I just picked this game up, and I really like most of what I see (at least before I start actually playing). The details that went into ship controls, the cockpit, navigation systems, etc. are all really cool.
What's killing me is that I can't figure out the combat. I've played for a few hours, and I've looked at various tutorials and videos, and none of them seem to match the experience that I'm having with this game or address the problems I'm having.
Essentially, what happens is everything I try to kill has more shields than I have weapon power. I set all of my power to weapons, and if I'm lucky I can almost take down someone's shields. By the time my weapons are back up and I'm close enough to attack them again, their shields are back up to 100% as well. This probably wouldn't be as much of a problem if the ranges on the weapons (even those described as having "long range") weren't so close that it takes me a few minutes just to get a 2 second window of shooting before they're out of range again. The only thing that seems to work, occasionally, is firing missiles. But I only have 4, and the ship that's giving me missions doesn't sell any more of the type of missiles that I start with. Once I use those 4, I'm essentially unarmed until I make a few million credits to buy a couple different missiles.
So I feel like this game really should be fun, but all I do is take patrolling missions, jump to a waypoint, sit around and watch my allies kill a few things, jump to the next waypoint, etc. All of the other missions tend to be pointless (I can never find any objects floating in space, escort missions end almost immediately because of the aforementioned weapon power/range issues preventing me from stopping even one attacker, scanning missions are impossible because I can't just sit next to a ship for 60 seconds while it blasts away and fires missiles at me, etc.).
How is combat supposed to work in Evochron Mercenary?
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asd000
- Ensign
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- Joined: Thu Nov 14, 2013 11:15 pm
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Vice
- Administrator
- Posts: 12227
- Joined: Fri Apr 25, 2003 1:38 am
How is combat supposed to work in Evochron Mercenary?
Hello and welcome to the game.
Combat can seem daunting at first, there is a lot to manage and keep track of compared to what you may be familiar with. The combat in this game is (by many accounts) inherently more complex, difficult, and diverse. It's just not something a new player can quickly be a master of if they're only used to the 'fly in straight and fire' arcade shooter approach. Instead, the game's combat has nuances of physics, tactics, and weapon systems that require a deeper level of player control and awareness... even at the most basic and introductory level of gameplay. Once you get some of the basics down though, you'll likely enjoy the depth its diversity and available options provide. Here are some suggestions from past posts on the concepts, locations, and tactics that can help early on:
From your description, it sounds like you may be struggling with opponents that are beyond the scope of your weapon capabilities. Where and who you fight in this game are important considerations.
Stick to systems like Olympus and focus on picking off hostiles that come by one at a time. The hostile presence there is fairly moderate and their ships/weapons/shields are pretty weak overall. Don't take combat contracts for a while, just fly around and look for hostiles. Try to pick off one at a time in combat, avoid losing speed, and try to keep your distance on passes. Don't fly directly toward your targets, fly in at diagonal angles wide enough to avoid being hit by incoming gunfire and to give yourself more time to counter missiles. Stay there until you've established an effective skillset that works for you. Don't fly into systems with hostile ships beyond what you and your ship are ready for.
If too many show up, don't stay there and fight until you're ready to do so. Get out of there and return to trying to pick off one or two at a time. Avoid sectors with higher traffic patterns (ones with stations and/or planets in them). Jump to a sector without any major docking points in it which will generally result in fewer hostile ships, less communication between them, and less of a chance of reinforcements coming in to attack you. If needed, deploy a sensor array if you have the constructor or deploy a probe and locate a lone hostile somewhere nearby to practice attacking.
The enemy AI will generally target you first, you are usually the designated leader or at least the primary threat. You need to plan your strategy accordingly and you can actually use this to your advantage. Use their focus against them and bait them into positions that make for easier kills by your hired wingmen. Keep the IDS off and keep drifting away from them slowly in circular patterns that continually keep bringing them into weapon range of your wingmen (if applicable). Keep forcing them to pass in front of your wingmen, giving them a chance to take them out.
As a solo player, another suggestion I'd have is to acquire a cannon relay as soon as you can. This will increase the energy capacity of your primary weapons to make them more effective against more powerful opponents. Also, make sure to first cut through their shields with a beam weapon before engaging with particle cannons (variations on this can apply depending on the type of particle cannon you have installed).
When it comes to missile evasion and using counter-measures, keep these tips in mind:
- You can bait hostile ships into wasting all of their missiles and running out. Just stay away from a hostile firing missiles at you, at a distance of at least 1000.
- Don't fly directly in toward hostile ships, this leaves you and your counter-measures little time to react to fast flying missiles.
- Watch the yellow inbound missile blips on the radar, turn away from them and then use counter-measures.
