Battleships Forever

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Quite some time ago, years ago, in fact someone posted about this game here, which is how I found it initially. That original thread is long dead, and the game has come quite a ways since then. For those of you unfamiliar with the game entirely, here's a link to the original thread, since describing what it used to be like would require a whole post in and of itself. If you don't have the patience to read that, I'll be brief: It's a real-time tactical space ship game that allows for the creation of custom ships, with a graphical style similar to Warning Forever.

Over the last two years a great many, many new features have been added, so I thought I'd list some of them here, to perhaps pique the interest of those who got bored of the game in the past, and to attract new players to the game.

• Lots of new weapon and module types.
• Moving and rotating sections, with optional triggers and weapon-linking, to allow for creating transforming ships and portions of ships that follow a weapon.
• Custom sections. This is a big one. No longer are you limited to the stock Warning Forever style. You can make your own sections in .png or .gif format and put them straight into ships you make, or rip sprites from other games (like Fraxy or Tyrian) and use those. Weapons can also have custom sprites for both the turret and the projectile.
• Larger build area for the ship maker, optional size-editing for the Sandbox, to make it as large or as small as you like.
• Direct Control mode, allowing you to seize control of a ship that's been set up for direct control and play using the keyboard or a keyboard-mouse combination, for a shooter-like experience.

Here's some examples of the sorts of ships that can be made with the game now, if you're aesthetically-minded:









This one is probably a little too large to post directly, so here's a link: Animated Gif

Another large one: Not animated, just big.

And finally, a video of some newer ships in action:



Here's a link to the Official Site, for those interested, it's a freeware game, and only a few MB in all: http://www.wyrdysm.com/games.php

[Zinegata]

I still play the game, but don't really design my own ships. I've never gotten to put skins on my ships though .

[tezunegari]

Ah... that old classic Last time I played it was version 0.88 I think.

I still remember when I pitted 2 Atlantis class city ships against each other on my old rig... the fps where somewhere between 0 and 1.

Gotta test that on my updated pc once I get my new RAM.

Oh how much fun it was to find battlestars, Auroras or even the Andromeda and have them blast each other into virtual pieces...


edit: just last version number I think I played

[Stark]

Did they ever implement ship value or did it stay a giant mastubatory glue-on-guns simulator?

[The Vortex Empire]

stay a giant mastubatory glue-on-guns simulator?

That one.

This game was fun, but it got old really fast. And it's still missing the last two missions.

I recall somebody making an ISD the size of half the map and my computer slowing to .5 fps trying to run it.

[The Romulan Republic]

I did like this game. Played through the campaign (as far as its been completed anyway), and tried my hand at some ship building, though most of my designs were crap.

[CaptHawkeye]

Games like this are cool on paper but in practice just establish why no limits in a game are ultimately stupid.

[The Romulan Republic]

Games like this are cool on paper but in practice just establish why no limits in a game are ultimately stupid.

What do you mean by that?

[CaptHawkeye]

Player generated content tends to degenerate into dick waving contests. Guys would post modest ship designs and such and then a minute later some asshole would pour into the thread with his "zomg super ship made of 1000000000 of thar HEAVIEST GOOONZ on your ship!"

Designs like that are totally lacking in imagination and are living proof that min-maxers/munchkins/fucking losers will seek to kill the spirit of any game they can.

[Ryan Thunder]

Player generated content tends to degenerate into dick waving contests. Guys would post modest ship designs and such and then a minute later some asshole would pour into the thread with his "zomg super ship made of 1000000000 of thar HEAVIEST GOOONZ on your ship!"

Designs like that are totally lacking in imagination and are living proof that min-maxers/munchkins/fucking losers will seek to kill the spirit of any game they can.

Last time I was on the forums there, munchkinism was generally frowned upon except as a joke.

[CaptHawkeye]

So? We all hate them for ruining free-form games but that doesn't change the fact that developers are just too god damn stupid to balance a game. These guys probably don't care though.

[Ryan Thunder]

So? We all hate them for ruining free-form games but that doesn't change the fact that developers are just too god damn stupid to balance a game. These guys probably don't care though.

I don't think they're really ruining it in this case, though. There's nothing compelling you to use their ships.

[Purple]

Thank you, really.
No really, I read this post, started playing and got addicted.

I would send you a personalized thank you PM but that would probably be creepy.


About building custom ships I have two things to say:
1. It is awesome. You can go and make a planet ship with a gazillion guns and nuke launchers with 10mil damage. But what is more awesome than that is having restraint. I have found great pleasure in making ship classes that are roughly equivalent in terms of performance to the real ones but customized to my style of play. It feels much better to make your own ship and play a fair fight with it than to just go and make up some Death Star fantasy.

2. Why do people stick textures to their models? The original game style looks much better.

[SilverWingedSeraph]

Player generated content tends to degenerate into dick waving contests. Guys would post modest ship designs and such and then a minute later some asshole would pour into the thread with his "zomg super ship made of 1000000000 of thar HEAVIEST GOOONZ on your ship!"

Designs like that are totally lacking in imagination and are living proof that min-maxers/munchkins/fucking losers will seek to kill the spirit of any game they can.

I won't deny that it happens. Often on the official forums some newbie will join up bragging about how they made TEH MOST UBER SHIP EVAR, only to get... completely shot down, because most people who play the game for longer than a month realise that slapping weapons all over your ship and adding lots of really big numbers to the HP and Weapon Damage fields quickly gets boring and silly.

I say most of the people, because some people never really learned this. Like Ein, who would plaster his ships in guns and glowy things and make them really hideously bright and garish. But hey, that was Ein. We kinda expect that from him.

