HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: Evochron

[CaptainHaplo]

One word....

WOW!

Ok - this is an indie space flight/combat/trade sim in the elite genre.

First a bit about the game. Production values are very high, the game looks AMAZING. Its entirely free form, no campaign at all. Its just you, and your ship, against the universe. There is a history, and various groups you can try and keep in good graces, so your actions do matter. Missions are available, trade for profit, etc. What I really like is the fact you can land on planets, the dynamics of flight change for atmospheric vs space, ah heck I just like the detail.

Only thing you can't do is build your own empire like the X series - at least, I don't THINK you can. I haven't played enough to be able to tell honestly.

Now - it gets better. First off - the dev packs an entire universe - with amazing graphics - into a game thats only 30 megs. Thats right - 30 megs. Then he gives the game out as a demo - you have basically an hour an a half free play of the game - the FULL game - to decide if you like it. If so, the copy protection is very similiar to what IRONCLADS used, though its key based instead of file based. Another good gesture - the training portion (which takes about 10 minutes) doesnt count against your play time.

I have to admit - I was blown away in game when the download was so small.

Oh - one more note - for all you I-war fans - it does have a IDS free mode as well..... one more nod to realism.

Don't take my word for this game though - if you enjoy space sims at all you really should check this game out. As soon as I can, I will be registering my version and supporting an amazing indie game.

Its not a bit download - what are you waiting for?

http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/evochronrenegades/

If anyone has played this - provide your own feedback. Or try it and do so. Just thought I would share.

[Dowly]

Okie dokie, will have a look. :up:

[ajrimmer42]

Vaguely remember seeing this a while ago, is it the game where you can completely design your ship? If so it was that which attracted me. Downloading now :up:

[kiwi_2005]

Tried this awhile back though in its early stages. I liked it but got side tracked with some other game that I thought would be Wow! Awesome! Best game ever buzz and like always after about 3 days that buzz feeling dies :) Or is that just me?

Will try this game out again when i find the time :up:

[Arclight]

Looks totally awesome, but I keep wasting myself in the training. :rotfl:

[ReallyDedPoet]

Looks good :up:

[Task Force]

looks intresting.

[Smaragdadler]

Bought. Thanks for the tip.

[fatty]

Before anyone else thinks of buying this be advised that this game is outdated now. What you want is Evochron Legend, which came out this year, and has the same gameplay, universe, ships, missions, etc, but overhauled graphics and some other new toys. The price is also the same.

[Smaragdadler]

Exactly. There is also a third version called "Arvoch Conflict", which has a more elaboreted military mission story modus. (more "wing commander" then Elite/Privateer). But the best and latest is Evochron Legends.

better link:
http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/go.htm

[Smaragdadler]

More older versions as freeware:

http://starwraith3dgames.home.att.net/others.htm

[Dowly]

Can you get big ships in the game? You know, a huge merchant ship to haul stuff with or are you stuck with small/medium size ships?

[Tachyon]

Just bought the game (Evochron LEGENDS , not Evochron Renegades), it's amazing how the author used different compression algorithms for files that were best suited to said algorithms, to reduce the game size to 30 MB.

And Dowly, if you mean huge big-ass carriers like in X3 Reunion, nope you can't fly any of those. But, you can fly some ships that are big enough to be classified as a Corvette (the Leviathan for example). Also, there are Civilian and Military class ships, so there's a lot to choose from. Ship customization is amazing though , 10 types of Engines, Shields, Wings e.t.c and you can even set their physical appearance (i.e height,size,width,position on ship).

Other notable features :

1)Ability to land on planets and mine.
2)Ability to actually mine Oxygen and other gases while on atmospheric descent (!!!).
3)Ability to explore Asteroids (yes you can fly through some of the special ones) and hunt for hidden canisters and possibly a hidden station within the rock.

4)Co-operative Contracts. Easily the best Multiplayer feature. When two or more players are in the same sector , and one of them accepts a contract from a station, other players are automatically linked to the contract and receive waypoints. Whether they choose to help the player who accepted it or not is irrelevant, but in the end everyone receives the same payment :) .

5)Ability to build your own ship components. Just gather enough materials from mining/trading and assemble them on special "Construct" stations.

6)Ability to form your own fleets. You can hire other pilots to follow you for a fee, though I think at higher military ranks there are some perks.

7)It doesn't matter if you play the game offline or online. Your ship/credits gets saved and can be used for either mode.

So, what does this game miss? Simply the X series' empire building ability.

Online play has been a blast, the community is very helpful. And those firefights during co-operative contracts are just pure win. I'm using the same nick online, so see you there.