Space Rangers 2 GAME OF THE YEAR

[Bee]

I should get the game today. Sounds like it takes some time to get into because of the complexity, so I might wait until the weekend to fire it up when I have some free time. Looking forward to it.

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by Bee

I should get the game today. Sounds like it takes some time to get into because of the complexity, so I might wait until the weekend to fire it up when I have some free time. Looking forward to it.

Actually, I'd argue that one of the game's stronger features is the fact that it's pretty accessible in the beginning. Do the tutorial and you'll have a pretty good idea of how to move around the world and do basic things. From that point, the game's complexity reveals itself slowly as you play.

I was lost because I missed the tutorials, but even so it wasn't that bad. You could do the tutorials and try a couple of practice careers in a couple hours, then be ready to dig in in earnest over the weekend.

[Bee]

Excellent. Thanks for the suggestion, that's probably the way I'll go.

[Mustang]

Damn you guys..

DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!

Placed an order for this.. should get it Friday..

Wonder if gogamer is wondering why there is a spike in orders for this game.

[hukarez]

Godzilla Blitz:

Managed to do a quick check, and here's what my ship is at:

Mesostructural Hull Ranger 340 HPs: cladding blocks up to 10 HPs.
Mesonic protection generator with the 'Cent' micromodule: Defense of 22% + 10
Actuator Gripper: grips objects 64 PTs in size
Flow-type engine: 600 max speed, 25 parsec hyperjumps
Hyperliquid fuel tank: 31 pts max capacity
Wave radar: 1750 million km range

They're pretty basic items, just upgraded. Same stock hull from the get-go. As for the artifacts, I've got all 4 mini-slots filled up with:

Artifactor
Droid Junior
Scanner cash
Zing

Artifactor description declares that it allows use of the droid connector to connect 3 additional artifacts. Essentially, the additional equipment slot for a repair droid is negated, to free up the remaining mini-slots.

The Droid Junior description declares that it can restore up to 10 points of my hull (don't know if it's per turn or what)

The Scanner cash says it's an amplifier for scanner computing by 10%. Of course, I keep getting Scanner and Radar mixed up...and I don't presently have a scanner installed right now. Ironically, it's busted right now, but still in it's slot.

The Zing just states "...Adds power charges to fragment cartridges. Aside from the mechanical damage, each charge inflicts a powerful heat strike causing engine overheating."

I have another mini-equipment stowed away at a military base, the 'Nanitoids'. It's broken right now, but I recall it doing something like the Droid Junior.

[hukarez]

Just wrapped up another session -- eyes are starting to seriously kill me. Too much staring at CRTs and LCDs all day long.

Dominators and Coalition kept going back and forth a Markab system in my universe -- joined up with some Coalition fighters who were gathered at the hyperjump point in a neighboring system to help liberate it. Neat stuff, though a week later or so (game time, 1 day, 1 turn), another system was getting attacked by Dominators.

I had a bit of trouble translating some of the icons on the Galaxy Map -- the 'shield' and the 'crossing swords', I imagine were for assaults and defenses. Earlier in my game session, when I jumped into a system with the 'crossing swords' icon, I jumped smack dab in the middle of a bunch of Coalition fighters brawling it out with Dominator ships. I had figured it was a Coalition assault to liberate a planet -- however, when I jumped into a nearby system that had the same 'crossing swords' icon as well, I noticed that there weren't any Coalition ships about.

Then again, I could have probably jumped in at an inopportune moment where maybe the Coalition fighters got blown to smithereens. The aforementioned system (when I held down the left click on the Galaxy map) had sported a Ranger Military Base, which I figured could be some kind of safe retreat and quick repair/refuel after the battle. When I jumped in, there were a ton of Dominator ships that surrounded the Ranger Military Base, and were essentially blasting away at it. I'm assuming there were Coalition fighters who were present in the system prior to my arrival, judging by some Fuel tanks and ship weapon pick-me-ups that were floating about. Way, way cool.

On a side note, something I really haven't paid much attention to was the 'notice ticker' in the form of a ! marker at the bottom of the screen. I suppose flying from system to system, trying to join up in some liberating action kept me from taking note, but I thought it was pretty cool when new messages about the Rangers opening up another Military Base in another System was neat. I didn't know how dynamic those installations are, so it's kind of nice to know that one system that may not have a military base might have one later down the road.

I'm hoping this applies to all kinds of space outposts and installations besides military ones.

