OFFICIAL STRATEGY GUIDE

Content Links: 1 - Introduction 2 - General Information 2.1 - Ship Frames, Items, and Weapons 2.2 - Evochron Sector Maps 2.3 - Ship Systems 2.4 - Flight and Navigation 2.5 - Beacon Quest Walkthrough 3 - Advanced Combat Tactics 3.1 - Offensive Tactics 3.2 - Defensive Tactics 4 - Business Strategies and Tips 4.1 - Contract Values 4.2 - Economy Types and Values 4.3 - Trade Market Level Map 5 - Secrets and Hidden Benefits 5.1 - Beacon Locations 5.2 - Hidden Planet Locations

SPOILER ALERT: Many of the tactics and secrets in this strategy guide will detract from the challenge of the game and give away a lot of hidden benefits. If you don't want to spoil the challenge of the game, you may not want to read this guide, or at least avoid reading section 5.



1. Introduction
Welcome to the official Evochron Renegades strategy guide. This document will give you the information it takes to master the game and locate hidden benefits. This guide is offered for those players looking for inside tips and tricks to help master the game and become more successful pilots, using the diverse gameplay and control options to their advantage. While the information contained in this document may give you an advantage, the single best way to improve your chances and abilities is to practice.

This guide may also be updated from time to time with new tips and to keep current with any revisions the game might receive.


2. General Information
Evochron is an amazing place. It is the largest system in charted space with a diverse collection of systems and people. It is the site of the last Alliance-Federation War and has been home to everyone from adventurous colonists to retired fighter pilots. Once controlled and protected by the Alliance, Evochron is now a largely independent region of space with ambitious treasure hunters travelling between its systems in search of opportunities to obtain their fortunes. The abundance of its resources provides an almost endless supply of materials for trade and commerce. Many rookie pilots travel to Evochron is search of wealth, quickly travelling beyond the safety of the central Sapphire system, only to find they lack the skills necessary to survive in what can be an extremely hostile place. This strategy guide will provide many of the tactics and tips master pilots use to survive and advance in Evochron.



SHIP FRAMES
COMMODITIES
EQUIPMENT/UPGRADES
PARTICLE CANNONS
BEAM CANNONS
MISSILES/SECONDARY DEVICES


Ship Frames

The Talon is a scout class frame that provides a basic platform for new mercenaries. It is inexpensive to build and operate. While the weapon options and defensive capabilities are limited, the Talon frame is the fastest platform and most maneuverable. While its design possibilities are limited, it can be optimized effectively for particular advantages.

The Pulsar frame expands on the original and provides more assembly resources with a minimal reduction in performance and maneuverability. It also includes substantially more armor and is a more flexible platform from a design options standpoint.

The Saber is a fighter class frame, although it is also used as a scout by many mercenaries. Its reinforced armor and efficient power system provide a high level of protection for such a small frame. Like the Raven, the Saber frame is considered to be the best choice for light and medium combat duties by most mercenaries and is very affordable.

The Raven frame expands on the Saber design. With a larger size, it offers more assembly resources and armor at a similar level of performance. Named after the Alliance combat spacecraft that fought in the first Alliance-Federation war, the new Raven provides a solid platform for mercenaries looking for a capable combat frame with amazing performance and maneuverability.

The Striker frame is a unique compact design that uses blended metallic composites for very effective armor protection and advanced technology to keep its overall size small compared to other frames. Its rounded shape and powerful energy system allow it to have a high level of assembly resources and support for energy hungry shield systems. An excellent multi-role frame.

The Phoenix class frame is a revised version of the Striker, offering a much larger structure with more assembly resources and armor. These improvements are available with a minimal reduction in agility. Most mercenaries who prefer the advantages of the Striker frame choose the Phoenix as the best version.

Designed to survive intense large scale battles and protect valuable cargo from even the most powerful adversaries, the Hunter class frame boasts triple layer metallic composite armor and plenty of assembly resources for high end components. It's main drawback is limited agility and speed, but it is ideal for mercenaries who require high end offensive and defensive capabilities.

The Renegade class frame was built as a combat oriented upgrade to the Hunter frame. It sacrifices some agility for a larger size with 25 more assembly resource points and another layer of armor. It also features a compression capacitor in its engine management module, which helps to minimize the loss of speed, resulting in a reduction of only 50 MPS base speed compared to the Hunter frame.

Considered the battleship among mercenaries, the Centurion frame commands attention and respect. Only wealthy mercenaries can afford to buy and operate this ship, but the reward is a commanding lead over other frames in most combat situations. It can be designed to also be an effective transport, offering a level of cargo safety far above what other ships are capable of.

Several private mercenary groups pooled their resources together to develop the Leviathan class frame as an answer to the Centurion which had dominated much of Evochron for a long time. The Leviathan offers an unequalled level of assembly resources and armor. It usually takes a skilled group of pilots to defeat one of these ships.

Commodities

Food can be scarce in Evochron. While it is usually very low in value, some systems do pay substantially more.

Medical supplies are an essential part of survival in Evochron. High radiation exposure and virtually non-existent preventative health care result in a higher than normal demand for medical supplies, which can include medicine, equipment, and information.

Hydrogen fuel cells are a common medium level energy source that some systems use for general purpose electrical power needs. Their moderate value makes them a popular shipping choice.

Electronics are in demand, but are also high in supply. They generally aren't a valuable commodity, but shipping supplies of electronics can be an easy way to make money for new mercenaries.

Solar cells are a low end energy source. Don't expect much for these primitive devices, but in the right system, that can be worth the cargo space.

Metal alloys are a low value commodity the provides the raw material needed for manufacturing. Delivering this item doesn't usually provide much profit unless there is a temporary demand for it.

Diamonds are a high value commodity used in a variety of applications ranging from cutting tools to optical equipment. They are almost always in demand and are a primary incentive for mining.

Anti-matter cells are a high end energy source that are extremely expensive to produce and provide a very long lifespan. As a result, a premium is paid for these devices to anyone who can deliver them.

Fusion cells are also a high end energy source, but are much easier to produce. They feature a very long lifespan and usually provide a high price for shipping.

Machinery parts generally consist of cast or forged components in fairly high demand (brackets, sprockets, springs, etc). They usually provide a fairly high profit, much higher than raw metal alloys alone.

Textiles are generally the cheapest items to transport and are generally best left out of a cargo bay unless you've got the extra space.

Platinum is generally the most valuable commodity in Evochron. It is used for electronics, primarily in the computer and weapon systems of spacecraft, due to its longevity and conductive properties. Many mercenaries will jettison their existing cargo to recover platinum.

Equipment/Upgrades

A fuel converter is a remarkable piece of equipment that can transform high energy photon particles into fuel. It connects to the tractor beam system and fuel tank to directly deposit the converted fuel into the tank.

A class 1 Fulcrum jump drive is the entry level model. It is capable of jumps up to about one sector box away.

The class 2 Fulcrum jump drive is capable of jumps up to about two sector boxes away.

The class 3 Fulcrum jump drive is capable of jumps up to about three sector boxes away.

The class 4 Fulcrum jump drive is capable of jumps up to about four sector boxes away.

The class 5 Fulcrum jump drive is capable of jumps up to about five sector boxes away.

Rumors suggest there is an experimental model of jump drive that uses a completely different technology for distances of well over five sector boxes.

A class 1 cargo scanner is capable of detecting the identity of cargo (either in open space or in a ship's cargo bay) at a range of about 500.

A class 2 cargo scanner is capable of detecting the identity of cargo (either in open space or in a ship's cargo bay) at a range of about 1000.

