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When The Gold Box Went To Space
At first glance, the Gold Box series simply continued the trend towards a first person dungeon-crawl that would later take over the genre (such as Dungeon Master and SSI's own Eye of the Beholder series), but brought to it a separate combat mode that was third person and, for the first time, lent a sense of tactical urgency to RPGs. The fact that it had the familiar Advanced Dungeons and Dragon's (AD&D) world behind it was no small feat--in fact, the Gold Box series covered the rules so thoroughly that most were relaxed in the modern era as a more mainstream players refused to accept the often prosaic limits, such as their multi-classed half-elves reaching their maximum "level" at five. Despite the strict adherence to the pen and paper game, the standardization of RPG elements and game design was a boon to the industry. While in other genres of gaming, speaking of game "engines" and their design is all the rage--usually with fingers pointed at Id Software for their Quake games which have spawned superior derivatives such as Hexen 2, Half Life, and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Force using the same basic programming--it is often forgotten how instrumental solid engines have been in the RPG world. After all, the readily observable trend (most evident in both The Elder Scrolls and the Might and Magic series) is a constant engine overhaul with every sequel, trying in vain to keep up with the 3D standards of first person shooters. A phenomenon that often goes overlooked is how instrumental a solid game engine has been in creating some of the best RPGs ever, many of whom are not well remembered, if at all. To many, Planescape: Torment is considered the best game to make use of BioWare's Infinity Engine (if not the best RPG ever created), but it failed to sell the same amount of copies as the more mainstream Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale titles (which between them spawned three expansion packs; four, if you count the latter's freely downloadable add on, Trials of the Luremaster). A similar occurrence happened a decade earlier with the Ultima VI engine, as two esoteric games were produced and marketed as Ultima Worlds of Adventure: the prehistoric themed Savage Empire and the Jules Verne inspired Martian Dreams. While both remain cult classics to this day, it is often forgotten that Origin Systems was not the only company to go out on a limb in 1990.
In the fall of 1989, SSI began to make a move towards
including more science fiction titles in their lineup. Star Command
was the best of them, including squad based tactical combat against
space-faring insect like race. It was only a matter of time before
the SSI Special Projects Team began their own sci-fi game using the
Gold Box format--and Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday was
born. While most gamers at the time were previously unaware of the specifics of the Buck Roger's universe, the game was packaged with the novel First Power Play, by John Miller, that served as a great introduction to the subject matter (and unlike today, did not necessitate one shelling out an extra ten dollars for a "collector's edition"). Set in the 25th century, the New Earth Organization (NEO) has recently staged a rebellion against the Russo-American Mercantile (RAM) organization, headquartered on Mars, with the help of Buck Rogers, a 21rst century pilot who had been cryogenically frozen centuries before. More fiction than science, Countdown to Doomsday presents a fun game world that is far less camp than one might expect--capturing the best of the 1950's optimism and not the tackiness of the 1970's fashion.
In 1992, SSI released the sequel, Matrix Cubed, the second of the planned but never completed trilogy which brought a far bleaker world view as the player traveled to what was left of California and to the edges of the solar system. In addition to updated graphics and an actual sound track (rather than the PC speaker inspired score of the original) by the then legendary "The Fat Man" (George Alistair Sanger) it improved upon the first game by adding more complex encounters, logic puzzles, and created at least one situation in which nearly every character skill could be vital in saving the day--as many of them were not used at all in the first title.
Though the Gold Box platform was created for the AD&D world, ironically, it was at its finest hour with the Buck Roger's series. While the tactical combat of the Gold Box was always a large draw, even with the fantasy setting of dwarves and elves, it took a futuristic setting to exploit the many possibilities of the engine. While combat previously included ranged weaponry in the form of crossbows and darts, as well as area effect spells like "fireball" or "cone of cold," it usually devolved into melee combat where the player had to be careful not to move past an enemy, lest the character be backstabbed--forcing fights between static lines. Buck Roger's not only removed that rule (rogues could still backstab, but no free hits when retreating), it added an enormous amount of ranged weaponry, jetpacks that would allow a squad to traverse large outdoor expanses during battles, and a system of grenades that would make for the most in depth tactical experience until the release of XCom.
