Escape Velocity Nova

[laclongquan]

Please Get it uploaded to several online storage service like Rapidshare, Mediafire.

Or once your HD go puff it will go up in smoke~

 

[Blaine]

Please Get it uploaded to several online storage service like Rapidshare, Mediafire.

Or once your HD go puff it will go up in smoke~

Shit dude, like those links won't quietly go dead after a year or two.

I'll put it on a flash drive, a few CD-Rs, into some form of cloud storage, and my HDD at least. CD-Rs can last an immensely long time, especially when they're sitting around not being used (as my stack of them has been doing for years now).

 

[Morkar Left]

It's been almost a year since I last posted. No one's been able to contact anyone at Ambrosia in years, as a cursory scan of this subreddit will show:

https://www.reddit.com/r/evnova/

However, I managed to log in to the Ambrosia website (though their software is very broken), I've got the software installers downloaded, I actually found my old license codes in an alternate email of mine (pictured below), and I've reached out to that EV Nova fan who mentioned in the subreddit that he has a crack for the game.

I realize no one else cares about EV Nova anymore, but it's fucking incredible and I'd hate to see it be lost.

My hdd crashed this year and i lost almost anything (no proper backups, long story). Had the game files there plus a good selection of mods

 

[laclongquan]

Since I've been throwing my CD/DVD collection away for the last three years... it's not reassuring.

I've checked my Mediafire folder. The oldest file is from 2008 with 300dl, but the second oldest is a QuickSave.rar from 2009 with no dl. I honestly cant remember for the life of me what it is. I cant be bother to dl-extract it to check the content.

So you can upload it to MF or RS and probbably have it safe for 10 years, I think.

To be clear, it's the evn installer with 89MB size, right? I think 75 Mb is the demo file.

 

[karoliner]

Rapidshare shut down in 2015.

 

[Blaine]

To be clear, it's the evn installer with 89MB size, right? I think 75 Mb is the demo file.

90 MB is the Mac OS X version, 75 MB is Windows. They're all the full game; you just need codes, or a crack.

It can be slightly tricky to get EVN working properly on Win 7/10, since you actually need QuickTime and might have to tweak a few things, but I'll give it a go at some point.

 

[Raapys]

Still the best of its kind. The technical implementation was horrible though; everything from quicktime dependency to resolution issues to a quirky menu system. And it wasn't even a 90's game.

 

[Blaine]

Can't get it to run, even with QuickTime installed and various attempts at compatibility mode etc.

Anyway, all the files are here apparently: https://www.reddit.com/r/Escape_Velocity/comments/9atyzj/ev_nova_download_links_and_more/

Edit: Oh, guess it's just straight-up incompatible with G-Sync.

 

[CreamyBlood]

Great game, there's a lot to do in it. I had it running not too many years ago on W8.1 but I went through messing with a few ancient versions of QuickTime first.

I just tried this again (on w8.1) with the links above and it seems to work fine but I don't have gsync. I didn't install the widescreen patch either, I'll play with that later.

 

[Blaine]

Great game, there's a lot to do in it. I had it running not too many years ago on W8.1 but I went through messing with a few ancient versions of QuickTime first.

I just tried this again (on w8.1) with the links above and it seems to work fine but I don't have gsync. I didn't install the widescreen patch either, I'll play with that later.

All I had to do was turn G-Sync off, and it works fine for me now.

All things considered, if you do install the widescreen patch, I'd recommend going with 1360 x 768 as mentioned in the Reddit post. All this does compared to the default install is simply extend the play area to fill in what would otherwise be black bars. The text is way too obnoxiously small at 1080p, even on my 27" monitor. The widescreen map is just a convenience.

 

[Blaine]

Still the best of its kind. The technical implementation was horrible though; everything from quicktime dependency to resolution issues to a quirky menu system. And it wasn't even a 90's game.

The game's biggest flaw (beyond some storyline quirks) is that the economy is almost entirely static, barring temporary price drops/rises and "junks" that don't really change the fact that once you've got a good trade route going, you can whore it out really, really hard an infinite number of times.

That said, it doesn't detract too terribly much. If the economy were actually dynamic, there'd probably also need to be bigger average profits all around since you'd only be able to run a given route once or twice before having to wait a while.

 

[Raapys]

Yeah, given how storyline-focused the game is, money isn't even that big of a thing in many cases. Think there's even a couple of storylines that don't require it at all once you've started them.

 

[Blaine]

Yeah, given how storyline-focused the game is, money isn't even that big of a thing in many cases. Think there's even a couple of storylines that don't require it at all once you've started them.

That'd be the Vell-os storyline.

The Polaris ships are my personal favorite due to hitscan OP weapons and also the capital ship that looks like a shark egg.

 

[Raapys]

Yeah, Polaris had the finest stuff. Cool ships and absurd weapons. I think Vell-os had hitscan too though? But with no upgrades 'cept ship itself it wasn't that interesting.

 

[Blaine]

Some EVN veteran I turned out to be. While running basic delivery missions to get started, I was blown up by an inescapable Thunderhead (from alert to fucked in .2 seconds), then hired a Terrapin to do the Sol milk run but forgot you have to pay escorts per planet. So I'm sitting there with like 52 credits and 2 Luxury Goods in my cargo, the rest of which the Terrapin took off with.

Getting started is a pain. There's no skill involved if something fast enough decides to come after you while you're in a shuttle; your .3 shields and armor just get raped off in an instant, and then you're fucked. It can happen in core Fed space, too.

It's not a total loss, since I was snapshotting all the trading boards on each planet so that I can get some proper routes planned out later.

