During that period he was known as "Brownhair", by reference to "Bluehair", the Wing Commander I and II protagonist later known as Christopher Blair. Burrows realizes he must defeat the Retro leader Jones and destroy all copies of the powerful weapon.īurrows' name was unknown to the general public for many years.
The informant adds that Governor Menesch, who sells weapons and ships to the Retros and pirates, was probably behind the theft of Burrows’ weapon.Ī Retro defector tells Burrows the location of the Retros’ headquarters and warns they have made copies of the Steltek gun. He travels to Oxford, where he meets someone who helps him in return for flying missions against the Retros, a homicidal band of religious extremists led by a man named Mordecai Jones. In the Righteous Fire expansion, the Steltek weapon is stolen from his ship while Burrows is docked. It then remains for Burrows to destroy the dangerous drone. The scout energizes the ancient weapon in exchange for the location of the ship where Burrows found it. Burrows is asked by the Confederation to lure the drone into an ambush, so it can be destroyed.īurrows then encounters a Steltek scout, looking for the last traces of their technology in order to remove them. When he leaves, a mysterious drone follows him, destroying everything it encounters. Burrows agrees to explore the area in the map.īurrows locates a powerful weapon on an ancient ship and mounts it on his own. The artifact is half of a map Monkhouse has the rest. Monkhouse tells Burrows the artifact was made by an ancient technologically advanced race, the Steltek. Burrows seeks information about the artifact, eventually meeting Dr. On his return, Burrows finds the man is dead. When Burrows lands on the planet New Detroit, a man hires him and gives him a mysterious artifact. The game begins with a mysterious drone attacking shipping in the system. Privateer features a pseudo- 3D world in plain raster graphics at 320x200 with 256 colors (VGA). The player can choose to pursue other goals between plot missions or even while on a mission. The plot itself can only be played straight, one mission after another in a preset line. The missions usually consist of plain combat, escorting other ships while combating enemies or commodity delivery including smuggling while combating or escaping enemies. Successful completion of missions results in monetary award, which allows better ship weapons and equipment to be purchased.ĭuring the plot, the player meets fixers, often representing one of the above factions, who assign the player missions in their interest in exchange for money or helpful information. Alternatively, the player may choose from randomly generated non-plot missions from a mission computer. If playing as a merchant, the player must make a profit from price differences of commodities on different planets or stations.
The player may conduct business as a merchant or fight in combat for non-plot missions provided by the above factions. How the members of the factions react is not only pre-set but depends also on the player's actions. Some of them attack the player on sight, while others are allies of the player. The Gemini sector is frequented by seven factions: merchants, bounty hunters, retros, pirates, militia, the Terran Confederation and the Kilrathi.
Menus are used for buying, selling, or taking missions from the mission computer. On planets and bases, a static overview/first-person-view is used to show the rooms and interact with people. Space combat simulation is similar to the style of other Wing Commander games of its time. When flying, the main view is a first-person look from inside the cockpit at the cockpit screens (HUDs) and the space before the ship.
The game was re-released in 2011 with Windows support on GOG.com, with MacOS support added in 2012.Ĭenturion cockpit view during combat with Talon fighter. A sequel was released in 1996, titled Privateer 2: The Darkening. Privateer had two add-ons titled Speech Pack (1993) and Righteous Fire (1994).
The player may follow the built-in plot but is free to adventure on his own, even after the plot has been completed. Unlike Wing Commander, the player is no longer a navy pilot, but a freelancer who can choose to be a pirate, a merchant, a mercenary or any of the above in some combination. The player takes the role of Grayson Burrows, a " privateer" who travels through the Gemini Sector, one of many sectors in the Wing Commander universe. Privateer and its storyline is part of the Wing Commander series.
Wing Commander: Privateer is an adventure space trading and combat simulator computer game released by Origin Systems in September 1993. 1993 video game Wing Commander: Privateer