285: The Greatest Game Never Played

[proghead]

An equally awesome game has been Battlezone [http://www.battlezone1.net/] from '98. It's also a very interesting genre mix, blending vehicle- as well as personal-FPS with RTS like never seen before or afterwards. Being way ahead of it's time, and having a somewhat steep learning curve, too, it also pretty much failed commercially. The critics loved it though, so yet another tragedy.

There's a follow up title, but they screwed that up.

A good recent example of a FPS/RTS mix might be Natural Selection [http://www.naturalselection2.com/].

 

[infohippie]

I too would have loved to have known about this game when it came out. It seems poor marketing killed it more than anything else. With all the exclamations of surprise and delight over this title, I assume everyone's going to give Black Prophecy a try if it ever actually gets around to a release?
We need to show the rare few who write space flight sims like these that they can still be commercially successful if we want to see any more ever developed, or companies are just going to continue writing Generic Halo Clone no. 37.

 

[Irony's Acolyte]

This game sounds AWESOME! A true genre-hybrid. Would love to see more games like this come out. RTS mixed with FPS anyone? I am definatly going to check this out.

 

[Sneaklemming]

Imagine a real-time strategy game that took place in full three-dimensional space, where your units weren't just AI-controlled automatons, but real people. Those people were playing a beautifully rendered space combat simulator. You could give them orders, but their ability to carry them out was based on their skill as a pilot. Unlike in StarCraft or Command & Conquer where all units of the same type were created equal, here the best dogfighters could decimate half of the other team before being banished to an escape pod. Such a game came out ten years ago, and its name was...

Eve Online?!

Hey guys... eve does this also... the combat isn't twitch, but skill plays a huge role. FC's command fleets, and fleets battle over systems. (also natural selection does rts/fps fantastically, and maybe planetside.

Here's a video of a guy recording a battle in eve - you can hear the fleet commander giving voice orders (warning language)

Spoiler: vid

Yah know I just wish there was a space sci-fi MMO that was more constructive than destructive. I mean...I enjoy space battles too, I do, but really Counter-Strike in space bores the hell out of me eventually. I want to build something, produce something...And no I don't mean just warships and laser guns +40 damage. I want adventure that isn't solely a device to collect exotic loot to p0wn your enemies with. I tried to play EVE Online but really all there is to do is fight meaningless wars or otherwise be a cog in a war economy. Not to mention the game seems to pride itself on being a griefer's paradise, home of the biggest collection of douchebag misanthropes you'd ever likely to find.

I don't understand this tbh... it seems more like you didn't understand eve. Incidentally you don't need to play it to understand it. The meaningless wars you refer to are the "empire" wars decs. "Empire" or "NPC space" is also the place full of the misanthropic douchebags. Fly out to the player owned areas and it a whole different story. If you want to get an idea of the meaningful battles that occur in eve without playing the game again, check out Eve News 24 [http://evenews24.com]

 

[Falseprophet]

Probably the Wing Commander movie killed it.
That and most of these games required more controls than consoles could afford.

Let's hope that's not a factor. If whole genres can be taken out by a bad movie adaptation, the only ones left would be puzzle games and RTS!

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Sounds like it was doomed because it requires large numbers of players, and keeping them in line. How do you keep them from not just ignoring your orders and doing their own not helpful thing. I don't even trust players to in Battlefield games to do what their commander orders.

Back then, most PC gamers weren't 12 year old whiny greifers. I hate to generalize, but that certainly isn't the case anymore. That's my only explanation, and the game worked very well. I never once encountered a battle where one side was just a bunch of scouts flying randomly around.

 

[s0m3th1ng]

Whoa. I had a massive jolt when I read the first words in that article, because I thought you were gonna talk about Homeworld.

Not so...

Spoiler

You kidding me? Left 4 dead Anything, a bigger learning curve than Dwarf Fortress?

I thought the learning curve for DF was infinite?

 

[Ryjamsan]

AS another long time player and a current Squad leader(some call these group clans in other games) I can tell you its an awesome game that just never gott he support it deserved


The #1 reason Allegiance failed was two fold.

1) MS did not support it enough and
2) In 2000 hi speed internet was rare. Today its the norm. MS servers at the time could not keep up with demand. At least thats my opinion.