A class 3 cargo scanner is capable of detecting the identity of cargo (either in open space or in a ship's cargo bay) at a range of about 1500.

A class 4 cargo scanner is capable of detecting the identity of cargo (either in open space or in a ship's cargo bay) at a range of about 2000.

A class 5 cargo scanner is capable of detecting the identity of cargo (either in open space or in a ship's cargo bay) at a range of about 2500.

The cannon relay system doubles the energy capacity of your primary weapon system and adds two additional gun barrels to an installed particle cannon. It works by storing extra power in a network of capacitors, supplying sufficient energy for two firing cycles of the primary weapons.

The mining and tractor beam is one of the most important devices in the game. It lets you mine for valuable material, recover cargo from destroyed ships, retrieve photon particles from stars and nebulae, and recover items from cargo containers.

Shield boosters are the power storage part of the shield system. They are a series of capacitors that store energy for each shield array. A single cell provides basic storage capacity for the shield system.

Two shield booster cells provide roughly double the storage capacity. However, impact damage won't be half as much due to the varying energy delivery rates of different shield cores (the component that has the greatest effect on shield performance).

Three shield booster cells provide roughly triple the storage capacity.

Four shield booster cells provide roughly four times the storage capacity.

Five shield booster cells provide roughly five times the storage capacity.

Repair devices automatically repair subsystem and hull damage in-flight. Installing one of these means you don't have to dock and pay for repairs. Subsystem damage can be repaired fairly quickly, but hull damage takes a long time to repair. A class 1 device provides basic repair capabilities.

A class 2 device can repair damage roughly twice as fast.

A class 3 device can repair damage roughly three times as fast.

Particle Cannons

Cannon Name

Yield

Cycle Rate

FlareBeam

10

120

IceSpear

25

120

FireFury

35

120

StarGuard

45

120

Stalker

70

100

Eclipse

80

100

StarForge

100

100

Maxim-R

120

100

SunRail

130

90

Razor

140

90

Predator

150

90

Trebuchet

180

90

Atlas

200

90

Phantom

220

90

Banshee

250

90

Beam Cannons

Beam Name

Yield

Refractor Laser

10

Metal Vapor Laser

25

Coil Laser

40

Neodymium Laser

55

Fusion Laser

75

Missiles / Secondary Devices

Missile Name

Yield

Speed

Estimated Range

Echelon

1000

1400

3800

Viper

1200

1200

3500

Rockeye

1400

1000

3400

Starfire

1800

900

3000

Exodus

2500

700

2400

Leech EMP

200

1000

3500

Excalibur

800 (X8)

1800

4000

Fulcrum Torpedo

110,000 (at center)

250

2000 (auto detonate)

Stealth/Cloaking Device

Time per device: 60 seconds

Evochron Charted Systems Detail Map


System Descriptions Sapphire
This is the main trading center in Evochron and is firmly in Alliance control. It has jump gates to all 4 sections of the Evochron system. Sapphire is considered the launching point for new mercenaries due to its strong Alliance presence resulting in a well protected system with a positive reputation level. Very few major conflicts ever occur in this system, mostly minor fighting between individual mercenary ships. Because of a saturated market, commodity values and contract pay is generally very low, but the safety of the system makes it a good starting point for new mercenaries. This is the last solar system to remain under Alliance control since the war.

Lambda
Lambda is a lightly populated system, but was once the home of the Federation Military Command Center. Most of the system's population departed in the late 24th century due to increasing living costs, high Federation taxes and the resulting decrease of opportunities for freelance mercenaries. By the turn of the century, most Federation companies departed the system and Lambda now primarily consists of just a few scattered independent colonies. While not a particularly hostile system, the quest for survival does lead to several small scale conflicts. A good buy can sometimes be found here, but Lambda is not considered a good place to make a profit.

Emerald
Emerald is arguably one of the most beautiful systems in Evochron. A bright green planet orbits a warm yellow star with a soft blue-green nebula backdrop. It's a peaceful setting for a system with a moderate level of conflict. Emerald has a relatively strong economy with good opportunities for independent ship owners, but reports continue to come in about attacks from rogue groups ambushing traders in the area. Emerald is also subject to high Federation taxes for local residents, which frequently drives away trade to nearby systems and has created a somewhat low end market for such a distant system. Emerald was one of the staging areas for the Alliance during the last war and played a critical role in providing the Alliance with the resources it needed to hold back advancing Federation forces from reaching systems closer to Sol. As a result, some older military weaponry and technology sometimes makes its way into the market here. Rumors continue to spread about this system being one of the last reported locations of Renegade activity.

Rigel
The Rigel system is the primary trading center between Sirius and Emerald. While not technically in the Evochron system (being just outside the lower Federation border), it remains free of Federation regulation, so many mercenaries from Emerald enjoy travelling to Rigel for tax free trade with local companies and other mercenaries from Sirius. Rigel is fiercely independent and does not identify itself as an Alliance territory or a Federation territory, so stations and planets here often charges docking fees and other fines to any outside mercenary regardless of where they came from. Most mercenaries agree that the minor cost in fees is easily offset by the higher market values found here.

Sirius
Sirius is a distant system with a good economy similar to Rigel's. A few key difference between Sirius and Rigel are the low cost of operations (typically no docking fees) and high paying contracts with relatively easy objectives. The gate system between Sirius and Sol was destroyed in the last war and has not yet been rebuilt, cutting off the main supply line to this system. So supplies are somewhat scarce resulting in fairly high prices paid for needed commodities and equipment. The planet Sirius B is generally considered a very good trade location for selling.

Orion
Orion was one of the earliest Federation controlled systems, dating back as far as the early 23rd century. It has several well established colonies and companies that support is local economy. Orion is largely self-sufficient with most local mercenaries working for one of the companies, so there isn't much demand for outside assistance in trade. On the positive side, this means low prices for available items and ship construction is similarly affordable. This makes Orion a good location for buying and it's a fairly safe system for new mercenaries who may not be ready for more hostile systems with more advanced technology.

Thuban
Thuban is the home of the Federation and although the war has ended, tensions remain high between the Alliance controlled system of Sapphire and Thuban. Local mercenaries here are known to attack ships from the Alliance without provocation. As a result, Alliance command continues to warn against travelling to the system. The system is usually in conflict with various companies and military factions battling for control of the system's abundant resources. For well equipped mercenaries interested in combat roles, this system offers some of the most attack, patrol, and spy contracts.

Pices
Pices is a neutral system that is often used as a trade center between Thuban and Pearl. Mercenaries looking for a central meeting point without the risks of attack common to both Thuban and Pearl often use Pices as the location to meet in. The economy is low here, but there are no docking fees for most mercenaries and expenses are equally low, including some of the lowest prices for for fuel in the lower region of Evochron.

Pearl
Pearl is a large system consisting of several planets and is the site of the Arvoch Conflict that took place a few years ago. Abundant resources and numerous opportunities make Pearl a system with some of the wealthiest and best equipped mercenaries in all of Evochron. Even though resources are readily available, shipping them in this system is extremely risky, so premium prices are paid for even the most basic supplies and equipment. Survival here depends on skill, wealth, and a powerful ship. Rumors suggest there is a remote research facility in this system on a distant world providing advanced and experimental technology.

Rucker
Rucker is named for the admiral of the Alliance fleet in the first Alliance-Federation war. It is a large system filled with asteroids, making jump drive navigation dangerous. While not a common stop for mercenaries due to the difficult navigation conditions, it does offer a moderate economy with no docking fees and low prices. It is considered a potential gold mine for mercenaries interested in mining due to its vast asteroid fields and its close proximity to the high paying system of Pearl.

