RE: games and RPing (Full Version)

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Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 5:20:27 PM)

Yo, I'm surprised nobody mentioned this, it has most of the wishes people mentioned around here(getting out of your ship with a crew and walking around on a random spot on a random planet, driving in an apc from your cargo hold on the said planet, leaving the bridge and flying around with your own fighter, stealing other people's vehicles and using the enemy's tanks to destroy his own base, simulated boarding battles on your very own ship(tell those engineers to stay in the engineering when intruders try to sabotage the ship or prisoners escape after damage to the detention bay), has an interesting campaign or you can just roam through the galaxy trading/shooting/capturing enemy bases/or just plainly exploring every planet, even gas giants if your shields can handle the HUGE pressure) , and, most important of all, IT'S TOTALLY FREE:
http://www.3000ad.com/games/universal-combat/
http://www.3000ad.com/download/

Called Universal Combat, it's a niche kind of game that started with the old Battlecruiser 3000AD, also free and around that very site. You can pretty much command your ship any way you want, and send every single one of your crew members to do anything you want them to(well, within the limits of their capabilities, sending an engineer with a handgun in the middle of the enemy base will only get him killed, he's no Scotty[:D]; however beaming down with your elite marine squad to take out the enemy air defenses while you instruct your fighters to launch ground strikes and your shuttles to drop the heavy tanks is a very nice way to have fun....if you don't get yourself killed in the process....which can be avoided if once you beam down you get inside the nearest enemy tank and start blasting their own to pieces....before getting back to your ship in the nearest shuttle/stolen enemy shuttle and launching a nuclear strike on the other enemy base on the dark side of the planet....after which you decide you need a base of operations and disable the orbital space station, board it, and take it over in the name of your government....then doing a spacewalk on the punctured hull of your ship in your EVA suit, watching the sunrise as your orbital path takes your to the light side of the planet, waiting for your surviving engineers to finally fix those blasted engines so you can get to the nearby moon and pick up the mining drones you left there before the battle so you can use the minerals to fix the power systems so you can power the subspace drive and jump back to earth for a quick repair at a cheap price.....totally forgetting about the 10 enemy intruders rampaging across the ship, fighting around the shuttle bay with the few marines you have left and trying to shoot those medics trying to heal your crew and engineers doing their business....all oblivious in the emergency to the fact the the primary life support is down and they will all suffocate in a few hours, unless they get to the sections where secondary life support is still functional....everyone totally not noticing the enemy carrier and escorts inbound for your ship, because the sensors got damaged in the last attack and all you can see is the big space station you just captured 2 clicks from your ship firing it's HUGE laser cannons and blasting the carrier&company as they barely get out of hyperspace.

Well, that's a small presentation of what you can do in that game. I played it myself and I love it. It's very complex and has a steep learning curve, but it's awesome once you get the hang of it. The campaign was much more diverse for its predecessor, Battlecruiser Millenium Gold, but then again, that's not the highpoint of the game. If you can do the campaign you're an ace anyway. You can play the game at your own pace, might get frustrated because things happen in REAL TIME, so if your engineer says that fixing the engines will take 7 hours, then you'll just have to float around for 7 hours. Fortunately, I learned how to fix that with a couple of codes input at the shortcut window, which give you the ability to accelerate time and play the game much more relaxed. I'll tell them once I can find them.

Also, forgot to mention that your crew is LIVING, as they actually have to go to sleep and eat, and get medical care, and can get infected if you keep sending them to weird jungle planets or get irradiated if near big explosions or toxic environments. They also LEARN, and get better at their job, especially your bridge crew and pilots, if they live long enough of course. You can also do research in your research lab if you play a military career with a ship that has one, and there are a number of cool artifacts that you can find in the universe and your research engineer can figure out once she's smart enough, even a PLANET BUSTING weapon that just turns any planet you shoot it at into a flaming rock of lava, and gets your courtmartialed, hunted down and executed if you're into the terran military. You can also command fleets and space stations once you have a high enough rank, which is awesome since help is scarce to come by in the hostile quadrants of the galaxy, and it gives another reason to capture space stations, since any ships that were still docked when you capture them, come under the custody of your factions and thus, you.

