To all SSC Station occupants
Thank you for the donations over the past year (2024), it is much appreciated. I am still trying to figure out how to migrate the forums to another community software (probably phpbb) but in the meantime I have updated the forum software to the latest version. SSC has been around a while so their is some very long time members here still using the site, thanks for making SSC home and sorry I haven't been as vocal as I should be in the forums I will try to improve my posting frequency.
Thank you again to all of the members that do take the time to donate a little, it helps keep this station functioning on the outer reaches of space.
-D1-
Privateer: Ascii Sector is a 100% free space combat/exploration/trading game for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. Just like in the original privateer you start with a basic ship and a little bit of credits. Now you start your life as a Privateer in which you can do a wide variety of missions, trade goods and commodities to earn enough money to upgrade your ship or buy a new one. Combat can be done both in space and on the ground.
Using the Privateer: Ascii Sector quest language, you can create your own stories in the Ascii Sector universe, or have fun with other players' stories.
This privateer style game is different since it uses ' Ascii graphics'. There is 16 different colors used to create the environments. Now if you look past the graphics and into the gameplay the designer 'Christian Knudsen' does a great job on the features and gameplay. Here is a few screenshots of the game in action:
Give the game a try and let us know what you think about it and if you write some player made content please let us know and post it to the forums. I will be giving Ascii Sector some play time and I will tell you about my experiences with the game. And in reading in the Ascii Sector forums you will soon be able to move about your ship and you could still be attacked while doing so, sounds great!
Checkout the the Privateer: Ascii Sector website and download your version of the game. Also give your support and leave some comments to the author in his forums about Ascii Sector.
-D1-
I will have to give this a try soon. Like the fact it is a multi platform game and hey you don't need to have a very expensive rig to display ascii graphics 🙂
There has been a big update that happened to Ascii Sector in the form of v0.5.0, it introduced some new features (like walking around your ship) and some fixes. Go and checkout and download Ascii Sector here: http://www.asciisector.net/download/
Even though you have seen the graphics here is a video of gameplay in action (doesn't include latest features):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SouWUw78Bn0
Here is a list of the recent changes:
5.0.3 Changes
- Fixed bug with items dropped from killed characters.
- Fixed bug that would ban you from the last base you were on, when you killed a character on your ship (and a witness saw it).
5.0.2 Changes
- Fixed bug that wouldn't place your wingman correctly when taking off from a base.
- Fixed minor bug on Munroe that would sometimes place characters in illegal areas (for example behind the bar).
- When you target an ejected pilot, the screen will now display the pilot's faction along with the name.
5.0.1 Changes
- Fixed quest scripting bug.
5.0 Changes
- Fixed bug with the gems commodity event.
- Fixed bug with SHIFT+'N' that would mess up the destination MFD or even crash the game.
- Fixed a couple of graphical bugs with the Quine.
- Fixed bug that caused new missions to not always be added to the end of your mission list.
- Fixed bug that had mission status messages always tell you that the mission was completed even if it was expired or failed.
- Fixed but that made it possible to send messages to cargo containers and ejected pilots.
- Fixed bug that may have been responsible for many of the crashes related to playing the music.
- Fixed various other potential game crashing bugs.
- Time no longer passes when using the Quine or computers.
- You can now access your Quine while in Combat Mode and while walking around on a ship in space, but you won't be able to save the game.
- When you save an ejected pilot and take him/her to a base, you'll now also receive a random amount of credits (beyond having your standing with the pilot's faction increased).
- The Drayman can now carry 1350 units of cargo (2025 with cargo expansion). It can no longer use an afterburner, though.
- When you jettison cargo, you can now specify precisely how much cargo to dump.
- The various ships now carry different amounts of jump fuel.
- Added one new system and base.
- You can now walk around on your own ship, both while flying in space and landed at a base.
Wow this is completely sick, what a great find. Amazed by the level of detail here on a ASCII game. Just great.
Here is the latest update to Ascii Sector:
I also think I read somewhere that Christian Knudsen will probably include ship boarding 🙂 This privateer game has so much more than the original. I would love to see someone port this game and put todays graphics engine on it.
- Fixed bug with captives reappearing on your ship if you save the game after delivering the captive to the prison base and then reload the game.
- Fixed bug with placement of characters inside the shooting range on Manurhin.
- Fixed bug with missing jump point from Cheops to Cassandra.
- Fixed bug when loading a game from the Quine while using a computer terminal.
- Fixed bug when loading a game from the Quine while in Combat Mode.
