Starlancer (and other space sim fun)

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-11-12 04:12am

Okay, so I decided to pick up Starlancer for $1.99 the other day. Overall, it's actually a pretty fun game, and it was cheaper than a comic book, well worth my money.

However, the game does have some very noticable Roberts Brothers Bullshit. Extra long mid-mission cutscenes where shit happens that you can't stop. People being blatantly invul-tagged because they can't die for another three missions, etc. Overall, I was able to put up with it just fine for the most part, but then the missions got weird. I'm not talking "oh shit, our intel was wrong we have to make a new plan on the fly" weird, I'm talking about "well for no good reason we're deciding NOT to use the battle plan we told you about in the mission briefing."

Look, when you give a mission that says you jump in first, sanitize the area, then call in bombers and capships, don't send everything at once. What makes this bullshit a thousand times worse is that they then combine it with the bullshit cutscenes and scripting. By far the most annoying example was in the last mission of the game (which I didn't even realize was the last mission until I consulted GameFAQs for help).

Final mission briefing goes something like this:
"Okay 45th, here's the deal. We're going to be assaulting the forward command base for the Coalition. It has an Ion Cannon on it capable of killing any ship in just one hit, so we're going to send in Alpha Wing and several other fighter squadrons in first. Once you take out the defenders and the base turrets, Gamma Wing will come in and disable the Ion Cannon. Then the Yamato and a major Alliance Taskforce will jump in and destroy the station. Any questions?"
"No Ma'am, sounds good to me."

What really happens:
"Okay, we all jump, meet up with the fleet, then jump to the objective."
Jump to rendevous point
"Hey, is that a Coalition ship?"
"Yup, all part of the plan. It's going to be followed by Gamma Wing, who will be cloaked, and then take out the Ion Cannon before you can kill any defenders or turrets."
"But won't that be begging the BIG MEAN ION CANNON to rip them to shreds?"
"Nah, trust me."
"Err...I liked the plan in the briefing better. A lot better."
"Shut up. Everyone, Jump!"
"EVERYONE?!?!??!"
JUMP to objective
"Um...shit...that's like, what, fourty fighters, two corvettes, and it's just the first wave? Fuck. It's going to take me a few minutes just to clear a path through this, never mind the turrets. Oh well, time to get to work."
Boom boom boom boom, I want you in my room...
"Scheisse ! Gamma Ving has been destroyed! Mein Leapen!"
"It's okay, they got off their torps before they died...um, well, some of them. And look, some of those are even on target!"
"But ze Ion Cannon took zhem out!"
"Yeah, see, that's usually why we keep them IN RESERVE until we've cleared a path. Dumbasses."
"45th! Take out those turrets!"
"What? But we haven't killed the fighters yet! They're still here!"
"TAKE OUT THE TURRETS!"
"Fucker."
Bang bang bang, turrets go down, evade Ion Cannon, whoopie.
"45th! We're deploying rippers to plant charges to finish the job Gamma started! PROTECT THE RIPPERS!"
"MORE FIGHTERS INCOMING!"
"More?!?! In addition to the ones you WOULDN'T LET ME KILL!?!"
"They're all attacking the rippers! SAVE THE RIPPERS!"
"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU TO HELL! EVEN I CAN'T KILL THIRTY FIGHTERS IN TWENTY SECONDS! IT CANNOT BE DONE!"
"Oh no! The rippers failed!"
"OF COURSE THEY FAILED YOU FUCKING STARFLEET REJECTS! IF YOU HAD JUST FOLLOWED THE ORIGINAL PLAN NONE OF THIS WOULD HAVE HAPPENED. YOU MASSIVELY GAPING CUNTS!"
"Ion Cannon is tracking us!"
"FUCK IT ALL! BRING ME THE SWEET RELEASE OF DEATH, ZAPPY BEAM OF DOOM!"

On the upside, X2 went gold last week, and will be out the 19th.

Just seven more days....just have to hold out seven more days...

EmperorMing · Post by **EmperorMing** » 2003-11-12 05:42am

Yup. Brings back some memories...

Post by **Vympel** » 2003-11-12 05:57am

The best summary of Starlancer's flaws I've ever read.

Though personally, my most hated mission was where that Arab carrier blows up the base, the escape pods launched, and a gazillion fighters start killing them. Again, it CANNOT BE DONE (saving the general who keeps screaming for help).

It's also a ridiculously easy game, I've never died from an enemy fighter in it EVER.

Thunderfire · Post by **Thunderfire** » 2003-11-12 10:35am

Well it was possible to fly the campaign in multiplayer. But it
is a typical CR Product with a really stupid AI. Lots of firepower
is all you need. The X-Wing series is still the best space shooter
out there.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-11-12 12:28pm

Vympel wrote:The best summary of Starlancer's flaws I've ever read.

Though personally, my most hated mission was where that Arab carrier blows up the base, the escape pods launched, and a gazillion fighters start killing them. Again, it CANNOT BE DONE (saving the general who keeps screaming for help).

