Universal Combat CE

THE MOST ADVANCED SPACE COMBAT CAPITAL SHIP SIMULATOR. EVER. SERIOUSLY.

Universal Combat which was first released in 2004, was the spiritual successor to the infamous Battlecruiser series of games which made its debut in 1996. Then heralded as the most advanced capital ship space combat game, Battlecruiser 3000AD, the first title in the series, set the resulting standard for high-end capital ship combat games. You not only had control over a massive armed carrier in a vast universe with space and planetary bodies, you also had complete control over the carrier's systems (weapons, navigation etc), support crafts (fighters, shuttles, vehicles) as well as an entire crew that moved around the ship doing various things (e.g. engaging in combat with intruders).
When Universal Combat arrived, aside from new graphics technologies, it brought along with it a host of new features which were not present in the previous Battlecruiser titles. Such features included advanced fps controls which allowed you to not only deploy your carrier crew to planets, control them in combat etc, but it also allowed you to fight alongside them
In 2007, Universal Combat Collectors Edition was released as the final title in the Battlecruiser and Universal Combat IPs.
In 2009, following the 2008 release of Galactic Command Echo Squad SE (we also refreshed this game in 2014 and released as a Steam exclusive) which had improved space and planetary engines, we again refreshed the UCCE game and released it as Universal Combat Collector's Edition v2.0.
This ultimate space capital ship combat compendium spans over two decades and represents the evolution of hard core space combat sims. It contains all Commander scenarios from every game in the Battlecruiser and Universal Combat series:

• Universal Combat Special Edition (3000AD, Oct 2006)
  
• Universal Combat A World Apart (3000AD, Oct 2005)
  
• Universal Combat Gold (3000AD, Oct 2005)
  
• Universal Combat (Dreamcatcher Interactive, Feb 2004)
  
• Battlecruiser Millennium Gold (Dreamcatcher Interactive, March 2003)
  
• Battlecruiser Millennium (EB Games Exclusive, Nov 2001)
  
• Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0 (Interplay, Dec 1998)
  
• Battlecruiser 3000AD (Take2, Sept. 1996)

PRIMARY GAMEPLAY FEATURES

Here is a sampling of the game features, out of hundreds of things that you can do in the game; most of which you can must make up as you go along. And this list doesn't contain any mention of the advanced game engine technologies, especially one of the most advanced AI systems you've ever encountered in a game.

• Command 28 capital ships including carriers, cruisers, transports.
  
• Command 46 support crafts including fighters, shuttles and planetary vehicles.
  
• Use fleet command & control to create a massive fleet consisting of your ships and other AI controlled ones.
  
• Direct control of various ship systems including shields, reactor, engine, cloaking, tractor beam, transporters and various advanced weapon systems.
  
• Command a crew of over 100 personnel including key personnel such a Flight Officer, Navigation Officer etc.
  
• Track your ship's AI crew as they go about their on-board duties which include engaging hostile intruders, repairing ship systems, prepping support craft etc.
  
• Lead your marines into battle on planets using various weapons of mass destruction.
  
• Deploy probes to keep track of friendly regions as well as spy on hostile ones.
  
• Deploy mining drones on planets to mine for precious minerals which you can then sell for profit.
  
• Dock at various space stations and planetary bases to trade, repair, rearm - and of course engage the hostile ones along the way.
  
• Capture space stations for your alliance and use them as operational bases, including the ability to use their own fleet of support craft (cruisers, carriers, fighters etc)
  
• Play the freeform scenario and roam a large galaxy as a Terran Military Commander for Galactic Command (GALCOM) or as any of the many alien nations and castes (e.g. you can be an explorer or a diplomat) supported by the game.
  
• Load an away team of (e.g. marines, engineers etc) in a shuttle, deploy them on various planetside missions; complete with advanced orders.
  
• No shuttles? Don't want to risk being shot down? Use the transporter room to deploy your combat away team directly into hostile planets.

Combined, the game manual and tutorial are over 200 pages. The keyboard commands map almost every single key on your keyboard. Yeah. Better go check your ink cartridges. Oh and paper, you will need lots of paper.
There is also a web based online appendix which details everything you need to know about the world of these games. That appendix is rather old now, but we're looking to do an updated version on the new upcoming website for the Universal Combat Advanced game. The appendix on the new site will be similar to the one we currently have on the Line Of Defense website.

EXCLUSIVE TO THIS STEAM RELEASE

This Steam release contains Instant Action and Advanced Campaign Mode scenarios featuring the primary Commander career. It also has the freeform roam scenarios in which you can go anywhere in the game galaxy and do anything (within the limits of the game) without any orders. You simply make your own adventure.
Though we removed all the secondary scenarios (such as those that feature infantry and fighter combat missions) in order to focus on the primary concept of the original Battlecruiser game which was purely about capital ship combat, this Steam version also contains never before released variants of the Instant Action and Advanced Campaign Mode scenarios scripted to use different capital ships. For example, the original A World Apart campaign scenario played as a Commander, featured a Battlecruiser MK3 carrier in part 1 and a Nightstar carrier in part 2. Both of these are included, in addition to variants using the newer Engstrom class carrier; the same ship featured in the Line Of Defense MMO game currently out on Steam Early Access.
You can view the changelog for the Steam version.
The exclusion of the infantry and fighter based scenarios doesn't mean that you cannot play in those roles. You can still play in an infantry role and also fly fighters; but you will do so as the Commander and not as the limited marine or pilot careers.
So this just means that there are no scenarios designed exclusively for those marine and pilot careers present in the previous games.
The reason for this is that, aside from this being a FREE game, we wanted to draw your attention to the capital ship Commander career which is the focus of the upcoming Universal Combat Advanced game and which won't feature those careers either.
If you do want those careers, you still have the option of purchasing the 2009 release of the original Universal Combat CE game. That game is not available on Steam and won't be, but you can check our website for links to where you can buy it if you want.

THERE IS NO MULTIPLAYER

There is no multiplayer in this version of the game.