- Fixed bug with mission description lines appearing in dialogue if checking missions in your Quine during a dialogue.
- When entering your ship, the game now checks that there aren't any items lying at odd places as a leftover from a previous bug. Any odd items will be moved to the "closet" on the ship.
- Disabled the use of the MIDI music files, as they may have been responsible for a lot of random crashes (only the OGG music files work now).
- Added sound effect for taking credits.
- Added mouse wheel support for a bunch of interfaces.
- Updated manual.
That's right a new release of your favorite Ascii Privateer Game
Version 0.5.2
- Fixed bug that would lock the door to your hotel room if you walked on and off your ship.
- Various code changes in my continued effort to squash crashes due to SDL music playback.
- Added anti-cheat measures.
- Added a margin of "nothingness" around the walkable area on a base so that something at the edge of the area won't be hidden beneath the boxes with various information at the edge of the screen.
- When on a base, you can now move the viewable area outside the view of your character, both while looking around and when aiming.
- If you're critically wounded, you now also lose health while flying in space, so you can bleed to death while flying your ship.
- If you have a repair droid, it will gradually clean up any blood on your ship from, uhm, "accidents".
- Confeds and militia now detect corpses on your ship, fine you and attack.
- All commodity events will now have a news item posted in your Quine5000 when they end.
- Ships will now send an apologetic message if they hit or destroy a friendly ship.
- When in Combat Mode, the game will now show you how much time you've used, as well as how much time an action takes.
- Added Brilliance and Ultimate drugs to manipulate time usage when in Combat Mode (can currently only be acquired by stunning or killing a character that is carrying Brilliance or Ultimate).
- Added quicksave (F8).
Ascii Sector has been updated (24 May) again and here is some of the fixes and additions added:
v0.5.3
- The game now makes sure that you aren't standing on top of somebody when you exit your ship.
- If you are unable to exit Combat Mode, but then enter your ship and exit Combat Mode here, when you exit outside again you will automatically be back in Combat Mode.
- Gun turrets are now part of your ship's layout and you have to walk to them to use them.
- Added Turret AI Controller and Turret Energy Capacitor for purchase in the shipyard.
- F1 now toggles the AI of your current turret on/off. F2-F3 toggles the AI of the rear, starboard and port turrets on/off.
- Added a 12x12 fontset and resolution settings in the options menu.
v0.5.3.1
- A couple of turret AI bug fixes.
- Made the turret AI less overpowered.
Don't forget to give Ascii Sector a try and tell us what you think. Go and get it here: http://www.asciisector.net/
Chris Knudsen has been busy working on Ascii Sector this month and fixing and adding new things to this very good Privateer game.
- Fixed bug with the gems commodity event.
- Fixed bug with SHIFT+'N' that would mess up the destination MFD or even crash the game.
- Fixed a couple of graphical bugs with the Quine.
- Fixed bug that caused new missions to not always be added to the end of your mission list.
- Fixed bug that had mission status messages always tell you that the mission was completed even if it was expired or failed.
- Fixed but that made it possible to send messages to cargo containers and ejected pilots.
- Fixed bug that may have been responsible for many of the crashes related to playing the music.
- Fixed various other potential game crashing bugs.
- Time no longer passes when using the Quine or computers.
- You can now access your Quine while in Combat Mode and while walking around on a ship in space, but you won't be able to save the game.
- When you save an ejected pilot and take him/her to a base, you'll now also receive a random amount of credits (beyond having your standing with the pilot's faction increased).
- The Drayman can now carry 1350 units of cargo (2025 with cargo expansion). It can no longer use an afterburner, though.
- When you jettison cargo, you can now specify precisely how much cargo to dump.
- The various ships now carry different amounts of jump fuel.
- Added one new system and base.
- You can now walk around on your own ship, both while flying in space and landed at a base.
Here is a small list of fixes in this latest update to Ascii Sector
- Fixed bug with "rescue ejected pilot" fixer mission.
- Fixed bug with the saving of smoke information.
- Fixed bug with using the mouse scroll wheel in the commodity exchange when showing the price grahps.
- Fixed bug with turrets that could potentially crash the game.
Are there any graphic sets for ASCII Sector?
Not that I know of. The developer created a very good Privateer remake but with Ascii graphic character sets. I know his version does a lot more than Privateer or any other privateer clone I have seen. I just don't have time to play much with it to use his mission creator. But the author is good about answering questions on his forums so feel free to ask about the Ascii graphics sets.