[spleen1015]

I got this today. I played for about 2 hours and I like what I have seen thus far. In my first game, on the space combat tutorial, I had ships attacking me because they claimed was perform some violent crimes in there sector. It didn't matter how many days I advanced, they were always there when I went back out to space to kill the automated drone ship that you're supposed to kill.

In the second game, I got to the ground combat RTS toturial and ran out of money before I was able to finish the mission. Instead of waiting for more money to generate or the reinforment time limit to be reached, I forfeited the mission. I was thrown in jail for 100 days.

This lead to the text adventure portion of the game. I played through about 20 of those 100 days before quitting the game. I was quite impressed with all of the options I had in the part of the game. Every day was filled with one decision after another. My choices led to me getting beat up, in good favor with the other inmates, in bad favor with the guards, more money, less money, etc. It was neat.

Thanks for posting about this game guys. I'm happy to own it.

[jbmagic]

does this game come with space ranger 1 too?

if so have you guys play it too?

[Bee]

Well, I installed the game last night and was planning on just running through the starting tutorial and then going to bed...turned out that was a poorly executed plan. I zipped through the tutorial, but didn't find the RTS part of the tutorial. I must have missed it or had it turned off in the options I guess. In any case, after the tutorial was so short I thought I'd go ahead and play for half an hour or so just picking up minerals to build up my credits. 5 hours later my wife calls me on the intercom asking if I woke up early. It's going to be a long day at work today.

[MizzouRah]

5 hours later my wife calls me on the intercom asking if I woke up early. It's going to be a long day at work today

I just laughed out loud.

My game MIGHT get here sometime....

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

does this game come with space ranger 1 too?

if so have you guys play it too?

Yeah, it comes with Space Rangers 1. Haven't installed it, probably will on my laptop down the line.

[Bee]

I'm surprised no one has started one of those "story-type" dyansties yet. While getting info from the game isn't easy, the dynamic aspect of the war that's going on in the background could make for an interesting story.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Bee

I'm surprised no one has started one of those "story-type" dyansties yet. While getting info from the game isn't easy, the dynamic aspect of the war that's going on in the background could make for an interesting story.

I'm sure it's in the works, what with GB having the game and all.

[MizzouRah]

What's my game doing sitting in Denver? Damn that cheap shipping!

"What about this box?"
"Oh, that guy paid for cheap shipping, it stays here for another two days."

[Bee]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

What's my game doing sitting in Denver? Damn that cheap shipping!

"What about this box?"
"Oh, that guy paid for cheap shipping, it stays here for another two days."

I paid for the 2 day shipping and I was pretty worried when I checked online yesterday and it was still being shown as in Los Angeles. An hour later it had updated as having left LA, passed through New Jersey and arrived in Virginia and then gone out for delivery...they must have figured out how to use the hyperdrive.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Bee

I paid for the 2 day shipping and I was pretty worried when I checked online yesterday and it was still being shown as in Los Angeles. An hour later it had updated as having left LA, passed through New Jersey and arrived in Virginia and then gone out for delivery...they must have figured out how to use the hyperdrive.

[riz]

Damn you FOFC. You guys (and the guys in the other places where you posted links) made me order this game now. Temporarily out of stock mind you, but on order now from play.com

[hukarez]

If there's one thing I learned from this thread, it's not to go too cheap with shipping from GoGamer. Unless they're old ass games I've been meaning to have back in stock again, like Arcanum.

Thankfully, Fry's isn't too far away. Excelsior!

[Mustang]

I paid for the 1 day shipping.. placed the order at 4:50 PM CST.. received 2:30 PM CST. Eh.. only $8 more... I'm off this week so, wanted something to play tonight. I would have easily spent that driving around looking for the game at a few stores (like EB/Game Stop, etc).

[MizzouRah]

NCAA 2006 and Puresim have been keeping my free time - I basically sold Madden for this game anyhow and wanted to keep the same $$ spent.

I do hope it gets here tomorrow though.

[MizzouRah]

More Bill Harris and SR 2:

First off: way to go, you guys. GoGamer's home page now lists Space Rangers DVD Edition at the top of its "Best Selling PC Games Section." Maybe the game will now start getting some of the attention that it so richly deserves.

Second, for our Australian readers, here are a couple of places in your country that are selling the game:
http://www.red-ant.com.au/product_info.php?products_id=738.
http://www.gameswarehouse.com.au/longpage.asp?gameid=11486.

Apparently, the second link is for a CD version of the game, which I assume will not contain the original Space Rangers (which is included for free on the DVD edition). That's not confirmed--it's not actually in-stock yet at Games Warehouse--but the product listing does read "CD-ROM."

