Wing Commander: Privateer
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| Wing Commander: Privateer | |
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| Developer(s) | Origin Systems |
| Publisher(s) | Electronic Arts |
| Release date(s) | 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Space simulation, Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Platform(s) | DOS |
| Input | Mouse, Joystick (analog), Keyboard |
Wing Commander: Privateer is an adventure space flight simulation computer game released by Origin Systems in 1993. Privateer and its storyline is part of the Wing Commander game series. The characters are computer-generated, not played by actors like in many other Wing Commander games. Privateer had an add-on titled Righteous Fire (1994) that continues the story and adds additional purchasable equipment to the game.
The player takes the role of Grayson Burrows, a "privateer" who travels through the Gemini Sector, one of many sectors in the Wing Commander universe. Unlike Wing Commander, the player is no longer a navy pilot, but a freelancer who can choose to be a pirate, a merchant, a mercernary or any of the above in some combination. The player may follow the built-in plot but is free to adventure on his own, even after the plot has been completed.
Burrows' name was unknown to the general public for many years. During that period he was known as "Brownhair", by reference to "Bluehair", the Wing Commander I and II protagonist later known as Christopher Blair.
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[edit] Game play
Basic game play consists of flying and fighting with the ship in a star system, jumping from system to system via jump points, landing on bases or planets, interacting with people (mainly talking) and buying or selling equipment or commodities. The Gemini sector is divided into quadrants, each contains several star systems, most of them with planets or bases that may be visited.
When flying, the main view is a first-person-look from inside the cockpit onto the cockpit screens (HUDs) and the space before the ship. Space combat simulation is similar to the style of other Wing Commander games of its time. When jumping, a short third-person-view sequence from outside the ship is intercut to visualise the transfer from one system to another.
Landing is easily achieved by approaching a planet until a certain distance is reached and the ship is automatically placed on the landing pad. Starting from a planet is much the same: by clicking on the ship on the landing pad, a short third-person-view sequence starts showing the ship flying away from the planet.
On planets and bases a static overview / first-person-view is used to show the rooms and interact with people. When buying or selling and taking missions from the mission computer, in-game menus are used.
The Gemini sector is frequented by seven factions: Merchants, Bounty Hunters, Retros, Pirates, Militia, the Terran Confederation and the Kilrathi. Some of them will attack the player on sight, some are allies of the player. How the members of the factions react is not only pre-set but depends also on the actions of the player.
The player may conduct his own business as a merchant or fight in combat for non-plot missions provided by the above factions. If playing as a merchant, the player must make a profit from price differences of commodities on different planets or stations. Alternatively, the player may choose from randomly generated non-plot missions from a mission computer. Successful completion of missions results in monetary award, which allows better ship weapons and equipment to be purchased.
During the plot, the player meets fixers, often representing one of the factions above, who assign the player missions in their interest in exchange for money or helpful information. The missions usually consist of plain combat, escorting other ships while combating enemies or commodity delivery including smuggling while combating / escaping enemies. The plot itself can only be played straight, one mission after another in a pre-set line. But between plot missions or even while being on a mission the player can follow his own interests.
[edit] Plot summary
Privateer sets in the Gemini Sector at around year 2669, when the human Terran Confederation is engaged in war with the Kilrathi as told in other games of the series. While the Confederation has established itself in this sector, pirates, Kilrathi, and "retros," a hostile religious fanatic group, also roam the sector. Among civilians who travel around the area are merchants and mercenaries, also known as bounty hunters.
One such mercenary is Burrows, whose father was recently died and whose girlfriend and merchant employer had recently been killed. Seeking new adventure, Burrows lands on the industrial planet of New Detroit and meets a man named Sandoval, who employs Burrows and gives him a mysterious artifact. After completing a delivery for Sandoval, Burrows returns only to find that Sandoval is dead. He meets Tayla, a pirate, who agrees to offer information about the artifact and money in exchange for Burrows's service. Burrows agrees and makes his way to Oakham pirate base, where he embarks on a series of smuggling missions. However, after completing the missions, Tayla says that she has no information and redirects Burrows to Roman Lynch, a crime boss based in New Constantinople, the seat of government of the Gemini sector.
