Artemis: Multiplayer Mayhem on a Starship Bridge

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Artemis: Multiplayer Mayhem on a Starship Bridge

Here's a ultra-cool twist on multiplayer gaming: Artemis Starship Bridge Simulator, a co-op LAN game for up to six players that proves that it's hard to soar like an eagle when you're surrounded by turkeys.

This is such an amazingly simple idea that I can't believe nobody has thought of it until now. It goes like this: Put six PCs together in a network, one to run the game and five to simulate unique starship duty stations - helm, weapons, communications, engineering and science - assign one player to each station and a sixth to call the shots as captain, then stand back and let the fun begin. That, in a nutshell, is Artemis Starship Bridge Simulator, a social tactical combat sim that demands cooperation, communication and, I would guess, no small amount of patience.

What makes the game so fascinating is that success or failure depends entirely upon the ability of the crew to work together, follow orders and not drop the ball at a crucial moment. The captain may be a tactical genius but if the helmsman is an idiot, you're out of luck; likewise, having the sharpest-shooting weapons officer in the sector doesn't mean a thing if the chief engineer forgets to charge up the phasers. And if half the crew decides in the heat of battle that the captain is totally blowing it, things could get very interesting, very quickly.

A group at Wired U.K. [http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2010/11/artemis-spaceship-bridge/] took the game for a spin and sure enough, there were challenges. "It's amateur hour on the bridge of the HMSS Wired. We're careening towards an interstellar minefield at warp 3, our chief engineer has accidentally diverted all the energy to the photon torpedoes so we've got no power for the main viewscreen, and our science officer has popped off to the loo just as we pass through an unexplored nebula that could be full of enemy cruisers," the captain writes. "It's not going well."

Artemis has a predictably strong Star Trek [http://www.startrek.com] vibe and supports crews as small as three, although obviously the more, the merrier. The AI is apparently a bit on the weak side but that's hardly anything new when it comes to videogames, and the developer says bridge-to-bridge combat is slated to be incorporated in a future update, a change that will no doubt elevate the game from wickedly cool to absolutely mind-blowing.

Just think about it: A dozen people going head-to-head in interstellar combat, groping blindly through nebulae, dodging through minefields, shouting orders and acknowledgments in ridiculously bad accents. You could say, "The engines cannae take the strain, Cap'n!" and actually mean it! If that doesn't get your juices flowing, check your pulse.

More information about Artemis Starship Bridge Simulator, along with instructions, gameplay videos, a demo and more, can be found at artemis.eochu.com [http://artemis.eochu.com/]. Engage!


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thenumberthirteen

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Dec 19, 2007
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You are right. This sounds god-damn awesome. Now I need friends. Who wants to join me on the USS Escapist?
 
Aug 25, 2009
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Fas-cinating.

Okay I'll bite, this soudns absolutely awesome. I'm not sure if it would be more or less fun if you on a team with people who don't know what they're doing, but for the nerd in all of us this soudns fantastic. And also, you can finally settle in-friend debates about who would be who on your own Star Trek bridge.

I don't look forward to the competitive players though, people who train with their team for hours for the sole purpose of crushing those who are just trying to have fun.
 

teh_Canape

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May 18, 2010
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holy shit

guess I'll have to pull out the yellow/red/blue suits and dust 'em off

star trek is on, baby ^-^
 

VitusPrime

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Sep 26, 2008
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This seems a awesome idea. I'll have to find some other people that'd be interested and give this a try.
 

remorsless

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Dec 10, 2009
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Isn't this what StarTrek Online was suppossed to be origianly? Before it was bought out by Cryptic? Seriously, I remeber one of my mates explaining it to me as being like this exactly... And this is so much better!!! Ha ha ha. I gotta play it!!
 

BabySinclair

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Apr 15, 2009
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Oh hell yeah, especially since you can get it for free. Why do I get the feeling I'll use the Picard (or is it Kirk) Gambit and warp at my enemy before unloading on them?
 

The Rogue Wolf

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Nov 25, 2007
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...does anyone besides me now fantasize about the Escapist taking over some convention and getting together its own bridge crews? Because I'd be SO DOWN with that.

I call weapons station.
 

twm1709

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Nov 19, 2009
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I love games and most geek stuff, I really do. But I always have a hard time watching videos about grown men doing this sort of stuff. It's like, being out of the fantasy myself and watching other people doing this... it feels kind of... pathetic...
 

remorsless

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Dec 10, 2009
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twm1709 said:
I love games and most geek stuff, I really do. But I always have a hard time watching videos about grown men doing this sort of stuff. It's like, being out of the fantasy myself and watching other people doing this... it feels kind of... pathetic...
So ture! I just watched some other vids of this on YouTube and believe me, they're worse! But very funny.
 

Timotei

The Return of T-Bomb
Apr 21, 2009
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Just gave the demo a try. This game is *really* freaking buggy. Maybe it's just the demo and the finished product doesn't have such crippling features such as weapons that don't work on occasion.
 

Nephilium

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Oct 29, 2009
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"Silence on the bridge god damn it! this is an english vessel not some russian slag ship!"

Lol epic line.
This looks incredably fun, i dont have anyone else that would be remontly interested in playing it but god it looks like fun.