«

[simonhales]

Hi

I have a pristine copy of "Wing Commander Armada", which I would like to submit as it shows up as "Abandonware" using the checklist given in the FAQ page.

This game is part of the Wing Commander series by Origin.

I have the complete game including box, disks and manuals but do not have access to a scanner so I may have to manually write a "README" document containing the essential information from the manuals.

I have never been able to get this game to run under Windows XP but since downloading DOSBOX I have got it to run fine with no special settings needed.

The 3D graphics are very good, much better than Wing Comander I, II or Academy, the other games from the series on this site.

The game allows you to fly for either the Terran Confederation or the Kilrathi Empire which none of the other games posted on this site let you do. Finally you get to fight for the glory of the Emperor against the cowardly Terran apes 5 different fighter types for each side are flyable.

There are 3 single player game modes:

"Gauntlet": Fly against increasingly difficult waves of enemy fighters. You start in a basic "Arrow" (or "Dralthi") light fighter and get a more powerful ship every few waves.

"Armada": Strategy game where you explore planets in a randomly generated "sector" of planets connected by jump lines to mine for resources which you use to build fighters, more mines, shipyards and fortresses. You start with a carrier and two light fighters, and the enemy has the same. When you cross paths with enemy fighters you select a friendly fighter to pilot and enter a classic Wing Commander space battle for control of that planet. Win the game by finding the enemy carrier and destroying it with a torpedo-capable heavy fighter.

"Campaign": Set of 11 "Armada" scenarios in a row. Score points by winning sectors and by number of mines, shipyards, fortresses and fighters built. Highest score wins after 11 rounds. Unlike "Armada", which randomly generates sectors, "Campaign" always uses the same sequence of 11 sectors.

The game can also be played by 2 players, using "Split Screen", an IPX network or a serial/modem connection. I have not tested any of these under DOSBOX yet.

There are four 2-player game types:

"Battle": Each player chooses a ship type for a classic dogfighting "duel". This would be very playable if you can get two DOS (or DOSBOX) systems connected as humans are much more fun to fight than AI, especially the AI in a game this old...

"Gauntlet": Co-operative 2 player version of the "Gauntlet" single player game.

"Armada" and "Campaign": Same as single player versions of these game types except you are competing against another player instead of computer AI. Again this would be very playable (like chess with spaceships!) when competing against a real opponent.

One feature that should be fun in 2 player mode is the ability to create new "Taunt" files from standard ".wav" sound samples to insult your opponent during a battle

Sorry for the long post but the FAQ did say to give as full a description of the game as possible

Simon Hales