- Launch counter-measures early, then worry about fine tuning your tactics later on to avoid wasting them. Start launching counter-measures when the distance bar is still pretty long, then hold the counter-measure key/button down until you hear the missile explode. Work on distance timing from there. CM's are cheap (free with fuel), so spend some time practicing to learn how best to use them.
- CM's work best when you turn away from the missile entirely and launch them behind you, putting the CM's between you and the missile. Otherwise, if you're between the missile and the CM's, you're the closest target and the CM's won't be close enough to inflict enough damage on the missile.
- Don't fly slow. It gives your enemy more time to obtain a missile lock at a longer range. They will often fire more missiles at you if you're slow and don't move around much.
- Don't fly in a straight line for very long, vary your flight path frequently to make it more difficult for your opponent(s) to obtain a missile lock.
- If you're struggling with counter-measures, just shoot down incoming missiles until you improve your abilities.
Completing some races can also be helpful, both timed and against AI ships. Racing is a useful ways to gauge how good you are at controlling your ship. Until you can learn to keep your ship within the race course at higher speeds, you'll still have some work to do in learning to control thrusters, gauge momentum, and compensate for drift. Forget winning it at first, just focus on learning to fly faster through the pathway. Once you've learned directional control pretty well, then work on drift control/angular momentum to learn how to attack while flying sideways and backwards.
When it comes to racing and learning to control your ship, keep these points in mind:
- Are you pointing the nose of your ship where you want to go through the race course and/or path you want to fly? If so, don't. That's employing an old style arcade flight mechanism that doesn't work very well in this game. You must lead the nose of your ship ahead of the turn to where you want to go once your speed starts to get above around 700-900 and depending on the weight/thruster power of the ship you are flying. The turns in the racecourse are designed to be just sharp enough to require some lead-nose course correction at the required speeds. Not a lot is required, but similar in form and approach to how you would flare an airplane on landing. Once you get the basic angle and speed range learned, you'll find it's pretty easy to duplicate on successive turns.
- Keep the control management simpler by focusing on only one primary axis of adjustment. Do this by rolling your ship so that every turn can be navigated with pitch only. Avoid trying to mix and match yaw and pitch until you build your skill level further. Just roll left/right as a turn is approaching so that your course correction involves only having to pitch up or down. Once you get that down, you can work on applying the same concept to yawing left/right. Then later combining them so you can do either or both when needed. This will help build your skillset for managing turns along a set path to get an optimal attack position on a target in combat.
- Use IDS X2. Activate it (numpad 9), then just manage your throttle with the wider range of control and don't use the afterburner for a while. Learn the right speed range to achieve the sliding turns needed for the ship you are flying.
- Learn to use manual thruster control. Be sure to practice using that for times when your drift may be too much and you need to counteract the momentum to stay within the course/path for an attack.
- Until you get better at drift, slow down for turns. Keep your speed at or above 1200 for the straights, then bring it down well in advance of a turn to around 700-800 so you don't have to do much drift management. Then quickly speed up again as you come out of the turn. Gradually work your way into learning drift control.
A very important skill to learn/master is controlling your ship with the IDS off. You'll need to learn to control your ship's maneuvering/strafe thrusters manually (along with the speed offset controls and afterburner for adjusting forward/reverse movement). When the IDS is off, you are in direct control of those thrusters, the computer won't manage them. Practice engaging your lateral and vertical thrusters with the IDS off (default A, D, Z, and X keys, or variable input control if you're using a joystick).
Basics of physics in space and other information: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmerce ... erse.htm#9
While some of this information is several years old now and a few points aren't relevant any more (or at least need modification under the new performance and physics parameters of the newer game), many of the concepts and tactics are still pretty relevant in Evochron Mercenary and may help give you the information needed to develop your skillset in combat/piloting:
http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegen ... lguide.htm (Advanced Combat Tactics Section)
Combat can seem daunting at first, there is a lot to manage and keep track of compared to what you may be familiar with. The combat in this game is (by many accounts) inherently more complex, difficult, and diverse. It's just not something a new player can quickly be a master of if they're only used to the 'fly in straight and fire' arcade shooter approach. Instead, the game's combat has nuances of physics, tactics, and weapon systems that require a deeper level of player control and awareness... even at the most basic and introductory level of gameplay. Once you get some of the basics down though, you'll likely enjoy the depth its diversity and available options provide. Here are some suggestions from past posts on the concepts, locations, and tactics that can help early on:
From your description, it sounds like you may be struggling with opponents that are beyond the scope of your weapon capabilities. Where and who you fight in this game are important considerations.
