MMOs in SPAAAAAACE

[V-Mink]

So... for the past few months I and some other COX refugees have been playing EVE.  I can't speak for all of them, but for some of us, the lustre is fading.  EVE is a pretty pretty game, and the ships are gorgeous, and it has this sense of "bigness" about it.  But that gets a littl marred for us when you run into someone who is bored, rich enough for a jump clone and a destroyer, and doesn't care about their security status; and they decide to gank you in highsec just for the lulz.  We want to enjoy EVE more, but between the dev-encouraged griefing, the dearth of PvE content (I can't count how many mothers-in-law and Amarri poets I've shot down) and mining, there's not much for us -- the nonconsensual PvP is kind of a dealbreaker.

I'm definitely not trying to stir up a "bash EVE" thread.  I'm not anti-EVE.  If it's your game, mad props to you; it takes some sand to succeed in it and keep at it.  It just isn't for some of us.  But it is a pretty game, and there's not a lot of similar games out there.  So I'm asking about any similar starship/spaceship sim MMOs out there in the style of Elite.  I know about Vendetta Online (also pretty and pretty PvP oriented) and Star Conflict (more of an combat sim, it seems?)  Star Citizen looks like it's going to try to be Privateer Online, and be very PvP oriented as well.  STO is... well, STO with all the baggage it has.  Are there any other alternatives?  Really, the main things we're looking for are interesting, no nonconsensual PvP, and Stuff To Do.

Thanks in advance.

[JRVthatsME]

nonconsensual PvP Is an absolute despicable thing the have in any mmo in my opinion. As it is I hate when someone follows my character around constantly challenging me to pvp no matter how much I don't wont to in any game I play. But when PvP is nonconsentual you could be having a good RP session going with some buddies when suddenly your attacked by some players that play as if they were earth worm jim with rabies. I've nothing against PvP when it's handled right and isn't forced on anyone but I can certainly see how the PvP in EVE could ruin the fun for you.

There really aren't a very large selection of space mmos to choose from and STO does seem to be among to better ones, but you do have to be in star trek and be part of a big galactic society so your character isn't entirely as individual as you might like. I've been enjoying playing Star Wars: The old Republic but the space side of it is limited at present but hopefully it wont be too much longer before guild capitol ships are added to the game.

If you happen to have a copy of the game Star Wars Galaxies you could play SWGEMU as I think the jump to lightspeed content has been added now.

[FlyingCarcass]

I tried out Star Conflict briefly. It's an team-based PvP spaceship action game that takes place in instances with a set number of participants. As you earn credits/buy stuff, you can upgrade your ship or buy new ships. Personally, I wasn't thrilled with the controls and the game didn't keep my interest beyond a handful of matches.

[FatherXmas]

nonconsensual PvP Is an absolute despicable thing the have in any mmo in my opinion.

Except you know that going into EVE.  There is high security space where PvP tends not to happen due to the "police" force and then their's null sec space which you are on your own.  That's why players form corporations and carve out their little slice of heaven in null sec.  Strength in numbers.

[V-Mink]

Except you know that going into EVE.  There is high security space where PvP tends not to happen due to the "police" force and then their's null sec space which you are on your own.  That's why players form corporations and carve out their little slice of heaven in null sec.  Strength in numbers.

Oh, good lord no.  PvP -- in the form of suicide ganking -- has been happening pretty frequently in highsec.  Not all the time, of course, but frequently enough that it's gotten tiresome looking over our shoulders.  It mostly happens in 0.5-0.7, but I've seen it happen in 0.8 a couple of times.

Again: EVE is some peoples' cuppa.  We know that, we're fine with that, and we're not going to try to change EVE or the people playing it.  (As if we even could!)  We went into EVE knowing it was very PvP-centric.  We tried it and we like some of it, but some of it is gamebreaking for us.  So we're looking for something else, a spaceship game that's interesting, has stuff to do, and isn't PvPaliicous. =)

[V-Mink]

Thanks for the replies, folks.  It looks like, barring STO, we're kind of out of luck.  Bummer! 

