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| You must join in the Shareware/Freeware Madness! by Mischief Cheapskate 12/18/2006, 5:24pm PST | ||||
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| Fuckin' Jet'n Guns Gold! $10 upgrade if you have the original. I need say nothing more.
Shadow Armada is a Freeware space fleet combat game that I haven't had much time to fiddle with, but what I have seen I've been very impressed by. A very clean movement and firing interface, assloads of weapon types/countermeasures, and damage that's measured in components being knocked out. Starships Unlimited rendered Starfleet Command obsolete, and if this game turns out to be as good as it seems, it may render STUN obsolete. The reason I'm recommending it now before spending much time with it is because this guy's web host seems to be on the verge of pulling the plug (one of his other games is already a broken link) and you'd be well advised to grab it while you can. (Freeware) The main 2 complaints are that the graphics are ass and the tiny tiny buttons representing weapons and components. Years ago on OMM I opined that while the mechwarrior games were great and all, I was frustrated that no one made any turn-based battletech games for the computer. I was directed to a then-unfinised freeware game called Titans of Steel. That game would eventually be picked up by Matrix Games, given a graphical/AI/balance boost, and remade into Titans of Steel: Warring Suns. The price has settled down to a far saner $20 and it's available as a direct download. (Albeit a 310 MB one). Pretty much, this is the boardgame Battletech on your computer, with you concentrating on position and shooting while the computer takes care of all the messy calculations. The cool thing is somewhere along the way the guys making this game realized that they were under no obligation to stay true to "Battletech Cannon" and they went nuts with new weapons types like cold light lasers and chain saws and napalm missiles and created a far more interesting and balanced game. The biggest hurdle in the learning curve is figuring out the initiative system. Basically, initiative is based on time (how long your weapons take to recharge, how long it takes your mech to move into the next hex, etc). If you can figure out casting spells in FF:Tactics, this isn't any more complicated. The other thing is that initiative for movement and shooting are completely seperate and unconnected. While it takes a little getting used to, it avoids a zillion initiative-based problems found in other Strategy games. Tiny little recon mechs do move faster and more often than lumbering assault mechs, but if they try to hit and run face-to-face there's nothing preventing the assault mech from shooting back just as fast. Single Player is more than just skirmish mode, they went and made a veritable SRPG out of it, with your team gaining money and experience and boosting their skills and outfitting their mechs. The main two downsides to the SRPG mode are that your team starts out really, REALLY shitty and to make up for it they later released a campaign (included in the DL) for beginners in which they stumble through a cave taking out malfunctioning mining equipment for the sake of giving you an early stat boost. The other one is that once your team enters a mission, they're fucking committed to that mission and can't be used elsewhere until they win or retreat. ON the upside, your SRPG team can be played in random map games and keep all the money and experience they get, even if you heavily stack the odds in their favor. Dowsides include graphics that are FUNCTIONAL and that's it (worse for the old freeware version,) tiny-ass buttons and displays, and a soundtrack of blah-generic rock from some garage band in NJ that the designers were way too excited about. Also, the game includes something on the order of 130 pre-made mechs so if you're designing your own, chances are very good the name you were thinking of is already taken. Finally, a visit to gameFAQs is pretty much mandatory if you want to design your own mechs as the manual is somewhat lacking. Keepin' it real and Underground, the Mischief Maker! |
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You must join in the Shareware/Freeware Madness! by 12/18/2006, 5:24pm PST  Re: You must join in the Shareware/Freeware Madness! by 12/18/2006, 5:51pm PST aaaaaand by 12/18/2006, 6:02pm PST Re: You must join in the Shareware/Freeware Madness! by 12/18/2006, 8:27pm PST If you do like Wesnoth, their new big stable release just came out (1.2) NT by 12/27/2006, 7:32pm PST I think I can help you. by 12/21/2006, 6:39pm PST thanks w-..bink! NT by 12/21/2006, 10:55pm PST Re: I think I can help you. by 04/23/2007, 2:47am PDT Re: I think I can help you. by 04/23/2007, 4:22am PDT thanks bink (again)! NT by 04/23/2007, 2:53pm PDT Speaking of old SSI games by 01/05/2007, 3:39pm PST Front page please. NT by 12/18/2006, 8:59pm PST Re: You must join in the Shareware/Freeware Madness! by 12/19/2006, 1:51am PST I'm on a roll and ending on a fucking high note! by 12/20/2006, 12:24am PST |
