New to the Evochron experience, was hoping for a bit of help.

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 6:45 pm

I really do hope my questions haven't already been answered, since I did try the search option and google.

As the title states, I'm new to Evochron, and actually new to the space sim genre as a whole. I've always wanted to play something similar to this but didn't know they existed. So I've come to this board in hopes that the few questions that I've had lingering in the back of my mind while I've been playing this gem of a game can be answered.

First off, I've been traveling through the portal gates between the first area the game introduces you to and the ringed planet area. I've heard of other locations, but have been unable to visit them. Is this a limitation of my ship, or do portals have a set destination?

My character is a miner at heart, but down the road I'd like to experiment on the pirate/mercenary side. With that said, could I set up my ship to be capable of both activities? From what I've seen there is no limit to what your ship can do, but I have seen that certain ships and certain layouts are better equipped to handle certain tasks than others.

What exactly is the purpose of co op? Is it just like the single player aspect except having a buddy to share the experience with?

And this was just a curious question about the individual who created this game. Is this the finished product? I'm basically curious if I can look forward to updates in the future.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:02 pm

Hello spiritgod, There are portals (gates & wormholes) to many, many systems. You need to look for a reddish X on the nav map for a gate in the system you are in. Every ship can visit every system. Some of the gate are close to a planet so you have to look (zoom in) to see them. There is an option on the the nav map to list gates by them selves which can be a help just don't forget to switch it back to show other things when you need them. The portals have fixed destinations. Starting out as a miner is not a detriment it just gives you equipment for that function more than others. You are free to change your equipment and ships at any time (all it takes is money). Co-op or MP play is great for many reasons. You get to learn from others, earn money as you fly with them on missions, get to know some great pilots and share the overall experience. Vice is the creator of the game and he is forever improving it for our enjoyment. You may see updates as new items are added or changes are made to improve the performance of the Sim. Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you in "Multi-Player" sometime.

mikeuk · Post by **mikeuk** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 7:24 pm

Welcome spiritgod you have found the most enjoyable sim and helpful community;)

Hope to see you in MP sometime

[Edited on 2-9-2012 by mikeuk]

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:43 pm

From post: 129781, Topic: tid=8868, author=thetiebers wrote:Hello spiritgod, There are portals (gates & wormholes) to many, many systems. You need to look for a reddish X on the nav map for a gate in the system you are in. Every ship can visit every system. Some of the gate are close to a planet so you have to look (zoom in) to see them. There is an option on the the nav map to list gates by them selves which can be a help just don't forget to switch it back to show other things when you need them. The portals have fixed destinations. Starting out as a miner is not a detriment it just gives you equipment for that function more than others. You are free to change your equipment and ships at any time (all it takes is money). Co-op or MP play is great for many reasons. You get to learn from others, earn money as you fly with them on missions, get to know some great pilots and share the overall experience. Vice is the creator of the game and he is forever improving it for our enjoyment. You may see updates as new items are added or changes are made to improve the performance of the Sim. Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you in "Multi-Player" sometime.

Thanks, I must've only seen the one near the space station and didn't bother to look elsewhere. And thanks for clearing things up for me. From what I've played I'm enjoying things a lot, and hope to keep at it. You may see me in MP, but I tend to stay within the confines of SP unless I have a close friend joining me.

And thanks for the welcome mikeuk.

And sorry for yet another question, but it seems I forgot to list this in my first post. Can you upgrade the mine beam? While mining I've only been able to get Diamonds, Platinum, and Metal, but I hear of other minerals like Gold and Silver. Do I need a special beam for certain ores or do I need to upgrade the beam I already have?

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 8:46 pm

Hi and welcome.

You can mine any mtrl with the basic mining beam.

There are special beams for gold, plat ... if you want it.

I always use the basic one.

Post by **Marvin** » Thu Feb 09, 2012 11:56 pm

An asteroid field usually contains between one and three types of material. Planets, on the other hand, hold a full house.

Edit:

No, wait. Bad analogy. A full house is only two of one kind and three of another. Planets have everything.

[Edited on 2-9-2012 by Marvin]

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 6:48 am

Hi spiritgod, and welcome.
You don't need to apologize when asking questions

To clarify/add a bit on what was already explained: for mining, you can use any beam you want. The generic one will mine anything. However, some of the time you may want to mine a specific mineral (because it sells better), like plat/diamonds. If you use a specialized beam, it'll speed up the process because it only picks up that mineral.

To further speed up mining, you may want to use probes (when you can afford them), and you should move the beam around, it speeds things up.

You can switch between "roles" (miner, mercenary, explorer) at any time, in fact, you can be any and all of them at all times. There are no restrictions (one of the best features of the game).