[Super Firebug]

Chris Roberts (of such space games as Wing Commander, Privateer and Freelancer) is currently working on Star Citizen, a successor to Freelancer. According to its Wikipedia page, it "is expected to consist of persistent world massively multiplayer, single-player campaign, and customizable private server components," is slated to enter alpha testing in Q4 of this year, and is tentatively scheduled to be released November 2014.

[JRVthatsME]

That sound like it should be well worth looking at. If you do decide to try STO you might take more of a liking the the Romulan Republic faction since as someone who joined up with a group of rebels trying to make a new home you're not cast in such a socially strict role as being a Star Fleet officer or a Klingon warrior. And of course there is the paragon fleet you can join with your more of your fellow CoH players so at least there's a welcome place to settle in to that's easy to find. What I've found to be the best thing in any game I've played since the shut down is chatting and playing with members of the CoH community. I was fairly new to the game before the shut down so I never really had the chance to get to know people in CoH but it did matter to me as playing it helped me cope with some hard times I had and I was glad of what little I could do to help those who made the transition to Champions Online after the shut down. I guess that makes me adopted as far as being part of the CoH community lol.

[Captain Electric]

Earth and Beyond
Forums http://forum.enb-emulator.com/
Signup and account management http://www.net-7.org/

It's a small community (there are only 226 people logged in and playing as I type this on a Tuesday night), but they are all friendly and helpful and some of them were CoHers too. In E&B you are not confined to your ship, you can walk around big space stations and planetside bases. The RPers there are always struggling to build numbers and interest, so if you liked the game it would be a boost for them too. (Not really easy to advertise a player-run server. )

[Super Firebug]

C.E., which of the downloadable files/folders are needed for the game on a PC? One of them says "EnB Status Monitor for Android", so I'm guessing that it's for mobile devices, maybe? It'd be nice if they provided descriptions, in addition to the file/folder names.

[Captain Electric]

Use these step-by-step instructions to set up your account and get in the game.

(It isn't as hard as it looks. It's quick and painless, but these instructions are broken down into VERY tiny steps.)

Setting up an account
1. Mouse over "Account" at net-7.org, and click on "Register".
2. Fill in the details on the registration page and confirm your email address.
3. Once you have a Master Account, log in to the Net7 Portal (net-7.org).
4. From the accounts menu, click the 'Add Game Account' button, and fill in the details.
5. You now have a Game account! YAY!

Installing the game and Net-7 launcher
1. Navigate to the "Main" menu at net-7.org and select "Downloads".
2. You will only need to download "Earth & Beyond Client" and "Net-7 Unified Installer". (For those people who have played the player-run E&B over the years, the client patch is now rolled into the unified installer. )
3. Once downloaded, run the "Earth & Beyond Client" install first, and wait for it to complete. (Please delete the shortcut from your desktop as you do not need to run this!)
4. Now install the "Net-7 Unified Installer". You will be asked a few questions during the install.
5. Next, navigate to your Windows Start menu and locate the Earth and Beyond program shortcut folder.
6. Once there, run the Earth & Beyond Configuration shortcut, and select your desired settings. Make sure you run as Administrator. (Right-click the shortcut and select "Run as Admin") and also hit the Performance Test.
7. Now run the LaunchNet7 shortcut on your desktop. This is the main launcher for the player-run game.
8. On first run, the launcher will update a few times, to make sure you have the latest release.
9. Once the updates are complete, press the "Play" button on the launcher.
10. The first time you press "PLAY" you may be presented with a certificate install screen. Just press OK.
11. The game will now launch.
12. Once at the log in screen, (Say Hi to Megan), enter your game account information (Step 4).
13. Create your Character and enjoy the game!

