Hello, I\'m the new guy.

[Vaenn]

Hello, everyone.

I bought Mercenary a few days ago after mulling over the idea for awhile. I stumbled upon Renegade (or was it Legends? Whichever one was before Mercenary.) I saw that Mercenary was due out soon so I decided to wait. Even then, I still debated on whether or not to get it, but now that I have, I'm blown away. I'm a huge fan of space sims and this is turning out to be my favorite so far.

I'd like to thank everyone for the information provided on the forums. I'd have been lost without it and it definitely sped up the learning curve.

I do have a few questions that I didn't find any info for on the forums. I apologize if they have been answered already.

1. Are missiles really worth it? Most of the time when I launch a missile at a target they seem to easily evade it or spam CMs and the missile never scores a hit. Is there a better way to launch them? A more opportune time or range, maybe? Also, the later missiles aren't cheap. Using them seems to cut any profit I'd make on a contract in half. The higher tier missiles can cost in the millions, too!

I know that contracts will pay better as I progress and that (hopefully) I will still net a nice profit from them even after using missiles. Still, I feel like with some of the more expensive missiles it'd be like strapping rockets to my check book and firing it at the enemy with an audible "$ka-ching$" sound. Forget how I'd feel if said rocket-powered check book missed the target! Then I'd just kick myself for wasting money on the rockets.


2. Is the higher level combat able to be performed in a civilian frame? Or is it better to have a military frame? I don't always want to fight, so I like the civilian frames for their exploration and mining capabilities as well as building and deploying. I keep getting my rear end handed to me in fights with over 4-5 enemies, though. I'm definitely getting better and learning how to use the inertial strafing techniques, so I think I'll be able to manage eventually. I just wonder if I'll eventually need to switch to a military frame for combat, which would suck because I like the civilian frames for the reasons I mentioned above.


3. What's multi-player like? I usually play single-player only, but after reading these forums MP seems to be pretty popular and I'd be willing to give it a shot if I knew I wouldn't be blown to bits every five minutes by someone RPing a pirate or something (as has happened in other space sims I've tried online). Also, are there multiple servers? Is there a main server where most of you play? Finally, who/what is this "Romulan" I keep hearing about??? Sounds nasty.


Anyway, thanks for reading. I didn't intend to make this such a long post. Thanks again for all the great info on the forums and if I do decide to hop onto MP, look for either "Vaenn" or "V420" (not sure which I'll use yet) and, please, don't blow me up.

[Svarog]

Welcome

[Vaenn]

Hey, Svarog. Just saw your post. Nice to meet the other new guy.

[Svarog]

Nice to meet you to Vaenn, hope I see you in multiplayer soon .

[Ravenfeeder]

MP, in EM, is reasonably friendly. Most pilots will help you rather than destroy you. You might, small might, get the occasional dusting, sorta welcoming, but, it's very infrequent.

Another point with MP, on your missile shots. In MP you can do missions with other pilots, which cuts down on your own missile consumption, and, increases your profit. Your profit can also increase in another way; In MP, as you've noticed, the higher the rank, the more you get paid. As a pilot, with a higher ranking than yourself, may take the mission, you, and everyone who survives the mission, gets paid the same, at the higher rate - nice, eh?

You can perform military missions in civvy ships. Whilst the civvy ships lack the agility of the military ones, they make up for that in being able to carry more equipment - the mil ships only have 5 equipment slots. Also, the mil ships don't have cargo bays, so, you, in your civvy ships have all that lovely cargo floating around, just waiting to be picked up - more money per mission!!

Enjoy. Hope to see you in MP.

[49rTbird]

Hello Vaenn, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Multi-Player is great for training and learning the ropes. The best server is Remula One. Missiles and ships depend on your abilities and style. I fight with a Civie ship most times. See you out there sometime.

[Vaenn]

Originally posted by Ravenfeeder
MP, in EM, is reasonably friendly. Most pilots will help you rather than destroy you. You might, small might, get the occasional dusting, sorta welcoming, but, it's very infrequent.

Another point with MP, on your missile shots. In MP you can do missions with other pilots, which cuts down on your own missile consumption, and, increases your profit. Your profit can also increase in another way; In MP, as you've noticed, the higher the rank, the more you get paid. As a pilot, with a higher ranking than yourself, may take the mission, you, and everyone who survives the mission, gets paid the same, at the higher rate - nice, eh?

