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[Gabeux]

Hello fellow B12ers,

I've been wondering for a while if there are more games like Starshatter - The Gathering Storm, a space sim from 2006 which features a Dynamic Campaign.

Even though the gameplay can eventually feel "shallow", I found the Dynamic Campaign feature very fun, since anything can happen - the game can play itself without you or fail horribly, or just go on forever with your team failing to accomplish the current goal or your enemies failing to finish your team. Your impact on the game is easily measurable and noticeable.

There's no scripted missions - only scripted "events". The enemy has an army, so do you, and in every "mission" you select to play, you're actually 'just' launching and going into a brief mission with the goal of destroying an airbase, intercepting bombers, patrolling, destroying cruisers/destroyers/frigates and so on. So if the plot currently talks about rebels holding an airport, if you liberate the airport the story moves on.

Of course, you can go above and beyond your mission goals and attempt to blow up their whole fleet in a single assignment (I think it's doable once you get enough rank to command a Cruiser)
Oh and yeah, the whole campaign map is open for you to fly around, there's space and atmospheric combat and all that.

I'd like to ask, do you know any games that plays like this? I've already searched in the past and tried again nowadays with no success. Doesn't need to be a space game.
I remember Operation Flashpoint (old one) being more or less like this, but not really.
Thanks.

EDIT: If anyone get interested on the game I used as an example for dynamic campaigns, here's the game's thread.

EDIT2: List of games suggested in this thread, that either have Dynamic Campaings (or have DCG mods), or are sandbox games that may be close enough to scratch the itches (like featuring persistance of units or other entities, which may alter gameplay or the game's universe) - of course, I cannot confirm that all games here have what it takes, so you might wanna check it out for yourself  :

Spoiler: Action (click to show/hide)

Star wars: Battlefront 2

Spoiler: Simulation (click to show/hide)

Echelon
Enemy Engaged – Comanche vs. Hokum
F-22 Total Air War
Falcon 4 BMS
IL-2 Sturmovik (Modded)
Silent Hunter 4
Starshatter

Spoiler: Real-time Strategy/Tactics (click to show/hide)

Anno 1701
Cossacks 2
Men of War: Assault Squad DCG
Rise of Nations
Sid Meier's Gettysburg

Spoiler: Turn-Based (click to show/hide)

Flotilla
Space Rangers
Warlock masters of Arcana

Spoiler: Old-school (DOS and beyond!) (click to show/hide)

Armour Geddon
Carrier Command
Cyber Empires
Midwinter
Red Baron
Transartica
Steel Panthers
Sword of the Samurai

Feel free to PM me or warn me in this thread of any game that I might miss

[Majestic7]

Starshatter was wonderful, would be nice to see a proper sequel with a proper team and funding. Well, old Falcon games come to mind; they were a lot like Starshatter in that regards. Likewise, have you played Space Rangers? It is...a mix of genres, but definitely dynamic.

[Robsoie]

Not having played it , i can't say how it compare to Starshatter (that i liked a lot despite its quirks) for the diversity of the missions you can decide to do and the impact of your actions on the whole war , but i often read people saying lots of good of the dynamic campaign of the old Falcon 4.

[Remuthra]

Best I can think of is Civil War Generals II.

[Hugehead]

A lot of flight simulators have dynamic campaigns, my favorite being IL-2 Sturmovik 1942 with the enhanced dynamic campaign generator from Lowengrin
There's a few for Arma as well, but I haven't played them so I can't say how good they are.
Another is the dynamic campaign generator for Men of War, again I haven't played it but a friend has told me it's very good as well.

[TripJack]

Falcon 4

[Fikes]

Didn't the Close Combat games have a sort of dynamic campaign? I know you could lose missions at least.

[tompliss]

I think the (WarHammer 40k STR) Dawn Of War 1 extensions used this.
It was quite nice, as there are multiple races with different gameplay, so you have to adapt at least a bit to your enemy.

[Gabeux]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'm reading about Falcon 4.0 right now and watched a video, it seems awesome!

Best I can think of is Civil War Generals II.

Woa, that looks old-school. It doesn't look like my cup of tea though, but its nice to know about it - once I'm in the mood for strategy I might check it

Starshatter was wonderful, would be nice to see a proper sequel with a proper team and funding. Well, old Falcon games come to mind; they were a lot like Starshatter in that regards. Likewise, have you played Space Rangers? It is...a mix of genres, but definitely dynamic.

