Hello and ?

[Driven]

Greetings

Been watching these forums for last few months since I discovered this game series on gamespot, decided to take a look and was pleasantly surprised to find a MP space-combat game on the verge of having a new release. I will have to say I was impressed to see a primarily 1-dev game go so far, and has a pretty loyal following as well.

Thus, being a newbie, I've got a few questions as well.


1- It seems apparent that there are many going to EM that played atleast EL a fair bit. Will everyone in EM be starting off on the same foot at release, poor and talon-piloting? Or will say beta-testers or the obvious vets get some boost to their former glory? Doesnt bother me either way, being new anyways, but after all that work just to start over...

2- With the territory control system coming in (excellent idea btw, really made EVE what it was till they killed it), It would seem to me that there will definitely be times where more than 35 players will be wanting to expand their respective clans' borders and economies, which in EVEs case turned into a meta-game play of logging on early to blob a system to hamper proper loading for the opponents. Albiet a low blow, it seems easily plausible for something similar to happen here. So i guess the question is will it be possible to increase the amount of total players if the hi-pop servers (I'm guessing B5 is gonna be the main server for most) can handle it, or is 35 a hard-coded cap?

3- Simple one, but no one has gone out and said it: I'm guessing military frames cannot be modified (wings, engines etc scaled and translated), true?


Thanks and the 17th can't come any faster!

[MMaggio]

Thanks for your interest & compliments.
Everyone will start with the basic loadout except for the beta testors.
However, they will only keep their profiles. Any stations or territories they clamed will be lost.
The 35 player limit is not written in stone. If any upgrades are necessary, they will be done.
P.S. Babylon 5 will be "retired" and the new server name will be, "Regula One".
That is correct, military frames can not be modified.

[Marvin]

1. Beta testers have the option of starting over or using the profile developed while testing the game. I suspect many of them will attempt to start over ... but hold their Beta profiles in reserve.

2. MMaggio runs the server most used by current players. He guards it like a mother hen and will make sure nobody successfully "blobs" the system.

3. Military ships can only be modded one way: extra fuel capacity.

[Blackthorne]

1. Well, presumably the savegames are compatible between versions, so anyone who played the beta will have a slight edge. Then again, Evochron is pretty low-grind as far as equipment is concerned, you just need to know where to look; I can get a decent heavy civilian frame with top-notch armaments in about 2 hours in Legends, and I doubt Mercenary will change that.

2. Player numbers are dependent on available bandwidth. IIRC, the actual cap is around 50 on a LAN connection. Also, this is not EVE. No one here pays a monthly fee, and if you get blown up you simply respawn with all of your stuff from the last save intact. Besides, all territory control gives you is a bit of extra cash and bragging rights. Believe me when I tell you that money matters little in Evochron, once you passed a certain threshold. This is a sandboxy space sim, NOT an MMO. If you're into clan warfare, it's usually mutual for the thrill of the battle, NOT because there is only one server and whoever controls a certain resource can screw the rest of the players to their hearts content. Big difference here.
If it was about resources, I could simply set up a new private server, give my buddies the IP and then control the territory there. Savegames are interchangeable between servers, single and multiplayer.
Also, there's a reason why this is a rather mellow and friendly community - there is no pressure to perform in any of the Evochron games. If you join multiplayer, it's for the social interaction mostly. Most people won't even care what frame you are flying or what gun you are using.
Which is a rare enough thing in a multiplayer game today, which mostly consist of virtual highfiving and performing stuff so that your epeen might grow. I'm sick of this, especially of the extremes found in MMO games. EVE's community was by far the worst I have experienced. Not all people were bad, but if the general consensus is that everyone might be out to screw you, something is very, very wrong.

3. You could change the fuel tank back in Legends, but since there was nothing you could use the freed up structure points for, it was pointless. The visuals on the military frames were unchanged, though. Mercenary won't change that, though I still hope there will be support for decals in the future. I've got a bunch of nose art pinups, and nowhere to put them.

-Blackthorne

[Edited on 9-8-2010 by MMaggio]

[BraveHart]

"Welcome Aboard Driven"......You'll have a Great time in MP

[MMaggio]

One point of error, Mr. Blackthorne.
Mercenary saved games in multiplayer are NOT entirely transferrable from one server to another.
Although you can use the same pilot profile, you cannot transfer territorial rights and/or stations you have built.

