Topic: G*d frickin dammit - will someone please make this game seem old?

[NuclearWessels]

OK, it's been 13 frickin years since I first played this online, and every time I reload this g.d. game I LOVE IT.  It's not fair.   No matter how much tech comes and goes, no matter how many new games come out, this one is still simply my favorite.  Maybe it's getting a little trickier to maintain systems it will run on, but I still love this bloody game.

OK, have that off my chest, now will browse the boards for a bit and see who's still around 

dave

[Bernard Guignard]

Welcome back 

[Nemesis]

Welcome back.

[BlazinBud]

OK, it's been 13 frickin years since I first played this online, and every time I reload this g.d. game I LOVE IT.  It's not fair.   No matter how much tech comes and goes, no matter how many new games come out, this one is still simply my favorite.  Maybe it's getting a little trickier to maintain systems it will run on, but I still love this bloody game.

OK, have that off my chest, now will browse the boards for a bit and see who's still around 

dave

My same exact thoughts....  Nothing has ever held my attention like SFC series....  Every few years I upgrade my system in hopes of finding a game that will suck me in like SFC,  not gonna happen.  I think Im done upgrading.  Im Getting old SIGH....  I truely do miss the good old days jumping on a dyna a few hours before work and most of the night after work...

[Czar Mohab]

Does this help it seem old?

Min Specs SFC1:
Minimum CPU Type: Pentium
Minimum CPU Speed: 166 MHz
Minimum RAM Required: 32 MB
Minimum Hard Disk Space: 200 MB
Graphics Type: SVGA
Graphics Resolution: Multiple Resolutions
Color Depth: 256 Colors

SFCv2:EaW and OP:
MINIMUM PC REQUIREMENTS
Pentium III 500MHz (without 3D acceleration)
Pentium II 350 or better (with 3D acceleration)
DirectX 7.0 (included)
64MB RAM
550MB free hard disk space
4X or faster CD-ROM drive
100% Microsoft compatible mouse and keyboard
Compatible with D3D supported video cards
MULTIPLAYER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Up to 6 players on LAN, TCP/IP (Internet)
2 players on modem (28.8 Kbps) or Serial Port (serial cable)

For fun, SFC3:
MINIMUM PC REQUIREMENTS
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP
Pentium III 450MHz Processor
128MB RAM
16MB Direct3D Accelerated Video Card
650MB Hard Disk Space
300MB Windows Swap File Space
DirectX 8.1
DirectX-compatible Sound Card
4X CD-ROM Drive
DirectX 8.1
Keyboard
Mouse
MULTIPLAYER SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
TCP/IP Internet Connection or LAN
28.8Kbps Modem

For reference, I have an old Packard Bell desktop that barely meets the min-spec for SFC1. Not Hewlett-Packard, HP, Compaq, or whatever they call themselves now, but Packard Bell.

SFC1 was released July 31, 1999. One month after I graduated high school and one month before I entered the service... 153 days before everyone thought the world was going to end...

SFC1 was released along with these games the same year. Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri, Sim City 3000 and Everquest are but a few big names from the list.

Windows 98 was the OS of the time.

Old enough yet?

The Czar

P.S. SFCv2:EAW was released December 20, 2000 alongside these games. OP July 1, 2001 alongside these and SFC3 November 21, 2002 alongside these.

P.P.S. "Slick" Willy Clinton was still president for SFC1 and 2...

[FPF-DieHard]

Still the best tactical game "system" ever.  it is a shame nobody can take this IP to the next level in a "modern" game with better strategic layer.

[Bernard Guignard]

Yes it is a shame  Could some build a larger model viewer the talden one is so tiny lately 

[Captain Adam]

.

[Ronin]

I waited roughly twenty years ('79-'99?) for Amarillo Design Bureau's "Starfleet Battles" to finally show up as Starfleet Command. My guess is that we will eventually see a completely reworked vision of Starfleet Battles, perhaps even with 3D (true 360 degree with up/down in addition to left/right) combat, something the first two incarnations never had, but many of us dreamed about. A new user interface, new ship models, much improved graphics and the ability to have much larger (6v6, anyone?) battles. Most people have high-speed internet access, faster machines, better graphics cards and that will only continue.

I think we are once again waiting for the dream we have to find its way into a game design studio where someone knows how incredible this game is, despite its high initial learning curve and relative difficulty of play.

Of course, old grognards like us enjoy games like that. But I think we are waiting for someone capable of:

1. Enjoying the game as much as we do
2. Selling the idea to an entire team of professional game designers/scripters
3. Financing the construction of the game
4. Marketing the game

Which, to me, means we are liable to be waiting a while, sadly.

Complex and challenging games like this are something of a niche market. But I hold out hope, despite the odds. My wife spent many years trailing me through stores that sold PC games laughing as I said over and over, "Someday it will be here, honey. You wait and see." Now she is laughing again. But now it's with the appreciation most of our spouses have for all the enjoyment and comradery this damned game provided.

I may have been a sneaky underhanded Romulan pirate here... but I salute you all with sincere appreciation for being a part of a game that towers over all the others I have ever been a part of.

Ronin

[Panzergranate]

I played Star Fleet Battles back in the early 1980's at the South Dorset Millitary Society and liked the game.

Wind on 20 years and my son comes home with SFC 1 that he found in the discounted bargains in a "Game" video game chain store.

Still playing it occasionally.

The only other "old" games that seem to have a loyal following and folks keep "tinkering with" in order to adapt them to newer and more problematic versions of Windows are:

Warzone 2100 (I spent all night until dawn playing this last night).

Command & Conquer.

Total Anilation.