Virgo
Virgo is a lightly populated system of mostly colonists. While the system is technically in Federation controlled space, it was given independence in 2374 and has been almost entirely self-sufficient since that time. Its inhabitants pride themselves in their abilities to live off their own resources and typically discourage outside trade. As a result, they offer very little for most items and commodities. How this system has remained to survive for so long without outside assistance and do so well has been a long term mystery. Rumors suggest they control a hidden world somewhere nearby that supplies resources they would otherwise not have access to.

Aquila
Aquila consists of one planet in orbit around a blue-white star. While it may seem like an empty system, it does provide a high paying trade location with several stations. It is the central trade location between Alpha Centauri, Deneb, and Rucker.

Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri has the distinction of being the first system to be colonized outside of Sol. The open trade between this system and Aquila results in it having a virtually identical economy, although the planet AC528 is known for paying slightly more for most items. There are also no docking fees for most mercenaries in this system, giving it a cost advantage over both Aquila and Deneb.

Deneb
Deneb is a remote system with only one gate exchange with Alpha Centauri. Resources are scarce, so premium prices are paid for commodities, but the system has very advanced technology. Deneb has admitted to having an advanced weapon research facility, but refuses to reveal the location. They've likely constructed it well outside the range of most navigation sensors and long range scanners.

Sol
Sol is the home system of the Alliance. It does not have any current jump gates to or from its location, so it generally sees very few visitors from Evochron.

Fauston
Fauston borders on being a hostile system, but most ships generally leave each other alone. It's low economy makes it an unpopular trade stop for selling, but a common one for buying and refueling. Many new mercenaries visit this system first once they leave Sapphire and try some of their first combat contracts here. The level of technology is very similar to Sapphire, so most ships have limited capabilities and don't pose much of a threat to rookie mercenaries with entry level ships.

Cygnus
Cygnus is the primary refueling location for traders travelling between Fauston and Aries. It's low prices for fuel and equipment make it one of the most popular stops for travelling mercenaries in the entire upper region of Evochron. Docking fees generally apply here, except for Federation citizens and their allies.

Aries
Aries is a hostile system where battles often rage for the few scarce resources available. Not much trading takes place here due to the system only having one planet with two stations, instead many mercenaries have resorted to fighting each other for the cargo they are carrying. Aries is considered to be one of the most dangerous systems in Evochron and generally best avoided. Why the system is home to so many mercenaries remains a mystery, it's quite possible there are resources available here that aren't in the charted part of the system.

Sierra
Sierra is another hostile system, although it is outside the Evochron system and Federation controlled territory. Very little organized trading takes place here, although some traders travel from Talison for the higher selling values. It is one of the most recent systems to be colonized and as a result, doesn't have an established government or economy. The two planets in this system are also down for their bad weather and Sierra A in particular has extremely windy conditions making atmosphere descents much more challenging.

Talison
Talison has a moderate economy and technology level without docking fees for most mercenaries. This is an active trading location with ships coming from Fauston and Cerulean on a regular basis. Although the government of Talison considers itself independent, they were part of the Federation until just recently. Now without Federation supply deliveries, Talison offers good prices for most items and equipment. This is a popular location for mercenaries heading to Cerulean and Onyx for high value sales.

Cerulean
Cerulean is known for its beautiful blue starscapes and planets. Trade between the two planets in this system is popular for quick credits with a short trip. Cerulean is currently under Alliance control and does not generally charge docking fees for mercenaries. Strong markets with high demand for commodities along with a relatively high technology level provide several unique qualities in this region of Evochron. Scattered encoded communications have suggested there may be a hidden planet somewhere in this system with advanced technology far beyond what is offered in the charted part of the system.

Onyx
As its name implies, Onyx is a dark system with a blank backdrop and cold rocky planets. A few wealthy mercenaries flying Centurions and Leviathans are said to visit this system from time to time, further supporting the rumors of a hidden planet with advanced technology in Cerulean.

Olympus Prime
Olympus Prime is often considered an extension of Sapphire. It is a large system that is used for repairing, reloading, and refueling by many mercenaries who are travel to the upper Evochron systems. While not a particularly wealthy or advanced system, it is a good second system for new mercenaries looking for a mostly safe system with low level threats and plenty of job opportunities.

Vonari
The Vonari system is home to the aggressive race that is responsible for several wars and continues to attack randomly. Mercenaries are advised to avoid this system entirely as the technology level of the Vonari is very advanced. The hidden Alliance outpost is still being operated, although a cloaking field protects it from detection. It has been a stop for a few brave mercenaries who have traveled to this system in their efforts to explore the area and test Vonari capabilities.

RiftSpace
RiftSpace is the home of the Renegades and includes several manmade wormholes to various systems in Evochron.



Reputations The map above shows the default overall reputation levels in the game when you start out. The overall reputation levels are good, fair, moderate, and hostile. Green on the map above is friendly, yellow is fair or moderate, and red is hostile. A good reputation level generally means you won't encounter hostile ships, unless you attack friendly ships. A fair reputation level generally means you will likely encounter hostile ships on some occasions. A moderate reputation level generally means you'll encounter many hostile ships and have to pay docking fees to be given permission to conduct business at stations and planets. A hostile reputation generally means you'll encounter mostly hostile ships and have to pay docking fees. Fair and moderate systems typically offer the widest variety of contracts.

In addition to the overall reputation level, you also have individual reputation levels with specific factions in each system that are divided into 5 categories, energy companies, militaries, rebels, guilds, and miners. Each of those reputations effects the contracts offered to you, your overall system reputation level, individual ship reputations, and economic/market conditions. You can change your reputation by selecting and completing contracts for particular groups and/or attacking ships that are hostile to them. Contracts are faction specific, meaning objectives will be offered based on your reputation and will involve objectives related to the interests of the faction offering it. Essentially, this will mean completing contracts for energy companies and militaries can lower your reputation with rebels (aka pirates) and guilds (aka clans) while completing contracts for rebels and guilds can lower your reputation with energy companies and militaries. Your overall system reputation will likely increase by staying on the legal side and completing contracts with company/military factions who are generally part of the system's economy and government. Completing contracts with rebels and guilds who often work against the other groups will likely decrease your reputation. There are advantages and disadvantages to aligning with one group or the other. Your reputation with each faction in a system will be displayed in the news console along with the other stats. A series of bar graphs is presented, including color coding, to help make the various levels easier to read. Individual ship affiliations are displayed on the target detail MFD next to the ID indicator. The game will report to you when there is a change in your overall reputation in a system, which is a good time to save your progress as it can take a lot of effort to make major changes to your overall reputation.

Long term loyalty to a faction can provide overall reputation benefits, while short term contract completing can result in losing progress you've made in building your reputation. If you leave before you achieve an overall reputation shift, then you've pretty much abandoned the reputation you were working toward and your reputation can fall a bit. Not always, but it can return to more average values because the faction's interest in you will quickly diminish if you stop working for them and they'll be on to hiring the next, possibly more loyal, long-term mercenary to work for them. If you want to use contracts as a way to shift your reputation, be consistent, work for them long enough to make it worth their time and investment to know they can count on you, otherwise, you'll just appear like a system hopper who only works a few jobs, then moves on, which won't help your reputation much. Loyalty and consistency is rewarded with the game's reputation system.

