OK- before you jump on me for my cluelessness (hehehe) let me explain my situation... I played EV in High School. When I went to college in Fall of 98 I had to give up my Mac and leave it behind taking a WinBlows machine with me (cuz school-required software was microsoft). Aaaanyway, I haven't played EV since. I JUST found out today that there's now EVO, the sequel.

So, forgive my ignorance, but I just had some questions about it...
When did it come out? How many systems are there (I heard it was a lot more than EV, but it's been 2 years and I don't remember the amount in EV), and what's the government system like now?

I saw on the site that decisive battles can turn the tide of the game now (cool!)... how does that work out? Like after a mission does one team suddenly control more sectors or stop fighting other teams?

How EASILY modifiable is it? I remember using ResEdit to change stuff in the original... are there any utilities now for the sole purpose of easy modifications? hehe

hehe anything else you'd like to let this EV-craving old timer know?
How about the missions? I never played to many other than basic cargo ferrying/rescue missions in the original... I was a hardcore pirate bent on global domination

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Burma!
Why did you say Burma?
I panicked.
-Monty Python

By the way... anyone know of a good Macintosh Emulator program I can use so I can get back into my Escape Velocity addiction

Man I miss this game hehe

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Burma!
Why did you say Burma?
I panicked.
-Monty Python

As a pirate in EV, you missed out on a whole lotta stuff.

When did it come out? I think at least as late as 1998.

How many systems? In EV, to view the entire complete spacemap you only had to zoom out about 2 times from default navigation. At this size, system names are still legible. In EV:O, I think that the complete universe is bigger than the map window even on minimum magnification. BIG.

Decisive battles have actually always changed the game, which you'd be familiar with if you'd played for the Rebels or the Confeds. When you've completed a mission any number of things can happen, limited only by the programmer's cleverness. Typical changes from big ticket missions are changes in governments (e.g. Rebels take over 60 planets), changes in systems (e.g. "Your lousy aim has destroyed Earth."), additional outfits, legal status changes...

Am uncertain if anyone's made plug-making software yet. There's always the EV:O bible and ResEdit, however.

Because you've been out of the loop for a bit, you missed two of the most monumental plugs on the face of the planet: Frozen Heart (by Matt Burch) and F-25 (by Bombcat). Each provides a good month's worth of gameplay (as in, you can play either for about five hours a day for 30 days before finishing it).

How you managed to have fun playing EV w/o doing any story-advancing missions without going mad from boredom I don't know....

Well, I did SOME story advancing missions... just I never saw anything change the game...

I know I played the Confed (I think?) missions up to where you were allowed to buy Confed ships on Luna- and I think I remember a cloaking device

And I remember some mission where the confeds kept trying to scan me.. I think I was drugrunning for pirates

then again maybe 2 years has clouded my memory :rolleyes: Man I miss my Mac!!!

Well, I had fun in my own right... I had my little empire- I had forced a good chunk of the left part of the map into paying tribute to me.

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Burma!
Why did you say Burma?
I panicked.
-Monty Python

Quote

Originally posted by RN-The Kenny:
**When did it come out?
- 4/29/98

How many systems are there
- No one's gonna count, but I assure you it's 3x the size of EV. I think it's at least 500 systems.

and what's the government system like now?
- Please elaborate.

I saw on the site that decisive battles can turn the tide of the game now (cool!)... how does that work out? Like after a mission does one team suddenly control more sectors or stop fighting other teams?
- It works with mission bits.

How EASILY modifiable is it? I remember using ResEdit to change stuff in the original... are there any utilities now for the sole purpose of easy modifications? hehe
- The EVO scenario is pretty restrictive, but the basic plug-in architecture is the same.**

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OpenGL Avara!

AIM: EVAndrewM

"I haven't seen myself lately, AndrewM."
— GreenYO, #ev

Quote

Originally posted by Section 8:
Frozen Heart (by Matt Burch)

Oi, it was Martin Turner.

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OpenGL Avara!

AIM: EVAndrewM

"I haven't seen myself lately, AndrewM."
— GreenYO, #ev

I conquered all EV systems except: Pirate systems, rebel systems (they like me a lot), Centauri, Sol, Nexus, Zaxted, and Deneb. Cool, eh?

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"U.E.S. Iron Fist, request permission to dock."
"Permission denied."
"Up yours, Voinian scum!"

As far as a mac emulator goes (since i dont see that NE1 answered that q yet), get Executor at: (url="http://"http://www.ardi.com")http://www.ardi.com(/url)

You get a free 30-day trial, then you have to send in $ to buy it...

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Quote

Originally posted by RN-The Kenny:
**... How many systems are there (I heard it was a lot more than EV, but it's been 2 years and I don't remember the amount in EV), and what's the government system like now?....

**

EV:O = 311 systems (including those that replace original systems during the game as missions cause changes in the galaxy)

EV = 108 systems

Finding the number of systems is easy - a simple subtraction of ID numbers.

(A complete replacement plug I am working on currently has 534 systems )

Government system? Well, there are many more active governments than in EV. Some major players are: United Earth (major human government); Voinia (evil aliens at war with UE and almost everyone else); Miranu (peaceful alien traders); the Strands (3 distinct cultures of the same alien race who have been at war with each other for centuries); Renegades (basically similar to pirates); and many more which I can't remember at the moment and am too lazy to look up. All of the above govts offer missions to the player, as do many of the lesser ones.

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Joe Burnette

"I find that humans can be divided into only two meaningful categories: Decent Humans and Sonsofbitches; both types appear to be evenly distributed
among all shapes, colors, sizes, and nationalities." -- Keith Laumer

(This message has been edited by Joe Burnette (edited 05-27-2000).)

other governments:

emalgha - also at war w/ Voinians, very small empire (2 systems), cruddy ships.
Frontier Outpost - basically subset of UE, control outposts for defence against Voinians
independent - human systems that don't belong to any government
strandless - alien systems without a government

(This message has been edited by sirchess (edited 05-27-2000).)

Quote

Originally posted by RN-The Kenny:
**I saw on the site that decisive battles can turn the tide of the game now (cool!)... how does that work out? Like after a mission does one team suddenly control more sectors or stop fighting other teams?
**

Basically. After certain missions, the UE (main human government), Emalghia (a primitive race but with good anti-Voinian weapons), and the Hinwar (a race enslaved by the Voinians that captures and uses some of the Voinian ships) take over some Voinian systems.

Despite what Section 8 said, there wasn't anything like that in EV.

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-Shade

"Americans want their cheese dead."
-NY Times Magazine

"Some people call magazines mags, some call 'em zines, so I just call them gazs."

(url="http://"http://www.theonion.com")The Onion, America's finest news source(/url)