I-war 1 v.s EoC +any such mods???

I've not played either game for a while, but I am a massive fan of the series. However, I think the original was far superior to EoC, I always felt like the latter had 'sold out' in going for its more arcadey feel, and in making the ships more high-powered and the gameplay more action-oriented. Also, in EOC you were as per usual storytelling cliche the underdog rebel: I always thought fighting for the good ol' commonwealth navy was an especially refreshing turn in the first one. Finally, am I the only one who thought the ending was a bit rushed in EoC? The story had just about set the scene for a massive confrontation between the government and the corporations (or the outer rim and the corporations, I can't quite remember which) and then these aliens just appeared very deus ex out of nowhere, and the game ended. It seemed liked the developers had run out of money or were rushed to meet some deadline. Big shame.

ANYWAY before I digress any further, I suppose my question is: have there been or are there any plans for a total conversion mod porting the 1st i-war game into i-war2, ie, recreating iwar 1 using the EoC engine? That would combine the amazing graphics of the second one with the fantastic story, simulation and gameplay of the first.

Feel free to air any feelings on my thoughts about the relative merits of the two games!

No plans whatsoever Shellshock and not likely to be in the future. The first version was - imo - the better simply because it didn't lead you by the hand like EoC does.

I agree wholeheartedly. The first Independence War, and expansion Defiance were by far the best space sim games I've ever seen, for a host of reasons, some of which you've already listed (and I love quite a few of these games, like Freespace, WC series, X-wing series, etc.). I-War was truly the high water mark in the genre.

Yes, the premise and writing in EOC were more "cliche" and less immersing imo, but it was still a darned good game. Yes the ending was lame, and would've been better if the aliens were just left out of it, but hey, they made a showing in the first game, so they had to at least kind of bring it up.

Anyway, nice to meet another fan of the series. I liked it so much I wrote a few stories set there....it was loads of fun to do, and served to extend my "enjoyment time" in that universe.