Battlecruiser 3000AD

Battlecruiser 3000AD (also known as [BC3K] in Usenet) is a science fiction computer game, noted for its long, troubled development history.

Story

As the title suggests, the game takes place in the year 3000 AD, many decades after mankind has developed advanced space craft, and discovered new worlds and intelligent life-forms within and beyond the Solar system. However, space travel is described as restricted to military personnel and scientists despite its conveniences.

The story goes on to describe an interplanetary war, started in 2041AD, with Earth involved. In 2044AD, Galactic Command (GALCOM) is formed to maintain law and order amongst planets. The Gammulan race opposes the alliance and war is waged between GALCOM and Gammulans.

The player takes the role of a recruit assigned to defend the GALCOM consortium of planets against Gammulans. The events of the game begin with GALCOM diplomatic craft developing a navigational malfunction and straying into Gammulan territory. GALCOM supreme commander Stranix reports a Sphinx class battlecruiser intentionally destroyed by Gammulan orbital defence system, with no survivors; meanwhile, a team of Renegade class interceptors ambushes a Gammulan starfighter in GALCOM space.

Battlecruiser 3000AD

Battlecruiser 3000AD
The GameTek release of Battlecruiser 3000AD
Developer(s)	3000 AD
Publisher(s)	Take-Two Interactive (North America) GameTek (united Kingdom)
Designer(s)	Derek Smart (program concept and design, 2D/3D design-lead development) Lloyd Pique (3D lead development) Jim Marinins (additional programming) Danny Mercurio (raytraced intro) Drew Markham, Cheryl Blaha, Rick Lenz (additional artwork) George Sanger, Dave Govet (Sound, MIDI FX)
Series	Battlecruiser
Engine	Game Builder System-I (scenarios)
Version	1.01D7C (freeware)
Platform(s)	MS-DOS, Windows
Release date(s)	NA 30 September 1996 Worldwide23 February 1998 (freeware)
Genre(s)	Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: Everyone
System requirements Take 2: Pentium 60MHz CPU, DOS 5.0 or Windows 95, 8MiB system RAM, 50MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM, SVGA Graphics Card GameTek: Pentium CPU, DOS 5.0 or Windows 95, 8MiB system RAM, 50MB hard disk space, 2x CD-ROM, SVGA Graphics Card

Game Modes

• Free Flight: Player freely cruises the galaxy and learns the incredible array of controls and computer interfaces without fear of attack by alien craft or pirates.
• Advanced Campaign Mode: In this mode the game is dynamic, and changes can occur rapidly and often through political and military influences.
• Xtreme Carnage Combat Simulator: It is a combat simulator that allows the player to gain experience in combat operations, both planetbound and in free flight.^[1]

Development

Derek Smart began his game development career in the late 1980s, with a vision of creating an all-encompassing space simulation game, featuring strategy elements along with space, planetary, air and ground combat.^[2]

The game first appeared on the cover of Strategy Plus in 1992. Shortly afterwards, Three-Sixty Pacific obtained the rights. Three Sixty Pacific held the rights for a year and went out of business shortly afterwards. 3000AD, Inc then signed the rights with Mission Studios. Mission Studios also signed distribution deal with Interplay Productions for its products. The game was showcased in 1994 winter and 1994 summer CES under the Interplay Affiliated label brand. However, due to financial constraints, an agreement was reached which allowed 3000AD, Inc. to seek a new publisher. Intracorp bid for the rights to publish the game; with a disagreement over source code release, the deal never progressed beyond a letter of intent. The game appeared in 1995 E3, then Intracorp went bankrupt shortly afterwards. Take-Two Interactive bought the publish right to the game from Mission Studios in 1995, and released v1.00 of the game,^[3] with GameTek (UK) pulished the game in 1997.^[2]

In Take-Two's SEC filings on 1997-02-10, the company stated that Battlecruiser 3000AD accounted for 14.2% of revenue for the fiscal year ending October 31, 1996.^[3] The filing also stated that Take-Two "made advances in the aggregate amount of approximately $618,000" for the title.^[3]

Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0

Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0
Developer(s)	3000 AD
Publisher(s)	Interplay Value Product Division (North America) GT Interactive (Europe) Jack Of All Games (Australasia) 3000 AD (freeware) (Worldwide)
Designer(s)	Derek Smart
Series	Battlecruiser
Engine	Game Builder System-I (scenarios)
Version	2.09 (last patch, freeware)[4]
Platform(s)	Windows 95
Release date(s)	NA December 1998 EU October 1999 AUS March 2000 (Worldwide) May 1999(Demo) (North America) January 2000 (2.09 demo) (North America) 17 July 2001 (freeware)[5]
Genre(s)	Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T
Media/distribution	CD-ROM
System requirements Interplay: Pentium 166 CPU, any 2D video graphics card with 2MB memory (some sources advise 4MB) (optional 3DFX Voodoo based card), 165MB hard drive space, 2x MPC-II compliant CD-ROM, 16MB RAM 3000AD: Pentium 166 or equivalent CPU, PCI Graphics card, 100 MB (compact install) or 165MB (full install) hard disk space, MPC compliant 4x or higher CD-ROM, 16 MB Memory, Microsoft or compatible mouse, most major sound cards

Development of version 2.0 of the game continued throughout 1998, and Interplay announced that it would publish an improved version (dubbed Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0) through its Value Product Division.^[6] Unlike the previous product, only a Windows version was supported.