You can perform military missions in civvy ships. Whilst the civvy ships lack the agility of the military ones, they make up for that in being able to carry more equipment - the mil ships only have 5 equipment slots. Also, the mil ships don't have cargo bays, so, you, in your civvy ships have all that lovely cargo floating around, just waiting to be picked up - more money per mission!!

Enjoy. Hope to see you in MP.

Thank you! Good info. Looks like MP is the way to go. I don't mind getting blown up every now and then, but it becomes annoying when it happens all the time. I used to play EVE but it felt like I was locked out from a huge portion of the game because I couldn't explore without getting ganked at a gate by a pirate corp.

Maybe you'll be seeing me there sooner rather than later.

Hello Vaenn, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Multi-Player is great for training and learning the ropes. The best server is Remula One. Missiles and ships depend on your abilities and style. I fight with a Civie ship most times. See you out there sometime.

Thanks! Also, thanks for the server tip.


Oh, and after reading some more, I believe Romulan is just a player that likes to blow up noobs, right? Seems simple now, I was just confused by the way Romulan is sort of talked about like a myth or legend. I thought maybe he was an NPC or something.

[Marvin]

Originally posted by Vaenn

Most of the time when I launch a missile at a target they seem to easily evade it or spam CMs and the missile never scores a hit. Is there a better way to launch them? A more opportune time or range, maybe? Also, the later missiles aren't cheap.

If you're too close to your target, his CMs will almost always defeat your missiles. For me, a good range is around 1600-2100 ... except for capital ships. Caps don't use CMs ... ergo, the closer you get before launching, the better. And, if you have the patience (or you have the nerver to go back into the pack with only guns), outfit your ship with Excals. They recharge every three minutes ... for free.

[Vaenn]

Originally posted by Marvin

If you're too close to your target, his CMs will almost always defeat your missiles. For me, a good range is around 1600-2100 ... except for capital ships. Caps don't use CMs ... ergo, the closer you get before launching, the better. And, if you have the patience (or you have the nerver to go back into the pack with only guns), outfit your ship with Excals. They recharge every three minutes ... for free.

Thanks! Just tried this and it works great! I figured If I launched missiles at long range the A.I. would have more time to use CMs and evade. Seems the opposite is true, strangely enough. Before, I was launching missiles at around 500-700.

And excals recharge?! That would make the high price tag worth it! Especially with 6 missile slots. Thanks for the info!

[Maarschalk]

Hi Vaenn, welcome to the game and forum. I do not want to burst your enthausiatic bubble about the excalibur, but it takes up eight missile slots. If you have only six available you can not install one. Also it takes a whole 3 minutes to recharge at that recharge rate you better know what you are doing in very hostile territory. You will not have enough counter measures for extreme enemy missle spams in the 3 minutes it takes to recharge....LOL.......but it is fun trying to survive and try to complete a mission in extreme hostile combat....:P:P:P:P

[Edited on 10-19-2010 by Maarschalk]

[Vaenn]

Thanks, Maarschalk. Yeah, you actually just caught me coming off of my "Aww man, it takes 8 slots!" depression, lol!

No biggie. I think I'm getting the hang of missiles now, anyway.

[BraveHart]

"Welcome Aboard Vaenn and Svarog"...See you in MP

[Marvin]

At 1800-2000 kps, on inertial, you'll usually zip right past enemy missiles (except those headed nose-on). Use A/B to reverse course. But don't try this tactic in PvP ... unlike the AI, human pilots make use of A/B to catch up.

[SeeJay]

Hello Vaenn.

Welcomr to a great sim and forum.

Hope to see ya out there.

[Sinbad]

Hi Vaenn, welcome to Evochron!

I find missiles are most effective when the enemy is heading towards you. Launching them in their face makes it much more difficult for them to evade.

I'm also more of an explorer than a fighter pilot but I've done my fair share in the war zones in military ships. Yes they are of course optimised for combat and handle better in this regard. However, the higher end civilian frames can be more than sufficient for carrying out combat missions. I particularly recommend the Starmaster frame if you can find it.

[BraveHart]

"Welcome Aboard Vaenn"...Yup missiles come in handy

[Vaenn]

Thanks again for the warm welcome, everyone, and thank you for the info!

