The Ur-Quan Masters Discussion Forum

Hello-

Long time lurker here and SC2 fan. First of all, UQM is a great project and I just want to thank the team for all their hard work!

That said, has anyone played Space Rangers 2? I have heard very favorable comparisons between this game and Starcon2. Just wondering what everyone thinks before I go ahead and buy it.

Thanks!

From Gamespot (http://"http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/spacerangers2dominators/news.html?sid=6142753"):

Oh man I am so buying this game!

Sounds good. Who is putting out this game?

It looks like the game is already out in Europe (developed in Russia) and it'll be out in the US sometime in March.

Hmmm... sounds good! Yay, it doesnt seem to be an MMO! I hope my computer can handle it.  :-\

Oh why cruel god, did I buy this Macintosh!  :( I thought I were cool!!

Doesn't Macintosh have something to emulate PC games?  ???

Well, I went ahead and got the UK version off of gogamer.com.

It's a very cool game.  There are plenty of previews/reviews out there that can explain it.

Staffystar: its more like the Macintosh Escape Velocity  than anything else. It has more gameplay modes (RTS, text adventure, RPG, and some Starcon-esque melee in black holes) and options however.

I heard it has some type of problematic copy protection program with it caled StarForce. It's supposedly borderline malware. Did you have any troubles with it?   ???

Indeed, it does have StarForce on it. I have not experienced any problems so far. But then again, I have not tried to burn a data CD since installing the game.

I will say though, SF is an overly-intrusive form of copy-protection, IMHO.

I'm going to wait for the US version to be released with the hopes that it won't have StarForce. Is this a useless hope, or is there really a chance?

It is possible.

The decision to use SF is made by the publisher, not the designers. So since the US version will use a different publisher, they may elect not to use SF.

Great game.. Although it's more Elite-ish than it is Star Control-ish... It's still great, though...

RTS aspects of it aren't that great, but still a nice addon..

Anyways, yes, I'm still a rookie to this game (played it for like 2 hours now), but it still manages to amaze me... Great GUI, great features (love the news searching!), and the intro movie is supreme!

Definitively recommended!


About the Starforce: I'm currently checking to see if there's a way to play this game without having it installed.. So far, I think (hope?) I could do it..

Well if you are running XP pro it might be possible. It might just make the install crash.

Warning:  messing with user rights can screw up a system.

Just go to
Start->control panel->administrative tools->local security policy.

Then under local policies go to user rights assignments.

You should find the field called load and unload device drivers. If you make it so no one has that right then in theory starforce should not be able to install since it installs as a device driver. You will have to re-add administrators next time you update your drivers though.

I dont have a starforce infected game so I can't test this idea.

I most likely will not buy any starforce infected games because any program that installs without my consent I automatically classify as a virus or spyware.

Here, here. While I agree with a developer's right to protect their own work, starfarce is not the work of the developers as much as the publishers, and here's the kicker, it is actually making it harder for their audience to get the game unless they download a hack. So in the end the publishers are encouraging the very thing they are trying to disuade.

It's like when the movie industry made the whole campaign against downloading movies off the internet and only succeeded in alerting a whole slew of people that you copuld download movies for free off the internet instead of paying their ever increasing ticket prices.

Corporate America is so hilarious.

Hilarious and vile, at the same time; those of us who are not too interested in stealing our games are being left out in the cold if we don't want a system full of mandatory malware... This and the endless (and very costly) losing battle against constant upgrades has almost entirely turned me off from PC gaming, at least with regards to commercial releases.

Yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard to keep up with all the upgrades. I just use a laptop as my main computer though... which isn't as upgradeable. And guesst is exactly right about Starforce. The stupid program is actually encouraging the thing it's trying to stop. It's just stupid.  :(

I think SF is a European company, but thats besides the point...

Personally I dont mind devs trying to protect thier software. But SF takes it too far. Yes, I've had no probs so far, but I'm still suspicious...

Steam, IMO, is much better in that at least it doesnt install drivers on your comp.

Yeah, but the problem with Steam is that EVERY TIME you want to play their game you have to connect to steam and download content. That mean if your internet is down/fussy no project Gordon for you.

I used Steam for about a week before uninstalling it and all related software.

Oh, I didn't realize it was every time. Yeah, then thats pretty annoying too.

OK, I'm all for the Starcon 1 code wheel again then!

*bangs head against wall*
Steam is oh so shitty... I had the exact same problem. Why do the valve folks need to be such control freaks? If I dish out some of my hard-earned cash for the rights to install and play a game, I should be able to use those rights whenever I want.

And what about in the future, when steam is inevitably discontinued or supplanted by a new DRM technology? All of the games that you purchased over steam will be lost to the sands of time, unless you resort to illegal cracking. Shame on valve for putting its customers in such a position.

Is there any reliable news on whether the US version of SR2 has Starforce? If not, someone please post an update once you get the game.

According to one of the moderators on the Cinamaware Marquee (the US publisher) forums, the answer is 'yes and no':

http://www.cinemawaremarquee.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4.0 (http://www.cinemawaremarquee.com/forum2/index.php?topic=4.0)

Read a review of this game.  They compare it to SC2 quite abit.  I think I will buy it.

There's already a pretty long thread about this in the Starbase Café.

SR2 was cracked long ago. Just install the crack from GCworld without installing starforce.
All this flapping about and your missing out.

Sadly the RTS stuff I'm seeing in screenshots and the trailers is *really* turning me off to this, which is a shame since the rest looks so interesting.  Has anyone played this and found that the RTS portion of the game can be minimized?

It's completely optional. You don't have to accept those missions if you don't want to.

Best PC game I own. The universe is fully dynamic and changes with or without player interactions. It's this that makes SR2 so enjoyable. You see so much everytime you play. So many little touches that you could never get bored. I used to say if I could  only have 1 game it would be Civ2 but I would now choose Sr2 over that game now.

On the brightside, the D2D version of SR2 is void of Starforce.

So, this game is like both Escape Velocity and Star Control 2? I've definitely got to buy it.

About Starforce: Never heard about it before, but it's now #1 in my list of things to remove from my computer. (Well, it was till I removed it ;)). I've found this page: http://www.glop.org/starforce/remove.php (http://www.glop.org/starforce/remove.php), with information about it; it's not a very good site but the "unofficial removal method" works (at least for me).

Be wary, folks. This guy so sounds like a shill, a dude who's job it is to promote stuff online in message boards. The game may be good, but the all out orgasmic endorsement has me worried here. Maybe he found this post thorugh Google, don't know. Still, sounds too nicey nice.

...but he's right, Guesst... :P

Now if only the english in the game was any better... :/

I DL'd the 1 gig demo of SR2...I'm not buying this game..

The RTS is like a sucky version of command n conquer.. mind numbingly boring. Granted it's only a simple demo mission but it took far too long as my bots pounded the enemy base. That and the unit design (robots) seemed for asthetic appeal rather than any real tactical advantages.

The tactctical top down space flight is turn based! Even the fighting.

Nothing in space is scaled to any realistic proportions.

Everything in the game seems cobbled together, as if each portion was made by a different design team. Things don't seem to fit togther very seemlessly. 

The races are mildly interesting but the  background stoies for them are long winded and bland. All the technical stats and ship upgrades seem redundant and too databasish for my taste.. Should I buy scanner 1,2,3,4,5 or 6? They're all pretty much the same, have a slightly higher cost and range.

Over all, not very immersive.. The only good thing I can say about space rangers 2 is the detailed graphics.

netjak has a glowing review

http://www.netjak.com/review.php/1021 (http://www.netjak.com/review.php/1021)