[mtviewdave]

The original Star Control was one of my favorite games. It came out when I was in college and my friends I spent many hours playing the Amiga version in our dorm room.

I happened to know a developer at Accolade who asked if I had any ideas for new ships in the sequel they were planning. I sent an email that seems to have inspired a couple of their ships. Here's a blog post I wrote up about it a few years ago:

https://daveschreiber.com/2016/03/17/my-small-role-in-star-c...

[prawn]

Were the Ilwrath in the first game? Their cloaking ability might've been influenced by one of your suggestions?

[kragen]

Yeah, they were. IIRC they were sort of optimized for attacking Earthlings, whose missiles were useless at long range when they were cloaked and which couldn't turn fast enough to counterattack at short range or accelerate fast enough to escape.

[splonk]

That was the idea, but in practice the zoom level and auto-centering of the combat screen meant that a good Earthling player could probably eventually win at long range. At close range the Earthling could turn quickly but couldn't output enough damage or accelerate to escape fast enough before the Ilwrath could kill it.

[Pigalowda]

Earthling is slower than Ilwrath which can also fan out the flame thrower and destroy incoming missiles. Alliance should follow up with Shofixti after the Earthling is destroyed by Ilwrath.

[kragen]

Yeah, IIRC the Ilwrath is helpless against the Shofixti because the Shofixti is agile and has a longer-range weapon. You can shield from the Shofixti bullets a little bit with flames but basically unless the Shofixti player screws up really badly the Ilwrath has no hope. Usually the Chenjesu also utterly cremates the Ilwrath before the Ilwrath can get close.

[kragen]

I guess you're right.

[Pxtl]

Toys for Bob did make a spiritual successor to Star Control on the PS1 called Unholy War, but the combat was more 3d platformer than spaceship.