f13.net

So, I really am craving to play a good space shooter, ala Descent Freespace. Is there anything like that released recently? Any system.

I was looking at X3: Terran Conflict, but I cant really tell what kind of game it is. Seems maybe more of a single player EVE, than Descent.

Any one have any ideas?

Freespace 2 Open Source project (http://scp.indiegames.us/)

Volition released the code, these fine folks modernized it. The game still holds up because nothing since has topped it in my opinion.

X3:TC is a cross between Eve and Freespace.  

Video worth a thousand words : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2oDwHwWy1k&feature=related

I think that shows a heavy fighter nailing a corvette.  The combat is not super complex but it makes up for that by sending oodles and oodles of enemies at you.

X3, is much more than just space combat though.  Trade empires, factional warfare, piracy, fleets and etc...  It's a very deep game, if you want you can acquire a fleet of capital ships and go on extermination vendettas, or build your own personal space complexes as you accumulate billions through industry and trade.

The interface is about as arcane as you would expect for a small German studio that has only made multiple iterations of 1 game for a very hard core crowd for 10+ years where you may need to adjust factory output across half a dozen systems and reroute a shipping fleet while battling off an invasion.  But, as hard as it is to navigate with a mouse it all has keyboard shortcuts so once you learn them you can be very efficient.

Whats the actual flying like? Is it more actionish or more like EVE? I really couldnt stand the combat in EVE and was looking for something a little more twitchy.

It's twitch.  X3:TC is also a vast improvement on the series as far as accessibility.  You can be everything from a cargo hauler to a space pirate (even capturing ships).

The interface can be difficult to get used to, but once you know all the keyboard commands it's pretty powerful.

Would it be worth buying if I had no real interest in doing the trading and not really the building parts? I really want a good space shooter to blow stuff up, and a decent story.

I realized I have never played Freespace2, so I bought it on gog.com for $6.

Any multiplayer to speak of?

It says Singleplayer only.

Dang, looks like fun but I get bored of SP games fast.

Tachyon: The Fringe (http://store.steampowered.com/app/32760) (2000) was released on Steam this week.

Evochron Legends (http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/evochronlegends/index.htm) is a recent indie.

Me and a couple friends played Freelancer Discovery on a private server for a couple months.  It's Freelancer++ with dedicated servers.  You can run your own or pick from a few semi popular ones.  It does however require Freelancer to play.

You can find it here (http://www.discoveryfl.com/).

I would wait until it went on sale again. Even though I played the crap out of X2 I didn't buy X3 until it went on sale. It's MMOG like in scope and it takes a lot of effort to make major headway unless you cheat.

I'd like to again recommend the open source project. The copy you bought is probably not even configured for widescreen much less having higher-res textures, meshes, and whatnot. But I'll be curious to see your impressions on it.

It will save him a very large download though as it has all the game files, so the purchase will not be wasted.

Very probably my fave FS2 SCP vid

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6VhyMzu12c

Getting back to X3:TC I would recommend you check out the forums for the game as they are probably the best I have seen in any game. You can most certainly get by without trading, particularly in TC as they have really boosted mission running. Most people have a few factories running however, even if only to make missiles for themselves.

This is a pretty good X video I made

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nYTOI658E

Prior to X3:TC only going combat would be tough unless you get really good at ship captures.  With that one, yeah, it's totally doable.  In fact it's probably the quickest way to make money now.  My only gripe was how quickly they threw the bigger ships at you.

So, I got Freespace2 downloaded, and I got the open source thing installed. It is letting me run at 1900x1200 res and looks pretty good, although, the ships still look a bit low texture, space looks amazingly good. Right now the thing I am fighting with most is the mouse. I need to break in to my storage and find the old flightstick that I have boxed up somewhere.

Awesome. Yea, I have an oollldd Sidewinder that I've pretty much only ever used with Freespace 2. Think I tried it once with PS too but that was no good...

Fuuuck thats tempting. I tried the demo of that way back, and it was a good blast. Had Bruce Campbell talking too. I feel my long standing hatred of Steam giving way to gamers urge... :)

I really enjoyed Tachyon.  It would have been a decent enough game on its own, but adding Bruce Campbell made it awesome.

For anyone who remembers the early SWG pre-beta days, Kevin O'hara was a writer on it, and specifically mentioned doing the tutorial, which I thought was a great twist.

Another relatively recent one -- Starshatter (http://www.matrixgames.com/products/334/details/Starshatter.-.The.Gathering.Storm) (developer (http://www.starshatter.com/)). This one's more a "serious" sim than a fun shoot-em-up in the FS/TIE/WC tradition, but they do make their SDK available.

The last Space Shooter I picked up was Darkstar One. Wasn't bad, but very much railroad storyline, and the combat never really grabbed me. Singleplayer only as far as I remember.

Anyone played this? The graphics at least look fantastic.

hrm, nice for an indie (looks like Shawn did almost all of it himself :wink:). Free demo downloaded.

I played and enjoyed X2 a fair bit in the day, though I never could get over someone on the development team believing that Khaak was a good name for an alien race.  "Look out, there's a Khaak behind you!"  I'm amazed they managed to keep the voice actors from giggling to death.

But the X games are utterly fucking brutal for their control schemes.  The mere thought of having to relearn the controls has been enough to keep me from ever buying X3.

Now Freespace 2, on the other hand, is just delicious.  Hands-down the best capital ship battles I've ever seen in a videogame.  When you're flying around minding your own business and suddenly this ungodly SDF-1 beam rips through space right in front of you, it's a pants-changing moment.  The teensy lasers on Star Wars ships can never begin to compare after you've seen that.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/53/FreeSpace_2_Beam-Combat-Anim.gif)

The beams are wider than your fighter, and you can only thank baby Space Jesus that the capital ships aren't wasting them on you.

Except for when you get close and they fire those bloody anti-fighter/bomber beams at you.  That shit ruins your day in a hurry.  Trying to navigate flak, a missile swarm, and a pair of those beams firing on your Medusa bomber sucks.

I remember Vanilla Freespace 2 had mu litplayer LAN support; it wasn't very robust, but it was good for a few hours.

No. Not since Starlancer and Freespace 2.


Yes. They were released nearly a decade ago.



Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with developers, how can shooting things in space not be popular?

Shouldn't you be asking what the fuck is wrong with players?

I think the hardware let developers make impressive environments instead of just throwing impressive models on a black background.  That and people think to play these very esoteric games you need a joystick (which isn't true for stuff like X3) and they're not willing to leave the comfort zone of KB+M.  I really hope Jumpgate Evolution does well though.

I've always wondered what happened to space shooters. I think the last "big" one was Freelancer? Did the market merely dry up? I can't believe it's because of joysticks considering the very larger percentage of gaming dollars going to console controllers. And I'm sure some modern-day Volition isn't scared of CCP. Just a totally different game. Heck, CCP could sub-license Eve as a space shooter :wink:

The last good "new" space sim I played was SWG, but you had to grind up pretty far through the ranks (and know someone who could build a succession of awesome ships) to get a feel for its promise.

So seriously, what happened?

I eagerly await the day someone makes another game in the Freelancer mould.

You could have a look at this as wel. its a free bedroom project and pretty good.

http://ifh.babylonfive.ru/