Burrows makes his way to Lynch (and his favorite enforcer, Miggs, who speaks in a manner reminiscent of Maxie Rosenbloom), who says that his contacts can help Burrows uncover facts about the artifact, in exchange for service. Burrows agrees and gives Lynch a hologram of the artifact. After flying several missions that get himself into even more trouble with the authorities, Burrows is told that one of Lynch's contacts has found information located at Oxford's library and tells Burrows to retrieve the contact. However, on the way, Burrows is ambushed by Lynch's men. He defeats them and decides to visit Oxford on his own.
Burrows arrives at Oxford, the sector's primary university named after the old Oxford of Earth. He visits the library there, but is denied access since he is not a student. He then meets Masterson, in charge of the library, who offers Burrows access provided that he flies missions for Oxford, whose surrounding area has been under the attack of retros. After defeating the retros and escorting Oxford's book transport ships to safety, Burrows receives access to the library. In the library, Burrows finds that the computers are unable to completely analyze the artifact. However, the computer gives him an article about Dr. Monkhouse, the leading scholar in Xenoarchaeology who has spent considerable time researching the "Steltek Hypothesis." Burrows reads that Monkhouse is currently conducting his research on the agricultural planet of Palan.
He makes his way to Palan, where he meets Dr. Monkhouse. However, Monkhouse refuses to talk until he leaves the planet, which has been blockaded by a faction of mercenaries. He refuses to leave on Burrow's ship, but instead tells Burrows to visit the asteroid base on Barsa, where the resistance is being organized. On Barsa, Burrows meets Lynn Murphy, who explains that the Bronte Corporation has hired mercenaries to blockade Palan in order to damage the operations of the rival Rondell Corporation. Murphy, who organizes the resistance for the Rondell Corporation, hires Burrows to help lift the blockade. Burrows then precedes to destroy a whole fleet of mercenaries to successfully lift the blockade. He then returns to Palan and takes Dr. Monkhouse off planet. They are pursued by a group of Kilrathi who demands that Burrows hand over Monkhouse. Burrows defeats them and lands on Barsa.
Monkhouse explains that the artifact belongs to ancient alien race known as the Steltek, who once ruled a galaxy-spanning empire millennia ago, whose technology then was even more advanced than present technology. However, weary of power, the Steltek retreated to the center of the galaxy for a tranquil life. Monkhouse then shows Burrows his piece of the artifact, which together with Burrows' piece forms a map. As Burrows is uninterested in scientific discovery, he makes a deal with Monkhouse. In exchange for full rights to any treasure found, Monkhouse will get sole credit for any scientific discoveries that may result. Monkhouse then programs the map into Burrows' ship and Burrows heads off to Rygannon's mining base, a station for the sector's Exploratory Service.
Burrows meets Taryn Cross, who offers him work in the Exploratory Service to chart unmapped regions in space. Burrows then ventures to the uncharted regions of space, where he is met by pirates and the Kilrathi. In a desolate far-out region, he discovers the derelict base noted on his artifact. He lands on the derelict base, which appears to be a ruined Steltek carrier, and finds an abandoned Steltek ship. He then takes a gun from the Steltek ship, mounts it onto his own craft, and leaves. Burrows returns to Cross, reporting success from the mission, and takes off.
Burrows discovers that after leaving the derelict, a drone has been following around. He lands on a base and finds Captain Sandra Goodin. Goodin tells Burrows that disaster has been following his trail wherever he goes and that Admirel Terrell wants to see him immediately. Burrows then visits Terrell on Perry Naval Base, sector's primary military installation. Terrell tells Burrows that the correlation between destructions and the path Burrows travels approaches nearly unity. He then enlists Burrows' help in destroying the "secret weapon" that has been wrecking havoc on the Confederation's ships. The plan is to have Burrows lure the target to a point where it can be ambushed by the Confederation.