Besides staples such as explosive, incendiary, and stun grenades that had a universal effect, Buck Rogers included grenades that offered situational advantages as well. Gas and "dazzle" grenades could be effective against monsters and low tech humanoids while the player's squad (if properly equipped) and more powerful enemies would remain immune. "Aerosol mist" grenades would disperse the fire from laser weapons rendering them useless while "chaff" grenades negated the use of guided rocket weaponry (small bullets that contained guidance systems, adding to a characters chance to hit, compared to other weapons) as well as making other grenades and shells from area of effect weapons explode on contact with the "cloud" region. This could keep a large combat robot from deploying its heavy weaponry or even force opposing troops to go hand to hand. Terrain was not only deformable under weapons fire, but could either slow or block movement and was generated from the same map from which the first person exploration view was drawn. If tailed by a large group of enemies in the exploration view, the player could retreat to force the battle in a location that was appropriate for the tactics he or she intended to use; whether it be a narrow hallway or a large courtyard.
The other large addition was that of ship to ship combat. Not only could players explore the solar system at will, choosing which missions to undertake in their travels, battles in space define some of the more inspired moments of the game. Unlike SSI's later 1992 game, Spelljammer, which provided a more action packed (although tragically buggy and lackluster) form of ship to ship combat, Buck Roger's still comes out on top. Though the interface screen was static, the player was given the tactical options of closing or retreating from an enemy, ramming, firing heavy and light weaponry at the enemy ship or individual systems, loading depleted Kinetic Cannons or missile mounts, jury-rigging damaged components--and even the chance to board and attempt to explore and take over a damaged vessel by defeating the opposing bridge and engineering crews and shutting down their control systems. It even allowed players to attempt to bluff or intimidate their way out of a fight. While each game is a masterpiece in its own right, there are deficiencies. The AD&D style of statistics was implemented rather poorly; only three of the seven (they added "tech" to the traditional six: strength, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, and charisma) affect combat in any way whatsoever. The rest merely add a few points bonus to skills, a bonus so small to be negligible. The races are also unbalanced, as not all of the associated plusses and minuses to stats for each race actually balance out to zero, as they do for the most part in AD&D. One race, the genetically engineered Desert Runners have a net plus of 4 points to stats (+2 Str, +2 Dex, +1 Con, -1 Cha) which are clustered around the few that are actually employed in combat.
The mechanics of ship to ship combat are also murky, as it is never made clear whether a character's THACO (to hit armor class zero, a now archaic method of describing a character's combat skills) or piloting skill determines the chance to hit with a given weapon. It is also impossible to keep a larger ship after you commandeer it--you are forced to stick with your first for the long haul--there's no point in fighting a RAM heavy cruiser as the rewards (scant amounts of experience, scavenged low quality armor and a bunch of credits that can only be used to refuel and repair your own ship) are not commensurate with the risk. The ability to travel across the solar system is also a drawback in that the games are, at times, too nonlinear--allowing players to sometimes bite off far more than they can chew, sometimes even encouraging them to do so by steering them towards some of the most difficult missions from which to choose. Your first real mission is far more in depth than most players will initially suspect, making ammunition a scarce commodity unless the player knew to stockpile beforehand. Enemy encounters in Countdown to Doomsday were also too easily exploited by the grenade system as foes usually only possessed one form of ranged weapon and one type of grenade themselves, while the player's team had a wider variety and rarely had to resort to hand to hand combat. Matrix Cubed rectified that by giving most enemies a wider variety of gear, though it did bring with it the additional problems of overpowered monsters and AI opponents that were clearly cheating as they rarely missed player characters with armor classes in the negative double digits. Despite these issues, both Countdown to Doomsday and Matrix Cubed were phenomenal undertakings for the time in which they were produced. While they might lack some of the gloss and shine of the titles that came later in the twilight of the Gold Box era, they brought something fresh and amazing to a genre that collapsed under its own weight (only to be resuscitated by the Infinity Engine a decade later)--and perhaps someday, with