Ping: Spacesim and/or "Elite" fans..

[Eilim]

Was searching through the various Indie game portals a few weeks back looking for something new to play and ran across Evochron Alliance (http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/go.htm) . While not a big budget title, this game has been stealing the hours away from me lately. Can't remember all the restrictions of the free trial other than limiting how far you can go in the single player campaign. But I know I hadn't come close to exhausting the trial before I was hooked enough to pick up the full version. (along with the authors other title "Arvoch Conflict", another space sim but more focused on being militaristic rather than a merchant.)

Pretty much a modern take on the classic game "Elite", I'd definitely recommend it to any space sim fan. It's hitting the spot for me at the moment as good "middle-ground" between the fun space combat of Freespace and the space trading of X3: Reunion. Throw in the fact it has a pretty decent multi-player setup and plenty of fun to be had.

If there are any space sim fans interested, let me know and maybe we can set up a server so we can set up a little FOFC trading empire.. or perhaps a little pirate clan. ;)

[WSUCougar]

I'm maxed out with games already, but this does look cool. I might check it out down the road a bit. Thanks for the info.

[Eilim]

Not a problem, I'm a space sim fanatic and am always on the lookout for new ones to check out. Freespace 2 is starting to get a bit stale for me (even with the great updates and spinoffs by the community since it went open source.) but theres yet to be a game that has really grabbed me like it did. X2 and then X3 came close to being my "ultimate dream game" if only the combat was a bit more fluid.

Just seems companies aren't making the immersive space sims anymore so I now have to prowl the indie scene. So if anyone runs across any good ones, please let me know.

Heck, just making this post has given me the urge to play some X3:Reunion , guess its time for me to start over and try to create a new pirate empire. (Note to all sim fans who have avoided X3 due to starforce, the latest update removes all protection from the game.)

[WSUCougar]

I realize it's a different kind of game, but did you check out Space Rangers 2? It's a fantastic game.

[Yellow5]

Space Rangers 2 is awesome. I am in the middle of an X3 game right now but my heart isn't into it so I decided to check out Evochron Alliance and... purchased after playing an hour of the demo. ;)

I'm still getting used to everything and am not very good at it but enjoying it. I purchased a mining/tractor beam and now I am going to go make some money so I can upgrade my ship.

Glad you pointed this out Eilim, it's a good middle ground between an easy and hardcore sim.

[Yellow5]

Eilim you might like this:

http://www.venturethevoid.com

Very odd indie game, but a ton of fun once you get the hang of it.

[Eilim]

I'll definitely check it out. Hopefully it's not too addictive. My sleep is already suffering trying to fit my current active game list in.. X3, Jade Empire, Blockland, Armed Assault, BF2142, Titanquest. Add in my console, and handheld gaming.. well, lets just say my sleep and work have been suffering lately. ;)

[andy m]

here's another:

http://www.gamersgate.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=shop.flypage&product_id=150&option=com_virtuemart&vmcchk=1

[Yellow5]

Parkan 2 is great... if you can get it running. I am one of the few people that has a problem with this game crashing due to the sound bugs. I have RealTek on board sound and this game has serious issues with that.

Other than that, it is a terrific game.

[andy m]

Parkan 2 is great... if you can get it running. I am one of the few people that has a problem with this game crashing due to the sound bugs. I have RealTek on board sound and this game has serious issues with that.

Other than that, it is a terrific game.

same here! it worked fine until i upgraded my pc :(

[Warhammer]

New version of Evochron is out.

[Yellow5]

lol I was just coming here to post about that!

http://www.evochronrenegades.com/

Instant purchase for me. Love the new version so far.

Features:

True freeform gameplay without plot restrictions, conditions, or limitations. Experience ultimate gameplay freedom and play the game the way you want to.


Diverse gameplay choices and activities far beyond just combat and trading. Design and build a ship for speed, then compete in races for quick credits. Install a tractor beam that can be used to clean large solar arrays. Recover particles from stars and emissive nebulae, convert them into fuel, then sell the fuel for a large profit. Clear shipping paths of asteroids. Recover lost items and return them to nearby stations. There are many ways to make money and advance in the game.


A vast seamless universe that lets you fly anywhere without loading screens or sudden environment flipping. Fly from planet to planet, star to star, solar system to solar system seamlessly.


Interactive training mode to provide the necessary basics for flying your ship, managing its systems, and surviving in combat.


For the first time in the series, join other players in cooperative contract objectives with the new enhanced multiplayer mode and share in the rewards.


