What is Arvoch? Introduction and Information...

Tips, tactics, and general discussion for Arvoch Alliance.
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What is Arvoch? Introduction and Information...

Post by Vice »

What is Arvoch? And what is it not?

  I am occasionally asked questions like this, so I' thought I'd provide some answers here for those interested. This post will also provide some basic information and links to helpful resources about the game. The game's website also provides some additional information.

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What Arvoch Is
  Arvoch Alliance is a mission based 3D space combat flight simulation. It features a single player campaign designed around event driven objectives and multiplayer modes that provide cooperative, team-vs-team, and dogfight scenarios. A free flight mode is also available along with an option to import custom single player campaigns.

  For the single player campaign, the player takes on the roll of a flight commander in charge of up to five squadrons of fighters. They can issue orders through a built in command system and monitor the status of ships in the area with a dedicated tactical console. The tactical console also lets the player change the formation shape of ships under their command as well as review current orders, observe the loadout on their ship, and review mission details.

  Multiplayer provides several gameplay modes and many options for setting up battle scenarios. Players can join together to complete the campaign missions cooperatively or fly in different dedicated combat modes. Multiplayer in Arvoch Alliance is managed entirely in-game, rather than externally. This is due to the event driven gameplay structure and player controlled selection systems of the game. So no separate server programs are needed or used as with Evochron Legacy. The host participates in the game and selects the campaign mission, battle mode, environment, time/kill limit, and/or the AI ships involved in the combat scenario. They also control when the mission/battle starts and when it ends. As a result, the multiplayer mode is entirely 'on demand' and the host controls the various stages and conditions of gameplay in real time.


How Arvoch Relates to Evochron:
  The Arvoch games have generally been available alongside the Evochron series and have usually shared the same or similar ships, weapons, equipment, and flight dynamics. They've also usually shared the same graphics technologies, control input systems, and configuration options of the same era. The latest game, Arvoch Alliance, was released in 2011 and was developed around the timeframe of the original Evochron Mercenary. So it was about 2 generations behind this format after around 5 years. To bring Alliance more inline with Evochron Legacy, a '2.0' update was made available, which advanced the game to the more recent technologies and story timeline found in the more recent Evochron game (Legacy). The earlier ships were replaced with military designs found in Legacy, both small flyable spacecraft as well as capital ships. Many of the newer control and graphics/settings options were also coded into the 2.0 update. Later on in 2020, an 'SE' version of the game was introduced, adding Vulkan support and 64-bit to the series among many other improvements.

  While Arvoch and Evochron games share many of the same universe settings, timeline, ships, graphics, and technologies, their gameplay focus and options vary significantly.

  Arvoch Alliance focuses on the military side of events that preceeded the most recent conflict between the Alliance and Federation and involves the Vonari much more significantly. There are several technology differences, both in terms of available equipment and capabilities. More advanced radar equipment during the Vonari war resulted in detection distances up to 25K with full IFF and directional tracking.

  The capital ships in Arvoch Alliance are significantly larger than their counterparts in Evochron Legacy, with the carrier being 5X larger.

  While the HUD and consoles are very similar, these elements in Arvoch Alliance are set up a bit differently to provide some visual distinctions, a more localized navigation console, and a different tactical console designed for its gameplay approach and command options.

  Other differences include Arvoch being mission based, while Evochron is much more sandbox/freeform in its design. Gameplay is very much focused on combat and battle scenarios in Arvoch while Evochron includes a wider array of resource recovery, objectives, building, as well as things like trade, racing, delivery, placement, distress calls, and more. In Arvoch, there are also no in-game financial considerations, you simply configure your combat ship how you want it to be with what's available, then launch and go. So if you are primarily interested in combat alone and setting up your own battle scenarios, following a sequences of mission/story events, and configuring your ship without cost considerations, Arvoch may be to your liking. If you prefer a more open approach to gameplay with more considerations for resources along with objectives outside of combat, then Evochron may be to your liking. If your mood changes and you like either at different times, then both might be to your liking.


What Arvoch Is Not:
  Arvoch Alliance is not a sandbox/freeform game, unlike Evochron Legacy. It's focus is space combat with emphasis on mission driven and objective driven gameplay. As such, the player's primary objectives will generally be combat related, although there are a few missions that involve things like module placement, item delivery, and resource recovery. Battle areas are confined to specific sectors involving the player being based on a carrier (campaign) or near a station (multiplayer dogfight, squadrons, and strike modes). So unlike Evochron, where the player decides what to do and where to go on their own, Arvoch directs the player to complete specific objectives in specific locations through a series of missions. Also unlike Evochron, where multiplayer shares most of the same gameplay options, Arvoch provides unique gameplay modes in multiplayer to facilitate different battle scenarios for human players with selectable combat conditions (dogfight, squadrons, and strike), environments, kill/time limits, and number of AI ships.


Distances and Velocities:
  Here is an overview of the velocity and distance factors used in the game, which are all metric based. Most values are in meters, however velocities use decimeter values for higher precision while in-sector coordinates use decameter values so they are more manageable in the navigation console. Here is the overview:

Velocity = Decimeters (meters X 10) for higher precision, so 1000 indicated is 100 meters per second
In-Sector Coordinates = Decameters (meters / 10) so 100 coordinate units (CU) equals 1000 meters
Navigation Marker Range = Meters (so 1000 meters indicated range = 100 decameters coordinate distance)
Target MFD and Indicator Ranges = Meters
Radar/Sensor Ranges = Meters

  The 1/10 decameter values are used for in-sector coordinates (nav map) to help keep things a little more manageable for manual entry and visual reference, rather than have to sort through million level values. The 10X decimeter values are used for velocities for higher precision.


Arvoch Alliance More Information and Resources

- Here are some important links to other useful resources:
Features of Arvoch Alliance: https://www.starwraith.com/arvochalliance/features.htm
Frequently Asked Questions and Basic Support Issues: https://www.starwraith.com/arvochalliance/faq.htm
Instructions for Arvoch Alliance: https://www.starwraith.com/arvochallian ... readme.htm
Arvoch Alliance's GCS (Global Flight Control System): viewtopic.php?f=26&t=11271
Save Data Files and Information: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=3433
Crash Causes and Solutions: viewtopic.php?f=26&t=6595
StarWraith 3D Games
www.starwraith.com | www.spacecombat.org
3D Space Flight and Combat Simulations
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