What in the name of all that is unholy is I-War?

[Evil Sadistic Bastard]

I heard you get to comand a corvette-class vessel, but what is it really about?

[Shinova]

A combat space-sim. You know, fighter-fighter combat and all.

But with Newtonian physics.

[Vympel]

Independence War.

It's not fighter-fighter. Your ship is a corvette with a crew of the dozens- however the bridge crew of which you are a member consists of four. And the physics are Newtonian. It KICKS ASS.

[Evil Sadistic Bastard]

Independence War.

It's not fighter-fighter. Your ship is a corvette with a crew of the dozens- however the bridge crew of which you are a member consists of four. And the physics are Newtonian. It KICKS ASS.

Do tell. I am interested.

[Vympel]

Ok, what happens in the original is war between the Indies and the Commonwealth Navy. You fight for the Commonwealth Navy against the Indies. It has a really long kick ass intro that shows the death of Commonwealth Navy hero Jefferson Clay- he lives on as an AI with all the experiences of the original, advising you in all your missions. In fact, in every mission he, and the three members of the bridge crew will chatter giving you options and updating you with info etc. There's the engineer, gunner and pilot, and you're the captain, of course.

I can't give away too much, suffice to say that the war isn't as clear cut as it seems and there's some underhanded stuff going on etc. This is not to say that you go over to the Indie side (the typical cliche).

Space combat is extremely interesting. There's no speed limit, but there is a certain speed and range at which your primary weapon, the PBC (particle beam cannon) is most effective. Shields are dealt with very interestingly.

They are known as LDAs (linear defense arrays)- put simply, they can only absorb the effect of shots from one target at a time- you have two LDAs, ventral and dorsal. If two ships are firing at one array, the shots from one will ge through your shield. A few hits without the shield and your ship will die and/or spin out of control until its repaired ... usually unlikely considering your under attack, but it happened a few times to me. This presents an interesting combat tactics method- for example, fly in between two ships in such a manner that one is always above you, and the other is below you. In addition, the LDA does not cover your engine quarter. Hits to the rear are therefore especially dangerous.

You have two PBCs ... one faces forward and one faces back, although later in the game you can have them both face forward- although there is a combat interface for firing the rearward one, i never found it as effective as simply making them both face forward (later in the game you can do this)

You also have missiles. These are quite effective in combat as well.

[Evil Sadistic Bastard]

I see.

*Lumbers off to find a copy of I-War to steal*

[EmperorMing]

I will add my 0.02 cents in that the game is definatley worth getting, especially the second one.

[Knife]

I see.

*Lumbers off to find a copy of I-War to steal*

Hey Evil Sadistic Bastard, PM me, I have a copy of the original I might sell/ give you.

[Evil Sadistic Bastard]

I see.

*Lumbers off to find a copy of I-War to steal*

Hey Evil Sadistic Bastard, PM me, I have a copy of the original I might sell/ give you.

I'm currently looting I-War 2 from someone on kazaa.

And getting thegame from you might be a bit troublesome.

[Knife]

I see.

*Lumbers off to find a copy of I-War to steal*

Hey Evil Sadistic Bastard, PM me, I have a copy of the original I might sell/ give you.

I'm currently looting I-War 2 from someone on kazaa.

And getting thegame from you might be a bit troublesome.

Okky dokky.

[Vympel]

I'm currently looting I-War 2 from someone on kazaa.

And getting thegame from you might be a bit troublesome.

Independence War 2: EoC is a bit differnet. In this one, you're an independent pirate/privateer type- the Commonwealth doesn't exist anymore and the sector of space you're in, the Badlands, is run by corporations. Your first ship in the main game (not the prologue) is a PIECE OF SHIT tug. However you soon get an advanced Patrol Combatant, and after that a Heavy Corvette. The original Dreadnought-class Corvette is in the game but you can't use it. You don't have a bridge crew, it's just you, though soon in the main game two of your pirate buddies can occupy 'T-fighters' attached to your main hull- these act as independent turrets and the press of a key allows them to detach and go and hunt targets on their own.

You can fully equip your ship with a wide variety of weapons. The Assault Cannon is far and away the best weapon for most combat- though the cutting beam is really cool for attacking the big ships.

Most of your time will be spent freelancing- pirating cargo to trade for the extensive array of ship components and weapons- although you have to continually advance the main plot as well if you want access to the juicy hardware (gameplay balance and all that).

The way you pirate is simple. Go to a lagrange point (where interstellar and interplanetary jumps are made) and there'll usually be some class of freighter with escorts. The quality of the escorts USUALLY denotes the quality of the cargo- a freighter defended by two tugs will be carrying worthless crap only good for recylcing into credits to build your own weapons in your base (once you have the blueprints), while a megafreighter defended by six corvettes is carrying its worht in GOLD. Kill the escorts and hit the freighter a few times. Damage it enough, and out comes the cargo for your pirate friend Jafs to show up with and pick up to take back to base.

Make sure you patch the game and get the official mods- especially the one that makes Jafs small little tug a larger freighter so you can get more cargo per run.

[Slartibartfast]

Don't want to hijack the thread, but if you think I-War is cool you might like to try Frontier: First Encounters (Elite 3). It's an oldie, though, and you need a third-party patch to make it work under Windows.

It's much more generic, and graphics aren't top notch, but it's much, much larger and I like its newtonian physics better

The trading system in I-War 2 is much more original, instead of just selling the stuff you have a sort of bulletin board where people ask for a certain quantity of a certain good (ex. miners looking for 4 mega-humpa-lot drills, will trade for 10 minirockets) and you go and hope that the freighters have what you want, then go back to base and reply to the ad. BTW you can target individual canisters in a freighter if you are close enough, to see what it's packing...

Project Nomad has still the coolest trading system I've found and it can't get much better than space Llamas

[EmperorMing]

Don't forget to check out some of the mods and add-ons available. They allow you to change the ships and still play the game after you have beaten it.

[Neko_Oni]

I-War is such a cool game, i found it for free on a cover disc. So happy. Newtonian physics games are cool, the c-fighters are great for strafing slow moving ships/installations get up some speed then switch to free-flight so your ship can point in any direction and keep moving the same way and then gun 'em down as you tear past.

PS. I'm up to a mission where you have to protect a carrier after your fleet gets hammered by a M/AM bomb. Any tips it always seems to get blown up.

[data_link]

I-War is such a cool game, i found it for free on a cover disc. So happy. Newtonian physics games are cool, the c-fighters are great for strafing slow moving ships/installations get up some speed then switch to free-flight so your ship can point in any direction and keep moving the same way and then gun 'em down as you tear past.

PS. I'm up to a mission where you have to protect a carrier after your fleet gets hammered by a M/AM bomb. Any tips it always seems to get blown up.

What's the name of the mission?

[EmperorMing]

I-War is such a cool game, i found it for free on a cover disc. So happy. Newtonian physics games are cool, the c-fighters are great for strafing slow moving ships/installations get up some speed then switch to free-flight so your ship can point in any direction and keep moving the same way and then gun 'em down as you tear past.

PS. I'm up to a mission where you have to protect a carrier after your fleet gets hammered by a M/AM bomb. Any tips it always seems to get blown up.

If this is the first I-War, then use the remote missles when the rebels appear. It should take out most of them so when you get to the jump point you can easily gun down the rest and the carrier shoudl survive. Oh, and don't forget to land *inside* the carrier when it approaches the warp point...

Or you don't get home.