Slitherine’s Starship Troopers: Terran Command has landed

[NotTooBad]

Slitherine and The Artistocrats are proud to announce the release of the newest real-time strategy game set in the world-renowned Starship Troopers film universe, Starship Troopers: Terran Command.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is a single-player, real-time strategy game based on the 1997 movie. In the game, you take command of the Mobile Infantry and do your part in the war against hordes of Arachnid enemies. By striking an effective balance between tactical superiority and strength in numbers, you can ensure that human civilization dominates the galaxy.

You can build, develop and control your armies and embark on an exciting military campaign. On your journey, you will meet unique characters, discover amazing locations and develop effective tactics with battle mechanics such as Terrain Elevation, True Line of Sight and True Line of Fire. Furthermore, an expansive range of unique units, weapons, and special abilities are at your disposal such as Fleet Liaison, Grenade and Rocket Turrets, Wavebreaker Mortar and Tactical Officer.

A good strategic position of your units, expanding base infrastructure and fleets of dropships will be the keys for victory.

Do your part against the Arachnids in this game full of explosions, gore and Bugs.

Starship Troopers: Terran Command is now available to be downloaded on our Store.

[Centuur]

How can I block this topic. It's annoying to see this appearing everywhere (together with 6 other annoying topics). I don't want to have a block of 100 topics to go through in the future before going to the posts which I'm interested in.

And yes: I'm not interested in this topic at all.

[Rebel Yell]

Close to 9k posts and you need to block a game announcement?

[Fraggo5]

I believe the OP dislikes the fact that we now have an announcements index in every game title forum something that was previously in the Board forum I believe.
I do agree with the OP in that game forums should be for that game and if you need to look to see upcoming and recently released titles it should be in the General or Coming soon forums of the Board index or even put the Announcements index on the Board index .
Or give us an option to hide it at least .

[Jason Petho]

I do agree with the OP in that game forums should be for that game and if you need to look to see upcoming and recently released titles it should be in the General or Coming soon forums of the Board index or even put the Announcements index on the Board index .

+1!

[z1812]

I do agree with the OP in that game forums should be for that game and if you need to look to see upcoming and recently released titles it should be in the General or Coming soon forums of the Board index or even put the Announcements index on the Board index .

+1!

Also +1

[T Rav]

Get over it.

T Rav

[springel]

Get over it.

T Rav

+1

[Jason Petho]

Get over it.

T Rav

+1

-1

... ha!

[michaelCLARADY]

Too bad this Game is based on the rather poor movie instead of Heinlein's excellent book. Years ago SPI or was it Avalon Hill had a tactical board game based on the book. A good game. A strategic game based on the book would rock.

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

Michael,

I agree wholeheartedly with your post. Anyone who has seen the movie but not read the book should read it ASAP. (See off topic note below if 'you want to know more'.

I am hoping for a couple of DLCs that 1) make the book's combat armor the core of the Mobile Infantry (every Cap Trooper had it) and ups the quantity of bugs as well as 2) a strategic campaign where you have choices of which battle to pursue next.

However, I can see that my first wish would not change gameplay that much and that the second wish might be beyond the scope of the engine.

Nevertheless, I like the game.


OFF TOPIC NOTE

While the movie pulls much of its content from the book, some of the main themes of the book are twisted 180 degrees.

Examples:
The book theme of 'never leave a man behind' is twisted into 'kill your comrades in arms so you can evac with a clear conscience'.
The book's government in place is not 'fascist'', but rather as libertarian as it gets.

The book is an easy read and is not the typical military science fiction. Much more emphasis is on the character's development from a young adult to a competent adult, soldier, and ultimately officer. It is certainly my favorite book from my youth and in the top 5 of my favorite books as an old man approaching retirement age.

Do yourself a favor and give it a read.

[springel]

Heinlein described a military dictatorship: only soldiers have political power, and only soldiers have citizen's rights.

Whether you call it fascism, Verhoeven never used the word in his movie, is up to anyone. I can't see the libertarian side of it, whatever that is.

Verhoeven showed us a glorified military state. However, instead of the superhuman one-man-army tactics of Heinlein's troopers, Verhoeven's soldiers fight like American actors, who never think beyond a mob of handguns.

Verhoeven's imagery was inspired from his childhood during WWII in occupied Netherlands. As a boy he could not help to be thrilled by the propaganda of the Nazi's.

This game is about Verhoeven's world, not Heinlein's.

[michaelCLARADY]

Anyone who read Heinlein's book knows that VETERANS not active service soldiers were the electorate and many Vets did necessary tasks other than soldiering during their service time. The movie shows a fascist state. The book a largely libertarian small government republic with two basic functions- defend the Citizens and legal residents (those choosing to not do federal service) against foreign invasion and against violence and fraud from the internal criminal class.

