Based on the Freespace 2-Graphic’s Engine, the team of „The Babylon Project“ created an extraordinary Total Conversion which is a shining beacon in the web to all Babylon 5 fans waiting for the long desired official game. Even for gamers who are less interested in the B5-Universe the game holds a lot, not least the free download which you might even skip if you were lucky enough to spot the Project on the Cover-CD of a gamer’s Magazine.
Most interesting is the single-player version which is represented by several campaigns which have to be downloaded and installed additionally to the base files. This article will introduce the large scale campaigns, primarily the “official” ones which are most likely to become the most common ones and in which most problems might occur.
Before proceeding to the walkthroughs you should read these few general pieces of advice which could prove useful in all campaigns..!
General:
The most important functions to map to the keys of your choice are – in my opinion – „Auto Target“ (for activating the automatic targeting which targets the next enemy when you or your AI-companions have destroyed one), „Next closest hostile ship“ (closest enemy to your ship will be targeted), „Next Ship“ (targets the next ship), „Target next subsystem“ (allows you to browse though your target’s subsystems like engines, communication etc. and marks them for better aiming), „Next active turret“ (same as „Target next subsystem“ but now you browse through the turrets of your target – cruisers, freighters, stations, defensive satellites and some rare fighters do have turrets) as well as „Communications menu“ (here you give orders to your AI-wingmen), „Afterburner“ (gives your ship additional speed for limited time) and „Activate Jumpdrives“ (this is the most common methode to end a mission – in some chases the end of a mission is determent and you won’t need this).
Sometimes the keys for „up/left/right/down thrust“ are quite useful for „strafing“ like it’s called in some other games (first person shooter). Joystick users („Is it possible to play this without a joystick?“ – „Yes, if you want to hurt yourself…“) might use their coolie-hat for this in order to make your controls more flexible.