Vice, the game developer, constantly improves things, so yes you can expect updates. One of the amazing things is that he usually addresses and fixes any bugs right away. And by "right away" I mean the same day, or the day after, in most cases. Good luck getting that kind of help from - hell, pretty much anyone else out there

There are fairly constant improvements, which are new versions, which you can find out about in the announcements section. A new one just came out, 1.828, so you may want to download that.

There's also an expansion coming up at some point, read more here:
http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmerce ... opment.htm

You can keep any equipment you want, for example you can have several specialized mining beams and carry them all around at the same time, and use whichever you want (though I expect you'll only be able to actually mount one at a time, but you can switch anytime).

You can buy all the gear/equipment/weapons in the game; higher tech is usually in the more advanced systems (look in your navmap at the political/technological map).

You can switch ships anytime, too. It's all about money, which can be very easily achieved, so you can play a different ship every day if you want. You can store ships and equipment, too, though that gets expensive and not worthwhile very quickly. It's cheaper to just get another ship than to store one, in most cases.

All ships can go anywhere, but you'll want the best jump drive so you can move faster.

Have fun!

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:30 am

Hi Spiritgod, welcome to the game and forum!.....Hope to see you out there some time!.....

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:47 am

Thanks everyone! It seems as if this game will be my new Minecraft. Where I'm given a sandbox and told to have at it. I love games where the developers is so connected to their projects that it seems like the game will never be done with updates and the like. Is Vice vocal with the community? Not that I'm expecting a talk with him, but the best/fresh ideas always come from the community.

@Flying Brick, SeeJay, and Marvin
Thanks for the clarification. Evochron is going to be a game that I'll have to master with a lot of time within the game. Also, I had no idea you could mine planets, well I knew you could mine oxygen, but not the planet itself...I'll give that a go in my next start up.

SeeJay · Post by **SeeJay** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:54 am

Yes spiritgod.

Vice is very active in this community and he also "listens" to all suggestions we have.

He has already implemented many of them into the game and keeps all ideas for future use if possible.

Don't be surprised if you encounter him in MP sometime!;)

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 2:21 pm

From post: 129916, Topic: tid=8868, author=SeeJay wrote:Yes spiritgod.

Vice is very active in this community and he also "listens" to all suggestions we have.

He has already implemented many of them into the game and keeps all ideas for future use if possible.

Don't be surprised if you encounter him in MP sometime!;)

That's awesome! And thanks again everyone for answering my questions.

Post by **Marvin** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:16 pm

Mining planets is a great way to start out. For one thing, it teaches you: (a) to always save when you've loaded up your cargo bays (before doing anything else); and (b) how to disengage from "hover" without blowing up. Usually after a lot of practice.

Busch · Post by **Busch** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 8:58 pm

Hey SpiritG! Welcome aboard the game/sim and community! Lots of friendly and helpful folks here. After you've spent some time doing as you like, you may notice an inclination to swap out ship frames and equipment. Usually, cash on hand isn't an obstacle. Locating that next frame may be. Most all of the civilian-framed ships are available at the various trade stations, where ever located. It does however, depend upon the system economy which frame types will be available to you. There is one frame that is only available at select locations. Inquire when next on-line/MPspace. Some one may give you directions.

Civilian frames = credits/location. Military frames = rank/credits/@ carriers only. Military ships equipment slots/missile slots are dependent on frame design parameters (can't be scaled). The work horse of my civilian fleet is my finely tuned Mammoth, in a Q-ship set-up (Very heavily armed/armored merchantman). 5 cgo bays, C-10 engines, C-9 shields, C-7 wings, 2 fuel pods, IceSpear/Fusion/Excal wpns combo. And, I hit up the local carrier should I require a military frame for Vonari bashing or PvP bouts. Found this has worked well for me. Hope you have lots of fun with this! We'll see yaz out dere!

:P:P:P:P

[Edited on 2-10-2012 by FADM Busch]

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Fri Feb 10, 2012 11:19 pm

Thanks for all the welcomes. It seems with each passing hour of me playing I learn something new, or really I learn a lot of new things...still can't believe you can mine the rings of planets for water. Kind of wish I could land on asteroids though.

@FADM Busch
I'm gonna have to find that Mammoth ship you talked about. I'm not reaching the limits of my upgraded ship but it would be nice to know where my next ship was located and how much I need to save up.

Post by **Marvin** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 12:18 am

One of the quadrant maps shows you the tech level of each star system. Try the systems with a higher tech level.

BraveHart · Post by **BraveHart** » Sat Feb 11, 2012 5:12 pm

"Welcome Aboard Spiritgod"....You can even find a constructor station in which you can construct items that you have mined. That's a pretty cool feature of the game.

