Watching (and then re-watching) Guardians of the Galaxy has led me to revisit an old space sim game called Independence War 2. What makes the game stand out from other space sims is its use of Newtonian physics. I’m linking the Wikipedia article because I don’t want to explain it here, but let’s just say that the physics of the game makes it difficult to pilot spacecraft, let alone engage in dogfights with them. It makes the gameplay challenging, sometimes infuriatingly so, but it’s also what it makes it rewarding.
I-War 2 is among the games that I never finished back in the day. Playing it again now has made me realize how much of it I got wrong. One of the major mistakes is how I engaged in one of its major themes: piracy. In the old days I used to hang out around ports and hubs, waiting for transports with lots of cargo. That rarely happened, and when it did the transports were accompanied by 2-4 escort ships. I had trouble taking even one of them out so fighting four was out of the question. I’d usually end up looking for transports with no escorts and they’d only have 1-2 cargo pods, maybe 3 if I was lucky.
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