Few questions from a newb

Rakshasas · Post by **Rakshasas** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 10:48 pm

Hello everyone!

When I saw this game light up on steam I got pretty excited, this is the type of game I've been waiting to see for a while!

I'm a bit fuzzy on a few details though, and I'm having trouble finding relevant info.

1) http://www.starwraith.com/ list 3 different Evochron games.
what exactly does that represent? Are all 3 games vastly different? Is it comparable to a new iteration of a game? For example, Age of Empires 1, Age of Empires 2 and Age of Empires 3?

2) I love the idea of realistic physics, but the problem is I am not understanding the controls very well. Let's say for example, that I NEVER want to use the IDS system. How can I fly without it? The engine velocity keys (W & S) seem to be unresponsive while inertia is on. I can see the value change but the engine does not actually fire.

3) This games future. I looked briefly at the modding forum and there seems to be some texture mods, but I also read that planet textures are hardcoded. Does anyone know if this game will ever move away from this? How is the mod support in general? A graphics overhaul mod could make this game stunning!

Also, I noticed this game recently got an update, today as a matter of fact. Is this something to be expected to continue?

4) Multiplayer. How exactly does this work? Is there a community hosted server for this game that many players connect to? I've seen people talk about playing with each other but I can't tell if these players are hosting temporary sessions with each other.

Or is more a server that holds for example, 4 players at a time, but saves the states of, for example 100 players. This is how minecraft servers typically work. I believe the server I play on supports 21 connections at once, but anyone can join the server and make their mark.

Thank you for your time!

Dengar · Post by **Dengar** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:04 pm

Rakshasas

Welcome to Evochron. Lots of questions there but I will go straight into part (4).

Vice is the developer and he listens to his customers comments and acts upon them, hence the latest update. They are updates and not bug fixes, although to be fair some fixes are included in the updates, although they are not generally game affecting. You probably don't even know they are there!

There are several servers at the moment operated by the community. They are generally loaded with noobs from the Steam purchases. However there are a few old hands on there (Bossk and I were in tonight engaged in combat) but we do help as well. I counted some 25 players on the USA server and there were similar numbers on the other two. One of the beauties of this is that if you play is SP your credit, performance and reputation are carried over to MP. So you could (and I recommend this) do the IMG quest in SP to get you familiar with the workings and then go on MP. But its up to you.

There are also a few TeamSpeak servers. our clan (BA) run a 24/7 Teamspeak 2 server (details in my signature) but I did notice a TS3.

Without a doubt this is a friendly community and we are all after the same thing - to have fun.

So enjoy the game and hope to see you out there sometime to receive a more formal "BA Welcome"!

Bossk · Post by **Bossk** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:31 pm

From post: 125087, Topic: tid=8467, author=Rakshasas wrote:Hello everyone!

When I saw this game light up on steam I got pretty excited, this is the type of game I've been waiting to see for a while!

I'm a bit fuzzy on a few details though, and I'm having trouble finding relevant info.

1) http://www.starwraith.com/ list 3 different Evochron games.
what exactly does that represent? Are all 3 games vastly different? Is it comparable to a new iteration of a game? For example, Age of Empires 1, Age of Empires 2 and Age of Empires 3?

2) I love the idea of realistic physics, but the problem is I am not understanding the controls very well. Let's say for example, that I NEVER want to use the IDS system. How can I fly without it? The engine velocity keys (W & S) seem to be unresponsive while inertia is on. I can see the value change but the engine does not actually fire.

3) This games future. I looked briefly at the modding forum and there seems to be some texture mods, but I also read that planet textures are hardcoded. Does anyone know if this game will ever move away from this? How is the mod support in general? A graphics overhaul mod could make this game stunning!

Also, I noticed this game recently got an update, today as a matter of fact. Is this something to be expected to continue?

4) Multiplayer. How exactly does this work? Is there a community hosted server for this game that many players connect to? I've seen people talk about playing with each other but I can't tell if these players are hosting temporary sessions with each other.

Or is more a server that holds for example, 4 players at a time, but saves the states of, for example 100 players. This is how minecraft servers typically work. I believe the server I play on supports 21 connections at once, but anyone can join the server and make their mark.

Thank you for your time!

Hi Rakshasas and welcome to the game.

To answer your questions as best I can:

1. Depends what you are looking at when you say 3 games. I assume you are referring to Mercenary, Legends and Renegades. There is also Avoch as well. The 1st three are all sandbox free style space sims. Each have similarities in the basics yet all are different in respect to the â€œstoryâ€�. There are all different games in their own right though. Avoch is a story driven, linier mission based game set in the same universe as the others but is not sandbox. You take the role of a navy pilot engaged in a war with an alien invader

2. You can fly with out IDS, but is it harder. The flight control systems of the ship automatically apply a cancelling thrust against movements when using IDS, but with out IDS, you need to apply that thrust your self. If you are flying at speed in one direction without IDS, you can either apply thrusters power in the opposite direction but this will have little effect at high speeds, or you rotate you ship and use the main engineers to counter the thrust. Most polits fly with out IDS most of the time, but turn it on to assist with the cancelling of high speed travel.

3. Vice is in the process of building an expansion that will include changes to the graphics of the game, including the planets. Vice again is constantly listening to comments from players and releases updates as and when required. Sometimes they are to fix an issue, as in the case of the latest release, or they are in response to player comments to add/remove/alter features. Each download is free and is installed over the currently installed copy, but leaves the progress of your pilot intact.

