[Unknown Target]

I think it'd be awesome if you could hide behind things, and dissapear from radar. THAT would change the gameplay in any space game completely.

[KARMA]

one of the things that amazed me in Allegiance is the radar signature
each ship has a signature value, which will increase if you mount things (shields, missles..).
There are stealth fighters with a very low signature at the cost of a very light armor, you also put missles and shields in the cargo to reduce it, and mount stuff only at the last minute. you can also use cloaking devices, which reduce the signature.
Depending by the loadout they can fit various roles, but usually they are effective to infiltrate enemy systems and destroy their miners/constructors, or you can use them in combat to make sneak attacks, for example to destroy bigger ships, like gunships, which are well defended by player controlled turretts, without being tracked.

[Nico]

Originally posted by KARMA
And this doesn't change the fact that tactically speaking tachyon was boring compared to fs2, starlancer or any other similar space sim.

Funny, the only tactic I could find in FS2 was to switch from full guns to maxims only when I was attacking a capship from long range, to save some power

[Stryke 9]

Correction: The physics model, ships, weapons, and combat in I-War 2 were beautiful. The singleplayer campaign was like they took baby Jesus and skull-****ed him. Get I-War (both of them, certainly), but only play multiplayer. You will hate the game so much less that way.

I still don't get how they could have gone from the plot and mission design in the original, which was beautiful, the plot in particular easily in the top ten of violence-based games, to EOC's puzzle-gaming and endless mind-numbing grocery shopping.

[karajorma]

Originally posted by Stryke 9
I still don't get how they could have gone from the plot and mission design in the original, which was beautiful, the plot in particular easily in the top ten of violence-based games, to EOC's puzzle-gaming and endless mind-numbing grocery shopping.

When I first heard of I-War I was hugely impressed and wanted it desperately. I'm probably the world biggest fan of Warhead (Glyn Williams's earlier space combat game). However I didn't have a PC at the time and by the time I did I-War II was out so I bought that instead.
 Basically the single player missions bored me so much that I never bothered trying the original. Warhead suffered a little because it could sometimes take you a while to dock with your base but that's nothing compared to the mind numbing tedium involved in just getting to the site of the next mission in EoC. I once timed it and found that I'd spent 9 minutes just travelling between two systems (I didn't even encounter any enemy ships!) to get to the site where the mission was set.

Single player wasn't too bad if you just decided to go out and cause as much trouble as possible but some of the missions were just an excercise in trying to annoy the player.

I might have to try the original as it sounded a lot more fun that EoC.

[Singh]

Originally posted by karajorma


When I first heard of I-War I was hugely impressed and wanted it desperately. I'm probably the world biggest fan of Warhead (Glyn Williams's earlier space combat game). However I didn't have a PC at the time and by the time I did I-War II was out so I bought that instead.
 Basically the single player missions bored me so much that I never bothered trying the original. Warhead suffered a little because it could sometimes take you a while to dock with your base but that's nothing compared to the mind numbing tedium involved in just getting to the site of the next mission in EoC. I once timed it and found that I'd spent 9 minutes just travelling between two systems (I didn't even encounter any enemy ships!) to get to the site where the mission was set.

Single player wasn't too bad if you just decided to go out and cause as much trouble as possible but some of the missions were just an excercise in trying to annoy the player.

I might have to try the original as it sounded a lot more fun that EoC.

I can promise you this. The Original I-war not only had a better story, but it played better as well. (the ending was one of the best I've seen in a while)

Only problem is you cant remap the keys........

[KARMA]

Originally posted by Nico


Funny, the only tactic I could find in FS2 was to switch from full guns to maxims only when I was attacking a capship from long range, to save some power

that's unfair.
I don't say it is the most tactic space sim ever sold (its the opposite), but nonetheless there are many missions that aren't just a "get in position and slaughter everything at sight".
There's a mission where you have to attack the shivan destroyer in the nebula for example, or the first mission in the nebula defending the leviathan, a mission where you defend the hecate (IIRC) from bombers, and few others.
Obviously it depends by the difficulty level you play at, but in those missions you have to keep track of the enemy forces, choose your targets time by time, don't stick to a single ship just to make one more kill, use the wingmens at best (for what they can do: mostly fake targets:p).
I don't say they are a wonderful example of what I think a tactic mission should be, but still you have to use some strategies if you want to win. Obviously if you are lucky you can win even if you just play like if you are in a deathmatch, but it usually means to redo some missions many times.