3D acceleration is supported only through 3dfx hardware.

The game now contains 13 alien races, 25 castes. Game map contains 25 star systems with 75 planets and 145 moons in total.

Battlecruiser Millennium

Battlecruiser Millennium
Developer(s)	3000 AD
Publisher(s)	3000 AD
Designer(s)	Derek Smart
Series	Battlecruiser
Engine	GBS-II (Game Builder System Spec II)
Version	1.09.02 (last patch)[7] 1.09.03 (freeware)
Platform(s)	Windows 98
Release date(s)	NA 19 November 2001 (Worldwide) 20 May 2005 (freeware)
Genre(s)	Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s)	Single-player
Rating(s)	ESRB: T
System requirements DirectX 8.1b or higher, Pentium II 300Mhz or AMD K6-2 350Mhz processor, 64 MiB system RAM (128MiB for Windows 2000/XP), 16MiB DirectX 8 compliant 3D graphics card, 16Bit DirectX 8 compliant sound card, 8X CDROM or DVD-ROM, 500MB uncompressed hard drive disk space, Microsoft compatible mouse

Designed as a successor of Battlecruiser 3000AD, this game uses native Windows kernel, which supports DirectX 8.1 acceleration. The name was chosen to signify the next generation engines for the series, the new Millennium.

Updated elements include AI engine, space/planetary dynamics engine, planetary terrain engine, character animation system, space and planetary units.

Player can play one of 12 races or 13 castes. There are 6 career modes, including commander, pilot and marine types, over 60 user controllable space, ground and air units. Game map contains over 250 space and planetary units.

Development

From 1998 to 2001, Smart developed his next game in the Battlecruiser franchise, Battlecruiser Millennium. The game was to be exclusively distributed at Electronics Boutique locations and was self-published by his company 3000AD, Inc.^[8] The deal made with EB was a first of its kind merchant exclusivity deal for a game's release, with an independent developer paying for all materials to publish the game for distribution through the retailer. When asked by the gaming media about his thoughts on the deal, Smart stated "I'm paying for everything. I bear all the risk. I pay for the cost of goods, including the boxes and manuals."^[9]

After its retail run Smart released Battlecruiser Millennium on the Internet for free as he had done with his previous titles.^[5] He has mentioned that he intends to keep up this practice of releasing his products for free once their "shelf life" has expired.^[10]

Battlecruiser Millennium Gold

Battlecruiser Millennium Gold
Developer(s)	3000 AD
Publisher(s)	DreamCatcher Interactive
Designer(s)	Derek Smart
Series	Battlecruiser
Engine	GBS-II (Game Builder System Spec II)
Version	1.01.06 (last patch)[11]
Platform(s)	Windows 98 SE
Release date(s)	March 2003
Genre(s)	Space trading and combat simulator
Mode(s)	Singleplayer, Multiplayer
Rating(s)	ESRB: T
System requirements DirectX 8.1b or higher, Pentium II 300Mhz or AMD K6-2 350Mhz processor, 64 MiB system RAM (128MiB for Windows 2000/XP), 16MiB DirectX 8 compliant 3D graphics card, 16Bit DirectX 8 compliant sound card, 8X CDROM or DVD-ROM, 500MB uncompressed hard drive disk space, Microsoft compatible mouse Multiplayer: Client requires 56K or broadband modem, Server requires LAN or broadband (cable, DSL etc) connection.

It is a version of Battlecruiser Millennium with complete updates. A client-server multiplayer engine is introduced in this version. Flight controls can now be done using mouse.

Other new elements include:

• 1 new small sized galaxy containing 12 space regions, 12 planetary regions, 272 planetary mission zones and 1,086 planetary areas of interest (scenes). This galaxy does not include map. All the new scenarios included in this game take place in this new galaxy. The full map now includes 152 space regions containing 238 planets, 4033 planetary mission zones, 21548 planetary areas of interest in total.
• 44 planetary starbases, 1,011 military bases and 13 star stations. The full map now includes 96 starbases, 14,408 military bases and 71 star stations in total.
• 20 new Instant Action scenarios with a variety of missions ranging from easy to extremely hard, which brings the total number of Instant Action scenarios to 45.
• 1 new ACM scenario (Broken Arrow?) with multi-branch scenarios which can either end up being 11 or 15 missions depending on resolution of certain missions. In the GameStop exclusive version of the game, there is yet another ACM scenario. The total number of ACM scenarios is 5 depending on version.

