http://www.starwraith.com/evochronlegacy/index.htm

If you bought Mercenaries directly from the site (or Steam) you can get 40% off during release week!

I did notice that... thoughts?

Tempted to pull the trigger on it but Elite is taking up too much time.

It's basically an upgraded Mercenaries. I've always liked this series, and ED has gotten a little tedious for me. It's more "condensed" than ED...a little less flashy, but the mechanics and combat are solid...and more types of contracts to do. Plus...it's highly moddable.

For me it's a must buy. If you have Mercenaries, it's only $15.

Bought two copies last night. Loaded it up and played for a couple hours, and so far it's EM but improved on almost every level. Still adjusting all my keybinds and controls, but the tutorial is waaayy better than in EM.

I'm hoping to get into some mp and try that out next

edit: I should add that it has seamless mp; so you can use your sp game and continue it in mp, and vice-versa which is nice if you need help with a particular mission.

Thanks for the heads up.

Evochron Mercenary has been on my wishlist for a long time but waiting for a decent sale on it.

Picked this up for half the price of ED:Horizons ripoff price for us beta supporters, really looking forward to playing it based on what I've heard about from Mercenary

I'm tempted especially with the 40% discount. I didn't put too much time in Mercenary but I've been in space sim mood for awhile and don't like what I hear about Elite Dangerous especially since I'm into this stuff for the single player only. I'm sure this is still a bit intimidating going into like Mercenary but it sounds like you all are saying the tutorial is done better and pretty long from what I read.

I just don't want to have a large HOTAS setup. I'm assuming just a simple joystick and keyboard is all you need. Does it have a printable controls list or keycard? This kind of game you almost need a physical reference to look at while playing.

Just a heads up for those on the fence on Legacy --- the main website has a demo for you to try out. I've just downloaded it but not installed yet so I don't know what's been cut from the main game.

Took a look at some YT videos and the HUD looks very messy. I'm sure it'll all make sense once I'm used to it...

A few questions to those that already play this:
1. Is it limited to one system only? Or how many systems are there? ie, in Elite, well, basically, it's "3 billion stars" or whatever the marketing spiel is. What's it like in EL?

2. How is travel from one system to another done? How is travel from one planet to another planet within a system done?

3. How is docking done? Manual ala Elite or autopilot like in X3?

4. How many ship types are there? I can only see 3 or maybe 4 different types from the videos and pics. I'll admit I like a variety of ships like in Star Citizen.

5. Fleets -- tell me more about this please! I loved having a trading fleet do my work for me in X3, while I'm out doing pew-pew.

I'll keep the questions at 5 for now Thanks!

Nothing has been cut from the demo, you get the same as the full game; just with a time limit.

1.While smaller than ED, the Evochron system still consists of hundreds of stars and planets. There are many "uncharted" systems that you can find by doing some missions or as paid information from npc's; or you might get lucky and find one by chance.
To get an idea here's a map of the EM system: http://mercenary.junholt.se/

2.Travel can be done in several ways. The universe is seamless, so if you really wanted to you could simply fly to another system (although that would take hours\days in realtime). There are warp gates to most major systems, and every ship has a jump drive that can be upgraded to jump more sectors.

3. Docking is more or less manual; but it's very simple and easy. Nothing to it really

4. There's only a few types of hulls, but there's hundreds of configurations. You can customize your wings, thrusters, shields, engines, armor, etc., and arrange them however you want (mainly for looks, not function). There are only two types of cockpits (military and civilian); but I'm sure modders will be adding more soon enough.

5. There are no fleets; this is primarily a lone-wolf space combat sim. You have to put in your own time (unless of course you get a group online )
edit: I should add that you can command up to three AI in a squad; but that's as big as it goes.

Finaly got myself to buy it.

Been watching this game for a long time now, played the demo a few times but never took the step to buy it. Was I wrong

Did a lot of hours in Elite and don't get me wrong, Elite is a great game but somehow Elite isn't relaxed gameplay for me.. all the hauling, always one eye on your radar watching for pirates and the long travel time gave me a kind of Elite burnout.

Now I don't know how it will be after playing Evorchone Legacy for an 200 hours but after pending 30 hours it feels really refreshing for me. I't a one man's production so yes the graphics are not as fency as elite or SC but with some mods (found some very nice mods for better-looking sky, transparent menu, modified HUD and sounds) this really does look good to me!

The way Evochron fly's for me it's more a "space sim" with all the mouse menu clicking stuff you have to do to navigate, manage your ship, crew etc.. (there is a learning curve!) but somehow it feels relaxed sitting in my cockpit figuring out all that stuff. Must say I'm flying in a tripple screen, HOTAS, obutto r3volution cockpit setup so alway looking for a "be there" cockpit kind of game)

Getting older I'm not a combat kind of pilot anymore (didn't do any combat yet) I'm more into exploring and trading/mining and it feels very releaxed to me.

I know some people don't like Save game option you got every time you dock to a station , but I do . It gives me the freedom to try stuff out. (remember the releaxing part?)

It's a shame it stays under the radar this much and the community is so small. I'm sure there are more space sim fan's who would enjoy it as I do. And being made by one person it's crazy what it all offers. Planet landing,crafting,storage on stations!,missions,Quests, hiring AI wings, hiring crew, building stations and cities, multiplay with prived hosted server/Universe, multiplay gunner position etc. It deserves better.


I would say try the free 90 min Demo, with hours of free tutorial play time. For me it's a great space sim to play till SC get 3.0 up and tuning.

Screenshots!!

Yes sir!

Image were taken with my triple screen, track Ir setup.

My favorite. Here I still use the default HUD but the sky and nebular are mods.


with HUD mod




Nav display usable with track-Ir




Hyperspace (mod)




docking

Any chance of ship pics? The cockpit looks very familiar by now... also, do the cockpits differ between ships?

Will take some ship screens next time.