Ship Systems




Shield Systems - Arrays, Cores and Boosters The shield system on all ships in the game depends on two components, a shield core and boosters. The core is the central control and energy emitter management system. Its performance is determined by the core class you select when designing your ship. Larger frames with more assembly resources can generally handle more powerful cores with fewer compromises in overall design. Larger frames also generally provide better armor for hull impacts. Boosters are the capacitors of the shield system, they store the energy for each array and deliver it to the shield core. More boosters means more energy storage capacity, resulting in more resistance against weapon impacts and more power to manage between all 4 arrays.

The shield system consists of 4 directional arrays, and each one protects a 90 degree range of the ship. Each array's status is indicated on the status display (lower left cockpit display) with a green bar (circled in yellow in the image above). As your ship takes damage, the array that is hit will have its corresponding bar decrease in size and its color will change from yellow to red. Any array that is at a red level is critical and doesn't have enough energy to protect your ship from direct impacts against the hull. Weapon impacts directly on your ship's hull can cause subsystem damage and require hull repairs to restore any damaged armor. Use the shield energy augment keys to take power away from arrays that have more power to give to an array that is low (default numpad direction keys). You can also equalize power between all shield arrays by pressing the default numpad 5 key (you may need to press this key multiple times to fully equalize shield power between all arrays). You can further accelerate the recharge time of all arrays by boosting power to the shield core using the energy bias keys (default '[' and ']').


Flight and Navigation The instructions included with the game provide basic information on controlling your ship and managing the navigation systems. This section will expand on the concepts presented in the instructions and provide information on how your ship's control systems work.

In space, there is no atmosphere to provide lift, friction, and drag. An object can simply drift indefinitely once speed is imparted to it. If a ship is travelling forward and turns right 90 degrees, it will still drift in the original direction is was headed due to inertia. If it's original forward velocity was 1000 MPS, it will be drifting to the left at about 1000 MPS when it turns right 90 degrees and its forward velocity will drop to 0. Here is an image to illustrate this concept:



The effects of managing a ship in space can be quite challenging, so the ships in Evochron have computer flight assistance to accommodate this zero atmosphere environment and provide a manageable control system for the pilot. Your ship is controlled by 2 main engine outlets and 8 maneuvering thrusters mounted on the hull. All of them are managed by your onboard computer when the IDS (Inertial Dampening System) is active. The computer will automatically activate each thruster as needed and modulate the control to keep the ship moving in the direction it is facing. Sharper turns at higher speeds will require longer adjustments before the ship's course is adjusted for the new heading. The engine outlets provide main thrust for moving forward and in reverse while the maneuvering thrusters provide rotational and strafe control. The engines offer two modes of power, cruise (also referred to as 'military burn') and afterburner. At cruise, the engines will provide a similar level of thrust as the maneuvering thrusters and offer the most fuel efficient maneuvering mode. At afterburner, the engines will burn a lot of fuel in exchange for rapid acceleration and deceleration. The performance of the maneuvering thrusters is determined by the wing and thruster set you select (see the bar graph above for specific performance information). Here are some images to illustrate a few of the ways the thruster system maneuvers the ship:

The first image shows forward movement, both engine outlets simply provide forward thrust. The second image shows a right turn, the forward left thruster and the rear right thruster both engage. This effectively rotates the ship on its central axis to perform a turn to the right. If the ship is moving forward while this happens, the engines will also engage to help recover lost speed as well as additional left thrust to offset the built up inertia which causes the ship to want to drift left during a right turn. The higher the speed and the sharper the turn, the more time and thrust power will be needed to adjust the ship's course. The third image shows strafing to the right. Both left thrusters engage to push the ship to the right. The fourth image shows a right roll. Four of the thrusters engage and rotate to roll the ship to the right. When turning or rotating, your ship will build up inertia and the thrusters won't have to continually fire in order to maintain the movement. However, when you center a control to stop the movement, counter-thrusting is required to stop the ship from rotating/turning. This is why you will see the movement gradually stop rather than suddenly jerking to a stop, the movement needs to be counter-acted because of the built up inertia. The IDS will take care of this for you, if it is turned on. By default, the IDS will attempt to perform maneuvers in a fuel efficient manner. But if you lose too much speed because of a sharp/wide turn, you can engage the afterburner to quickly recover lost speed.

When the IDS is off, you can manually control each thruster. This can be helpful in combat when you want to drift/slide while firing at a target. High speed drifting can make you a hard target to hit. Evochron Renegades lets you control all maneuvering thrusters variably, if the control device you are using supports enough axis channels to take advantage of that option. When performing maneuvers, you will need to plan your course objective in advance, to avoid sliding into objects in space or reducing your speed to low levels that could potentially make you more vulnerable.
Navigation in Space To travel to various locations in space, you'll need to understand how to navigate using all three dimensions instead of just two. An object in space can be ahead, behind, left, right, above, or below you. Evochron Renegades includes several systems to help make navigating in 3 dimensions a fairly easy process. First, lets review how space is divided up for the navigation system.

The largest division of space used in the game is a quadrant. A quadrant is a massive cube of space that uses a coordinate system which divides it into smaller cubes. The smaller cubes inside the quadrant cube are called sectors and use the coordinate system to identify their location within the main quadrant cube. The center of the quadrant is sector 0,0,0, in the game this is displayed as SX, SY, and SZ values. So the center of the Evochron quadrant is 0 SX, 0 SY, 0 SZ where the Sapphire system is located. The image above shows the navigation console, which displays sector data from an overhead view. Click on Zoom Out (or scroll the mouse wheel down) to see more sectors on the map. From that overhead perspective, the SX value represents sectors to the left or right. -1 SX would be one sector to the left of the 0 SX sector. 1 SX would be one sector to the right of the 0 SX sector. The SZ value represents sectors up or down, which are sectors ahead or behind. As you move the mouse pointer over the various sectors displayed, you'll see the sector's coordinates on the left side of the navigation console. Click on Rear View to flip the map from an overhead view to a view from behind. This lets you see the vertical SY sectors. SX still represents left and right sectors in the Rear View mode, but up and down are now SY sectors. While most objects and solar systems are fairly level with the galactic ecliptic, many are above or below it. So for some objects and solar systems, you may need to set the SY value slightly off from 0 to travel high or low enough to reach a target destination. Negative SY values are sectors below the galactic ecliptic, positive SY values are above it. Click on Top View to return to the overhead view. For sectors that are level with your SY position, you can right mouse click in a sector to zoom in on it. This lets you plot more precise waypoints, greatly increasing your accuracy for jumping from sector to sector. Zooming in on nearby sectors to plot accurate jump points is a good habit to get into for safer travel.

Sectors themselves are divided further into specific coordinates. In-sector coordinates are displayed on the navigation console as X, Y, and Z values (without the S before them). Each sector consists of 200,000 coordinates and like the quadrant cube, 0,0,0 represents the center of a sector. So negative X coordinate values indicate left on the map, positive X values indicate right on the map. Negative Z values indicate down on the map (or behind the center position) while positive Z values indicate up on the map (or ahead of the center position). Again, you can click on Rear View to see the map from behind for the Y values (or vertical elevation). There are 100,000 coordinates in any given direction, with -100,000 representing the minimum position and 100,000 representing the maximum position. So an X value of -90,000 would be near the far left edge of a sector cube on the map. An X value of 90,000 would be near the far right of a sector on the map. Once you exceed the edge of one sector, you pass into the edge of another. For example, if you fly to the far right edge of sector 0,0,0 and exceed 100,000 on the X (in-sector) coordinate value, you will then be in sector 1,0,0 at -100,000 on the X value, or the far left of the new sector that was to the right of the one you came from. As you travel through sector 1,0,0 in the same direction, the X value will increase until you reach the center of the sector at 0,0,0, then the X value will continue to increase until it reaches 100,000 at which point you will again pass into the next sector over. Continue heading directly right on the X axis and you will eventually reach sector 2,0,0, then 3,0,0, and so on. This way, you can use both the sector coordinates and in-sector coordinates to travel to various points in space.

