Still a lagtastic engine despite any upgrades, walking up stairs is even a challenge, half the time you will have exausted your sprint bar by the time you reach the top.

that's as much the fault of whoever made the stairs as it is the engine.

So devs, don't support EAs ripp off and port FirstStrike to BF2. Even when this means you have additional work to make the speederbikes and walkers functional, work nobody pays for it.
You will get many more players (more players = also more cheaters, glitchers, lone wolfs), and all of them agree what a Mod with "only new maps" isn't worth 50 €uros.

I think they used 2142 because of the animations for things like ATST aren't supported in BF2. Personally, I only bought 2142 to play FS, tried vanilla and didnt think much. Did annoy a few people by knifing them though.

Unlocks, in my eyes, deter gameplay as it makes it harder for squad leaders to coordinate his squad, as there's no way to know who has who without asking them, which slows down communication.

Press T and look to the upper left Corner of your Screen:

Personally I think BF2142 is a much better game as BF2.
Where is no prone spamming, instead the enemy croutch behind cover in a firefight like i except it from the firefights i know from movies.
The Fieldupgrades rewards Teamwork quickly and allow you to test the Gadgets bevor unlocking them.
The Custom Items for each class allow you to pimp your kits to your style of play.
And best: The Menu for the Squadleader / Commander is much better, allowing you to command with the 3D Map.

But is it better as First Strike ?
Honestly - I don't want to make a  comprasion.

FirstStrike is made by Volunteers with a daytime job, who doing the whole mod for fun.
The Playerbase is smaller, wich means it is more a community thing.

With a small community you don't have the problems of big games.
Just think someday FirstStrike has as much players as BF 2141 - and FirstStrike will suffer from the same problems like Cheaters and non Team-Players...

Just some thoughts why not to comprare:
FirstStrike is a fan project, each dev has a daytime job to pay his rent and bills
BF 2142 was made by pros who must code to pay their rents and bills - either by coding games or applications like M$-Word...

BF 2142 was designed to have symetrical side so no player can bitch about "one side is overpowered"
FirstStrike was designed with non symetrical sides because the StarWars Lore

No one funds the FirstStrike Team to make Profit
Many people have buyed a share of EA to live some day from the profit.
If your bank tell's you "The money you gave us is gone because EA has a lot of flops recently, have a nice day" would you be happy if you need this money to buy a new car, a house or to pay your bills ?

Personally i'm a little bit pissed off from the whole BF 2142 thing and the players reaction to it.
Many din't give the game a chance, instead they bitching around about "how EA is ripping us off" because they published "a unneeded sequiel to BF2 with an old Engine to make money" and "BF 2142 is only a mod with new maps"

IMHO it's a very childish reaction:
There are many new games using "old Engines2 like the Doom III Engine, the Half Life 2 Engine or the Unreal 3 Engine, games what cost the same as BF 2142 and sell very well for this price...
The engine is only a part of the game, making new maps is also a lot of work.

Heck, i haved drinked away a lot more than 50€uros in one night without having as much fun as playing BF 2, BF 2142 (and First Strike) for 2 Years.

IMHO this childish reaction also hurts First Strike.
If a dev tells you "The Booster Pack is a proof how EA is ripping the customer off, because they sell a game whats worth 50 €uros for 60 €uros and 3 Maps aren't worth 10 €uros"...
...why you should give EA this 50 €uros to buy BF 2142 so you can play FirstStrike ?
...and that would a mapper thinks who spends weeks to make a new map without even get 10 €uros ?

Many people i try to convince to play FirstStrike with me tells me "I din't buy BF 2142 because it's a rip off, but I would like to play a BF2 StarWars Mod."

So devs, don't support EAs ripp off and port FirstStrike to BF2. Even when this means you have additional work to make the speederbikes and walkers functional, work nobody pays for it.
You will get many more players (more players = also more cheaters, glitchers, lone wolfs), and all of them agree what a Mod with "only new maps" isn't worth 50 €uros.

But my point of view:
I like FirstStrike.
I would even pay for it, if it would be a official Star Wars Game from LucasArts, even when this game is "only a mod with new maps" based on "an old engine" like BF 2142, Unreal 3 or HalfLife 2

Peace, and may the force be with you.

The larger the map, the better.  (Of course, I would love for there to be indoor maps, in which case size does not really matter.)

Each of these vehicles are distinctly different from each other; they carry different weapons, are more/less manueverable, are stronger/weaker, etc.
The gunships and Transports have different types of gun turrets, one has a mini gun essencialy and the other a slower but heavyer hitting gun.

You also forgot the Titan (4 lower turrets and 2 upper turrets), AA ground Turrets and anti-land ground turrets, which still technicaly count as vehicles.   FS only has the E-Web.

The Carrack (the small imp cap ship, forget which one it is), and the Corvette are identical both in terms of armorment and I think even turret location.   The Nebulon-B and the large Imp cap ship are Slightly different in location of weapons.

Another thing you failed to mention is how many of these vehicles are avaliable in each map.   On Land maps FS only has 5 vehicles, 2142 has 8-13 (depending on if its a titan map or not or if land only, not counting expansion vehicles).    In space maps in FS you get 12 different vehicles (since smaller caps are identical and you forgot to mention the healing ships), and ZERO customization.   You play as one of those 10 ships and thats all you do.  There is no changing load outs, nothing other then a Pistol that you cant even use for anything.

So untill you bring some of those Space Vehicles down to the land maps, include more turret options and provide customization (preferable land fighting) in space maps 2142 DOES have the advantage.

And how many vehicles are in space maps of 2142?  Oh wait, there's no space in 2142?!  The fact is, who cares if you have more vehicles?  I myself think that the best 2142 has to offer is cerbere landing and camp gibraltar.  And those maps have less vehicles than FS.  The gameplay and teamwork is superior to 2142.  Believe me I have been playing vanilla 2142 for a long time and FS is far better.