Unified gameplay architecture lets you keep the ship, upgrades, equipment, money, weapons, crew, and commodities you acquire in the game for use in both single player and multiplayer.


Clan ID linking system lets players establish their indicated threat levels with other players in multiplayer. Players sharing a common ID in their callsigns are linked together as friendly contacts while different ID's are indicated as hostile.


Challenge other players to multiplayer ship-vs-ship races and place the race course where you want in space.


Seamless planet descents that can include weather effects such as rain, snow, and turbulence. Explore planets for hidden benefits, trade at city stations, mine their surfaces for valuable materials, or hide in their atmospheres... they are an important part of the game's interactive universe.


New ship-to-ship trading and cargo system. Ship and trade weapons, upgrades, and equipment in addition to commodities. You can even load items from your cargo bay onto your ship, letting you carry more weapons, upgrades, and equipment beyond what you can install on your ship.


Customizable universe that lets you move objects in space, replace them, remove them, and change the local environment.


New high detail 3D cockpit with tiltable gauges and enhanced structures.


Enhanced 3D game engine with new effects, objects, textures, and performance.


Dynamic economy with realistic variable item availability.


Beam weapons, a new class of cannons, are available for the player's ship in addition to traditional particle cannons and secondary weapons.


Explore for hidden commodity and weapon storage containers which offer free reloading, upgrades, and other valuable items.


Use your wealth to design and build a new ship, buy better weapons, hire crew members, recruit other ships, install upgrades, load commodities, and more.


All new Shipyard lets you design and customize your ship for the role you want to play. Optimize your ship for defense, exploration, combat, racing, or transporting... the choice is yours. You can also position and scale each component to give your ship a unique appearance.


No required trade lanes or warp gates to hold you back. The game's universe is yours to explore with an open space navigation system and built-in jump drives. Optional warp gates are available for faster long distance travel and you can also install new gates in desired locations with the game's customizable universe.


Realistic zero gravity inertia based 'Newtonian' style flight model including complete 3-way rotation and 3-way direction control with optional variable input. An advanced inertial dampening system helps keep flight control simple in space, atmospheres, and gravity fields.


Realistic environment interaction far beyond the genre's typical 'background wallpaper'. Nebula clouds, asteroid fields, planet atmospheres, moons, and more all provide unique options for shelter and strategy. Such environment elements include changes in gravity, fuel consumption, physics, sensor range, and visibility.


Quick one-key access to jump drive navigation and inventory management. You control all system travel and inventory decisions right from the cockpit.


Explore the game's massive universe with several secret locations to discover, hundreds of planets, and many unique objects/obstacles to encounter including black holes, asteroid caves, wormholes, and stars. Create your own custom systems to further populate the Evochron universe.


Clue-based integrated story you can continue at virtually any time. Follow the beacons, solve the clues and voyage through many systems in a quest to discover the mystery of what happened to the Renegades. Players who take on the challenge of the story quest and succeed will discover a very beneficial feature.


Supports keyboard, mouse, gamepad, and joystick flight control. Use the controls you prefer to play the game. Force feedback control is also supported.


Supports Natural Point's TrackIR (http://www.naturalpoint.com/trackir/) 3D head control system for managing the viewpoint from the cockpit with all six degrees of movement.

[Warhammer]

This game is pretty sweet. Now I just need to convince the wife... Those races are hard...

[Warhammer]

Any one play this MP?

[Yellow5]

Tried today but couldn't connect to the server that was running. Probably an issue on my end as I am running with a big black cisco router that my employer game me... I assume I need to open ports but didn't have time to try that yet.

[Warhammer]

I just got through flying with Vice (the guy who made it) its fun to fly missions. The spy missions are a hoot. Or at least a hoot is the sound I make as I vaporize, but still...

[Yellow5]

Update to Renegades released.

Loving this one more than Evo Alliance. Shipyard is fun and it's easier to make money.

[Eilim]

Pulled myself away from CoH long enough to log some real flight time in the game.(Real meaning setting up my Saitek X-52 joystick. ;) ) I'm in love. Going to do some more research in some of the modding/universe creation capabilties and start tinkering. Also just grabbed the server software and am going to see if I can get it running reliably on my old system, if so I'll leave that up pretty much full time. Will post any universe mods here as they will most likely see test time on the server and I believe everyone needs matching files for MP and there are no auto-update capabilites that I know of.

So now I have to ask, anyone interested in creating their own universe/backstory/factions with me? This will most likely be completely away from the existing Evochron story/canon.

