Just updating my last post from last year:
Well, I tried Evochron Renegades again and it was just as shite as before, however, last I did play Evochron Legends a little bit and noted that they had improved the graphics somewhat.
Anyways, today I found Evochron legends on sale @ gamersgate for c. $12 (spacesim sale) so I picked up a copy and played it for a while, now not having to worry about the demo timer. Yes, they did improve the graphics a GREAT deal, however overall game performance seems to have diminished quite a bit which I find odd as I'm playing it this time on a quite a bit quicker machine: 2.4GHz Core 2 w/4850 v. 4800+ X2 w/7600GT.
[EDIT2]
Decided to add this in here, but it's astounding how much faster core 2(and a mobile part at that! P8600) IS and "feels" than that old Socket 939 AMD @ the same clock rates.
[/EDIT2]
I also noticed that alto of the graphical glitches that annoyed me in the last game were still present along with the EXTREMELY anemic plot and trading system.
Anyways, upshot is, it's still not there yet but at least they are heading in the right general direction, so in say another 4 bor 5 games they MAY have something worth playing.
This one seems like it wouldn't be capable of running adequately on a netbook while Evochron Renegades should be able to, but I'd check first as this is about the only place that I'd likely put in alot of time. i.e. away from a better machine with nothing else to play, then again X2 would probably work as well and be more fun.
I've also been playing X2, X3: Reunion, and LOTS of X3: Terran Conflict recently, along with Universal Combat. (Think that I'll finally spring for the Collector's edition which is, unfortunately not on sale in the gamersgate spacesim sale... well it says it's 70% off but that looks like BC3000AD's normal price now.)
Also played more Darkstar One at some point in here, but even though it looks pretty it's only marginally less shallow wrt trading than the Evochron game while still having somewhat of a plot. In the end I gave up on it as it became an effort to just force myself to play it.
(Spaceforce Rogue Universe is also on sale, but I decided to pass on it personally.)
[EDIT]
Upon some reflectcion, I suppose that the upshoft of my dissatisfaction with the Evochron series is not purely that it was ugly, but in the simplistic game mechanics and "plot". This is, sadly, re-inforced when you peruse the forums and it seems that players are encouraged to play MP and seem to generally be given HUGE wads of cash(game) implying that the game itself is no fun until you have the best equipment that there is, and then all you do is run off and PvP or PvE. Unfortunately, this is alot like the prior Arvoch(and other) mission based, mostly pure, combat sims in the "series".
I guess that the problem here is that while the game(s) are trying hard to be a space-sim sandbox, that they're just not doing it very well and cutting too many corners on too many things. i.e. I don't fight combat in the series to be all that much entertaining, travelling is a major PITA, trading is basic(think Elite level), etc. It just stand on it's own all that well against the X series, initially from a trading/empire building aspect, nor from the later games space combat aspect either as even though as bad as X3 combat still is, I find it to be MUCH more enjoyable than Evochron's. I also find space combat in the Battlecruiser and Universal Combat series to be FAR more enjoyable than the prior two mentioned(X & Evochron) and even DS1 combat felt like more fun than Evochron, which sadly leaves Evochron with it's greatest strength being it's multiplayer. Unfortunately there's just not that much to do in MP since it's SP with other real people other than LARPing...
As I mentioned above, the series DOES seem to be slowly plodding along to add some new elements(e.g. a psedu-crafting system(very limited), multiple ship ownership(unfortunately they all, basically, look the same, etc.) that could make it very good, however at the rate that they're being added and polished it's going to be some iterations before what I would find to be an acceptable spacesim appears.
I suppose as long as I find decent deals on the games I will try them out in the hopes that some astounding leaps and bounds are made between iterations. I gather that they are already putting together a new game that will not be based on Evochron, but we'll see how that goes and if any more details surface, but frankly, at this point I have MUCH more hope in Egosoft's "New Project" unless it's an MMO.
[/EDIT]
[EDIT4]
Guess that I've got the space-sim bug again, as I've also started playing Derek's games again, or at least BCMG and UC(still need to purchase UCCE), and am in the process of trying to get BC3Kv2 installed although it looks like forcing the free version to install will be a better bet than trying to find out what happened to my original CD and then trying to track down the patches. (I probably have the patches archived somewhere, but God knows where, as it's been so many years since I last attempted it using the original CDs. May even be a masochist and try the v1 release too, again IF I can find my CD, but they may have gone missing from last year's flood...)
Still finding Evochron at the bottom of the heap from amongst all these sims at least in terms of basic enjoyment/fun.
Also stumbled across a Starflight derived sort of game, open source. Not a space-sim per-se but:
http://code.google.com/p/starflighttlc/
[/EDIT4]
[EDIT5]
Well, I've played it Legends quite a bit more now than I ever did Renegades, but in the end it's still boring as fuckall. Pretty much small space fighter combat only with a heavy emphasis on missile weapons
[/EDIT5]