What the group that runs Allegiance now has done is nothing less of remarkable. This small goup of guys took it upon themselves to keep allegiance going using their own funds. While also using many hours of their own time without pay. Not to mention the cost of the servers.

You must remember then as now there are bad apples. Those people who make it their mission in life to ruin everyone elses fun. We had them in 2000 which caused the games to crash and someof the player base to bail on an unstable game. MS got most of the blame when in fact it was those bad apples. But today while we may still have a few bad apples who try to screw everyone else to get their kicks, we have a much more secure player tracking system in place to root out those bad apples.



If your reading this comment you have nothing to lose. Go play 10 games and you too will fall in love with the game and the hard core players who have kept this game alive even though a multi-billion dollar corperation bailed.


Rules for new players to increase the chances that you will stay and make your gamming experiance better

1) Read the Alleg Wiki
2) Listen to your commander and higher ranked players
3) Join the Allegiance Flight School (AFS)to lesson the learning curve
4) Then join the cadet program )@CDT)
5) Learn the controls and concept of what this game is. That is a TEAM BASED Space sim. While a single player can make a huge difference, those players are rare.
6) There is no I in TEAM
7) Ignore some players ego's

After you have played 10 games with a minimum of 30 minute game time, if you still have not fell in love with Alleg maybe you never will




Unlike most games out there, where a new player has little chance to compete with a long term player due to them having better ships and equipment, this game only gives a new player a disadvantage because of SKILL. If my team has HEAVY INTERCEPTORS and YOUR team has HEAVY INTERCEPTORS we are on EQUAL terms. It is then only a matter of the players SKILLS and his teams level of TEAMWORK.

Thanks you for reading and hope to see you in game


Ryjamsan

Squad Leader

BlackShadow

 

[Free_Beer]

A joystick is one good interface for the game. The other is your basic mouse. (Use the 0 key on the numberpad to toggle "virtual joystick".) An xbox controller will work, but it's not recommended.

We have a lot of information on our wiki, so I encourage everyone to have a peek there for basic game information.

And thanks to the author for the article. Well done!

 

[minigun]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxgakXiOXng

there are squad games on sundays. here is fraps of one.

 

[Spinoza@SF]

--- Answers to questions/criticism from a 3 year Allegiance vet ---

G r a p h i c s:
Yes... Allegiance is ten years old... the plus side is that it runs smoothly on anything larger than a phone.
However, if you want your eye-candy, we have that too! Practically every bit of art in the game larger an icon has a hi-res replacement, for example eyesores like the 256x256 space environments have rich, creamy 2048x2048 alternatives.
Hop over to Mesial's Corner [http://www.mesialonline.com/Allegiance/alleg.html] to see most but not all of them... people are always making new ones and you can too!

Community aspects:
Warthur says:

The whole "real people control your units" thing makes this sound ripe for griefing to me.

Allegiance is the most griefer free game you can have. The emphasis on teamwork means anyone not there to play stands out like sore thumb and the commander can kick any player without a vote, no fuss no muss. Also, Allegiance is a hard game and griefers are lazy.

Community size:
Yes... Allegiance has small community and during some times of the day there is a shortage of players online.
On the plus side, (and this is a big plus) the community is tight. You know all the best players and commanders by their callsigns as well as styles of play and personalities. It's like a school playground, where you know everyone even if you're not sure which class he's in or what's his last name. I say him, but we have a few girls, probably... definitely? XD

BTW, you cannot put a price tag for the feeling you get when you pwn someone who you know for a fact is a top pilot. Something you will never get in any pick up game with an enormous player base.

Learning curve and skill:
Allegiance has a steep learning curve to start with, during which you will be shooting enemies with a repair gun, crashing into asteroids and misspelling the word "turrets".

After that, you will find Allegiance has the most rewarding skill based gameplay.
Unlike EVE Online (which only looks similar) Allegiance is played in first person with hard skills only!
No experience, no leveling, no class based bonuses.
You aim, you shoot, you evade and maybe you pwn. And when you do it feels so much better since it's actually you, not your character who is getting better at doing things.

