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[kcwong]

I'm starting to play this game now... the old thread is 6 months old and the forum software suggested a new thread.

Long ago, when my sister's boss gave me his old 8088 XT (with a harddisk), I got access to a bunch of disks too. One of those was Star Control 1. The main game mode never worked (was it due to the lack of manual so I couldn't enter passcode? I don't remember), but I got a lot of fun from the melee mode. My favorite is the inertialess flying saucer, I loved using it to kill the Dreadnought by slamming it into the planet or by slowing picking off all its fighters.

When I first heard about Ur-quan Masters, I thought it was a commercial game - I didn't see it on the shelves and forgot all about it... until recently I read the freeware game thread here and saw the name again!

The game's much faster than I remember... I tried a melee game, with the old alliance ships vs the old Hierarchy ships. I used the Hierarchy, a weak computer the alliance. I won with just one ship left. 

Do I need to be really good at melee to be successful in the main game? Or do I get time to practice and a much buffed-up ship to compenstate?

[Manchild]

having played all three, and only beaten ur-quan i would say, for your story based game.... the melee does play a large role, but it really depends on how you mod the precursor vessel(the precursor vessel is a upgradeable ship, as are most of them[sorta] tho i suggest playing around in melee to figure out what secondary ships hurt others the most, as your vessel is kinda.....poor in the beggining...) and what races you have with you. i had a hard time finding all of the recruitable races, and if you make a mistake in a spot or two you can end up destroying a few races....


but otherwise, its about fifty fifty in your gameplay. once you disable the probes(if you havent met them yet, they get real annoying) you will find the fighting gets easier,

there IS a time limit to the game, tho for the life of me i cannot remember what it is.... tho if you piss off a few races you can postpone it....


try playing three.... its alot harder.... i kept running out of fuel and having everything kill me then....



ah, and the no inertia ships are alright.... that would be the Arilou La'Leelay.... they do kick butt but the chmmr are so much better.




well, get playing, i loved the game, i wanna know your opinion on it.

[Jreengus]

I was never massively good at melee but as you upgrade the main ship that doesn't matter much, At the end I had my ship capable of blowing up anything in one or two shots and it fired homing shots so I didn't even need to aim. The very last battle you can't really use your main ship as it looses most of its customisation slots so you only have space for like one shooter and what not but by then you have chmmr ships in abundance and they pretty much make up for it.

[kcwong]

Ah... so your ship is so good that it can compensate for the lack of ship captain mastery.

In the mean time, I died for the second time.

The first time I fled the solar system after being warned about me violating Ur-quan master's laws and that there will be a ship on its way here... entered hyperspace and went to an adjacent system. An alien vessal approched, at first it's peaceful, but soon its behavior was overriden and decided to break down my ship into raw materials (you know who this is now).

Then I went to read non-spoiler hints on Ultronomicon, realizing how stupid I was to leave the solar system.

The second time was after this thread... the first battle in the game, precursor ship vs a battered cloaking spider ship. It spawned pretty close, and with us pointing at each other. Knowing that my ship was slow and clumsy to turn, I chose the most direct course and charged it, hoping my firing rate was quick enough to take it down in one pass. It wasn't. >_<

I like Star Control 2... and although I suck at the game, I think I like The Ur-Quan Masters already.

[Manchild]

the best way to beat the Ilwrathi is to use the E. Cruiser.  and RUN away inbattle while shooting as many nukes torwards it as possible... and use the Leyland Gravity Whip technique to give yourself more speed and launch yourself around fast since the cruiser is kinda crappy.


and then if it dies you just have to finish it off with the precursor.
its pretty week so it should be easy if you find a good strategy.... took me forever to figure out a good one for the game.



and remember it is okay to fail multiple times.... just like with DF....


and its fun.


tho, while the chmmr is fun to use i personally liked using the Mycon ships in melee or the Shofixti....

ah... the shofixti remind me of japanese kamikazis....lol....so much honor.



i want to go pirate Ur-Quan and number three again....but i dont have enough HD space....be cool if they did a re-release on the PSN store....

[kcwong]

I reloaded and managed to beat the spiders this time, pretty easily too, since I was looking at their backs when it started.

I'm now looking at what to do with my ship... make it faster and more maneuverable first, I think. If I can't fight at least I can run. Then it's time to mine... strike the earth!

[Manchild]

too bad about that Ur-Quan planet shield right? it would be so easy to strip mine the planet...


mine pluto... loads of HFS on there....

[Jreengus]

Yep, first thing to do is pretty much mine out our solar system, once you then move on to other solar systems don't bother mining a planet if it only has one of the lowest two mineral types on it (I think they are called metals and commons) because it's not worth wasting hold space on them. I normally max out thrusters and turners first as you can then outrun anything.

