Evochron Mercenary - Freelancer and EVE rolled into one

[MedicSN6]

I was doing a google search to find other games that are EVE like (multiplayer long term with RPG depth) but had the flying aspect of Wing Commander/Tie Fighter etc. Black Prophecy is very much this answer, but it is MMO and Free-to-play, meaning that you will have to pay a fair amount of money to be good at playing it. I came across Evochron Renegades which is the older brother to Evochron Legends and the lastest game Evochron Mercenacry. It had some great features but was graphically similar to Freelancer. Then, I read about Mercenary which was released recently, has better graphics (although not as good as EVE, BP, or X3 but close enough to be cool still. In other words, it ain't Minecraft.), multiplayer, dedicated server files, is moddable, and supports just about whatever input device you can think of including TrackIR.

 

The game has a pretty steep learning curve (I've read it is not as much as EVE though) so, I plan to print the manual and give it a good read over and get a feel for it, then start the game so I don't waste much time or resources learning. Another thing I read about this is that time is fairly real. If it takes 6 minutes to take off and leave a planets surface, it will take six minutes in the game. There are no cut scenes, you are 'hands on' for the entire approach and landing (tractor beam actually sets you down).

 

I first thought Legends was the latest installment because it was released in 2008, so I dropped a couple links about it in TS for Steel, Kalxen, Unicorn, and Grizz to look at. Legends has a WHOPPING price of $20.00 US, one time for the entire game. The latest game Evochron Mercenary, however, is a wallet busting $30.00, one time.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW6vHgRgTe8

 

Evochron mercenary main page: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/index.htm

 

Evochron Mercenary is a freeform mercenary space-sim that focuses on 'lone-wolf' survival gameplay. As you pilot your spacecraft through a vast seamless universe, you can perform many activities including buying, trading, negotiating, bribing, spying, racing, escorting, transporting, mining, exploring, cleaning equipment, clearing paths through asteroid fields, recruiting, protecting, hiring crew members, fuel harvesting, building stations, and designing/selling ships. Evochron Mercenary is a technical simulation, not a story or character based simulator, so you are not limited by plot requirements or pre-selected character roles. Your decisions and actions define your role in the game and establish your reputations, wealth, progress, and ranking. The emphasis is on real-time tactical gameplay strategy for both combat and non-combat objectives. You are in control of your ship virtually all of the time in open space, including player controlled combat and planetary descents. Your ability to successfully survive dangerous scenarios in space, develop trade strategies, evade detection, harvest resources, efficiently explore for hidden benefits, and transport people/items can be just as important as your skill in combat. The game also rewards players who devise their own gameplay strategies and 'think outside the box'. Set in a vast explorable universe, Evochron Mercenary offers an amazing level of freeform gameplay with many diverse objectives and paths to choose from.

 

Features:

# True freeform gameplay without plot restrictions, conditions, or limitations. No character attribute/skill limitations to hold you back. Experience ultimate gameplay freedom and play the game the way you want to. Your decisions and abilities define your role in the game and establish your reputations, wealth, progress, and ranking.

 

 

# Diverse gameplay choices and activities including racing, spying, mining, trading, commodity shipping, escorting, combat (both in civilian space and military war zones), exploring, asteroid clearing, equipment cleaning, crew management, station building, and ship designing. There are many ways to make money and advance in the game.

 

 

# New starting role selection system. When you create a profile, you can now select which initial role you want your ship to be optimized for. The role you select also establishes your starting location, what ship you get, and how many credits you're initially given.

 

 

# New 'quest' system that features multiple objectives spanning many solar systems throughout the game's universe. The quest can further train you for the game, teach you details on the history of the Evochron quadrant, and guide you through systems useful for upgrading your ship. Completing quest objectives also provides information on secret locations and hidden benefits in the game.

 

 

# New clan territory control system. Clans can take partial control of solar systems through cooperative contracts and clan-vs-clan battles in multiplayer. The server tracks events involving completed contracts and clan wars, then awards percentage points to victorious groups, giving them a partial ownership interest in the system. When clan control is above 80% in a system, they are paid a percentage of earnings from that system.

