zhardoum
14th October 2003, 20:20
I bought this game when it first came out, especially for I5 or I6 I seem to remember, god it was mind blowing, still is, its still going.. but more on that later..
The most common comment about this game was that no one played it, its great, why dont people play it..?
Well, the answer is not very pleasant,
You see, its a 3d space action game, with one person per side taking the commanders view (3d map view, able to control his team whilst at the same time building new space stations carrying out upgrades), the rest of the team fly around in 3d space in ships taking out the other team, exploring, and following the commanders instructions. Sounds great doesn't it? coinsidering it had the might of Microsoft behind it, and their cash, it was in effect a game liek no other, but it suffered one major drawback, for such a great game, why so few players..
Well, for one thing, the games learning curve is steep, scrub that, its not steep, its a cliff.
Second to that, the one position every one thinks they can do better than everyone else is the command chair.
No matter how good a commander you are, you will always get 25 opinions on your every move, its like trying to lead decisively by committe.
And then, there are the players, The game does not encourage new players, whilst the remaining players have set up a trainee server, and some players have @help in their name to encourage others, in reality as soon as you enter you are greeted with, uh,oh, Newbie.
From there on in all through the game all you here is 'no newbie, dont do that, dont do this, they even have a few premade voice comms like, "We have a clueless commander, mutinee" which often happens when a player takes comm they don't know well, no matter how good you are, nothing is more annoying than the team mutying on you because they don't know your name.
In essescence, what killed the game was a mixture of a steep learning curve and a type of elitism by the older players, this is most often typified when the server becomes busy (more than 20 players) when cries of pick teams, pick teams, are heard, and all that then happens is the commanders pick the most experienced, leaving the newbies feeling unwanted on the sidelines, picking the players they know, starting the server running and leaving the new players feeling lost and unwanted.
The game was discontinued by Microsoft, but owing to a very diehard group of supporters pestering, they managed to get the code, and permision to edit the code from Microsoft, to whit players have now created new versions of the game, extra craft, even a couple of extra races that were never included in the original.
however, in a move which again harks back to the elitism comment, now, when a player joins, they have in brackets after their name (0) the number of weeks they have playing under the new system, players who have been registered for longer have avoided this system, so now new players stick out even more than before, and nothing casts a down turn in a groups opinion than players with (0) joining.
I dont have a () after my name, I have been playing too long, but still Im not blind enough to see how this effects new players.
But, having said all this, I still rate the game as one of the best real time strategy games going, yes, strategy game, yes its a 3d action space ship fighter, yes nothing scares you more than a destroyer fully manned with skycap turrets vaporising you whilst your bombers just manage to scrape its paint before it vaporises them as well.
It is one hell of a game, and best of all for a year or so now, its free.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/ has the files to download to enable you to play, first you will need to create an account (its basically to stop idiots, stick your fingers up at them and they block the account, and you need the account to play, so in a way its their safety net).
Then follow the instrucions on the website on how to install and get the game running, look at the link, see the screen shots, this isnt a text adventure, this is full 3d space warfare.
So, what the heck am I writing this essay for?
Well, I love the game, I mean it is the dog's dangly bits, but it and the players need an enema, seriously, the game needs new blood, fresh meat as it were, it has to be one of the best space combat / real time warfare games ever written.
So, Did no one play it?
Sure they did, but they got put off, time for them to return and say 'Hello!" and stick a finger up with it.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/images/launch.JPG
The most common comment about this game was that no one played it, its great, why dont people play it..?
Well, the answer is not very pleasant,
You see, its a 3d space action game, with one person per side taking the commanders view (3d map view, able to control his team whilst at the same time building new space stations carrying out upgrades), the rest of the team fly around in 3d space in ships taking out the other team, exploring, and following the commanders instructions. Sounds great doesn't it? coinsidering it had the might of Microsoft behind it, and their cash, it was in effect a game liek no other, but it suffered one major drawback, for such a great game, why so few players..
Well, for one thing, the games learning curve is steep, scrub that, its not steep, its a cliff.
Second to that, the one position every one thinks they can do better than everyone else is the command chair.
No matter how good a commander you are, you will always get 25 opinions on your every move, its like trying to lead decisively by committe.
And then, there are the players, The game does not encourage new players, whilst the remaining players have set up a trainee server, and some players have @help in their name to encourage others, in reality as soon as you enter you are greeted with, uh,oh, Newbie.
From there on in all through the game all you here is 'no newbie, dont do that, dont do this, they even have a few premade voice comms like, "We have a clueless commander, mutinee" which often happens when a player takes comm they don't know well, no matter how good you are, nothing is more annoying than the team mutying on you because they don't know your name.
In essescence, what killed the game was a mixture of a steep learning curve and a type of elitism by the older players, this is most often typified when the server becomes busy (more than 20 players) when cries of pick teams, pick teams, are heard, and all that then happens is the commanders pick the most experienced, leaving the newbies feeling unwanted on the sidelines, picking the players they know, starting the server running and leaving the new players feeling lost and unwanted.
The game was discontinued by Microsoft, but owing to a very diehard group of supporters pestering, they managed to get the code, and permision to edit the code from Microsoft, to whit players have now created new versions of the game, extra craft, even a couple of extra races that were never included in the original.
however, in a move which again harks back to the elitism comment, now, when a player joins, they have in brackets after their name (0) the number of weeks they have playing under the new system, players who have been registered for longer have avoided this system, so now new players stick out even more than before, and nothing casts a down turn in a groups opinion than players with (0) joining.
I dont have a () after my name, I have been playing too long, but still Im not blind enough to see how this effects new players.
But, having said all this, I still rate the game as one of the best real time strategy games going, yes, strategy game, yes its a 3d action space ship fighter, yes nothing scares you more than a destroyer fully manned with skycap turrets vaporising you whilst your bombers just manage to scrape its paint before it vaporises them as well.
It is one hell of a game, and best of all for a year or so now, its free.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/ has the files to download to enable you to play, first you will need to create an account (its basically to stop idiots, stick your fingers up at them and they block the account, and you need the account to play, so in a way its their safety net).
Then follow the instrucions on the website on how to install and get the game running, look at the link, see the screen shots, this isnt a text adventure, this is full 3d space warfare.
So, what the heck am I writing this essay for?
Well, I love the game, I mean it is the dog's dangly bits, but it and the players need an enema, seriously, the game needs new blood, fresh meat as it were, it has to be one of the best space combat / real time warfare games ever written.
So, Did no one play it?
Sure they did, but they got put off, time for them to return and say 'Hello!" and stick a finger up with it.
http://www.freeallegiance.org/images/launch.JPG