Internet Spaceships Megathread

[Barrister]

I don't do Kickstarter or crowdsourcing, but I have been semi-following the development of Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen for awhile now.  As well, I've noted the release of some long-ago favourites like Wing Commander 3 and 4 on GOG, plus a few "never got to play them the first time around" like X-Wing and Tie Fighter.

Problem is of course that since the mid to late 90s I haven't had a reason to need a joystick, so I had no way of playing any of these games.

But last night, in a fairly spontaneous move, I ordered this bad boy:

http://www.amazon.ca/Thrustmaster-2960703-T-Flight-Hotas-Flight/dp/B001CXYMFS/ref=sr_1_1?s=videogames&ie=UTF8&qid=1431358742&sr=1-1



So from now until it arrives later in the week, I'm trying to decide which way to go at first.  Do I dive right into Elite?  Do I revisit Wing Commander (which I played the shit out of back in the day)?  I always wanted to play Tie Fighter, but not sure I can handle the dated graphics... or should I rejoin something like War Thunder to get my feet wet?

What say you Languish?

[Warspite]

Elite is fun, and they're adding more features and depth to the game. There are some questions as to how much the underlying peer-to-peer network architecture can deliver, but I've really enjoyed it and would recommend it if you're thinking of getting back into the space sim genre.

Good choice on the joystick. I'm saving up for this bastard:
http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/hotas-warthog

[Barrister]

Elite is fun, and they're adding more features and depth to the game. There are some questions as to how much the underlying peer-to-peer network architecture can deliver, but I've really enjoyed it and would recommend it if you're thinking of getting back into the space sim genre.

Good choice on the joystick. I'm saving up for this bastard:
http://www.thrustmaster.com/products/hotas-warthog

I checked out some reviews, and saw the listing for that bad boy... $500?!?!  I've seen computers that cost less than that.

[Barrister]

Phew - the minimum specs for Elite are pretty stiff:

MINIMUM RECOMMENDED HARDWARE SPECIFICATION:
Direct X 11
Quad Core CPU ( 4 x 2Ghz is a reasonable minimum)
4 GB System RAM (more is always better)
DX 10 hardware GPU with 1GB video ram
Nvidia GTX 260
ATI 4870HD
Internet connection

I meet them, but just.

Having just dropped $60 on the controller though, I kind of like the idea of warming up with a $5 or $10 game from GOG though...

[Warspite]

In my day we just had minimum and recommended specs, now we have minimum recommended. #progress

[Barrister]

Amazon says my HOTAS juystick will arrive today. 

I think I'm going to start with a little Wing Commander III.

[Tonitrus]

I liked Wing Commander best before it got all FMV and threw Mark Hamil in there. 

II was the awesomest.

Maybe I am just still pissed they killed off Angel in III.

[Barrister]

Okay, so I went and downloaded WCIII.

Then I promptly realized it couldn't use any of the benefits of my fancy T.Flight HOTAS X joystick.  Which is, by the way, really slick.

So I said "fuck it" to myself, and went and bought Elite: Dangerous.

Thought one: this game is gorgeous.  It looks really, really good.

Thought two: the aforementioned T.Flight HOTAS X is indeed really slick.

Thought three: holy fuck this game is complex and deep.  It's been two nights and I'm still just going through practices and tutorials.  But I like it.

[Barrister]

Well I have the controls mostly figured out.  I can takeoff, land, and jump between systems.

Next realization though - the starter ship isn't very good.  Even if I'm going to stick with it, I need to upgrade it somehow.

So now I need to figure out how to make some money...

[DontSayBanana]

Good choice on the T.Flight HOTAS X.  Didn't see this before, but that's the joystick I use (picked it up when TIE Fighter got rereleased).  I haven't picked up Elite: Dangerous yet, but it's on my hit list.

Some thoughts on the controller and older games for you: GOG ships older games with heavily customized DOSbox profiles- they've gotten very good at making sure newer controllers will be usable for the older games that are their bread and butter.  The HOTAS X worked right away for me even with the '94 version of TIE Fighter (the '98 version has somewhat better graphics at the cost of less immersive music- in case you were wondering about the differences).

Another one you might consider- Descent: Freespace.  It's cheap, but it makes good use of a HOTAS stick and has much better graphics than TIE Fighter or WC.

[Barrister]

Good to know about Tie Fighter - that's one I missed at the time, but definitely had in mind when getting the T.flight.

Definitely grooving on Elite though.

[Pedrito]

Freespace 1 and 2 are IMO the best space combat simulations out there, although a bit dated there's a thriving modding community around F2.

L.

[Barrister]

Still playing Elite.

Can make decent coin doing missions, but it's hit or miss whether the station I'm on has any decent missions or not.  Up to over 100k credits.  While I could upgrade now, I'm just going to save up for the ship I want so I can go exploring.

Got pulled into combat for the first time last night.  I was pulled out of hyperdrive by an AI badguy.  I didn't realize he was an AI at first, so I laugher at his demands to drop my cargo (I had none).  We engaged in combat, then some AI police showed up and we made short work of the guy.  I even got the killing blow and earned a nice bounty on his ass.   

[The Brain]

 

[Barrister]

Finally saved up enough to buy a new ship - a Cobra Mk III.  It's very nice.

So far I've been making most of my coin by running contraband - mostly slaves.     Last night for the first time the authorities caught me - they scanned me and discovered my hull stuffed full of slaves.  They immediately slapped me with a 20,000 Credit fine.  But since the payout on those slaves was 60,000 Cr it some how doesn't seem like much of a deterrent. 

Next step I need to buy me some upgrades for the Cobra before I can go exploring.  I'm still itching to go and visit Sol, then maybe head for the galactic core.