Any good space combat simulation game?

given the love of freelancer here, i'll kick it off with starlancer, the precursor to freelancer. make no mistakes, though, they're completely different animals. starlancer is concerned with the conflict that led to the launching of the sleeper ships in freelancer, the battle between the coalition and the alliance. it has some fairly involving missions and different mission outcomes, something more games of this genre need to embrace. the interface is very slick and the graphics still hold up. being able to walk around on the capital ships you're stationed on between missions for briefings and all that jazz is a nice touch. also highly recomended if you want a wingman who speaks with an extremely goofy german accent.

next up, and and a very good one, independence war 2. this is freelancer-esque in that it has a pretty loose mission selection structure and allows you to build up relations with a number of factions. you can run trade routes to generate income if you so desire, but really, who wants to do that when you can put on eye-patch and make those hapless traders FEAR YOUR NAME? (corporations are the bad guys in this, so you don't have to feel bad about it. not like you were going to, blackbeard). the graphics are still pretty damn solid in my opinion. it's got a fairly complex phyics and ship simulation system so i wouldn't recomend this for a first time out, but don't let it scare you away either.


every game i've listed in this thread supports joysticks - besides freelancer, of course. allow me to once again recomend the freespace series to anyone who has not played it.
well, hope someone found this useful.

 

I guess it is because this is a laptop forum, that a non-joystick game is so popular, because a Joystick is not that portable.

 

Isn't SW:BFII pay-to-play?

 

allow me to reiterate that all the games in my first post are playable with a mouse and keyboard, which is personally how i prefer to go myself. i personally hold that joystick play may be more dramatic, but mouse play is more precise.

nope. it's a multiplayer team based game (it has a singleplayer campaign, which is passable) but there's no fee.

 

I got to agree with Nucas, Freespace 2 and Independence War 2 are 2 of my favorite space sim games. Another one i really like is Wing Commander: Privateer although it's super old.

 

though i am loath to resurrect a dead thread, this bears mentioning. a fantastic total conversion for freespace 2 was recently released, using the enhanced engine.

like battlestar galactica? like killing things in space? behold your new master: battlestar galactica: beyond the red line. this is very well made and extremely fun, especially if you're a fan of the show. the only place it falls down is the voice acting, but that's always a given when nerds take up their mics. you do not need freespace 2 to play this. just download, install, and SADDLE UP AND RIDE! at the very least check out the website, you'll be impressed.

edit: i see i was beaten by mere minutes with this thread here, kind of a weird coincidence of timing since it's been out for days. curses!

 

Is it Joystick controlled?

 

So, I'm playing Freelancer again, but this time, with better PC, so 1400x1050 resolution and FSAA and Anisotropic filtering from the Ati Catalyst (plus adaptive AA).
Wow, what a game. I say it almost levels new generation space sims.

 

I got all the way to the end of this thread before seeing Privateer mentioned, kind of surprising. I played this one until my fingers bled back when I was 14/15. That one is right at the top of my "sentimental favorites" list, just below "Outhouse" on the TRS-80.

Now if you kids will excuse me I need to polish off this metamucil and go get my social security check before the post office closes...

 

Does that game have even a tenative date for release?? Looks bloody awesome.

 

They were aiming for a late 2007 release, but the core development team is only 6-7 guys, IIRC.