Posts by Ryleous Arkane (SA_ORION)

Glad you all had fun, got some great alien-tech and made it back in one piece on this IC mission! Great work and nice job leading the expedition Raiden!

Once my band's first local show is done and our rehearsal schedule gets back to normal, I'll be on the next one. Hope to see you all then!

Have a great one man and may you have many more Forlon! *salutes*

Gentlemen... To give you some ideas of more or less what's happened here recently with the player population in general for Freelancer I'd say there are a few contributing factors, some more recent, some more long-term but most of which are already mentioned.

Recent factors:

1. Release of Diablo III.

I don't know much about what other games you guys play on PC, but I know this is a HUGE franchise and a long-running for Blizzard in the PC world. Hell the Diablo Battle Chest set is still holding it's value even after some 8-9 years after it's release if that tells you anything! Me personally, I'd love to jump on it right now, but I don't have even the minimum requirements to run it at the moment.

2. World-wide economic problems.

I'm not sure how hard this is hitting most people and their families in certain geographical areas, but it's bad news for all anyway you slice it. It's a serious and very troubling situation, especially in Europe where it's the worst it seems...

3. Aging player base.

Pretty self-explanatory. We certainly ain't getting any younger and as mentioned, life priorities change dramatically for most as we enter adulthood. I saw this first-hand recently with the departure of Sam, callsign ARROW, as CO of the Silver Arrows when he recently got married in real life.(his new wife has alot to do with this I'm afraid) As a result, to my understanding Forlon is now Deputy CO of the Silver Arrows indefinitely, unless for some rare chance Sam returns.

Long-term factors:

1. Freelancer was released on March 4, 2003.

As incredible as the game was and still is IMHO, it's approaching 10 years(!) old. This is ANCIENT in the video gaming market these days and even more so in the PC gaming world. The only way this game is going to live on is the hope that OP will polish and release the new FL styled engine he recently showcased that can reuse FL assets and files and has a newer, more modern DX10 or DX11 type game engine. With the ability to use much more modern features and putting the engine back in the hands of capable independent developers within the FL community,(and out of M$'s damn greedy ass hands) the game could last indefinitely as one of the best PC space sims ever!

2. Fracturing of the Freelancer community with the past demise of the Lancer's Reactor.

The fallout of the Lancers Reactor's demise years ago and splitting up of the player base into separate communities will eventually DOOM this game into obscurity if things do not change. Granted, OP has restored that to some degree with hosting of LR on the SWAT Portal and hopefully as a peace offering to the other communities... But still much more needs to be done to unite the entire community even though I have very few ideas of how to do that effectively, as I feel there are still deep seeded feelings against OP and the SWAT Portal in The Starport community.

3. Long-term FL mod developer motivation and shrinking FL player base

This is unfortunately a secondary condition of long-term problem #1 which exacerbates it as well. As Gibbon has correctly pointed out, a shrinking player base due to the age of the game in general will only in the end add to the frustration of most FL modders. With no players to test their mods, no players to populate the server and no players to make it worthwhile pursuing further FL modding as a result, most FL modders will eventually lose interest and move on from Freelancer.

Anyway, there's most of them in a nutshell from my viewpoint, I'm sure others will add to it or expound on it as well. Regardless, the situation is most troubling and without any easy solution I'm afraid folks. I always hope and pray for the best though as this game is IMHO one of the best space sims ever made and I'll still even after 20 years from now want to crank this up and play it in single player, even if it's for nostalgia.

I'm telling you folks now, this hasn't happened by accident, it didn't get here overnight and there are those in shadowy, high places who want a global financial catastrophe to happen to finally implement their agenda.

There are alot of high-profile bankers, globalists, people in power and political figures who would love to use such an opportunity to finally assume a real, one-world order, most likely under the guise of the U.N. "for the betterment of mankind in this horrible catastrophe". (HAH!)