OK. I gave it a try, and.... I THINK IT IS GREAT 😀 . Mind you I am not into rogue games (especially with ASCII graphics), but the game is VERY absorving and "has this one more mission" quality. Too bad I do not have a spare couple of millions to turn it into a current generation game. 😀
Christian Knudsen was released an update to this great game:
Ascii Sector v0.5.4
- Fixed bug with messages from Pirate and Retro capital ships.
- Fixed bug with the local price graph if all former prices are 0.
- Fixed bug with characters other than Police Officers not getting equipped with weapons.
- Fixed bug with placement of characters on an illegal spot on Novy Norilsk.
- Fixed bug with Turret AIs and Energy Capacitors being carried over when buying a new ship.
- Fixed the selling price of Turret Energy Capacitors on a capital ship.
- Fixed bug with dying while in Combat Mode in space.
- Fixed bug with offences sometimes carrying over from an old player character to a new one.
- Made a few code optimizations to the autopilot to increase the speed.
- Your wingman no longer appears in space if you kill him on the ground.
- Wingmen are now hired for a period of time and offer to extend the time when it expires.
- 'T' now cycles through all the ships in range of your radar, even if they are outside your current view.
- Various shield balancing.
- Added Level 1 Shield Strength information about the various ships in the manual.
- Made the cheap scanners quicker at identifying a target.
- Added a "Resume" option to the main menu to resume the last savegame.
- The launching and part of the landing animations are now skippable with ESC.
- The Quine5000 now shows information about the saved games.
- Increased the speed of the page up, page down, home and end shortcut keys in the computer terminal screens.
- Added four more angles for moving your ship and aiming.
- Redid the shooting and missile firing procedures for correct rotation of gun and missile hardpoints.
- Added Repair NanoBots that can repair external components (armor, guns and launchers).
- NPCs walk around with a bit more purpose now.
- Innocent victims will now sometimes call for help, sometimes alerting nearby NPCs.
- Added five new systems.
- Added four new bases.
As always download here: http://www.asciisector.net/download/
Christian (developer) went with the ascii graphics because he wanted to focus on features and content which this game has a lot of. You should see what is coming in v 0.6.0. I would love to see this game get a face lift because it would do quiet well I would think. But can't complain really because he gives it away. So everyone if you can look past the ascii graphics Ascii Sector is definitely worth a few hours of your time to try it out.
I like the overall presentation. And two hours are not enough.
More updates for this great game, check them out. And if you do make some missions for Ascii Sector please upload them here.
Update v0.5.4.2
- Fixed decimal bug when scooping cargo.
- Fixed bug with NPCs freezing and becoming immobile (again!).
- Fixed inconsistency when calculating the value of your current ship and extras when buying a new ship.
- Added music playback log file (mlog.txt) to help in finding cause of music playback crash.
- The upper right display now automatically switches to the destination view when your target is destroyed or goes outside range of your radar.
- Added Disabler Missiles, EMP Torpedoes and energy/power readings for targets and the player (the light blue square in the center). Disabling ships will be used for boarding in v0.6.
Update v0.5.4.1
- Fixed bug with hand grenade killings resulting in excessive counts of murder.
- Fixed bug with cargo space left on your ship.
- Fixed bug with NPCs yelling for help even if you didn't attack them but just targeted them.
- Fixed bug with Bellamy not showing up as a Pirate Base in the Quine.
- Fixed bug with the current system name on the nav computer during autopilot.
- Fixed bug (I hope) with characters whose path has been blocked sometimes becoming completely immobile.
- Removed debugging info when targeting a ship when flying a capital ship.
New update to the great game Ascii Sector that is working towards the v0.6 release.
Update v0.5.4.3
- Fixed bug with EMP Torpedoes not being selected when launching.
- Fixed bug with the ads in the equipment shop.
- Fixed bug that in some instances could have you fly into a missile you'd just fired.
- Fixed bug with marked nav points being carried over from one quest to another.
- Fixed bug with no message box when a quest mission is completed or failed.
- Fixed bug with random placement of quest template ships.
- Added separate slots for mission cargo.
Holy OMG Darkone!
Finally got around to installing and playing a bit of Privateer Ascii and, and, and it's shades of Megatraveller 2!
Good Fun 😀
Update v0.5.4.4 Released
- Fixed serious bug with cargo transport missions.
- Fixed bug with name of ejected wingman.
- Fixed bug with scrolling names in the upper right display.
Finally got around to installing and playing a bit of Privateer Ascii and, and, and it's shades of Megatraveller 2!
