A nice feature only available in the weapon workstation is the ripple fire button. With ripple selected, the system will fire one missile at the current target then switch to the next closest hostile target and fire again, as long as the trigger is depressed.

Shields work in a novel way. Instead of a 'bubble' of protection, all shield systems in the sim work by projecting a steerable area disrupted space with a radius of two to ten meters some one hundred to two hundred meters from the shield array.

Each array (on the Dreadnaught, the top and bottom arrays) can track one hostile target at a time (it decides the most hostile target) so tactics are quite different than all other space games where you simply have four shield quadrants projected as continuous fields. The coverage on your ship is not equal either. At the front you have two arrays overlapping, leaving an unprotected region to your six 'o clock. ECM flares are used to decoy missiles, and work much like in a modern fighter aircraft.

ENG Workstation

Engineering displays a schematic of the ships systems in an overview, with filters to unclutter the display. Repair of ship systems occur automaticaly, but the commander can reassign the four damage control teams to different priorities than the sim decides. You will most likely rarely deal with this screen, although it is very nicely done (it does fine with no guidance). There is no outside views from this workstation.

CMD Workstation

The Commanders workstation is where you really sit (as commander). Your mission briefing is available from here, as well as a simple objective screen. As you progress through the game, the DOC or document interface shows text records and descriptions of ships and weapons you will encounter in the sim.

A very nice feature in command is the GSV (Global Space View) star chart. This panable, zoomable 3D chart lets you overview the entire game universe, zoom into a system view, and select nav points. This is usually to set the destination of Lagrange points for capsule jumps to other systems, but, at least in cheat mode (yes there is one, in the European version), you can also select a planet or moon as a nav point for LDS inner-system transit.

Click to continue . . .

This part is very well done and gives you a very open feel to the simulation. You could ignore your mission directives and just tour the very large playing field. Most games give you one 'area' to fly around in, or maybe a few areas strung together as preset waypoints. Very nice. Also available from this station is the remote ship control interface. In certain missions you can remotely control another ship, like a fighter you brought to battle docked on your collar (neat).

Communication

You are not alone in the universe. Besides a fairly complete set of wingmen commands (yes, you can have wingmen), there is commutation between crew members and other ships. There is even mission branching inside the mission, where you must answer through the communication system, to continue. This does a lot to add to the overall feeling of immersion in the game. Much of games fiction unfolds through these communications, and is quite involved at times.

Conclusion

I really like this sim. It steers away from the 'space fighter' metaphor, embracing the Starship concept instead, but with a corvette sized ship (not too much bigger than a fighter). Your ship is expertly designed and the fictional rationalizations are well done. You get a real feeling of ownership and connection to the Dreadnaught. The story line is interesting, the missions are wildly variable and very tough sometimes, the graphics are fantastic, and the feel and functionality is great.

This is the closest a space game has come to addressing the need for a more serious attempt at simulating a future, star faring, weapons platform. Judging from the Eurpean version and the Beta I am now using, the U.S. version is going to be just stunning. I'll give a release report when it does ship, and give it the official Combatsim rating. Until then, happy hunting!