To aid in navigation, the Heads-Up-Display includes a compass and pitch ladder. The compass indicates your heading and the pitch ladder indicates the direction of the nose of your ship. If the compass reads 0, you are facing directly forward on the Z/SZ axis, or up on the nav map, and if you move in that direction, the Z value will increase (the SZ value will eventually also increase as you pass through sectors). If the compass reads 90, you are facing directly right on the X/SX axis. When it reads 180, you are facing toward the rear on the Z/SZ axis, or down on the nav map. When it reads 270, you are facing left on the X/SX axis. When the pitch ladder reads 0, you are level with the galactic ecliptic and the Y/SY axis. When the ladder reads 90, you are facing directly up on the Y/SY axis. When the ladder reads -90, you are facing down on the Y/SY axis.




Beacon Quest Walkthrough
Beacon 1 - 'Rings of ice hide from the light.'
Located on the planet Sapphire. The clue points to the icy rings of the planet Glacia. Hiding from the light indicates the next beacon is on the dark side of the planet, away from the system's star. Some free commodities are available in containers nearby (watch for the purple blip on the 3D radar).

Beacon 2 - 'Between Cygnus and Olympus Prime, lost in a sea of blue.'
The clue indicates the next beacon is in the Fauston system, between Cygnus and Olympus Prime. This can be seen by viewing the quadrant map. 'Lost in a sea of blue' indicates the beacon is located in the large blue nebula cloud in Fauston.

Beacon 3 - 'Paired with Onyx -> _n _he f__e o_ _i_e_.'
This partial clue needs to be combined with the beacon clue in Onyx. This part of the message contains about half of the characters for the clue 'In the fire of Pices.'

Beacon 4 - 'Paired with Fauston -> I_ t__ _ir_ _f p_c_s.'
This partial clue needs to be combined with the beacon clue in Fauston. This part of the message contains about half of the characters for the clue 'In the fire of Pices.'

Beacon 5 - 'senots piks tnod, rekcur, \/ 2, 10200, 9250, 10050'
This clue has two parts, the first is a sentence written backwards, 'rucker, don't skip stones.' Once in the Rucker system, the second part of the clue applies and are coordinates for the next beacon. The '\/ 2' part indicates you need to travel 2 sectors down from the central Rucker sector, then travel to the coordinates 10200, 9250, 10050.

Beacon 6 - 'slot ni eth dovi, FAAAA JFAA FAAAA'
This clue includes a scrambled sentence and coded coordinates. The sentence is 'lost in the void' and the coordinates are 50000, 9500, 50000, represented by each letter starting with A for 0. This is the one clue that doesn't point directly to another beacon, but instead a wormhole to the area described as 'the void.' Once in the void area, you must look around in all directions to locate the next beacon.

Beacon 7 - 'Given to Sirius, hidden in the 'base'.'
This clue includes multiple definitions of the word 'base.' Not only is the beacon at the base in Sirius, but it is at the 'base' of the base.

Beacon 8 - 'Gateway is near, verdant negative guides the way.'
This clue indicates the quest is almost finished. Verdant is the color green and indicates the next system to travel to is Emerald. Verdant negative indicates that the last beacon is located at the negative coordinates of 'verdant', or the planet Emerald.

Beacon 9 - 'E L T O S R (+)'
This is the last and most challenging clue. ELTOSR indicates all of the charted systems in the lower left section of the Evochron Quadrant, Emerald, Lambda, Thuban, Orion, Sirius, and Rigel. The (+) symbol indicates that the gateway is located in the middle of the circle formed by the listed systems. However, careful calculations need to be done to obtain the correct location. Just averaging the values will not provide the right sector coordinates, the vertical offset of -400 for Lambda needs to be taken into consideration. Also, focus should be given to the absolute edge of the circular shape formed by the systems, not just an average of all of the coordinates.







3. Advanced Combat Tactics
Evochron Renegades includes numerous combat controls and features that provide many options to attack or evade. So many in fact, that it might be a little overwhelming at first. So this separate section is offered to provide further details on more advanced combat tactics that can be useful once you have the basics down.

Your combat skills are critical to your survival in Evochron Renegades. Practice is the single best way to improve your chances and there are many tactics you can use for survival. For good practice, spend some time in Sapphire and pick fights with several friendly ships. Learn how hostile ships dogfight and develop some strategies to use against them. You will likely come up with your own style and unique combinations of offensive and defensive strategies. When you've finished practicing, exit the game and do NOT save (so you can keep your positive reputation in Sapphire). Below are some additional tactics and tips you can use.

One of the main elements of the game's universe related to combat is the ship detection and AI system. Stations have powerful scanners that can pick up every ship in a 1 sector radius and they report their results to the various companies, militaries, and factions in the area. Contracts are then generated based on the interests of those groups and the status of ships in the area. It's the reason for how you can be offered contracts for known locations of hostile ships and how hostile ships are able to track your movements when you are close to a station. They can track you down and issue contracts against you and your fleet in the same way you get contracts for ships in the area that are hostile to you. So plan your travel routes carefully and remain far away from nearby stations (at least 2 sectors away) if you want to avoid encountering a high number of hostile ships. Otherwise, travel quickly and use your jump drive frequently to avoid giving hostile ships more time to call in reinforcements and plan tactics/contracts against you. When you're ready to engage in combat, the tactics below can be very useful.



Offensive Tactics
Be Patient, Wait Until You Have the Tactical Advantage The biggest mistake most new pilots make is flying directly into a fight, guns blazing. This often results in a quick demise. Flying directly at an enemy ship makes you an extremely easy target and when you get hit by weapon fire, the impacts reduce your chance of successfully firing back. Instead, turn away from an inbound enemy so you place them near the corner of the screen, then turn off the IDS, turn to face the target, then fire when in range. A good time to fire missiles is when your opponent is passing by you at close range, leaving them less time to react with countermeasures. The zero gravity drifting will make it more difficult for your opponent's weapon tracking system to follow your movement, making you a much harder target to hit. Another option is to hold the maneuvering thruster keys/buttons to maintain the diagonal drifting without turning off the IDS. This will give you more of an immediate response when you release the thruster keys/buttons to prepare for another pass.

Avoid Letting an Enemy Evade By Spiraling Enemy ships will often attempt to get above or below you and enter into a spiral evasion pattern. This is one of their most effective defenses, it can result in you wasting a lot of gunfire energy and fuel. And if you try to attack with missiles, you will likely miss. Both the MDTS and missile guidance systems have a difficult time tracking the spiral movement and the farther away the target is, the less effective those tracking systems will be since it leaves more time for the targeted ship to evade. Try to focus your attack when the target is moving in a more predictable path and avoid letting the target get directly above or below you, which can indicate they are planning to enter a spiral maneuver. Instead, try to remain level with the target using the drifting techniques described above.

