Ascii Sector
Ascii Sector is a free space combat/exploration/trading game
which is based on the classic computer game Wing Commander: Privateer
released by Origin Systems in 1993.
In Ascii Sector, you start with a simple spaceship and
can then accept missions or trade goods to earn enough money to upgrade
your ship or buy a new one.
You can engage in deadly fights both in space, on the ground and on
board spaceships, and using the Ascii Sector scripting language, you
can create your own quests for the game or have fun with other players'
quests.
Privateer: Ascii Sector allows you to freely roam the game
universe, which currently consists of 32 systems and 45
bases and planets. (This number will increase in the next versions of
the game. Visit www.asciisector.net for progress
updates on the next version.)
As you travel in the game universe, you will be able to engage
in dogfights with other spaceships and land on planets
and bases. Here you can interact with the populace, upgrade and repair
your ship – or buy a new ship – and get
missions to complete in order to earn more money (called credits in the
game).
There are three ways to get missions in the game: the
Merchants' Guild, the Mercenaries' Guild, and fixers. Both the
Merchants' and Mercenaries' Guild cost credits to join, but the fee is
a small investment compared to the credits you'll
be able to earn by completing Guild missions. Most bases and planets
have a Guild office with a mission terminal for
you to use. When you log on to a mission terminal, the computer will
connect to the Guild network and display the
missions available to pilots of your rating. When you accept a mission,
you'll have a set time to do it within. The
mission's expiry date is the deadline. Completing missions will
increase your rating and give you access to a greater
amount and variety of missions, while failing to complete a mission, or
not completing it before the deadline, will
decrease your rating.
Fixers are people on bases and planets that have missions for
you to do. They are usually found in bars, waiting for
privateers to offer their services. Just like with Guild missions, you
will have a set time frame within which to complete
the mission. Successfully completing fixer missions will improve your
reputation and more fixers will offer their
missions to you, while failing missions will reduce your reputation.
You can always check your missions on your personal handheld
computer (called a Quine) when on a base or planet, or
in the nav computer when flying in space. Your Quine can store up to 15
missions at any time (not counting quest
missions). When you have completed a mission, clear it from your Quine
to free up space for new missions (if you have
to return to your contact to collect your pay after completing a fixer
mission, don't clear it from your Quine until after
you've been paid!).
The Quine is also where you save your game. Thus, you can only
save your game while on a base or planet (but not
while engaged in combat).
Taking on missions isn't the only way to earn credits in the
game. If your ship has a large enough cargo hold, you can
earn a good deal of credits by buying commodities on one base or planet
and selling them on another. This is done
using the computer terminals in the Commodity Exchange.
To interact with your surroundings on a base, just walk into
them (i.e. to talk to characters, use computer terminals,
board your ship, or use a bed, just walk into it/them).
Features include:
- Uses the ANSI character set for the graphics
- Real depth to the gameplay
- Offers a wide variety of bases, missions, commodities and
ships
- Ships
include: Broadsword, Centurion, Demon, Dralthi, Drayman, Galaxy,
Gladius, Gothri, Kamekh, Nexus, Orion, Paradign, Stileto, Talon,
Tarsus, and Ulysses
- Four quadrants: Alizarin, Crimson, Mauve, and Viridian
- Downloadable quests
- Scripting of quests
- Ascii Sector quest language, create your own stories in the
Ascii Sector universe
- NPCs on planets can be attacked and robbed
- Persistent fleets that
can move around, change control of systems, engage enemy fleets, head
back for repairs and rebuilds
- Ships whose systems have been disabled can be boarded
- Download high quality music files
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Last Updated Saturday, April 13 2013 @ 05:55 AM EDT
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