Something to play around with

Ironduke

Spaceman
I know, it's not Christmas yet, but hey - it's no big present either. ;)
As some of you might already know (especially those who stumbled upon my "WC2-era ship images" thread), I'm trying to create a Wing Commander table-top game. Needless to say that this is a non-commercial project which I'll share gladly with the WC community once it's finished.

One of the project's issues is fitting WC vessels on a standard-size hex grid. I've decided to use two general scales: One for fighters, and one for capships. (Just in case you wonder why the Broadsword is bigger than a Clydesdale... ;) )
To this end, I created a "size comparison tool" where you can drag and drop all kinds of ships around the screen to balance the scales.

Anyway, I thought you might enjoy playing around with some WC2-style ships (if just for some reminisce), so I chose to put it online. You can get it here:

WC2 Ship Size Comparison (ZIP archive, 1.5 megs; will only run on Windows!)

And yes, I'm open to suggestions and criticism concerning scaling and naming of ships (or conning towers on wrong sides). :D

P.S.: All ships with a name given instead of a class ("TCS Sheffield," for instance) are ships which don't have a (definite) known class.

P.P.S.: I could also need some hi-res images/renders of WC2 missiles (DF, HS, FF, IR, Torpedo) and decoys (chaff pod).
 
Looks very neat.

The sizes of the space stations don't appear to be entirely accurate, though - according to the WC2 manual, the Kilrathi starbase has a radius of 1,100 metres, that means that it has a diameter of 2,200 metres. Similarly, the Confed space station has a radius of 1,200 metres, or a diameter of 2,400 metres (unless, of course, this was supposed to be the Candar Space Station from Academy, in which case you got the size right - but the only space stations we see outside of Academy's virtual environment are the standard 2,400 metre stations).
 
This is pretty darn awesome, Ironduke! I love it! I can't wait till you complete the game with all the rules. I love strategy board games and this one is looking quite good! Nice Christmas present indeed!
 
The sizes of the space stations don't appear to be entirely accurate, though - according to the WC2 manual, the Kilrathi starbase has a radius of 1,100 metres, that means that it has a diameter of 2,200 metres.
Gee, you're absolutely right! I took the bases' "length" from the CIC's ship database, which I presumed to be the diameter. Just checked that up in my own WC2 manual, and guess what... ;)
I'll fix it, although I'm afraid the bases already are pretty much maxed out for that hex grid. I guess I'll have to put them in a megahex.

@Maj.Striker: Thanks! Writing the game manual will probably be the worst part of all. I pretty much got all the rules laid out, but they're spread over just too many hand-written sheets and text files at the moment. :rolleyes:
 
well.. I was under the impression you were making an actual table top board game.. but that .exe file makes me think you'd be better off making a multiplayer flash game :p


That is most excellent.. keep it up!
 
Looks great, but I wonder how would the Broadsword fit inside the Confed carriers, it seems awfully big compared to them.
 
well.. I was under the impression you were making an actual table top board game.. but that .exe file makes me think you'd be better off making a multiplayer flash game :p
Honestly, I've already been down that road once... With the result that I made up more and more complex rules for the Flash game which I couldn't apply to the table-top variant (it probably would have taken days to roll the dice and do all the math in a fleet engagement). So this time, I'll just stick to simple table-top rules. :)

Although I'm not all against a computer-based game - but that would mean I'd need to find someone who did the coding for me. However, that's not my primary focus right now. ;)

@Delance: You're right, the Broadswords won't fit into any carrier - even the Epee or the Sartha won't. That's because of the two scales I mentioned in my first post. I would have loved to use one scale throughout, but trust me - you wouldn't want to use a 39 inches long Confederation-class in a table-top game. :D
 
Fine, I didn't read the entire first post. My bad. Anyhow, it looks great, so, good job and congratulations.
 
Ironduke, I'm not sure if you've heard of it but there are a lot of board games that are playable using a program called Mapview. It's very similar to what you have here in your .exe except it allows you to save stages. So like in phase 1 you could show your fleet at Sector A (for example) and then you create a new stage and move your fleet to Sector B. You then save the game file and email it to everyone that you're playing with by email. They check the file and see where your movements are etc and then they do the same thing. It might be something you want to check out...it's pretty easy to import your own ship units etc and map into the program.

http://www.motcreations.com/
 
Ironduke, I'm not sure if you've heard of it but there are a lot of board games that are playable using a program called Mapview.
Haven't heard of it till now. ;) I downloaded MapView and gave it a try, but if I'm not mistaken, you have to register to be able to import your own modules.
Besides, Flash still allows you to do all that fancy stuff when it comes to animating unit movement and combat... :D
Thanks for the hint, though! MapView's still on my hard drive. You never know... ;)

@Delance: Absolutely no problem - and thanks! ;)
 
Hmm, I probably don't have the most recent copy of the program but I'm pretty sure I didn't have to register. I had started working a WC board game at one point but didn't have it completely mapped out.
 
Hmm, I probably don't have the most recent copy of the program but I'm pretty sure I didn't have to register. I had started working a WC board game at one point but didn't have it completely mapped out.
In my version, there's pretty much everything greyed out except "New game," "Open game" and the "Help" menu. :confused:
Or maybe I'm just too stupid. :D
 
It's almost Christmas, and I thought you'd like to see another take on a Flash-based WC toy. Two Ferrets engage three Sartha in open space in this simple test mission. Okay, so you can't really fight it out, but you can move the ships, rotate them, and even blow them up. :D Since I plan on posting the basic table-top rules soon for you to discuss, this program might come in handy to do all the playtesting. (Actually, that's the reason why I decided to write it in the first place.)

Enough of the talking: Grab it here, if you dare! ;) (~1.5 MB ZIP archive)
 
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