Stick to systems like Olympus and focus on picking off hostiles that come by one at a time. The hostile presence there is fairly moderate and their ships/weapons/shields are pretty weak overall. Don't take combat contracts for a while, just fly around and look for hostiles. Try to pick off one at a time in combat, avoid losing speed, and try to keep your distance on passes. Don't fly directly toward your targets, fly in at diagonal angles wide enough to avoid being hit by incoming gunfire and to give yourself more time to counter missiles. Stay there until you've established an effective skillset that works for you. Don't fly into systems with hostile ships beyond what you and your ship are ready for.
If too many show up, don't stay there and fight until you're ready to do so. Get out of there and return to trying to pick off one or two at a time. Avoid sectors with higher traffic patterns (ones with stations and/or planets in them). Jump to a sector without any major docking points in it which will generally result in fewer hostile ships, less communication between them, and less of a chance of reinforcements coming in to attack you. If needed, deploy a sensor array if you have the constructor or deploy a probe and locate a lone hostile somewhere nearby to practice attacking.
The enemy AI will generally target you first, you are usually the designated leader or at least the primary threat. You need to plan your strategy accordingly and you can actually use this to your advantage. Use their focus against them and bait them into positions that make for easier kills by your hired wingmen. Keep the IDS off and keep drifting away from them slowly in circular patterns that continually keep bringing them into weapon range of your wingmen (if applicable). Keep forcing them to pass in front of your wingmen, giving them a chance to take them out.
As a solo player, another suggestion I'd have is to acquire a cannon relay as soon as you can. This will increase the energy capacity of your primary weapons to make them more effective against more powerful opponents. Also, make sure to first cut through their shields with a beam weapon before engaging with particle cannons (variations on this can apply depending on the type of particle cannon you have installed).
When it comes to missile evasion and using counter-measures, keep these tips in mind:
- You can bait hostile ships into wasting all of their missiles and running out. Just stay away from a hostile firing missiles at you, at a distance of at least 1000.
- Don't fly directly in toward hostile ships, this leaves you and your counter-measures little time to react to fast flying missiles.
- Watch the yellow inbound missile blips on the radar, turn away from them and then use counter-measures.
- Launch counter-measures early, then worry about fine tuning your tactics later on to avoid wasting them. Start launching counter-measures when the distance bar is still pretty long, then hold the counter-measure key/button down until you hear the missile explode. Work on distance timing from there. CM's are cheap (free with fuel), so spend some time practicing to learn how best to use them.
- CM's work best when you turn away from the missile entirely and launch them behind you, putting the CM's between you and the missile. Otherwise, if you're between the missile and the CM's, you're the closest target and the CM's won't be close enough to inflict enough damage on the missile.
- Don't fly slow. It gives your enemy more time to obtain a missile lock at a longer range. They will often fire more missiles at you if you're slow and don't move around much.
- Don't fly in a straight line for very long, vary your flight path frequently to make it more difficult for your opponent(s) to obtain a missile lock.
- If you're struggling with counter-measures, just shoot down incoming missiles until you improve your abilities.
Completing some races can also be helpful, both timed and against AI ships. Racing is a useful ways to gauge how good you are at controlling your ship. Until you can learn to keep your ship within the race course at higher speeds, you'll still have some work to do in learning to control thrusters, gauge momentum, and compensate for drift. Forget winning it at first, just focus on learning to fly faster through the pathway. Once you've learned directional control pretty well, then work on drift control/angular momentum to learn how to attack while flying sideways and backwards.
When it comes to racing and learning to control your ship, keep these points in mind:
- Are you pointing the nose of your ship where you want to go through the race course and/or path you want to fly? If so, don't. That's employing an old style arcade flight mechanism that doesn't work very well in this game. You must lead the nose of your ship ahead of the turn to where you want to go once your speed starts to get above around 700-900 and depending on the weight/thruster power of the ship you are flying. The turns in the racecourse are designed to be just sharp enough to require some lead-nose course correction at the required speeds. Not a lot is required, but similar in form and approach to how you would flare an airplane on landing. Once you get the basic angle and speed range learned, you'll find it's pretty easy to duplicate on successive turns.
- Keep the control management simpler by focusing on only one primary axis of adjustment. Do this by rolling your ship so that every turn can be navigated with pitch only. Avoid trying to mix and match yaw and pitch until you build your skill level further. Just roll left/right as a turn is approaching so that your course correction involves only having to pitch up or down. Once you get that down, you can work on applying the same concept to yawing left/right. Then later combining them so you can do either or both when needed. This will help build your skillset for managing turns along a set path to get an optimal attack position on a target in combat.
- Use IDS X2. Activate it (numpad 9), then just manage your throttle with the wider range of control and don't use the afterburner for a while. Learn the right speed range to achieve the sliding turns needed for the ship you are flying.
- Learn to use manual thruster control. Be sure to practice using that for times when your drift may be too much and you need to counteract the momentum to stay within the course/path for an attack.