It's also a ridiculously easy game, I've never died from an enemy fighter in it EVER.

Thank you.

That mission was indeed a royal bitch. I finally figured out where the general's pod was and quickly tagged all the fighters heading near it. Of course, in that mission, it's only like 3-4 fighters.

The game is very easy. I don't even bother with more that 10% shield regeneration anymore, because you simply do not need it, and in a heavy fighter your power is best used to charge your cannons.

Thunderfire: X-Wing was good, but it took a nose-dive in XWA. Freespace 2 is a much better game, IMO. Independence War is also a good series, despite the flaws in Edge of Chaos.

lukexcom · Post by **lukexcom** » 2003-11-12 03:11pm

I managed to beat the mission...somehow...after 20 tries. This was way back when they had the beta. And Hotfoot, what you wrote is basically why we got our asses kicked by the coalition after the game ended (which brought about the plotline for Freelancer).

Coaan · Post by **Coaan** » 2003-11-12 07:28pm

Vympel wrote:The best summary of Starlancer's flaws I've ever read.

Though personally, my most hated mission was where that Arab carrier blows up the base, the escape pods launched, and a gazillion fighters start killing them. Again, it CANNOT BE DONE (saving the general who keeps screaming for help).

It's also a ridiculously easy game, I've never died from an enemy fighter in it EVER.

Oh you can save the general....more often than not though....he gets killed...generally it's down to luck whether you can find the exact fighter(s) trying to tag him...there are about three iirc...you need to take them down pretty much all at the same time...use of wingmen is critical in this mission

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-11-14 05:56am

If you ever wonder what all your good work for the Alliance achived play Freelancer. The opening video will show that despite your valiant efforts the Alliance was defeated.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2003-11-14 06:01am

To those who've played Freespace 2:

Remember the mission where you find the Trinity and have to protect it from Shivan fighters while a repair ship does work on it?

Has anyone EVER managed to hold back the fighters long enough, or is the cruiser's demise inevitable?

Ypoknons · Post by **Ypoknons** » 2003-11-14 10:57am

Shinova wrote:To those who've played Freespace 2:

Remember the mission where you find the Trinity and have to protect it from Shivan fighters while a repair ship does work on it?

Has anyone EVER managed to hold back the fighters long enough, or is the cruiser's demise inevitable?

It's inevitable. Try invul-ing it, if it survives, nothing happens.

Well, you are right Hotfoot, but seriously it was quite a bit of fun while it lasted. The last mission had me pissed for several months, especially when I blew up Petraov (sp?) too early and it crashed on me.

I don't find XWA that bad myself - it wasn't the best graphically, but I've always thought the gameply was just fine.

Bob McDob · Post by **Bob McDob** » 2003-11-14 09:26pm

I feel obliged to remind everyone that it wasn't Chris Roberts who made Starlancer, it was Erin, and most of the work was actually outsourced to Warthog, who made the StarTrek Invasion series (and Battlestar Galactica on XBox & PS2, out November).

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-11-14 11:33pm

There should have been a Coalition campaign in Starlancer. After all who would not want to fly cool Coaltion fighters like Sabres, Basilaks etc.

SpacedTeddyBear · Post by **SpacedTeddyBear** » 2003-11-15 12:31am

To those who've played Freespace 2:

Remember the mission where you find the Trinity and have to protect it from Shivan fighters while a repair ship does work on it?

Has anyone EVER managed to hold back the fighters long enough, or is the cruiser's demise inevitable?

I remember that. I was able to hold off every single fighter wave attacking the cruiser, that is until the Dragons started to jump in.

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2003-11-16 01:09pm

Shinova wrote:To those who've played Freespace 2:

Remember the mission where you find the Trinity and have to protect it from Shivan fighters while a repair ship does work on it?

Has anyone EVER managed to hold back the fighters long enough, or is the cruiser's demise inevitable?

I've never managed it.

Enigma · Post by **Enigma** » 2003-11-16 02:07pm

Hotfoot wrote:<snip>
Thunderfire: X-Wing was good, but it took a nose-dive in XWA. Freespace 2 is a much better game, IMO. Independence War is also a good series, despite the flaws in Edge of Chaos.

Have you played IW2? For me it is the best game of its genre.

Hotfoot · Post by **Hotfoot** » 2003-11-16 02:19pm

Enigma wrote:Have you played IW2? For me it is the best game of its genre.

Have I played it? I've written mods for it.

It's a great game, but it does have some flaws, mostly due to the fact that Infogrames/Atari rushed it out the door and the failed console port concept early in the development which hung around in the game code and design.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2003-11-17 07:16am

lukexcom wrote:I managed to beat the mission...somehow...after 20 tries. This was way back when they had the beta. And Hotfoot, what you wrote is basically why we got our asses kicked by the coalition after the game ended (which brought about the plotline for Freelancer).

It is better to use the Shroud on this mission. Despite it's weak weapons the Shrouds cloaking device and incredible agility will give you an edge over the enemy.