Strike Commander

[Delance]

The positivist approach is weak. The fact that it's against the law is fairly easy to erode, all you need do is change the law, or find a way to push more suitable interpretation for it. The example of the Mona Lisa is bad, because whatever copyright could be involved would be long gone. I don't like the 'theft' metaphor for copyright infringement precisely because it's a right, not a thing that can be subtracted.

“Abandonware” is a very precarious notion for many reasons. Copyright law is not absolute, there’re plenty of limitations. There might be number of theories that can be constructed to at least allow a fair use base to use old software, but “Abandonware” is not one of them.

The thing is, some old games were released to the public by their own holders freely. They are not abandoned, they are freeware. And not only some obscure shareware game from the 90`s, but commercial titles have been released for free. Companies have a interest in their IP and that definitely should be respected. EA, for example, has just released a compilation of old games. There’s no way to say they are “abandoned”. This makes the whole concept of “abandonware” wrong.

 

[Vinman]

Has anybody tried running Strike Commander with DosBox?

DosBox 0.65
http://dosbox.sourceforge.net/news.php?show_news=1
"- Improved v86 mode emulation (mainly for Strike Commander). "

Yeah, it worked alright, I suppose, I just hated having to switch speeds around or whatever between flight and cinematic modes

I have a pretty old computer that I usually run games like this on, a Pentium 100

 

[Edfilho]

Strike Commander was indeed pretty awesome, but IMO it has aged badly. I guess that 3D flight sims are more graphic-dependent than Space Sims.
I wish someone would make another flight sim like it, not really realistic, but not too arcadey. The excellent Ace Combat series on the PSX/PS2 has done a great job with the actual flying part, but I miss 1) taking off and landing and 2) the whole "merc manager" aspect of the game.

BTW, an Ace Combat-like WC game for consoles would be really cool.

 

[cff]

You mean I imagined having to enter in the mass of a Ralari, or the ESK rating of a Javelin (IIRC) missile, to play WC1 or Secret Missions 1?

Touche - You are right - at least earlier version of WC1 had a protection. It isn't exactly copy protection in a technical way, but yeah.
Strike Commander is far nastier however. Besides also needing the manual it uses additional stuff.

 

[powell99]

Oh god I remember that, I think that's why I still have my copy of "Sudden Death" The installation had a few questions too

 

[Ptarmigan]

Strike Commander was very resource intensive when it came out. Kinda reminds me of Wing Commander, specifically Privateer.

 

[royswift]

I just got a copy of Strike Commander off Ebay and am excited to play it, as I have fond memories of it back in the day.

It seems that the people on this forum are knowledgeable about the game, so I have two questions:

1. Do i need a joystick to play it, and if so, does anyone have a recommendation?

2. I do not have the manual and am having a tough time figuring out the controls (maintaining cockpit mode for targeting enemies) and such, so can someone point me to a site where the controls are on or somewhere I can purchase the right item?

Thanks alot!

 

[Bandit LOAF]

I would definately reccomend a joystick with Strike Commander -- I don't think it's required, but it certainly helps. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about modern sticks...

... but here's the manual, courtesy of Replacement Docs: http://www.replacementdocs.com/download.php?view.863

The 'Sudden Death' in-continuity part is *awesome*!

 

[Mike-L]

Do i need a joystick to play it, and if so, does anyone have a recommendation?

You can play the game with keyboard+mouse controls without any trouble (keyboard alone just won't do because it's hard to aim precisely) but joystick is still more fun when you're playing flight simulator game

As for recommendations : I bought Logitech's Attack 3 about six months ago. It handles pretty well and is precise enough for playing any simulator. I has no force feedback, but it makes no difference in this game anyway

 

[Ghost]

Strike Commander was indeed pretty awesome, but IMO it has aged badly. I guess that 3D flight sims are more graphic-dependent than Space Sims.
I wish someone would make another flight sim like it, not really realistic, but not too arcadey. The excellent Ace Combat series on the PSX/PS2 has done a great job with the actual flying part, but I miss 1) taking off and landing and 2) the whole "merc manager" aspect of the game.

BTW, an Ace Combat-like WC game for consoles would be really cool.

Well, you can try the Strike fighter or Wings over Vietnam/Europe flight sims, they aren't hardcore, they have pretty nice graphics, a great moding community.
First time that i played Wings over Europe it reminded me of the old F-15 II/F-19 flight sims.

 

[royswift]

thanks.

Thanks for the help!