It's coming folks, things are already coming into place and have been for some time for this to happen.(like the various trade agreements that are setting up several regional trade zones, like NAFTA, GATT and so forth with the "North American Trade Region", along with it's "new" currency, the "amero") Sadly, I think this is going to start in the EU and eventually make it's way world-wide, almost no country will not be affected by this in the end.

We are most likely one single, major event away from this all coming down, mark my words ladies and gentlemen.

"MISSION ACCOMPLISHED"

THANK YOU for everyone who showed up and make this event fun and a success! I couldn't have done it without you ladies and gentlemen!

We unfortunately had a high casualty rate due to some pilots getting separated on the way there by Dom forces and asteroid fields, but a majority of the battle group made it there and endured the attrition of the 30 minute naval blockade. Special thanks to Forlon for bringing along SA_Repair01 for field repairs for the IOC Inquisitor and other cap ships captained on the mission, the Repair ship definitely proved it's worth and value today. (and I need to make one soon) Also special thanks to Vishnu for using his GR privileges in issuing toalls universe-wide before the event!

The combined strength of the SIRIUS BATTLEGROUP engaged and set up a naval blockade that routed the Dom Razak and Warrior forces in Mepther that were bound for Weth today. The Dom'Kavash have expressed their eternal gratitude and appreciation for our noble efforts and successful mission. For those who have not done so, they have made their ancient cloaking technology available to us, along with any weapons we salvage from our enemies for our future use and equipment stores as a reward. Also, the Silver Arrows Command wishes to award all pilots and to those who did not survive post-humorously a commendation of valor for their participation and efforts.

All who will receive the Silver Arrows Commendation of Valor:

SA_Forlon
SA_Orion
SA_Raiden
Riebens
{LP} Marauder
(IOC)Centaurian Alpha
(IOC)Fencer (Cresthen)
Ras Cryptic
(SMG)Hexplore
[UR]Vishnu
Crossrover
[BC]Ender
[BC]afGun aka [BC]Ksygon-Geleon
[SOC]Lonewolf aka Azghard
Dom_Kavash
Zombie_killer

(I think that's everyone, please PM me if I forgot to put you on the list!)

We salute and always remember all who died for the survival of the human race and of the Dom'Kavash this day, their lives were not given in vain. The price of our freedom and continued existence in the threat of the United Dom' Forces always remains high, but will always be worth it.

Until next the expedition pilots! Thanks again, good journey and godspeed to you all! *salutes*

Rear Admiral Ryleous Arkane, callsign "ORION"
Inner Core Expedition Commander

LOL! PH33R the plague of the double posting!

LOL! PH33R the plague of the double posting!

Welcome back man!

Nice find Wavey and excellent webstore to get some old but great PC games!

Nice find Wavey and excellent webstore to get some old but great PC games!

T-2:42 hours and counting, hope to see you all there! May the death of our alien enemies be swift and decisive, good journey and success for all of you out there.

Come back when you can Michael, we'll be here when you return.

I can sympathize with the RL stuff, between work, my new band and other RL stuff keeping me busy, it's making life rather hectic and even more limiting of my CF flight time.

I'll keep you and all your countrymen in my prayers, this debt crisis going on the in the EU is starting to get troubling, even to me here in the states, as it affects us all ultimately.

In the meantime, work hard, study hard and good journey sir. *salutes*

Ahhh, damn this reminds me of a ship I did in AutoCAD a year or more ago... Just gotta get it converted and setup to work in Freelancer unfortunately.

Due to it's rather stubby, aggressive and "multi-finned" appearance, I was gonna call it the "Razorback".

Guys, the usefulness of the mines is purely defensive in nature, to drive an attacker off your 6 and allow you to reposition against them in a dogfight.

In the case of CF in general, they will test most people's computer and internet connection due to lag, another side benefit in a way of sorts to the mine.

Beyond that... Yes, they are useless to most. Again, it's all in the application and situation it's used in.

Most will consider them cheesy or lame due to inducing lag, but will I say as been said before by others here, "LEARN AND ADAPT". All is fair in love and warfare I say.