 

 

# Double the number of available ship frames, including both civilian and military. New ranges, capacities, and capabilities expand the ship designs available to you. A new frame storage space resource management system lets you customize any civilian frame for different crew, countermeasure, equipment, and secondary weapon hardpoint capacities. You can now adjust the frame's default design in these areas for the role you want to play.

 

 

# New graphics engine supporting higher resolutions, greater detail, and new effects/technology. Broad compatibility includes support for most 3D video cards with at least shader 2.0 capability.

 

 

# A vast seamless universe that lets you fly anywhere without in-game loading screens. The Evochron universe is not boxed in by 'walls' or 'rooms' that require a jumpgate 'door' to access, there are no required gates or trade lanes to restrict your travel and hold you back. You can travel virtually anywhere you want. Descend into planet atmospheres to land at city trade stations, mine valuable materials, or explore for hidden items. You can escape to nebula clouds for sensor cover or hide in a massive asteroid cave for protection. Fly from planet to planet, star to star, and solar system to solar system.

 

 

# Expanded interactive training mode with selectable stages to provide the necessary basics for flying your ship, managing its systems, docking/landing, and surviving in combat.

 

 

# Unified gameplay architecture and profiles let you keep the ship, upgrades, equipment, money, weapons, crew, and commodities you acquire in the game for use in both single player and multiplayer.

 

 

# New Multiplayer system with much higher performance for improved precision and gameplay. Integrated voice chat lets you talk with other players using your PC's mic.

 

 

# Clan ID linking system lets you establish your indicated threat levels with other players in multiplayer. Players sharing a common ID in their callsigns are linked together as friendly contacts while different ID's are indicated as hostile. You can also link together in-game with another clan to form a larger group for better odds of success.

 

 

# Cooperative multiplayer objectives that pay all linked players. Join forces with other players to complete more challenging activities that can offer much better pay. More advanced players can link with new players to give them access to higher paying contracts that they would not otherwise have access to early in the game. Being part of the same team lets you combine reputations and contract pay for improved results.

 

 

# New gun turret binding mode in multiplayer allows players to link their ships together. One player controls a 360-degree gun turret attached to the player's ship they've linked to.

 

# New fleet command system. Send single player commands to AI ships and multiplayer commands to other players. You can order your fleet ships to form up, attack hostiles, defend you specifically, mine asteroids, or order them to reload and refuel which parks them in a local station until ordered to do something else. In multiplayer, the new command system broadcasts the order in a message, so clans can use the same command system to issue orders to their human wingmen.

 

 

# New planetary engine offers a much higher level of detail along with new effects including far more realistic clouds, water, and terrain. Other planet effects include weather such as rain, snow, and turbulence. Explore planets for hidden benefits, trade at city stations, mine their surfaces for valuable materials, recover cells from plants for valuable biological material, or hide in their atmospheres. New gas giant planets feature moving cloud layers and powerful winds.

 

 

# Ship-to-ship trading and cargo system. Ship and trade weapons, upgrades, fuel, credits, and equipment in addition to commodities. You can even load items from your cargo bay onto your ship, letting you carry more weapons, upgrades, and equipment beyond what you can install on your ship. Challenge other players to multiplayer ship-vs-ship races with the trade console and place the race course where you want in space.

 

 

# The new deploy system lets you place temporary energy stations, repair stations, refueling stations, sensor stations, shield arrays, and mining probes. They can offer important benefits for deep space exploration, resource harvesting, and hidden item hunting. In combat, they can also provide significant advantages from tactical information on the battlefield to front line support.

 

 

# The new build system lets you construct space stations, dynamically expanding the game's universe with new trade routes, docking points, and economies. The online multiplayer universe system supports this station placement, letting you or any other player construct stations at new locations in the game's universe while you are playing online. Player built stations are stored with the server so other players can have access to the new stations and trade routes you create.