XinCasa · Post by **XinCasa** » Sun Feb 12, 2012 8:46 am

Welcome spiritgod. I'm a newbie too. In this game I'm finding out that we're all newbies except Vice and his lieutenents, Viper, Marvin, Maarschalk, Bravehart & Seejay. Some newbies are newer than others. Here are some answers to your questions:

(1) "First off, I've been traveling through the portal gates between the first area the game introduces you to and the ringed planet area. I've heard of other locations, but have been unable to visit them. Is this a limitation of my ship, or do portals have a set destination?"

Familiarize yourself with the navigation console after reading the tutorial. There are no travel limitations for any ship other than its specs & capabilities. All portals or gates are designated in the navigation console and pilot radar as purple dots, and identified by text.

(2) "My character is a miner at heart, but down the road I'd like to experiment on the pirate/mercenary side. With that said, could I set up my ship to be capable of both activities?"

Characters are determined by the four "Available Pilot Profiles" once created: Mercenary, Miner/Trader, combat and racer, each with their own particular loadouts and attributes at game beginning. Ship availability is based on your civilian & military stats, of which you will become more aware as you progress.

(3) "What exactly is the purpose of co op?"

The "co op" is simply multiplayer whose purpose is to optionally create interactive relationships with other in-game players. Your stats, acquisitions, and progression/regresssion in singleplayer is transferred to multiplayer instances, but only your stats & acquisitions are transferred back to your single player instances. Good luck Pilot

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 12:41 am

Man, everyone is so friendly on this forum!

As time progresses I begin to gain ground on what this game has to offer, and then a new set of things need to be learned and then I'm again getting that deep feeling that I've barely scratched the surface. I am truly loving this game! It might not be perfect, but it's the space exploration game that is scratching an itch that I've had for far too long. I can't recommend it enough to my friends.

Right now I'm heading to Sol, keeping an eye on my nav screen, but knowing the trip will take some time...I can't believe how massive this game world is! I've placed one trade station as a refueling/jump marker station, and hope to build a few more. I kind of wish there weren't so many limitations against building stations, but I'm sure there is good reason.

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:09 am

From post: 130351, Topic: tid=8868, author=spiritgod wrote:I kind of wish there weren't so many limitations against building stations, but I'm sure there is good reason.

There are only two limitations that I know of:

1. You can't build three trade stations in adjoining sectors.

2. You can't have more than fifty trade stations inside a defined area of space.

3. Trade stations must be built within +/- 50,000 subsectors of a sector's center point.

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:26 am

From post: 130366, Topic: tid=8868, author=Marvin wrote:
From post: 130351, Topic: tid=8868, author=spiritgod wrote:I kind of wish there weren't so many limitations against building stations, but I'm sure there is good reason.
There are only two limitations that I know of:

1. You can't build three trade stations in adjoining sectors.

2. You can't have more than fifty trade stations inside a defined area of space.

3. Trade stations must be built within +/- 50,000 subsectors of a sector's center point.

This is yet another case of me speaking before I know 100% the facts. Now that I've built several stations, I no longer think the limitations are too much.

Post by **Marvin** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:44 am

I know I changed "two" to "three" ... I swear, reality is falling apart ... and I'm standing right underneath it.

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 7:12 am

I _was_ gonna say that this must be the new "Marvin math"...

edit: so that my post is more than just jibe, Marvin, can you please clarify what you mean by "defined area of space" ?

[Edited on 2-13-2012 by Flying Brick]

spiritgod · Post by **spiritgod** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 3:26 pm

Not to get off topic are anything, but I've set my ship to inertial running at 7019. I spent most of last night just heading toward Sol from Sirius, and woke up this morning to do the same thing. I gave up on building trade stations since I'm not completely out of money but am being more cautious. I wasn't expecting a 20 minute ride but I'm into the hours now. How long does it take to reach Sol?

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:32 pm

From post: 130405, Topic: tid=8868, author=Flying Brick wrote:I _was_ gonna say that this must be the new "Marvin math"...

edit: so that my post is more than just jibe, Marvin, can you please clarify what you mean by "defined area of space" ?

[Edited on 2-13-2012 by Flying Brick]

The Defined area is a System or Group, as in one Case, of Systems!....

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 4:34 pm

From post: 130437, Topic: tid=8868, author=spiritgod wrote:Not to get off topic are anything, but I've set my ship to inertial running at 7019. I spent most of last night just heading toward Sol from Sirius, and woke up this morning to do the same thing. I gave up on building trade stations since I'm not completely out of money but am being more cautious. I wasn't expecting a 20 minute ride but I'm into the hours now. How long does it take to reach Sol?

There is a thread in the newbie thread that explains about distances and speed. So all you have to do is measure the Distance and you can calculate how long it will take to get there from your current position and speed!.....

http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewtop ... #pid127801

[Edited on 2-13-2012 by Maarschalk]