[TrashMan]

It would be more interesting to be able to volunteer for certain types of missions on top of your normal duties. For example, having a prompt appear on which mission you want to take after a message from the Admiral or something, then you get briefed on your selection.

Military is soooo choice-friendly. All the soliders and pilots get to PICK missions!

"Alpha1, you got cargo patrol."
"Sir, cargo patrol is soo boring!"
"I got an opening for a convoy escort."
"Nah, did it yesterday."
"Well, Beta wing is assaulting a NTF base. Maybe I can squeeze you in?"
"Uuu..great. But when does the attack start? I wanted to sell some ore bask at Ross128 first."

[Bob-san]

It would be more interesting to be able to volunteer for certain types of missions on top of your normal duties. For example, having a prompt appear on which mission you want to take after a message from the Admiral or something, then you get briefed on your selection.

Military is soooo choice-friendly. All the soliders and pilots get to PICK missions!

"Alpha1, you got cargo patrol."
"Sir, cargo patrol is soo boring!"
"I got an opening for a convoy escort."
"Nah, did it yesterday."
"Well, Beta wing is assaulting a NTF base. Maybe I can squeeze you in?"
"Uuu..great. But when does the attack start? I wanted to sell some ore bask at Ross128 first."

No I mean like this...

"Alpha1, your mission today is to do cargo patrol."
"Yes, sir. "
An hour later...
"Hows was the mission Alpha1?"
"Quiet--we had a bit of fun out in the Asteroid field... protecting cargo units, if you know what i mean. "
"Ok--well we're running a patrol in 3 hours..."
"OOHH!! Can I come?"
"Well Beta3 wants a day off.... so.... sure, why not?"

[Marcus Vesper]

A good free-roaming game keeps things simple. This is how the GTA games succeeded. Your armor and firepower are represented very simply. Hell, you can't even trade or sell back your weapons. Admittedly, most of the "free roaming" element was just going around looking at scenery, finding secret items, or completing minor side missions, but it worked well.

Tachyon: The Fringe is something like what Vice City in space would look like. A very simple free roaming element supports what's basically a mission-based game.

I'd agree, to a certain extent.  Collecting new ships was more of an RPG advancement in Tachyon then the amusing mini-game it is in the GTA games though (how long are you actually going to drive cars you take back to the garage before you're out jacking another anyway?).  Citing Tachyon as an example brings up the tricky issue of just how much of the fun quotient could be attributed to Bruce Campbell as the main character.  Without him it's extremely mediocre, but Mr. Campbell makes everything better.

Freelancer would have been at least 60% more fun if they'd just have had Bruce play the protagonist.

[Bob-san]

A good free-roaming game keeps things simple. This is how the GTA games succeeded. Your armor and firepower are represented very simply. Hell, you can't even trade or sell back your weapons. Admittedly, most of the "free roaming" element was just going around looking at scenery, finding secret items, or completing minor side missions, but it worked well.

Tachyon: The Fringe is something like what Vice City in space would look like. A very simple free roaming element supports what's basically a mission-based game.

I'd agree, to a certain extent.  Collecting new ships was more of an RPG advancement in Tachyon then the amusing mini-game it is in the GTA games though (how long are you actually going to drive cars you take back to the garage before you're out jacking another anyway?).  Citing Tachyon as an example brings up the tricky issue of just how much of the fun quotient could be attributed to Bruce Campbell as the main character.  Without him it's extremely mediocre, but Mr. Campbell makes everything better.

Freelancer would have been at least 60% more fun if they'd just have had Bruce play the protagonist.

In GTA3, I managed to snag a topless red convertible--like a Tiger or something. I brought it back to the garage and a day later I went to drive it... I barely got out on the street when it was jacked by some thug... never saw another one. Then again, it was my step brother's PS2.

[Solatar]

I like Freespace over "free roam" games like Freelancer, etc. because the "you're a lone rebel" got old for me. I like playing a game where I'm a part of a bigger military force (not just "friendly" to them).

Maybe taking steps to imrove immersion in Freespace style combat would be cool. I wouldn't mind being able to walk around the ship (command ship) in a very simple 1st person way. Something like looking at the command briefing, then actually having to report to your briefing by a certain time (game time) would be cool. In the few hours in between you could play minigames, explore the ship, or depending on the time, take a joyride in a fighter (land at a local installation, etc.). That's the kind of stuff I'd like to see, although it's far beyond what we'll get anytime soon.

[colecampbell666]

I've got one word. Spore.

Can't really get any more free-roam than that.

[Fearless Leader]

While free-roaming is nice, it generally comes at the expense of having fun combat. A game like Freespace, which is centric on fighting and plot, would not work with a free-roaming structure. A branching campaign, sure, but not free-roaming.

I just edited my post... basically I'd like to see Alpha 1 being a normal pilot and having some "boring" missions that are filled out with wingman's jabber.

Yeah, it would make a campaign more un-predictable, instead of knowing that the ship you are escorting will be attacked by wave after wave of enemy fighters and bombers, you might just have a quiet mission. Thats a good idea.

I personally believe that it's not here yet, I liked tachyon which was a "borderline" free-roam type game, I was excited when Mass Effect came out, maybe  it'll spark more interest in space genre.

I very much liked Tachyon for those elements. You could do almost anything you wanted.

[Bob-san]

While free-roaming is nice, it generally comes at the expense of having fun combat. A game like Freespace, which is centric on fighting and plot, would not work with a free-roaming structure. A branching campaign, sure, but not free-roaming.

I just edited my post... basically I'd like to see Alpha 1 being a normal pilot and having some "boring" missions that are filled out with wingman's jabber.

Yeah, it would make a campaign more un-predictable, instead of knowing that the ship you are escorting will be attacked by wave after wave of enemy fighters and bombers, you might just have a quiet mission. Thats a good idea.

I personally believe that it's not here yet, I liked tachyon which was a "borderline" free-roam type game, I was excited when Mass Effect came out, maybe  it'll spark more interest in space genre.

I very much liked Tachyon for those elements. You could do almost anything you wanted.

That or...

"Command, I'm reading something on sensors. It's probably asteroid interference but you never know."
"Be careful pilot, we're expecting a Rebel ambush."
"Command--when was the last engagement in this area?"
"About two days ago, Pilot."
"Ok--I found a malfunctioning Harpoon floating around out here."
"Affirmative, pilot. Continue your patrol, you'll be relieved in ten minutes. Command out."