About to purchase game.. Couple questions

[Kuroth]

Hi.. This game looks great and I am about to purchase. Had a couple questions..

1.. Is there any advantage to Purchasing the game from the game web site vs Steam? Meaning are their mods are anything that I cant use if I buy it on Steam? I normally buy games on Steam and that is where I would like to purchase this game unless there is some good reasons not to..

2.. I dont fully understand the differences between the On-Line MMO mode vs the Single player mode..
What mode is best to play in, in your options??? Is there an advantage of one over the other? Is there things missing from the SP that are only in the On-Line mode or vise-versa?


Thanks.

[CS-ACI-]

Hello,

Hi.. This game looks great and I am about to purchase. Had a couple questions..

1.. Is there any advantage to Purchasing the game from the game web site vs Steam? Meaning are their mods are anything that I cant use if I buy it on Steam? I normally buy games on Steam and that is where I would like to purchase this game unless there is some good reasons not to..

2.. I dont fully understand the differences between the On-Line MMO mode vs the Single player mode..
What mode is best to play in, in your options??? Is there an advantage of one over the other? Is there things missing from the SP that are only in the On-Line mode or vise-versa?


Thanks.

As far as where to purchase from, game play is the same. I always buy from the developers site, that way you get the most up to date version.

Single player mode means only you and the computer controlled ships, but you can play this way forever, there is so much to do and learn. You can also ( over time ) change some aspects of the enemy in the way you deal with them. Play nice and they will be nice, pick fights and they will fight.

Online play has the advantage of getting help from other players online, this can come in several ways. Help with game play, credits, equipment and help when you run out of fuel. Online you can not change they way computer controlled factions will react to you.

There are also some servers that only allow online profiles, so you have to play them online only.

You can have several profiles to try out the different paths in the game.

Steve

[SeeJay]

Hi and welcome.

1) You can buy either way. I always buy from the dev himself. I assume he gets more of the pay that way.
If you buy via Steam, it's a bit more complicated to install mods but it works. I think there is a thread discussing that already.

2) The profile carries over between SP <-> MP. Build stuff (Stations etc) does not carry over tho. What you build in SP stays there and what you build in MP stays on that server.
In MP you can't do the Race contract (Part of any quest) since the only racing in MP is between players only.
Other than that, you can get all the help you need in MP with hints, contracts, quest etc.

I almost never play SP. The only time I do it is to try any mod I made until I'm satisfied with it.

See ya in Space!

[Marvin]

Also, you cannot own territory as part of a clan in SP mode. For that, you must log on to a server ... 'tho territory doesn't carry over to other servers.

[Sinbad]

Hi Kuroth, welcome to the game and the forum!

I highly recommend playing in multiplayer. It can be much more fun when you interact and team up with other players. At the same time space is so big, you can still play solo in mp if you don't feel social. Most players are usually very friendly and helpful online.

[Busch]

Hello Kuroth, and welcome aboard!

To my mind, there's only one drawback between SP and MP modes, (and it's really nothing of any major concern) is that your system reputation with the factions that you've built in SP mode, gets 'locked' when one transfers to MP mode. It's only fair, and mostly balances the system/faction rep dichotomy of both modes. This feature is/was intended to 'protect' the global and faction rep advances one makes in SP. Whereas in MP mode, the global rep (Good, Fair, Moderate, Hostile) is fixed/locked, and the system faction rep scaling is pretty much a free-for-all. In MP mode, should one achieve a faction rep roll-over in a particular system, the MP server game software WILL NOT change the global rep, but WILL reset the faction reps, with a slight increase in the faction percentage points (starting somewhere in the mid to upper 70's and/or lower to mid 80's percentile for the law-and-order side, and a coin-toss of percentages for the less-than-legal side). Slightly greater than 80% for the E-M-N bloc, and around 10-12% G-R bloc, will release the hounds of faction rep roll-over.

Kill the Rebels! Kill the Rebels! Kill the Rebels! (sung to the tune of 'Kill the Wabbit'.) :P:P:P:P

[Kuroth]

Thank you all for your answers and Info..

[PaulB]

To expand a little: in SP you can, by doing combat contracts in a system, change that system from whatever it's current Rating is to a better rating.
Fair to Good
Moderate to Fair to Good
Hostile to Moderate to Fair to Good
Depending on your skills and the time you put into it.
You can't do that in Multiplayer mode. The System rating are set and don't change in MP - a Fair system will always be Fair, etc etc.

In SP (if you have the inclination) you can turn the whole to Good status if you choose (with the possible exception of the War Zones and Vonari system - I'm not sure about those).

But, IMO, it's very hard to convert Moderate and Hostile systems to Good unless you are a VERY GOOD combat figher and pilot (which I'm not). The main reason being that while combat contracts in Fair systems have you dealing with only 3 to 4 Hostiles per waypoint, in Moderate and Hostiles systems the contracts have you taking on 10+ Hostiles per waypoint, which for me is extremely tough. You can even the odds some if you can afford to hire AI Wingmen to help with the contracts - but that's very expensive.

That's what I would say is one of the biggest differences between SP and MP.

[Edited on 11-26-2014 by PaulB]