Attempts have been made to try and make a method of determining "balance", or ship values. Someone tried making one which works off DPS and ship HP, but it didn't work because DPS doesn't count for much. Some weapons have AOE, some weapons hit multiple sections, and there's no easy way to factor things like weapon accuracy and range and bullet speed into the equation. So most balancing systems just... don't work, are highly restrictive or make things so complicated that it's more trouble than its worth.

Still, it's not that hard to make a balanced fleet, and a few times in the past there's been one or two people that decided to create fleets, balance them against one another, and then a whole bunch of other people join in and we end up with a "community standard" for balance. That comes and goes, though. Either way, most people don't stack numbers too heavily... usually.

Thank you, really.
No really, I read this post, started playing and got addicted.

Err... you're welcome?

I would send you a personalized thank you PM but that would probably be creepy.

A little bit, yeah.

About building custom ships I have two things to say:
1. It is awesome. You can go and make a planet ship with a gazillion guns and nuke launchers with 10mil damage. But what is more awesome than that is having restraint. I have found great pleasure in making ship classes that are roughly equivalent in terms of performance to the real ones but customized to my style of play. It feels much better to make your own ship and play a fair fight with it than to just go and make up some Death Star fantasy.

Agreed. It might be amusing when you start off to make big huge lasers of death and stuff, but after a while that gets kinda tiresome and you want to make ships that you can actually... play with.

2. Why do people stick textures to their models? The original game style looks much better.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this point. One of my favourite things about the game is making ships which I think look good, and with the original section style, it's... well, somewhat more difficult to make unique-looking ships. With the newer styles of sections that some people have made, you can make ships that look more like... well, crazy sci-fi spaceships, rather than just cartoonish abstract sci-fi spaceships. It's a personal preference, really.

Anyway, it's... very much an acquired taste. I enjoy the game, but mostly I enjoy sticking sections together and making ships that I think look good. Some people don't like the fact that there's no limits on the Shipmaking, and I get that... it's just never bothered me much.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents on the subject.

[Purple]

Thank you, really.
No really, I read this post, started playing and got addicted.

Err... you're welcome?

I would send you a personalized thank you PM but that would probably be creepy.

A little bit, yeah.

See my signature. The red bit.

Agreed. It might be amusing when you start off to make big huge lasers of death and stuff, but after a while that gets kinda tiresome and you want to make ships that you can actually... play with.

Err... Death star lasers newer get old. My larger ships have one. The trick is to have them be balanced.
Super damage, 500 - 800 units range, 0.5 degree (minimum) fire angle, spinally mounted (fire from the front of the craft, usualy on slow warships that take forever to turn), huge recharge time.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this point. One of my favourite things about the game is making ships which I think look good, and with the original section style, it's... well, somewhat more difficult to make unique-looking ships. With the newer styles of sections that some people have made, you can make ships that look more like... well, crazy sci-fi spaceships, rather than just cartoonish abstract sci-fi spaceships. It's a personal preference, really.

I think the game lacks one major point thou. Multiplayer. If we had that nothing would stand in my way of fun.

Also, maybe it is just me but I always had the notion that what I see on the screen are not the starships them self but visual approximations that are given to me as some sort of space fleet commander on some sort of abstract battlefield display.
How else would I explain the fact that fighter craft can fit down the barrel of some of my guns.

But ether way, to each his own. I am thinking of joining the forum there.


PS. How do I add custom descriptions to my ships? I know how to do it in the editor but when ever I make a new model it saves the details text over the old file. How do I link a file to a certain ship.

[Hawkwings]

Are the suicide rammer ships still around? Those were my favorite.

[Stark]

Yeah, multiplayer without any system of ship value. I can see that being a rage.

[Andrew_Fireborn]

I organized a couple of custom ship tournaments when it came around the first time.

Had a point value for weapons and such, as well as a weight class. Winner of the first one? A ship made of a circle of detached bits, with weapons pointing inward. It would ram the enemy, who would pull back constantly, and fire a hail of bullets winning pretty much instantly.


Then I got busy with other things, and disappeared on them... sometime into the second...

[Crossroads Inc.]

That game has nothing on this guy...

Fear the USS AWESOME!!!

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Ah, BSF. I remember designing a pile of ships, parts, and weapons. Then Arcalane banned my ass and I've not touched the game since.

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

That game has nothing on this guy...

Fear the USS AWESOME!!!

No idea why, but I always get my shit shot off when I try installing stolen ship parts. Awesome game, though.

[Lizzie]

Oh hey a BSF thread.

My last major work I made a year or more ago before I stopped playing:

[Lagmonster]

I enjoy the game on those occasions when I get a Lego craving; I'll assemble something awesome, watch it blow up something/get blown up by something, and then move on.

I will say that the game works very well with designers - unlike similar games such as Gratuitous Space Battles, you aren't limited with what you can do, so balance goes right out the window in favour of whatever turns you on. Artists don't appreciate Wankers, and Wankers hate Tacticians, and Tacticians think Artists are stuck up, but all three get to have their fun and not disturb anyone else's experience.

[Crossroads Inc.]

No idea why, but I always get my shit shot off when I try installing stolen ship parts. Awesome game, though.

It takes a LOT of practice, the big trick I've found is to know what you build ahead of time.. Have a plan in your head as you get pieces. Also learn to "drag" pieces quickly, if you need to fly to the other-side of the map, you may need to practices dragging bits and pieces you don't have time to put on right away

[JointStrikeFighter]

Build your ship in this shape

_________
l _______I
lllll
lllll_______
l_________I


But the thrusters and guns inside the scoop and they are protected from 3 angles, also you can scoop up parts and scoot off somewhere quiet to install them.