@pac, on Dec 21 2006, 08:23 PM, said in EVO Questions:

This is another reason why a new scenario would be required to continue the story.

So did you ever plan on releasing/making the sequel new scenario?

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the galaxy

The Emalgha, Hinwar and United Earth government signed a formal treaty to combined their forces in the Interstellar Alliance, more usually the Stellar Alliance, or just the Alliance. The Alliance's main political goal - and reason for existing - was the destruction of the Voinian Empire, but the members also agreed a general mutual protection pact.

The main instrument of the Alliance was its fleet, basically formed of UE vessels, now being refitted with some Voinian technology as well as entirely new developments. Joint scientific projects reaped great benefits, vastly improving the Emalgha's anti-armour weaponry (which became standard armament on ships deployed against the Voinians), as well as producing a number of new weapons. Old improvisations like the Hunter Missile (and the UE Carrier) were left behind as designed-for-purpose weapon systems went into production.

Below we can see an Alliance Cruiser - in essence just a much-refined UE Cruiser. (This model is not quite complete - it still seems to be missing an engine. Blue is the Alliance's signature colour.)

(You can see a few Alliance Furies in the shipyard picture. The UE Fighter was taken out of service, and replaced by the new Fury light and Banshee heavy fighters. Another new Alliance ship was its Frigate (but none of the versions of that look that nice ;)).)

All of which meant that even when the Empire began to produce Dreadnoughts in significant numbers, and even though they continued to improve their own traditional technologies, the Alliance's forces held an overwhelming advantage. The destruction of Svass Station appeared to signal the end of the Voinian Empire.

But the emergence of the Council complicated matters. Soon after the Council's declaration, the Miranu - aware of its possible implications - applied to join the Stellar Alliance, offering their technology and their knowledge of the Strands in exchange for defence. The Alliance agreed, and the information supplied by the Miranu led to a growing realisation of the potential threat posed by the Council. Certainly they had an agenda against most aliens, and humans particularly. Would they try to exterminate them, like the Voinians? Or just destroy their capacity for spaceflight? Whatever the case, the Council was growing stronger, and the Alliance had to prepare for the possibility of facing an utterly different enemy from the Voinians - and one against whom all the anti-Voinian weapons which had been so painstakingly developed would be all but useless.

The offensive against the Voinians stalled as more and more ships were drawn away to be refitted for a possible conflict with the Council, and to protect Miranu worlds in the North Tip. (The evacuation there continued in some places, was cancelled in others.) None of this pleased the Emalgha or Hinwar, for whom the Council (and the entire Crescent) was incredibly distant. A last blow against Voina had seemed to close, but nothing could happen in the Alliance without the backing of United Earth.

And that is where things stand, with the Alliance and the Council seemingly on the edge of conflict, but no one knowing when, or what will happen when two fleets with utterly different technological heritages clash.

Oh, and there are still lots of things going on elsewhere. For example, in the human independent worlds and the South Tip, Stellar Corp - having bought up huge quantities of outdated UE arms and munitions - has intervened to bring order, offering its corporate police to provide security in exchange for a near-monopoly on trade. The Renegades there are no longer divided by being human or alien, but between those based around Freeport - who oppose Stellar Corp's domination - and those known as Outcasts following the Nadir: who is not at all dead and has made his base deep in the Proxima Nebula.

--

Which is where I'll leave it for now, because This wasn't what I had in mind when I started posting here (I was just going to give you the whole story as far as I'd planned it), but I'm now almost tempted to actually do the sequel. It seems a little late But it also seems temptingly possible.

It would certainly be more than a one-man job though. Even when I was in practice, my graphics were only passable at best. And now I am very much out of practice, and standards are higher. Also, the number of missions involved is staggering : you can join either the Council or the Alliance (the pilot is a Strandless, btw) who both have huge campaigns. But there are three central objectives again, and none of them are directly related to the Alliance-Council conflict. And there are also loads of available sub-plots (with Stellar Corp, the remnants of the Strands, Freeport, etc).

Also, there was one huge obstacle - which with the Override engine couldn't really be tackled satisfactorily at all - to realising the whole concept of the sequel. The Nova engine could now do it, but no graphics exist at all for that part of the concept. But I can't say very much about it as it would be just too big a spoiler (should anything come of this).

