Star Citizen / Squadron 42

[White Haven]

I am...somewhat stunned, on reflection, to note that there is not yet a thread here about this. Chris Roberts, of Wing Commander and Freelancer fame, is returning to PC gaming, and is working on a two-part project. Part one is Squadron 42, which is very much a Wing Commanderesque title, slated to include co-op play. Star Citizen, which is a bit further out but based on the same framework and set in the same universe, will an open-world space sim. The overall project is crowdfunding as we speak; it's already reached minimum funding, but we do after all live in the era of stretch goals and pledge bonuses.

[youtube][/youtube]

Oh, and did I mention that there's already a prototype engine built, and that that trailer was rendered in realtime using a desktop computer? And that the environment and basic flight/combat gameplay are already working in the aforementioned prototype? And, uh, that it's goddamned beautiful to boot. Lest I ever be accused of pure altruism, there is something that has overcome my innate laziness in failing to post about this previously. There's now a referral program, one that offers chances at prizes to both referrer and referree. With this link, you may not only pledge for something I personally think has the chance to be seriously awesome, but may also win free shit and aid me in the aforementioned winning of free shit. More information on the project is, of course, available at the site as well.

Free shit is nice, but so is making Star Citizen reach increasing levels of awesomeness by throwing money at the problem.

[Josh]

The only downside is that I'll have to go ahead and buy a new joystick.

I miss the old spaceflight sim games, though. Tie Fighter, Wing Commander, those were the greats. I never got to play Privateer, but maybe now I finally can play something like it.

[Batman]

There's Windowized versions versions of WC and Privateer, you know. Privateer Remake Worked like a charm when I was on XP and I very much suspect it not working properly on 7 is a driver issue rather than general incompatibility. I had a lot of fun with that game (more so than with the original Privateer, truth be told).

As for the OP, not only does this look pretty damned good (which probably means I won't be able to play it ), but whoever they got to do the soundtrack knew what they were doing. Bonus points for somebody noticing that maybe leaving the flight deck open to space 24/7 isn't such a hot idea. The ship did seem a little overgunned for a carrier though.

And there's worse than having to get a new joystick-there's having to get a new joystick you can use left-handed.

[Josh]

There's Windowized versions versions of WC and Privateer, you know. Privateer Remake Worked like a charm when I was on XP and I very much suspect it not working properly on 7 is a driver issue rather than general incompatibility. I had a lot of fun with that game (more so than with the original Privateer, truth be told).

As for the OP, not only does this look pretty damned good (which probably means I won't be able to play it ), but whoever they got to do the soundtrack knew what they were doing. Bonus points for somebody noticing that maybe leaving the flight deck open to space 24/7 isn't such a hot idea. The ship did seem a little overgunned for a carrier though.

And there's worse than having to get a new joystick-there's having to get a new joystick you can use left-handed.

Hello. *waves left hand*

Somebody once told me that he read a study about how left-handers are thirty percent more intelligent that right-handers (suuuuure) and then he asked me what I thought about that.

"Well... I don't like to brag."

Edit: My main issue is getting scissors that can do something like a clean straight cut. Ambidextrous my ass.

[Batman]

Didn't know/remember that you were a southpaw too. My bad.
World's Greatest Detective my
Shut up.
And I never really had much in the way of problems with scissors. Well that I can remember anyway. And it's been a while since I used scissors for anything more precise than 'get the damn thing open already'. It's food. It's supposed to be consumed. Why do you pack it in indestructible without the use of tools containers?

[Josh]

Didn't know/remember that you were a southpaw too. My bad.
World's Greatest Detective my
Shut up.
And I never really had much in the way of problems with scissors. Well that I can remember anyway. And it's been a while since I used scissors for anything more precise than 'get the damn thing open already'. It's food. It's supposed to be consumed. Why do you pack it in indestructible without the use of tools containers?

When I was working hazmat we used these disposable rubber booties and when we worked dry material we'd cut the hightop portion off for ease of removal when we were coming through decon. When you're using ambi scissors on the left hand for that the rubber just tends to slide between the blades of the scissors, royal pain in my ass. I used to just slice the damned things off with a pocket knife, which is inherently more sloppy.

(We also used the cut hightop portions to make luchador masks. Fun was had by all.)

So!

Yes!

Wing Commander remake. Awesome.

[Hotfoot]

Wah wah wah, bunch of left handers that want new joysticks. Maybe you should have gotten one while Saitek Cyborg sticks were still fully adjustable, including the throttle. If you can, try getting the old Evo design, that was one of their most solid setups.

That said, some of the current ones aren't *too* bad, but there you go.

Still, because I'm a nice guy who doesn't mind that ungrateful wretches like yourself let Saitek fall into the hands of MadCatz, here is a fully ambidextrous joystick from thrustmaster.

You're welcome.

[Batman]

I actually I did get the original Cyborg 3D when it first came out, thank you very much (and a sweet stick it was. The Z axis rotation, while rarely useful, was nifty when it was). It just stopped working. And I happen to have a fully ambidextrous joystick.