I have a couple of saves in which I have a pretty good situation if you want them.

Cheers




J HG T -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 5:41:41 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MartialDoctor
One fairly recent one that hasn't been mentioned here is Jade Empire.  Played it on the Xbox myself.  It's been the only RPG I've ever gone back and played again.  I really got into the storyline and setting in that one.

Love Jade Empire also. Have the PC special edition. One of my all-time favs. Should play it through again sometime.
EDIT: Oh, and "Just Kill the Golem Already, would you?" cracks me up every time.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Shark7
And there is a new Deus Ex coming out in July (IIRC). So now I'm really getting itchy to replay the first 2...and I may go for PC versions this time around.

I'm really excited about the human revolution. Slightly worried, but from what I've seen from vids, pics and stuff it just can't be bad. It may end up being only good or great, not excellent classic like the original. But bad? Nuh uh!

More quality cyperpunk is always good.




Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 5:56:21 PM)

Another cool RPG that integrates a lot of elements and has an extraordinary and huge storyline and gigantic variety is Planet's edge. Though old, it's free and I used Dos Box emulator to play it. It's awesome once you get into the story and learn to handle the team.
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/651/Planets+Edge.html

Oh, and this, though very complex, but incredibly detailed and cool story:
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/851/MegaTraveller+2+-+Quest+for+the+Ancients.html

And let's not forget this:
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/428/Albion.html




Data -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 7:42:02 PM)

Merker, you're my favourite enabler...me wants it all, saves included [&o]
I've stumbled upon batlecruiser 3000 in my searches but dismissed it as I'd like more exploration and less fighting. Maybe I was too quick to dismiss it.




Data -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 8:01:02 PM)

The more I read on these suggestions of yours the more I ask myself two questions:

1) How can we find all these great features mostly in old games?

2) Where the heck were you all my life? And this should not be taken in a romantic way [:D]

Btw, this abandonia is like gog? Great stuff.




Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 8:07:58 PM)

Oh, you can explore in Universal combat, even have a career as an explorer, though the ship they give you is L.A.M.E., you're better off as a military dude that deserts his post. My personal favorite is getting into a shuttle with an APC, landing on some exotic planet and just driving around. The game also features rudimentary trees and animals, but it can be fun even with those. And you can also swim if you like, and use boats and stuff.
Also, if you just feel like directing everything from afar, you can use probes and send them explore for you. Pretty fast little buggers, you can monitor everything in their region of space from afar using the extremely useful tool called TACOPS computer, which is you basic RTS interface, you can pause time, give orders, set waypoints, access all other computers(like tactical for personnel distribution, equipment management and stuff, logistics for repairs, cargo and power distribution and other stuff I can't recall at the moment), switch to orbital view if you have a planet in the region or have a probe in the atmosphere of one. The probe feature was one of my most strong desires since battlecruiser 3000AD, in which they didn't work. Now you can use them to explore or give orders to my fleet on the other side of the galaxy, though with one of the artifacts called Hyperion Subspace Device you can just pop around anywhere you want in seconds. If you launch the probe in the planet's atmosphere it also gives you atmospheric info I think, as well as allowing you to monitor the region. There are also a couple of secret locations that are hard to get to and present the mystery of the series from the very first game.

PS: you can also get lost in some sort of subspace called null space if your hyperdrive acts up. The only way to get back is to call for a tow from HQ or use the Hyperion device.

It also has multiplayer, but I've yet to manage to find someone to play with. The free version doesn't have it, but I have the full version and I can send you the MP part.

But I start rambling again. First download the game, then tell me a way how to send you the stuff.




