OT... Did you used to play Elite?

wenlock · OT... Did you used to play Elite?

I have been meaning to post this for a while. Did anyone used to play the classic game of Elite many eons ago?

If you did you might find Oolite to your liking and even if you didn't you might still like it. It's free and even open source for anyone who might be into coding, there are quite a few mods too so if the old game was too easy for you this new version might challenge your skills more with the right mods.[/url]

marmac

Never got into Elite but am aware of it. It was a space trading game, right? Of the 4x games my all time favorite was MOO II. Never found one I liked as much including Dark Avatar and the like.

wenlock

Yes was a space trading game where you could play as a trader, a pirate, a bounty hunter, a miner or any mix of those as you pleased. While the object of the game was to get to be elite status from the kills you made while playing it was open ended. In it's earliest form it was only 16k I think and used wireframe graphics.

With Oolite you can play the basic limited ships game like the Elite of old and even play wireframe graphics if you want, there is also the option to play with far better graphics though. There are quite a few mods available including missions, extra ships, extra weapons, different sounds, new huds and graphics enhancements.

I have heard a few people mention MOO 2 but I have never had the chance to play it, I did play Star trek-birth of the federation (BOTF) a lot though and heard they were similar in some ways, I think they were both Microprose games actually. They say that there isn't a market for turn based strategy games these days but that's rubbish, there is a reason why those games still have a following even now.

marmac

Turn-based strategy are the only games that interest me. Some favorites from the past: MOO II, the Jagged Alliance series, X-com series and my grand favorite I'm enjoying currently, Civ IV Beyond The Sword. Pure immersive fun. Hours happily wasted.

BOTF, I have heard of but never tried. I got turned off of it by a bad review back in the day. MOO II is still available by digital download but you need some kind of emmulator to use it in XP. Probably not worth the aggravation. Maybe someday someone will port it over.

Microprose, now there's a blast from the past. They were the best at coming out with interesting games. I owned quite a few of their offerings and have forgotten the names of most of them.

Cheers!

wenlock

BOTF was a good game but needed another patch, Microprose went bust before that happened though and it works less and less with newer graphics cards and operating systems so my copy is gathering dust these days.

I had a lot of Microprose games at the time including Railroad tycoon, Pirates, Civ and like you Xcom to name just a few. Some of their stuff is available as abandonware/freeware now. I tracked the original Xcom down (it was called UFO enemy unknown here) but those old games often run like they are on steroids on modern systems, I got a copy that was fan tweaked to run more or less like the original though. If you are interested I could e-mail you a copy of it, it's only around 3.5mb zipped.

I have Civ4 complete which features Civ4, Warlords and Beyond the sword but have only played Civ4 up to now. I can only really play turn based games these days with my eyesight as it is so it's frustrating to see that there isn't much out really especially for multi-player. My hope is that the next version of Galactic Civ is multi-player, as good as the AI is in that game I find it gets boring quickly when playing it alone.

chuckrock

you guys finally mentioned a game i have played. i loved the original xcom.
i have it somewhere still. i think i have to start it from a dos screen though so i hardly ever play. i wonder if i have it installed still.....looks like i have something to do today Smile

wenlock

First game you have heard of, you been living under a rock Chuck? Laughing

The version I have runs on windows although I don't know if it does on Vista. It's a simple folder that doesn't need installing, you just click on one of the icons inside it to run it or I suppose you could make a shortcut to the icon either on your desktop or start menu.

chuckrock

i was never really into computer games. i am not much of a video game person. really if its not a simulation game (fps 98 pro baseball was cool) i never hot into it or even knew about it.

marmac

Replayed the original X-com about a year and a half ago during a Gametap trial period. It was still fun but the graphics that I loved originally were really dated.

You have Civ IV complete and have not tried Beyond The Sword? Do yourself a favor and load it up. Great content. Warloads I found too war oriented and difficult but Sword? My word, it's fun.

chuckrock

couldn't find my disk. i might have never brought it from my parents house when i moved.

i just download a free version but its not working on my screen. looks like it is running but its all garbled.

wenlock

That's a common problem with versions of post 98 windows not including dos and some codecs needed I believe, I will try to attach a copy of my zipped version to an e-mail for you.

After unzipping the folder you can run the game by going inside the folder and double clicking on the ufo defence alien face icon.