Freelancer (computer game)
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| Freelancer | |
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| Developer(s) | Digital Anvil |
| Publisher(s) | Microsoft |
| Release date(s) | March 3, 2003 |
| Genre | Space simulation |
| Mode(s) | Singleplayer and Multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Teen (T) |
| Platform(s) | PC |
Freelancer is a space simulation computer game developed by Digital Anvil and published by Microsoft in March 2003. The primary distinguishing feature of the game is that it does not end when the last in-game mission is completed. At that time the player has only explored a small part of the game universe, and is then free to continue to explore the rest of the region.
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Background
A war between two major factions, the Coalition, and the Alliance, has been waged in the Earth's solar system for decades (see Starlancer for the video game based on this conflict). At the end of this period the Alliance builds a fleet of colony starships in secret: five are launched, one for each of the major nations of the Alliance: the Kusari (Japan), the Rheinland (Germany), the Liberty (America), the Bretonia (Britain), and the Hispania (Spain). Fortunately, all five escape the Coalition blockade. This fleet is launched toward the Sirius sector carrying thousands of colonists. On arrival in the Sirius sector the ships land in separate areas, which become different political regions.
The sleeper ships arrive at different times in different locations. The Sirius Sector is a region of space with many star system surrounded by four distinct landmarks. In the 'north' is the gas, oxygen, and hydrogen rich Crow Nebula. In the 'south' is the volatile, yet mineral rich Walker Nebula. To the 'west' is the rocky Barrier, a massive and long asteroid filled region rich is useful metals and finally to the 'east' is the mysterious Edge Nebula.
The Liberty arrives first, thus having the advantage of choosing where to settle, choosing the central region for its mix of resources and habitable worlds. Liberty is the most powerful House militarily and has the 'worst' crime (politically most of their crime is from Liberty, but for game progression they are very weak). Liberty corporations Ageira Technologies and Deep Space Engineering were the ones who developed the underlying technology behind Jumpgates and Trade Lanes, and they subsequently hold exclusive rights to it.
The Rheinland selected the region adjacent to the Walker Nebula for its resources (diamonds especially), Rheinland has the second most powerful navy and the second worst crime rate (terrorism as well). The Kusari arrived next and selected the region near the Walker Nebula for its worlds of water rich in edible sea life and hydrogen gas (a component of H-Fuel). Kusari has the least powerful navy because of the lack metals in the region - almost all metal used in Kusari is imported from Bretonia or Rheinland.
Bretonia arrived a full 200 years after the Liberty landed on Planet Manhatten in the New York System. Bretonia chose a region in the Barrier because of the abundance of useable metal. Bretonia has a slightly smaller navy than Rheinland but are the most economically powerful House (the first to pay off the Liberty Jumpgate Debts).
The Hispania suffered mechanical failure of some sort (widely thought to have been caused by a Coalition saboteur onboard) upon nearly reaching their destination almost 800 years prior to the game, resulting in half of the colonists onboard abandoning the craft and taking their chances with the lifeboats. These became the Corsairs. Those that decided to take their chances with the drifting wreck eventually managed to reach a habitable planet. These became the Outcasts. Both have since evolved into powerful criminal empires, and in spite of their common heritage, have become bitter enemies as each refuses to give way to the other when it comes to their primary source of income, illegal trading.
The Outcasts are named because of the unfortunate nature of the planet they initially settled, known as Malta. One of the native species of Flora on Malta is a species of orange grass, the pollen of which is effectively a highly addictive narcotic that causes extreme mutation in the human genome. This pollen goes by the name of "Cardamine" and is a highly illegal commodity within the colonies. As a result of their constant exposure to Cardamine, the Outcasts are very long-lived, but must carry a supply of the drug with them, as withdrawal is invariably fatal.
