Fantastic! The discount is nice too, would be sweeter if I could use it from say the direct store to the steam one. I have funds in my steam wallet, but not in real life. 😛

Hope to see the multiplayer come back to life, it was alot of fun in Mercenary.

Purchased immediately of course: very happy to have the discount for owning Evochron Mercenary!

I'm really looking forward to digging into this.  These are really the only modern sims which have the flight model right.  It absolutely feels like a spacecraft is supposed to.  Thanks to that, this game coming out is to me a big event that surely won't get the fanfare from the gaming media that it deserves.

Now I have the difficulty of balancing this, Starsector (recently purchased) and Elite Dangerous.  That's a good problem to have.  I do run the risk of the proper flight model of Evochron leaving me very frustrated with the (admittedly often enjoyable) monstrosity that is the Elite Dangerous flight model.  Maybe it'll be good to leave it in the dust for a month or so while they continue working on expansions.  

Also, somebody please smack the two idiots who down-voted on Steam after playing it for like 1 hour.  Seriously, who the hell would thumbs-down one of the Evochron games?  

Will be picking up a copy at the weekend.

Is there anything posted about what are the new things or enhancements to Legacy from Mercenaries?

Not really DarkOne. 

http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/about.htm

Is about as close as you are going to get.

What I got out of it was More of the same but MORE. I'm going to try the demo until I can buy it this weekend. I'll try and come back with some of the differences.

I haven't spent much time on it yet, but from initial impressions I am rather underwhelmed with the improvements since Evochron Mercenary.  There were some basic quality-of-life improvements which were badly needed, mostly having to do with the UI, but it doesn't seem any attention has been paid to that sort of thing.  The ship and weapon types still seem far too homogeneous to provide much motivation to earn money.

On the bright side, one problem with Evochron Mercenary which drove me absolutely crazy is that the velocity of the cannon bolts were the same relative to the grid, regardless of the velocity of the ship which fired them.  This seems to have been fixed (as far as I can tell, the velocity of cannon bolts are always the same relative to the ship that fired them, regardless of that ship's velocity on the grid).  This was, in my mind, a very big problem with the combat in Evochron Mercenary, so the significance of this one fix should not be understated.

For some reason the makers of space sims, my favorite type of game, so often seem so incapable of understanding why other genres of games have been so successful.  Why do people play Borderlands or Diablo for hours on end?  Hint: it's not the story, it's not the terrain.  It's because those games are always presenting you with new and different ways to play them, and gaining access to these new abilities is a constant motivation to play.  I'm not sure why space sims are having such a hard time with that concept.  If you have lots of dials to let you continuously vary the stats of your ship and guns, no change ever feels exciting.  That's my input at least.

Bought the game on Friday and still going through the tutorials, I think their are a few caveats for anyone thinking of buying the game.

1 This is a sim not an arcade sim and you will need to look at the tutorials more than once and will need to put some time into it in order to play it.

2 Graphic whores don't even bother as you are not going to like it.

3 Download the demo first.

Anyone  know if their is a keyboard overlay for the game as it sure could use one.

 

Anyone  know if their is a keyboard overlay for the game as it sure could use one.

Yes there is one in the main game folder. Also the Star Wraith community put together a handy guide for Evochron Mercenary, much of it will still be relevant for Legacy. With luck, there might be another edition in the future covering Legacy too. You can find the guide here.

Cheers Geraldine I eventually found it one of the steam folder, any one looking for it can find it in C/ Program files  x86/ Steam/ Steam App/ Common/ Evochron Legacy.

Not had much chance to play it and I,m hopping to get a couple of hours over the weekend.

Really liking this a lot 😎 it does have a few faults but I think this game will scratch an itch for a lot of people.

Nice article by Euro Gamer site about the dev and game. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-31-the-stars-his-destination-meet-the-man-whos-kept-space-sims-flying

Very interesting article.  I have enormous respect for what Bower has done with these games, in spite of the fact that I'm rather underwhelmed with the changes in Legacy.

Does anybody who has had more time to dig into it than I have have anything interesting to report on new features?

Can't say myself as I never played Mercenary.

Cockpit mod to keep an eye http://www.starwraith.com/forum/viewthread.php?tid=12336

Must see if I can find my Babylon 5 sound effects.

