New to EL - a few questions

Tips, tactics, and general discussion for Evochron Legacy.
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roaldhoffmann
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New to EL - a few questions

Post by roaldhoffmann »

Hello everyone! I've been lurking on these forums for a while since I've been interested in the Evochron series for quite a while but have never pulled the trigger on a purchase until the other day, when I picked up Evochron Legacy. I wanted to start off by saying wow, I love this game!

To preface these questions, I've played through the training scenarios twice, read the entire manual, and done a few scenarios in my Miner/Trader start with the IND faction. Here's what I'm wondering about after my time with the game so far:

1. I see that the pitch ladder provides a way to orient yourself with the galactic plane, however I was wondering if there is a numerical readout of the actual pitch, similar to how the compass works? I know that pitch is not always a crucial piece of information, but in instances where the science officer provides coordinates to a hidden item, having an exact pitch readout would be helpful. Is this present anywhere on the HUD and I'm just missing it, or does it need to be approximated based on the tic marks on the ladder? If it is not present, is there any way I can mod the HUD to include a numerical readout? Where would I access the pitch value to accomplish this, if it is possible?

2. I took on a contract where a planetside city needed 25 units of water. There was a time limit on when I could accept the contract, and I accepted it well before the timer ran out. I flew over to the planet, began to collect water, and once I had amassed 25 units, I docked with the city, only to realize that I had failed the contract. I don't recall seeing a timer in the inventory menu while the mission was active - is there a hidden timer for when these missions need to be completed by? Is there a standard amount of time that is given for a mission like this so I can better prepare myself next time? Or is there actually a timer and I just missed where it is located in the UI? Or did I possibly fail this mission for another reason that I'm unaware of?

3. Related to #2, I needed to collect water using the mining/tractor beam. I noted the sound which plays when a unit of material is collected into a cargo bay. However, I'm wondering if there is any way to see what item was collected without leaving the inventory screen open. Is there a readout on the screen which shows which item was just collected into inventory? For example, with no menus open and while flying with the tractor beam toggled on, is there anywhere that would read "+1 Water" or something along those lines as it is added to the cargo bay? If not, is there a way that I could mod this into the HUD? I play with mouse and keyboard, so I'm unable to control the craft while the inventory screen is open; I'm not sure if this is different for joystick or controller users.

4. I selected IND as my starting faction since I would like to get used to the basic mechanics before worrying about combat. I see that the two main quests each have an Alliance and a Federation variant. Can I choose either one of these? Will I actually be able to accomplish them while remaining part of the IND faction, or will I need to modify my profile to align with ALC or FED to continue the quest?

5. It seems the main engines are tied to the IDS system, meaning that when it is disabled, any changes to the SET value, either through the 1 through 0 keys or trimming with the default W and S keys, will not affect the engines firing. Is there a way to accelerate beyond the maximum speed achieved at IDSx9 with full thrust? Basically, what I'm asking is - is there a way to switch to inertial and fire the main engines so I can continue to raise my speed further? Is the afterburner the only way to achieve this?

Thanks to anyone in advance for reading through my numerous questions, and I appreciate any help and clarification!
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Marvin
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Marvin »

Assuming you're playing Legacy, you can check the ReadMe for customizing the game here: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegac ... readme.htm ... just below the third paragraph is a link to the Customizing Kit. I read about somebody creating a digital mod for the pitch ladder but it was quite awhile back and, since I use my own modded pitch ladder with one-degree tic marks, I didn't pay much attention. But I did also make use of the ability to display cargo bay items and quantities on the HUD ... which I use all the time while mining. The mod doesn't give a name ... but it does give a number which corresponds to the item number of each type of cargo.

As for your collecting water and then failing the contract, that can happen if you leave the sector while the contract is in force or, possibly, if you dock at the wrong city. In MP it can also happen if another player docks before the contract is completed.
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Marvin »

P.S. For a couple of the mods you're looking to create, here's what the Customizing ReadMe says:
Optional readouts for cargo bay, ship location, shield levels, and pitch level:

hudtext.dat
1st value sets the activation value (should generally always be 1)
2nd value sets the red color level of the text (0-255)
3rd value sets the green color level of the text (0-255)
4th value sets the blue color level of the text (0-255)
5th value is no longer used and is a placeholder for possible future use
6th value sets the cargo readout's activation status (0 = off, 1 = on)
7th value sets the cargo readout's X position
8th value sets the cargo readout's Y position
9th value sets the location readout's activation status (0 = off, 1 = on)
10th value sets the location readout's X position
11th value sets the location readout's Y position
12th value sets the shield level readout's activation status/spacing (>0 = on and spacing)
13th value sets the shield level readout's X position
14th value sets the shield level readout's Y position
15th value sets the pitch level readout's activation status (0 = off, 1 = on)
16th value sets the pitch level readout's X position
17th value sets the pitch level readout's Y position
8) The huttext.dat file (created and saved with Notepad) should be placed in a folder titled HUD ... the folder then placed in the main game folder.
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Vice »

For this question:
5. It seems the main engines are tied to the IDS system, meaning that when it is disabled, any changes to the SET value, either through the 1 through 0 keys or trimming with the default W and S keys, will not affect the engines firing. Is there a way to accelerate beyond the maximum speed achieved at IDSx9 with full thrust? Basically, what I'm asking is - is there a way to switch to inertial and fire the main engines so I can continue to raise my speed further? Is the afterburner the only way to achieve this?
Afterburner is the fastest way to apply forward or reverse thrust when the IDS is off. But you can also use the forward/reverse thruster/engine controls, which operate independently of the IDS when it is off. The default key controls for the forward/reverse thrusters (referred to as 'Inertial Forward/Reverse') are the ',' and '.' keys and you can remap them as desired in the key/button configuration menu. You can also bind those thruster controls to an axis input on a joystick (including mapping it to the same axis used for throttle, so when the IDS is turned off, the throttle control simply switches over to forward/reverse thruster control).
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Arei »