Development

The developer originally intended to introduce multiplayer feature when making the original Battlecruiser Millennium back in late 1999, but due to unforeseen circumstances, this feature was dropped in the initial product. The was to use the RTIME Interactive Networking Engine.^[12]

When the game was redesigned, the developer discovered that the original design architecture of the game kernel prevented the implementation of multiplayer, so the game was redesigned. Further information about it was revealed in the Smart Speak section of the manual.^[13]

Cancelled releases

• Battlecruiser Commander - It is the working title for the sequel of Battlecruiser 3000AD.^[14]
• Battlecruiser 3020AD - It is the working title for the sequel of Battlecruiser 3000AD, to be released after Battlecruiser Millennium. The game would include online multiplayer universe, first person in-ship mode.^[15]
• BC3K: Strike Pak - This game allows player to board, in first person perspective, ships targeted by player. It was designed to be a standalone game or be linked to Battlecruiser Commander.
• BC3K: Skirmish Pak - This was intended to be a multiplayer addon to the Battlecruiser Commander, but multiplayer feature had never been implemented until Battlecruiser Millennium Gold.
• Battlecruiser Tactical Engagement - It is an in-ship first person perspective add-on module for Battlecruiser Millennium. That project was replaced by "Project ABC," for "After Battlecruiser," which later became Universal Combat.^[16] A prototype for the add-on was produced.^[17]
• Battlecruiser Online - It is massively multiplayer online version of Battlecruiser Generations (later called Universal Combat), with off-line single-player training component.^[18] However, neither Battlecruiser Online nor Universal Combat series have included games that feature persistent online worlds.

Controversies

Flame war

Before publisher Take-Two Interactive released Battlecruiser 3000AD in September 1996, it had generated one of the longest and largest flame wars in the history of Usenet.^[19] This flamewar lasted for several years, garnered over 70,000 posts, and yielded a series of sites that documented and parodied its history.

Neural network claim

Smart and Take-Two advertised Battlecruiser 3000AD used a neural network to perform artificial intelligence tasks in the game. However, this claim has been criticised as highly improbable by other games designers. In one article in a computer games magazine, Keith Zabalaoui, former NASA programmer and one of the designers of the Close Combat series of strategy games, was quoted as saying, "I have a hard time believing it's in there... the concept of training [neural nets] to do the complex tasks required in a game is inconceivable. It's mumbo jumbo. I guarantee you that if there's a neural net that does anything in [BC3K] this man would be in the Computer Science Hall of fame."^[20]

Bugs

Upon its initial release of Battlecruiser 3000AD, the game^[21] contained many bugs that made it unstable,^[2][22][23] according to a GameSpy.com reviewer, who asserted that "Smart consistently overrates his own products and his own abilities."^[23] For his part, Derek Smart claimed that the buggy release was the responsibility of Take-Two.^{[citation needed]}

After the initial release, Smart issued several patches and upgrades for the product over the next few months, and eventually a final patch was released to fix some of the major bugs. In February 1998, after obtaining publishing rights from Take-Two, Smart released the game on the Internet for download free of charge.^[24]

Lawsuit

Derek Smart filed a lawsuit against Take-Two (who also released the game in the UK through a sub-license deal with GameTek) for alleging breach of contract.^[2] The lawsuit was later settled out of court, and both parties released statements of resolution in late 1998.^[25]

Derek Smart regained the rights to the game via the settlement. He continued to develop a new version through his personal company, 3000 AD.

Receptions

Battlecruiser 3000AD, was covered extensively in gaming magazines during the development process, including a 1992 cover story in Computer Games Strategy Plus. The game was marketed as "The last thing you'll ever desire" in pre-release ads that ran in computer gaming magazines.^[23]

Battlecruiser 3000AD was released against the wishes of its primary developer Derek Smart,^[26] as it was still incomplete and buggy – although even in this state it was able to collect some positive reviews and revenue.

Battlecruiser Millennium received 65% and 68% at aggregate review sites Game Rankings and Metacritic respectively.^[27][28] According to some reviews^[29] of the game, it was as encompassing and strategically pleasing as the developer had set out to make, but lacked in user interface design friendliness and atmosphere. In 2003 Gamespy named it the 19th most overrated game of all time due to the hype Derek produced with his extremely ambitious game play promises that he would ultimately be unable to fulfill.^[30]

Adaptations

Jon Ballinger wrote 15 chapters of 'The Calm Before The Storm' series based on the Battlecruiser 3000AD.^[31] Although it had never become a canonical release, it was the only novel link referred by Take 2's BC3K site.

