It's better at doing ED than FDevs are..Now eyeballing Evochron Legacy. Has anyone played this to date? EL is a sandbox, RTS Newtonian mechanic space flight sim that focuses on a lone wolf/pilot controlled/survival game play mechanic. As the pilot, you control your reputation, wealth, ranking, and game progression (in solo or multiplayer mode). So it's basically ED with its main buy/trade/combat/exploration loop features (and slightly dated graphics). But seems to have a better capacity for emergent game play. Especially based on a good mix of structured and sandbox features/activities. I'm really baffled why EL hasn't been considered a serious ED competitor, given these similar and additional features. Many of which ED is still missing out on to date as indicated in red:
View attachment 152280
- planetary descent and atmospheric flight on earth like worlds:
Since launch, EL has retained solidly positive reviews on Steam and around the web. It appears to have matured very well to date. Definite buy once Steam does their Thanksgiving/Black Friday penny discount sales next week
- escorting/protection details
- espionage/silent running/detection evasion
- mining
- PvP & PvE combat (in both civilian and military war zone scenarios)
- SAR/emergency first response
- structured mission and sandbox contract objectives
- develop personal sandbox trade/mining/exploration plans & strategies based on dynamic economic/military/tech/political changes in star sectors
- weapon crafting
- HOTAS/keyboard & mouse/console support
- equipment crafting
- All bodies such as moons, asteroid fields, asteroid caves, asteroid surfaces, planets are tangible objects which are accessible/can be landed on
- All astronomical phenomena like nebula, stars, gas giant and planetary atmospheres can be interacted with using Newtonian mechanics. Space craft may take damage based on exposure to phenomena
- unique contract objectives (meteor interdiction, damaged satellite retrieval from planetary atmosphere, deploying modules etc)
- direct ship to ship trading/refueling/mission & contract giving in solo and multiplayer
- custom ship design and hangar storage at custom built shipyards (from FC to small fighter/trader/explorer scale).
- ability to blueprint customized ship designs for future builds
- custom built storage of cargo at custom built or existing trade stations
- detailed space, planetary, and POI exploration
- full POI space and planet shipwreck exploration/salvage (which is limited to visual flyby & data d/l in ED)
- racing
- cleaning solar panels??
- clearing paths through asteroid fields
- recruiting NPCs
- hiring and management of NPC crew members (more detailed than ED)
- fuel harvesting
- Player can direct ships in their single player fleet in PvE & PvP combat. Player can order single/multiple fleet ships to attack/defend specific or general targets.
- harvesting resources (big advantage as ED doesn't really specialize in this feature)
- SE sandbox style building of destructible stations/cities on planetary surfaces or in space. These buildings are multipurpose and can be used for docking, faction/solo HQ, storage, trade commodities hub, manufacturing/crafting ships/goods, etc. (another big advantage over ED)
A very detailed game, not the graphics, they are a touch or two lower, but for gameplay, who cares about graphics..
I loved Merc and have played some Legacy, but I really need to build my own ship now and maintain it. Unfortunately that is one thing these games don't really win at. No legs in Evochron apart from the 'walker', which isn't great. But if you like ED you'll love Evochron in my view.
The Evochron series is a great testament to the one dev that makes them.
Edit: Oh, and if you do buy, make sure to play the tut's..