Space Combat

Space Combat is a game produced by Laminar Research to provide a simulation of space combat with accurate physics, unlike most other games of the same genre. Although originally a shareware game, the latest version of Space Combat – 1.40 – is now freeware.

In the game, the laws of physics are modeled fully, so ships do not behave like aircraft: they behave like spaceships in a frictionless vacuum. This means that any velocity picked up will be maintained unless an opposite force is applied by the engines.

The game is a free-form simulation, with no plot or mission system. The spaceships have things such as biodomes and customizable engines. The ships have weapons (lasers and torpedoes), as the name suggests.

Space Combat was largely developed using the Apple Macintosh computer with Mac OS X, but is cross-compiled to the Windows operating system as well. It should also run on Mac OS 9, although it is not recommended. Also, to further development of Laminar Research's main product, X-Plane, a Linux version has been released. The 3D graphics are fully based on the cross-platform OpenGL libraries.