Well, I'll see what interest there is. I had planned to design something new for EV, on the Nova engine, but I'd thought to develop something entirely different. But while going over all this stuff I've been reminded that it was a shame I never developed all this further before (years ago).

Wow. Awesome. I really like the Alliance Cruiser.

This would make for such an awesome plug.

Your writing skills are excellent. This would be a great addition to the EV universe. I've always liked EVO story more then EVN, but this would make it even better. Wish you luck if you decide to go ahead and make a sequel.

The central objectives if made won't involve a direct conflict between the alliance and council, so does that mean you had planned to have another sequel after this one involving a direct interaction between the Council and the alliance?

I think it'd be awesome if you turned this into a Nova TC. It would definitely get me to play Nova again.

@hypochondriac, on Dec 22 2006, 04:26 PM, said in EVO Questions:

The central objectives if made won't involve a direct conflict between the alliance and council, so does that mean you had planned to have another sequel after this one involving a direct interaction between the Council and the alliance?

No, all that happens. What I was getting at was that the central objectives are in addition to the Alliance-Council conflict. So even that is a prelude to other major events.

"Piffle" as in "Piffle Juice". Famous on Tibidat, central to my South Tip Alliance trade group. I was assuming some sort of fruit.

I'm loving the postlogue/timeline.

The Override engine, while fairly limited, can still pull off some nifty feats. I managed to design a mission where the player escorts a Miranu Freighter from Tibidat, lands on Freeport, takes off again and disables a Turncoat, boards the Turncoat and transfers a Krait from its bay to the Miranu Freighter's cargo hold, then returns to Tibidat with the freighter carrying the fighter, all so the Strandless can reverse engineer the technologically simply, and hence easy to mass-produce, human ship, because they don't have the resources or infrastructure to create a viable fleet of traditional Crescent ships but still need to protect their convoys from Renegades. But I reveal too much!

As for the sequel, I'd love to be on the team that makes it. I can't do graphics either, but I can think up some pretty clever types of missions within the bounds of the game engine, and some markedly, um, "different" types of "weapons". <cryptic grin.

Dividing mission strings into triples, ie, the player can either join side A or side B or side C, mathematically ensures the most replayability. Say you have 12 strings. If their in triples then that's 3^4 = 81 different combinations of sides the player can join, and hence the game can be replayed 80 times. If they're instead split into pairs, either join A or join B, then that's 2^6 = 64, for only 63 different replays. This is just an issue of finding a maximum for y=x^(n/x), which is just e, the natural exponent. f(2) = f(4), and f(3) is the highest integer-value.

One more question: is anyone or any group in EVO altruistic, or does everyone act entirely in their own best interest?

@qaanol, on Dec 22 2006, 06:13 PM, said in EVO Questions:

"Piffle" as in "Piffle Juice". Famous on Tibidat, central to my South Tip Alliance trade group. I was assuming some sort of fruit.

Yes, I remembered a little while afterwards. Someone else invented Piffle Juice, so I can't say what it's made from with any certainty.

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One more question: is anyone or any group in EVO altruistic, or does everyone act entirely in their own best interest?

A very subjective question! For example, the Council certainly sees itself as altruistic, since it has the interests of its whole species at heart. I would say that there are no altruistic organisations, but may be altruistic individuals. But even then, as in life, if you try hard enough you can break any apparently altruistic act down and find a self-interested motive behind it.

Amazing... it’s starting to look like there may be a feasible route to EV4 after all.

So, having taken control of the whole Crescent, do the Council continue calling themselves by the same name, or do they call their government by the name of the species to give an impression of greater legitimacy? (And is this, as has generally been assumed, Gadzair?)

Why is it that contact with humans proves to be so much more disruptive to the Strand War than contact with the Miranu ever was, given that the Miranu are closer, have better technology, and aren’t fighting another war?

As the breadth of the Alliance grows, do they remain willing to out-source parts of their war effort to companies like Frontier Express? Does Miranu technology or expertise come to play a role in the Voinian war?

How well do the Voinians in conquered territory integrate, and how well are they treated by their new rulers? For that matter, how much do ordinary Voinians actually identify with their imperial government in the first place?

Do you feel any greater sympathy for one Strand than for the others?

