EV NOVA for WIN!!!11!!1

MattH · July 12, 2003, 10:24

Ambrosia Software (ambrosiasw.com) has finished their port of Escape Velocity Nova (and supposedly EV Overide, AND Escape Velocity) to teh Windows!

It's great to see a company that listens. I've played those three games for years- some of the cheapest, most engrossing fun on a computer. Woo-hoo, I'm so excited!

For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, I'll describe the games. You play a space pilot in a universe. You run hundreds of generated missions or follow tailored campaigns while building, customizing, fighting with your ship (and eventually fleet). It's a blast!

and Asher, please don't turn this into a mac bashing thread

Tis I · July 12, 2003, 15:41

you beat me to it. I've been looking forward to this for some time

Victor Galis · July 12, 2003, 22:50

Victory at last! Possibly the game I have most awaited (if you count how long I've been waiting for a windows port of any EV game).

Is it downloadable?

Asher · July 12, 2003, 23:22

Hah-hah!

Victor Galis · July 13, 2003, 00:51

Ack... stupid laptop can't handle EV Nova. I guess that makes it EV no va for now. (grumble) Stupid HP tech support driving me insane... need real laptop back

Drake Tungsten · July 13, 2003, 03:42

Drake Tungsten · July 13, 2003, 03:44

Quote:

(and supposedly EV Overide, AND Escape Velocity)

Ambrosia's making official plug-ins for Nova that recreate the EV and EV Override scenarios. Hopefully they'll come out soon.

Drake Tungsten · July 13, 2003, 03:48

Never mind, the EV and EV Override plug-ins are already out.

http://www.ev-nova.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2491

FrustratedPoet · July 13, 2003, 15:15

Download link: http://www.ambrosiasw.com/games/evn/

So this game is like Elite, yes?

moomin · July 13, 2003, 18:32

Thank you for the heads up! This is the best gaming news I've heard for quite some time.

monolith94 · July 13, 2003, 19:53

I've been playing it for months already, so if you guys need help, you can talk to me...

Victor Galis · July 13, 2003, 23:28

I played the original EV to death (was drawing tribute from nearly every non-rebel planet) and I went around with my seven rebel cruiser fleet blowing stuff up.

In EV Override, I eventually built up a fleet of several powerful alien ships, but I didn't really like how ships in your fleet lost their names

DinoDoc · July 13, 2003, 23:36

Are there any Star Trek or Star Wars mods?

Tis I · July 13, 2003, 23:44

well, a couple quick questions.

To get the hypergate codes from Sigma shipyards, do i have to do that mission to Kont? I can get to kont without problems but once i get in system i get ambushed by some houseless raiders and the ships don't show up well on sensors so their rather hard to beat in my starbridge.

Also, how the hell am i supposed to land on harbor in Scheal for the Wild Geese mission? my mod C doesn't stand a chance against 2 enterprises and a manticore and the station itself is hostile so i cant get past the other ships to quickly land.

Drake Tungsten · July 14, 2003, 00:00

Quote:

Are there any Star Trek or Star Wars mods?

There will be. EV and EV Override both had total conversion plug-ins set in the Star Trek and Star Wars universes. These may get ported to Nova and there are also brand new plug-ins in development.

http://www.ev-nova.net is the best place to keep an eye on released plug-ins and those that are still in development.

Drake Tungsten · July 14, 2003, 00:04

Quote:

I can get to kont without problems but once i get in system i get ambushed by some houseless raiders and the ships don't show up well on sensors so their rather hard to beat in my starbridge.

Don't fight them. Put afterburners on your ship (one of the most important upgrades in the game), lure the Houseless ships away from the planet and then race in with afterburners and land before they can get to you.

Quote:

Also, how the hell am i supposed to land on harbor in Scheal for the Wild Geese mission? my mod C doesn't stand a chance against 2 enterprises and a manticore and the station itself is hostile so i cant get past the other ships to quickly land.

You need to bribe the Scheal harbor authorities. Make sure you aren't targeting any ships, hit "1" and then hit "Y". Your hailing box should come up and give you the option of bribing the harbor. Pay what they want and you'll be given permission to land.

Drake Tungsten · July 16, 2003, 05:39

There's a huge Star Trek plug-in in development right now. You can check it out at http://www.geocities.com/starfleet_adventures/. I feel sorry for the guy making this; the plug is absolutely massive and it sounds like he's putting a ton of work in on it.