See also

• Universal Combat
• List of commercial failures in video gaming

References

1. ^ GamesFirest!! Battlecrusier 3000 A.D. review
2. ^ ^{a b c d} "loonygames' Guest Editorial: Derek Smart". http://www.loonygames.com/content/1.27/guest/index5.php. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} "Take2 SEC 1998 10KSB Filing". http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/946581/0000891554-98-000123.txt. Retrieved 1998-02-06. 
4. ^ Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0x VCF
5. ^ ^{a b} "Battlecruiser series". http://www.fileplanet.com/50393/0/section/Battlecruiser-Series. Retrieved 2006-10-21. 
6. ^ "Press Release: Interplay Value Products Division to distribute Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0". Interplay. 1998-08-05. Archived from the original on 2000-08-18. http://web.archive.org/web/20000818014813/http://interplay.com/press/bc3000ad.html. 
7. ^ Battlecruiser Millennium VCF
8. ^ "IGN: EB Signs Pact with Derek Smart". http://pc.ign.com/articles/092/092821p1.html. Retrieved 2006-12-06. 
9. ^ "GameSpy.com — GameSpin: Volume 2 -- Battlecruiser Millennium, Tropico and Anarchy Online". http://archive.gamespy.com/gamespin/march01/gamespin2/. Retrieved 2006-12-06. 
10. ^ "AusGamers.com — Australia's Games Community: Battlecruiser Millennium Now Freeware". http://www.ausgamers.com/?news=2299928. Retrieved 2006-10-21. 
11. ^ Battlecruiser Millennium Gold VCF
12. ^ Battlecruiser 3020 AD Gets Support From RTIME
13. ^ Battlecruiser Millennium Gold product info
14. ^ Attention: Battlecruiser Commanders
15. ^ 3000AD NEW PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT
16. ^ Battlecruiser Team Takes on Serious Sam Engine
17. ^ Battlecruiser Tactical Engagement Info
18. ^ BATTLECRUISER ONLINE FAQ
19. ^ "The Saga of Battlecruiser 3000". The 25 dumbest moments in gaming. GameSpy. http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/readers/index2.shtml. Retrieved 2006-07-11. 
20. ^ T Liam Mcdonald (March 1997). ""The Neural Net that Wasn't". Boot Magazine: 27. 
21. ^ "Get in the Game: Battlecruiser Millennium". http://www.ati.com/gitg/gaming/gamemaker/bcm/index.html. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 
22. ^ "Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. for PC Review — PC Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. Review". http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/battlecruiser3000ad/review.html. Retrieved 2006-10-20. 
23. ^ ^{a b c} "GameSpy.com — Article: The 25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming". http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/readers/index2.shtml. Retrieved 2006-10-20. 
24. ^ "Battlecruiser 3000 A.D. Set Free — News at GameSpot". http://www.gamespot.com/news/2462678.html?q=battlecruiser. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 
25. ^ "Smart, Take-Two Settle differences — News at GameSpot". http://www.gamespot.com/news/1998/12/23/news_2465926.html. Retrieved 2006-10-21. 
26. ^ Bub, Andrew S. (2003-04-19). "Derek Smart on Battlecruiser Generations & Beyond". http://www.gamespy.com/pc/universal-combat/6543p1.html. Retrieved 2006-07-11. 
27. ^ "Battlecruiser Millennium Reviews". http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages2/468719.asp. Retrieved 2006-12-06. 
28. ^ "Battlecruiser Millennium (PC: 2001): Reviews". http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/pc/battlecruisermillennium?q=battlecruiser. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 
29. ^ "Battlecruiser Millennium — It's much improved over the previous release but it still asks for too much from the player". http://pc.ign.com/articles/167/167087p1.html. Retrieved 2006-12-05. 
30. ^ "Top 25 Most Overrated Games of All Time". Gamespy.com. http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/september03/25overrated/index8.shtml. Retrieved July 26 2010. 
31. ^ Jon Ballinger's The Calm Before The Storm

External links

• 3000AD Official site
• Take 2 BC3K page
• Dreamcatcher Battlecruiser Millennium: Gold Edition page
• Battlecruiser 3000AD at MobyGames
• The Saga of Battlecruiser 3000 - Article about the game at Gamespy.com

Games in the series

Title	Released	Publisher
Battlecruiser 3000AD (U.S.)	1996	Take-Two Interactive
Battlecruiser 3000AD (UK)	1997	GameTek
Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0	1999	Interplay
Battlecruiser Millennium	2001	Dreamcatcher Games
Battlecruiser Millennium Gold	2003	3000 AD