Galactic Federation

Galactic Federation is a remaster of a 2004 space combat game. You pilot a fighter through dogfight missions, using six degrees of freedom and high-thrust Newtonian physics adapted for combat. The current version includes 15 missions, each lasting about 10 minutes, with more than 100 fighters in each, and lets you choose from 10 fighter craft models.

Damage and ship systems

Ships are damaged by where you hit them rather than by depleting a pool of hit points. Blaster fire burns holes through hulls, which can tear off ship sections or engulf subsystems in melted material. Destroying a cockpit leaves a ship dead in the water; destroying its shield can make it flee; destroying its power generator leaves it to spend its remaining energy before rotating helplessly; and damaging its engine reduces its maneuverability. The same damage can happen to your ship, so you need to protect your shield.

Flight and combat

You manage power by setting energy recharge priorities or redistributing energy among blasters, shields and engines. Missiles lock onto targets before firing, but can miss if the difference between their inertial vector and the target is too great. You can strafe or enable free vector mode, which lets your ship continue moving sideways or backward. Aiming skill is important, and the game has no aiming assist.

Current content

The current version offers 15 dogfight-only missions and 10 fighter craft models to pilot. The game engine was made from scratch by one person for the original game and this remaster; its destruction physics have been overhauled.