2 - one of the best (if not the best) Sci-fi Sim there is. It is however a simple sim experience on a relatively small ship (although you could command ANY ship in IW2, even the biggest cruisers and carriers, but its still an arcade sim).

Where I can get the SWI mod? Also I have been unable to download the SOA mod because of the 404 error - do you know an alternate mirror Lord Pounder? Same for the SWI.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2003-12-30 05:50pm

Can someone tell me about Independence War? I've heard good shit about it, but know next to nothing about it. If someone's played it, can they tell me what it's about?

PeZook · Post by **PeZook** » 2003-12-30 06:01pm

Stofsk wrote:Can someone tell me about Independence War? I've heard good shit about it, but know next to nothing about it. If someone's played it, can they tell me what it's about?

Well...where to start...

Basically, you play the role of a young officer in a space navy of a vast political body called the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is locked in a war with a splinter faction fighting for independence of the outlying colonies, and are called the Independents or Indies.

You get to command a small corvette, which is basically an oversized fighter with some additional options (it carries a lot of different missiles, shields, the like) and a larger crew.

You basically play the game from a bridge-view where you command your three officers (the pilot/navigator, the gunner and the main engineer). At any time, though, you can "impersonate" any one of them. It's a little hard to explain, but trust me - the system works, and it does so really well.

But the REAL strenght of this game lies in the storyline and the movies. The cutscenes are just plain AWESOME - the intro itself is something like 15 minutes long. Plus, nearly every goddamned mission has at least two possible solutions, sometime more. Many ops force you to think on your feet quickly, and there are several different endings.

Overall, I'd recommend getting this game from somewhere (I've been trying to buy it for some time, with no real luck)

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2003-12-30 09:45pm

Not to mention missions which pack action, suspense and require quick thinking, quick action and many times - simple courage. Intro is a goddamn piece of art, its long and it could be made into a separate movie. The game takes 2 cd's and its worth of every byte.

Storyline is fantastic, as are the missions, which rarely are a simple "seek & destroy". If every SF game would be made like Independence War then I'd probably never left home.

Graphics are a bit outdated, the original game came out without a 3d accel support (Software mode still looks good tho), but a patch was made to ensure 3dfx/D3D compatibility (not sure with D3D, but I last played this game on my old Voodoo Banshee 333 Celeron).

Independence War 2 now isn't anything revolutionary - again, everything is top notch, added some things, changed the feeling, a good sequel but comparing to IW1 - nothing revolutionary. IW1 10/10 - IW2 8/10

Get it, and play it. It's quite long too.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2003-12-31 09:28am

Version 2.5 of Star Wars Invasion is hosted in the Maw

The Maw

Basically it mixed early versions of the SOA and SWNR mods. Every fans dream. The ISD is a monster. I spend ages just looking at it from every angle.

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-12-31 11:02am

Space Empires: Starfury has dated graphics, but it's a pretty good bet in the SFC genre.

You may also be interested in waiting for Fading Suns: Noble Armada. Or maybe try the freeware games War Encounters or Starship Tactical Combat Simulator.

Zac Naloen · Post by **Zac Naloen** » 2003-12-31 11:16am

X2 the threat, just ordered an import of this game, its out in the states now, but isn't getting to teh UK until febuary

http://www.enlight.com/x2/

Alan Bolte · Post by **Alan Bolte** » 2003-12-31 11:33am

I know I've looked for this, and I like Starshatter

I really want to see what the I-war games are all about, but I like SS enough not to care. In the first campaign (as of now, its in closed beta, but the demo is alright. don't hesitate to sign on for the beta, you might get in), command a fighter, a destroyer squadron, or a carrier group. You have control over helm, weapons, navigation, engineering, and fighter bay of your own ship, and can give orders to ships under your command. It's not really like being the captain of a starship, but it's a lot of fun. There's already a massive Babylon 5 mod out. Slated for sale this summer.

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2003-12-31 11:18pm

EmKay wrote:I played Independence War 1&2 - one of the best (if not the best) Sci-fi Sim there is. It is however a simple sim experience on a relatively small ship (although you could command ANY ship in IW2, even the biggest cruisers and carriers, but its still an arcade sim).

Where I can get the SWI mod? Also I have been unable to download the SOA mod because of the 404 error - do you know an alternate mirror Lord Pounder? Same for the SWI.

You know there is a B5 mod out for IW2...

And for the origianl post, I would suggest SFC2 or SFC:Orion Pirates.
About as close to a computer SFB as you'll get for the time being.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-01-01 05:00am

I am surprised no one mentioned Star Trek : Armada.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-01-01 07:51am

I still stick to my assertion that ASCII trek was the only really cool star trek game. That is all.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-01-01 08:08am

Where can I find ASCII trek ?

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-01-01 09:22am

I think I still have the rogue type source code in hard copy....

(yes I mean in hard copy, the instructions for typing a networked multi-play version into a college mainframe, it's one of those "telephone books" that us old school hackers like to talk about.

Post by **The Yosemite Bear** » 2004-01-01 09:27am

Oh and in less then a minute I found a classic games directory

here's the basic version ASCII Trek the full network version would eventually mutate into "trade wars"

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2004-01-01 07:14pm

Yosemite, I don't like Roguelike games

Graphics are far too simple for my tastes and there isnt even a small percentage of a real RPG game (the one played using one GM and few players) for the equation of "form + content = 1"
And I *DO* remember the times of Atari 65XE (I had a 5.25 floppy drive when everyone else was hanging out with cassette drives

I found SWI mod few minutes after posting, silly me, I haven't really looked for it on the SWNR website.

The SOA mod seems to be down (404) - does anyone know where to get this?

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2004-01-01 07:53pm

Homeworld has its drawbacks...main one being no efficent system to control the ships and fleets...designating groups just does not cut it.

And some of the ships, smaller ones are invisible...

But overally, after a quick 30 minute skirmish Federation got its ass handed over to them. Nothing beats an ISD in this game.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2004-01-02 07:24am

The ISD in it can litterally kill a whole feddie battle group suffering minimal damage. Make it hard play as the feds.

Tolya · Post by **Tolya** » 2004-01-02 05:08pm

but by the time you build one ISD, Feds can build whole truck of their Heavy Cruisers (I dunno what class/race are they in Trek) - and those ships aren't bad. Of course 4 salvos from ISD takes an Enterprise-D down so you can't really complain...

Generally the Trek side in SWI is done better...visually.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2004-01-03 12:49am

Heck you would have trouble distinguishing Bridgecommander screenshots from DS9 screen caps.The graphics is that good.

You need to schedule an appointment with your eye doctor. Out of the box, the BC graphics are very basic and rough (oh, wow, they didn't even include two of the shuttlebays in the GCS texture! yeah, that sure is detailed...). While the engine itself is conducive to shiny models and lights, you'll have to download 3rd party ship models if you want really good graphics.

Other problems with the game are the arcade approach Totally Games decided to take with the game (Starfleet/Klingon Academy were much more comprehensive simulators than Bridge Commander), as well as the utter castration of the ships (the Fed ships only get the phasers on the saucer, for one thing...) and the decision to not create a character for you to play as. The captain (you) never speaks. At all. It's always that bitch of an XO speaking for you. Gah.