@HELP / AFS / Cadet / Wiki
We love newbies!
Ask any question in-game and you will get an answer.
Ask anyone with the tag @ HELP and he'll gladly take you aside and show you the ropes!
Have trouble running Allegiance? Try our helpline!
Don't know what questions to ask? Join Allegiance Flight School!
Like reading a lot? Check out the wiki!

See you in space!

 

[clay_pigeon]

Hello. I'm another Allegiance fanboy flooding into this thread to pimp my favorite game. If you see me in game, feel free to say hi and ask questions. I might not be able to help you right then, but we can hop on a different server and figure stuff out.

The whole "real people control your units" thing makes this sound ripe for griefing to me.

It's not so much "real people controlling your units" as "real people ARE your units." They may or may not obey the commander's orders, and they only fight as well as the real person's ability. Some days, commanders probably wish that their units were AI -- nothing is more frustrating than coming up with a great battle plan, only to have a quarter of your team show up to party. The commander can eject players that are attempting to cause trouble, and that solves most of the griefing issues.

The thing that I love most about Allegiance is that anyone at any skill level can find a useful role to play, and the game is designed around teamwork instead of lone rangers trying to PWN everyone on the map (it's not Quake in Space). For example, my aim sucks ass, but people still want me on their team because I'm good at tons of other things that are essential to winning.

I've been playing Allegiance for 5 years now, and it has been the only game that has held my attention for those 5 years. I hope to see some Escapist folks in game!

 

[fanklok]

Sounds kickass, I'll get it one day.

 

[RaumVogel]

I have played this game since it's release. I bought it in the store because it sounded like just what I wanted. A game that isn't all lopsided
because you are playing against AI.I don't play other games. They bore me. Also, allegiance can be played on older computers. As a matter
of fact, I joke with the guys on the forum site because I'm playing on an 8 year old computer.You can spend a gazillion dollars
trying all of the other half functional games, or play this one for free.The graphics are spectacular.On an 8 year old computer!
A great game witha great community. And the more it grows, the better it will get. This game will NEVER be old!

 

[Aldi Barisic]

Hi, im one of the many allegiance players! This game is AWESOME!! I found it randomly 2 years ago looking for MMORPG's and never stopped playing it! I havent read all of the Allegiance players post here, but what I learned quickly is that THEY ENFORCE THEIR RULES!! I got a two month ban for doing something I wasnt supposed to and I guess it was a really big issue, but I had done some other bad things before that so it added onto my ban... As soon as the two month ban on me ended I went RIGHT back to playing Allegiance like nothing ever happened! It is an addicting game with some "bad apples", but they shouldnt scare you off. If you ever see me in game and need some help just ask me. We also have an AFS(Allegiance Flight School) and CDT-I and II(Cadet). They both help you learn how to play the game and once you finish all of that we have ACS(Allegiance Command School), where the top commanders of the game help you learn how to command against others, factions strength/weaknesses, and more. Hope to see you all in game!

I go by SRM_Sarajevo, MastaMint, and ChocoMilk

SRM is a fabulous squad(guild/clan whatever you wanna call it.) We are going through a rough patch right now, but we are a good squad and are accepting all. If you want to join one just ask any SRM member.

 

[romitelli]

can't believe I missed this game when it came out, great article.. although, at the time, I was probably running a dial-up connection anyways.

 

[Spinoza@SF]

Btw, I'm afraid here I'll have to plug Freeworlds: Tides of War.

Looks cool and it's nice to see the tactical overview in FW:TOW is inspired by Allegiance...
http://www.freeworlds-tow.net/dev/index.php/news/index/33-tactical-overview.html

 

[Robert0288]

Oh wow, I actually bought this game when it first came out. Came back to it right when free allegiance started. I'm so happy there is still an active fan base for this game. First thing I'm going to do is download it and start playing again.

Nothing better than sneaking in a couple of stealth bombers into a system and demolishing stations with a bunch of buddies acting as tail gunners.

For those of you who are wary of the commander thing, don't be. By control, they can set you autopilot points in space and point you in the direction of important things like locations of warmholes etc... You can always turn it off. But its usually in both peoples interest to work together to win.

edit:
User name:
Created On 3/8/2004 10:18:52 PM
Last Played On Apr 23 2007 3:21PM

oh wow, can't wait for the morning