Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

[Skerik]

In case anyone is interested, some folks are cooking up a Battlestar Galactica total conversion mod using the Freespace 2 game engine. Most people still regard FS2 as the greatest space combat sim out there and the dev team for this project seems to have put in a substantial amount of work.

http://www.game-warden.com/bsg/

If you enter that site and go to the BSG forums, you can find some stickied threads with their latest model renderings, as well as a teaser trailer featuring some pretty sweet in-game action. For anyone who enjoys space combat sims and/or BSG, this looks like something to keep on your radar. Er, Dradis.

[Defel]

Re: Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

That's interesting...Are they going to totally change the physics of FS2 to be more like Battlestar Galactica?

[Skerik]

Re: Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

That's interesting...Are they going to totally change the physics of FS2 to be more like Battlestar Galactica?

Here's some info on the physics, dated 1/10/06, from one of their programmers.

As I am doing it now, the mod will have a limited newtonian flight model. You will slide a bit, and it will take a few seconds to start heading straight, but I won't implement a full flight model; i.e. where you keep floating for almost ever. As far as I know there will be no RCS packages until they are implemented by the SCP (not my field, I won't say anything else about it).

Now, the reason why the flight model will be limited is because A) The AI is a mix between a monster and a dolt. The AI WILL kill you; they know how to do it with the new physics, I don't know why people say they don't but they're very adept at killing you; but they don't make the dogfight very interesting. They do slip a bit too much and most dogfights are long range, freewheeling engagements that last up to three kilometers of chasing the bad guys down. God help you if you're flying a slower craft than the Raider, cause then you'll spend ages trying to catch up so you can gun them down.
B) The game is a bit too sluggish. Roll rates and maneuvering is just not as fast as it is in the show, and if it is that fast the learning curve and discipline required to fly the aircraft is tremendous; a lot of times you end up jerking the stick too hard and start flailing around like a pinwheel trying to get back under control. You also slide a bit too much (you can go for a good three to four seconds on the higher dampening without changing course); this is counterable with afterburners, but it would require a big change in the way people use them; i.e. you'd be moving your craft mostly with short bursts of afterburner, rather than piping around at full throttle.

So what is possible?
Constant roll: you roll your fighter to the left/right/back/front and it will keep rolling unless you provide a counter thrust.
Constant motion: You keep going in a straight line until you apply thrust in the opposite direction (except if you turn around, then your heading changes slightly - FS2 limitation).
Glide: A new bit put in by one of the coders...I think it was WMCoolmon, not sure, but by pressing a key you lock your heading and speed and can pivot any which way you want. Different from dampening because even if you turn around, you keep going straight, but you can't use your main engines.

[Defel]

Re: Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

I just watched the trailer...

I hope whoever owns BSG doesn't shut down their mod with a copyright cease and desist order. I also hope that they allow them to use their neat drum battle music in the game like they did in the trailer.

[Skerik]

Re: Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

I just watched the trailer...

I hope whoever owns BSG doesn't shut down their mod with a copyright cease and desist order. I also hope that they allow them to use their neat drum battle music in the game like they did in the trailer.

I'm hoping that too. But there are plenty of Star Wars conversion mods for games like this and BF1942 and the Lucas Empire never did anything to shut down any of them. The models are all copied obviously, but all the graphics are home grown and they're not making a cent off this project. So hopefully that means the BSG people are unable to shut them down.

I'm not sure what the rules are on using music, but I'd love to hear the drum music in the final build for this mod. Zooming down the launch tunnel in my Viper with that music blaring would be awesome!

[Defel]

Re: Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

Are you sure LucasArts didn't shut down those SW mods? I was sure that they shut down the BF1942 (or was it Operation Flashpoint?) mod since they were coming out with Battlefront. I also seem to remember some Babylon 5 and Stargate mods shut down for various games. I can't remember specifics as I was never interested in any of these.

I don't think it matters whether a mod makes money or not. It all depends on the type of people who owns those properties.

[Picci]

Re: Battlestar Galactica game (PC)

New strategy game by Black Lab Games getting mostly positive reviews on steam. Good sign for fans of the series. Game should be arriving soon for XBox1 and PS4 too.

http://slitherine.com/products/product.asp?gid=692

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