@david-arthur, on Dec 22 2006, 10:57 PM, said in EVO Questions:

So, having taken control of the whole Crescent, do the Council continue calling themselves by the same name, or do they call their government by the name of the species to give an impression of greater legitimacy? (And is this, as has generally been assumed, Gadzair?)

Well, they haven't taken control of the whole Crescent, just the centre of it (the old Strand heartlands). They are referred to as the Council, yes. The name of the species is (as it says somewhere) 'forgotten'. (This fact can make for difficult work-arounds )

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Why is it that contact with humans proves to be so much more disruptive to the Strand War than contact with the Miranu ever was, given that the Miranu are closer, have better technology, and aren’t fighting another war?

The Miranu were not interested in getting involved. They were happy to trade with all parties. While the Miranu want to go everywhere, and have open trade with everyone, beyond that they are usually very cautious. Despite this, the Council had been growing concerned over various issues (eg, closer relationships between the Miranu and the Zidagar than the Miranu and any other Strand; Miranu colonisation of the North Tip), so even if humans hadn't come into the picture, perhaps all that would have prompted action eventually.

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As the breadth of the Alliance grows, do they remain willing to out-source parts of their war effort to companies like Frontier Express? Does Miranu technology or expertise come to play a role in the Voinian war?

There is always a role for non-governmental bodies - but FE itself has been swallowed up by Stellar Corp. The Miranu are too new as members of the Alliance for there to have been much technological exchange at this point.

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How well do the Voinians in conquered territory integrate, and how well are they treated by their new rulers? For that matter, how much do ordinary Voinians actually identify with their imperial government in the first place?

Erm, with possible, rare exceptions, they're dead. Between slave uprisings, necessary orbital bombardments, simple expediency Some will have evacuated ahead of any attack, and a few survivors might have been put aboard ship and deported back to the Empire rather than being killed out of hand - but that would typically only be if humans found them rather than Emalgha or Hinwar.

As for the second question - who knows? We know not all of them support the Empire (eg, the defector). But, as in the real world, it's very hard to find out the 'real' opinions of people living under a totalitarian system.

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Do you feel any greater sympathy for one Strand than for the others?

I can't show favoritism! If I found one Strand more appealing than another, that would just mean that I hadn't done enough work on the other two!

How many systems do the Voinians have left at the end of that prequel? And what becomes of "Pax" Station? And one more thing...you mentioned the renegades in the south aren't organized along racial lines anymore- did the Strandless pirates join the Freeport faction, did they pack up and return to the Council, or did something else happen to them?

This post has been edited by UE_Research & Development: 22 December 2006 - 11:45 PM

I'm surprised by a few things in EVO, how come so many things used by UE and the Emalgha are stolen from the Voinians, but yet, it seems that the Voinians make very little tech advancements, so why do they steal so much from them? I mean, UE is so pathetic it can't design rockets? Wow.

And if you're gonna make a sequel, I'd love to help in anyway, including helping with graphics and/or missions for the Voinians... ( Yeah, I'm crazy about the Voinians, don't ask me why )

Ah, yes, I remember Admiral Tzu. Pity he met his end in the Huron fiasco. Then again, his type is hard to keep in the grave, even with developer support.

Also, what became of the Zachit after their north-tip staging base was obliterated? Such a fantastic loss would be devastating to the Zachit and the Miranu who hold them on retainer.

And although the assets of Frontier Express have since been acquired by stellar corp, what became of their personnel? FE always struck me as the more idealistic of the two, so I imagine that some of FE's former employee's would take the hostile takeover lying down (Particularly the freelanced spacers, who have little love for corporate interests).

With the Nadir moving into the Proxima nebula, and the upper reaches of the north tip being abandoned by the Miranu (and subsequently occupied by Zidagar Loyalist Refugees), what is becoming of the Ji Nebula? Clearly you had big plans for it, but has anything actually happened involving it up to the point of the Council takeover, or does it remain empty and desolate?

Who is that Ali Saidi guy? All we know is that he is affiliated with the Council and that he would rather that the player be elsewhere.