Take Control and Surprise Your Attacker Turn the hunter into the hunted. If you are being followed by a hostile ship and have no obstacles ahead of you, you might want to attack flying backwards. There are a couple of ways to accomplish this. First, fly directly away from your attacker, keep your speed above 900 and allow the hostile ship to slowly get closer until they reach about 1000-1500 meters. Then turn off your IDS and turn around 180 degrees so you are flying backwards and pointed directly at the hostile ship. Secure a missile lock and fire before the hostile ship gets within gunfire range. If you don't have any missiles or don't want to waste any, use the same tactic, but when the hostile ship is at about 1000-1500 meters, point the nose of your fighter down by 90 degrees and hit your after burner for about 3-5 seconds. Then bring the nose of your fighter back up to target the hostile ship. With the IDS off, the afterburner move will give you plenty of downward momentum to make it much more difficult for the hostile ship to hit you with gunfire (you can perform the same downward slide with maneuvering thrusters, it will just take a lot longer to build up speed). And you will be in a great position for an attack once they get within 500 meters. You may need to activate certain thrusters to fine tune the maneuver so you can achieve the right momentum.

Defensive Tactics

Use Stations for Defense The images above show one way you can use stations as a shelter against weapon attacks from either AI controlled ships or human controlled ships. The central circular structure inside the docking area can protect you from both weapon fire and missiles. Simply keep the attacking ship on the opposite side of the structure and they won't be able to hit you.

Also, most hostile AI ships will simply wait outside of the docking area until you exit and return to open space. They know entering the docking area could be dangerous for them as it leaves little room to maneuver. So they will often fly around just outside the docking area waiting for you. Use this to your advantage by plotting a jump point before you exit the docking area. Buying a station license gives you additional protection by ordering hostile AI ships to depart the area while you are docked.


Effective Missile Evasion The image above shows one evasion technique for avoiding a missile fired head on. One of the most important principles of evading missiles is to turn away in order to give your countermeasures more time to detonate the missile. If a missile is fired at you from directly ahead and you are in close proximity, turn immediately to the left or the right, engage the afterburner to build up speed, then launch at least 4 or 5 countermeasures during the arch of your turn. As the missile begins to approach from behind, its closer speed will be far less than it was when you were flying directly at it, giving your countermeasures more time to act and giving you more time to launch more if the missile does not detonate. If you are a good shot, you can also attempt to shoot down the missile once it get within gun range, but this leaves you very little time to avoid the missile if you miss.

Countermeasures Also Require Skill to be Effective How you use countermeasures is critical to their effectiveness. CM's are basically an ECM type device that drops behind and below your ship slightly. Missiles will usually travel fast enough to get very close to you before the CM's can trick them into exploding. It usually takes 3-5 CM's to bombard a missile with enough radiation/energy to get it to explode before it hits you. CM's can point their focused energy signals at any missile in a 360 degree range, but they need time for their beam of energy to cut through a missile. If a missile is heading straight for you and you're moving forward at it, then you're leaving less time for the CM's to work. Best advice in that situation is to launch the CM's early (before the proximity alarm rings) to give 3-5 units enough time to hit the missile with focused energy and cause it to explode before it hits you.

Understanding the Physics Involved Realistic physics bring many challenges to the realm of space combat. But it can also give you new techniques to use for success. Probably the single most important rule in space combat is avoid flying straight in at your target. Doing so makes you an easy incoming target for any hostile ship. Instead, you need to approach your target at an angle. To do this, point the nose of your ship away from your target, but keep the target in your visible range on-screen (or just slightly off-screen). Hit your afterburner to build up speed to about 800-1200, if needed. Then disable the IDS (Inertial Dampening System, default space-bar) at a range of about 700-900 meters. Turn and face the target and make sure the combined speed of your sideways slide and forward momentum still exceeds 700 (otherwise, you might not move out of the way of incoming gunfire fast enough). You may want to manually activate thrusters to increase your speed further, if needed. Once you are in range, open fire. Hostile ships will have a much more difficult time hitting you with gunfire when you are flying at an angle like this.

Speed is Life, Use the Fuel As indicated in the previous tactic, speed is life. Try to never let your overall speed drop below at least 700 (to verify, quickly add speeds indicated on your '/\ \/' and '< >' slide indicators along with your main 'VEL:' speed gauge). In just about all other areas of the game, it's good to conserve fuel. But combat is where you need to use it and that's really what you are conserving it for. Don't be afraid to use your afterburner and maneuvering thrusters frequently to help keep your speed high and obtain good attack positions. Staying alive is much more important then worrying about your next fuel stop. Just avoid entering any fight if you have less then about 100 units of fuel on board. If you're under 100 or so, it's probably better to use a few units of it to jump to a place you can refuel unless you're confident you can destroy the hostile ship(s) very quickly.

When Not In Combat, Save the Fuel When you don't need high speed and rapid maneuvering, accelerate and decelerate slowly while also turning slowly (the less you hear your thrusters fire, the less fuel you're burning). Turn off the IDS before you engage the jump drive, then leave it off until you need to slow down. Saving fuel can greatly improve the profit you make on trade runs and contracts.

Effects of Mass Some players consider heavier frames less effective in combat due to their lower agility and slower top speed. However, they do have several important advantages. Their heavier mass allows them to react less to weapon impacts, allowing you to better maintain centering your target in the gunsight when under attack. You can also greatly offset the lower agility by installing higher class wing/thruster systems.

Plan Your Escape Keep an escape route logged into your navigation computer. Be prepared for an emergency departure by selecting a remote area on the nav map before engaging in battle. In many dogfights, you may find yourself facing a steady stream of reinforcements and having an escape plan can help keep you alive if things don't go your way. If you've sustained critical damage or your shield is dangerously low, hit F2 to jump to your escape point. Try to select a nebula cloud or asteroid field for added protection, if possible. Also, a cannon relay upgrade can help with such escapes as it provides much needed energy to help keep the jump drive ready.

Avoid Atmosphere Combat When Possible Avoid atmosphere dogfights. Your ship is a flying brick and you'll be much more vulnerable at the slow speeds and limited maneuverability caused by atmosphere flight. Clear a safe path before entering an atmosphere, then stay near space until you know the area is safe for descent and docking. The descent guide boxes do more then just point you to a city. They provide a safe path that helps keep you at higher altitudes so you can quickly fly back into space if a hostile ship gets in range.

Using Momentum If you get stuck in a face-to-face attack situation with a hostile ship, you can quickly alter the attack into using momentum for evasion. Immediately after the first fly-by, pull up at a medium rate and hit the afterburner. As you reach the 90 degree mark, you'll be adding a lot of momentum in sliding perpendicular to your original direction. At some point between about 120 and 180 degrees (just before facing your target), you'll want to stop the afterburner and turn off the IDS. This will allow you to continue your slide at a high enough speed to evade incoming gunfire and counter-attack.

Reverse Thrusters Can Use the Afterburner Also A useful tactic to know is your reverse thrusters on afterburner provide nearly the same level of power as your main forward afterburner. Hold the reverse thrust key/button down and hit your afterburner to greatly increase the power of your reverse thrusters. If you ever need to back up in a hurry or increase reverse speed, this option can come in very handy.

Most secondary weapons rely on heat detection for their guidance systems. You can further improve the performance of countermeasures by cutting your engines to reduce your heat signature. If you're engines are active, a missile will have an easier time retaining its lock. But if you combine 3-5 countermeasures with cutting your engines, the missile will have a very low chance of hitting you.