In my past experience with the tactical nuke torpedo in mods like Battlestar Galactica, the nuke is something that can and will be abused and is waaaaaayyy overpowered.

IMHO, if you don't want something ending up being abused in the game, don't put it there.

Even with the nuke as a sole deterrent for the fighters against the massive battlestars and basestars in the BSG mod, it was easy to take out an entire area of ships with a single, well-placed nuke as well.

And none too soon Abras...

Things are starting to unravel over the debt crisis in Greece and Italy from what I've read this morning. I'll be keeping all you European folks in my prayers that this situation does not deteriorate further, as it could get ugly fast if the bank runs begin.

Have a safe, enjoyable and "uneventful" flight Abras and best wishes again to you and Mizi adjusting to life here in the states.

I completely understand Vishnu... If I didn't have a buttload of work at my job right now, a gigging band and just crap in general going on in my life right now, I'd enjoy the opportunity to help. My CAD skills allows me to do solid modeling of just about anything and I know you guys can always use more modelers.

Regardless, if you guys advertise you're hiring in the right places and to the right people with this new open-source FL based space sim engine... "If you build it, they will come." MODDB is one of several places to do just that.

I have faith that once word of this engine gets wind in the FL modding communities and space sim communities, I'm sure the reception of it will be good and people to help by use of their talents will begin to show up.

Take a look at MekTek for a fine example of how this can work. They have created their own development house from just a mere modding community for the Mechwarrior series mecha-sims and have grown to become an actual design studio for Mechwarrior/Mecha based games, their first being AT1:BT. Probably wouldn't hurt to contact them and get chummy with them to see how they do things and gather some of their knowledge of how they progressed into an actual game design studio. I know their work with the Mekpak add-ons for Mechwarrior 4 are superb and AT1:BT is very promising.

I'm sad to say, don't hold your breath OP... Creating a new open-sourced engine that can accept file assets and data from Freelancer's engine/kernel is IMHO the only way to circumvent M$'s bull-headed foolishness in refusing to release the FL source code. As long as the data cannot be traced back to Microsoft's IP, they can't do anything in a court of law, in the US or abroad. A brilliant solution IMHO and my hat's off to you!

Besides, the less M$ has to do with this game in the future, the better. Games these days IMHO are best left to those who genuinely want to create, expand and improve on a them, not a mega-corporation that only is looking for a profit margin and then effortlessly tosses it to the shelf. You OP and other FL modders like you more than deserve to continue breathing life into Freelancer, in spite of M$'s stupidity.... Even if it means creating a whole new engine to accept your current data and years of work, much less to say this will finally open the doors to create and expand on the MMO/spacesim we all truly dream of.

Your engine is what can truly put the power back in the hands of the artists, aka the FL modders, where it should be.

Quote from Vishnu

i think microsoft will kinda sue for copyright issues if this goes out for sale

That's why the name and any assets related to Freelancer that can be traced to it must be changed in the final released version, of which I'm sure OP has already taken into account.

So far, it's a good WIP. IMHO this could be the only way Freelancer will survive, if this new engine is open-source and is much friendlier to modders if it can reuse the Freelancer assets and file structure.

...Annnnnndddd we're back! Cue the music please...

nxcJW6bs5os

Personal crisis averted... NOW, where was I? Oh yes, WE'RE STILL ON FOR FOR THE CURB STOMPING FOLKS, YAY.

Hooray for the internets, I was right, it was my computer's PSU and after some research on properly getting it hooked up, we're back in business, W00T! *thumbsup*

GAME ON!

Thanks afGun! I look forward to seeing you there man!

Unfortunately, I have some bad news to share guys... My computer is currently down and would not start up for nothing this morning. I'm hoping when I get off work this evening I'll test it and try to isolate the cause. I hope I find that it's the power supply(of which it's acting like that's the problem) of which I thankfully already have a replacement for. If that's the case, I'll have it back up by tonight. Otherwise, the expedition date may have to be pushed back even further until I can get the necessary parts to get my computer back up and running.

Wish me luck and say your prayers folks, I'll keep you all posted!