 

 

# Dynamic economies with realistic variable item availability and specialized industries. Larger inventory pools now offer a wider variety of items. New scrollable inventory list lets you easily browse through more items at every station and planet docking point.

 

 

# Three weapon classes - beam weapons, particle cannons, and secondary missiles/equipment. New equipment technology includes an anti-missile system, shield array recharger, cannon heatsink, afterburner drive, constructors, and automatic counter-measure launcher.

 

 

# 5 mining and tractor beam types (4 new specialized models). The 'classic' general purpose device, one optimized for metal ore, one for diamonds, one for platinum, and one for gold. Specialized devices are designed and built exclusively in systems with the right technological economy.

 

 

# New and improved contract objectives including escape pod rescue missions in war zones, ship specific bounty hunting, and satellite orbit placement and recovery. New mining contracts provide additional payment options for recovering and successfully delivering desired materials to local stations. Includes both asteroid and planetary mining options.

 

 

# New shipwrecks scattered throughout the game's universe that often provide valuable items trapped in their wreckage.

 

 

# Capital ships engaged in battle now have powerful flak cannons for fighter suppression and anti-shield torpedoes to knock out the shield arrays of an opposing capital ship.

 

 

# Carriers now have their own dedicated inventory systems and also frequently stock secondary weapons you currently have mounted on your ship (allowing you to reload after a combat mission in a war zone).

 

 

# Use your wealth to design and build a new ship, buy better weapons, hire crew members, recruit other ships, install upgrades, load commodities, and more.

 

 

# Constructor stations can fabricate new items from raw materials. In more technologically advanced economies, they can now also build weapons from metal ore and electronics.

 

 

# Shipyards let you design and customize your ship for the role you want to play. Optimize your ship for defense, exploration, combat, racing, or transporting... the choice is yours. You can also position and scale each component to give your ship a unique appearance. Save your designs with the template system to rebuild it later. Store ships and cargo in hangars you can rent at trade stations.

 

 

# Improved physics system allowing for far greater speeds with velocity adjusted acceleration curves and accuracy for mass, thrust, and vector calculations. Realistic zero gravity inertia based 'Newtonian' style flight model including complete 3-way rotation and 3-way direction control with optional variable input. An advanced inertial dampening system helps keep flight control simple in space, atmospheres, and gravity fields.

 

 

# Realistic environment interaction far beyond the genre's typical 'background wallpaper'. Nebula clouds, asteroid fields, planet atmospheres, moons, and more all provide unique options for shelter and strategy. Such environment elements include changes in gravity, fuel consumption, physics, sensor range, and visibility.

 

 

# Quick one-key access to jump drive navigation and inventory management. You control all system travel and inventory decisions right from the cockpit.

 

 

# New dynamic music system (with music by Rich Douglas). Music changes with the level of hostility around you from soft ambient to high intensity action.

 

 

# Supports keyboard, mouse, gamepad, and joystick flight control. Use the control device you prefer to play the game. Force feedback control is also supported.

 

 

# Supports Natural Point's TrackIR 3D head control system for managing the viewpoint from the cockpit with all six degrees of movement.

 

 

Other links:

 

Star Wraith developer Game timeline: http://www.spacecombat.org/

 

Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wraith_%28video_game_series%29

 

Price comparisons for the Evochron series: http://www.starwraith.com/main/go.htm

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KJEcYdIj_o

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBl5lJiRSTk

[Hajimoto]

Right up my "StarFlight" alley Medic. I love the fact that it is a complete indy deal.

Going to check it out.

[Fatal_Papercut~SPARTA~]

If both of you end up getting this and give it a "thumbs up", I'll be glad to join you.

[Billythegreek]

I had played the demo of it....I really like it but i cant find it anywhere

[DaiSan]

All over this one, X52 and TrackIR compatible and not an MMO, dream come true

[MedicSN6]

I had played the demo of it....I really like it but i cant find it anywhere

 

The demo is part of the main download. Once you install the game, run it and once you get to the main menu you will see a place in the top left to add a key and in the top right there is a button to play the demo. The Demo is limited to 90 minutes. I am currently using my demo time to play through the training to get a better feeling from the game. Using the time otherwise seems like a waste as the over-all learning curve is someone steep.

