Has there ever been a 'hard' sci-fi space combat videogame?

[Oskuro]

Well, I was reviewing EvE Online's control scheme, and they pretty much do that, they automate most tasks so you just have to click a menu to get from a to b, or to shoot someting with x.

My main gripe with EvE is immersion, that is, that you don't feel inside the ship, but rather as if you're remote-controlling it. I guess in order to strike a balance between convenience and immersion, there must be an actual hands-on control mechanism (as well as cockpit cam), and there's where including things such as "spaceplane" control show up.

[The Yosemite Bear]

I remember Microprose tried to do one, a long time ago, but aside from the physics of stopping and starting and running out of reactive mass it wasn't very much fun...

Edit as mike mentioned there was a 1970s space ship simulator which involved true physics and was programmed by guys at NASA. just FLYing in that thing was HARD, much less trying to use it in combat.

[Patrick Degan]

Does anybody remember Space War? Essentially an upgunned version of the original Asteroids game for two players; basic space combat. You had two ships —one of them bearing a vague resemblance to the Enterprise and the Asteroids triangle-ship. Your hazards were asteroids and a black hole at the centre of the field. You could select for bounded (your ships bounced off the screen edges) or open universe (your ships flew through a screen-wrap) field. The only soft element was a warp jump but it was random and as likely to plonk your ship right in front of an asteroid or into the black hole so you really didn't want to hit the warp button unless you had to, and you had only a limited number of jumps. The ships obeyed the laws of Newton and you had to pivot to fire reverse thrust to brake forward motion —especially to avoid ramming an asteroid— and turning was a bitch if you were running at high velocity. And if you used up your fuel, you were helpless. If you got too close to the black hole, you'd spiral in and be crushed. And asteroids would also be drawn into the black hole, so that made orbiting it hazardous. I loved that game. Me and a mate of mine used to play that one every week at the Fun Arcade in Metairie, and I got to where I could squeeze my ship right through a very tight corridor between a close-orbiting asteroid and the black hole without falling past the event horizon or getting struck. But in that game, you had to pay attention to Newtonian motion or you wound up dead. One of the coolest video games ever; very simple but endlessly playable.

[Agent Sorchus]

Yes Space War was much fun, but I am having a hard time remembering all of it. I may still have the Floppy it was on though.

[Drooling Iguana]

Space War isn't an upgunned version of Asteroids, Asteroids is a simplified version of Space War. Space War is arguably the first video game ever made (arguable in the sense that there's some debate over whether earlier games like William Higinbotham's Tennis for Two qualify as video games.)

[Jade Falcon]

I remember Microprose tried to do one, a long time ago, but aside from the physics of stopping and starting and running out of reactive mass it wasn't very much fun...

Edit as mike mentioned there was a 1970s space ship simulator which involved true physics and was programmed by guys at NASA. just FLYing in that thing was HARD, much less trying to use it in combat.

The Microprose game wasn't Starlord by any chance was it?

[Adrian Laguna]

Star Control II has Newtonian physics to an extent. Each ship has a maximum velocity, but inertia is in full play, and you can use planetary gravity wells to your advantage.

[Stark]

Wow. Two pages after I laughed about people suggesting SC2 as a 'hard scifi' game, someone does it! All that collision physics, fuel fractions, exhaust plumes, accurate scale and planetary mechanics really show off 1992!

[Adrian Laguna]

Wow. Two pages after I laughed about people suggesting SC2 as a 'hard scifi' game, someone does it! All that collision physics, fuel fractions, exhaust plumes, accurate scale and planetary mechanics really show off 1992!

I was just noting it has Newtonian mechanics and planetary gravity wells. After people have mentioned Space War and Asteroids, it's hardly out of place in the conversation. That said, the weapons systems and story are pretty much all crazy stuff. Except the Earthling cruiser, which attacks with nuclear missiles and has a laser for point-defence (pity the Androsynth dissapeared, the cruiser eats their ships for breakfast).

[Stark]

Oh yah, it's just the laughs about the thread generally since people started mentioning shit like EV Nova. Starcon is certainly more realistic than Freespace-em-ups.