EVO: Expanded

Hi, all. Some of the old-timers here might recognize me - many years ago I made some Ares plug-ins, and was active on the Ares forums. This is my first time on the EV boards.

I'm working on a large plug-in for Guy's port of EV:Override on the Nova engine. It expands on the stock EVO scenario, adding more stories, updating balance, and adding various new features that are only possible with the Nova engine.

I need testers. I don't know how many people are still interested in testing new plug-ins, but if anyone is, I would love to have your help! Just let me know!

This post has been edited by Mag Steelglass : 01 August 2015 - 05:18 PM

Hey man. I'm a huge fan of EVO, so I'd be on board with helping you test that. Let me know what you need.

Awesome! I wasn't really expecting to get any responses, but between you and DarthKev on the EVN board, it looks like we've got two testers so far.

Go ahead and PM me your email, and I'll get the plug-in to you.

And in terms of being a huge fan of EVO, is it your favorite in the series? And given that my plug is basically an update of EVO - what're your favorite things about EVO? And is there anything you don't like about it, or that you'd want to be changed?

Yeah, EVO is probably my favorite in the series. It's a really deep game with a ton of different factions, and it's one of the only EV games that I feel got the experience of exploration down and made it rewarding. I can't honestly say what I'd change about it if I had the chance, it's pretty near perfect in my view. Open minded to seeing what you add to it, though.

Alright, just sent it to you.

As the author of an EVO expansion, what is your opinion on Age of the Council? (or, at least, the direction it was headed)

Given how good a job Peter Cartwright did on EVO, I would assume that Age of the Council was going to be good too. I skimmed over the EVO board back when I first started this plug-in, and I saw that topic and the one where he answered a bunch of people's questions. It was a lot of fun to see more of his ideas, and I was excited for Age of the Council until I realized that the project had been abandoned several years ago. Bummer. Kind of like Martin Turner's abandoned stab at Frozen Heart 2.

Edit: In terms of my plug-in, I've taken Cartwright's word as gospel, and have tried to make the plug conform as much as possible to his plans for the future of the EVO galaxy.

This post has been edited by Mag Steelglass : 04 August 2015 - 08:18 AM

I've been poking around at the plugin, but I'm not sure what to look for. So far the only different things I've noticed are the multiple versions of ships for hire, and the gatling blaze cannons for sale. I noticed that you seem to have put all of the original pic graphics into your plug? It doesn't look like you altered them, if that's the case you could save file space by taking that out.

@shlimazel, on 06 August 2015 - 09:07 AM, said in Plug-In Testers Wanted:

I've been poking around at the plugin, but I'm not sure what to look for. So far the only different things I've noticed are the multiple versions of ships for hire, and the gatling blaze cannons for sale. I noticed that you seem to have put all of the original pic graphics into your plug? It doesn't look like you altered them, if that's the case you could save file space by taking that out.

Most things are the same, or very similar, to the original. In terms of what to look for, I'd say just play your pilot as normal, and you'll see plenty of new things by the time you've gotten to the endgame. The South Tip of the Crescent has a lot of new things, if you want to spend some time down there. You've got to start trade with the Miranu first though.

And have you tried the different "new pilot" options yet? They're pretty different.

Re graphics: The only way I could make multiple versions of ships for hire was by making multiple copies of each ship, and each copy needs its own graphics. There are also multiple versions of each ship flying around. It's unfortunate, but I don't think there's any way to get around it.

Actually, EVN is smart enough to copy over the same shipyard/target graphics of a ship to a variant so long as it uses the same rlëD resource as dictated in the shän resource. So if you simply copied the shän resources for the variants, you're good. You can delete the shipyard and target pics.

Huh! So I just add a copy of the shan for each copy of the ship, and then I don't need copies of the PICTs? I'll try that out!

I got your email and I eagerly await the plugin. I really like the idea of the game staying pretty much the same as normal EVO at the start, but as time goes on, more weapons, upgrades, variants etc come about over time. Some through your help, others simply from time going by.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts on it.

Woah, new EVO stuff? Yes, please!

