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Carrier Command

Description official description

Carrier Command was one of the first real-time strategy games.

You control an advanced cybernetic aircraft carrier complete with fighters, amphibious assault vehicles, laser defenses, and a fleet of decoy drones. Your mission is to build a series of resource, factory, and defensive bases spanning an island chain. The only problem? At the other end of the chain is an even more advanced carrier under the control of a terrorist organization with the same mission.

As you move around the islands you must decide what facilities to build and where they will best support your advance. Resource islands provide materials that factory islands can use to build weapons and vehicles to replace your combat losses but both will be quickly overrun if the enemy attacks them while you are not present. You also have to ensure that your stockpiles of equipment are stored safely until you can find time to launch a resupply drone to bring them to your carrier.

From your carrier, you can take first-person control of your attack aircraft and amphibious tanks and use them to assault enemy islands or even the enemy carrier itself if you're lucky enough to find it. The weapon payloads on your vehicles are completely configurable based on your needs. An island invasion may require launching a virus bomb that will take over the enemy command systems or just blasting the base with a wire-guided surface to surface missile.

Ultimately, you have to find and destroy the enemy carrier but, doing so will require a solid supply infrastructure and a strategy for depriving your opponent of his.

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Amiga version)

9 People

Programming by
Graphics by
Music by
Conceived by
Original Design by
Coding by
Sound Effects by
Soundtrack Composed and Performed by
Title Screen, Icons by
Box Artwork

Reviews

Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Amiga and Atari ST versions of Carrier Command appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Atari ST version

On the Atari ST disc was a backup-program. You had to wait for the desktop to come on-screen before inserting the disc. The manual specifically commends to make a backup and play from that disc instead of from the original.

Also, the titlemusic would only load if you had a double-sided discdrive in your ST.

Music

The PC, Amiga and ZX Spectrum releases of Carrier Command came with a special bonus, a cassette tape with an extended stereo version of the theme song. It was called Just Another Mission and it was by Dave Lowe, sung by an anonymous female session singer.

The Atari ST and Amiga versions of the game included a short sampled rendition of Lowe's music as the theme tune. The 128K ZX Spectrums had AY chip music, but due to a bug it was not allowed to play all the way through, and so without downloading it the player cannot hear the full piece.

Awards

  • Amiga Power
    • May 1991 (Issue #00) - #15 in the "All Time Top 100 Amiga Games"
  • ST Format
    • August 1991 (Issue #8) – #8 Top Atari ST Classic Games (Editorial staff vote)

Information also contributed by Ashley Pomery, El Freako and Mo

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Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 6943

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by ClydeFrog.

Macintosh added by Rola. Amiga, ZX Spectrum added by Kabushi. Atari ST, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC added by Martin Smith. Windows added by BOIADEIRO ERRANTE.

Additional contributors: Martin Smith, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST, FatherJack.

Last modified March 9th, 2023.