Homeplanet

In the third century of the space era, humanity has found a way to explore deep space and colonize outer worlds. The game makes you a member of one of the military clans living somewhere far away from the Earth. Your clan, Troydens, is currently under siege from other more powerful and more populated ones. And just as you finish your pilot education, the war breaks out and casts you as a defender of your people.

Homeplanet is story-driven space combat simulator. That means that the game structure is linear and mission-based unlike games like the X series or Elite. The plot is revealed through the radio communications and also during the briefings.

One major difference is a use of Newtonian physics, which means that inertia applies in space and affects your maneuvers. But unlike a car driving game, here it applies to all three axes, so all three of them may have separate speed vectors. That is for example useful to get the enemy pilot off your tail, as by rolling you continue keep moving and can face the enemy at the same time. The flying mode may also be set to a more traditional way during the game.

There are different space ships, nineteen in total, five of which can be piloted, with fighters, bombers and interceptors. There are several types of weapons including energy based ones, bombs and rockets both homing, dumb and TV guided ones. And as you advance in ranks, you can have a limited control over friendly ships. The game is strictly single-player, with a network multiplayer component eventually scrapped during development.