Darkwind - News Roundup

skavenhorde

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Darkwind: War on Wheels is a turn-based 3D persistent-world multiplayer car combat rpg. At first I was skeptical about this game, but the way they have done the online turn-based system is an innovative way of bringing true physics to a turn-based game.
At its heart Darkwind tries to emulate, improve and bring to the PC the RPG boardgame Car Wars.
You can read more about the game at the homepage. It's constantly being updated and is free to play. You can subscribe to get some additional features like owning factories, access to a lockup in each town to store your equipment and things along that nature.
There have been quite a few improvements to the game since I last played. Here are the most recent ones:
A new deathrace: point-to-point rallys through randomly positioned sets of gates
Player created narrative missions
New wild creatures added
New car (tractor)
3D gravestones and other minor features
Cars on fire get more love
Hall of Fame added
I understand this type of game won't be for everyone, but it is surprisingly fun. Best of all are the lack of players online who are only there to wreck havoc. You'll get a few, but nothing like what you would get when playing WAR or WOW.
More information.

Thanks UDM.
 
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Give a shout if you're looking people to scout with, skaven :)
 
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Will do. I just replayed the tutorial to get used to it again. They've changed it. It used to be a race now it teaches both how to handle the car and how to use your weapons. Much better although the race did teach a bit more about the physics of the game. Like when to slow down or how high your car can fly in the air when hitting a pothole. I love those little details about this game.

I think the first time I really raced I hit a pothole at around 120MPH went flying way off the track into a wall and broke my nose. Good times. :D
 
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The first time I hit a wall at 120mph, my best driver died instantly. :(

That's what I love about the game. Physics are unpredictable, and even an experienced player will find himself in a tight situation every now and then. Yesterday, I almost broke one of my cars because of friendly fire.
 
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Whats the point of this game? Drive car and gun down AI cars to get xp, gold and better loot?

Reminds me of interstate:
http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/interstate_’76_arsenal
None. There's no carrot on a stick, at least not in a fixed sense. Some players want to become race champs; some want to own the best cars; some are in it for the PVP; and some, like myself, simply want to retire into solitude and produce cheap equipment for players. The end-game is simply what you define it to be, and though we've had a couple of players quit because of this, if a sandbox post apocalyptic turn based strategy wargame with RPG elements is your cup of tea, you won't be disappointed.

We've even had some crazy player-hosted races, with traps and road hazards set up by the hosts, and prizes entirely player-sponsored. There is, in fact, no "grinding 600 hours to get uber loot" if luck is on your side. For example, we've had instances before where players who don't clock a lot of mileage acquire a Firetruck or some rare chassis because they got lucky (and were brave enough to scout in the dangerous regions). It really depends on your playing style, and I suppose that's where Darkwind, as an "MMO" in the loosest sense, differs itself from the rest of the herd - that is, apart from the fact that it is completely different from most persistent world games out there in its core gameplay mechanics.

The only major gameplay feature lacking that I can think of is the inability to walk about in towns in 3D; this is performed in the browser. There are racing/deathracing/combat/wilderness rally leagues, pedestrian combat/paintball events, player-hosted events etc. Its only similarity to Interstate 76 is that both games are based on car combat, but the actual gameplay can't be anymore different.
 
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I like it all a lot -old Roadwar Europa fan here.

At the moment can`t afford the subscription though...hope you`ll still be around in some (un)forseeable future :)
 
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It's free. I don't have a subscription either.....yet.....:) It's very difficult for me to buy a subscription especially when I know how often I change games. I can't stick to just one for months at a time.

You can still participate in the races, deathmatches etc..., but I don't think you can own any cars. They provide you with them.
 
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I like it all a lot -old Roadwar Europa fan here.

At the moment can`t afford the subscription though…hope you`ll still be around in some (un)forseeable future :)
I've been around on and off for 3, almost 4, years. Yeah most of the vets will stick around even if the game starts to become more of the same. We can't quit - more content is being added, and all the hard work we've put into training our gang members over the years would be wasted lol. Even old timers who have "quit" are still sticking around to help out with the game's development. One in particular - a very good racer and PVPer who had played for 2 years before quitting - has recently developed some external spreadsheet applications for use with Darkwind, to collate the stats of players' gang members. It's sort of like the kind of game where even if you get bored with, one day you're just going to say "Ah what the heck, let's just fire it up, I want to see if I can still top the Somerset Rally Circuit deathrace." :p

Just give a shout in the game lobby if you decide to give it a go; as skavenhorde said, it's free if you don't want to have that level of commitment required as a subscriber, since the game pretty much provides you with the fundamental tools to access most of the usual activities :)

Of course, taking ownership of your very FIRST car, even if it isn't a spectacularly pretty one, is a moment of exuberance that nothing can replicate ;)

-edit- By the way, with the Custom Events feature that was added several months ago, you can now fix up your own customized races without having to wait for the game's events diary to set them up. It's probably not a good way to earn money if you're a subscriber (since most of us run solo scouts to stock up on liquid assets), but if you're just in for, as ironic as this may sound, the thrill of turn-based racing, as well as getting familiarized with the game, it's a really helpful feature.
 
