Star
Wars®: Rogue Squadron 3D™
Worth Trying and Flying
(continued)
By Scott (A'Kula) Schimmels, Kalidor 3 (TacO)
Submitted 8/1/99
Published 10/23/99
Leading Rogue Squadron on Tatooine in the Naboo Fighter. |
Rogues checking out the Tatooine
scenery - up close. |
Eliminating a few bothersome Probe Droids. |
That Jawa Sandcrawler looks familiar. |
Taking care of a few dupes bothering the Mos Eisley folks. |
I went back into RS3D and flew the first mission, Ambush at Mos Eisley. Originally, the mission was flown in an X-Wing, but since I had already flown the mission, and won it, I was allowed to choose from the X-Wing, A-Wing, V-Wing and the Naboo Fighter. Naturally, I chose the Naboo fighter. The Naboo is a little quicker than the X-Wing in RS3D, and it's guns are closely space in the nose, which makes it ideal for an arcade shooting scenario. I rose my accuracy from a measley 11% in the X-Wing to a marginally better 17%. I also found the Naboo to have excellent loiter capability, especially at the lower velocities, making it ideal for Close Air Support (i.e. disposing of probe droids and ground laser turret batteries.) All in all, the Naboo was a pleasure to fly and I quickly converted my silver medal to a gold medal.
Leading Rogue Squadron on Barkhesh in the Naboo Fighter. |
Get those probe droids. |
Ah... an AT-ST awaiting my attention. |
Scratch one AT-ST! |
Looking for bigger game, I decided to give the next mission, Rendevouz at Barkhesh a try. This is more challenging because of the AT-ST's and ground laser batteries to be taken out and the Naboo Fighter didn't disappoint. It's lasers are more than enough for the AT-ST or Laser Battery, and it carries a large complement of missiles (10). Thus, it has more than enough firepower for all but the AT-AT. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to try the Naboo against an AT-AT as RS3D only allows the Snowspeeder for certain missions. Apparently, RS3D is set up such that the only way to destroy an AT-AT is using the Snowspeeder's tow cable. This is unfortunate, because the Naboo Fighter's superior rate of firepower and large missile load would be appreciated on certain assault missions - Escape from Fest comes to mind. I found the Naboo fighter to be a superior choice for most missions where the X-Wing or A-Wing had been the default fighter, simply because of its combined speed and firepower. I could keep my accuracy up and convert many of medal from bronze or silver to silver or gold. The only missions I couldn't try the Naboo on was the Snowspeeder missions, due to the need of the tow cable for taking out AT-ATs.
Update 1.20
LucasArts, in attempt to revive interest in RS3D, released an upgrade to RS3D 1.20 to include the Naboo Fighter™.
Installation: To install the update after downloading, simply double-click the update program "rogueupd12.exe" and follow the on-screen instructions. The setup program should automatically locate where Rogue Squadron 3D™ was installed and update those files.
Corrects: This update included the following features and fixes:
NABOO FIGHTER™
Add the Naboo Starfighter to the game. The Naboo can only be accessed after completing a Level with the default craft for that level.
3DFX FIX
Address the problem with graphical corruption when using a 3D accelerator card which uses the 3dfx Voodoo 3 or 3dfx Banshee chipset.
As in my XWA update article, I used a T-1 connection, to download the 1.25 Mb file in a few seconds and took it home on a floppy disk. The installation was painless and I was able to see and fly the Naboo fighter from the very beginning. For an Old Republic fighter, the Naboo packs a punch the Imperials will learn to fear. This makes me wonder, if the Naboo was so great, why did it get retired? There was very little the Naboo couldn't do for me, other than taking out the AT-ATs.
Racking up a Gold Medal using the Naboo fighter. |
If you enjoy arcade type games, then Rogue Squadron 3D™ is for you. The graphics, game play, and story line are vintage Star Wars®, and with the addition of the Naboo fighter, you now can take the battle to the Imperials and pretty much wipe them off the map - literally. My only negative comment is the lack of additional missions. Once you've flown the 19 missions (16 plus 3 bonus), that's it. I know of no mission editor, either by LA, F5 or third-party for RD3D which is a real shame. With the host of ships, planets and objects, RS3D could offer tremendous replay if additional missions were created, or if a mission editor was released. As in the other LA games that have been released, due to their licensing agreement, I doubt this will ever happen unless someone out there takes the time to crack RS3D's setup to generate a third-party editor. Ah well. If you can get this game for under $20, and since the update is a free download and able to fit onto floppy disk, I recommend it be a serious consideration to all you gamers who enjoy this type of game - even in passing.
Good Luck, and Good Hunting!
A'Kula, Kalidor 3
Kalidor Tactical Officer (TacO)
(Scott (A'Kula) Schimmels works on Nonlinear Structural Behavior & Analysis during the day, and impossible Black Ops for his squadron, Kalidor at night.)
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