Indeed, it would be amazing. And Space Rangers is one of my favourite games of all times, even though I dislike Turn-Based games for some reason, I completely ignore that on Space Rangers.

A lot of flight simulators have dynamic campaigns, my favorite being IL-2 Sturmovik 1942 with the enhanced dynamic campaign generator from Lowengrin
There's a few for Arma as well, but I haven't played them so I can't say how good they are.
Another is the dynamic campaign generator for Men of War, again I haven't played it but a friend has told me it's very good as well.

Good to know - I have IL-2 Sturmovik somewhere but never played it properly. Gotta put that on the list to check.

I think the (WarHammer 40k STR) Dawn Of War 1 extensions used this.
It was quite nice, as there are multiple races with different gameplay, so you have to adapt at least a bit to your enemy.

Interesting. I played a bit of Dawn Of War 2 and like the campaign style, gotta play it properly too 

[sambojin]

F-22 raptor had an alright one from memory. In a very basic (and very old school) sense, so did Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain and SWOTL.

The one in the Dawn of War expansions was more of a map-based campaign, but quite a good one. Very simple because the objective stayed the same for each map tile, but you'd get bonuses for areas already conquered. Just stay away from the Necrons (they're OP'd as hell). Good modding support as well, with a large community, and I think custom units can be used in campaign mode.

edit: I just found that SWOTL had a modding community back in the day, making 100's of custom planes to muck around with and even (slightly buggily) importing BoBs planes in. Errrmmm, I know what I'll be doing for the day. Here's an FAQ link for anyone looking for some very old-school flight-sim goodness with a funky campaign map. "All the ball-bearings. Destroy them all!"
http://home.comcast.net/~swotl/swotlfaq.htm

[Robsoie]

Oh and having just replayed a bit of a campaign and sunk a November on my hunt (and nearly got done for too), Red Storm Rising featured a dynamic campaign that reacted to your prowesses or horrible results.
It may be old (26 years old), but it's still a very good game if you like those cold war subsims (Microprose how much we regret you), i remember someone had started to make a remake, too bad he couldn't finish it

Still on dos and subsim, but ww2 themed these one, you had Silent Hunter and Ace of the Deep that had a bit of dynamic elements, as your sub was roaming around with you planning its hunting zones , but unlike Red Storm Rising your successes didn't really mattered on a war as a whole, it was more mattering on you getting a better notes for your career.

And while mentionning Microprose and dos oldies, on a very different genre but built about a whole dynamic system too as the game moved according to your spying, detections etc... the most excellent Cover Action, even now very replayable despite its age.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Did anyone else read it as "Starshitter"?

[Sonlirain]

Ok list of games that have dynamic campaigns i know of!

A - Apache vs Havok - Global map changes depending on what you accomplish during missions... be warned tho as in the beginning all you are allowed to do by the "command" are patrols and you rarely get to do interesting things during those.
B - F22 Total Air War - Similar dynamic campaign BUT you also get to direct interceptors towards threats and jump into any F22 that's currently in the air at the moment.
C - Flying Corps a VERY old game where you fly in biplanes but what you do during missions has an effect on the larger scale.
D - Mig Alley - Same as flying Corps
E - Tigers Bane - And ANCIENT game that appears to be a lovechild of arcade sidescrollers and simulators where one rocket can bring you down. The campaign missions are semi random but are affected by how you fared in previous missions... and if you destroy a building in mission 1 that building will stay destroyed for the entire duration of the campaign... i'd suggest to check this one out for the novelity at least. There is no reason not so since the makers released it for FREE.

[WhitiusOpus]

The only one I can really give a good report of is the previously mentioned Men of War DCG (Dynamic Campaign Generator) which I believe is also adapted to MOW:AS.

[itisnotlogical]

Warhammer 40k Dawn of War: Dark Crusade had a campaign map made up of several tiles that you had to control. The only "scripted" events were main base assaults and the mission that led up to them; everything else is a generic battle that you can win or lose, with the appropriate effect on the larger world map.

Unfortunately, Dark Crusade is pretty much impossible because of the Eldar. You will grind your entire army to dust against the penultimate Eldar mission, no matter how many or what Honor Guard units you have. Maybe you can win as the Crons, but I haven't played DoW in a long time.