Full disclosure: I'm kinda busy at the moment. As much as I would like to promise dedication to the project, I can't. That said, it sounds like fun, and I would love and feel privileged to participate.

Sending a PM now.

Awesome! Just sent you an email. Dedication not needed, though I'll appreciate anything you do manage to test.

Interesting to see I'm not the only one trying to make some sort of expansion plug-in for EVO. :3

Been doing some playing and I VERY MUCH SO like the additions that I've seen so far. Sent you some funny mail as well.

Due to some of your changes (I think) I was able to play a mean double agent in the UE/Voinian war

This post has been edited by 1purevengeance1 : 29 August 2015 - 11:19 PM

Agreed, so far, many of the changes are interesting. I'm still not a fan of the changed weapon ranges, but I've already done that rant via email.

EVO is the best of the bunch. i'd love to give it a whirl.

WARNING: Tons of opinions and ideas are getting dropped. This feedback is influenced from me playing with the scoutship starting character.

Pre Nova EV: When being hit with a missile meant PAIN. Yay! haha :D/>

I have liked all the new missions I have run into thus far. Everything seems legit on the UE/V war front.

I appreciate the scarcity of the fuel scoop and I think making fuel valuable again is a good idea... though the scoop price is a bit staggering (considering how much a crescent warship is). Maybe I'm wrong, as then it would be a "I found it, so I'm set for the rest of the game" type thing. I still think it would be a cool idea to have a string of missions where you work with a scientist in inventing those scoops. You could have various different inventions which work to varying degrees, before the final one actually works. Maybe one faulty design has some cough unintended consequences or discoveries.

Maybe you could change the initial miranu/UE interaction a little bit. Instead of a "go talk to earth so we can suddenly have ships all up in you systems", it could be a gradual process. Maybe the miranu or UE would want to begin work on a space station, or colonize one of the planets between miranu and UE space in order to make travel and trade between the miranu and UE easier for everyone. Maybe it becomes a trade center. Maybe it becomes a place that renegades or voinians hit and the miranu are dragged into the war. Maybe the UE or "stellar corp" get greedy and start to try and control trade between the civilizations, paying renegades or bounty hunters to hit successful traders between the civilizations. There's a lot of possibilities with 2 newly acquainted civilizations with a large amount of space between them.

One HUGE problem I have with EVO (it might just be the port) is traders. In this EVO universe, NO ONE cares about civilians / traders. I mean NO ONE. I go plundering and killing trader ships and my legal status literally goes up with whatever government I'm near. This should NOT be the case. I mean, the UE fights renegades to defend traders... yet completely ignores when I act like a renegade and plunder and capture traders??? Maybe it would be too hard to make credits if there wasn't an easy target to hit, but legal statuses definitely shouldn't go up from killing a trader. Maybe leave the traders neutral with the UE, but miranu and such should protect their traders.. otherwise it's too easy to get money or a free ship. I shouldn't be raiding crescent warships for credits and free ships. I probably shouldn't be killing traders to get all 3 stands to like me either :p/>

I VERY much so like your additional missile launcher types (pods), phase cannons and ship tweaks in the miranu area and I love the steep prices.

I don't think the UE frontier ship should be purchasable everywhere in space. If the Igadzra don't recognize a shuttlecraft, there probably shouldn't be human ships available for hire on their planets etc

I LOVE all the various ship variants and not being able to see the variants listed in the radar tab through. This way I don't know precisely what I will get when fighting a ship. In my opinion, this is more fun. Are there ways to upgrade ships to their variants, or are the variants simply the exact same ships with different weapon loadout? Regardless, nice job.

These are my thoughts for now. I'm home sick from work... so figured I'd try and have some fun. Hope some of this feedback is useful. I really like your amusing writing style so far. It fits well with the original EVO mission text. Keep it up!

PS: Let me know if you want me emailing you these types of feedback messages, or you want me posting them here. If posted here, people know there's activity with this, but they'll probably get spoilers. If I email you, less activity. Up to you.

This post has been edited by 1purevengeance1 : 01 September 2015 - 03:44 PM