With tools like Res-Edit or Resourcerer, you can modify the source code to create plug-ins that contain your own missions, modify the stellar map, insert new graphics, alter the capabilities of ships, and so on. The final strength of the game is that Matt Burch, the game designer and developer, has released the resource code for public consumption. It has a level of realism that I found refreshing. Throughout the missions, I was followed, and then attacked, by Confederate Gunboats. I was even offered missions to smuggle drugs and shuttle criminals into systems across the galaxy. The price you pay is criminal status in all Confederate (or Rebel) systems. You often have opportunities to attack Confederate ships and become allied with the Rebels - and vice-versa. You can chose to help a merchant vessel that's being attacked by pirates, or you can ignore its distress calls on your hailing frequency. And it always pays to check the mission computers and spaceport bars when you land on planets - you can always find work by accepting special missions.Īnother thing I liked about this game: you're forced to make moral decisions. You can maraud and pillage other ships as a pirate. You can choose to ally yourself with one of the two warring political factions of the galaxy: the Confederates or the Rebels. You can hire escorts for protection and for extra cargo capacity. You can choose to become a galactic trader, ferrying cargo and passengers from planet to planet. And the only time you're "finished" with the game is when you decide to start over from scratch or turn off your machine. There is no single objective, no single way to play the game. Many commercial games - Buried in Time or The Dark Eye - don't allow you the luxury of playing the game the way you want to play it they have very specific objectives you must achieve in order to "finish" the game.
But it's completely up to you how to go about it. The galaxy is largely unexplored - I had my computer map handy most of the time - and it's your job to stake out and make your living however you can.
EV drops you right in the middle of a rough-and-tumble galaxy as the captain of a shuttlecraft. But all of these have been combined into a single game with superb gameplay. The premise of the game is nothing new: there have always been space-trading games, Asteroids-style shoot-'em-ups, and strategic and tactical simulations. Even tracking missiles will miss you unexplainably.There are few games that equal EV's design and game-playing longevity. Rather than maneuvering and avoiding, you get a high defense stat and just sit there. I understand it's to emulate aiming, and ship maneuverability, but it's a bit much. Additionally, rather than the old "if my pixel spray hits you, you get hit" thing that feels so right in this kind of game, this game relies on an arbitrary defense/attack value that severely annoys me. You're stuck to a specific ship based on a single stat. You cannot hire other ships, you cannot capture other ships, and you cannot buy ships or switch them out. You have modules you can purchase and find from killing other ships, but you cannot obtain other ships other than presets by simply raising a specific stat. It has the same theme of gameplay, but it just isn't quite the same. I would not consider this much like EV, unfortunately. still searching for that game that will allow me to do what eve did, but to no avail. I miss being able to draw and create my own ships for a game like this as i could eve.
EV was actually my first actual computer game when i was a child, and I spent countless hours on it, both playing, and modding. I think that is also why I love Firefly as well. EV immersed you into believing you were part of this larger universe. That you are in more of a command or leadership role.
I asked a friend of mine if there was a game similar to it so he googled EV and told me to download Endless Space. EV was the game that caused my childhood to shift to Scifi and exploration games. Originally posted by BullSaint:I've been searching as well.