Bear in mind this isn't about just going around shooting stuff. Talk to the spacestation captain and take notes on what he says, do this for everyone. Once you have a reasonable ship start deciding where to go based on your notes, think about what could be helpful etc. When you come across the space merchant guys (I forget their name) don't just buy technology, I did this at first and lost my first game rather buy information if you are low on leads from other people or think something could use clarifying. Finally don't attack homeworlds, they have an infinite amount of ships, if you get in a fight at a homeworld run.

Oh and if a ship chases you to a solar system then waits outside it when you leave the system leave it facing in the direction you want to go, the half a second or so you save turning in hyperspace can be difference between them catching you and you speeding off from them. Oh and use autopilot too, it can outrun enemies and saves you feul by taking the most direct route.

[kcwong]

mine pluto... loads of HFS on there....

When I read your post, I thought Pluto's full of precursor technologies... I also read somewhere else that Pluto is a must-see.

But the energy scan shown only one spot... then BAM! it hit me most unexpectedly.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

ROTFLMAO!

The way his parents shoved him out of the door... LOL!

[kcwong]

I am having a blast!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Having cleared out all safe planets (i.e. except Mecury and Venus) and moons in solar system, I headed to Gamma Centauri, then Alpha Centauri, Epsilon Centauri, Zeta Centauri and finally Beta Centauri. I bought one storage upgrade and packed it to full before I'm done with Beta Centauri.

I've meet the Trade Master in Alpha Centauri... seems it's moving about in the system. I couldn't help but wonder why did its bridge change colour?

I've found one moon with life one it... it's Beta Centauri, planet 3's bronze-coloured moon. It has heavy lightning though, so I must come back later.

I managed to use the Spathi Eluder to beat a randomly(?) encountered Probe. It seems I always run into those guys. I found two Probes in orbit of the lone planet in Epsilon Centauri... maybe that's their base... but I don't have great condifence I can beat them, so I'll leave them alone for a while.

Back in base the starbase captain said I've done an excellent job... and told me there're incoming contacts from Reigel Sector.

I guess I'll check that out... hopefully for a first quest the game will be gentle. But I best be prepared to fight... I got my 3 ships fully crewed, fully fueled and now deciding how to spend my almost $4000...

[Megaman]

probes multiply until you find their creators. *cough* talk to informants *cough*(the commander will tell you about an informant, it's your choice weather to find the information of who built those things  or to get technology. Spathi ships can kill almsot anything, some spoilers for you...)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spathis will slave shield themselves if you have an alliance with them, stock up on their ships

(light)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

later on the informant sells you technoligy of improving the resistance of your dropships, even if other upgrades seem useless do them anyway

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

when the informant talks about the strange portal to another space or something, go there during the right time and go to the planet, then go to umgah space with a tallo shield(i think)(ask the trademaster for information first) also the natives will hint on who the fuck is sending those probes, but it's not detailed information. in umgah space get to the homeworld with a few spathi ships and abduct(and optionally) analy rape the talking pet, come back to the homeworld with extra fuel, recieve biological data, FUCKING RUN, never come back to umgah space.

that will be 75 credits.

[Jreengus]

probes multiply until you find their creators. *cough* talk to informants *cough*(the commander will tell you about an informant, it's your choice weather to find the information of who built those things  or to get technology. Spathi ships can kill almsot anything, some spoilers for you...)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Spathis will slave shield themselves if you have an alliance with them, stock up on their ships

(light)

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

later on the informant sells you technoligy of improving the resistance of your dropships, even if other upgrades seem useless do them anyway

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

when the informant talks about the strange portal to another space or something, go there during the right time and go to the planet, then go to umgah space with a tallo shield(i think)(ask the trademaster for information first) also the natives will hint on who the fuck is sending those probes, but it's not detailed information

that will be 75 credits.

Don't give in to his spoilers! It's better if you beat the game on your own!

[Megaman]

they're not that bad, I didn't tell him how to make THE DIVICE.

[Keita]

Oh god not THE DIVICE!

This is a very good game, I've never played the games that it was based on but I think there sort of the same.

I love the old arcade style music it has and the awesome names for the aces as well.

[kcwong]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Found the aliens sending the message in Rigel... so went back to base, removed a few of my thruster upgrades and installed a fuel tank, filll it up and headed to Rigel.

I got killed by a Spathi ship along the way. I was almost there.

Ah well, it's likely to be too difficult for me... I'll go back to mining. Strike the Beta Centauri and Sirius!