Data -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 8:24:40 PM)

Will do, thanks again....lots of presents to open now so I'll take my time with each and everyone of them.
I'm going now, I'll be back in a month or so [:D]




Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 8:38:09 PM)

Answer to questions:
1) Developers of the old games seem to have paid much more attention to story and development of the gameplay. Nowadays, all I hear are "rushed to meet some silly release date they announced to craze the fans" or "they paid more attention to multiplayer than to the story" or "they wanted to enhance the gameplay in general, not the story". The games have become way too superficial, and all just for the money, especially the big companies, it seems. Short, expensive and possibly followed by a few quick and short expansions which cost much more money and which contain features that should have been in the original game. Take dragon age 2 as example. I've watched the Toegoff let's play of it and it turned out less than half the length of Origins, lots of repetitive environments and repetitive, unnecessarily bloody and senseless combat(not that combat in games has much sense, but come on, even Mass Effect 2 had more meaning to the battles, at least I loved the characters and the final mission was how the entire game should have been but it made me feel really good after finishing it, also, same length as ME1 for me at least, 42hrs)

2) I've rarely posted on forums this much, until my new passion with making AAR equivalents for space games like X3 and DW.

3) I don't really know about Good old Games(that's gog I presume), but abandonia has helped me find some great old fun. And no viruses or illegal stuff either.

Oh yeah, and another, I LOVED this, this is how space games should emulate space, even REALISTIC newtoninan physics and orbits, the first game to have seamless transitions between space and planet surface:
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/709/Frontier+-+First+Encounters.html
with help file: http://www.jades.org/ffefaq2.htm
http://www.jades.org/download.htm
patchy stuff: http://www.oocities.org/wowzer_nz/patch.htm


Oh, and the manual for mega traveler 2: http://www.freegameempire.com/games/Megatraveller-2/manual
Cheers




J HG T -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 8:45:16 PM)

Looks interesting but I have principle regarding "large" games: It must be fairly easy to learn and fairly hard to master. Good examples here would be the classics DW, MoO and SR2. After I tried Ad Astra I've been very careful around games that sound too good to be true.
Still, props for you guys if you can enjoy these games.




Igard -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 9:13:42 PM)

If anyone wants to know, there's an upcoming game that's driving me quite mad waiting for.

It's Elite IV by David Braben and Frontier Developments. They've teased us with the prospect of a release for about 15 years now. Still not sure if it's even going to happen.[:(]




Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 9:30:00 PM)

Well, the old games I recommended are easy to master, and have a HUGE plot. Universal Combat can have a plot if you want or you can just play in "free roaming mode" making up your own story as you see fit.

Oh, and another classic, awesome RPG with really unique story:
http://www.abandonia.com/en/games/428/Albion.html




Tree Dog -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 9:47:07 PM)

Hahaha, looking at your links, I now wonder how I could ever find those graphics jaw-dropping beautiful. [:D]




Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/11/2011 10:17:06 PM)

UC demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsZdOb7CDi4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY7xf89uv0c&feature=related this is from BC millenium gold, but same mechanic.




MartialDoctor -> RE: games and RPing (4/12/2011 1:24:55 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Merker

2) I've rarely posted on forums this much, until my new passion with making AAR equivalents for space games like X3 and DW.



Going to go a little off topic with this but was curious what mods you use for X3.




Lrfss -> RE: games and RPing (4/12/2011 2:44:52 AM)

Hey guys!

I was checking out Albion and was wondering how you can get it to run under vista? When you DL the game and open the zip and try the install I can't get it to even install...lol?

Thanks...




Bateman1982 -> RE: games and RPing (4/12/2011 8:04:07 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Lrfss

Hey guys!

I was checking out Albion and was wondering how you can get it to run under vista? When you DL the game and open the zip and try the install I can't get it to even install...lol?

Thanks...


It works if you use dosbox.
Note that I copied my albion cd information into c:\games\albioncd

Run dosbox and type the following in the prompt, (ignoring any brackets)

mount c c:\games (mounts your games folder as the c drive in dosbox)

mount d c:\games\albioncd -t cdrom (mounts the albion cd information as a cdrom drive with letter d)

d: (accesses your newfound d drive)

install

Now just install albion to your c drive.
Once completed, goto the folder using dosbox and type albion and the game should run with a bit of luck.




J HG T -> RE: games and RPing (4/12/2011 8:31:10 AM)

Also, remember to use CTRL-F11 to slow and CTRL-F12 to speed up the emulation depending how the game is running. I play One Must Fall 2097 and I need to max the emu speed to get it working right. Damn, how I love that game! Flail FTW!