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

Heinlein described a military dictatorship: only soldiers have political power, and only soldiers have citizen's rights.

(emphasis added)

I have to disagree with 'military dictatorship'.

In the book, 'Federal Service' was required for citizenship. Not all 'Federal Service' was military.

The key point (plainly stated in the book) was that someone had to demonstrate their willingness to put themselves in a dangerous situation to benefit the body politic. The theory was that it showed the perspective that the whole was more important than the individual.

Not all dangerous jobs are military.

[springel]

The theory was that it showed the perspective that the whole was more important than the individual.

Yes, and that is exactly the Fascist principle: the bundle is stronger than the single.

[USSAmerica]

I really miss the old forum's emoji's. I could really use the popcorn one right now.

[USSAmerica]

Sorry for the double post.... I blame my mouse.

[SamuraiProgrmmr]

Yes, and that is exactly the Fascist principle: the bundle is stronger than the single.

Search of dictionary definitions indicate Fascism usually has a dictator... in that case, why would citizens need to vote.

I'm not going to continue to engage with you after this post. You will not change my mind that the book Starship Troopers forwarded a Libertarian political view. Apparently, I am not up to the task of convincing you that the book did NOT forward a Fascist political view.

I do have one question. Have you even read the book?

[springel]

Yes, and that is exactly the Fascist principle: the bundle is stronger than the single.

Search of dictionary definitions indicate Fascism usually has a dictator...

Fascism is in my book the movement in Italy, led by Mussolini. His logo was de fasces, a Roman bundle of rods/arrows/spears that symbolized strength by unity.

The movement inspired similar movements in other countries, including the National Socialism of Hitler in Germany, each with different priorities and ideological details.

It also inspired the Falange in Spain, and that form inspired Arab nationalists, until today in Lebanon and Syria.

Stalin decided that he needed one word to condemn them all, and he chose Fascism, whether they were Nazi's or Italians or Spanish (I don't think he bothered much about the Arabs).

But for me the Fascist origin is Italy. Now Mussolini concluded that the strong collective needed a strong leader. But that was his conclusion, not his principle.

Anyway, I didn't call Heinlein or Verhoevens world Fascist, because, what is the point?

I call it militarism, and military rule, as an ideology.

I do have one question. Have you even read the book?

Of course I did.

Although I read it much later than the many Heinlein books that I read in the mid 1960's at age 10+ in Dutch translation.
This book I read in the 1980's from a local library, and I re-read it in 2005, when I ordered it from the USA because it was a book that I wanted to own. A paperback by Hodder & Stoughton.

[thedoctorking]

The government of the society in the book is a parliamentary democracy where the franchise is limited to persons who have completed a tour of public service. When the central character goes to the recruiting office, he is offered a wide range of non-military assignments, but insists on serving in the military. His friend chooses a non-military research assistant job (and, I believe, subsequently becomes a civilian casualty when the research station he is on is destroyed). People who do not wish to do government service, like the central character's father, do not suffer any discrimination or reduced rights except that they cannot vote (a questionable premise, admittedly, but one the characters all agree on). Before the war, most people looked down on military service, and when the central character announces that he has joined the military, his friends and family are critical of his choice. So no, not a militaristic or fascistic society.

The movie portrays a clearly fascist society, influenced, as another poster has pointed out, by the film-maker's background in Europe 1939-45. I watched about half the movie when it first came out and left, annoyed at how it essentially turns the book on its head, depicting the human future as a violent dystopia.

There's plenty to criticize the book about, but also many positive points. The central character is Asian (Filipino), one of the first non-White central characters in mass market science fiction in the US (interestingly, played by a White actor in the film - Verhoeven's future world is anything but anti-racist). His race is not an issue, and several other non-White characters play secondary roles without any mention of their status - Heinlein was depicting a human society that had moved beyond racism, a big step for a book from a White author intended for youthful readers (all the Heinlein "juvenile" novels were originally serialized in Boy's Life, the magazine for members of the Boy Scouts) that came out in 1959. The military culture depicted is recognizably that of the US Marine Corps and all-male - with the twist that the Navy is staffed by women. In 1959, gender determinism was such that you couldn't ignore sex but at least the hot rocket jockeys are female, and they outrank the male Marine (Mobile Infantry) officers assigned to their ships.

As another poster pointed out, Avalon Hill produced a pretty good boardgame based on the book in the 1970s. I'd pay for that game to be translated to the computer. Anything based on the movie isn't likely to get any of my money.