Let's Play Space Rangers 2

[Ziren]

After making this (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=6384663&postcount=5) post, I'm bound by my honor to at least attempt this project, and given enough interest, I'm going to get through with it.

Now, most of you probably won't even know the game, so here's a little summary of what's going on in there:

You are a Space Ranger - a member of the military, but without any superiors. You are allowed to do whatever you want without the military pursuing you for it (short of attacking them, of course). Your mission is to rid the galaxy of the thread of the so-called "Dominators", highly advanced self-replicating combat robots that are (apparently) acting on their own agenda.
The five species that are sufficiently advanced for intergalactic travel have formed an alliance to fight those robots. However, all of them are still trying the stay true to their own ideals, which causes some... tension between them.

More information on the different species can be found here (http://spacerangers2.com/index2.php?m=game_info&f=races).

There's not really much more that you HAVE to know to understand what's going on in the game, so I guess we can just start now. Oh, and I only have the game in German, but I'll give a short roundup under every screenshot about what's going on. This thread is entertaining AND educational.


http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6355/sr2startup.png

So, as which race and class should we start?

Races can be looked up in the link above, classes are about the following:

Kämpfer (Fighter): Those guys are the paladins of the of the universe. Hunt down pirates and Dominators and rarely engage in illegal activity.
Söldner (Mercenary): A gun for hire. Will take pretty much any mission that pays well enough, but won't lower himself to petty piracy, unless there's a really large pool of credits to gain from it.
Händler (Trader): Making profit by buying low and selling high. Of course, buying low could easily mean "loot it from another guys ship, that I just destroyed" and selling high "sell at a planet where this stuff is forbidden". Those guys won't let anything get between them and their profit. What makes them different from pirates you ask? Larger storage, better engines and inferior weaponry.
Korsar (Corsair): Demands protection money from badly-armed passerbys and usually leaves them alone after they give him what he wants. Of course, connections to other races (or even the own) suffer because of this.
Pirat (Pirate): Demands protection money from badly-armed passerbys and shoots them down after they give him what he wants. Pretty much the scum of the universe and as such hated by everyone except other pirates.


Also, which two skills should be taken at the beginning?
Zielgenauigkeit (accuracy) - increases the chance to deal maximum damage with any weapon
Manövrierfähigkeit (maneuverability) - decreases incoming damage
Ausrüstung (equipment) - decreases equipment wear and enables you to control more drones to search deserted planets for you
Handel (trade) - gives you higher profit from sales
Charisma (charisma) - everything you do to improve relationship with a race/planet will improve it a bit more. You also get better rewards for doing missions.
Führungsqualitäten (leadership) - allows you to have a wingman. Of course he wants to be paid for the job.

Also, choose two upgraded pieces of equipment for our character:
Tank, engine, radar, scanner, repair drone, cargo crane, shield generator, a flak cannon, an energy-beam flak cannon, a rocket launcher or an energy weapon that also slows the enemy down.



Also important to know: I won't do the RTS-missions (for they are boring) and will play with permanent death.

Edit: Okay, forget that about permanent death. I'd sooner beat IWBTG on impossible than surviving for more than an hour in this game.

[The Dark Fiddler]

I have no idea what this game is but I just wanted to comment on the explosion of Let's Plays recently. Not that that's a bad thing, Let's Plays are fun.

[Ziren]

I have no idea what this game is but I just wanted to comment on the explosion of Let's Plays recently. Not that that's a bad thing, Let's Plays are fun.

I'd say most people don't know the game, that's the major reason to why I'm doing this. Of course, if no one is participating in or even following the thread, there's little sense to it...

[chiasaur11]

Hey, I'm curious.

Known about the game for a while, even seen a rather insane lets play. So, another would be fun, is what I'm saying.

And for class and race: Human mercenary. Manuverability and accuracy.

Riffraff with some sliver of conscience is always a solid pick.

[Jalor]

Faeyan corsair, choose a missile launcher and a scanner. We get a large hull, two missile launchers IIRC and can scan early on. Let's also take maneuverability and equipment as our skills.

[Fri]

Thank you for LPing this. I want to play this game for ages, but for some reasons never got around to.