 

Hope this helps.

[EL_n00biachi]

You sure do fly around...n stuff... ;looks boring,if thats the game.

[NoScream~SPARTA~]

I was doing a google search to find other games that are EVE like (multiplayer long term with RPG depth) but had the flying aspect of Wing Commander/Tie Fighter etc.

 

Yes, there are FPS styled space games but nothing has the real trates of Eve online, what makes Eve unique is exactly what 99% of all other games leave out.

 

WHY?

 

The real point is, 'EVE' is like life on another world in a different universe, it does not stop because you log off it evolves. Where other games release Version 3 & reset their worlds at the end of a round or match, Eve is relentless in it's evolution. A joystick has no real significance in space it's a role over of earth combat aircraft. See Start trek for some navigation & weapon control in space, all buttons, touch pads and computer aids. A bit like why are all aliens somewhat human like, two arms, two legs, two eyes, simple Hollywood (Avatar).

 

 

1/ You invest your real money into the character, you invest your time in progression, something that has no shortcut.

 

2/ The game never stops, so when you goto sleep in your pod, the universe keeps revolving with thousands of players doing millions of things that will change your world by their actions. Your world is their world, there is no reset. You can leave eve and come back 6 months later and the universe has changed, moved on, empires have fallen, alliances forged and a thousand wars fought and won.

 

3/ When you loose a ship you actually are loosing real $$ value, other games reset when the next round/ match starts again, in Eve there is no NEXT ROUND / MATCH, it's all one match with infinity as the timer (or CCP $$$ worth). When you loose it it's lost for ever, or salvaged and recycled by some space rat.

 

4/ Everything you do in eve is a result of planning and decisions,you really have to think of the consequences of your actions for the future, 5 mins to 5 years.

 

 

 

ON THE DOWN SIDE: you have to pay to play $180 / year (£120), the cost of 3-4 of the latest/newest games, for that you get 1 years play with unlimited access 23/7, 2 full expansions, patches, forum, support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine a first person shooter with not 4 or 5 role options, Rifleman-Support-Engineer-Sniper-medic but 100+ combat roles with another 100+ supporting roles, mind blowing........ all in one world, Americans, Euroeans, Africans, Asians, S. Americans, Russians, the world shares one server, one login point.

 

I have never seen a game with it except EVE, You can be anyone and do anything, you can change your mind as many times as you want and play as many roles as your able: Combat pilot, spy, traitor, merchant, hauler, inventor, manufacturer, miner, salvage technician, explorer, deep space adventurer, decoy, money lender, tactician, leader, follower, lone wolf, warrior, specialist, logistical support, gun for hire, baiter, bastard, mr. nice guy, mission player, pvp top gun, covert ops operative, black ops pilot, it's nearly endless, imagine....

 

 

 

 

I hope you find what your looking for... we'll keep a shuttle craft burning for you (Caldari is'nt it)

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

[KalXen~SPARTA~]

Metacritic seems to give it good scores too.

[MedicSN6]

Yes, there are FPS styled space games but nothing has the real trates of Eve online, what makes Eve unique is exactly what 99% of all other games leave out.

 

WHY?

 

The real point is, 'EVE' is like life on another world in a different universe, it does not stop because you log off it evolves. Where other games release Version 3 & reset their worlds at the end of a round or match, Eve is relentless in it's evolution. A joystick has no real significance in space it's a role over of earth combat aircraft. See Start trek for some navigation & weapon control in space, all buttons, touch pads and computer aids. A bit like why are all aliens somewhat human like, two arms, two legs, two eyes, simple Hollywood (Avatar).

 

 

1/ You invest your real money into the character, you invest your time in progression, something that has no shortcut.

