Star Wraith II is the second game in the Starwraith 3D Games series. It expanded on Star Wraith in several ways including better graphics, a training course for beginners, and more combat modes.

Star Wraith II has been discontinued. It was released as freeware

Freeware

Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...

 to the public as a publicity stunt for its successor, Star Wraith III

Star Wraith: Shadows of Orion

Star Wraith: Shadows of Orion is the third game in the Star Wraith series. It is the successor of Star Wraith II. It is now freeware....

. It is now almost impossible to find the game since the release of Star Wraith III, Star Wraith IV

Star Wraith IV: Reviction

Star Wraith IV: Reviction is the last game bearing the Star Wraith title in the Star Wraith 3D Games series. It was released together with Riftspace, a freeform mercenary game. While having many resemblances to Star Wraith: Shadows of Orion, Star Wraith IV had a linear campaign and far more...

 and RiftSpace

RiftSpace

RiftSpace is a space exploration and combat game for PC first released in 2004 by StarWraith 3D Games LLC. RiftSpace was released almost simultaneously with Star Wraith IV: Reviction. Whereas the Star Wraith series prior to the release of Riftspace in 2004 had been purely military, RiftSpace is a...

as freeware has made Star Wraith II completely obsolete.

Major changes from Star Wraith to Star Wraith II

There were several notable changes from Star Wraith to Star Wraith II.

Changes to graphics

Animated explosions were more detailed in Star Wraith II than in Star Wraith. "Movement Particles" were also added which give the player a general idea of how fast they are moving if they are moving at all. Textures were improved. It also became possible it import a ship model to replace the Star Wraith (although it would behave in the same way). The Heads Up Display was also edited and started to look more like the HUD used in the more recent Star Wraith titles. The cockpit returned in Star Wraith II, which had been absent in Star Wolf (an earlier game made by SW3DG) and Star Wraith. Federation capital ships also had their designs reworked.

Changes to Weapons

There were not many weapon changes. One of the most notable changes is the primary weapon, which was changed from a single barrel shot to a twin shot, which remained in all Star Wraith titles. Also, the energy weapons' names were changed. The missiles now had names of their own as well as unique graphics and more statistics. The MDTS was also modified; in Star Wraith it would aim at the ship directly. In Star Wraith II, it bases where it should aim on what direction the ship is going and how fast it is going, increasing weapon accuracy.

Changes to the campaign

While Star Wraith sported a random campaign, Star Wraith II had a linear campaign with 20 missions. Missions are not set with an absolute number of enemy ships; it is possible for the number of ships to change, so there is still some randomness in the campaign. In Star Wraith II, since the missions are not generated at random based on how many wingmen the player has, it is no longer practical in Star Wraith II to not have a full wing of ships. The campaign in Star Wraith II also sports a training mission in which the player is explained the basics of flying the F-144C (Star Wraith) and then tries to eliminate some cargo containers within a time limit.

Changes to mission types

Star Wraith II introduced the planetary surface environment for the first time. The Bomb mission, in which the player would strike an enemy carrier with nuclear missiles (destroying the carrier) was removed (the concept of destroying capital ships was re-introduced in Star Wraith IV and RiftSpace). Also, Joint Strike missions were changed slightly, changing the total wingman count from 6 to 8 during a Joint Strike mission.

Game Modes

Star Wraith II removed the "Gauntlet" mode which was in Star Wraith. "Random Mission" was added as an Instant Action option, which generates random missions using the same engine Star Wraith used. One of the most notable modes in Star Wraith II is the mercenary mode. It was simple, but it was the first step towards the mercenary-based games made by SW3DG. It also introduced the Raven, Quasar, and Shadow, which became usable ships in the Star Wraith III campaign.

Story

Star Wraith II used the same factions for the story as in Star Wraith. The only notable difference is that the United Federation Allegiance is referred to more often as the Federation than the UFA. The ships used by both factions are the same. The player leads the Special Ops wing of the Lexington and fights the Federation in the Alpha Centauri system. Eventually, the Federation is defeated.