[Ziren]

Thank you for LPing this. I want to play this game for ages, but for some reasons never got around to.

Then vote, please - It doesn't matter if you don't know what is most optimal, just pick what you'd like best.

[Neo]

Hey, I'm curious.

Known about the game for a while, even seen a rather insane lets play. So, another would be fun, is what I'm saying.

And for class and race: Human mercenary. Manuverability and accuracy.

Riffraff with some sliver of conscience is always a solid pick.

I second this one, maybe throw in Scanner and Engine for ship upgrades.

[Fri]

In that case, I vote for a charismatic human mercenary.

[Iskandar]

I'd suggest getting a rocket launcher as one of your equipment.

You can't get one in game for quite some time, and they are handy to have.

I have SR2 and SR2 Reboot. Good game, extremely underrated.

[Jalor]

Hence my build, which would give us two; the Faeyan corsair starts with one as well.

[Ziren]

Hence my build, which would give us two; the Faeyan corsair starts with one as well.

I just tried this, and he starts with fragmentation cannon and a Lezka. The ship is pretty sweet, though.

[Ziren]

Race:
Human III
Faeyan I

Class:
Mercenary III
Corsair I

Skills:
Accuracy II
Maneuverability III
Equipment I
Charisma I

Upgrades:
Missile Launcher II
Scanner III
Engine I

Well, let's do this:


They call me Spleylat. This is my diary logbook. I won't mention my real name here, for the small chance that someone other than me might be reading this while I'm still breathing.

I needed to get away from earth. Let's just say that I have had the luck to come into possession of a battered up ranger spaceship and its cargo: A couple of mineral ores and a few pieces of technology. A missile launcher and a scanner, to be accurate. What easier way to get away from any trouble here than enlist in the army? With my own spaceship I was even able to join the ranger corps, who are the beginning and the end of their own chain of command. And with the Dominators posing such a great threat to the universe, they would take anybody.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/3028/sr2briefing.png

And indeed, just a day after my application, they send me off to the ranger space station Betazoidov, where I was greeted by some Faeyan. He thanked me for showing patriotism by joining the rangers and babbled something about the constant threat of the Dominators and how they had already inflicted great casualties to the military. Stuff you hear on the news all the time. He then offered me education in all things that a ranger should know. It seems like basic training is optional for rangers. I considered declining, but then I remembered that I had almost crashed into Betazoidov when I got here (trying to fly a broken spaceship without having any training for it seemed like a good idea at that time) and figured that I might need it. The Faeyan sent me right back to earth. Talk about bad luck.

I wanted to install the scanner and and missile launcher before taking off, but had to notice that they were to heavy for my ship. How did I even get them here, then? I made a note to solve that mystery later, and searched the market for some cheap and light gear to replace my cheap and heavy gear. I ended up buying a radar that had the same capacity as my old one and only a third of the weight, as well as a better laser that had only half the weight. Then I took off and headed for earth.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/8535/sr2spaceship.png

A bit of trading, hyperjumping, shooting dummies, taking a loan and buying new equipment as well as a new ship later, I was send to the science station Hoffnung (hope), where a Gaalian scientist told me that there were actually three kinds of Dominators, who were also at war with each other. The really interesting thing that he said was that I would be payed well for any Dominator technology I could take to a science station.

Taking a look at the news to find out where those "Domiators" could be found, I found out that those guys were attacking the Betelgeiz-system, just twelve days of travel away. My ship was obviously not good enough to take on those guys yet, but according to the news the military had sent a large squad of battleships there, so I thought I could probably steal some Dominator equipment right under their noses.

