Starship Troopers: Terran Command

[FarAway Sooner]

The book was a great read and I thought really broken open the genre of hardcore military sci-fi.  Earlier authors had had envisioned futuristic combat (thinking of folks like E.E. Doc Smith or Jack Campbell here), but none had taken a nuanced look at the culture of a military unit in the future, or the kind of society that might be needed to produce it.

Those themes have been thoroughly explored in the decades since (by the time VerHoeven made his movie, the genre had been grinding away for thirty years), but his weaving them together in a single book like that was both provocative and ground-breaking.

The second time I read the book, I was 25 and I came away feeling like his social commentary was naive and simplistic.  It was obvious he'd not spent much time studying Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, Locke, the Founding Fathers, or anybody else who had thought deeply about the relationships between government and society.  He was mostly substituting a handful of traditional conservative pablums for the complex lessons and prescriptions of the U.S. Constitutions.

The movie by VerHoeven was heavy-handed, and seemed like it couldn't make its mind up between being a profound critique of society or an action-adventure shoot-'em-up.  It used a lot of the same window dressing as the book, but took a profoundly different view of society. 

In that sense, I wonder if VerHoeven realized that he was following exactly in Heinlein's literary footsteps (i.e., using the military as a vehicle to explore a society)?

[Bardolph]

I loved the book when I read it in 7th or 8th grade. I was well on my way into Avalon Hill games and historical miniatures and we had just discovered D&D (75 or 76?) and I was devouring our junior high library, reading all the history stuff when Mrs. Olsen, the librarian pointed me towards Heinlein, Asimov and the rest. I read it about a decade ago and it didn't have the same impact, but I'm not a 14 year old boy anymore lol.
We played a fair amount of the Avalon Hill game back in the day. Didn't have much interest in the recent miniatures game based on the movie. Would love to see a computer game version that was based on the book.

[Michael Dorosh]

In that sense, I wonder if VerHoeven realized that he was following exactly in Heinlein's literary footsteps (i.e., using the military as a vehicle to explore a society)?

Either way, I doubt he would have cared much.

[solops]

I read "Starship Troopers" probably twice, the most recently in 1975 or so.  I would classify it as juvenile science fiction.  However, I liked it then, and still would recommend it as light reading. It did win the Hugo award soon after publication, so it isn't a bad book.  I don't recall it being fascistic.  Heinlein was clearly arguing that the voting franchise be earned by a period of service to society.  He was also arguing against some of the lack of discipline he was seeing in US society in the 1950's.  If I recall, the society he invented did not require military service: any service would do, and that anyone who wanted to serve could, and thereby gain the franchise.  Nor did he argue that people who didn't serve had fewer rights (except the right to vote and hold public office).  Because of this, I don't think of the society he created was fascistic.  Certainly, his other books show no sympathy to fascism, and his experience in the US military as a naval officer in the 1930's, while likely giving him a favorable opinion of military service, would have been unlikely to have given him a favorable opinion of fascism.

Edit: Apparenlty, Heinlein considered himself a libertarian. 
Interesting Factoid: Heinlein apparently was one of the sources of inspiration behind the USN's Combat Information Center (CIC) concept.
His ideas were used by his USNA classmate. RADM Cal Laning (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_information_center)

+1. I saw nothing fascist in the movie or the book. It showed free society that had had the restriction of prior public service (military or non-military) to become enfranchised to vote and the military was subject to civilian authorities. The movie might have come across as authoritarian to some because of its focus on the war, but that was not the picture Heinlein intended.

[CJReich46]

Thanks for that Bardolph. :)

[Grim.Reaper]

Was supposed to be released at end of March but devs recently announced a delay...no specific date but said would be months

[Sigwolf]

Was supposed to be released at end of March but devs recently announced a delay...no specific date but said would be months

Really enjoyed the demo.  It definitely could have used some more time in the oven, so hopefully the time is being used to clean some things up.  It would be great if the anemic audio was addressed, as well, but I'm still looking forward to it.

[Pete Dero]

Today we are making an important announcement related to the release date: Starship Troopers - Terran Command won't be releasing on March 31st as previously announced.
The new and definitive launch date will be June 16, 2022.

We know many will find this announcement disappointing and we apologize. We truly feel that a few extra months of further polish and bug fixing will make a significant difference.
We intend to deliver a finished and polished game, and it is very important for us that you are able to fully enjoy the game from day 1, without any issue spoiling your fun or without having to wait for future patches or hotfixes.
The game is now content complete and all remaining development time will be entirely focused on refining what already exists. We can't wait to reveal more, and we plan to show you a lot in the months leading up to the launch in June.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1202130?emclan=103582791465811643&emgid=3123815529819118582

[al_infierno]

Rimmy seems to like this one pretty well:

[Jarhead0331]

I'm playing it now. Impressions to follow shortly.

[Pete Dero]

https://www.twitch.tv/slitherinetv

Starship Troopers: Terran Command launch event is now live.

[Jarhead0331]

In case anyone missed it...

http://grogheads.com/review/first-impressions/21200

[Pete Dero]

Released.

24,99 € on Steam, 30,99 € on Matrix.^

19,99 € on GMG : https://www.greenmangaming.com/games/starship-troopers-terran-command-pc/

[ArizonaTank]

I always took the movie as purposely over-the-top, tongue planted firmly in cheek.  And from that perspective I liked it...even though it deviated from the book.

As far as the game...  well... I am not generally a fan of strategy games that run on a rail. I like open worlds, with random maps. But there have been exceptions. SSI's Panzer General being a good example of one I liked...

So going to cautiously sit on sidelines with this one...and see how folks feel about it after all the release adrenaline runs off.   

[devoncop]

Very limited replayability with this one it seems as no skirmish mode or random maps and limited enemy types.

Not for me purely for those reasons, but RTS without an ability to issue orders whilst paused or slow down the action to a reasonable speed (for me !)  is the clincher....