History VideoGame / Starlancer

* LaserSight: The CrosshairAware of the two ion cannons in the game, which is ''very'' visible if your camera is set to chase mode.

** Your squad-leader will order you to destroy two Kurgen ships with Alliance prisoners on board, saying they have 'no choice' as the Kurgens are attacking a rescue vessel. It is in fact not difficult to destroy their three {{Weak Turret Gun}}s), leaving the ships harmless. But the mission won't proceed until you destroy them.

* ChainReactionDestruction: The best way to take out enemy torpedoes, is to destroy one right as it's being launched. Kills the bomber and it's other torpedoes in the process. You just need some afterburner fuel.

* PrisonShip: Mission 19 has you participating in an assault on a Coalition Prison Ship, the CS Saladin. According to its ITAC file, [[HellholePrison conditions onboard are so bad, with rampant torture and abuse, and a bad air filtration system]], the Coalition even has to force the guards stationed there to work on the ship, so it's almost as much hell for them as the Alliance prisoners.

*** This is explained in the ITAC: Kurgens have a distinct bow designed specifically for ramming other vessels. Since you can’t disable their engines, they’d simply ram the Saladin or the Churchill that jumps in, messing up the mission.

* SubsystemDamage: If you get your shields and armour chewed up you start taking damage to either your engines, shield generator or weapons.
* TalkingIsAFreeAction: Sadly averted. If anyone else is busy talking over the radio, your co-pilot will wait untill they are finished talking before warning you that, for instance, the enemy WaveMotionGun is targeting you and you should have cloaked 5 seconds ago if you wanted to survive.

* WhatTheHellPlayer: too many friendly-fire incidents and Moose forcibly stands down your plane. (A friendly-fire incident includes accidentally shooting a ship that was already going boom.

*** There's a bug in one mission where, after a certain point, if your wing-mates die from hitting a mine, ''you'' get blamed. Cue Moose standing you down, and hauling you back to the Reliant. That's right, glitch in the game gets your character arrested and ''shot for treason''. Mix in the artifical stupidity mentioned above, and, well...

** Actually, the so-called "Deimos Betrayal" that kick-starts the plot comes over more like a shameless rip-off of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}''.
*** More specifically, UsefulNotes/WorldWarII mixed together with the UsefulNotes/ColdWar proper mulched together with (if you squint) UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar RecycledInSPACE!

* ShoutOut: Being an arcade space fighter simulator, it's a given -- from Star Wars to Star Trek to Top Gun, it's all there.

* PrisonShip: Mission 19 has you participating in an assault on a Coalition Prison Ship, the CS Saladin. Which according to it's ITAC file, [[HellholePrison conditions onboard are so bad, with rampant torture and abuse, and a bad air filteration system]], the Coalition even has to force the guards stationed there to work on the ship, so it's as much hell for them as the Alliance Prisoners, if not slightly better.

* KillSat: The Dark Reign and Borodin are this due to their underside [[DeathRay ion cannon]], which not only destroys anything in one shot, including Class 1 Carriers [[spoiler:like the ''Victorious'']], but can also target fighters, doubling up as a pinpoint I-Kill-Fighters machine. You either get out of its range, hug the installation's hull, limit your areas of movement to sections of the installation that obstructs the ion cannon's line of sight to you, activate Stealth Cloak if you're flying a Shroud, or...umm, die. [[YetAnotherStupidDeath A lot.]]

* PrisonShip: Mission 19 has you participating in an assault on a Coalition Prison Ship, the CS Saladin. Which according to it's ITAC file, [[HellholePrison conditions onboard are so bad, with rampant torture and abuse, and a bad air filteration system]], the Coalition even has to force the guards stationed there to work on the ship, so it's as much hell for them as the Alliance Prisoners, if not slightly better for the guards.

* KillSat: the Ion Cannon, which unlike most {{Wave Motion Gun}}s is basically a pinpoint I-Kill-Fighters machine. Either you get out of its range, get in ''really'' close to the satellite's hull, (if you're flying a Shroud) use your InvisibilityCloak, or, umm, die a lot.
** Exacerbated when Moose's OhCrap message gets delayed by other radio messages.
*** There is a big red LaserSight beam that connects you to the tip of the cannon, which is ''very'' visible if your camera is set on Chase-Plane mode. But if not...

