I've been unregistered for over a year.

This forum seems pretty slow, but I wanted to ask this question just in case. I obtained (and purchased) EV: Override when it was (sorta) new. I got a new computer a bit over a year ago, which can run Override, though not very well. Since the new computer isn't very good at handling old games, I kept my old machine so I could play Override (and other old games) effectively. As such, I never reentered my registration for the copy on my new machine. Every now and then, I open it up and play it. (I think I've played Override on the new machine for a total of 9 or so hours over the course of the year and a half that I've had it.) In all this time, Cap'n Hector keeps pestering me with the instructions to register and occasionally steals money from me, but I've never seen Hector attack. Doesn't he do this if you play unregistered for too long? If so, when? Does it matter that I'm using a plugin ship and have heavily plugged Override with new missions, planets, etc?

I think in Override, he just steals some of your credits sometimes.

copy the pref file from your old computer to the new one, problem solved ^_^

Yeah, I think there's something wrong with Hector in Override. I believe initially he worked as normal and would attack after 30 days but as the years went by he didn't seem to care anymore. Perhaps he was affected by the Y2K bug

I never remember Hector attacking in Override. Just getting that "Hector, The Shareware enforcer has stolen some of your hard earned credits..." message periodically.

This post has been edited by CaptJosh : 13 February 2007 - 05:14 AM

Oh, she attacks, alright. Believe me, I was one of her victims.

Yes, I did say she. Hector is a female, after all.

Anyway, I believe the way it worked was like this: in EVC, Hector doesn't attack you until the total time you've played is 30 days (720 hours, for your own personal knowledge). In EVO, you have to activate the game at least once a day for 30 days for her to attack.

In EV:N, though, the time period really is 30 days, whether or not you've played it every day during that time.

I'm fairly certain it works like that, but I don't know for sure.

I never saw Hector attack, but for sure had her stealing credits - except that I found out that the pilot file would save upon take-off and the message appeared just before take-off, so you could force quit EVO and go back to the last planet you saved at and still have all your credits <_<.

@warlord-mike, on Feb 13 2007, 04:31 PM, said in When Does Hector Bite?:

Anyway, I believe the way it worked was like this: in EVC, Hector doesn't attack you until the total time you've played is 30 days (720 hours, for your own personal knowledge). In EVO, you have to activate the game at least once a day for 30 days for her to attack.

I'm sure EV itself predated Ambrosia's change of its policy on 'crippleware'. That is, their products at the time didn't gain/lose any features upon registration aside from getting rid of reminders and personalisation. I'm fairly sure Hector never did anything but remind you to register in EV.

Override was one of the first Ambrosia products where that policy began to change (again, IIRC). However, I don't recall Hector attacking - only reminding and stealing cash.

(Actually, I have an unregistered copy here. Haven't seen Hector's ship at all, in fact - just the stealing.)

Exactly. In EV Classic and EVO, Hector just heckles. She doesn't attack. It's only in Nova that she attacks.

I distinctly remember her attacking me in EVC, only cause she was easy to evade

@incontrovertible, on Feb 16 2007, 12:49 AM, said in When Does Hector Bite?:

I distinctly remember her attacking me in EVC, only cause she was easy to evade

Yep. I remember too, back when I played it on my old Quadra (which is long gone, now). I played the game for so long, she began firing on me for not paying.

That's when I discovered just how helpful the Ramscoop really is. Since no one will refuel you if she attacks.

Quote

Oh, she attacks, alright. Believe me, I was one of her victims.

Yes, I did say she. Hector is a female, after all.

Anyway, I believe the way it worked was like this: in EVC, Hector doesn't attack you until the total time you've played is 30 days (720 hours, for your own personal knowledge). In EVO, you have to activate the game at least once a day for 30 days for her to attack.

In EV:N, though, the time period really is 30 days, whether or not you've played it every day during that time.

I'm fairly certain it works like that, but I don't know for sure.

OK, I'll have to see about this.

Quote

copy the pref file from your old computer to the new one, problem solved

Actually, I always play EVO on my old computer. Old computer = Mac OS 9. New computer = Mac OSX with clunky version of Classic that stumbles over anything more graphics-intensive than Pong. I kept the old machine solely for the purpose of playing old games by now-defunct companies with no OSX versions coming out.

I've occasionally played EVO on the new machine, but mainly because I want to make Hector attack me. Thanks for the advice, though.

I'm not sure... I think I remember Hector attacking me in EVC (it was at a time I didn't have any credit card nor any way to pay for the game) after playing for a damn long time, 150 hours I think. Though it wasn't really often, and besides the fact Hector could not be harmed, this was only a mild annoyance as she wasn't deadly at all , so I guess EVC wasn't crippleware either, EVO was to an extent.

The change of policy didn't happen overnight, or even consistently, for instance Harry was actual crippleware (since you couldn't play farther than the 5th level nor any custom world), while some later games were not really crippleware.

No, Hector most definitely attacks you in EVC.

Beyond that...you could delete Capt. Hector from the game....

But yeah...I remember Captian Hector attacking in her Rapier in classic EV.

-Cent

Technically, there's nothing to say that Captain Hector is female.

Since the real parrot doesn't fly around in a Rapier/Helian and send messages to people, there's no reason to assume that the parrot named "Hector" in-game is female. By 2246, anyway, I'm pretty sure they'd have better methods of checking a parrot's gender -- and so a female parrot would likely never be styled as "Hector" as it has been in real life.

That said, I remember getting attacked by Hector a few years back, in EV -- it was a pretty rare event, though, and presumably brought on only by countless hours of gameplay. I don't recall getting attacked at all in EVO, though, and I haven't had him after me in any of the newer machines.

- Bob

@consul-bob, on Mar 2 2007, 06:31 PM, said in When Does Hector Bite?:

Since the real parrot doesn't fly around in a Rapier/Helian and send messages to people...

...she doesn't?

@consul-bob, on Mar 2 2007, 06:31 PM, said in When Does Hector Bite?:

That said, I remember getting attacked by Hector a few years back, in EV -- it was a pretty rare event, though, and presumably brought on only by countless hours of gameplay. I don't recall getting attacked at all in EVO, though, and I haven't had him after me in any of the newer machines.

After 30 days, Hector stops pestering users and starts attacking them. I think there's some calculation about how much gametime has passed as well (ie: 31 days after first being fired up, she won't attack someone who has only played 5 minutes).

Dunno about in EVO; I stopped playing not long after it when Hector stole my credits (being penalized for not paying for it two hours after first playing? no thank you).

EVula, I just went and made a cheat plug with a free money mission. That way I had so much money that when Hector robbed my bank, it didn't matter.

@captjosh, on Mar 5 2007, 12:15 PM, said in When Does Hector Bite?:

EVula, I just went and made a cheat plug with a free money mission. That way I had so much money that when Hector robbed my bank, it didn't matter.

Yeah, and that's fine, except I didn't feel like cheating (and one shouldn't have to cheat just to enjoy a game when you're early into the trial period).

Keep in mind that my story takes place a long time ago... as in, within a week of EVO's 1.0.0 release.

Given the way that Ambrosia games usually work, it sounds like they just forgot to put in a check on how long you'd been playing. Not really surprising, as EVO was one of their first crippleware games (as opposed to the nagware games that came before).