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Austin Meyer |
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Laminar Research |
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Ever wonder what it would be like to pilot a combat robot for real? Enter Young's Modulus. Made by Austin Meyer, the creator of X-Plane, Young's Modulus is a crossbreed between a simulator and a strategic FPS that puts you in command of a group of All Terrain Attack Walkers (or ATAWs for short) against invading aliens. What sets it apart from the likes of MechWarrior is the realistic physics model the game uses to calculate things like collisions, inertia, and gravity. The name of the game itself is a technical term used to measure the strength of a material. "The higher the Modulus, the stronger the material", it says on the main menu.
The game is divided in two parts. The first one is turn-based and takes place on the strategic window, which shows a map of the galaxy. In there you can manage resources, develop technology, colonize planets and launch attacks. The other part is played in real time and takes place in the battlefield window, which puts you in the cockpit of an ATAW. But if you don't want to deal with the strategic part, you can play a quick game, which takes you directly to the ATAW configuration screen and then to the battlefield. You can also play quick games against other players over the Internet. Unfortunately there is no network option for strategic games. And while there is no map editor, the documentation tells you how to create your own planets with a text editor and a graphics program.
After selling it as shareware for over ten years, Austin Meyer posted a serial number on the game's website (see below) thus turning it into freeware:
NOTE: YOU CAN JUST HAVE THIS FOR FREE... DOWNLOAD IT AND ENTER ANY 6-DIGIT CODE TO UNLOCK IT.
— Excerpt, Wayback Machine: http://www.youngsmodulus.com/
This is version 6.45. You can also download this file from: http://dev.x-plane.com/update/YMACFULL645.sit (the original 6.45 DL's for Mac & Windows are available also from the Wayback linked page, quoted above)
CompatibilityMinimum system requirements:
Comments
Could never figure out how to play this (the strategy part), anyone have a manual?
I just played this. It's what I'm talking about.
(1997 must be v1.0, because this download is OS 9+X)
Pretty cool game. I like pimping the Titanic and raising havoc.
this kind of reminds me of Star Trek Conquest, very good game this is.
Direct link for full Mac version 6.45 from developer:
http://dev.x-plane.com/update/YMACFULL645.zip
You can read a review of version 6.16 at:
http://www.insidemacgames.com/reviews/view.php?ID=216
And you can download the Windows version at:
http://dev.x-plane.com/update/YWINFULL645.exe
The system requirements are:
It uses the same serial number as the Mac version (see above).