On the way to the ambush point, Burrows meets a Steltek scout, who tells Burrows that the Steltek seeks to eliminate all traces of their previous technology and that the Drone will follow and destroy whoever activates the technology. The Steltek asks Burrows where he found the weapon, but Burrows would not tell. Finally, the scout agrees to energize the weapon for Burrows to destroy the drone in exchange for the location. The scout upgrades Burrow's gun and sends him off to the ambush point. There, the Confederation's forces are ready for the ambush. While normal weapons have no effect on the drone, Burrows was able destroy it using the upgraded Steltek gun.
Burrows returns to Perry where he is thanked by the Admiral. Burrows is offered to join the Confederation's forces, but declines. Regardless, Admiral Terrell awards him with the Confederation's Medal of Freedom.
[edit] Righteous Fire plot summary
Privateer's expansion, Righteous Fire, continues the story from the original game.
After landing on Jolson Pleasure Base, Burrows is informed that one of his ship's guns of "unregistered type" - none other than the Steltek gun he had obtained earlier - had been stolen. Outraged, Burrows travels to Oxford to seek information on the whearabouts of his gun. He meets Masterson who tells him of a contact who might be able to help. Masterson agrees to introduce Burrows the contact, provided that Burrows flies missions to protect Oxford against a recently-increasing menace from the Church of Man ("Retros"). After successfully protecting Oxford's freighters from the Retros, Burrows returns to Masterson, only to learn that Masterson's contact is hesitant to meet him. Masterson suggests that Burrows should fly more missions for others so that the contact would feel more secure about meeting him.
Departing from Oxford, Burrows meets three persons who had previous employed him, now with more missions. He meets Sandra Goodin, who seeks assistance to eliminate some of the Kilrathi ships that has been troubling the sector. He also meets Tayla, who's once again looking for a privateer for smuggling runs, and also Lynn Murphy, who seeks to employ bounter hunters against pirates and rival mercenaries. Burrows completes their missions and learns that another obscure man, Governor Menesch, is now currently among the top targets for bounty hunters. Burrows returns to Oxford and hears that Masterson's contact has finally agreed to meet him.
Burrows makes way to a distant base to find Monte, Masterson's contact. Monte informs Burrows that Burrows is wanted by the Retros as one of the greatest threats to the Retro's empire. He then transports Monte to New Detroit, where Monte tells Burrows more about the current situation: The Retros have recently been united under a man named Mordecai Jones, whose identity has been kept secret. Under his leadership the Retros have become a serious threat in the system. Interested at the situation, Burrows flies missions to help Monte, during one of which he meets an "informant" who seeks to deliver a package to Monte. Before departing, Monte tells Burrows that Menesch was once a governor of a populous system. After his administration collapsed, he went into "business" of selling Confederation ships to Retros and Pirates, a feat which has landed him on the hit-list. Monte suggests to Burrows that he should patrol the Troy system, the likely location of Menesch.
Burrows travels to the Troy system, where he meets Menesch and his pirates. In an exchange, Menesch reveals to Burrows that it was he who stole the Steltek gun. He says that the Steltek gun was his great "enterprising endeavours," and that he made a deal with Mordecai Jones to supply his faction with duplicates of the gun, as something of a "spiritual cleansing tool." Enraged, Burrows destroys Menesch and then returns to Sandra Goodin and Lynn Murphy to claim the bounty. (Alternatively, the player may return to Roman Lynch to receive a different reward).
Sandra Goodin then employs Burrows on behalf of the Confederation to drive back recent Kilrathi intrusions. On the mission, Burrows meets a Kilrathi commander who boasts that he has been supplying retros with the Salthi ships which has been wrecking havoc on Confederation and militia forces. Nonetheless, Burrows successfully completes the mission and returns to Perry, where Admiral Terrell is looking for his service. Terrell says that he too has been on the Retros' tail, especially their leader Mordecai Jones. Terrell employs Burrows to scout three systems for any useful information on Retro activity.
