Wing Commander games
by Alain Webb · in Game Design and Creative Issues · 08/17/2001 (11:09 pm) · 4 replies
Has anyone played any of the Wing Commander games? I think it would be cool to have some WC like games. I'd like to be able to reinact the Battle for Landreich& Battle For Sirius & Battle for Terra that's talked about in William Forstchen's novel, Fleet Action. I'd also like to reinact the WC novel The Price of Freedom. Maybe GG and/or Sierra can strike a deal with whoever's making WC games.
*graphics, music, character, and sound effects editors and the ability to turn off graphic explosions, music, and/or sound effects to save memory
*the ability to deploy as many units as I have
*the ability to salvage units and/or equipment
KEYBOARD SETTINGS
Make keyboard controls so that player can decide which key does what in the game. Also include a default keyboard setting, my preference for default is:
A: attack -- unit attacks any foe in range. Highlight unit and press A again to have unit not attack any foe in range
B: toggles between blasters (energy weapons), ballistics (ammo weapons), burners (missile weapons), boomers (artillery weapons), bombs, and all weapons settings. Press B and Z together to have unit ready to fire all weapons simultaneously.
C: press to turn on unit's cloaking device, press again to turn off unit's cloaking device -- let a unit be able to stay cloaked infinitely
D: docking -- unit docks with other unit/building, DropShip, etc.
E: evasive -- unit in evasive mode will try to evade foes by sprinting along a route that goes farthest away from all foes. While unit is in evasive mode, it will not attack any foes.
F: formation -- highlight units while pressing F and then select a formation from list
G: guarding -- unit in guard mode will engage any foe that attacks anyone and/or any group the unit is guarding
H: Holographic projector -- unit projects a hologram
I: press to turn on certain information/indicator systems (like search lights, radar, sensors, probes, etc.), press again to turn off those information systems
J: jump -- has unit jump towards another unit
K: kamikaze -- unit crashes into other unit, this can be negated by pressing M
or Delete before unit kamikazes into other unit
L: Launch/land -- Press to have unit launch other units. While unit is launching other units, press to have unit stop launching units; or select a unit and press L to have unit land on a target or inside another unit.
M: move -- unit will move forward, left right, backward in accordance with arrow keys and/or mouse. Ctrl button moves unit down, Shift moves unit up. Insert sets a new nav point, End ends the nav move system. Note that the mouse method of getting a unit to move can be used in place of the M button method.
N: neutral -- unit is placed in neutral terms of fighting stance and movement Unit will only fire if fired upon or if another unit it is guarding is fired upon. Unit will stop moving, but will resume movement if M is pressed in 3 seconds.
O: on/off, press to turn on unit when it's powered down, press while unit is powered up to turn on/off certain unit systems
P: pilot -- has pilot status (like experience, health, etc.)
Q: quit -- unit quits all functioning except life support and powers down.
R: Repair -- press once to activate repair systems, press again to deactivate repair
systems
S: Sideways -- unit moves sideways -- use left/right arrow keys or mouse to move unit in desired sideways direction
T: Turnover (ship) -- unit turns over (left and right sides reverse positions)
U:
V: View -- changes how you view the screen -- from pilot's view, to rear view, side view, overhead view, etc. Use arrow keys to highlight view options while pressing V to change the view
W: Weapons -- press to bring up advanced weapons setting display
X: move cursor over an object and press X to have unit attack only that object. Pressing X again will have unit refrain from attacking anything at anytime
Y: has only two units merge together -- great for when the left side of a unit has weakened armor & right side of another unit has weakened armor -- only units of same tonnage can merge. Merging can only be done as follows:
*right side of a unit & left side of other unit
*back side of a unit & front side of other unit
Units automatically become unmerged when one unit is different from another by:coming into contact with a non-space/non-dust terrain (like an asteroid).