[49rTbird]

Hello Driven, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you out there sometime.

[Blackthorne]

Originally posted by MMaggio
One point of error, Mr. Blackthorne.
Mercenary saved games in multiplayer are NOT entirely transferrable from one server to another.
Although you can use the same pilot profile, you cannot transfer territorial rights and/or stations you have built.

That raises an interesting question.
Assume I play single player and build a station, then leave for a quick jaunt into the multiplayer mode, and of course save my game there.
Will the station I've built in the singleplayer still be there once I return to SP mode, or do they disappear due to savegame incompatibility?

-Blackthorne

[Edited on 8-9-2010 by Blackthorne]

[MMaggio]

No, it won't. Player built stations will be saved by the server and not in the players's file.
Of course, it will be there in SP.

[Edited on 9-8-2010 by MMaggio]

[Blackthorne]

How exactly does the program handle that for the single player side? Two separate savegames, one for the player and one for the universe?

-Blackthorne

[MMaggio]

All player built stations & territorial gains in MP will be stored on the server, and not on the players HD. Sp, naturally saves whatever you accomplish in SP.
As for how it works, you will have to ask Vice.
All I know is that's the way it is and I have upgraded the server to store & handle all the extra info.

[Vice]

MM described it accurately there. MP details for universe additions are saved server side, SP client side. Some players may want to keep separate profiles for SP and MP gameplay, some may just keep the same one(s).

[Maarschalk]

Hi Driven, welcome to the game and forum. Some good questions you posted here. Hope to see you out there sometime......

[Driven]

Thanks to everyone for the quick replies, I hope to be in MP as much as possible.

Originally posted by Blackthorne

2. Player numbers are dependent on available bandwidth. IIRC, the actual cap is around 50 on a LAN connection. Also, this is not EVE. No one here pays a monthly fee, and if you get blown up you simply respawn with all of your stuff from the last save intact. Besides, all territory control gives you is a bit of extra cash and bragging rights. Believe me when I tell you that money matters little in Evochron, once you passed a certain threshold. This is a sandboxy space sim, NOT an MMO. If you're into clan warfare, it's usually mutual for the thrill of the battle, NOT because there is only one server and whoever controls a certain resource can screw the rest of the players to their hearts content. Big difference here.
If it was about resources, I could simply set up a new private server, give my buddies the IP and then control the territory there. Savegames are interchangeable between servers, single and multiplayer.
Also, there's a reason why this is a rather mellow and friendly community - there is no pressure to perform in any of the Evochron games. If you join multiplayer, it's for the social interaction mostly. Most people won't even care what frame you are flying or what gun you are using.
Which is a rare enough thing in a multiplayer game today, which mostly consist of virtual highfiving and performing stuff so that your epeen might grow. I'm sick of this, especially of the extremes found in MMO games. EVE's community was by far the worst I have experienced. Not all people were bad, but if the general consensus is that everyone might be out to screw you, something is very, very wrong.

if this were the eve forums i'd be obliged to say "u mad, bro?":P

But it isn't, and I guess some people can get pushed the wrong way in EVE but it really depends on who you were with. I ran with the NC, more specifically -42- and it was downright chill for the most part, ofc there are some exceptions but it was about as frosty as 400+ people in an op taking down some hostile stations can be. If you hung out in lowsec or hisec its a different story but 0.0 its accepted if you're not blue you're getting shot at, so working together with your fellow blues becomes addictively fun.

And yes, I'll agree its rare, but its not really the communities that are at fault(if you consider it a fault, i find the act of people taking an internet spaceships game super seriously hilarious, makes for funny reading), its that most multiplayer games lean toward the scarcity principle more than Evochron seems to. Believe me, if there was the same systems in place in EVE everyone would be going gf gf gf all around, and from my perusings of these forums i notice that some pilots are not completely without pride, though this may be RP, but i digress...

I guess I do have one more question, why isn't the 17th right now?

[PingBosun]

Driven,

To answer your last question, it's Dewta.

[Edited on 9/9/10 by PingBosun]

[Maarschalk]

LOL........:P:P:P:P......where is that Temple?