[mikhael]

Actually, I disagree. I can't remember a single mission in Freespace 1 or 2 that didn't devolve into a 'kill every red dot on the hud'. In Tachyon, you had other things to do. Starlancer, Wing Commander, Xwing, etc, are all the same in that regard.

In Tachyon, I never saw an AI ship fly through an obstacle. I always observed them flying around, or skimming the surface pretty effectively.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by mikhael
Actually, I disagree. I can't remember a single mission in Freespace 1 or 2 that didn't devolve into a 'kill every red dot on the hud'. In Tachyon, you had other things to do. Starlancer, Wing Commander, Xwing, etc, are all the same in that regard.

In Tachyon, I never saw an AI ship fly through an obstacle. I always observed them flying around, or skimming the surface pretty effectively.

admit it, you only liked it 'cause it had bruce campbell in it!;)

seriously tho, i liked tachyon..

[Anaz]

Ah...the I-War 1 demo...way back when...

*gets all nostalgic*

It was truly awesome to go blasting past those sentry-turret things, and then turn off the ez-flight mode, and circle the enemy ships until I killed them

[phreak]

anyone know where i can get iw1

[mikhael]

I've got it sitting right here. I can't make it run in Win2k, with or without DirectDraw enabled. I need a voodoo card.

[Turnsky]

openglide, i think that's what it's called...

you can run glide apps via openGL with that..

EDIT: here, Linky: http://openglide.sourceforge.net

[mikhael]

I was of the understanding that things like OpenGLide and the VoodooWrapper didn't work with Iwar1.

[Turnsky]

Originally posted by mikhael
I was of the understanding that things like OpenGLide and the VoodooWrapper didn't work with Iwar1.

well, i'm gonna give it a go soon, i'll report back if/when it works..

[Turnsky]

http://evoodoo.emulation64.com/us/home.html

here's a good one, a little buggy in playing movies, and requires the right amount of option to be switched on for it to work right....

and the results are pretty damn good..

[Stryke 9]

Phreak: Well, you can make me an offer, for one.

Got Deluxe a while ago, so I don't really need the original CD set anymore. Can let it go for, oh, $20, maybe. I'm sure it's occupying a few bargain bins around, too.

Turnsky: Yay! Never thought I'd be able to make I-War pretty again.

[Nico]

Originally posted by KARMA


that's unfair.
I don't say it is the most tactic space sim ever sold (its the opposite), but nonetheless there are many missions that aren't just a "get in position and slaughter everything at sight".
There's a mission where you have to attack the shivan destroyer in the nebula for example, or the first mission in the nebula defending the leviathan, a mission where you defend the hecate (IIRC) from bombers, and few others.
Obviously it depends by the difficulty level you play at, but in those missions you have to keep track of the enemy forces, choose your targets time by time, don't stick to a single ship just to make one more kill, use the wingmens at best (for what they can do: mostly fake targets:p).
I don't say they are a wonderful example of what I think a tactic mission should be, but still you have to use some strategies if you want to win. Obviously if you are lucky you can win even if you just play like if you are in a deathmatch, but it usually means to redo some missions many times.

That's bull. I completed all the missions by just killing all the enemies ( unless being ordered otherwise, in the stealth missions for exemple, of course ). And, like it or not, that's always the most efficient way of completing any mission. Yeah, there's that other "tactic" I forgot: kill the bombers first if you have to defend capships . FS2 was great, fun and all, but it was a shoot, and nothing else. Using "FS1/2" and "tactics"  in the same sentence is a joke.

[Ace]

I agree with a lot of the comments made here about I-War 1 and 2.

2 is a beautiful game, the best looking spacesim ever. But when it comes to the singleplayer campaign 2 is terrible compared to the original. Personally I also feel that it became too "arcadey" compared to the first with all of the weapons being forward facing. I must have been the one person who actually took advantage of the Dreadnaught's capability to engage more than one target at once by sliding, etc. into position.

I-War 1 had an excellent plot, fun missions, the way the operations were put together made it feel like a war. Defiance was also well put together. I-War 2 to me pales in comparison. I-War 2 though does refine a lot of things that made the first game great (such as the new-improved turret fighters) as well as the variety of weapons. It's also a better game in the free-flight exploration/play mode then Freelancer is, IMHO.

[Nico]

I never played Iwar1, would like to, but I heard the controls where really complicated, and I really don't feel like going into another "panel simulation" game.