Z: other unit options
Backspace -- has unit move backwards
? has unit conduct information gathering -- unit will gather as much intelligence on area as possible. Use movement keys to highlight the area the unit is looking at
Spacebar -- toggles between sensors & standard view
Home -- brings to Mothership, press again to view mainscreen of MotherShip
Page Up/Page Down -- press Page Up to increase unit's speed category by 1
Page Down to decrease unit's speed category by 1
Num+ press to increase unit's speed by 1 point
Num- press to decrease unit's speed by 1 point
Num* press to highlight all units on screen that player is allowed to command
Esc -- highlight a unit and press Esc to eject a pilot/crew
End -- use to end certain commands. While a unit is moving, press End to immediately end that unit's movement
Enter -- used to have a unit do certain commands like advanced nav movements.
Function keys -- press one to select a force group
Number keys -- press one to select a group
Alt -- use alt to pause game. While game is paused, in a corner is a small box that player can use to access game controls (such as certain options like saving, quitting game, turning on/off Level 3 stuff, etc.)
Delete -- cancels last command
Delete -- unit is deleted (unit self-destructs) -- hold Z while pressing Delete button
twice to delete unit. Pilot/crews eject before unit self-destructs
~ unit moves in semi-evasive/semineutral manner
< zoom out camera view
> zoom in camera view
Caps Lock -- brings up leadership screen
Tab -- brings up tab buttons on screen -- left click on a tab button to select it; right click on a tab button to remove it from screen
; has unit secretly follow other unit
" Talk -- lets you talk to individual and/or groups of units and/or other human players and/or cpu players
*graphics, music, character, and sound effects editors and the ability to turn off graphic explosions, music, and/or sound effects to save memory
*the ability to deploy as many units as I have
*the ability to salvage units and/or equipment
KEYBOARD SETTINGS
Make keyboard controls so that player can decide which key does what in the game. Also include a default keyboard setting, my preference for default is:
A: attack -- unit attacks any foe in range. Highlight unit and press A again to have unit not attack any foe in range
B: toggles between blasters (energy weapons), ballistics (ammo weapons), burners (missile weapons), boomers (artillery weapons), bombs, and all weapons settings. Press B and Z together to have unit ready to fire all weapons simultaneously.
C: press to turn on unit's cloaking device, press again to turn off unit's cloaking device -- let a unit be able to stay cloaked infinitely
D: docking -- unit docks with other unit/building, DropShip, etc.
E: evasive -- unit in evasive mode will try to evade foes by sprinting along a route that goes farthest away from all foes. While unit is in evasive mode, it will not attack any foes.
F: formation -- highlight units while pressing F and then select a formation from list
G: guarding -- unit in guard mode will engage any foe that attacks anyone and/or any group the unit is guarding
H: Holographic projector -- unit projects a hologram
I: press to turn on certain information/indicator systems (like search lights, radar, sensors, probes, etc.), press again to turn off those information systems
J: jump -- has unit jump towards another unit
K: kamikaze -- unit crashes into other unit, this can be negated by pressing M
or Delete before unit kamikazes into other unit
L: Launch/land -- Press to have unit launch other units. While unit is launching other units, press to have unit stop launching units; or select a unit and press L to have unit land on a target or inside another unit.
M: move -- unit will move forward, left right, backward in accordance with arrow keys and/or mouse. Ctrl button moves unit down, Shift moves unit up. Insert sets a new nav point, End ends the nav move system. Note that the mouse method of getting a unit to move can be used in place of the M button method.
N: neutral -- unit is placed in neutral terms of fighting stance and movement Unit will only fire if fired upon or if another unit it is guarding is fired upon. Unit will stop moving, but will resume movement if M is pressed in 3 seconds.
O: on/off, press to turn on unit when it's powered down, press while unit is powered up to turn on/off certain unit systems
P: pilot -- has pilot status (like experience, health, etc.)
Q: quit -- unit quits all functioning except life support and powers down.
