Starflight 2: A New Realm of Nostalgia Awaits!

I've been playing Starflight 2: Trade Routes of the Cloud Nebula over the last week or so (I did finish Starflight - I just never finished posting about it.  I'll get back to that and finish the story ... eventually).  Though I had never finished SF1 during my original plays back in the eighties, I found it fairly straightforward to get to the end of the story.  Starflight 2 seems more involved.  As one might expect, I never finished SF2 either, in 1989.  But I've been giving some thought to running a tabletop RPG set in the Starflight universe, so I thought I'd best finish the second game so I knew what the heck was going on. And honestly, do I need another reason to go back and play Starflight 2?  Naaahhh.

Care to haggle?

Starflight 2 added what was one of my favourite aspects of the game: trading.  I really enjoy bartering for some reason.  I like the challenge of knowing what style of bartering the alien race uses and in squeezing out every single Shyneum Penny I can without ticking them off.  Not that that always works.  And playing late at night when I should be sleeping is also ill-advised, as unfortunate episodes like accidentally agreeing to sell something for, say, 290 SP/cm3 instead of the intended 2900 SP/cm3 can occur.  Eheh.  Nothing a quick launch-n-land won't cure.

"The things are also people..."

I also enjoy the additional races in Starflight 2.  I think my favourites are the Humna Humna.  I always seem to favour the races that have weird or silly modes of speech.  The Humna are extremely redundant, and reading their transmissions always makes me smile.  The Dweenle are so very pitiable.  I want to hug them and tell them it'll be alright ... until their continual depressive chatter makes me want to boot them into the nearest neutron star.  Love-hate relationship there.  And of course the Tandelou crack me up with their silly religious messages. I'm paraphrasing, but they say things like, "We realise that our religion does not make sense, but that does not bother us.  In fact, we prefer that it does not make sense."  Hilarious.

There are some races in Starflight 2 with whom you must converse in certain tones.  Until you work out how to defeat the incredible weapons and defenses the Spemin have come up with, you have to grovel before them.  No, really, just trust me.  And yes, it sucks.  They will end you.  Their battle teleport technology (stolen, of course) prevents you from fleeing an encounter, so avoid them best you can, or be prepared to fork over shyneum fuel when they demand it. (Don't carry extra - they ask for a percentage of your total.)  Darn Spemin.  The G'nunk must be dealt with from a hostile posture at all times.  They believe that they must constantly challenge each other and everyone else in order to promote growth and strength, so you have to destroy twenty of their ships before they'll even talk to you.  And don't forget to keep your shields up and weapons armed: even if they've decided you're worth talking to, they'll quickly get angry if you approach defenseless.

"Life...forms... you tiny little life... forms..."

That's to say nothing of the huge variety of lifeforms (now identified by species), the new tech available at Starport, the time travel.... Starflight 2 has a lot to offer.  I'll be delving back into Nostalgia-O-Rama with the help of DOSBox and the ever-helpful information at starflt.com.

Unfortunately my Starflight obsession has to compete with my Dwarf Fortress obsession, and DF just released a new, jam-packed-with-Fun-goodness version this week. I shall do my best to make regular, if infrequent, postings on Starflight, though.