Burrows completes the scouting missions. On the way meets a pirate who tells him that his employer on Drake is seeking Burrows. Burrows lands on Drake Pirate base, only to meet the same "informant" that he met earlier. The informant says that he is an elite counsellor to Jones and a member of the Church of Man. He then tells about Jones, that he (Jones) was once of humble rank in the Church but now has risen to its utmost position due to military success. However, the informant tells that he has learned that Jones' actual plan has been to secure complete domination of the sector with Menesch's alliance, after which he would dismantle the Church and rule with absolute power. For this reason, the infomant tells Burrows that he seeks aid in destroying Jones. The informant reveals the location of the Church's secret base and Burrows heads off.
Burrows arrives at Gaea, the secret base of the Church. He visits the imposing temple, with a eye on top and flanked by two giant serpents and torches. Finding no trace of Jones, Burrows returns to his ship and flies off. Above Gaea, Jones and his escorts arrive to attack Burrows. Jones tells Burrows: "all of Gemini will be wiped clean, with our Righteous Fire!" Burrows destroys the Retro ships, killing Jones and his guards. He then returns to the informant, who thanks Burrows for his service. The informant assures Burrows that all copies of the Steltek gun will be destroyed, but warns Burrows that should he reveal the location of the base to the Confederation, there would be further vengeance. Burrows leaves and returns to Perry to receive congratulations from Terrel.
After Jones' defeat, a revisit to the temple on Gaea shows that it has been destroyed, drenched in a blood-like fluid from the destroyed eye. Its torches have collapsed and the serpents killed.
[edit] Ships
Playable ships
- Tarsus: The Tarsus, a merchant scout, is the starting ship in Privateer. Although it is somewhat balanced in combat and merchant capabilities, it performs rather poorly in both categories. The Tarsus is also used by the Merchants faction.
The other three playable ships can be bought from a shipdealer. There are shipdealers on several planets and bases.
- Orion: The Orion is the most heavily armored vessel in Privateer besides capital ships, but it has rather limited carrying capacity for commodities. Relying on armor and sturdiness, it is classified as a merchant gunship. The Orion is also used by the Bounty Hunters faction.
- Galaxy: The Galaxy is a heavy vessel with by far the largest capacity for commodities. It is the preferred ship for merchant activities. However, it lacks manuverability for combat. The Galaxy is commonly used by the Merchants faction.
- Centurion: A heavy fighter, the Centurion is the most expensive and combat-worthy ship available for purchase. It carries the heaviest load of weapons among the four and is by far the most manuverable. However, the Centurion has the smallest capacity for commodities, and its cargo hold cannot be expanded. The Centurion is also used by the Bounty Hunters faction.
Non-playable ships
- Talon: The Talon light fighter is one of the most common ships in the sector, even though it is outclassed by most fighters and even some custom freighter vessels. Used by Pirates, Retros, and Militia.
- Gladius: The Gladius light fighter has all of maneuverability of the Talon but with more armor. Used by Militia and the Confederation.
- Stilletto: While lightly armed and armored, the Stilletto is the fastest ship. Flown only by the Confederation.
- Demon: The Demon is a fast and heavily armed ship, making it a dangerous encounter. Used only by Bounty hunters.
- Broadsword: Classified as a bomber, the Broadsword is the most heavily armed and armored fighter-sized ship other than the Orion, but lacks speed and maneuverability. Used only by the Confederation.
- Dralthi: A common occurrence in Kilrathi forces, the Dralthi is the basic ship of the Kilrathi fleet. It is reasonably well-armed and fast.
- Gothri: The Gothri is heavy fighter flown only by the Kilrathi. Faster, more heavily armed, better armored, and almost as maneuverable compared to the Dralthi, the Gothri is arguably the most dangerous enemy fighter commonly encountered in Privateer.
