[3661] in comp.os.os2.announce archive
BETA: Stellar Frontier 0.81 available!
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Brad Wardell)
Mon Dec 15 00:09:20 1997
To: os2ann.DISCUSS@bloom-picayune.MIT.EDU
Date: 14 Dec 1997 23:05:00 -0400
From: wardell@ibm.net (Brad Wardell)
Reply-To: wardell@ibm.net (Brad Wardell)
Reply-to: wardell@ibm.net (Brad Wardell)
[Followups directed to comp.os.os2.games]
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For those of you who are in the Stellar Frontier beta program, version 0.81
is now available.
Gamers who are interested in joining can go to http://www.stardock.com.
Here's info on the game:
Introduction
Mankind had barely gotten faster than light travel when the Drengin Empire
and the Torians had arrived in Earth's solar system. Each race wanted full
control of our solar system which was merely part of a larger goal for
domination of the galaxy.
They had possessed faster than light travel for centuries and their weapons
were very powerful. Luckily, the humans had the home field advantage and
more importantly, the Drengin and Torians were age long enemies. Enemies
that only had a small foot hold in our solar system.
You start out as a lowly Ensign in the human fleet and take command of a
small star ship and must rid our solar system of these invaders. Once you
have done that, you will take your fleets to new star systems and begin the
process of bringing Earth's presence to new frontiers. As time goes on, you
will move up through the ranks until you are an Admiral at which time you
will be able to decide what types of ships your side builds (until then, you
'll have to make due with the help EarthGov gives).
If all goes well, you will liberate the galaxy from the tyranny of the
Dregin and Arceans and bring a long lasting peace to peoples everywhere.
The Single Player Game=85
In Stellar Frontier's single player mode, you start out commanding a scout
ship and must help rid the Drengin and Torians from a single star system
(The Sol system).
Each side will come with a home planet base. In the initial battle, the
humans will have Earth, the Drengins will control one of the Jovian moons,
and the Torians are based on Venus. Each side has a single star base which
serves as a shipyard. Starbases are extremely tough and difficult to
destroy (it would take an entire fleet to destroy one). The speed in which
a star base is able to create new ships is based on the population of the
your side which is based on colonies). Colonies also, as a by product,
release "power ups" that are meant for your star ships to upgrade themselves
but your enemies can also get a hold of those powerups. The resources from
your colonies are transferred back to your star base via freighters.
At first, you will not have any control over what your shipyard (star base)
builds since you're just a commander of a single star ship. But eventually
when you make it to Admiral which allows you to be fleet master, you'll be
able to tell your shipyard what It should be building.
The types of ships you can build include:
* Scout Class Vessel. A fast but weak ship that is good at harassing the
enemy and keeping track of their movements. Cost: $20 billion (each
freighter brings back $1 billion and it will wait at a colony for a length
of period which is based on that colony's population).
* Defender Class Vessel. A medium sized ship that will move off to guard
colonies from enemy ships Cost: $50 billion.
* Escort Class Vessel. A medium sized ship that will guard freighters as
they bring ore to your star base. Cost: $50 billion.
* Cruiser Class Vessel. A large sized star ship that is good at making
attack runs on enemy ships. Cost: $100 billion.
* Dreadnought Class Vessel. A huge and immensely powerful ship that can
attack and defend and do pretty much whatever else it wants. Cost: $200
billion credits.
* Freighter. A huge but largely defenseless ship that will travel to and
From asteroids mining ore. It brings back an equivalent of 1 ton of
processed ore. (it holds much more than that but lots of rock is brought
back to get real ore). Cost: $30 billion.
* Colony Ship. A huge ship that travels to moons, asteroids, and planets to
begin colonies. Colonies generate $1 billion credits per million colonists
per year. Cost: $30 billion.
Stellar Frontier isn't a game where you control a bunch of ships. At first,
you won't even be able to control what is built and later on you will be
able to control what they do but the ships will then perform based on what
type of ship they are. You will be able to order ships to help you in
attacks, however.
To determine what type of ship you build, you simply shift-mouse click the
space station and choose the types of ships you want to build. It will
continue to build that type of ship until you change it. You can also tell
it to build based on what it thinks needs to be built (auto).
Your ship can improve itself by collecting Power-Ups which come from
colonies and destroyed star ships.
The Multi-Player Game=85
You can choose to warp to another system which will bring up Stardock.net.
Stardock.net will display a list of active star systems with how many other
star ships are already engaged in battle, the name of the star ship, and the
distance (measured in the new astronomical unit known as "Ping units"). The
further the distance, the less likely you'll want to go there. Systems that
you should look at visiting will be within 500 ping units.
Once you arrive, the game is similar to single player game except that you
do not necessarily get to be on the human side, you are drafted to be on the
side that needs you the most. You also do not get to decide what ships are
built, it is set to auto so team work is crucial.
In multiplayer play, there's teamwork involved on your side in protecting
your freighters, colonies, home base, as well as attacking your enemy's
freighters, colonies, and bases.
The game is won when all enemy bases and colonies have been totally
eliminated from a star system. At which point in the multi-player game it
starts over.
What Stellar Frontier Is Like=85
The beauty of Stellar Frontier is not just its excellent graphics or even
its terrific internet performance. It also comes from the fact that the
unit AI, the computer controlled ships, are extremely intelligent. You don'
t have to tell them what to do, they do it on their own and they do it
extremely well. This leaves the player the freedom to fly his ship and take
out enemies. The game feels a lot like a combination of Star Control 2 and
Ultima On-Line because it has the game feel of Star Control but the much of
the character development and community found in Ultima On-Line.
Because of its combination of great single player play and a rewarding
multiplayer experience, Stellar Frontier is sure to be a hit with all
classes of gamers.
The Arrival
Stellar Frontier will be available in the Spring of 1998 at both stores and
on-line channels. An early beta version of it is available at
http://www.stardock.com.
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