Good Fun 😀
This is a hidden gem and definitely worth a look. Yes it doesn't have flashy graphics but has plenty of content and the v0.6.0 release is going to be huge 🙂
Well its finally here v0.6.0 it has some nice fixes and additions.... especially the ship to ship docking 🙂 They should definitely remake privateer with all the features Christian Knudsen has put into Ascii Sector. It really is worth a try especially the gamers that are into nostalgia.
Here is the fixes and addons for this release:
v0.6.0.1
- Fixed bug with messages from an empty ship when it is close to being destroyed.
- Fixed bug with turret AIs not working.
- Fixed bug with cargo manifest computer terminal.
v0.6.0
- Fixed bug with "food stores destroyed" commodity event that would affect the price of all commodities on the base.
- Fixed bug with some commodity events causing the bartender to freeze the game when trying to tell you about them (specifically, commodity events that have a character's name in them).
- Fixed bug with calculating time left until you bleed to death (the code only took your total health into account).
- Fixed another bug with random placement of quest template ships.
- Fixed bug with quest items placed on a base using PlaceItemOnBase.
- Fixed bug with quest characters not always loading correctly.
- Fixed bug with TABs at the end of a line in a quest script causing compilation errors.
- Fixed bug with NPCs spawning inside a hotel room on New Frankfurt.
- Fixed a couple of bugs with dialogues.
- Fixed bug with selling cargo that is also used for mission.
- Wingmen are no longer spawned on pirate bases.
- Redid the NanoBots to make them more balanced.
- Corrected ship armor information in the shipyard.
- Added ship docking and boarding.
Ascii Sector has been updated again to version 0.6.1. A lot of fixes and small additions in this update check it out. And if you haven't tried this you should.
v0.6.1
- Fixed autopilot bug after having disabled and/or boarded a ship.
- Fixed drunk autopilot.
- Fixed bug that resulted in zero attacks during escort missions.
- Fixed bugs with mission nav points not always marked correctly.
- Fixed bug with non-existent nav points for scout missions.
- Fixed crash when switching positions with an NPC.
- Fixed various issues with blindness.
- Fixed line-of-sight bug (NPCs could sometimes shoot at you while you couldn't shoot back).
- Removed smpeg library dependency.
- Vibroblades now do as much damage as a knife and carry a greater chance of doing critical damage.
- Pressing 'T' in space now always switches to the target display.
- You no longer receive fines for theft on pirate bases.
- If you are banned from a base, you cannot use computer terminals on that base, and shopkeepers, guild masters, bartenders and ship dealers won't have anything to do with you.
- You can now merge used ammo clips.
- When your wingman's time has expired, a message will now tell you that he's trying to hail you when autopilot is automatically disengaged.
- The game now checks that all passengers are on board before launching from a base.
- Brilliance Ampules and Refined Ultimate now disappear when used up.
- When you have dual missile launchers, only one missile is fired at a time now (hit enter twice to fire both missiles).
- Missile launcher indicators now blink while reloading.
- Added missile lock progress indicator.
- Added "Ignore friendly contacts" option to the autopilot.
Here is the latest updates on Ascii Sector. I have missed a few but Christian Knudsen has been busy refining an already great game, attention to details that is addressed here is great.
v0.6.2.2
- Fixed some bugs with crippled limbs and critical wounds.
- Fixed bug with characters spawning on top of each other... oh, yeah!
- Fixed bug with scooped hostiles disembarking ship when landing.
- Fixed bug with ship kills not being registered.
- Fixed bug with some ejected pilot kills not completing missions.
- Bounty hunting capture alive missions now pay more.
- If you try to capture a character but don't have any ElectroCuffs, the game will now tell you that you don't have any. Likewise, if you try to enslave a character but haven't got any free space in your cargo hold or the character is needed for a mission, the game will now tell you.
v0.6.2.1
- Fixed bug with managing/attacking a character.
- Fixed pathfinding bug that could crash the game.
- Made beds walkable again.
v0.6.2
- Fixed a bunch of crashing bugs with grenade throwing.
- Fixed bug with combat messages.
- Fixed bug with being able to throw grenades into the outer walls on board a spaceship.
- Fixed minor bug with fixer mission descriptions.
- Fixed bug with drugs not affecting the time used for throwing grenades.
- Fixed bug with reappearing stuff from a destroyed boarded ship.
- Fixed bug with missing fixer when returning for payment.
- Another attempt at fixing the music crash bug.
- Various code improvements and optimizations.
- Guild computers now warn you if there is less than 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 hours or 30, 20, 10 minutes left to complete the mission.