- Steltek Drone: The Steltek Drone was programmed to eliminate all who rediscover lost Steltek technology. Equipped with superior technology, the Drone's shields cannot be harmed by conventional modern-day weaponry.
- Steltek Scout: While the Steltek civilization has retreated from most parts of the galaxy, their scouts still travel around when pecularity arises.
- Salthi: (Righteous Fire only) The Salthi is a Kilrathi-built light fighter sold to the "Retros" of the Church of Man. Although an old design, it is the still the most maneuverable fighter in the sector, and the Church of Man has modified it with secret stolen technology.
Capital ships
- Drayman: The Drayman is a large merchant transport, lightly armed and armored compared to ship of its size. It is a favorite target for pirates.
- Paradigm: The Paradigm is the Confederation's destroyer present in the Gemini sector. It is heavily armed and protected by thick armor.
- Kamekh: A Kilrathi destroyer, the Kamekh is the Kilrathi counterpart to the Confederation's Paradigm.
[edit] Equipment
Equipment can be bought at the various shipdealer's in the sector. Software is sold in a separate room.
[edit] Weapons
The kind and number of weapons that can be mounted is different for every ship. On some ships turrets can be installed on which more weapons can be mounted. There are turrets for top, tail or bottom installation depending on the ship.
Guns (energy and particle weapons):
- Light guns: Laser, Mass driver, Meson blaster
- Medium guns: Neutron gun, Particle cannon
- Heavy guns: Tachyon cannon, Ion pulse cannon, Plasma gun, Fusion cannon (Righteous Fire only)
Heavy artillery (launchers and their projectiles): to lock missiles onto a target an advanced scanner is necessary.
- Missile launcher
- Dumb-fire missile: cannot lock.
- Heat-seeking missile: locks onto heat emission of target.
- Image-recognition missile: locks onto shape of target.
- Friend-or-foe missile: locks onto hostile targets.
- Torpedo launcher
- Proton torpedo: cannot lock.
[edit] Armor
There are two kinds of ship armor: plasteel armor and the double effective tungsten armor. The third kind is only in Righteous Fire: isometal armor is four times as effective as plasteel.
[edit] Engines and shields
There are five levels of engines and shields, up to seven levels in Righteous Fire. The higher the level the more power the engine has, the more effictive the shield is. But not all levels can be installed into every ship.
[edit] ECM system
The ECM system can be installed to disturb missiles that are locked onto your ship. There are three levels of the system. The higher the level the better the chances for breaking a missile lock. The highest chance is 75%.
[edit] Other equipment
- Jump drive: allows travel from system to system.
- Afterburner: increases the speed for a short time.
- Cargo expansion: increases cargo bay volume depending on the ship.
- Repair droid: repairs damaged equipment while still flying in space.
- Tractor beam: pulls in loose cargo from space.
Additional equipment in Righteous Fire:
- Gun cooler: increases refire rates of guns.
- Speed enhancer: increases the ship's maximum velocity and afterburner output.
- Thrust enhancer: increases the ship's turning and acceleration speed.
- Shield regenerator: increases the shield regeneration rate.
[edit] Software
In the software booth at the shipdealer's you can buy maps for navigation and scanners for the ship's radar.
- The map for the Gemini sector consists of four quadrant maps: Humboldt, Fariss, Potter and Clarke quadrant. The starting ship and every ship you buy is already equipped with the map of the current quadrant. Still it's a little cheaper to buy all four maps at once than to buy the missing three separately.
- Scanners come in three brands:
- Iris: displays all objects in gray.
- Hunter: displays enemies in red and allies in blue, other objects in gray.
- B&S: besides red and blue for enemies and allies it displays missiles in yellow, jump points in cyan, cargo in brown, Nav points in white and only bases / planets in gray. This brand has higher accuracy in detecting ship types than Iris and Hunter scanners.
