Re: The ULMF Trail
What's Ur-Quan masters again?
And Runescape seems a little more fun, personally.
I think it's a 4x game, kind of like Master of Orion or Sword of the Stars. I might be wrong though.
While it has resource management and unit allotment, it's got more in common with Wing Commander Privateer - you fly a single ship. Lots of exploration, some diplomacy, but the only expansion is centered around your "task force" - you can't build ships and send them elsewhere while you're doing stuff.
The backstory's like this: In Star Control 1, the heroic Alliance of Free Stars had been formed to defend against the Ur-Quans and their Battle Thralls. Unfortunately for the Alliance, they were losing. Research expeditions went out in all directions, looking for allies and the remnants of the mysterious Precursors, a highly advanced race that disappeared long before the current time.
Star Control 2 rolls around. An expedition found a Precursor ship factory. A colony grew up around the research base, built to try and puzzle out its secrets. Eventually they manage to activate it, and it automatically spits out what the scientists characterize as a "utility" vessel. But there's not enough resources - it's only barely operational, with obvious slots where modules are supposed to be. With no word from the Alliance, the colony leaders decide to send the ship to Earth, in order to get more resources and build more ships - and also discover why the Alliance is silent. Only one person, however, can conn the vessel: you. Good luck, captain.
Oh... and it's generally referred to as UQM nowadays because of copyright issues - the original publisher owns the rights to "Star Control".
