Hey y’all, welcome to my first in a series of let’s play videos covering the amazing 1993 tactical starship simulator, Rules of Engagement 2. Again, I’m new at these, so please feel free to shoot any suggestions my way as to making these better. There’s also some mild cursing in there. Why? I don’t want to spoil it for you, but let’s just say it’s evident that, even after doing the tutorial and reading the manual cover to cover, it’s easy to tell that it’s been at least 15 years since I last played this game. ;) Enjoy!
Ahhh, memories… I wonder if I still have my copy? I even played the other games where you’re a trader in the same universe… they were some of my first games, actually, on my old Apple IIe clone.
I like how the game even included lightspeed delays… I recall some missions where you’d have ships so far away that you couldn’t effectively control them since it took too long for messages to get back and fourth. I’d have to appoint a distant captain to lead a task force, then assign other ships to that task force, then order the captain to accomplish whatever goal I’d set for him… I think I recall once where I apparently sent them into a hornet’s nest of enemy ships and I started getting panicked messages followed by a final message of “Activating self destruct”, which apparently took out several enemies, but still… whoops…
Aahh yeah, good times. :)
Loved the LP video, Brian! Definitely keep them coming. This is an amazingly great execution for such a complicated simulation. Did you manage to find a digital copy of the manual anywhere? I can only find one for ROE1 on Abandonia.
I think it would be awesome if Artemis the Starship Bridge Simulator (which you should try to LP or review the demo) could incorporate some of the ideas and displays of this game.
Thanks man, glad you liked it! And yeah, it’s an amazingly well-done execution, one of the best in space gaming if you ask me. Sadly I didn’t find a digital copy of the manual, but it’s worth tracking down a physical copy if you can. :)
Dude, boom, snag this:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-VINTAGE-IBM-PC-MS-DOS-COMPUTER-FLOPPY-DISK-GAME-RULES-OF-ENGAGEMENT-2-ar5-/320995042336?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item4abccba420
Hmmm, $10 for a game I will love owning, but probably never play. That’s a deal! It is really good inspiration for game development.
A nice look at the game. I laughed pretty hard when you accidentally left time compression on while approaching the enemy fleet and lost forward shields instantly. That combined with four to one odds and moderate shields just didn’t end well. You should have had the cruiser accompany you instead of the scout! Ah well, better luck next video.
When you mentioned the box contents I had to grab it from the shelf and check it out again – one of the good, old fashioned boxes that actually held something beyond the game disk! I picked it up from Amazon several years ago, but never actually played it for more than a few hours before distractions set in. Watching this video and reading through the manuals a bit piqued my interest once again. I’ll have to reinstall it and give it another whirl, possibly adding Breach 3 to the mix for some boarding actions.
Welcome to the blog, EBM, and thank you for the kind words! :) And yeah, I totally should’ve kept the cruiser with me. I laughed too when I watched the video a second time with the time compression on. DERP!
It reminded me of my main issue when I first played it, which is patience. I typically just jump in and go go go, but you totally can’t do that with this game, so I totally had to learn patience, and it looks like I’ll have to again the for next time. And yeah, it’s fun with Breach 3 tacked on. :)
Thanks this looks awesome don’t know how I missed a cool game like this
Welcome to the blog Elethio, and yeah, there was a lot more to choose from and get buried under back in the day. :)
Great vid Brian, reminded me of the times I used to play this. Lots of death and lots of fun. :)
Hahha, thank you, so glad you enjoyed it. And yeah, I need to be more patient next time so there’s less of the death and more of the fun. ;)
I think one of my favorite things about this game’s interface, other than the clear Star Trek impression it’s pulling off, is that everything can by done via keyboard. Back then, a lot of games couldn’t take for granted that every PC came with a mouse, so they had to bend over backwards to make their game work with both. You can really get that nerdy Trek feel when you’re doing everything from tapping a keyboard slim modern keyboard JUST LIKE ON TV!
Kinda tough for a keyboard jockey these days, since games assume you always want to use a mouse (looking at you, FTL) or an XBox controller (cross platform indie games).
Oh yeah, I LOVE the keyboard interface, after a bit of play it’s coming back to me as well. I hope to eventually not need a mouse, since it’s just so much slower to use one with this game. And yeah, LCARS for the win. ;)
Manual, if anyone needs it:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/120682761/Rules-of-Engagement-2
Welcome to the blog Robert, and wow, finally! Did you upload this?
Hi! It’ s really nice and I’d like to play it, but I’ve found only one of the three manuals. Could you upload at least the training manual?
If I ever have enough free time, I might, but that’s unlikely. I hate to say it, but it might be worth investing in a physical copy on Ebay. Worth it. :)