As for the missing Igazras that you mentioned earlier, one can only speculate as to their whereabouts. What is now council space can be ruled out as it is too heavily patrolled. The north tip is too remote to retreat to, and the increasing presence of the Zidagar seems to rule out that possibility. The South Tip is a good possibility (the high-gravity world of Siqwe Prime seems a good hiding place), although the apparently large number of Council spies might make it difficult for even the Igadzra to elude detection. They could be hiding in the Proxima Nebula, although the presence of the Nadir would seem to contradict this. They can't have hidden themselves in the uninhabited region between Miranu and UE (that is, InterStellar Alliance) territory for any extended period without detection. The only real remaining possibilities are to go beyond the crescent or to hide in the systems of the defunct Voinian empire (both of which seem unlikely). The shiftiness of the Igadzra never ceases to amaze me. Hell, they're more unpredictable than the Azdgari!

...and something about the 'overnight coup' that left nearly the entirety of the Igadzra loyalists simply switching sides to the Council overnight smells fishy to me. I sense a double-cross in the works.

@pac, on Dec 14 2006, 06:18 AM, said in EVO Questions:

and I'm glad that I got the failure (with the photographer) that triggers the end of that section to work eventually!

Actually, IIRC, there is a problem with that mission: The fail text never shows so it leaves the player wondering a little what actually happened. This is caused by the very odd behaviour of fail texts only working if the mission is non-abortable. Strange, because I'm sure I remember it working properly the very first time I played it but have never had it working again, despite finding a copy of v1.0.0 too :huh:

@warlord-mike, on Dec 14 2006, 06:42 AM, said in EVO Questions:

One question that was on my mind is was there ever a real desire to make the Elmagha Cannons truely turreted? (In my personal opinion, a 90 degree firing arc a turret does not make, and the desc even notes that "Turret is not a wholly accurate description of the term" (or something to that degree...))

Ooh, I was going to ask about that too. The 1.0.2 update changed them so that they actually were full turrets, despite the graphic and text indicating that they weren't. Instead the Emalgha Warship and Freighter were changed to have blind-spots to sides and rear, so they still appear to be only front-quadrant most of the time but if you, the player, mount them on some other ship then they're full turrets. Any reason for this odd change, pac? Did you have a hand in the 1.0.2 update or were all the scenario changes done by burch or someone else at ASW?

@pac, on Dec 14 2006, 07:12 AM, said in EVO Questions:

But if you want them to appear across the whole game universe, you would have to VisBit every system where UE warships show up. So, it's much easier to start over.

Ah, 1.0.2 introduced mission bits to the dude resources which allow for things like that without swapping systems. In Nova it was removed again to be replaced with the AppearOn field in ship resources. The dude method had one advantage though - it allowed you to gradually replace an old variant of a ship for a newer one without having the new ship suddenly appear in huge quantities the moment it's first developed.

@qaanol, on Dec 20 2006, 06:10 AM, said in EVO Questions:

Why John Cook?

John Cook used to be ASW's Barbarian Accountant (I think before EVO was released). I guess they didn't like him much? He appears similarly in Nova, though somewhat less fearsome...

@qaanol, on Dec 20 2006, 06:10 AM, said in EVO Questions:

First, how come the splash screen was made smaller in version 1.0.2 than it was in 1.0.0? I seem to recall I used to be able to read more of the numbers on the UE ship in the foreground.

Really?? I'd be surprised - I've never seen or heard of any such thing before. Anyone here still have 1.0.0?

@pac, on Dec 23 2006, 04:22 AM, said in EVO Questions:

Well, I'll see what interest there is.

Interest = 100%. If this is going to happen then count me in, I'd love to be involved with such a project

One minor question I was going to ask: All crescent factions have their own version of the Arada except the Zidagar - how come? I realise the Zidara sort of doubles as a light destroyer and a warship but still...

This post has been edited by Guy : 23 December 2006 - 05:17 AM

At this stage, most of the questions being asked can only really be answered by me actually making this sequel! Here are a few replies though:

@-visitor-, on Dec 23 2006, 06:54 AM, said in EVO Questions:

Who is that Ali Saidi guy? All we know is that he is affiliated with the Council and that he would rather that the player be elsewhere.

I think that's a beta-tester's pers ship. Beta-testers got (within reason) what they asked for, so those would be the government and hail quote he requested.