Lrfss -> RE: games and RPing (4/12/2011 8:48:18 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: Bateman1982


quote:

ORIGINAL: Lrfss

Hey guys!

I was checking out Albion and was wondering how you can get it to run under vista? When you DL the game and open the zip and try the install I can't get it to even install...lol?

Thanks...


It works if you use dosbox.
Note that I copied my albion cd information into c:\games\albioncd

Run dosbox and type the following in the prompt, (ignoring any brackets)

mount c c:\games (mounts your games folder as the c drive in dosbox)

mount d c:\games\albioncd -t cdrom (mounts the albion cd information as a cdrom drive with letter d)

d: (accesses your newfound d drive)

install

Now just install albion to your c drive.
Once completed, goto the folder using dosbox and type albion and the game should run with a bit of luck.


Thanks for the info!

One question though, since I have a recovery partition named d: Should I use say e: instead and would that work?

Thanks again...




cookie monster -> RE: games and RPing (4/12/2011 8:53:31 PM)

It will work wherever you install it.




ehsumrell1 -> RE: games and RPing (4/13/2011 3:37:32 AM)

I know I'm a bit old-school....but just IMAGINE what could have been
done with Derek Smart's original BattleCruiser 3000AD. Role play to
the ultimate. Space walking, Planet decent and landing, Auxiliary ship
operations, etc. Could have been a masterpiece. Also, think what could
have been done with a sequel to Microsoft's FreeLancer! I know in it's
present state it's more of a shooter, but I do remember suffering from
Edison Trent-itis (Juni was Very sexy for a fighter pilot....lol) [;)]




Lrfss -> RE: games and RPing (4/13/2011 3:50:26 AM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: ehsumrell1

I know I'm a bit old-school....but just IMAGINE what could have been
done with Derek Smart's original BattleCruiser 3000AD. Role play to
the ultimate. Space walking, Planet decent and landing, Auxiliary ship
operations, etc. Could have been a masterpiece. Also, think what could
have been done with a sequel to Microsoft's FreeLancer! I know in it's
present state it's more of a shooter, but I do remember suffering from
Edison Trent-itis (Juni was Very sexy for a fighter pilot....lol) [;)]


For sure!

Also does anyone rem the Wing Commander Series? LOL!




J HG T -> RE: games and RPing (4/13/2011 6:35:03 AM)

There are rumors every now and then about Freelancers sequel, but I really don't see it possible nowadays. Pity.
BTW ehsumrell1, just FYI, Freelancer has some great mods that make it bigger and and a bit more deeper. Discovery is what I play sfrom time to time. Great mod. Lots of new ships, stuff and interesting places to explore.
Also, it has one of my favourite ships in space-games ever: Spatial - E78-12, AKA the "Nebulon Ranger, Crescent-X9".
Spatial at Discovery Wiki




ehsumrell1 -> RE: games and RPing (4/13/2011 10:17:34 AM)

Whenever I'm galloping around as Edison Trent, I like the Crossfire Mod (1.81v).
MUCH more to do, and also spins off and continues the storyline. [:)]

I have the Mod Manager for Freelancer and have tried them all.
My favorite fighter (when you can find one) is the Nephthys, with
all 6 gun ports filled......Ohh the firepower! [sm=sterb003.gif]




J HG T -> RE: games and RPing (4/13/2011 11:00:27 AM)


Looked some pics and vids about he Crossfire in ModDB and I feel urge to get back in the Sirius sector! DLing now.
Thanks for the tip Ehsumrell1!




Kayoz -> RE: games and RPing (4/13/2011 12:27:27 PM)

I just tend to avoid anything involving Derek Smart. Loudmouth braggart without anything to brag about.




gijas17 -> RE: games and RPing (4/14/2011 4:57:22 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: MartialDoctor


quote:

ORIGINAL: Merker

2) I've rarely posted on forums this much, until my new passion with making AAR equivalents for space games like X3 and DW.



Going to go a little off topic with this but was curious what mods you use for X3.


