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[greywolf]

Thanks for reminding people of Starflight. I discovered it a couple of years ago, but didn't really get into it, because I found the interface too cumbersome. Recently, I "rediscovered" Starflight, and this time the interface was less of an issue for me (it's ok, given the time Starflight was developed). Instead I discovered the excitement and challenges contained in this game. You don't even have to go far - the planets of your home system alone can push your adrenaline level high (lack of fuel, aggressive native species, environmental conditions, in combination with your desire to collect minerals, samples of lifeforms, etc). Of course, once you start improving your ship and training your crew, you will soon have discovered more or less everything and you'll be ready to move on ...

In a way, Starfligh reminded me of Ironseed, by the way, another great space exploration game which appears to be more or less forgotten in these days.

2 technical comments:
- I play Starflight under DosBox only. It will run without (I have an XP PC), but for whatever reason, I always have to press all keys twice, before the input is accepted (without DosBox).
- The game status is saved in the files StarA and StarB. I recommend to create a couple of savegame directories underneath your Starflight directory and to copy the two files into one of these directories whenever you exit the game and want to keep the status (it has been mentioned already that you'll break your game if you leave without saving). I also keep the original StarA and StarB files safely stored away, just in case I want (or have) to start a new game. To revert the game to a different status, simply copy the two files back into your Starflight directory.

Have fun!

[Vathras]

The things that send you binary data are The Mysterions, and you can translate it. (They give planetary coordinates)

Also another number based communication you will run into are the Veloxi drones (they protect good planets usually) who will attack you if you don't answer them correctly.

[chipschap]

I can't believe how great this game is, and how it took me so long to discover it.

Anyhow as mentioned above the save game structure is awkward. So I developed a menu system for it (using DOS batch) and built a DOS version of jdiff so you only save the changes to STARA.COM and STARB.COM. I put everything into bootable image format; I preload SF.COM for the code wheel (this is the thing to press SHIFT-PRTSCRN when asked for a code, but it fouls up some video on some systems still it's worth a try). I play either from a bootable floppy (really) or an image of the floppy. If you want to try it get my bootable image at

http://www.bobnewell.net/filez/starflt.xdi

and use

http://www.bobnewell.net/filez/xpack.zip

to unpack to a 3 1/2 inch floppy. Or else grab

http://www.bobnewell.net/filez/starflt.img

and use this as a booter image in DOSBOX (works very well for me).

Worth a try, makes managing multiple save games, etc., much easier. (If it doesn't work for you, or you don't like it, hey it's free, just delete.)

[_r.u.s.s.]

very nice, thank you

[Orion66]

Hey guys. Any idea why in combat, my ship never fires it's missiles? All it fires is the laser. Thanks for any replies.

[dkw]

Lasers are used when the target is close enough and neither ship is moving.
Missiles are used when either your ship or the targeted ship is moving, or the target ship is far enough away.
This applies to the enemy as well.
Missiles, while more powerful, use more Energy and are less accurate. If you are moving and the target is not directly in front of you or behind you, your missiles will miss, becoming a waste of Energy. This also makes it possible to dodge missiles if you are quick enough.

[gumpy]

It's amazing how much the game designers were able to squeeze into the computer restrictions of the time. This really is an amazing game, and is a must play!

The sequel Starflight 2 is also a great game!