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Late in the game, there's a cinematic depicting Alliance infantry attacking the Coalition base on Titan. Said infantry are armed with ''flamethrowers'', complete with pilot light blazing below the barrel of the weapon. While there's a simple {{Doylist}} explanation for this -- [[RuleOfCool the weapons look awesome]] -- it's hard to come up with a {{Watsonian}} reason for why ''every'' infantryman is equipped this way, despite the opposition canonically having FrickinLaserBeams, KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter, and other armaments that don't have an ArbitraryMinimumRange.

* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Late in the game, there's a cinematic depicting Alliance infantry attacking the Coalition base on Titan. Said infantry are armed with ''flamethrowers'', complete with pilot light blazing below the barrel of the weapon. While there's a simple {{Doylist}} explanation for this -- [[RuleOfCool the weapons look awesome]] -- it's hard to come up with a {{Watsonian}} reason for why ''every'' infantryman is equipped this way, despite the opposition canonically having FrickinLaserBeams, KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter, and other armaments that don't have an ArbitraryMaximumRadius.

* ShoutOut: Being an arcade space fighter simulator, it's a given -- from Star Wars to Star Trek, it's all there.

** Your squad-leader will order you to destroy two Kurgen ships with Alliance prisoners on board, saying they have 'no choice' as the Kurgens are attacking a rescue vessel. It is in fact not difficult to destroy their three {{Weak Gun Turret}}s, leaving the ships harmless. But the mission won't proceed until you destroy them.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: played straight, as these games are wont to. Promotions, and thus access to new ships, are scheduled according to when you hit a certain number of kills. (Top rank is "Squadron Commander" at something like 300.) Note that there are no other criteria; [[https://youtu.be/5H0APlqlZAw here]], {{Let's Play}}er [=BCSBuster=] completely flubs Mission 4 and gets chewed out for it, whilst simultaneously getting promoted for passing the necessary kill threshold.

* PointDefenseless: The capital ship's WeakTurretGun will shoot down the occasional torpedo, but for the most part there's only one decent anti-torpedo defense in this game: You.

* StupidityIsTheOnlyOption: It's game over should you kill the enemy admiral before your allies capture him. Even though the only thing he does before escaping admidst the corpses of Alliance personnel is give intelligence that sends you into a trap.
** Your squad-leader will order you to destroy two Kurgen ships with Alliance prisoners on board, saying they have 'no choice' as the Kurgens are attacking a rescue vessel. It is in fact not difficult to destroy their [[WeakTurretGun 3 turrets]], leaving the ships harmless. But the mission won't proceed until you destroy them.

* TimeSkip: there are 20 missions in the game, each separated by about 4 weeks, if the dates are any indication. Aside from those dates, there is literally nothing to suggest you aren't simply turning around and getting back into the cockpit five minutes after landing.

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: played straight, as these games are wont to. Promotions, and thus access to new ships, are scheduled according to when you hit a certain number of kills. (Top rank is "Squadron Commander" at something like 300.)

''Starlancer'' is the predecessor to ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}''. It is a space-combat game which takes place during an intrasolar war between TheAlliance and [[TheEmpire The Coalition]]. It was developed by Chris & Erin Roberts and Digital Anvil, and is a SpiritualSuccessor (or perhaps a spiritual remake) of ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', just as ''Freelancer'' is to ''Privateer''. (The game came out around the same time [[Film/WingCommander the Wing Commander movie]] did, and—whether by coincidence or not—the spacecraft in that movie would look more at home in this game than in their own franchise.)

As the product of the creators of one of the most acclaimed Spaceflight SimulationGame franchises in history, you'd think this game would have got somewhere. It was released simultaneously on the [[UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]]; it had decent graphics (even today); it had non-crappy voice acting, sound and music; and—a big deal at the time—it boasted online connectivity for not just CompetitiveMultiplayer but CoOpMultiplayer through [=GameSpy=], one of the first flightsims to offer either. Despite this, it met a tepid reception, possibly due to questionable gameplay decisions made due to the game's [[RecycledINSPACE World War 2 IN SPACE]] setting. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Planned sequels, linking the property to ''Freelancer'' more overtly, were scrapped.]]