The mission sadly wasn't much of a success, so I had no choice but taking a specific mission from a planet, if I wanted to pay off my debt in time - and those space bankers can get pretty nasty is you don't do that. Since I like my kneecaps the way they are, I agreed to protect all civilian vessels in the Sonne (sun) solar-system for the next 47 days. The place was crawling with pirate, so this wouldn't be an easy job, but I had no choice. And just as I had left Venus, I saw two of them attacking a harmless transporter ship. I attacked the first one, and ordered my partner Korgar to distract the other guy.

http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/3191/sr2mevssense.png

He was weak. In fact, he dealt less damage than my trusty maintenance drone was able to repair. He escaped into hyperspace. I went to help my partner.

http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/7922/sr2mevspirate2.png

He escaped to the ranger station, where he kept repairing his ship while me and my allies kept him pinned. Until another evildoer emerged, that is. Korsar Kälte (cold) wanted to join the dance and who was I to deny this to him?

http://img154.imageshack.us/img154/1218/sr2mevsklte.png

The mission ended while I was still fighting him, so I offered him to bribe his way out of the situation. He told me that he couldn't pay me a reasonable price (a mere 536 credits), so I pursued him until he escaped to the Rastabaghn-system. Now all the pirates that terrorized the Sonne-system have gone there. I would think the Rastabaghn planets should search for a capable mercenary right now. Better get them one as soon as I collected my earnings. The government of Venus was so pleased with my success that they gave me a bonus - a quarkbomb. This device has a large detonation radius and power, perfect for ambushes and hasty escapes.

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/2382/sr2spaceship2.png

Also, doing this missions seems to somehow have increased my capability of keeping my equipment in shape. After paying off the loan, buying another laser and repairing my equipment, I had less than 1000 credits left, so I decided to do some work for the Maloqs. They wanted me to protect their elite soldiers "Die Roten Äxte" (The Red Axes), who were currently training on an unarmed transport ship. Not wanting to anger my host, I didn't point out how stupid this was and just agreed.

On the mission, I met Corsair Kälte again, who thought that he could blackmail me into dropping my load (lots of alcohol). I quickly scanned him and found out that the only thing he changed about his equipment was buying a surprisingly good shield generator. He wouldn't get away this time

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/6987/sr2mevsklte2.png

... He got away. At least I got to shoot down another pirate and the 3000 credits promised to me, as well as a shiny medal.

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5885/sr2diamondbox.png

I bought a bad shield generator and a couple of star charts for my money as well as repairing my equipment. I also found out that my current ship can't overcharge the engine. Bad news for me, but I had spent too much money on that baby to trade it in right now. Time too take another mission and get revenge on Corsair Kälte...



Also, I will stop to keep track of every mission now, cause this really drags this whole thing out.

[Fri]

Nice. I guess if this is a game with randomized mission, chronicling each one would be too much. It is a game with randomized mission, right?

Can you tell me more what kind of game is this/explain the general gameplay more? Point and click strategy? Action?

[Maxymiuk]

Nice. I guess if this is a game with randomized mission, chronicling each one would be too much. It is a game with randomized mission, right?

Can you tell me more what kind of game is this/explain the general gameplay more? Point and click strategy? Action?

It's a... gah. It's pretty much a little bit of everything. Let's see if I can try to break it down.

The core gameplay is a top-view open sandbox continuous turn-based action game with RPG elements.

... Ok, let's try to break it down even more.

The core gameplay involves flying a space ship and doing whatever the hell you please in a galaxy consisting of a 100-odd systems. The passage of time is marked it days, each one lasting around 3-4 seconds, though the game autopauses whenever you're attacked, while talking with other rangers, or while doing stuff planetside.

The "turn-based" part refers to the fact that a day is a discreet time unit, during which you can take a limited number of actions. For example, while in combat each weapon you carry can fire once per turn, though unless you keep pausing to adjust targetting options, etc. it all flows seamlessly enough to look "real time".

You can naturally get better new ships, better stuff for your ships, artifacts that can drastically alter their performance, etc. And, of course, you also gain experience and improve your abilities as a pilot, trader, or what have you.

The second big element (which Ziren said he won't be doing) are the full 3D RTS-style mech battles. Only it isn't just an RTS since you can take direct control of a mech and run around shooting stuff from third person perspective. In fact, that's often preferable, since weapon cutoff range slightly exceeds AI maximum range.

The third big element are the wormholes. Upon falling into one with your ship, the game suddenly takes a turn for the arcade, becoming your standard top-down shooter, albeit with full range of motion and weapons that quickly overheat if you just spray them indiscriminately.