Also, anyone had a chance to use the in game voip? Wondering how it is or if I should set up some more channels on my teamspeak server.

[Warhammer]

Haven't tried it yet, been ultra busy this last week.

[Yellow5]

Big bump to say that Evochron Legends has been released!

Freeform Space Combat / Trader and Mercenary Simulator (PC Space-Sim) - Evochron Legends (http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/evochronlegends/index.htm)

Lots of improvements over Renegades, and looks like more focus on multiplayer this time around.

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[Crapshoot]

Does it pass the EV NOVA test? One of my all time favorite games. :D

[DanGarion]

There is always TradeWars...

TradeWars : Rising by Sylien Games (http://www.tradewarsrising.com/)

[Yellow5]

What's the EV Nova test?

I own EV Nova and it is one of my faves. I end up playing through it once a year.

The Evochron series is just as addictive for me. I suggest downloading the demo and giving it a shot to see if it's something you would enjoy.

Thanks for the Tradewars link DanGarion, I had forgotten about that game!

[DanGarion]

What's the EV Nova test?

I own EV Nova and it is one of my faves. I end up playing through it once a year.

The Evochron series is just as addictive for me. I suggest downloading the demo and giving it a shot to see if it's something you would enjoy.

Thanks for the Tradewars link DanGarion, I had forgotten about that game!
Welcome, they just launched the new game recently, I haven't had a chance to check it out yet, I used to love the old BBS text based version.

[RendeR]

Downloaded the demo and frankly this looks amazing, but gads it seems overly complex. Am I jut getting old or does everything have to be 50000K times more complicated than they seem?

[Eilim]

Damn, was just thinking of picking this up.. but had held off as I already have too many games to play and to0 little time. This post put me over the edge though. Damn you guys! *shakes fist* If zombies take over the world (Just recently broke down and picked up Left4Dead for the 360) , It's all your fault.

[RendeR]

I acutally uninstalled my copy. I played with it for about 20 minutes the other night but when I went to try again it simply wouldn't load up. I might try it again another time.

[Yellow5]

Running into the same problem Render. Installed, played and then the demo would not load. I have not contacted the author yet about it, but am going to see if he can resolve that. I wont be buying until that is fixed.

Edit: and here is info about the error and the fix. That was fast.

http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=4034

[Eilim]

Yeah, Shawn is top notch when it comes to customer support. Just to show you how much... Due to me being very absent minded,doing a hard drive reformat, and not paying close attention to versions I ended up purchasing two copies of Evochron Renegades. Figured I'd just pass the key on to a friend but never got around to sending an email to ask if it was alright though.

Cut to present day, Since I had to send an email anyways to get my discount on picking up Legends for already owning Renegades, I asked if it would be alright for me to pass on my extra Renegades key. Not only did Shawn say yes, he sent me another Legends Key to go along with it.

So, if there is anyone out there yet to enjoy the beauty of the Evechron universe, send me a pm and I'll fire off keys for both renegades and legends to you. This will be a first come, first serve thing. I'll probably get back to you sometime after 11pm tonight (eastern) as I'm about to head out the door for work.

[Shepp]

Are these games a continuing story, where I would be best served by playing them in order, or can I just get legends and not miss anything?

[RendeR]

From what I saw Legends is a stnad alone game. Looked great, very complicated learning curve (if yer an old fart like me) but it looked gorgeous.

[Yellow5]

Stand alone but part of a story. You can pick up Legends and not miss a thing.

Playing a bit during my lunch break today and found an easy way to make money early in the game.

Head down to plant, and keep mining laser on while in the planet atmosphere. Mines Oxygen which you can land and sell. Flew around the planet a bit doing this and ended up with enough money to add more cargo space. Cha-ching!

Fly around the planet base doing this is fast and easy. Much easier than mining ore in space.

I now have enough cash to upgrade my ship for "real" missions.

Having played all of the games in this series, this is by far the best of the bunch. Vice (the author) is releasing bug fixes and adding new things almost daily.

[Eilim]

heh, the mining oxygen trick is one I picked up on pretty quick myself. Still trying to decide what route I'm going to take for now... Become a legitimate miner, a pirate, a mercenary, pilot of a passenger liner. I love the fact there are so many different paths you can take your career and make your fortune.

[Eilim]

Test build posted of the upcoming update with some sweet new features added into the game (ship templates saved, and personal hangers! Woohoo!) also the customization/mod kit. Link (http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=4356)