This ill fortune, coupled with their limited resources made it impossible for the Outcasts to leave Malta until it was far too late to reverse the damage done by exposure to the pollen. They dubbed themselves the Outcasts, reflecting their inability to function as a normal colonial House, and elected to assume political power in the colonies by a more subtle means - getting the majority of the human population in Sirius addicted to Cardamine. The drug has proven extremely popular, especially in Liberty, and some criminal organisations (most notably the Golden Crysanthemums) make extensive use of Cardamine. As a result of this success, the Outcasts are surprisingly wealthy and well-equipped. Their extended lifespans are another source of this success, as experts in any given field tend to remain active for longer. Outcast ships, especially their Dagger and Sabre class fighters, are amongst the best in the colonies, and their pilots tend to be experienced and skillful.
It should be noted that both the Outcasts and Corsairs believe the systems failure onboard the Hispania to have been deliberate sabotage by the other Houses so that they could have more of the new territories to themselves. This is one of the reasons they pursue criminal methods instead of diplomacy with regards to the other Houses.
The game takes place 800 years after the Sirius system has been settled. The Alliance is almost a forgotten concept and the four houses of Liberty, Rheinland, Bretonia, and Kusari bicker while piracy runs rampant.
Gameplay universe
The Sirius Sector consists of over 40 star systems divided into several political regions: Liberty, Bretonia, Kusari, Rheinland, the Independent Worlds, the Border Worlds, and the mysterious Edge Worlds.
Each system contains a mix of planets (many of which you can land on), space stations, trade lanes (for rapid travel within systems), asteroid and debris fields, and dust and ice clouds.
Travel within each system is simple - just direct your ship at your destination and fly there, or better still use the local trade lanes for much faster travel.
Travel between different systems is achieved using Jump Gates and Jump Holes (holes are naturally-occurring gates generally used by the criminal factions).
Liberty Space is in the center of the Sector and is the "safest" area to be in, in the sense that the local villains don't have ships with any great firepower. Life gets harder as you travel further from Liberty; wandering into one of the border systems in an under-armed ship is a certain way to get your character killed very quickly.
Playing the game
Freelancer.jpg
The space environment is visually rich, with star backgrounds created from sources such as images from the Hubble Space Telescope. The space around you is populated with planets, stations, clouds of various types, trade lane rings and many other objects. Computer-generated ships move around - police and other patrols, cargo convoys and so on. The space around many planets is a hive of activity. The environment is rendered very realistically (within the rules of the game universe, that is). You can switch between various viewpoints.
In space you are in control of your ship and presumably trying to get from one place to another without your ship being destroyed. Control is through a mouse and keyboard; the game does not support a joystick interface. Maximum speed in normal flight is 80 m/s but you can also use a thruster to boost your speed to 200 m/s for short periods. In cruise mode your speed increases to 300 m/s but in this mode your weapons are disabled. Trade lanes allow you to move across a system very quickly (around 5 km/s). Ships have four flight modes - free flight, go to (a kind of autopilot that will fly your ship to a selected point avoiding obstacles), dock (used to land on planets and stations and to travel along trade lanes and through jump gates), and formation (in which you can join a convoy and travel under their control).
While landed you can trade weapons and ammunition, commodities and even buy a new ship. You can also visit the bar to pick up gossip or have your reputation "hacked" (more on this later) or select a mission from the job board to pick up a little money.
There are several ways to make a living. You could fly a fighter craft and take on missions from the job board to gain money; or you can move cargo around, buying low and selling high. You can even mine asteroid fields to gather commodities to sell.
Single-player
You play the character of Edison Trent, recently arrived on Liberty after the space station you were on (Freeport 7 in the Sigma-17 system) was destroyed by unidentified attackers. At this point you have no ship and little money, as you invested 1 million credits on a deal with Lonnigan, which was lost with the station.
From this point you must play through a series of missions which will take you through a story of political intrigue and a secret alien invasion. In the last mission, you evict the invading aliens from the Sirius sector.
Between missions you are free to explore, take on jobs, trade cargo and so on. After the last mission you are truly free - able to explore all the other systems in Sirius space.
Multiplayer
To play in this mode you must connect to a server (the server program is installed with the game so that you can play on a LAN).