any luck, the trilogy might be completed. Both games and their respective documentation are available as "abandonware" on sites such as www.theunderdogs.org. While a "CPU slowdown" utility will help you to better enjoy the games, they are turn based in combat and any puzzles in the exploration mode are timed by the number of steps you take, not clock speed, so both titles are playable "as is." A Sega Genesis version of Countdown to Doomsday is also availible. Hints and Tips Character Creation and Development: The only statistic that has any real bearing on the game is your dexterity in that it affects your armor class. Having a minimum of 18 is critical. While strength adds to your unarmed damage and "carry" weight, melee weapons are more effective and there are only so many "slots" in which to store equipment so only rarely is it possible for your characters to become encumbered. Endurance is helpful in that it adds to hit points if it is at a high level, but remember that only the warrior class get a large benefit from this as their bonus is doubled. Even if you do not take advantage of the ability to edit you character's stats at the beginning of the game, using the feature to raise the character's hit points to the maximum allowable roll is always fair game, as far as I am concerned. Desert Runner and Tinkers are the best racial types for your characters. Period. The constitution and strength bonuses of the Runners is an asset for any warrior or rocket jock and the dexterity of the Tinkers allow your medic and engineers to have an additional -1 to their armor class beyond what other races are capable of (for a total of -5). Any of the others are acceptable for your rogue character. It is not necessary to have a rocket jock. A warrior can specialize in the same skills, though it will take longer for him or her to increase the ship piloting skill to higher levels and you might miss out on some experience points from flying more exotic vehicles in Matrix Cubed. But on the other hand, the character will have a lower THACO, more hit points, and a weapon specialty. Have your main warrior specialize in the needle gun. Few enemies are immune to it, quality ones are plentiful, and ammo is cheap. While it might not seem like it does much damage, remember that each hit you do adds both your skill modifier (maximum +2) and weapon quality (maximum +4) to the damage--and as it is the weapon with the highest rate of fire in the game, six shots per round, that bonus of +6 is equal to +36 points of damage per round in addition to the base. If you kill your target, you will be able to redirect your remaining shots elsewhere, so have your warrior wait until the end of the round and finish off six opponents in one fell swoop that your team weakened. The heat gun is a solid choice for your secondary warrior, as a Lunarian one (+4 both to hit and damage) is available early in the game (by the well in the Desert Runner village on Mars). Skills to spend points on in the early game: All characters: First Aid: 25 points for each character at beginning of the game Single character:
After your first mission and you are allowed to travel anywhere, head to the Mars' space station and buy ECM packages (for 100 credits each) for all of your characters. They will then be immune to rocket pistols and rifles, meaning that many enemies will have to fall back on swords and other melee weapons and you can save your chaff grenades to block other grenades and heavy weapons. Before you take on any of the story missions, it is helpful to attack a medium pirate cruiser. Make sure that your main warrior has some piloting skill so he can take the helm. Concentrate your heavy weapons on their control systems, as it is the easiest system to reduce to zero. When it is destroyed, close your distance if necessary and board their craft. Your ECM will force them to go hand to hand, giving you a decisive advantage. Head for the engineering deck to shut it down and capture their ship. The heavy battle armor you obtain is necessary for your next battle; take as much as you can to sell back at base. Try to equip each of your characters with gas masks, goggles, rope, ECM, and poison antidotes to protect against grenades and traps that induce status effects. After repairing, restocking, and refueling: save. Fly around and
hunt for a medium Mercurian cruiser. It might take some time as they
are the hardest encounter to find. It is a far more dangerous opponent
than the pirate ship, but you are better stocked now and the rewards
are well worth it. Use the previous technique to board it (it might
take several reloads to succeed). When you board it, concentrate all
of your firepower on their leader who is wielding an area-effect plasma
launcher. Without the leader, they will fall far more easily. The
battle armor the leader wears as well as the plasma launcher will
serve you well for a long time and you can get another of each on
the engineering deck from the leader there. It will take three Mercurian
encounters to equip your entire party.
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