4. Multiplayer is hosted by community provided servers You can also host your own session adhoc if you wish to allow for your own multiplayer sessions that are not listed to the public. The servers are able to have 35 players, they all have the same base universe but each saves their own states with regards to stations and such. If you create a station on one server then that station will not be available on other servers. However, you pilot progress is saved on the client side so if you kill 100 enemy on one server, you kills will be taken over to another.

I am sure if I have missed anything or it is not quite right somebody will fill in the gaps. Once again, welcome to the game.

Bossk

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sat Jan 21, 2012 11:35 pm

Hi Rakhasas, welcome to the game and forum...Hope to see you out there some time!...

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 2:51 am

Hi Rakshasas and welcome!

You've already got answers to most of your questions, I'll chip in with a couple more details:

- if you _are_ using IDS, then W and S work; the idea is that while using IDS, all you need to say is "faster, my horse!" or "slower, you old bag of bones!" So you only have W and S to worry about, because the IDS takes care of choosing which thrusters it needs to fire in order to move you in the desired direction, you don't need to worry about anything.

- if, on the other hand, you are flying in inertial mode, then you can control each individual set of thrusters, and there's 3 sets of these, one for each degree of freedom.
So you use < and > for one set of thrusters (I might get the axes wrong, but you get the idea), these would be for moving "forward" or "backward". You use A and D for lateral thrusting. And you use Z and X for thrusting "up" and "down". The W and S don't work, because, like I said, by choosing to flight in inertial mode, you are also choosing to control individual thrusters. This gives you more control of the flight process, it saves on fuel, and it's a godsend in battles because if you're not firing your thrusters and you're just gliding, the missiles have a harder time tracking you.

To be a bit more precise, the W and S keys are actually working as intended during inertial flight: that is, they allow you to set velocity _for IDS mode_. They don't actually apply, until you switch to IDS mode.
Why would you care about that? Well, here's an example: you're flying a long distance, lots of jumps, presumably in inertial mode; when you reach the destination, perhaps the last jump is in the gravity well of a planet, and you want to quickly switch to a speed less than 1500 (so you don't burn); you can set your desired velocity with W and S to be less than 1500, and as soon as you've come out of the last jump, hit space and switch to IDS mode, and your speed will get adjusted right away.

Also, you'll prolly want to use IDS in at least two situations: while racing, and while flying in atmosphere (unless you're fighting, and possibly even then).

Good luck!

Rakshasas · Post by **Rakshasas** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:53 pm

thank you for the answers, I do believe I will be one of those "Steam noobs" really soon!

I do understand what you all mean by manually controlling thrusters vs using IDS mode to do it for you, though so I guess my question wasn't very clear, but you did help anyway!

I was trying to understand how to move forward with IDS off, and the keys I was looking for was < and >.

I knew how to go sideways, and vertically. Even how to roll, but not to apply forward or backwards thrust.

I *think* the tutorial didn't cover that, I will have to go over flight basics again and see if it's mentioned.

------

So with that new knowledge, I have one last question. Does IDS mode have a max velocity setting? Is that something that can be user adjusted? Or do I need to buy a better IDS system?

Using inertial I can obviously go as fast as I want, but if I find temp use for IDS and it's been suggested to use that for racing, I'm limited to 558 at the moment. In my little newb ship at least heh.

Thank you all

Jaga · Post by **Jaga** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 8:09 pm

Your engines have a max speed in IDS mode (558 as you indicated). You can exceed that with IDS on, only by using Afterburners. The instant you let afterburn drop off, IDS starts correcting your flight speed back to your current engine thrust. Any gains above max you had due to afterburning are lost due to IDS bringing flight speed down to the current engine setting (that can be 0, 558 as you see it, or anything inbetween).

countjimula · Post by **countjimula** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:01 pm

One thing I have done is replace the <> for non IDS forwards and backwards thrust with the S and W keys so when I have IDS off I have the controls right under my fingers. With IDS on I use the normal row of numbers over the letters to change the speed, and the Numpad 7 and 9 to change the range.

Dengar · Post by **Dengar** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:03 pm

Yes but take IDS off, blast the afterburners and then you will maintain that velocity vector. Your "forward" speed will then only change if:

1) You turn IDS back on
2) You use any of the thrusters to change direction.

Parallelogram/Resolution of Forces and all that!

As Mr MuchTalk would say - its all relative!

Hope this helps.

Jaga · Post by **Jaga** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 10:27 pm

Personally, I simply got used to the idea of two types of flight: cruising, which is what the IDS is for, and dogfighting, which is what inertial thusters are for. I only use the IDS as point to point cruising flight (and even then I turn it off once speed is established to save on fuel). For dogfighting, I rely on the thusters and sometimes the afterburner. I remapped everything so that WSAD is up/down/left/right thusters, and then I remapped V/B (on my Fang keypad) for forward/reverse thrusters (the Fang has them one above the other).

That way I can control targeting, all 6 directional thrusters, and the afterburner with just the left hand. The right hand is for mouse-flight control, and firing primary/secondary weapons. From what I read regularly, and my own experience this is the most advantageous setup when frequently encountering combat. Trying to dogfight with IDS is tantamount to suicide - that's what my first few fights were like, and I daresay they lasted as many seconds as I have fingers on one hand.

Flying Brick · Post by **Flying Brick** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 8:57 am

Rakshasas: one more thing about the IDS that I haven't seen mentioned in the above posts (apologies if I've missed it) is that 558 (or whatever) is not actually your maximum IDS speed... There is something called the IDS multiplier, which does exactly what its name suggests. It doesn't have any keys assigned by default (it prolly should), and it's on the 3rd page of customizing controls.

So, your max speed in IDS mode won't be 558, but 558 x 5 (max)...

Afterburner not included, naturally.