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Ever play Car Wars?

If not then how about Battletech? Same thing, but instead of cars you use mechs.
Aka just like interstate? :) Interstate used mechwarrior engine even.

I tried to buy roadwar for c64 tape 22 years ago but the shop had run out and the game was nowhere to be found so I never got to play it. Too bad it seems way dated now.

Darkwind is turn-based? Interesting. From the pics I kind of assumed it was real-time driving.
 
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I couldn't tell you since I never played Interstate. It was missing a key ingrediant for me to get interested in it as a successor to Autoduel. It didn't have a post-apoclyptic hell hole setting ;) Plus that has a story to it and while I wouldn't mind that as much as the setting it still wouldn't be Car Wars.

Autoduel and Roadwar 2000 / Roadwar Europa are the closest to it.
 
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I once tried to make an Autoduel game on NWN but found the modern d20 too buggy and game controls were problematic , ie. not the way cars drive.

This seems interesting - I'll check it out Rat if its anything like the old Origin RPG.

Drive Offensively, the life you save may be your own.
 
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the thrill of turn-based racing

He he :) having no problems at all with this phrase…might have a go over the weekend.

I know it`s free, but If I really liked it, I`d be gutted if locked out of most features. But, no matter.

@zakhal: I think the guys mean tabletop Battletech. I`76 on the other hand is still one of my highest-rated games ever. Shame it was such a bitch to run…which is why it sits undownloaded on my GOG account. I can`t face any hardware struggle at the mo - FO3 has taken the fight out of me :)

Roadwar dated? Maybe, graphically - but c`mon :) It`s all about the stats & firing crazy volleys from schoolbuses... combat engine is great.
 
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@Lucky Day Ahhh man, I would have snatched up a mod for Autoduel in 10 seconds flat. You know how long I've been waiting for someone to make Autoduel 2/ Car Wars 2? Well, I guess you would know since you loved Autoduel as well ;)

One word of warning. It takes a little to get used to the way you play the game. Both the way the races, deathmatches, etc…are setup and actually playing the game. The first time I played it I was expecting Autoduel 2 and was a little dissapointed that there was no avatar to represent me walking around the city.

The disappointment passed quickly and was replaced by confusion when I tried out the tutorial. Here's a hint to get you started. Click on the speedometer to represent how fast you want your car to accelerate. For example: When you start a race your MPH is at 0. Click around 40 MPH if you want to accelerate slowly or 80+ if you want to gun it. Then you turn your steering wheel in the direction you want to go. A shadow will represent where your car will "approximately" end up. There are factors to how good you are at guessing where the car will be. Too many for me to remember, UDM probably knows them. It's still a good indication of where you will be. When all that is done hit the spacebar and a turn will pass. You will see your car go and time will pause around where the shadow was.

It's a little funny when you're speeding along over 100MPH, hit a bump, go flying and then the turn ends with your car still flying in the air :) Not much you can do then, but hit the spacebar again and watch your car smash into the road where you can pull the handbrake, turn the wheel and set the MPH to 0 to try and regain control. Then once you do gain some control you've got to gun it to get back in the race. All the while your character has probably suffered some sort of injury due to that stunt you just pulled :) The details for this is amazing. As UDM said earlier you can die from a crashing your car or if you're lucky you'll just end up with a broken nose. I even read where you can put your flat/used tires in the back to help protect your characters from bullets. Now that's the kind of attention to detail that I love to read in a game.

Give it a few goes before you give up in frustration. I almost did, but once you figure it out and start racing real bots/people that's when the fun starts.

I recommend you just do races first. Then try out the deathmatches. Once you have a good idea on how to drive your car then it's time to up the ante and start taking out other cars when you race.

Have fun.
 
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I once shot up an enemy car so many times, the impact of it caused it to fly into another car, and both cars blew up. This sort of thing rarely happens, but when it does, it's sheer euphoria. Good times :)
 
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Oh, man, I loved Autoduel. I played the hell out of that game. :)

Thanks, folks, for bringing this to my attention. I'll have to give it a try soon. Turn-based car combat? How could I not give that a try? :p
 
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