Ever want to be a space pirate? Then try this game.  😎

Big update on Steam which I stopped from downloading as it's looks more like it's re downloading the whole game again and it seems to have introduced some new bugs. Think I will wait a few days for the hot fixes.

Let Steam connect to the internet this morning and found another 300 MB patch for EV http://steamcommunity.com/games/398170/announcements/detail/652265472513024957 Now I don't think this a patch it's more like a couple of bit have been changed and then the game has been re uploaded to Steam and it's not the first time this has been done, why it can't be done as a patch I don't know but it starting to get really annoying.

I really, really want to like the Evochron games, and have played a few in the past, but always just found them....well.....soulless and bland, somehow. Not quite sure why. But I owe it to the author to try Legacy, I'll have to give it a go.

Pinback, I too hate having to frequently download huge game patches. But when compared to Star Citizen's regular 25GB downloads, 300MB will be refreshingly small! 🙂

auryx

 

 

I really, really want to like the Evochron games, and have played a few in the past, but always just found them....well.....soulless and bland, somehow. 

I think one of their big problems is that no new module, ship or upgrade ever feels significant.  Some of them are governed by parameters with very small increments, so you sort of get a gradual continuous change that never feels exciting.  There aren't too many weapons that feel very different.  So, yeah, I agree the games come across feeling extremely bland, and it can be really hard to find motivation to keep playing.  It's funny that so many people who hate Elite love that game, because they suffer from so many of the same problems (I happen to love both, so no bias here).  It's a shame, because they do so many things so nicely.

I really, really want to like the Evochron games, and have played a few in the past, but always just found them....well.....soulless and bland, somehow. Not quite sure why. But I owe it to the author to try Legacy, I'll have to give it a go.

 

Pinback, I too hate having to frequently download huge game patches. But when compared to Star Citizen's regular 25GB downloads, 300MB will be refreshingly small! 🙂

 

auryx

Granted it is a small download but I'm on a tight leash, so I have turned Steams updates off for now.

I have only played the game for about ten hours but one thing I have noticed is that the NPC ship AI seems a bit weak as in they don't dock at the station or planets or engage in any sort of fighting with each other. The only thing I have seem them do is fly around and occasionally bump into asteroids although I have not been to the war zone or maybe I just need to play it longer.

HI,

as a fan of Evochron Mercenary it was just a matter of time, so I bought the Legacy sequel.

My first impression is a cool one as for grafical improvements and the HUD additions. I surely would be lost if I hadn't made personal EM notes in the past, but the EL in-game Tutorials and docs are nicely done.

I've  spent a lot of time studying the changes in EL compared to EM in the 'development pages' (Homepage > FAQ > Game changes), so I will assume that most gameplay features of EM are still present in EL, but of course they may play differently because of the additions. So I guess the Terrain Walker, equipment and other objects that can be found on planets, most mission types (now called Contracts), Distress missions, all these are still present ? Thanks anyone to confirm or deny this, but I hope I will soon figure it out myself.

My main concern is the game approach: create a new profile, jump in fresh waters and go ahead... or: Is my knowledge of EM useful for combat / trading ?

Thanks anyone to share their starting experience 😎

I'm eager to see the major changes done in the Economy and Military alliances that now can completly change during the game, which should make it even more a high replayability. I hope these are not only pure numbers in a list but also reflect on real game action by the AI... Let's see...

See you,

XenonS

Not played Mercenary myself so I can't comment on any differences between the two, but it's interesting that you mention the terrain walker as their is a big thread on the Steam forum as to weather they are still in the game?.

What I know from the game description (and the Tutorials added) is a new construction system for stations in space and buildings on planets. It's a "Modules" system where you can quickly add defense turrets, energy supplies, repair centers and various other things that all interact with combat and exploration (at least in Multiplayer).

This could make the mining Terrain Walker superfluous, but I really hope they didn't remove it from the game ! It's the only possibility to actually leave the ship and perform some useful actions. If its the case, well, I still have EM to consolate me.. 🙂

XenonS

Just been looking at the thread on the Steam forums and by the look of it the Terrain Walkers are still in the game but are really hard to get hold off.

Hi Pinback!