Third, I'm going to have to study how quotation marks are used when they're being used for something other than dialogue. I am all over the freaking place with where I put them. That's not related to Space Rangers 2, just if you're an English teacher and you're alarmed, I'll get it all sorted out.

Here's one note about character creation in Space Rangers 2 from DQ reader Tim Lesnick:
One other tip for people starting a Space Rangers 2 game: be sure to change the default starting equipment on the character creation screen. I believe a spare engine and fuel tank are the default, but those items are generally not much better than what is already on the ship, and a player can (and should) quickly get better components in the course of the game. I generally change those items to weapons - the rocket launcher and tretone are good choices. Both are relatively small in size and will be useful for a while. The tretone also doesn't appear in equipment shops until some time has passed.

That's solid advice.

I can also highly recommend the Faeyans as an excellent choice for your character's race if you'd like to start out with a focus on trading. It's also possible to change your race mid-game (another great design feature), although it will take a large amount of cash and a visit to a Pirate base.

[hukarez]

Just finished up another SR2 session (this game will fill in the void for any future PC release, a la Civ4!) and I finally bit the bullet and went into a black hole.

Nifty little segment, arrow keys moving your ship around, etc...

There was 1 Dominator at the time being, and it took me awhile to figure out how to shoot my weapons (Ctrl and Shift keys). What was nice, is that I ended up picking up some power-ups and items along the way on the grid, and won myself some black mass substance that takes up 6 holds on my ship -- but it gradually refills my fuel tank.

Nice touch!

[Bee]

I think I'm going to start a new career. My first career has gone ok, but I've learned a lot and am ready to start a serious career. Definitely going to go with the two weapon upgrade advice. I'm also going to scale down the freaking equipment degradation which annoys me to no end. I'll also pick up a couple probes and drop them on a couple planets, then jump straight into missions to gain credits and XP instead of trying to trade like I did in this career.

This game is definitely one of the best games I've played this year. I was really into Dungeon Siege II when this game arrived and have basically decided to completely blow off DSII for now.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

NCAA 2006 and Puresim have been keeping my free time - I basically sold Madden for this game anyhow and wanted to keep the same $$ spent.

I do hope it gets here tomorrow though.

I too placed my order using the crap shipping. I too wait impatiently.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

I too placed my order using the crap shipping. I too wait impatiently.

Please today... kids are gone tonight.

[hukarez]

Man, I've really been screwing up with the whole Dominator technology thing.

All this time I've been picking up those nodes (bright green, blue, purple) crystals that are left behind after Dominator battles, and selling them to the science outposts/stations for cash value, when I should've been giving those to the Ranger HQs to increase my node account.

I could've stockpiled on quite a few artifacts that way, since they'll convert those into useful ship components..

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Please today... kids are gone tonight.

Golden opportunity! I hope it arrives for you, at least before Space Rangers 3 is out.

-

I wish I could play more, but I've been too busy to play anything. If I had playing time, this game is what I would be playing.

-

I think the game would lend itself to a fun dynasty. Not enough time for me now, though.

Adding some creative writing to the reports would be a blast, but it would end up being a huge project. You could almost make a novel out of your character's life. I was thinking that if I found time to do a dynasty, I would try game reports for three-month chunks of time. That would be a bit more manageable. Love to see someone do one, as my life is going to be busy for a month or more; reading someone's dynasty would be the next best thing to playing.

-

hukarez: Bummer on those nodes. I found out that you could turn them in at Ranger stations by mistake, but I've been building up my account there since then.

But I didn't realize you can leave your probe on a planet. I assume you can come back to the planet and collect the stuff that its found?

[jbmagic]

Godilla Blitz, have you try Space Ranger 1 yet?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by jbmagic

Godilla Blitz, have you try Space Ranger 1 yet?

No. Don't really have an intention to at this point. Don't have enough time to even play SR2.

However, I read something on another board that said the two games are fairly similar, except that SR1 had less going on and...

...something else that I have forgotten.

But the overall impression was that SR1 was a pretty good game.

[Bee]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

But I didn't realize you can leave your probe on a planet. I assume you can come back to the planet and collect the stuff that its found?

Yep, I usually just find a nice uninhabited planet and drop my probes before I go on a mission. When I get back, it's like Santa came and left me some presents.

[Bee]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

No. Don't really have an intention to at this point. Don't have enough time to even play SR2.

However, I read something on another board that said the two games are fairly similar, except that SR1 had less going on and...

...something else that I have forgotten.

But the overall impression was that SR1 was a pretty good game.

It also doesn't have StarForce if that's an issue. Also, no RTS game (which IMO is no great loss).