- Until you get better at drift, slow down for turns. Keep your speed at or above 1200 for the straights, then bring it down well in advance of a turn to around 700-800 so you don't have to do much drift management. Then quickly speed up again as you come out of the turn. Gradually work your way into learning drift control.
A very important skill to learn/master is controlling your ship with the IDS off. You'll need to learn to control your ship's maneuvering/strafe thrusters manually (along with the speed offset controls and afterburner for adjusting forward/reverse movement). When the IDS is off, you are in direct control of those thrusters, the computer won't manage them. Practice engaging your lateral and vertical thrusters with the IDS off (default A, D, Z, and X keys, or variable input control if you're using a joystick).
Basics of physics in space and other information: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmerce ... erse.htm#9
While some of this information is several years old now and a few points aren't relevant any more (or at least need modification under the new performance and physics parameters of the newer game), many of the concepts and tactics are still pretty relevant in Evochron Mercenary and may help give you the information needed to develop your skillset in combat/piloting:
http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegen ... lguide.htm (Advanced Combat Tactics Section)
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Marvin
- Global Moderator
- Posts: 14373
- Joined: Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:47 am
- Location: Fallon-Reno
How is combat supposed to work in Evochron Mercenary?
If you're piloting the ship you received at the start of the game - without upgrades - then, yes: most AI ships have you outclassed. That's one of the reasons for (a) non-combat contracts and (b) star systems which aren't totally hostile. Complete the non-combat contracts to acquire the funds necessary to upgrade your ship. Then go some place like Orion to practice combat against fewer enemy ships.From post: 165317, Topic: tid=11069, author=asd000 wrote:Essentially, what happens is everything I try to kill has more shields than I have weapon power.
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Busch
- Captain
- Posts: 1468
- Joined: Tue Jul 20, 2010 1:07 am
- Location: Portland, OR. West Coast, USA
How is combat supposed to work in Evochron Mercenary?
Hello asd000 and welcome aboard! If you've spawned-in, in the Combat Pilot Role, in the Talison Conflict Zone, the same holds true with what Vice and Marvin have stated above. The starting mil-ship frame (Ferret) comes with some of the 'standard' equipment slots pre-loaded. Perform some of the non-combat missions that are offered, either at Command Alpha (hard-wired game trade station) or at the Eclipse carrier (also game hard-wired). Sometimes, it helps to transit between the station and carrier, in order to have a choice of available, do-able contracts. As you acquire wealth, upgrade your ships' equipment (the various levels and individual equipment items like: repair systems, shield batteries/shield rechargers, fulcrum jump drives, cannon relays/heat-sinks, ACM/AMS, and etc.) You may have to travel some, outside of the Talison Conflict Zone, to find those equipment items you're interested in. Do some contracts whilst traveling and searching - it does help the cash balance a bit. 
It really depends on who you talk to, all of us 'veterans' have a favorite particle and beam cannon combination, which we tend to use exclusively for most all of our combat needs. I usually settle on the Ice Spear particle cannon, coupled with the Coil beam cannon, almost regardless of frame and power-plant selections. Or, you can try your hand at crafting your own version of any of the off-the-shelf offerings in the Weapons Lab. (Available at any trade station near you!) When I'm not using the Excalibur missile rack, I tend to use the Exodus missile exclusively (especially for those pesky escort contracts). You can be successful in the combat scenarios, it does take a little investment on your part to learn and gain the 'necessary' pilot skills. Best of Fortune!
[Edited on 11-15-2013 by Busch]
It really depends on who you talk to, all of us 'veterans' have a favorite particle and beam cannon combination, which we tend to use exclusively for most all of our combat needs. I usually settle on the Ice Spear particle cannon, coupled with the Coil beam cannon, almost regardless of frame and power-plant selections. Or, you can try your hand at crafting your own version of any of the off-the-shelf offerings in the Weapons Lab. (Available at any trade station near you!) When I'm not using the Excalibur missile rack, I tend to use the Exodus missile exclusively (especially for those pesky escort contracts). You can be successful in the combat scenarios, it does take a little investment on your part to learn and gain the 'necessary' pilot skills. Best of Fortune!
[Edited on 11-15-2013 by Busch]
Commander
[SW] Clan Squadron Lead - Retired
Call Sign: Busch
[SW] Clan Squadron Lead - Retired
Call Sign: Busch
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Maarschalk
- Captain
- Posts: 7641
- Joined: Wed Feb 25, 2009 12:24 am
- Location: USA, Also check your six!
How is combat supposed to work in Evochron Mercenary?
Hi Asd000, welcome to the game and forum!.....Hope to see you out there some time!.....
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Darkness is the absence of Light as Evil is the absence of Good
Evochron Legends Stats:
Evochron Mercenary Stats:
Darkness is the absence of Light as Evil is the absence of Good