There are a few basic differences between multiplayer and single player modes:
- When saving a game in single-player, the game is stored locally. In multiplayer your character, ship, location and so on are saved on the server when you disconnect.
- In multiplayer, new characters normally start on Planet Manhattan in Liberty Space with a basic spaceship. The single-player missions are not available.
- Certain jump gates, holes and other features in the single player game do not exist in the multiplayer game.
- If your character is killed in a multiplayer game you can restart on the last planet or base you landed on. You lose any cargo that you may have been carrying.
Ships and equipment
There are many ships to choose from. There are two basic types: fighters and freighters. Fighters have better armor, can have various weapons mounted and are easier to control in a fight. The largest fighters can carry 70 units of cargo. Freighters are much more sluggish to control but can mount turretted weapons. Freighters can carry up to 275 units of cargo.
Ships can be equipped with a shield and a thruster. These are optional and can be upgraded, but you would be foolish to take to space without both of these items.
In addition to guns and turrets you can also mount missile and torpedo launchers, countermeasure and mine droppers and a cruise disruptor, a specialized high-speed missile launcher designed to temporarily disable an enemy's cruise-mode engine.
Character status
Character status is based on "worth" - the sum of the value of your ship, weapons, cargo and your cash reserves. As your worth reaches certain thresholds your character level goes up. Higher-level characters are able to buy more powerful ships.
Factions and reputation
As you play you will meet other characters, each of which belongs to one faction or another. There are dozens of factions; the police and armed forces on one side, the criminal factions such as the Outcasts and the Corsairs on the other, and many commercial entities such as Bretonia Mining and Metals and the Gas Miner's Guild.
How these factions treat you depends on your reputation with them. They may be friendly, neutral or hostile on a sliding scale. Neutral factions may scan your ship and order you to give up your cargo or fight for it. Hostile factions won't bother scanning or warning - they'll attack. Friendly factions will leave you alone and (if your reputation is good enough) may help you out in a fight. You can't land on enemy bases/planets and you may not be able buy certain high-powered weapons unless your reputation with the seller is good enough.
Reputation with any faction changes every time you interact with another character. If you destroy a Corsair fighter your reputation with the Corsairs will go down. Attack their enemies and it will improve again.
Factions are interlinked and have allies and enemies. Destroying an Outcast ship affects your reputation with the Outcasts, of course, but you'll also make enemies of their allies, the Liberty Rogues. At the same time your reputation with the Liberty Police will improve.
Reputation hacking is something that you can often do in bars on planets and stations. For a fee (a bribe, really), you can have your reputation with one faction or another improved; this usually incurs a slight reduction in reputation with some other factions.
Strange physics
The trade-offs involved in making a space simulation game that is actually playable has resulted in a set of physical rules that are completely at odds with the "real" world. Planets are just a few kilometers across and separated by a few tens of kilometers; the biggest star systems are perhaps 200 km across. All ships have the same top speed (80 m/s in normal flight, 300 m/s in cruise mode), constant acceleration results in constant speed, and every space object, be it planet, star, fort, or jumpgate, all are same level (that is, lie in the same plane).
For the most part this need not detract from enjoyment of the game. After all, if the physics were too much like the real world, it would take years to fly from one planet to another, not minutes.
Related games
Many people have noted similarities between Freelancer and a much older game, Elite, which was available for the BBC microcomputer in the early 1980s. There are also similarities with Descent: Freespace and Freespace 2 (in fact one source shows a screenshot an alternative design of the Freelancer flight displays in which the layout is very similar to that of Freespace).
Modifications
Despite being not very mod friendly, Freelancer supports a thriving modding community. Many mods have been released, from simple mods adding ships or changing speeds to total conversions like Free Worlds (a Star Wars total conversion) to The Next Generation (a complete retooling of the Freelancer universe. It has nothing to do with Star Trek.) One of the most popular modding sites for Freelancer is The Lancer's Reactor (http://www.lancersreactor.com/t/), which contains most mods ever created for Freelancer.
External Links
- Lancers Reactor (http://www.lancersreactor.com/) - Fan Sitede:Microsoft Freelancer