- You can now capture/kill bounty hunting targets on board their ship (the chance of a target ejecting when his/her ship is destroyed has also been decreased, so you will have to board to be 100% sure to capture him/her).
- You can now scoop up as many ejected pilots as can fit on your ship.
- Scooped hostile pilots are no longer automatically converted into 1 unit of Slaves.
- When walking into a stunned or captive character, you'll now get asked if you want to attack/talk to him or manage him (which lets you see his inventory, as well as capture, release, transfer and enslave him).
- When firing a gun/rifle at a target right next to you, the target will try to knock it out of your hand. You will likewise automatically try to knock a gun/rifle away from a character shooting at you.
- Hitting a character in the head (without using a melee weapon) will increase the character's stunned value.
If you haven't gotten around to playing Ascii Sector you really should it is packed with features that the original Privateer wish it had. Download it from here: http://asciisector.net/download/
- Fixed bug with passenger list carrying over if you exit a game and immediately start a new game.
- Fixed bug that allowed you to switch positions with hostile characters when on board a ship.
- Fixed bug that allowed NPCs to shoot at an adjacent enemy in a smoke cloud.
- Fixed bug with selling hidden compartments on Bellamy.
- Fixed bug with guild missions to Bellamy.
- Fixed bug with NPCs running away from you on a base if you have a hostile character on board your ship.
- Fixed bug that caused stuff on your ship to be moved around if you scooped up an ejected pilot while walking about your ship.
- Fixed bug that allowed shooting through the outer walls of a space station.
- Fixed bug that allowed you to aim through two diagonal impassable tiles.
- Fixed bug with cargo boxes not being removed from your cargo hold if you complete a "deliver to ship" mission while walking around on your ship.
- Fixed bug with tiles that had a cargo box in them not being walkable after you transfer or jetisson the cargo.
- Fixed bug with secondary objective not marked as completed after completing a "convoy" mission.
- Fixed bug with entering your ship from below by holding down the left and up arrow keys.
- Fixed bugs with missile lock status.
- Fixed various bugs with items on the ground that occured when there were more than 255 items in play.
- Fixed bug that made it impossible to send orders to your wingman.
- Fixed bug when buying large amounts of cargo for deliver cargo missions.
- Fixed bug with being unable to transfer a captive to a Dralthi.
- Fixed bug that caused the Turret AI to be a bit too "shy" when there are multiple hostiles in its line of fire.
- Fixed bug with smoke and explosion from grenades passing through walls of docking tube.
- You can now switch positions with NPCs in Combate Mode just like you can when not in Combat Mode (also, NPCs can now switch positions with each other as well).
- Added the Lucky Lady casino ship at Nav 2 in the Adavene system.
Christian Knudsen has been busy the past few days and has released version 0.6.4 and a few point releases to fix some minor things. Ascii Sector is one of the most polished ascii based games and it is based in the Privateer universe and you can do so much more than what you could do in the original.
List of what is new and what has been fixed in Ascii Sector.
v0.6.4.3
- Fixed bug with inventory weight when capturing and releasing an NPC.
- Fixed bug with a character you have to transport not being able to find a path to your ship.
- Slowed down the walking speeds of NPCs when not in combat mode.
- Commodity events no longer happen at naval, pirate and research bases.
v0.6.4.2
- Fixed bug with faction of ejected pilots.
- Stuff in your backpack can now be sold at the equipment shop.
v0.6.4.1
- Fixed a serious bug when buying and selling stuff from the equipment shop
v0.6.4
- Fixed bug that caused a rescue ejected pilot mission to be failed if you landed in the same system as the ejected pilot before rescuing him.
- Jump Drives cannot be completely destroyed anymore.
- When jumping, the jump sequence is no longer synced to the music, so if you have a high speed setting, there'll be no more waiting for the music to finish.
- NPCs now belong to a faction, so killing a merchant on board his ship will decrease your standing with that faction, just like destroying his ship will.
- The game now keeps track of how many NPCs you've killed in person and this is shown in your Quine under Stats.
- Added a backpack for carrying more stuff.
- Added a locker on board your ship for storing your stuff.
- Stuff now has weight and the more you carry, the more time it'll take to move around (the first 20 kilos don't slow you down, though).
- The NanoComp Vest now offers the least protection of the three vests in exchange for being the lightest.
When you load your saved game in this new version, you might find that some items on the ground on board your ship can't be accessed because they're on the tile with the new locker. If that's the case, just leave your ship and re-enter. The items should now be moved.
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