The original X-Com Enemy Unknown (Alien Unknown in the US and Canada).

They all have something special about them that folks keep coming back to, game critics use as a benchmark measure against and all have a fanbase that outlasted the original developer in some cases.

Cult followings are few and far between in the gaming world.

[Age]

Hi Island boy write any good scripts lately.

[NuclearWessels]

Thx Nemesis and BG.

Agreed Diehard!  (So, been banned from anyplace interesting lately?  )

Hope you're right Ronin - with the resources available now instead of 15 years ago a remake of SFB could be truly brilliant, at least for those of us looking for that kind of thing.

Hey Age!   Sadly not - though I did at least get my old scripting environment unzipped and kinda stable for the first time in yonks.  I still love playing with it, just can't imagine where I'd find the time to tackle it the way it needs to be tackled.  Might make a helluva retirement project some years down the road 

dave

[FPF-DieHard]

Agreed Diehard!  (So, been banned from anyplace interesting lately?  )

I'm on my 5th DDO forum account.  Old habits die hard.

[FPF-DieHard]

Hope you're right Ronin - with the resources available now instead of 15 years ago a remake of SFB could be truly brilliant, at least for those of us looking for that kind of thing.

Two issues . . .

- new 'Trek' movie franchise.  I don't think we'll see a game, any game, based on anything remotely resembling "old" Trek until this fades away.  A few more movies as sh*tty as "Into Darkness" and that may be reality soon though.
- Steven V Cole got ripped off by Interplay the first time and is hesitant to do anything with the IP.  That and he's a raging c*ntbag.

[Corbomite]

Agreed Diehard!  (So, been banned from anyplace interesting lately?  )

I'm on my 5th DDO forum account.  Old habits die hard.

Don't take too much credit, they have their sphincters wound tighter than a rubberband on a toy airplane over there. I don't think I've been to a more joyless place on the net. That whole forum needs an enema.

[Panzergranate]

Hmmmm..... SFC 1 minimum hard drive space requied = 200 M.Bytes??

Mine ocupies just under 10 G.Bytes because of all the additional models, races, scripts, etc. added in so far.

The shiplist file is 3 K.Bytes.

 

[EschelonOfJudgemnt]

Playing the ISC again, just because...

While the AI is not perfect in OP, I do find myself getting in over my head in encounters every now and again.  It is nice to see if I can pull them off still, when I'm outclassed and outnumbered.  I still get that little tug of satisfaction when I kill or capture a DN with a FF... plasmas make this a bit easier!

Never did hop on to the dyna much (bandwidth issues, have lots of bandwidth now but a monthly cap so still haven't done any serious D2), but the single player campaigns still amuse me.

If we WERE lucky enough to see a new incarnation of this, I'd love to see a better fleet implementation.  After all, the ISC is designed around fleet tactics, and it'd be fun to run eschelons with robust AI captains on my side.  Back in the day, 3 ships was a practical consideration, considering a lot of us were on dialup back then, plus processing power was a fraction of what it is nowadays.  These days, with faster connections for most people, and quad core processors, I'd think that 10 ships a side would be quite workable.

Still have the usual nitpicks (batteries were poorly implemented, no scout functions, etc.), but this game continues to throw me curves here and there, so I still enjoy the challenge!

Plus, a new incarnation would be prettier.  Taldren got the mechanics pretty much right on this one, and this is one of the only rts games I truly enjoy coming back to.

The main downside is that this ruined SFB for me.  I can't bring myself to go back to pen and paper again... who has the time anyways!  I still like looking at the SSDs at least, if for no reason other than to compare to the SFC implementation.

Andros and Tholians would have been nice.  Too bad Interplay and Taldren and ADB went their separate ways so soon!

[Panzergranate]

The newer PCs do enable the game to run some of the high poly models in quanity mainly due to graphics cards now having ginormous memory capacity compared to what was around in 1999 - 2004.

Even the oler machine used here have had the graphics "modernised" in order to allow high poly models to fly smoothly without lag in solo or LAN sessions here, though those have become a thing of the past since World Of Tanks sucked us in.

I'm figuring on introducing my nephew (12) to the wonderful world of SFC, though he is a Star Wars fan, so it'll start off SW orientated.

Perhaps I'll let him pit an Imperial War Destroyer (with correct speed and abilities in a Star Trek universe) against an AI Gorn frigate. My son reckons that'll be cruel and I should let him fight a Gorn F-LS to give him a fighting chance....

 

[FPF-DieHard]

If we WERE lucky enough to see a new incarnation of this, I'd love to see a better fleet implementation.  After all, the ISC is designed around fleet tactics, and it'd be fun to run eschelons with robust AI captains on my side.  Back in the day, 3 ships was a practical consideration, considering a lot of us were on dialup back then, plus processing power was a fraction of what it is nowadays.  These days, with faster connections for most people, and quad core processors, I'd think that 10 ships a side would be quite workable.

I'd love to see 10-12 player-controlled ships in a fleet.  Tactics would be completely different and definitely make for a more different game.

[Age]

Hope you're right Ronin - with the resources available now instead of 15 years ago a remake of SFB could be truly brilliant, at least for those of us looking for that kind of thing.

Two issues . . .

- new 'Trek' movie franchise.  I don't think we'll see a game, any game, based on anything remotely resembling "old" Trek until this fades away.  A few more movies as sh*tty as "Into Darkness" and that may be reality soon though.
- Steven V Cole got ripped off by Interplay the first time and is hesitant to do anything with the IP.  That and he's a raging c*ntbag.

Pretty much to the new games coming will be more like JJs Trek not Gene the other one.