Released recently open source, there's Starshatter - The Gathering Storm , that is quite good from the few hours i played in the release and has a lot of potential with its dynamic campaign system, promotions and ability to be promoted into various kind of battle role.
I'm always hoping for some coders to decide to take part in further development of this little gem but seems to have gone under the radar of everyone so community is not really lively unfortunately.
One major downside to Starshatter is the enemy AI. In short, they will all focus on you, no matter what you're flying. I've had anti-capital ship destroyers turn and start gunning for me in my little interceptor. I suppose I could have worked around that and used it to my advantage, but honestly, having an AI that mono-focuses the player to the point where I can't do anything because I'm evading the cluster-ton of missiles being lobbed in my direction made me rage a little and go play something else...
which is really too bad, because this sort of game where you can eventually fly anything from fighters and bombers to destroyers, cruisers and carriers was exactly what I've been wanting.
I didn't felt being the center of attention of the whole AI, there were fighters and capitals duking it out between each other while i was flying around.
But that may be because you're flying ahead of everyone when attacking something, and the AI seems to target the closest enemy FIRST, so if you're a bit ahead of everyone, the enemy will converge on your position.
A hard lesson learned from being a Destroyer commander, you don't really survive for long if you're rushing to your target instead of being in formation with other capitals (so you can let them a bit ahead from time to time so you're not focus fired by everything)
But what i learned from flying into my death
is that Starshatter has an immense difference in term of power and durability between fighters and capital ships and must not be played similarly to Freespace 2 when you're in a fighter wing.
In Freespace 2, in a fighter you can even resist (for a time, as stay too long and you explode) the anti-fighters flak canons of the capital ships.
In Starshatter, a fighter coming close to any kind of capital is simply going to explode.
When i got promoted and decided to move in command of a destroyer, i felt this even more, as the poor fighters couldn't stand a chance then, no wonder i exploded so quickly if i dared to move close to a capital ship.
Your destroyer weaponry (and that's not even the most powerfull ships you can fly) will destroy fighters that are flying too close in seconds.
And if you're flying in with a bomber loadout, after unloading your payload, immediately turn away and get the hell out of the zone.
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Topic: Elite - Dangerous (Read 52027 times)