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Space Rangers: Difference between revisions
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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.SpaceRangers 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.SpaceRangers, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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In ''Space Rangers'', a powerful alien ship called "Makhpella" and its fleet of battleships known as the "Klissans" invade our region of the galaxy. Five races have formed a loose confederation against it, known as the "Interstellar Coalition": The [[Dumb Muscle|brutish Maloq]], the [[Chaotic Neutral|lawless Peleng]], the [[Proud Scholar Race Guy|tech-loving Faeyans]], the [[Enlightened Mystic Race|enlightened Gaalians]], and the [[Proud Merchant Race|business-minded humans]].
The player takes the role of a [[Hello, Insert Name Here|young pilot]] voluntarily enlisting into the titular organization known as the ''Space Rangers''. Space Rangers are tasked with defeating the Klissans, but are given full freedom in deciding how to do so. You can fight the Klissans directly on your own, salvaging their technology and researching ways to defeat them. You can trade commodities between planets and earn enough money to turn your ship into a juggernaut. You can raid civilian ships as a pirate, and you can even perform diplomatic errands. Whichever way you choose, your ultimate task is to become powerful enough to drive the Klissans back and eliminate the Makhpella.
On the whole, Space Rangers is played as a top-down, [[Turn Based Tactics|turn-based tactical game]] coupled with considerable [[RPG Elements]]. You fly your ship from star to star, planet to planet, fighting the enemy (whoever you choose it to be at any given time), upgrading your ship, trading cargo, and so forth. Everything is done using a simple point-and-click interface. However, at many points in the game, gameplay changes radically, incorporating mini-games that are very different from this style. Major diplomatic quests require playing text-based mini-adventures (some of which are remarkably complex). Wormholes take you to another dimension which plays like a classic [[Shoot
Very importantly, the game world is constantly being simulated in the background regardless of what the player is doing. The program controls all enemy ships, civilian and military ships, and even a slew of other Space Rangers who are constantly competing for the highest ranking. While the player may be passing time waiting for his satellites to finish scanning a dead planet, entire battles are fought over star systems on the other side of the quadrant. The enemy and the Coalition send ships at each other, attempt to stay technologically ahead of each other, and prices change according to the lively traffic of trading ships across all sectors of space. In fact, on the easier difficulty levels it is possible for the Coalition to push the enemy to the brink of destruction ''all by themselves''!
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** In another example from the same quest, "Ferriferous No-Oodles" is telephone wire.
** That zoo quest in general consists of these. There are five animals and five types of food, all named in insane ways, and the point is to figure out what each of them actually means.
* [[Colour
* [[Conveniently Close Planet]]
* [[Comedic Sociopathy]]: This is the Pelengs' hat. They think space pirates are good role models, don't see anything wrong with selling drugs in schools, and order hits on garbage transports just to piss off Gaalians.
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* [[Digitized Sprites]]: For virtually everything.
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: The Dominators. They are divided into 3 factions that are as hostile to each other as they are to the Coalition.
* [[Enemy Mine]]: When Klissans/Dominators enter a system, everyone will stop fighting and will attack them. [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here|Or escape]].
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Yes, pirates are bad... but they are still part of the Coalition and they still protect systems in case of Klissan/Dominator attack.
** This applies to ranger-pirates, but not regular pirates. In most cases they will pick up any valuable debris they can reach and then run for their lives.
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* [[Mad Scientist]]: The Keller Dominator. His way of researching things is to take them apart and see what they are made of. Humans can't reassemble themselves after the process? Not his problem!
* [[Mental Time Travel]]: One of the text quests sends your mind back to the 22nd century.
* [[Mini Game]]: Lots of. Text quests? Check. Arcade battles? Check. A 3D [[Real Time Strategy]] game with an element of [[Third
* [[Mistook the Dominant Lifeform]]: {{spoiler|Makhpella thinks that your ships are sentient, and pilots are just an organic disease infecting them. He is just trying to cure the infection.}}
* [[Nintendo Hard]]: One of the tournaments. You get a savegame with 200% difficulty where you start with lousy equipment and down to one system in the whole galaxy. Now go win the game.
** Qualifies as more of a [[Self
* [[One
* [[Planet of Hats]]: All five sentient races are quite widespread across the galaxy, so you'll encounter many planets with the same hat. The Maloqs' hat is being the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Proud Warrior Race]] (see below), Gaalians are [[Enlightened Mystic Race|wise and patient]], Faeyans are [[Proud Scholar Race Guy|awesome scientists]], and Pelengs are the [[Chaotic Neutral|slimy spies, villains and backstabbers]]. Humans are an average race in both attitudes and technology, while apparently being [[Proud Merchant Race|superior businessmen]] (After all, the galactic currency is the human-originated "Galactic Credit").
** Subverted in text quests where you may encounter smart Maloqs and heroic Pelengs.
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** Makhpella is also this, until you {{spoiler|manage to talk to it. As it turns out, Makhpella believed our spaceships were intelligent, and that we (the humanoids flying them) were a disease. It simply tried to eradicate the disease in order to help the spaceships. Once you explain this, Makhpella actually apologizes.}}
* [[Sdrawkcab Name]]: One of text quests involves investigating a tribe of Akabos, who are basically anthropoid dogs. The name is backwards for "sobaka", Russian for "dog". Three named members of the tribe are Kibob, Kizut and Kirash -- backwards for "Bobik", "Tuzik" and "Sharik", Russian stock names for dogs.
* [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]]: Some of text quests let you escape right at the beginning. Some give you a chance in the middle. Sometimes you can do it at any moment.
** Other rangers do that [[Dirty Coward|all the time]], even those whom you've hired to accompany you, making them effectively worthless.
* [[Shout Out]]: Lots of.
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** More notably, the game is sometimes considered a successor to ''[[Star Control]]'' and ''[[Elite]]''.
* [[Starfish Aliens]]: Makhpella and the Klissans.
* [[Storming the Castle]]: One of the ways to dispose of [[Planet Eater|Terron]] is deploying a small army of robots on its surface and destroying its core. Amusingly, it can easily be done [[One
* [[Subspace or Hyperspace]]: There's a typical [[Elite]]-like hyperspace jump. There's also a different kind of hyperspace, accessible near black holes and leading to a... [[Shoot
* [[Summon Bigger Fish]]: A villainous example spanning the entire story of Space Rangers 1.
** In the sequel, the Transfactor Beacon summons an army of Dominators, usually Kelleroids. Since the Dominators are broken into three factions which are [[Enemy Civil War|at war with each other]], it is possible to summon them upon a system infested by another faction and watch the two fleets duke it out - then pick off the survivors (or pick up the remains).
* [[Take That]]: One of the text-quests involves a human computer system being infected by a virus called “Windows,” and the company providing anti-virus software is called "[[Shout Out|Maloqsoft]]".
** In the sequel, Maloqsoft apparently switched to military research.
* [[Temporal Sickness]]/[[Laser
* [[Timed Mission]]: Due to the way the game's AI works, it is entirely possible for the villains to completely destroy the Coalition if you don't pay attention and/or take too long with the main quest.
** All quests given by planetary governments are timed. Asking for a "harder" or "easier" mission simply alters the allotted time, rather than the objectives or the difficulty of the mission itself.
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