As it's my first post here, I'd like to introduce me first. If you'd like to skip that part, I put it into a quote so you know, how much you have to skip then. ;-)
Once before, about July last year, I did find "Evochron Mercenary" and already bought it that time. I played a while, but got to pause the game for a while afterwards until re-discovering it again because of the STEAM Announcement. I played only single player so far and I really really love the concept.First, I'm (soon) a 28 year old guy from Austria, started this sort of games already in his childhood. Thanks to one of my brothers, I got to know "Privateer 2: The Darkening" as first game like that. I loved it!
I even liked to get my own pirate clan with own fleets. Heck, I sort of was the heritage of the Kindred-Clan but the game had to end then.
A long time I never found a similar game, until I accidentially found "X²: The Thread" in a local store". I loved it too and stayed with the X-series until today, even did some modding for "X³: Terran Conflict" too. Most I liked was the ability to build own stations and own fleets, sort of my wishes for The Darkening came true. The modding capabilities where even quite large, though limited too of course. I liked the whole series very much, even the company Egosoft itselft. But because of latest decisions for their new products I lost trust in them ...
... instead of improving these, often too simple implemented concepts they focus on mass market, skipping some of these concepts.
Vast and open space, no need to use jump gates but available jump drives and gates. Seemlessly planet landings, faboulous nebulas. Newtonian flight system but available IDS, needing to take care for fuel. Individual modular building/upgrading of ships, Emergency-Distress-Calls and so on ...
... I'm aware that Mercenery implies a focus for fighting, but there's also trading mentioned for the Evochron series.
You can trade goods and even mine, not only asteroids but even in nebulas and on planets, of course. You can built stations ...
... for now I just can't see much reason for it. Only investments so far is for fighters.
You can't build your own trading empire, you can't built your own freighter-fleets for trading, you can't build your own stations (as far as I read, you can built but don't own these built stations?) to get regular income from, you can't build your own military fleets, including capital ships, to protect all that.
Do I really only earn money to upgrade my fighter to be able to fight enemies?
Did I miss the point of the game, because I didn't get far enough yet?
Did I miss the point of the game, because I'm not a online player but prefer to play on my own?
Or is there maybe a chance, that even Mercenary ... or at least a successor of it ... once will enhance the trade/empire/fleets part of the game?
I'm sure, that would be a lot of work and as far as I know for now, Starwraith consists of Vice only who is doing (most of?) all this great work on his own.
I also see, that Mercenary has a big feel of loneliness in space which's great. So I also don't think of multiple stations to each others all the time for the empire part.
It's just, I'd like to hold the space-sim of my dream once in my hands. And for now, I hope the Evochron series could develop in that way.
Vice maybe could be even better supported, if it would be possible to get Evochron more modable on a very modular kind?
Last, I want to say a big thank you to you, Vice, for keeping this sort of games alive, which are much too rare in my opinion.
THANK YOU!
Best regards
Saetan