Rapid Atmosphere Descents Can Provide Quick Cover Need to make a quick descent? Because your ship is basically a flying brick, you can use its high drag to your benefit when making a planetary descent. When flying into an atmosphere nose first, it takes a long time to slow down to safe speeds when approaching at anything over about 1500 MPS. But if you change your descent angle, the drag can make the process much faster. Just as early space shuttles would lift the nose to expose a larger surface area on descent, you can also use a nose up approach to slow your ship down much faster. To do this safely, point the nose of your ship about 30-45 degrees down from the horizon of the planet (in many cases, you can even fly directly at the planet) and roll so you are level with the horizon. You can approach at just about any speed you want (even speeds over 2000), your shield will protect you from serious damage when doing this approach. When the alert for the gravity field occurs, lift the nose of your ship until your forward velocity gauge reads about 750-800. Your downward slide gauge should now be reading close to what your forward velocity gauge displayed before you pulled the nose up. As soon as you hit the upper atmosphere, you will slow down dramatically. The faster your initial speed, the lower your altitude will be when you reach safe speeds (so if you want to reach the city docking port faster, approach the planet at higher speeds). Once the burning cycle completes, your forward velocity will remain in the safe zone and you can then fly in any desired direction. This does take some practice, but it works well if you're trying to race another ship to a city or if you need atmosphere cover quickly.

Get to the Waypoint Quickly When you accept a contract, avoid wasting time heading to the waypoint. The longer you take getting to the waypoint, the more time you give hostile forces to call in reinforcements. If you take long enough, you may encounter enemy reinforcements before you even reach the waypoint. Also, capital ships won't wait around indefinitely for you to deliver cargo to them. Try to make it to the waypoint as fast as you can. You may also want to use the jump drive to minimize the time you give hostile forces to anticipate your arrival and attempt intercepting you.

Use Your Opponent's Limited Tracking Against Them You can run away from hostile ships much faster by travelling at high speed and turning off your IDS. While flying directly away at over 2000 with the IDS off can allow you to slowly escape, you can use other techniques to escape faster. Other ships can only monitor your forward velocity, so flying in a sideways direction can often cause them to slow down when they observe your forward velocity decrease. To maximize your escape rate, turn away from the ship(s) you want to escape from and increase your speed to 2000 or more. Turn off the IDS, then turn or pitch 90 degrees so your indicated forward velocity is near 0. The hostile ship(s) will usually slow down when they observe your forward velocity decrease.

Multiplayer Ships Can be Distracted Multiplayer AI controlled ships are more intelligent then their single player counterparts. They have the ability to change targets as needed and can track your movement better. Overall, multiplayer AI ships think and act more like human players. Hiding in a nebula cloud can only really be effective against them if you can escape before they spot you on radar. If they see you go into the nebula cloud, then they will often attempt to follow you in and look for you. It's best to try and distract them away from where you want to go, then use the jump drive to travel to your destination.

Friendly Ships Can Join in the Fight When in combat, remember to use your allies. If your reputation provides some friendly ships in the area, you may want to fly near them for assistance. Green level ships may decide to help you out if they see you are fighting a hostile ship and are nearby. You can then bait the hostile ship into a vulnerable position for a friendly ship to attack it. Combining forces and using your reputation can improve your success in combat.





4. Business Strategies and Tips


Buy A License To Improve Profit Once you become wealthy, you might want to consider purchasing a station license. Once you buy a license, you can grab any commodities, equipment, or weapons you want from a station at a discount of 25%. You'll still have to pay full price for fuel and building ships while items you give to the station will be sold at the reduced price. But getting weapons, commodities, and equipment at a discount can provide a major financial benefit in the long run. Owning a station license also removes any docking fees you would normally have to pay in that system and the station will protect you from hostile ships while you are docked. Choose the system carefully when investing in a license, make sure it carries the items you will be most interested in and is not at a location you will want to use for profitable selling.

Avoid Expensive Mistakes Evochron Renegades lets you make numerous gameplay decisions, letting you pursue your fortune in a variety of ways with contracts or by pursuing your own objectives. There are many rewards for players who 'think outside the box' and come up with unique ways to succeed and advance in the game. But some options can actually hinder your potential to advance. One method to avoid is contract failure. Some players may think they can earn some quick credits by accepting transport contracts, then stealing the cargo they are given to deliver. In the short term, this can earn some quick credits, but in the long run it can cost you a lot by making it much more difficult to earn larger amounts of money later in the game. The drawback is that it marks your contract service record with a failure and you are not given profile credit for completing the contract. The long term effect of doing this repeatedly is that your per contract pay won't go up because your reputation for completing contracts is bad. You are rewarded for a positive reputation by commanding a hire fee for your services. So in the short term, you'll take what they give you for some quick credits, but in the long run, it can cost you a lot of contract money.

Safe Docking In Hostile Systems Eliminate nearby hostiles before you dock. Make the area safe to begin with, then dock quickly and complete any desired trades. Jump as close as you can to the station just before docking (X, Y + 1500, Z station coordinates). If you right mouse click on a station displayed on the nav map, your computer will automatically plot the waypoint directly to the station's docking hangar. It takes time for hostiles to call in reinforcements to join the fight, so the sooner you dock, the more time you often get before too many hostiles show up. Use the station itself for protection. While docked, fly around the central hangar pylon and use it for cover (see the Defensive Tactics section above). Keep the hostiles on the opposing side and their weapons won't be able to hit you. Buy the station, ownership means protection.

Don't Give Up On Multiple Item Trades, Try Individual Items Sometimes an AI ship may change their mind about a trade, especially if you add several fairly high value items at once in the trade console. They'll see how much more money they are offering, then when you submit your request, they may decide to reject it. You can often convince them to trade if you submit one high value item at a time, then the money they offer for the trade won't seem quite so high and they'll agree.

Mining For Maximum Profit Avoid recovering less valuable material. Generally, platinum is the best material to mine, unless market conditions temporarily place diamonds as the most valuable (check the news console for commodity market values). So when mining, continually discard metal (and other low value materials) as desired until all bays are filled/filling with platinum or diamonds. Once they start to fill with a particular commodity, the mining system will restrict each bay to only recover that type of commodity, making it easy to continually recover a desired material. You can then continually mine until all bays are full. Panning the mining beam will generally doubling the rate of recovering particles from asteroids. Mining faster can be very useful in hostile systems that may pay better for mined materials, but are risky to sit in one place very long.

Faster Asteroid Clearing Here's a tip for easier/faster shipping path clearing contracts that require you to destroy asteroids. Head to Rucker and look for a contract to clear a shipping path. Once you accept the contract, you don't even have to fly to a waypoint. Since most of the sector has asteroids in it and the station is placed in the middle of the cluster of asteroids, you will automatically be credited with reaching the waypoint. So all you need to do at this point is locate some asteroids nearby and destroy them. It's usually easiest to turn to a heading of 45, 135, 225, or 315 and a pitch of +/- 45, then fly in that direction until you reach the next nearest cluster of asteroids. This way, you don't have to use the fuel needed to make a jump and you can easily find enough asteroids to meet the conditions of the contract. Since the system also has a moderate economy level, you'll make a decent amount of credits and avoid encountering the high number of enemies usually encountered in hostile systems.

Diverse Contract Options Systems that you have a Good or Hostile reputation in will offer the least variety of contract types. Systems that you have a Fair or Moderate reputation in will offer the widest variety of contract types. If you prefer a mix of peaceful and combat objectives, focus on Fair and Moderate systems. Be careful to select contracts offered by factions you want to be on good terms with. See the reputations section above for more details.

Conduct Business in Hidden Systems Hidden systems and planets are often where the wealthiest trade locations and economies are. Such locations often offer advanced weapons and technology not commonly found in more populated systems. Because of their remote locations, these locations often pay premium prices for commodities/equipment and enjoy a high level of privacy. However, they are often very protective of their wealth and privacy, so dealing with hostile ships is usually expected when travelling to hidden locations. While there are hundreds of hidden solar systems in the game, many with advanced technology and high wealth, a few hidden planets are close enough to charted systems to be fairly easy to reach. In the Aries system, a hidden planet is at -3588 SX, 2028 SZ. In the Cerulean System, a hidden planet is at 2488 SX, 2128 SZ. In the Pearl System, a hidden planet is at 3588 SZ, -1808 SZ. In the Deneb system, a hidden planet is at 3588 SX, -3488 SZ. A wormhole to Al's Quay is available in the Sapphire system at 7 SX, -7 SZ.

