Matrix Games Forums

About a realistic space combat sim and how I see it...

 
I just don't get all of the 2D space battles.  Not much XY and Z.
 
What is strange is that this is done wrong even in films.  In Star Trek, the Wrath of Khan, Spock states that Khan has a weekness in that he thinks in only two dimensions, but even then, the Enterprise just goes down and comes back up to the same plane and same angle of the other ship.  Why not just sit below it, and change the angle to attack the underside?
 
I'd really like some better 3D in all space games, and I don't mean better rendered graphics.
 

Another thing that bugs me is why units get so close to each other and why fighters use fixed-mount weapons instead of turrets with auto-tracking.

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

Another thing that bugs me is why units get so close to each other and why fighters use fixed-mount weapons instead of turrets with auto-tracking.

Becouse that's the way it's in Star Wars and it looked cool: airplanes in space. But if you want some realistic starship combat on tactical level, recommendations goes for Starfleet Command II: Orion Pirates

Does anyone play Space Empires V ?

Wanted to reinstall SEV but it doesn't run on Vista.

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

Becouse that's the way it's in Star Wars and it looked cool: airplanes in space.

Personally, I prefer airplanes in atmosphere[;)]. And zeppelins/real ships[:D].

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

But if you want some realistic starship combat on tactical level, recommendations goes for Starfleet Command II: Orion Pirates

Star Trek and realistic?

ORIGINAL: Lützow

Wanted to reinstall SEV but it doesn't run on Vista.

Yes it does.

ORIGINAL: Hertston

ORIGINAL: Lützow

Wanted to reinstall SEV but it doesn't run on Vista.

Yes it does.

How? I can't see any text and according to SEV forums there is no workaround for this.

I don't have the problem, so haven't needed a workaround! I don't know how many others have; it's not something I play a lot so don't tend to visit the forums. I'm running 1.77 on a Vista 32 bit system with no trouble, and 1.74 was OK as well.

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

But if you want some realistic starship combat on tactical level, recommendations goes for Starfleet Command II: Orion Pirates

Star Trek and realistic?

Yes, and so? I don't say it'd be the most realistic here, so Rules of Engagement serie or Nexus: Jupiter Incident could beat it on that. Haven't played those, so I don't know for certain.

What's so realistic about it?

I do. Great game I think.

ORIGINAL: Jeffrey H.

Does anyone play Space Empires V ?

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

...
About Battletech:
I played Mechcommander Gold, Mechwarrior 2, Mechwarrior 2 Mercenaries, Mechwarrior 3 and Mechwarrior 4.
I liked Mechwarrior 3 the most as a mech simulation. I liked the story/campaign aspect of MW2:M/MW2.
I didn't like MW4 - it felt very rigid and archaic when compared to MW3.

...

I rarely look in this forum. I'm mostly in the SSG games and Panther games. I don't see too many references to MechWarrior any more so I had to jump in.

I played all these games on-line to the point where I got a bad case of carpel tunnel in my right arm. (spelling ..?? please excuse) I was lucky and some cortisone shots solved the problem. I loved that game but due to some work travel and other RL things I drifted away from it. That was (is) one of the best series of mech type (FPS I guess you could say) battle simulators ever IMHO.

I still crank up Mercs occassionally and set up some games with AI buddies to go out and blast the heck outta some Black Knights or Thors or whatever sounds fun at the time to shoot at. ... gause rifles, rotary cannons, ... dang, I get excited just talking about it. I haven't checked if they still play on-line any more.

Definitely the best on-line gaming I ever did. Mechwarrior rules.

I play SEV (1.77 and 1.79) sometimes and it works in Vista 32 bit for me. I do get some white flashing screens every once in while which is a little irritating. I use the latest Balance Mod too.

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

ORIGINAL: Perturabo
Another thing that bugs me is why units get so close to each other and why fighters use fixed-mount weapons instead of turrets with auto-tracking.

Becouse that's the way it's in Star Wars and it looked cool: airplanes in space. But if you want some realistic starship combat on tactical level, recommendations goes for Starfleet Command II: Orion Pirates

I could never get the game to work, as the code in the box for copy protection didn't work, and since the box was open, the store wouldn't take it back. I still have it though, so if someone knows what the problem is, please PM me.

My son is into Star Trek, and I played Star Fleet Battles, so it would be nice to see what it can do.

ORIGINAL: hank

I still crank up Mercs occassionally and set up some games with AI buddies to go out and blast the heck outta some Black Knights or Thors or whatever sounds fun at the time to shoot at. ... gause rifles, rotary cannons, ... dang, I get excited just talking about it. I haven't checked if they still play on-line any more.

Definitely the best on-line gaming I ever did. Mechwarrior rules.

Hey, let me recommend you BattleTech: rulebooks alone number THOUSANDS of pages and there are tricks that were overlooked in videogames. Rip off limb from fallen 'Mech and use it as a club, pick up and throw Elementals, assign Heat Sinks effectively cool particular weapon more effectively, use Coolant Trucks to restore heat dissipation capacity and replenish coolant tanks, effects of low/high gravity, thin/thick atmospheres, wide range of weather conditions (bug storm!), recovery and treatment of combat casualties, maintenance, repairs and other logistics, FrankenMechs!!!

Would you like to know more?

There are even computer games that follow these rules to letter. Recommendations to MekWars. Java required, recommended version: Java Runtime Environment 1.6 Update 11.

ORIGINAL: Marauders

I could never get the game to work, as the code in the box for copy protection didn't work

You mean password? I have it on pretty clean print, but there could be more sloppy versions where is difficult to make out B from 8, D from 0 or I from l/1. Try it again, and if it still wont pass, PM me and I'll let you try code of my box.

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

tricks that were overlooked in videogames.

My adventure with the Battletech universe started with reading the Battletech Compendium. I always missed a lot of stuff from there when playing the computer games.

ORIGINAL: Perturabo

ORIGINAL: Matti Kuokkanen

tricks that were overlooked in videogames.

My adventure with the Battletech universe started with reading the Battletech Compendium. I always missed a lot of stuff from there when playing the computer games.

Oh my, yes. The Mech Commander games in particular were fun, but they weren´t really BattleTech any more. The Crescent Hawks´ Inception and the original MechWarrior at least tried, but the later games...

I apologize if someone already mentioned this but if you are looking for a space combat simulation (ie. space ship vs spaceship) then I would recommend http://www.freeallegiance.org/ I haven't played recently but it is a fun/intense game.  It is a bit complex though, so it takes a while to get into it.