Each brand has three different advanced levels. The higher the level the better the chances of detecting ship types. The second and third level of each brand can be used to lock missiles onto targets. Third level scanners create an inertial-targeting pipper on the main screen in the area you need to aim for to hit the target; unlike in real aircraft where the pilot's job is to align the floating gunsight pipper on the enemy aircraft, in the Wing Commander universe the gunsight is in a fixed position and needs to be aligned with a point in space ahead of the enemy.
[edit] Expansions, sequels, and spinoffs
Two expansion packs were released for Privateer: the Wing Commander Privateer Speech Pack (1993), which added digitized speech voice-overs to the entire game; and the aforementioned Righteous Fire (1994) expansion pack, which continues the story.
Another Privateer game known as Privateer 2: The Darkening was released in late 1996, helmed by Erin Roberts, the brother of Chris Roberts. However, The Darkening is not a storyline sequel, but a spin-off. The naming of the game as "Privateer 2" was not decided until rather late in its development. The Darkening' sets a century after the original Privateer and in a different region of space. This setting and the storyline of The Darkening is not mentioned in any other Wing Commander game, but since it was released as a Wing Commander game and does not necessarily contradict the established story, it's story is considered by many to be part of the Wing Commander universe. After Electronic Arts shut down Origin, Chris Roberts created the game Freelancer which featured similar art and story to Privateer, but was set in a new universe.
[edit] Remakes
Privateer was originally a game for the DOS operating system. Playing it on modern PCs with new operating systems is usually not possible. Therefore fans of the game have programmed versions of the game that can be played under the new systems or they use an emulator to simulate a DOS environment for the game to run on the new computer.
[edit] Vega Strike modifications
Vega Strike is a space flight simulation computer game. Its code is Open-source software, allowing to make modifications. In 2005, fans of the original Privateer have created remakes based on the Vega Strike engine. The game engine allows all space simulation graphics to be shown in 3D while keeping the original plot storyline.
Currently, there are two remakes, both available for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux operating systems. The first has a more liberal approach and the second one is more purist to the original game:
- Wing Commander: Privateer Remake: Known as Remake, this fan-made version has new additions not present in the original game, including fancier graphics (especially the ship models) and more gameplay-related features. The first version 1.0 of Remake was released for download on the project's website on March 6, 2005. The latest version is 1.2 and was released in the same way on July 15, 2005. After completing the plot and losing the steltek gun, the player can go on with the Righteous Fire missions.
- Wing Commander: Privateer Gemini Gold: In contrast to the above version, Privateer Gemini Gold strives to be as true to the original Privateer as possible. Originally devised as a purist modification of Remake, Privateer Gemini Gold developed into its own project, which since then has shared resources with Remake. Version 1.0 of Privateer Gemini Gold was released on July 23, 2005 for download on the project's website, followed by the first patch 1.01 on November 15, 2005. It also includes the Righteous Fire missions. Current ongoing developments include remodeling 2D graphics of bases in the original game into high resolution.
The Remake itself has spawned an add-on called Wing Commander: Universe. It should include not only the gemini sector and ships of Privateer but the whole known universe and additional ships of the Wing Commander series. In 2005 there were files of the playable beta version available for download.
[edit] DOSBox version
The Wing Commander: Privateer self-installing archive project is another fan project that made a Privateer version mainly for Windows XP using the DOSBox emulator. The latest version v0.2 comes complete with DOSBox 0.63 and was released on July 15, 2005 for download. It should also include the Righteous Fire story-line and uses the original in-game menus and game options (setting "music", "sound f/x", "unlimited ammo" and "invulnerability" on or off, choose between mouse, keyboard, joystick) whereas Remake and Privateer Gemini Gold use new in-game menus and have no options to select.
[edit] External links
- Privateer Site with information, screenshots, technical help and advice from the original game and Righteous Fire.
- Privateer Fansite with dialogue, audio, and extensive screenshots from the original game.
- Privateer at www.classicgaming.cc is about the original game, has info on all equipment and a walkthrough including Righteous Fire.