Reload Your Fleet's Secondary Weapons Without Exiting the Game The game intentionally uses exiting the game as a way for fleet ships to reload. This provides a somewhat realistic requirement that while on duty for you, your fleet ships aren't able to pursue their own interests and fly off to reload. But when you exit the game, they return to their pursuits and can reload their weapons, change/upgrade their ships, and continue completing contracts or other activities. Then when they report to duty the next time you start the game, they are fully armed again and ready for combat. There are several ways around this, depending on how much of a spoiler you want to use. First, you can travel close to a station, then dismiss one or more fleet ships. There is a moderate chance they will choose to dock with the station and reload. Once they complete the docking cycle and turn away from the docking area, have them rejoin the fleet. There is some risk involved with this method as they may decide to jump away. If they decide not to dock, you can just have them rejoin the fleet immediately. The other method is to save, then self-destruct, then respawn which will auto-reload their weapons.



Contract Values Contract values are calculated using several factors. The system's economy, player reputation, player rating, and number of hostile ships are used to establish the base value for a given contract. The base calculation for contract values is listed below:

ContractPrice = (((SystemEconomyLevel*1000)*PlayerReputation)+(PlayerRating*100))+(NumberOfHostiles*(5000.0*(1.0+(SystemEconomyLevel*0.1))))

From there, adjustments are made based on the contract type, value of cargo involved (if applicable), and other factors. Reductions are applied for simple contract types, including delivery, returning an item to a station, and locating a lost item. Reduction values for each of these contract types are 0.55, 0.7, and 0.5 respectively.

Combat contracts are often the most valuable, especially in moderate and hostile systems where the number of enemies are usually higher for contracts. Additional pay is given for contracts that involve a capital ship, nearly double the base value credit for the number of hostile ships. However, the increased value for combat contracts simply help offset the higher cost of operations for using more fuel and weapons. So consider these expenses when determining which contracts to accept as non-combat contracts can actually be more profitable in a variety of situations.



Economy Types and Values The economies in Evochron are based on several types of industries, which are linked to the nearest planet in the system. Planets are treated as the population, market, and economic centers in the game and the economy factors they have determine the type of inventory and pricing available throughout a system, including nearby stations. Planets themselves generally provide about 50% more value for commodities delivered to them than nearby stations, so you can often make a few credits within a system by completing trade runs from stations to planets. This can offer a profitable way to safely earn credits early in the game. Also, some planets in the same solar system might pay more overall.

Economies are divided into 5 sub categories and a general category. A general economy planet has a market structure that typically includes many different types of commodities and pricing is largely based on the overall economic conditions of the system. An agricultural economy creates an abundance of food, so the prices are generally very low for that commodity. An industrial economy will often pay a premium for raw metal ore and provide low prices for machined components. A technology economy will usually pay very little for electronic equipment, since they create most of what they need themselves, but will pay high prices for materials needed to produce them, including diamonds and platinum. A bio-research economy can be a good place to buy meds at low prices, then sell in other economies for profit. An energy economy can be a good place to buy hydrogen cells, solar cells, anti-matter cells, and fusion cells at low prices. The type of economy for each planet will be displayed after its name on the nav map, G is for a general economy, A for agricultural, I for industrial, T for technology, B for bio-research, and E for energy.

The type of economy also effects what kind of items will often be available. Items that are produced by a particular economy will generally be added to the inventory pool more often (about 1/3 of the time for stations and about 1/2 of the time for planets) and are often inexpensive. Buying low priced items from locations they are produced in, then transporting them to systems where they are in demand can be one of the most profitable ways to trade in the game. Pricing adjustments for various economy types are listed below. Also be sure to read the global economy level factor in the next paragraph as an additional consideration for overall price levels in a system.

Economy Type: Agricultural - Food values are generally 50-75% lower. Economy Type: Industrial - Metal values are generally 500-950% higher. - Machinery components are generally 50-75% lower. Economy Type: Technology - Electronics values are generally 50-75% lower. - Diamond values are generally 150-250% higher. - Platinum values are generally 350-550% higher. Economy Type: Bio Research - Medical Supplies values are generally 50-75% lower. Economy Type: Energy - Hydrogen Cell values are generally 50-75% lower. - Solar Cell values are generally 50-75% lower. - Antimatter Cell values are generally 50-75% lower. - Fusion Cell values are generally 50-75% lower.

In addition to specific item pricing, the global economy market level is also a factor in determining the overall values of items in a system. Both factors (economy type and level) should be taken into consideration when planning trade routes. Changing inventories and price fluctuations can also impact the profitability of trade routes, although usually to a more minor degree. Below is a map showing the overall market levels for the charted systems in Evochron.



Trade Market Level Map





5. Secrets and Hidden Benefits


The game includes many hidden benefits. Some are gameplay related, such as discovering how to sell fuel for profit, while others involve exploration and discovery for particular objects, such as locating beacons and containers. This section will cover some of the hidden benefits and the options you can use to discover them. Much of what is provided in this section can spoil the challenge of the game significantly, so if you want to learn the secrets of the game on your own, then you may want to avoid this section.

One of the most effective ways to advance early in the game is to locate hidden containers, which carry items stored by local factions for later retrieval and are continuously replenished. The most effective method to hunt for hidden containers in the game is to hire a science ops specialist. Once hired, a science ops crew member can report the heading and pitch of nearby containers. The more skilled they are, the more often they will be able to provide direction information. Once you know the heading and pitch, you can often fly directly to them. If you're far away, then precision may be more difficult and you may need to jump out of the sector, then back in at different location to plot multiple pathways and pinpoint where the containers are located.



Beacon Locations

Beacon 1 Sector X = 0 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = 0 Position X = -25500 Position Y = 5000 Position Z = 12750

Beacon 2 Sector X = 2 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = 3 Position X = 57000 Position Y = -5000 Position Z = 85000

Beacon 3 Sector X = -500 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = 802 Position X = -51000 Position Y = -2500 Position Z = 24000

Beacon 4 Sector X = 3500 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = 1000 Position X = -51000 Position Y = -2500 Position Z = 24000

Beacon 5 Sector X = 1800 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -299 Position X = 78000 Position Y = 0 Position Z = 78000

Beacon 6 Sector X = 1800 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -2002 Position X = 10200 Position Y = 9250 Position Z = 10050

Beacon 7 Sector X = 1820 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -1980 Position X = 55000 Position Y = 9000 Position Z = 55000

Beacon 8 Sector X = -2300 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -3700 Position X = 0 Position Y = -3000 Position Z = 0

Beacon 9 Sector X = -3200 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -550 Position X = -50000 Position Y = 5000 Position Z = -70000

Hidden Planet Locations

Aries Sector X = -3588 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = 2028

Cerulean Sector X = 2488 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = 2128

Virgo Sector X = 720 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -1245

Pearl Sector X = 3588 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -1808

Deneb Sector X = 3588 Sector Y = 0 Sector Z = -3488

- You can determine if a yellow threat level ship is carrying something in its cargo bay without a scanner by sending a trade request. If the ship rejects your trade request, it is likely carrying something it doesn't want to consider selling to you.



OTHER RESOURCES:
Official Evochron Renegades Website | StarWraith 3D Games Website | Forums