Considering buying

[maddjkr]

Hi, While looking at the web site and scrolling through the message boards, I have a few questions before i buy this game.
1. Is their any kind of merchant ships, civilian ships, police or what?
2. Is their any diplomatic missions?
3. What is the game like?

I appreciate the assistance that anyone can offer me.
Thank you.

[TheDeadlyShoe]

Well first off it isn't like Battlecruiser or Freelancer. It's purely a combat game, there's no ship buying etc etc.

On the flip side you can command anything from a flight of fighters to your sides entire fleet. Fighters are armed with guns and a variety of missiles, and capital ships can be armed with a large number of weapons, varying from various versions of point-defense gun batteries to anti-ship torpedoes. However there is no customization of this, at least in the stock game. Your ship is armed with what it comes with.

One thing to note is that Starshatter is very mod friendly. There is tremendous flexibility in ship design, it comes with a very basic 3d-editor, and contains a fairly easy-to-use in-game mission editor.

There are some merchant vessels but for the most part your interaction with them is on the level of "don't let this be blown up" and "blow it up". [;)]

The heart of the game is the "Dynamic Campaign", oft-described as similar to Falcon 4.0 although I've never played it so I can't say for sure. It's a slightly more modern combat game than the WWII-style favored by most flight games. More emphasis on missiles and decoys, for instance, although guns are still very important. You can always try downloading the demo which is available on the Starshatter website, http://www.starshatter.com/

[Hertston]

What he said, really.

Starshatter is a space combat sim, including both "you are the pilot" and fleet command (in real time) approaches. It's based on a dynamic campaign, rather than a set number of scripted missions, an approach I have always vastly preferred as it vasts extends re-playability and helps you get involved in "your" campaign. It's a good enough space combat sim that you just don't need trading or diplomacy - if indeed you ever wanted it in the first place (zzzzzzzzzzzzz....... [;)] ) .

Try the demo. It's pretty extensive and if you like it you will enjoy the full game. If you don't, you won't.