Evochron Mercenary 2.0 expansion/update

[steve58]

Looks like a lot of changes...

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/expansion.htm

Good times for us space sim lovers as of late...

[Longdan]

Thank you.

[Nefaro]

Wonderful!

And I was recently thinking of getting my butt kicked in this again.  :)

[Nefaro]

Bah!

Ridiculous DRM.  My login & key isn't activating the full game.  Imagine that.

Let's see how long it takes to get this resolved.   :-\

[Nefaro]

Evidentally I was entering one of the two required codes as a third 'ID' value given to me.   :o  TPWBTCAK    Had to track down the old email with the proper one.  Would be so easy to lose this stuff.  :-[

Glad that their forum was quick with responses.   

[republic]

I had no idea this was out!  Downloading now :)

[RooksBailey]

Looks like a lot of changes...

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/expansion.htm

Good times for us space sim lovers as of late...

Didn't realize this was out, either!  Thanks for the heads up!  Now I can get back into my favorite Cowboy Bebop simulator.   :D

I am also surprised it is a free expansion as I thought it was going to be a paid expansion.  Even better!

Time to get some screenies for the screenshot thread.   8)

[Yskonyn]

So how is this game?

I remember playing the original Starwraith game after it was showcased in the newsletter of a programming language called DarkBASIC, which I was dabbling in myself.
At the time I thought it was a nice project by a fellow hobbyist and I thought the game showed this.
But the guy developped and the sequels to Starwraith became better according to the reviews out there. It was even called the modern 'Elite' or 'finally a working game at the scale of Derek Smarts Battlecruiser'.
Is Mercs really this good? Does it rank up there with the AAA titles like X3? Freelancer? Independence War?

I just can't get the image of the original Starwraith out of my head every time I see one of those games being mentioned. Probably not fair and I very much like a good free roam space sim, so is this really good?

[republic]

I prefer Evochron to the X series.  I was always put off by the goofy way X did space as "room" connected by gates.

Evochron, to me, is as close as we can get to Independence War, which is my favorite space sim of all time.  There is no amazing story like IWar but lots to do, a big universe to explore, and realistic physics.

[Shelldrake]

Thanks for the heads up on the free expansion - sweet!

[Nefaro]

I prefer Evochron to the X series.  I was always put off by the goofy way X did space as "room" connected by gates.

That certainly is a noticeable plus on Evochron's side, along with easier interface (X3: Terran Conflict & expansion fixed that up some, however).  But the globular "rooms" method is a limitation I'd like to see less of, too.  The graphics in Evo:Merc weren't very good so any update of this nature is a very welcome one (yay better shader version!).

X3 has always had a business sim facet to it, and large capital ships available for use, while Evochron:Mercenary is just a fighter/small-hauler type of game in the tradition of Elite, Privateer, etc and both are open sandbox games.

[Yskonyn]

So I guess you guys are telling me pretty much to just try and see for myself? ;)

[Nefaro]

So I guess you guys are telling me pretty much to just try and see for myself? ;)

Download the game from their site.  It'll run in "Demo Mode" until you decide whether or not you want to activate the full version or not!  8)

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronmercenary/downloads.htm


Despite owning this for quite awhile, I've still not made it past the tutorial.  It was probably the only game I in which I've been murderized at the end of the tutorial, in the combat part.  So I took a breather and decided to study up some more on how best to stay alive, via forum chatter over there, and ended up buying some other new shiny bauble(s) before I got back to it.   :-\  It's one of the many I own that I've barely even touched.  Wish there were 36 hours in the day, ya know?

[RooksBailey]

So how is this game?

I remember playing the original Starwraith game after it was showcased in the newsletter of a programming language called DarkBASIC, which I was dabbling in myself.
At the time I thought it was a nice project by a fellow hobbyist and I thought the game showed this.
But the guy developped and the sequels to Starwraith became better according to the reviews out there. It was even called the modern 'Elite' or 'finally a working game at the scale of Derek Smarts Battlecruiser'.
Is Mercs really this good? Does it rank up there with the AAA titles like X3? Freelancer? Independence War?

I just can't get the image of the original Starwraith out of my head every time I see one of those games being mentioned. Probably not fair and I very much like a good free roam space sim, so is this really good?

For me, EM is part of the big three of contemporary space sims, which also includes Eve Online & X3TC.  The thing that drives me crazy about all three titles, though, is how each has something really good about it, but each also suffers from design flaws or strange limitations.  If only I could squeeze all three together into one game...then I would have something really good.   ;D  Eh, perhaps Star Citizen will be that game.

As for EM, I really like it.  It is not as ambitious as X3 (you are limited to small craft), nor as deep as Eve, but it has its own charms too.  For example, I like the realistic Newtonian physics as I am sick to death of seeing spaceships glide around like air-breathing airplanes in just about EVERY game out there.  I also like the fuel system in the game.  Usually, I hate games that require you to track fuel because it quickly becomes a micromanagement nuisance, and while it can get a bit annoying here too, I like how the game encourages you to take advantage of the Newtonian physics to conserve fuel in various ways (such as gliding along on inertia with your engines shut down  8)).  I even have grown to like the planetary landings.  At first I wasn't sure I would - I  always liked the elitism found in Eve Online where those who live and work on spaceships were the elites, while those "blue skiers" (to quote C. J. Cherryh's term for planet dwellers) that lived and worked on planets were second-class citizens - but the dev really made it fun to explore these procedurally-generated planets, doubly-so since now with this expansion, we can buy a walker and go exploring (haven't done that yet).  I also love the different weather systems you encounter - I remember the first time I descended into a rough storm!  Talk about motion sickness!   ;D  Here's the "dark and stormy night" from the previous version of EM:



I even love the long descents around a planet...something relaxing about seeing the land masses rise from the horizon:



The combat is also a lot of fun.  I find it less punishing and more involving than X3's, and it is a heck of a lot better than the boring combat found in Eve.

I also like how the missions are bite-sized.  You can just do one mission before calling it a night and feel like you've accomplished something.

The only thing that I had found in EM that was a bit disappointing was the mining.  I love Eve's really involved mining where you have to scout out rare asteroid fields.  In EM, unless I am wrong on this, it seems every asteroid field is the same.  Also, now that I think of it, I would like to see the player given bigger ships one day.

All in all, I highly recommend this game, especially with the new expansion that refines the graphics and adds the new walker mechanics. 

Some screenies from the new expansion:

[Nefaro]

LOL.  Someone needs to move the wing in closer to the hull, in that last shot.  :D

Pretty cool how you can customize the look of your space fighters in E:M.  But such open spaces can easily go unnoticed unless you spin the 3D model around a bit and make adjustments.