Try the x-tended mod http://www.moddb.com/mods/the-x-tended-mod . Not sure if you have the original X3 or the addon - Terran Conflict but the x-tended mod is for both games I believe. Basically there is new ship extensions and huds, space graphics no make your mouth water, station missions and a new story line for the most of the races.

On subject Im looking forward to Gemini Wars http://www.geminiwars.com/index.html which is a new space RTS 4x game in development. As far as RP goes Starpoint Gemini which is a new space RP game though its production values are budget. http://www.starpointgemini.com/

I can't believe no one mentioned Nexus Jupiter Incident... just re-bought it. It was amazing space RPG for its time and still is one of the best. The graphics are still some of the best around for these types of games and there are a ton of mod for it. http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=Search+...&released=def&style=def&theme=def&game=119&type=def




Merker -> RE: games and RPing (4/14/2011 11:08:44 AM)

Ok, for plain X3 I use the following mods to play it right:
-XTM mod
-Race Response Fleets
-Xenon Migration
-Pilot AI
-EST(economy supply trader)
-Universe explorers
-Factory Complex Constructor
-Ashley’s XXL fabs –awesome addition to any game, saves me a lot of lag and excessive numbers of factories, complexes of normally 60 fabs are reduced to 10-15 fabs.
-Capitol ship crews 
-Combat mod –makes combat more difficult, and all weapons are generally more useful and less laggy with it.
-No civilians –ocasionally
-Radar boost –seriously, with that tech level, you’d expect a radar to be more useful than present day stuff.
(Improved Khaak) -when I want to end the game quickly
-Bonus scripts-very useful
-MARS fire control
-Mercenaries Guild and Merchants Guild by Cycrow

Indeed, Nexus was one of the most AWESOME tactical fleet simulator RPGs in existence, I had fun every minute of it, and every mission had me crying "wow, cool"  every 5 minutes or so. I will always remember it with joy.

Cheers




Tree Dog -> RE: games and RPing (4/14/2011 2:21:12 PM)


quote:

ORIGINAL: gijas

I can't believe no one mentioned Nexus Jupiter Incident... just re-bought it. It was amazing space RPG for its time and still is one of the best. The graphics are still some of the best around for these types of games and there are a ton of mod for it. http://www.moddb.com/mods?filter=t&kw=Search+...&released=def&style=def&theme=def&game=119&type=def


Imperium Galactica 1 and 2 are still awesome too.




thunderstruck -> RE: games and RPing (4/28/2011 12:12:22 AM)

wow lots of reading,


will agree, game makers of yesterday knew how to make games for the most part.
when games were made, not just sold

take the new XCOM coming out this year, is NOTHING of,About or LIkened or even the Game type of XCOM.

And the trailers do not even look appealing to myself, *another 1st person shooter- like there arent enough of em.
To me they are Hijacking the title for sales.

On the subject of UC  this is a game I have dreamed of- spent many times and many months-years tyring to play it. It has great gfx,models and scope, but for the life of me could not learn how to do things, or if they were even possible.

You mentioned  ground assaults etc 

well I have tried many things in this game, captured star bases destroyed land bases,
but tbh, to do things it is near impossible to figure out if you even can or if it is possible.

Documentation is severely lacking on how to.  It is a by all intents a Great Dream Game.
It is really neat to try, learn explore, but lacks on strategy,abilities,documentation.

after a couple years I still could not do what I was trying to do, build an empire.

I could easily be mistaken in my take, but I spent a great deal of time trying to learn this game and use it and play it, because frankly it is a DREAM GAME, one every player dreams of.

I recall trying to get info on it (when I first bought the disk), and 3000AD had some choice words about it. seems they and the dev's had a falling out.

Personally I think it was incomplete, and not fully ready documented. Though I would install it in a heartbeat if I could actually play it with the knowledge of knowing what can and cannot be done.
What functions are avail etc.

When you start learning by way of pressing keys and alt commands to find uses    well....

Regards,




Data -> RE: games and RPing (4/28/2011 5:42:09 AM)

It is indeed one of the most sad stories what happens now with XCOM....I haven't even got beyond ufo defense, I still consider it the best of the series




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