Regarding 3 yes there is a readout in the chatbox every time you collect a material unit with your tractor beam, the readout will also change and warn you when your cargo is full.
EDIT: Nevermind, the readout will only display when your cargo is full. Remembered it wrong. ^^'

As for going over maximum IDS speed yes it is possible when disabling the IDS and accelerating forward (with our without afterburner), but like in real life the required fuel to provide further acceleration increases exponentially the faster you go, meaning you'll quickly reach a point where gaining +1ms will burn so much fuel that keeping accelerating won't be worth it anymore. You also have to keep in mind that the faster you go, the harder changing direction will be and in a normal world, you'd need as much fuel to decelerate as you used to accelerate; Fortunately, EL jump drives allow a bit of cheating in that regard. ^^
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by roaldhoffmann »

Thank you everybody for the great responses! I really appreciate all of your help. 8)
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by DaveK »

There is a maximum speed (around 9000). As you go faster the resistance of the (admittedly sparse) hydrogen atoms and molecules increases and so your fuel expenditure per unit velocity increase gets bigger. Eventually the fuel pumps can't handle a faster fuel expenditure rate or you run out of fuel, but either way you hit a max speed. There's more detail in the EM Techy Manual on SeeJay's site

And Arei is spot on - if you don't have enough fuel to slow down you can't. But if you have enough fuel to jump (or micro-jump) you can slip around the problem to shed a lot of speed. :-)
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by roaldhoffmann »

Thanks for the additional info, DaveK! I will have to keep in mind the jump drive workaround next time I'm fleeing for my life and happen to find myself near the speed limit :)

I will definitely need to check out the techy manual you mentioned on SeeJay's site as well, thanks!

As for failing the water delivery mission, I was playing in single player, and I definitely did not leave the sector (I haven't even left the starting sector at all yet ^_^). I suppose I could have docked at the wrong city but I believe the mission called for a delivery to any city on the Talison planet. Is there ever a time limit to complete an emergency delivery mission like this? I did another one last night and made sure to check the Current Contracts box after accepting it, and there was no visible timer. Is there a hidden timer for these? Just wondering for my own curiosity. Thanks again everybody for all of your insight and help, it's greatly appreciated :)
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Arei »

Also I just remembered a method that would allow somebody to "bend" the Evoverse laws of physics and go way over 9000 (!)

Image

Needless to say it's both dangerous and useless! (Don't worry, I jumped out to safety before I started cooking inside the ship :P )
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Marvin »

There are only a few timed contracts: the race for time (not the race against an AI), when delivering a passenger or when responding to a out-of-sector distress call (if such calls still exist in the game). The timer you see when displaying contracts only counts for how long you have to accept the contract. And I'm pretty sure the only time a timer will be hidden is when doing some of the quest assignments. That said, if you accept an "inbound asteroids" contract, your time to complete the contract is limited to the "time of flight" of the asteroids.
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by roaldhoffmann »

Excellent, thank you for the clarification, Marvin! I really appreciate it. Certainly I missed something on my end when I failed that contract, but it's in the past now so I'll just have to pay more attention next time and investigate further if I fail one on another occasion.

Arei, that's a good way to pick up some speed :)) Would the ship actually burn up before contact, or would it crash if you kept going?
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

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roaldhoffmann wrote:Arei, that's a good way to pick up some speed :)) Would the ship actually burn up before contact, or would it crash if you kept going?
The hull goes down quickly then the ship explodes once it gets too close to a star or a black hole, so yeah the ship would technically burn pretty fast. I need to try if a slingshot of some sort is possible using a star or a black hole gravitational pull, but I doubt it would be possible to correct the trajectory at such speeds (and even if it is possible, the gravity will start pulling the ship backwards at some point effectively slowing it down). It would still remain quite useless except for the glory of speed itself. ^^
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

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??? One person managed to go a lot faster in the previous game (Mercenary). Fast enough so as to fly through a star unharmed. She even did it with me riding in her gun turret. Without jumping through hyper-space. I've absolutely no idea how she did it, though.
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by DaveK »

Arei wrote:
roaldhoffmann wrote:Arei, that's a good way to pick up some speed :)) Would the ship actually burn up before contact, or would it crash if you kept going?
The hull goes down quickly then the ship explodes once it gets too close to a star or a black hole, so yeah the ship would technically burn pretty fast. ^^
And yet it's possible to get into the centre of a blackhole and survive! :o
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Marvin »

And yet it's possible to get into the centre of a blackhole and survive!
:o Only if you go through the black hole's wormhole (if it has one). Otherwise, if you hang around too long ... ka-boom!
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

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Marvin wrote:??? One person managed to go a lot faster in the previous game (Mercenary). Fast enough so as to fly through a star unharmed. She even did it with me riding in her gun turret. Without jumping through hyper-space. I've absolutely no idea how she did it, though.
Probably not what she did, but if you jump toward an object like a station, but unaligned with a gate, and with your FVL SET at somewhere around 2500 in INERTIAL mode, you will bounce off that bad boy at an insane rate of speed. If you bounce a couple times before being launched, you can hit speeds up to 25k+
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by Marvin »

:o But can you then fly in the intended direction ... or are you then flying ballistic?
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Re: New to EL - a few questions

Post by SolarWarden »

I haven't tried vectoring the bounce. Probably not too much control, if any. It's usually an accident, lol.
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