I now have read the Steam forum thread too. Interesting and amusing, I didn't expect such a 'fervent' positioning for the TW :=)

In EM you could find items pretty easily. This is now gone in Legacy, when you want to find containers with secrets, also the TW, you really have to look for them in all sort of places or use expensive special devices... I'm now a few hours in the game, Most every aspect has been re-worked for the good, keeping the initial spirit I think.

I wish they had included a full forward view for planet-side, but now there will be a Cockpit Custumization Tool lauched by the devs. Good!

XenonS

I had updates turned off for EL for the last months or so and have just spotted the update from the 4th which now has a chance of finding a terrain walker in a high tec system.

 

Version 1.0278 includes the following improvements:

- Overall loading time from main menu to startup sequence reduced slightly.

- Option to limit yaw and pitch rotation added for mouselook, key, and axis view controls.

- Market value of terrain walkers increased significantly for new market availability option.

- Consolidating commodities in hangar now automatically removes any 0 quantity material listing.

- Sensor station and probe nav map indicators updated to reduce clutter and include square shape.

- Sensor stations and probes now render signals within a 50K cube shaped section of space rather than circular.

- There is now a rare chance of terrain walkers being available for sale in high technology class inventories.

- Equipment list in inventory console now adjusts with capacity limit rather than installed items (matching cargo list behavior).

- Nav map indicators for cities, ping location, and contract waypoints rendered with higher performance and can now be customized.

- Region territory link to war zones removed, all human ships are now linked as 'Navy' while in war zones.

- Weapon turrets will not attack 'Navy' faction human/AI piloted ships in war zones unless attacked first.

- Quests 2 and 3 updated to indicate decameters/in-sector coordinates for certain module placements.

- Proximity check that would sometimes incorrectly allow plants to disappear when approached fixed.

- Added option to import separate dedicated texture images for each individual custom ship design.

- The last module in a sector would often return on respawn/reload after being destroyed, fixed.

- Cargo list in build console more clearly defined to match frame design in inventory console.

- Rare chance of a training vocal stage playing when entering a station or city fixed.

- Global custom cockpit option enabled (ccpit.x and ccpitshader.txt file options).

- Ability to set a custom size of nav map signal blips added (dotsize.txt).

- Race course and cargo delivery HUD indicator texture detail improved.

- Cave entrance auto-guidance system updated for smoother adjustment.

- Pitch level (integer) added to savedata text file export options.

- Pitch level readout option added to hudtext.dat file options.

- Message log controls disabled when mouselook is active.

- Ship nav lights given a slight lens flare effect.

- Ability to import a custom jump gate mesh added.

Notes:

For the option to increase the size of the dots rendered on the nav map when a sensor station or probe is deployed, use a file named dotsize.txt inside the hud folder and include the size you want for the blips in the first line. The default size is 4. It is generally not recommended to increase the size too much as the dots will eventually overlap each other if they are close together and are too big. So it's only recommended if you are using a low resolution display (below 1920X1080) and/or prefer the oversized blips on the nav map.

For the custom jump gate mesh option, use the environment folder and filename gate.x for the custom mesh you want to use. To keep game rules consistent in multiplayer, the collision setup will remain the same, so you'll want to use a design that is pretty close to the same shape and size of the default mesh if you want the collision to match the appearance of the custom gate mesh you use.

By request, the new sensor station and probe systems now scan a square shaped section of space to cover the full 50K section of a sector out to its edge. The sensor signal strength is increased out to the corners to provide a more complete field of coverage across a square section of space to better match the square shape of sectors.

For the option to limit yaw and pitch rotation for mouselook, key, and axis view control, create a file in the game's install folder named 'panlimits.txt' and include the angle limit for yaw in the first line along with the angle limit for pitch in the second line. Default values are 178 and 88 respectively.

To address player requests/reports of different factions being present in war zones causing increased difficulty for escort objectives and mixed faction fighting, the regional territory link has been removed from war zones to lock all human ships in under one 'NAVY' faction. This way, any ALC or FDN ships in the region will behave as allied with any other ALC or FDN ship in a war zone with a common interest in fighting the Vonari. This change won't impact certain station conditions, so ships from opposing factions still won't be able to dock and the station modules themselves can be destroyed/built to still retain that level of control/behavior for a faction. But ships will no longer attack opposing faction ships in war zones, regardless of the regional territory control level.