Then there's the quest minigames. Dear lord, the quests.

Some of them are randomly generated, yes. Kill pirate X, protect transport Y, liberate system Z. But then there's the ones taking place planetside.

Most of them are either puzzles or text-format choose-your-own-adventure style excersizes. Let's see... off-hand I remember stuff like gathering a rock band and then performing a during a Battle of the Bands style rock concert, a Mad Max style big rigs "trade stuff and fight bandits" scenario, hunting some beast with a knife, a club and cute fuzzy creatures, an intergalactic cooking tournament, rock-paper-scissors giant mech combat, running a ski resort...

And I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff.

[Ziren]

Nice. I guess if this is a game with randomized mission, chronicling each one would be too much. It is a game with randomized mission, right?

Can you tell me more what kind of game is this/explain the general gameplay more? Point and click strategy? Action?

Yes, the missions are randomized.

The space comat is mostly strategy, though neither completly turn-based nor real-time. Every turn is a day and at the start of the turn you can give commands to your ship, i.e. follow the enemy ship and fire at will. The turn then plays out in real time, so all ship that are engaged in combat (and all that are not) move at the same time.
Now I'll tell you a bit about the ships equipment, which is also my justification to show of my new one.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/360/sr2spaceship3.png

At the top of the screen, you see my weapons I've got a laser, a missile launcher and a fragmentation cannon. The laser does rather poor damage, but I have yet to find a replacement that isn't worse, the missiles are pretty slow, but they are steering towards the enemy and almost always deal maximum damage and the fragmentation cannon is kind of a shotgun (low reach, high maximum damage, high damage spread).
On the left you see the engine and the tank, the better the engine, the faster you are and the further you can travel through hyperspace. Also, there is this small thing that looks like a play-button near there. That one activates the overcharge, which doubles your speed but your engine degrades a lot faster (I'd say about 20 times, if I had to guess) if you use it.
The tank holds your fuel. The bigger the tank, the further you can travel without having to fill it up again.
On the bottom you see two small slots and three big ones (there are also two small slots at the top, but I can use only on of those).
The small ones hold artifacts, which have unique effects, like passivly filling up your tank, boosting you weapons etc.
The left big box is the maintenance drone. It repairs your ship every turn.
In the middle is the grabber, which allows you to loot stuff in space. The better the grabber, the bigger stuff you can loot.
On the right is the shield generator, which blocks a certain percentage of the incoming damage (11% in my case).
On the right are radar and scanner, the former let's you "see" through space, the later allows you to scan ships that have less than a certain amount of shild points for equipment, cargo and even the status of the pilot.
In the middle is, well, the ship. As you see in the status window on the top left it has 352 hit points (which is also the amount if weight it can carry) and a plating of 3 so it raduces incoming damage by 3. The darker parts in the status window show which slots can be used.

There's also other forms of gameplay: Ground missions are either text adventures or RTS, but the later is sadly pretty bad.
And if you choose to travel through a black hole, you have to fight of a certain number of enemy ships in an action sequence.


I also met Corsair Kälte again. This time, he escaped by landing on a planet and getting thrown into jail there :smallannoyed:

[Gameshark]

I realize I'm about 2 years late on this thread. :P I bought this game 2 or 3 years ago, and still replaying it a lot. Fun game. One of my favorite space games ever made. My personal choice when starting out is a fighter, with Charisma and Accuracy as my skills, and normally radar and fragmentation cannon. Of course, human too. I love almost everything about this game, but the planetary battles, I admit, could have been more focused on, and less boring and faster. I'm a big C&C fan (not sure if I'm overstepping my boundaries discussing that), so the planetary battles was something I liked at first, but quickly grew tired of. 2-6 hours of fighting, and you couldn't save (IIRC) in the RTS planetary battles either. P-r-e-t-t-y lame. I won't spoil anything for anybody here, but if you like space games, this is a must have. However, it's purely singleplayer only. (Then again, what was ever bad about singleplayer games?) :P Anyways, thought I'd give my two cents about this game. Good to see someone made a Let's Play for it.

[Gourtox]

I realize I'm about 2 years late on this thread.


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