 

[Blaine]

laclongquan Look what I found while I've been searching around for EVN-related material....

 

[laclongquan]

I totally forgot about that guide~

 

[Blaine]

It's been a handful of hours since I've started, and I'm running 7 IDA Frigates back and forth along the Sol milk run raking in 600k per minute. I've got several other much more profitable routes charted now thanks to my mapping of the systems I've visited (with snapshots of their trade boards), but unfortunately they take a lot longer to run, and paying escorts eliminates any greater time:profit I could squeeze out of them. No doubt if I ran off somewhere that hires out Pegasuses or simply manage to buy myself a Leviathian, I'll be fully in ludicrous territory.

I forget what the other broken/OP routes are, but I'm sure it has to do with Opals.

Can't remember if captured escorts require daily payment, guess I'll find out later.

Also, I've downloaded both of the installers, important modifications, cracks, essential plug-ins (like Polycon, ship variants, and Paint Station Prime), various fixes (not sure which are still needed, probably all of them), etc. for preservation and dissemination.

 

[Jaedar]

There's no skill involved if something fast enough decides to come after you while you're in a shuttle; your .3 shields and armor just get raped off in an instant, and then you're fucked. It can happen in core Fed space, too.

I don't recall hostiles in fed space unless you trip a pirate trap or something.

The game's biggest flaw (beyond some storyline quirks) is that the economy is almost entirely static, barring temporary price drops/rises and "junks" that don't really change the fact that once you've got a good trade route going, you can whore it out really, really hard an infinite number of times.

I always found trading fairly boring, although it is the only way to get enough cash for lategame ships/weapons.

The way I play tend to be: random delivery missions for seed cash -> astreoid mining in (wolf 359?, some place like this where you can sell the asteroid scrap in the same system) -> good combat ship (optimally, you mod the game so you can buy a pirate valkyrie or geese ship that comes with emp beam) -> pirate hunting in north of fed space -> get bored after the first million or so, hire trading fleet of escorts and abuse best trade route -> when have 20 millionish do story missions

Iirc the "best" trade route goes between wild geese territory and the one of the systems in the cluster "north north east" of Sol.

 

[Blaine]

I don't recall hostiles in fed space unless you trip a pirate trap or something.

There can be pirate Vipers and such on the fringes. More to the point though, tiny amounts of stray fire from Fed vs. Auroran fights can cripple or destroy a shuttle in the space of a second; while you can quickly re-map and jump onward upon entering a system, or instantly re-dock if you launch to find bullets flying, shit can still happen. If you happen to be out of fuel upon entering a system, for example, and a single pirate Viper gets after you, get ready to RIP.

 

[Jaedar]

I don't recall hostiles in fed space unless you trip a pirate trap or something.

There can be pirate Vipers and such on the fringes. More to the point though, tiny amounts of stray fire from Fed vs. Auroran fights can cripple or destroy a shuttle in the space of a second; while you can quickly re-map and jump onward upon entering a system, or instantly re-dock if you launch to find bullets flying, shit can still happen. If you happen to be out of fuel upon entering a system, for example, and a single pirate Viper gets after you, get ready to RIP.

Stray missiles can indeed be deadly, but iirc vipers are so terribad a heavy shuttle with a blaster turret should be able to win?
And not instantly swapping to heavy shuttle seems like a fewlish mistake.

 

[Blaine]

Stray missiles can indeed be deadly, but iirc vipers are so terribad a heavy shuttle with a blaster turret should be able to win?
And not instantly swapping to heavy shuttle seems like a fewlish mistake.

In my experience yesterday, even a heavy shuttle is a spread vagina just waiting for a single pirate Viper to come along and fuck it.

Not that it matters anymore, since I'm currently flying a port 'n' polished, souped-up Starbridge D. If I can't blow 'em to smithereens, they sure as shit can't catch me.

I'm still surprisingly good at piloting (i.e. not overshooting or undershooting, not over-correcting, anticipating, maneuvering to hit blindsides, etc.) considering I've been away from top-down/twin-stick/shmups for quite a while now. I can kill a lot of things without even taking a hit.

 

[Jaedar]

I'm still surprisingly good at piloting (i.e. not overshooting or undershooting, not over-correcting, anticipating, maneuvering to hit blindsides, etc.) considering I've been away from top-down/twin-stick/shmups for quite a while now. I can kill a lot of things without even taking a hit.

The way I remember it, this is pretty much the only way to play, and all the ships that are too big and slow to do this are deathtraps.

In my experience yesterday, even a heavy shuttle is a spread vagina just waiting for a single pirate Viper to come along and fuck it.

Viper is the tiniest ship in the game right? Looks like an inverted T, can be bet upon in races?

 

[Blaine]

Viper is the tiniest ship in the game right? Looks like an inverted T, can be bet upon in races?

Yeah, but even if you've added weapons to a heavy shuttle, pirate Vipers are far faster and more maneuverable, have comparable armor and shields, and come with three light blasters. Also, by the time you get the aggro alarm they're already blasting along an attack vector.

http://evn.wikia.com/wiki/Pirate_Viper

Shuttle vs. Pirate Viper is kind of an outlier for sure, but it really can hit you like a bolt of lightning.

And yeah, having a fast, maneuverable, souped-up corvette is the only genuinely survivable way to solo for long periods. However, having a powerful fleet and a carrier is stronk, too. There's nothing like seven Polaris heavy-hitters to really suck all the fun out of the game.

 

[Blaine]

IT'S OVER

PACK IT UP, BOYS