I haven't tried it, but that's what the other boards are saying.

[MizzouRah]

No friggin game!! Ughhh...

[mauchow]

YES! I held off the urge to get this....at least for another day.

[sachmo71]

Got it at Fry's. $40 for the holiday weekend. Sweet.

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Got it at Fry's. $40 for the holiday weekend. Sweet.

Nicely done. I wish Fry's would make it out to the midwest, seems like they always have the games I want.

[Mustang]

Man, I just can NOT get a career going in this game. I think the most money I've ever had at one time was 2,500 credits.. seems like I'm continually buying fuel or fixing my craft. I have to be missing something on the trading front.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Man, I just can NOT get a career going in this game. I think the most money I've ever had at one time was 2,500 credits.. seems like I'm continually buying fuel or fixing my craft. I have to be missing something on the trading front.

I'm not much of a trader, but when I do go to the Commerce of a planet, I only buy stuff that has at least one 'thumbs up' sign. If anything, I mostly do missions for a planet's government and get my credits that way.

[Bee]

I quit trading altogether. I just wasn't seeing enough profit in it. Raise your charisma and do "fedex" missions and you can build up credits pretty quickly.

[Godzilla Blitz]

I look to trading as a secondary source of income. I've found some opportunities to make some easy cash through trading. The routes don't stay profitable for long, but often you can find a 30-50 credit difference in the price of items in the same system, and make two or three runs before things balance out. Can rack up 5-10k in cash very quickly.

What I do when I land at a planet is look for the thumbs up mark indicating that an object is cheap. If that happens, I then go to the information search screen and type "planet" in the search parameteres. It returns a list of the 30 closest planets and their prices. I scan that list for someplace good to sell the cheap goods (preferably in the same system), then I load up and off I go. Rinse and repeat until the difference is pretty much gone.

Doing this only results in trading runs on perhaps 25% of the planets I land on, but it's generated a decent secondary income.

[Mustang]

finally, through trading, I've managed actually get my character making money. (Those 30-40 credit differences add up quick. One of the planets had 300+ meds and the planet right next door needed them so, I made 10K+ in 10-15 minutes...) Had enough so, I went with a new hull (liner). Unfortunately, damn thing can't mount a gripper on it so, can't pick anything up. Blah.. oh well. Was there a way to view what can/can't be equipped beforehand?

[Godzilla Blitz]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Was there a way to view what can/can't be equipped beforehand?

Yes, when you click on a hull to consider buying it, it shows you a diagram of what spaces are available. You have to know what each spot is for, as the diagram isn't labelled, but you'll have those memorized fairly quickly.

[Mustang]

Originally Posted by Godzilla Blitz

Yes, when you click on a hull to consider buying it, it shows you a diagram of what spaces are available. You have to know what each spot is for, as the diagram isn't labelled, but you'll have those memorized fairly quickly.

Thanks. Unfortunately, I didn't have it memorized..

I do now though... first time mistake for the gripper Nazis.. "No Gripper for you!"

[sachmo71]

There is an explination in the HTML maunal. Basically, the top half of the ship is weapons, right side is sensors, left is engines, and the bottom row is utility slots. Outside of all of these are the artifact slots.

[sachmo71]

Man, jail is a trip. I'm not very good at getting along, though.

[hukarez]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

Man, jail is a trip. I'm not very good at getting along, though.

I'm still trying to figure out how I got wanted for arrest in the first place. My assumption is that the pirates that I've killed, were of Gaalian descent or something. At least my relations improved to 'Good' for the time being.

[Mustang]

Tried out my first text mission.. had to go to some planet on the other side of the galaxy and finish in the top 3 for a pizza making contest.. A bit odd but, hey.. 8K..

[Honolulu_Blue]

My game still has not arrived...

[MizzouRah]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

My game still has not arrived...

Maybe it's because it's my birthday.. but mine came today!!

Too bad I don't have much time with us moving soon!

[Vince]

Is anyone else having problems with the StarForce protection? I got my copy in the mail today, installed it fine, and when I enter the Serial Number, it gives me a disc read error.

My DVD-Rom drive is maybe 2 months old, the disc is brand new, and I've double-checked the Serial Number like 5 times (I've also tried entering it all caps, no caps, with the dashes, and without the dashes). Any thoughts? I'm going to go check out the FAQs and such, but thought someone here might be quicker to help with something that is probably blatantly obvious that I'm missing.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by MizzouRah

Maybe it's because it's my birthday.. but mine came today!!

Too bad I don't have much time with us moving soon!

Happy birthday!