 

2/ The game never stops, so when you goto sleep in your pod, the universe keeps revolving with thousands of players doing millions of things that will change your world by their actions. Your world is their world, there is no reset. You can leave eve and come back 6 months later and the universe has changed, moved on, empires have fallen, alliances forged and a thousand wars fought and won.

 

3/ When you loose a ship you actually are loosing real $$ value, other games reset when the next round/ match starts again, in Eve there is no NEXT ROUND / MATCH, it's all one match with infinity as the timer (or CCP $$$ worth). When you loose it it's lost for ever, or salvaged and recycled by some space rat.

 

4/ Everything you do in eve is a result of planning and decisions,you really have to think of the consequences of your actions for the future, 5 mins to 5 years.

 

 

 

ON THE DOWN SIDE: you have to pay to play $180 / year (£120), the cost of 3-4 of the latest/newest games, for that you get 1 years play with unlimited access 23/7, 2 full expansions, patches, forum, support.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Imagine a first person shooter with not 4 or 5 role options, Rifleman-Support-Engineer-Sniper-medic but 100+ combat roles with another 100+ supporting roles, mind blowing........ all in one world, Americans, Euroeans, Africans, Asians, S. Americans, Russians, the world shares one server, one login point.

 

I have never seen a game with it except EVE, You can be anyone and do anything, you can change your mind as many times as you want and play as many roles as your able: Combat pilot, spy, traitor, merchant, hauler, inventor, manufacturer, miner, salvage technician, explorer, deep space adventurer, decoy, money lender, tactician, leader, follower, lone wolf, warrior, specialist, logistical support, gun for hire, baiter, bastard, mr. nice guy, mission player, pvp top gun, covert ops operative, black ops pilot, it's nearly endless, imagine....

 

 

 

 

I hope you find what your looking for... we'll keep a shuttle craft burning for you (Caldari is'nt it)

 

 

 

 

 

 

.

 

 

ALL of the things you mention are the awesome parts of EVE and why i really enjoyed the game. The playability and the sheer thought that has gone into the game are astounding. I just don't want to pay a monthly fee to play a game anymore (Maybe for Star Wars). But the parts that I didn't care for were the trust issues, where you can lose everything you worked for by trusting one wrong person, the job like mentality you have to have in order to be successful, the overall 'fuck you' mentality of the majority of the people who play EVE, all of these things detract from the game. If you go into EVE with the mentality of relaxing and having a good time playing a space pew pew, you will be disappointed and end up raging a good bit. People play that game because CCP (devs) made it so easy to screw other people over with little to no real consequence. Instead of it being a Universe like our world where 85% of the worlds population are good, hard-working people, and the last 15% are the criminals, CCP has set it up to be the reverse. I found that the only way to make ends meet was to become the character type and play in the way that goes against my general nature, which made me a VERY poor mercenary and I eneded up losing more ships than I did before. It just wasn't worth my time and monthly fee.

 

Other than the game is pretty cool. I wish I could just play in Sissy Server all the time and be done.

[Batwing~SPARTA~]

I am trying to decide if this kind of game capture my interest or not.

 

Actually, without getting any DEMO, I think watching the Tutorial Videos will give a good idea about what is all about and also the game graphic.

 

Starting from the first one and then follow the series:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwGOJxYUCoM&feature=related

 

What I see so far however is a quite 'retro'" or almost "gothic" graphic style (or should I simply say, it s old graphic engine?). it reminds me a lot of some old Mechwarrior stile cockpit.

The textures I saw sofar are quite dark, a bit too dark. Texture patterns are repetitive, but this again is summarized by one concept, old graphic engine.

 

It seems very flexible with a very high degree of freedom, an anourmous sandbox where everything can be done.

 

That s what scares me when I approach games like this. A lack of porpouse. There is so much to do that is basically confusing. My nature would be enroll in the Military and be dispatched to missions. At least I would have a scope for my actions.

 

I will go ahead watching tutorials, but i think this game is too "vast" for my taste.

[KalXen~SPARTA~]

Does the game have quests or a storyline, or is it only a sandbox?