"EVWeb" said:

I'm surprised by a few things in EVO, how come so many things used by UE and the Emalgha are stolen from the Voinians, but yet, it seems that the Voinians make very little tech advancements, so why do they steal so much from them? I mean, UE is so pathetic it can't design rockets? Wow.

Voinian technology is very good - it's just that it's static. Humans did have other weapon systems before they encountered the Voinians, but the Voinian weapons were much more powerful, so they copied as much as they could. But at this point (thanks to exposure to so many different alien technologies, and the meeting of so many minds) Alliance research is progressing at a sprint to the Empire's sedate trot.

"Guy" said:

Actually, IIRC, there is a problem with that mission: The fail text never shows so it leaves the player wondering a little what actually happened. This is caused by the very odd behaviour of fail texts only working if the mission is non-abortable. Strange, because I'm sure I remember it working properly the very first time I played it but have never had it working again, despite finding a copy of v1.0.0 too

Damn. And I thought it worked This is what comes of being out of the tech support loop after release.

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The 1.0.2 update changed them so that they actually were full turrets, despite the graphic and text indicating that they weren't. Instead the Emalgha Warship and Freighter were changed to have blind-spots to sides and rear, so they still appear to be only front-quadrant most of the time but if you, the player, mount them on some other ship then they're full turrets.

Hmm, I don't remember. The behaviour of swivel turrets was often odd compared to normal turrets (which could also be odd), so the idea might have been to address that. If so though, something went wrong because the weapon itself should have the blind-spots, rather than the ships it's usually mounted on.

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All crescent factions have their own version of the Arada except the Zidagar - how come? I realise the Zidara sort of doubles as a light destroyer and a warship but still...

That's the reason. They just love their Zidaras (And I never wanted to add more ships where it wasn't necessary - these were the days when file sizes were a big issue!) On the other hand, the Zidagar are the only Strand with their own version of the Crescent Fighter.

Now, Guy Are you the same Guy as 'Guy's EV Nova Override Port'? If so, great work on it, because it plays, to me, more like I remember the game doing than even Override itself running under Classic does! And I hope it's okay by you to use this port as the starting point for the new design?

So far, all I've really done is strip a lot of resources out. I'm only just starting to update things. An initial sequel galaxy (but one with no missions, and still full of placeholder graphics, etc) is my first target, but I have no ETA at this point.

We hear various rumblings about Stellar Corp in the game, but is there anything genuinely dodgy about them, or are they just one of those faceless corporations that nobody likes much?

How pervasive is the United Earth government - do they run many or all aspects of administration, or are they concerned only with matters of interstellar import, with everything else being a local responsibility? For that matter, how cohesive is it? Could they hold together in peacetime, or is it only the constant threat of war that preserves their common interests?

pac said:

I think that's a beta-tester's pers ship. Beta-testers got (within reason) what they asked for, so those would be the government and hail quote he requested.

Now why couldn’t they have kept this policy for EV Nova?

Why exactly do the strands ignore the Lazira?

@zurdo, on Dec 23 2006, 11:31 PM, said in EVO Questions:

Why exactly do the strands ignore the Lazira?

The what now?

If they're anything like me, they just keep forgetting it exists! I'm always surprised when I see one.

I find that they are quite effective against voinians when outfitted with Anti-Voinian tech (UE/Emalgha/Hinwar stuff).

@pac, on Dec 24 2006, 02:21 AM, said in EVO Questions:

Now, Guy … Are you the same Guy as 'Guy's EV Nova Override Port'? If so, great work on it, because it plays, to me, more like I remember the game doing than even Override itself running under Classic does! And I hope it's okay by you to use this port as the starting point for the new design?

Why thank you :). I have a small update planned with a couple of minor fixes and at least one cool feature from the original game brought back to life, if everything works out as hoped. But that can't happen for sometime yet so you're welcome to do what you like with the current version.

@zurdo, on Dec 24 2006, 12:31 PM, said in EVO Questions:

Why exactly do the strands ignore the Lazira?

Well the Lazira is the last (second to last?) ship resource, if that implies anything...

Oh, one other thing I meant to ask: Is that Alliance Cruiser model one of the extras included in the original Infini-D models package on the addons page?

This post has been edited by Guy : 24 December 2006 - 01:15 AM