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: Everyone in the Coalition, from the Top Brass and Government to the lowliest {{Mook}} are, to a Man, war criminals. The closest thing to a moral compass any of them shows is a Communication Officer giving a shocked raised eyebrow when [[BigBad Admiral Kulov]] orders the mass execution of prisoners of war.

* CoolShip: The Yamato is a definite upgrade from your previous [[TheBattlestar home carrier]], the Reliant. Even the interior is much sleeker, as you can see when you walk from your bunk to the briefing room. Not that the Reliant itself doesn't qualify either.

* StoryDrivenInvulnerability: Two Aces in particular—Ivan Petrov, TheButcher, and his brother Nicolai—have PlotArmor in your first encounters so that they can be [[RecurringBoss Recurring Bosses]].

* ColonelBadass: Maria Enriquez, commander of the 45th. [[InformedAbility Or so we're told.]]

* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Torpedos are the only weapon that can destroy capital ships (not counting the WaveMotionGun). When in battle, capital ships will fire at each other with fancy looking energy projectiles, but their only use is the occasional OneHitKill of the player if you fly between the two ships and didn't check your blind spots.

* MoralMyopia: While the Coalition seems to have a villain only hiring policy, your squad-mates' anger over the cruelty of the enemy seems a bit dishonest when they will actively mock and taunt enemy pilots about their friends they just killed, and how much they screamed while dying.

** Your squad-leader will order you to destroy two Kurgen ships with Alliance prisoners on board, saying they have 'no choice' as the Kurgens are attacking a rescue vessel. It is in fact not difficult to destroy their [[WeakTurretGun 3 turrets]], leaving the ships harmless. But the mission won't proceed untill you destroy them.

''Starlancer'' is the predecessor to ''{{Freelancer}}''. It is a space-combat game which takes place during an intrasolar war between TheAlliance and [[TheEmpire The Coalition]]. It was developed by Chris & Erin Roberts and Digital Anvil, and is a SpiritualSuccessor (or perhaps a spiritual remake) of ''VideoGame/WingCommander'', just as ''Freelancer'' is to ''Privateer''. (The game came out around the same time [[Film/WingCommander the Wing Commander movie]] did, and—whether by coincidence or not—the spacecraft in that movie would look more at home in this game than in their own franchise.)

* HopeSpot: The ''entire second half of the game becomes this'' when you take the story of {{Freelancer}} into account.

* RecycledINSPACE: WorldWarII, right down to the Pearl-Harbor-style attack which opens the game and cripples the Alliance war effort. Even better, the PlayerCharacter's unit is the 45th Volunteers, later renamed the Flying Tigers.

*** More specifically, WorldWarII mixed together with the UsefulNotes/ColdWar proper mulched together with (if you squint) UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar RecycledInSPACE!

*** More specifically, WorldWarII mixed together with the UsefulNotes/ColdWar proper mulched together with (if you squint) the VietnamWar RecycledInSPACE!

* StoryDrivenInvulnerability: Two Aces in particular—Ivan Petrov, TheButcher, and his brother Nicolai—have PlotArmor in your first encounters so that they can be [[RecurringBoss Recurring Bosses]].

As the product of the creators of one of the most acclaimed Spaceflight SimulationGame franchises in history, you'd think this game would have got somewhere. It was released simultaneously on the {{Dreamcast}}; it had decent graphics (even today); it had non-crappy voice acting, sound and music; and—a big deal at the time—it boasted online connectivity for not just CompetitiveMultiplayer but CoOpMultiplayer through [=GameSpy=], one of the first flightsims to offer either. Despite this, it met a tepid reception, possibly due to questionable gameplay decisions made due to the game's [[RecycledINSPACE World War 2 IN SPACE]] setting. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen Planned sequels, linking the property to ''Freelancer'' more overtly, were scrapped.]]

** Actually, the so-called "Deimos Betrayal" that kick-starts the plot comes over more like a shameless rip-off of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}''.

* GuyInBack: your backseater, Mike "Moose" Horrigan. He's like [[{{Halo}} Cortana]], but without the snark or the sexy.