MattH · July 16, 2003, 09:37

Monolith: is it just me or is the tab-through-ships feature out? That really p***ed me off when it didn't work.

And do you give mission advice?

MattH · July 16, 2003, 09:48

I suppose I'll just ask anyways.
I first played the Bureau missions (didn't know what I was getting into). I got as far as the "extract a rebel informer" mission. I failed the first try but made it the second time. I met up with the Vello-os (sp?) after sighting the Prodigial Son. After that, I couldn't continue up the chain... no way to increase my security clearance (they said something about extraction missions being available in the mission BBS, none there...).

Then I started a new pilot. I spent hours mining asteroids for Opals. Took me forever to get enough $$$. I traveled to Polaris and bought one of those heavy transports. I went to auroran space after denying the Vell-os (I know better now!). I was met by an auroran lady who wanted me to take her places. That I did... Until she wanted me to take her to a system to meet a friend (I don't know if that was a random place... Kania, IIRC, 1 jump north of Tichel). There were about 5 hostile fed capiotal ships, and I died every time I jumped into the system. I tried numerous different ships... All got blown to pieces- how am I supposed to finish this misson?

And how do I get to the Polaris/Pirate missions?

If this nastyness keeps up, there's no way I'm paying $25...

Drake Tungsten · July 16, 2003, 20:56

Quote:

Monolith: is it just me or is the tab-through-ships feature out? That really p***ed me off when it didn't work.

I think my brother has been hitting the ~ key to switch ships, but don't quote me on that.

Drake Tungsten · July 16, 2003, 20:59

Quote:

And how do I get to the Polaris/Pirate missions?

To get the Polaris missions, you have to pick up a Polaris agent (MuRanda IIRC) in Auroran space and ferry her to her destination. It appears in the Mission BBS as "Ferry Mu Randa" or something like that. Just keep hitting Auroran ports until you find it.

The Pirate storyline starts on Viking in the Tichel system. I don't remember exactly how it begins, but I know you meet someone in the bar there and that's how the mission string begins.

You can also get into the Pirate storyline by going through the Bounty Hunter storyline and maybe the Wild Geese storyline as well.

Grumbold · July 17, 2003, 08:10

Sounds cool, and it can't possibly be more tedious than EVE. I'll get downloading tonight!

MattH · July 17, 2003, 09:29

Hey- thanks. And I suppose the only way to get (serious) $$ is to do UE missions or mine Opals, right? I spent maybe forty five minutes at it to get the 2.5 million

.

Drake Tungsten · July 17, 2003, 09:37

Trading opals in Gefjon is the fastest way to get credits. I guess they've put a bunch of pirates in the system now to make it harder, but I wouldn't know. I beat the entire game on version 1.0, so I had the easiest time possible doing it. With a full fleet of Leviathans, you can make over 1 million a run.

MattH · July 17, 2003, 09:54

Well, time to go play nova

Any clue what ship I should use for that hard mission described above? Where can I hire some nasty escorts?

On second thought, I'll just figure it out myself.

Drake Tungsten · July 17, 2003, 10:09

My favorite ship in the game is a Mod E Starbridge. Good lucking getting one.

MattH · July 17, 2003, 11:22

Update: WTF were you thinking with Gefjon

? There are nearly no mineable asteroids, and you get pirates every couple minutes...

Formalhut (sp.?) is the place to be. Just like Gefjon, it's four jumps away from the planet that buys them for high price, it has no pirates, and about 3x the minerals...

Drake Tungsten · July 17, 2003, 23:03

Quote:

here are nearly no mineable asteroids, and you get pirates every couple minutes...

You don't mine the opals in Gefjon; you trade them. One of the planets in the system sells them for a low price, the other buys them for a high price. Just travel back and forth between the planets trading opals and you'll have crazy amounts of cash in no time, if you can survive the pirates.

Drake Tungsten · July 17, 2003, 23:31

Nevermind. I did a quick check on Gefjon in version 1.0.6 and they've ruined the route. I guess putting the planets real far apart and filling the system with pirates wasn't enough; now they've removed opals as a trading item on Thraine. So ends the best trading route in the history of Escape Velocity...

MattH · July 18, 2003, 11:03

Oh, well. I wondered what you were thinking there