I need to see spacefleets going bang zap!

I’m doing a game called ‘gratuitous space battles’ and I need inspiration. I’m a big star wars and star trek fan, but what I need is as many clips of big over-the-top space zapping and blasting as my brain can handle.
If anyone has links to really high-res images from space battles, or decent quality video clips, post away. It could be games, 3D renders, TV shows, Movies, anything.
I want enough inspirational footage that I see particle beams and exploding space battleships when I close my eyes.

Any general commentary on what is awesome / sucks when it comes to such space battles is also cool.
Posted here because its a visual thing probably closely related to space movies :D

go to eveonline.com and check out their videos. One was just released that a fan made with CCP’s help. It is really well done. But, there are several others that should help you.

Day of Darkness II is what you want.

Ooh!! I will totally post an in-depth analysis of what makes space battles cool/uncool here when I get the time (at work now). Space battles were my absolute favorite part of star wars/star trek… The last bit of episode IV (the assault on the death star) is good. The last part of VI, where they assault the second deathstar/admiral ackbar and the fleet attack is probably the best space battle on film. Another good battle was the first 10 minutes or so of episode 3.

I will have more later. (I would love to see more space battles in games!!)

The Zoic Studios Firefly/Serenity and Battlestar Galatica stuff is great.

This calls for Star Wreck: In the Pirkinning. Which you can download for free, in a completely legal non-piratey way. Seriously.

If a more gratuitous example of space battles exists anywhere, I’m not aware of it.

I love seeing the differences in scale in space battles - squadrons of little fighters zipping around as these huge cap ships fire massively destructive beams and cannons and missiles, and support frigates or corvettes mixing it up and occasionally getting just split open by a cap ship weapon or fighter/bomber squadron.

Basically, stuff that happened in Freespace 2.

Here you go:

A montage of the DS9 Dominion War. Low res, but it should give you a good idea about the massive space battles. Big action starts about 2:30. I’m sure there is better quality on the web. For some reason this still remains some of my favorite space battles (sans early Star Wars as a kid)

Final Battle of the Vorlons vs. Shadows vs. Alliance from Babylon 5.

The beginning of Star Trek First Contact has a good one.

Also, after watching those, I really want to boot up Star Trek Armada again. I lurves that game.

I think you can find every space battle ever portrayed on screen linked via the above youtube clips.

Stargate and Stargate Atlantis have some good scenes.

Andromeda has its moments too

Although there’s not so much visual stuff available, space battles in Warhammer 40k are pretty cool. There’s an element of the era of sail, with lots of broadsides and boarding actions. Execution Hour has a number of large battles which were well done.

This. Capital ships should have either freakish anticap weapons, or should just cut loose with massive swarms of missles/guns. The first season of BSG has a lot of good stuff when the cylons are chasing the fleet.

Freespace captured it pretty well too, you want little bits of drama on the fighters and big sweeping “fuck yeahs!” from the capital ships.

Also, personal thing, but I want to see the cap ships damaged by the smaller ships, or know why not. Shields, sheer size makes it insignificant, or whatever but when some fighter unloads against a cap, I want to see that the lasers just don’t fizzle because it isn’t in the plot.

Also, hellish antifighter weapons on the capital ships at close range.

H.

Edit: Holy Shit, that stargate video is exactly what I was picturing.

The Freespace 2 intro it isn’t quite as chaotic as I remember, but it does show formations of fighters sweeping past big capital ships. Probably the more memorable bits are from the gameplay itself, zipping around in a fighter trying not to get caught between the capital ships as they traded shots. Anyhow, here’s the intro: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khIWdolT9xY

Ah yes, the Battle of Endor, which also does a good job of mixing fighters with capital ships (it’s a trap): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGMvadAFqLQ

  • Alan

A good example, but Star Wars and Star Trek both have the same problem, lack of variety of weapons. It’s all “OMG Laserguns PEW PEW!” Trek has torpedos occasionally, but I want missiles, dammit. Big swarms of missiles that make everyone panic and tax the defensive guns on the capital ships.

Freespace has one thing that everyone needs, big capital weapons hitting a ship, then coming out the other side. Make it dig.

Also, I would like to see articulated engines, it just makes sense in zero g.

H.

Also, the Alliance vs Reaver battle from Serenity. It really captures the chaos of an up-close multi-cap-ship slugfest.

You might find some examples of this on youtube if anyone has posted some Sins of a Solar Empire:Entrenchment videos. The TEC torpedo cruisers used to take down Star Bases are very cool to watch, I’m usually too busy with fleet management to really pay attention or view in cinematic mode, but tracking the torpedos as they close in on their target is visually satisfying. Sins may not have the level of “realism” you are looking for, though.

Man this thread makes me miss the golden age of space sims.

This.

also the battle over Coruscant at the beginning of Revenge of the Sith is good, as is the “enhanced” Endor battle in of Return of the Jedi.

I think you might also surprise yourself with some great things if you try to generate the battle scene procedurally, which is how the big battle scenes for the LOTR trilogy were made.

I remember that the opening episode of ST: DS9 has a flashback to the Federation attack on the Borg Cube at Wolf 359 that showed the Cube just ripping through the Federation fleet like tissue paper.

The game “Freelancer” had some pretty fantastic battles.

Homeworld.