Stellar Frontier

Stellar Frontier
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Developer(s)	Drengin.net
Publisher(s)	Stardock
Designer(s)	Doug Hendrix, Neil Hillis, Brad Wardell
Engine	2D
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, OS/2 (Unsupported)
Release	1997 (North America/Worldwide)
Genre(s)	Space simulation
Mode(s)	Single player, multiplayer

Stellar Frontier is a multiplayer space strategy/shooter game made by Doug Hendrix in 1997 and later licensed by Stardock. The game is a limited free-to-play game, but players can purchase activation codes to unlock the Stellar Ace bonuses that gives better ships to the player. It was one of the first games on the TotalGaming.net subscription package. There have been no official updates since 2003. Efforts were made to open source the game but these have not been successful as of July 2006. The main nexus (see below), run by Stardock, has been shutdown as of August 4, 2006.

Gameplay

Stellar Frontier is a 2D top-down space shooter game where you are in command of your own starship. The player chooses a race to fight with (the four standard races are: Arcean, Drengin, Terran, and Pirate) and the objective is to "conquer the system" by taking control of the key planets. However, many players enjoy playing the game just to fight other players, these players usually do not bother to "conquer the system". Stellar Frontier can be played offline (against the computer), on a local intranet, or on the Internet.

The "warp drive" in this game is called Q-drive. Q-drive stands for Quantum Drive. Speed is calculated by c (EX: 0.65c, Q-drive speed ranges around 1.00 to 4.00, 4 being the max in the stock game).

Lag can be a big factor on "Player VS Player" fights. Lag is factored on ms (EX: At the moment 062ms is the lowest lag possible.). Extensive Lag coverage is on GAIN.

There can be as many as 100 AI on the server. When the game was released, many said that the AI was the most advanced of the genre (Sci-Fi RTS).

Internet play

Players play in servers that are hosted on the "Nexus". The main online new online nexus is served by Stellarfrontier.net. The nexus's address is nexus.stellarfrontier.net. Anybody can join in the online game at any time.

On August 4, 2006, Stardock Systems turned off the NEXUS at sf.stardock.net permanently.

On July 31, 2007, The game became Freeware, the codes are now provided free for the locked parts of the game. Instructions for getting a code is provided on the main site.

On November 18, 2008, The game source code was released, as well as a new nexus being born (stellarfrontier.net). The game is now open to modifying by coding means, and a small group of coders have started working on a new release.

On December 30, 2008, The new Stellar Frontier client & server is born, and is now back to operational status. The game no longer requires a code, and the game is deemed totally freeware with no code needed.

Main races

As of Stellar Frontier version 1.2, the standard races of the game are as follows:

• Arcean
• Drengin
• Terran
• Pirate

Old races from before the Stardock purchase include Demoians, Venusians, and Martians.

NPC races

• Torian

Free playable ships

The following ships are available in the game. The player must meet a rank requirement to use each ship, with a higher requirement for more powerful ships.

• Freighter
• Scout
• Destroyer
• Cruiser
• Battleship
• Dreadnought

"Stellar Aces" ships

• BattleCruiser
• Marauder
• Starbase

Ranks

All ranks are universal for all the races; there are no race-specific ranks for each race. The online ranking is listed from lowest to highest as follows:

• Cadet
• Ensign
• 2nd Lieutenant
• 1st Lieutenant
• Senior Lieutenant
• Lieutenant Commander
• Commander
• Captain
• Senior Captain
• Fleet Captain
• Commodore
• Rear Admiral
• Vice Admiral
• Admiral
• Fleet Admiral
• Emperor
• Deity

External links

Official

• Official website

Other

• Stellar Frontier Central - Player-maintained website with Stellar Frontier news, information, downloads, etc.