[Josh]

I have the excuse of not playing many video games through the early oughts. I was very busy and mostly away from home for several years, and didn't really get back into gaming until all the joystick games were long dead. I totally missed out on X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter, for example.

[Dark Silver]

Can't say Iplayed a SpaceSim I liked since Freelancer (Sorry Evo. it's just not gonna be).

I'm interested in this now though. . .

[Hotfoot]

Really? No love for Freespace, I-War, or Tachyon? Pity, those were all fun games.

And DS, really? Freelancer? I mean, yes, the Ballad of Jun'ko Zane notwithstanding, it was sort of a weak game, all said.

[Dark Silver]

I didn't get into Freespace...never played I-War or Tachyon so I can't comment on them.

And hey, I liked the "free play" mode in Freelancer - I got to piss people off and make my fortune as a space pirate.

the Kusari had no idea what hit them. . .

[Josh]

I did get I-War, but my comp at the time couldn't handle it for crap and since I was home so rarely I couldn't be arsed to upgrade for it.

[Batman]

If it's any consolation to you Josh the only game I could place among those is Freespace and I never played any iteration of it. The least unrecent space sim I've played is Privateer:Remake (and, for a very generous definition of space flight sim, STO).
I'd still be playing WC1/2 if there were Privateer:Remake quality versions of them.

[Hotfoot]

While I feel the pain of not having any good space sims in the last decade, you honestly owe it to yourselves to get FS1 and FS2, girded in the FSO project, and play them. Seriously. I-War was a fine series, but it was a specialist game within a specialist genre, with a difficulty curve rather akin to a brick wall. Freespace, however, was a classic Space Sim that was excellent through and through, and well worth the pittance one would pay on GOG.com or something for it.

[Batman]

If that stick ends up being no better than my current one you owe my 30 Euros, Hotfoot.
And at least as per the original Freespace, that universe's ships are ugly (and me not being able to increase the resolution is not inconsiderably irritatiting).

[Hotfoot]

If you have a perfectly functional stick, what possible reason could you have to get a new one?

I mean, unless you're getting a HOTAS setup.

Oh, and increasing resolution/making the ships look nicer? Remember how I mentioned the FSO project? GET. THAT. Freespace Open = win.

[rhoenix]

Oh, and increasing resolution/making the ships look nicer? Remember how I mentioned the FSO project? GET. THAT. Freespace Open = win.

FSO made it their goal in life to impressively upgun the graphics for more modern PC's. FS2 you can get at GOG.com for very cheap nowadays, and once you have that, FSO can take care of FS1, and all the extra missions for FS2 as well.

[White Haven]

As for a Star Citizen control scheme, I'm thinking of doing a hybrid of a flight stick and a Nostromo, rather than using a HOTAS. The alpha will tell me more, of course, but I suspect that'll end up giving more flexibility than a HOTAS setup, while still being more immediately usable than stick/keyboard.

[Batman]

If you have a perfectly functional stick, what possible reason could you have to get a new one?

I never said 'perfectly functional'. I said 'fully ambidextrous', which it absolutely is. It's also been acting eratically lately (no hard feelings, the stick is 5 or so years old and cost me all of 9 Euros), I just never realized to which extent until I started playing Freespace.

Oh, and increasing resolution/making the ships look nicer? Remember how I mentioned the FSO project? GET. THAT. Freespace Open = win.

Somehow, I doubt increasing the resolution is going to do anything about the patently ugly ship designs, but I'll keep that in mind.

[Hotfoot]

Bats, look, just trust me. Freespace Open has been running for close to a decade now. They've made massive improvements to the engine and had new artists recreate nearly all of the ships with new models and textures. Or hell, don't trust me, just go to their site and look


There's one example. Go. Now.

[Batman]

I said merely increasing the resolution wasn't going to change much. I didn't know they actually replaced the models. That may definitely be an improvement.

[Hotfoot]

Bats, I swear to all there is, you just don't pay attention. I did say that FSO let you increase the resolution AND make the ships look nicer. Rhoenix made mention of the general graphical updates.

I mean I guess at this point I shouldn't expect you to go, "Oh, what is he talking about? Maybe I should type those words into google and see what this is about" since, despite pretending to be the world's greatest detective, you don't actually do any of the things detectives do. Or, you know, normal people with access to the internet, tabbed browsers, and even browsers that let you highlight words, right click on them, AND THEN HAVE GOOGLE SEARCH FOR THAT TERM.

A process that takes all of, well, ten seconds if you take your time.

Much less time than writing a post complaining about facts you assume to be true with no basis in reality based on how much you like chocolate milk.

[White Haven]

If you're done whinging about bad-looking Freespace ships, have a look-see at the difference between the stock ships and the FSO versions.
And go beat up one of your rogues gallery and ste--confiscate some bloody taste while you're at it.

[rhoenix]

Seriously, what the FSO community has done with the ship redesigns has been nothing less that impressive. Even the capships got awesomeness upgrades. And that's not taking into account what various modmakers did for various campaigns.