R: Repair -- press once to activate repair systems, press again to deactivate repair
systems
S: Sideways -- unit moves sideways -- use left/right arrow keys or mouse to move unit in desired sideways direction
T: Turnover (ship) -- unit turns over (left and right sides reverse positions)
U:
V: View -- changes how you view the screen -- from pilot's view, to rear view, side view, overhead view, etc. Use arrow keys to highlight view options while pressing V to change the view
W: Weapons -- press to bring up advanced weapons setting display
X: move cursor over an object and press X to have unit attack only that object. Pressing X again will have unit refrain from attacking anything at anytime
Y: has only two units merge together -- great for when the left side of a unit has weakened armor & right side of another unit has weakened armor -- only units of same tonnage can merge. Merging can only be done as follows:
*right side of a unit & left side of other unit
*back side of a unit & front side of other unit
Units automatically become unmerged when one unit is different from another by:coming into contact with a non-space/non-dust terrain (like an asteroid).
Z: other unit options
Backspace -- has unit move backwards
? has unit conduct information gathering -- unit will gather as much intelligence on area as possible. Use movement keys to highlight the area the unit is looking at
Spacebar -- toggles between sensors & standard view
Home -- brings to Mothership, press again to view mainscreen of MotherShip
Page Up/Page Down -- press Page Up to increase unit's speed category by 1
Page Down to decrease unit's speed category by 1
Num+ press to increase unit's speed by 1 point
Num- press to decrease unit's speed by 1 point
Num* press to highlight all units on screen that player is allowed to command
Esc -- highlight a unit and press Esc to eject a pilot/crew
End -- use to end certain commands. While a unit is moving, press End to immediately end that unit's movement
Enter -- used to have a unit do certain commands like advanced nav movements.
Function keys -- press one to select a force group
Number keys -- press one to select a group
Alt -- use alt to pause game. While game is paused, in a corner is a small box that player can use to access game controls (such as certain options like saving, quitting game, turning on/off Level 3 stuff, etc.)
Delete -- cancels last command
Delete -- unit is deleted (unit self-destructs) -- hold Z while pressing Delete button
twice to delete unit. Pilot/crews eject before unit self-destructs
~ unit moves in semi-evasive/semineutral manner
< zoom out camera view
> zoom in camera view
Caps Lock -- brings up leadership screen
Tab -- brings up tab buttons on screen -- left click on a tab button to select it; right click on a tab button to remove it from screen
; has unit secretly follow other unit
" Talk -- lets you talk to individual and/or groups of units and/or other human players and/or cpu players
#2
If EA were to revive the project it would be in the form of the incredible lame (but profitable) massively multiplayer games, which in my opinion does not work for a flight sim and loses the whole thing that made the WC games cool, the story of you the main character involved in this larger than life conflict.
L
08/18/2001 (9:48 pm)
Nope the sequal to Prophecy is gonzo, canned over a year ago (well before EA destroyed Origin). The project was only in its design states too, so its doubtful anything will come from this for quite some time.If EA were to revive the project it would be in the form of the incredible lame (but profitable) massively multiplayer games, which in my opinion does not work for a flight sim and loses the whole thing that made the WC games cool, the story of you the main character involved in this larger than life conflict.
L
#3
(might have been a leftover though)
seems to me alotta companies are jumping on the mass multiplayer bandwagon without understanding what players want.
half of them are just a scoreboard attached to a horrificaly repetative "main event".
08/19/2001 (9:17 am)
I had seen a preview film showing some shots(might have been a leftover though)
seems to me alotta companies are jumping on the mass multiplayer bandwagon without understanding what players want.
half of them are just a scoreboard attached to a horrificaly repetative "main event".
#4
I have caught a few glimpses of this multiplayer though some videos (including the one on the Prophecy Music CD) and it looked nice.
Personally I would love to see another WC game but chances are slim.
L
08/20/2001 (7:44 am)
Originally WC Prophecy was supposed to have a multiplayer component to it although it was eventually scrapped from the project because it was taking too much time and actually delaying the game.I have caught a few glimpses of this multiplayer though some videos (including the one on the Prophecy Music CD) and it looked nice.
Personally I would love to see another WC game but chances are slim.
L
Frederick
(looked pretty skippy too, assuming it dodged all these budget cuts)