Bill54fish
SOC-2
Way back there was a Traveller computer game on 5 1/4 floppy discs (I said it was way back lol) -- is there anything like that (1st person rpg) out nowadays?
Traveller rpg computer games
- Thread starter Bill54fish
- Start date
Are you talking about the MegaTraveller game? Or the Trader game for Merchant Princes?
I hear EVE Online is pretty close to Traveller. The Firefly/Serenity game is going, too, I think. I always hear talk about a Traveller computer rpg, but alas...
I hear EVE Online is pretty close to Traveller. The Firefly/Serenity game is going, too, I think. I always hear talk about a Traveller computer rpg, but alas...
Bill54fish
SOC-2
Thanks .... I haven't gotten into the online gaming thing yet but still won't give up on the Traveller rpg ...... someday!! 
Flatfingers
SOC-2
Bill54fish, there were actually two, both from Paragon Software Corporation: MegaTraveller 1: The Zhodani Conspiracy (1989) and MegaTraveller 2: Quest for the Ancients (1991).
In TZC, your goal was to uncover a plot between a megacorporation and the Zhodani. Many (though not all) of the MT rules were used, including a good chunk of the character generation rules and many of the skills. Ground exploration and combat were included, as were starships and trading. Starships in TZC actually added a feature just for the game: starship control programs that could be looted or purchased to enable or improve certain ship functions.
However, only eight of the mainworlds in the Spinward Marches were used (seven in the Regina subsector and Louzy in the Jewell subsector), so travel was somewhat limited. Still, for the limitations of the day I thought it did a pretty good job of realizing as a computer game the feel of the tabletop version of MT.
QftA offered a lot more planets -- basically every mainworld in the Regina, Aramis, Lanth, and Rhylanor subsectors. In fact, in QftA you start on Rhylanor where an Ancient site has started spewing some incomprehensible goo over the whole planet, and your mission is to find a way to stop it before the whole planet is covered. This goes pretty slowly, but it's still a ticking clock.
Most of QftA's systems can be summed up as "the systems from TZC only more so." Pretty much all systems were enhanced -- the chargen in QftA, for example, was implemented with near-perfect fidelity to the official paper version; tabletop GMs could actually use it to create characters for their games. Every star system buzzed with ships; pirates showed up a lot more often; planets were larger; cities had more buildings and inhabitants; and so on. With so many more mainworlds, QftA retained the decent gameplay of TZC while doing a much better job of letting players enjoy the exploration aspect of MT.
Ultimately both games offered the "talk to the good guys, shoot the bad guys, and collect the required keys" gameplay that are the standard model for computer RPGs. That said, both games made this gameplay reasonably entertaining, and (IMO) did about as good a job as could be done given the prevailing technology of bringing the MegaTraveller universe into existence as a computer game. I certainly enjoyed playing both of them (more than once)!
One of these days I'm going to find someone with a 5-1/4" drive and reload my copies of both games onto my current PC. (Though I'll probably need DOSBox to play them. Sigh.) Until then, I'm stuck wondering what a MT game built around the Crysis graphical engine, Bethesda's Radiant AI middleware, and BioWare's multi-character-party system might look like....
Oh, and hello, all!
--Flatfingers
In TZC, your goal was to uncover a plot between a megacorporation and the Zhodani. Many (though not all) of the MT rules were used, including a good chunk of the character generation rules and many of the skills. Ground exploration and combat were included, as were starships and trading. Starships in TZC actually added a feature just for the game: starship control programs that could be looted or purchased to enable or improve certain ship functions.
However, only eight of the mainworlds in the Spinward Marches were used (seven in the Regina subsector and Louzy in the Jewell subsector), so travel was somewhat limited. Still, for the limitations of the day I thought it did a pretty good job of realizing as a computer game the feel of the tabletop version of MT.
QftA offered a lot more planets -- basically every mainworld in the Regina, Aramis, Lanth, and Rhylanor subsectors. In fact, in QftA you start on Rhylanor where an Ancient site has started spewing some incomprehensible goo over the whole planet, and your mission is to find a way to stop it before the whole planet is covered. This goes pretty slowly, but it's still a ticking clock.
Most of QftA's systems can be summed up as "the systems from TZC only more so." Pretty much all systems were enhanced -- the chargen in QftA, for example, was implemented with near-perfect fidelity to the official paper version; tabletop GMs could actually use it to create characters for their games. Every star system buzzed with ships; pirates showed up a lot more often; planets were larger; cities had more buildings and inhabitants; and so on. With so many more mainworlds, QftA retained the decent gameplay of TZC while doing a much better job of letting players enjoy the exploration aspect of MT.
Ultimately both games offered the "talk to the good guys, shoot the bad guys, and collect the required keys" gameplay that are the standard model for computer RPGs. That said, both games made this gameplay reasonably entertaining, and (IMO) did about as good a job as could be done given the prevailing technology of bringing the MegaTraveller universe into existence as a computer game. I certainly enjoyed playing both of them (more than once)!
One of these days I'm going to find someone with a 5-1/4" drive and reload my copies of both games onto my current PC. (Though I'll probably need DOSBox to play them. Sigh.) Until then, I'm stuck wondering what a MT game built around the Crysis graphical engine, Bethesda's Radiant AI middleware, and BioWare's multi-character-party system might look like....
Oh, and hello, all!
--Flatfingers
Super Squirrel
SOC-1
I don't know about traveller games, but have you tried X2 - The threat. I bought it about 2 years ago and graphically it is a really nice game. There are missions to follow, but if like me you just want to explore, you should enjoy this game. Basically you start with a low end ship and have to trade or do passenger services to earn money, but eventually you can own your own space stations and capital class battleships loaded with fighters etc. If you see the ship, and have enough money, you could own one (or more). I own quite a few stations and am making a mint, and have a capital class battleship with fighters onboard that are automated for support in combat situations. You dont have to be a trader, you could go for the life of a pirate, but dont expect to live long because you will be wanted in most star systems.
In general, I enjoy this game, and hope you will.
I hope this is helpful for you,
In general, I enjoy this game, and hope you will.
I hope this is helpful for you,
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