I experimented with Excals. I'm torn. I like them for the damage potential and the near guaranteed death of whatever A.I. fighter I fire them at. I also like that if the first few missiles destroy the target, the rest will attempt to acquire new targets (albeit unsuccessfully most of the time in my experience. They just seem to fly in loops.). With the price tag on excals, and considering the long recharge time, I'm thinking I may just stick with regular missiles. If the excals recharged a little faster, or if each excal could be fired individually with an individual timer for each, I think I'd be more willing to keep them.

I do have one more question, though. I was trying to experiment with the Build Constructor last night, but every time I tried to place a station I got a message that said something like, "Invalid placement: Must be -50k/50k." Not an exact quote, but it's close. The problem is it doesn't say what the station needs to be -50k or 50k from. I tried with various ranges from planets and other stations, but I can't seem to place one. Can anyone tell me what it means?

[PandaBear]

It need to be -50/50 away from another station. Best way to get a hang of it is to jump way out of nowhere then place 1. After the station or contruck are place then you can place ore, energy or research station close to your station

[Edited on 10-19-2010 by PandaBear]

[Sinbad]

Just a slight correction if I may PandaBear... -50/50k refers to the fact that you have to be within 50k of the center of the sector. Outside that distance and you're too close to the edges of the sector. Also you have to be at least 2 or 3 (can't remember exactly) sectors away from the nearest station.

[Marvin]

Originally posted by Vaenn

With the price tag on excals, and considering the long recharge time, I'm thinking I may just stick with regular missiles. If the excals recharged a little faster, or if each excal could be fired individually with an individual timer for each, I think I'd be more willing to keep them.

Recharge time was a lot quicker in Legends (30 seconds) ... making contracts all too easy once you got the hang of combat. I think you'll eventually find that three minutes is a good trade-off ... making Excals a good missile but not necessarily so good that it becomes every pilot's first choice.

[BraveHart]

"Good for those long distant trips through Hostile territory"...

[Vaenn]

Thanks PandaBear and MCCON. I got the station thing working now.

As far as excals go, well there's benefits and drawbacks to just about everything in this game. At the moment, I'd prefer to have 8 missiles that I can fire individually at whatever I want, whenever I want. Though, the excals do tend to put my mind (and bank account) at ease since they pay for themselves after awhile. Like BraveHart says, they're also good when you travel deep into enemy territory. Like I did recently. Except even the excals couldn't make up for my error...

See, I was exploring in a warzone and got bored so I decided to take one of those sweet-looking, high pay contracts in the warzone. So when I jump in there's a Vonari battleship with at least 14 fighters escorting it. I was prepared for that by the contract description. What I wasn't prepared for was warping INTO a friendly cruiser, bouncing off of it, getting swarmed by enemy fighters, getting hit with flak from the Vonari ship, bouncing OFF the vonari cap ship while trying to flee in panic, having 6-8 different missile alarms blaring at the same time with their accompanying range indicators cluttering my screen, and finally going "BOOM!" That all happened in about 30 seconds...

When all was said and done, my throat was raw from screaming, my keyboard somehow managed to fall to the floor, and I was left holding my breath while I held my head in both hands.

that doesn't really have much to do with what we were talking about, but I figured I'd share my first experience with large-ish scale combat with all of you.

[BraveHart]

"ROFL" ....Yeah that's a War Zone for you

[Marvin]

It's much more fun to escape with about 8% of your hull remaining ... and watching your radar screen do the jitters.

[Vaenn]

YEAH! The radar thing! I had never seen that before! I usually just go BOOM. While all that stuff was going on the radar was on the fritz and my weapons were making high-pitched empty ketchup bottle sounds or something. That just added to the "OMG WTF IS GOING ON?!?!?! TOO MANY RED LIGHTS AND ALARMS! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!" factor.

I think I never saw it before because I was using a lighter frame until then. Now I have a Starmaster, so I guess the heavy armor allowed me to live long enough without shields to notice my sub-systems going haywire.

I REALLY wish I could have seen myself from the Vonari perspective though. I was bouncing between two capital ships getting shot to pieces and I suspect it looked very much like an old school game of Pong. Except I was the flaming Pong ball screaming obscenities and crying for my mommy! Lol!