[MedicSN6]

I am trying to decide if this kind of game capture my interest or not.

 

Actually, without getting any DEMO, I think watching the Tutorial Videos will give a good idea about what is all about and also the game graphic.

 

Starting from the first one and then follow the series:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwGOJxYUCoM&feature=related

 

What I see so far however is a quite 'retro'" or almost "gothic" graphic style (or should I simply say, it s old graphic engine?). it reminds me a lot of some old Mechwarrior stile cockpit.

The textures I saw sofar are quite dark, a bit too dark. Texture patterns are repetitive, but this again is summarized by one concept, old graphic engine.

 

It seems very flexible with a very high degree of freedom, an anourmous sandbox where everything can be done.

 

That s what scares me when I approach games like this. A lack of porpouse. There is so much to do that is basically confusing. My nature would be enroll in the Military and be dispatched to missions. At least I would have a scope for my actions.

 

I will go ahead watching tutorials, but i think this game is too "vast" for my taste.

 

 

@ Batwing. Yes, there is a demo. Download and install the game, and at the main menu, you will be able to participate in a 90 minute demo. I suggest running through the tutorials a couple times. Don't worry it only takes about 10 minutes per run through.

 

@ Kalxen The game has missions and I think it has what are being called mission arcs which at multiple mission type things that have some sort of storyline.

[Steel~Sparta~]

Think that I will try this...

[DaiSan]

The tutorials do not effect your 90mins they are separate.

[MedicSN6]

The tutorials do not effect your 90mins they are separate.

 

 

I noticed this last night and Hajimoto confirmed it as well.

[KalXen~SPARTA~]

@ Kalxen The game has missions and I think it has what are being called mission arcs which at multiple mission type things that have some sort of storyline.

 

Any opportunity to custom create missions, etc? I could see this turning into a space opera sandbox like Arma has been from time to time.

[Hajimoto]

I bought it and I am in love.... this game has filled the void that was Starflight.

Absolutely a blast, thanks Medic!

 

 

[MedicSN6]

I bought it and I am in love.... this game has filled the void that was Starflight.

Absolutely a blast, thanks Medic!

 

 

My pleasure. I purchased it this AM. Been shooting all day though. No time to play.

[Steel~Sparta~]

I will buy as well in the next 24 hours... this is IMO a great game. We should start considering working together for mutual protection. Any thoughts on how to do this?

[Jeff~SPARTA~]

sounds like everyone's giving it amazing reviews. i'll have to get it as well.

 

just, ah, gimme some time to get used to it (and flying with a mouse is going to be entertaining to say the least)

[Watchman~SPARTA~]

Never played this type of game before. Was always intrigued by Eve but I've never entertained any type of subscription game. I'll try the tutorials & demo to see if I can play it, if it's a yes then I think I might buy it.

[DaiSan]

sounds like everyone's giving it amazing reviews. i'll have to get it as well.

 

just, ah, gimme some time to get used to it (and flying with a mouse is going to be entertaining to say the least)

 

Why not use a joystick or gamepad?

[DaiSan]

If you haven't already, you should download the Evochron Mercenary Customizing Kit.

 

Everything in the game appears to be customizable.

 

Read the readme included in the zip.

Edited May 27, 2011 by Dai-San~SPARTA~

[Batwing~SPARTA~]

Oh well.. I am downloading this thing too..

 

Giving a 90 minutes shot can t hurt

 

I am surprised by 2 things:

 

- Full Download size 228MB !!!! Are we back when games where fitting on Floppy Disks ?

- Mod kit download 1.6 MB !!!

 

So, I don t want be prejudicial, but either these programmers are showing to the rest of the world how to be efficent with code and crap to provide a beautiful game within 1 CD installement media or this is gonna be "weird" to say the least.

 

However, final price at 30 bucks doesn t have to be underestimated as "oh is cheap, what you wanna ask for?" because Mass Effect 2 is or was also 30 bucks.... and that is the most beautiful game I ever saw, meaning 30 bucks still have a value.