Notes from Captain Electric, including a launcher bug I occasionally whine about
- The Performance Test mentioned on Step 6 is IMPORTANT. It configures your game to run with the optimal settings, which today would be high quality obviously.
- The game will look like ass the first time you log in. Go into options in-game and turn all your graphics settings up to high. (The game is a little older than City of Heroes, but running it at a high resolution gives it a sharp face lift that still impresses me after a long break.) (Seriously, you are going to marvel at how big and beautiful this old game is.)
- The launcher will probably appear to complete at some point, but the PLAY button will still be gray. It doesn't mean there's a problem. It's not really done updating. Close the launcher and reopen it. Do this until it's finished updating. (It won't take long.)
- On two separate computers the update (or maybe the certificate from step 10) "failed" and gave me a weird error. It didn't really fail. Just restart and finish updating.
- The Net-7 portal has cool features when you're logged into it, including a utility similar to Mids, as well as character and fleet inventory management. (You can move items between characters while logged out!)
- The player run server has features, classes, even entire solar systems and planets that you can land on that didn't exist in the original game, painstakingly hand-crafted by volunteers.
- EA is aware of the server's existence and isn't going to shut it down. That's all you need to know! Don't worry and enjoy the game! (The game's former producer also publicly congratulated the E&B players on a job well done in a Massively interview.)

City of Heroes was well-loved because no one has managed to do super heroes better in an MMO. Well, for exploration and just plain fun in a space MMO, no one has outdone Earth and Beyond yet either. EVE Online's weaknesses tend to be E&B's strengths and vice versa, but they are such different games, I never felt (at the time) like they were built to compete with each other. E&B is also not a sandbox, it's a story-based game like City of Heroes. And as a City of Heroes fan you will also find parts of E&B's leveling up scheme to be VERY familiar. And if you approach E&B like more of a comic book universe, you may be VERY satisfied by it, because that's how it was conceptualized. It's not super serious. It's not EVE. But it does have a dramatic comic book-like storyline. Imagine if Joss Whedon penned a sprawling space opera. Kind of like that.

[Super Firebug]

Thanks, Cap!

...planets that you can land on...

This reminds me (but I'm not expecting the following in E&B). I've enjoyed Wing Commander, Privateer, Freelancer and whatever other space-flight sims (the ones that WERE flight simulators), but there's one thing they've all lacked that would really have thrilled me: the ability to do my own landings and takeoffs. Never mind the automated system that seizes control of my ship - I want a space-flight sim that gives me the chance to do it myself. But I guess there's not much chance of that.

[Captain Electric]

Nope, docking at space stations and descents into atmospheres is handled by your uh, navigation systems. Now once you're on the planets, you can fly around and explore and things. But if there's a landing base there (and there usually will be), then you'll be auto-guided into it as well.

I was going to say something like, "this would be the case in any MMO, especially one that ran from 2002 to 2004", but this would also be the case in any space flight sim from around that time I'd imagine. All I played back then was Allegiance and Freelancer though. And Subspace LOL.

Space sims going forward might surprise us, like Star Citizen of course. Heck, MMOs going forward might surprise us. Planetside 2 isn't a space sim, but you do have to do your own take-offs and landings.

Honestly there's probably some amazing space flight game where you do all of this cool stuff and I'm not even aware of it. There's so many cool games being kickstarted these days.

MMORPGs don't traditionally give you very fine control over anything, but as the rise of action MMORPGs is showing us, traditions change.

[V-Mink]

Thanks for that information, Captain, I'll see if I can't get them/us to check it out. =)

[Captain Electric]

Glad I could help!

[MWRuger]

Uh, ya know, I think I might be interested in this. I kinda wanna play EVE but PvP...ugh...no thanks.

I'll download and start tonight! Thanks for the post.

[Captain Electric]

Thank you for giving it a try. Some games just age very well. Whenever I get someone to try out Earth and Beyond, I feel really good about it. It doesn't have the Altitis options of, say, City of Heroes, but among the three races, nine classes, each with their own storylines and 150 levels of specializations to mix and match, there is enough content there to ensure you can try something new and different if you start to get bored. There were several aspects of E&B, such as the way teaming and leveling felt, that I didn't really seem to get from other games until I logged into City of Heroes the first time. E&B even has its own Mids-like tool that people spend hours toying around with just to get that perfect build.

Like I said, some games just age very well. I'd like to think that some day, long after mysterious and diligent code monkeys have reverse-engineered City of Heroes and flung open the doors to their servers, I'll be having conversations just like this about City of Heroes. Showing curious souls the way into a big world of super heroic (and villainous!) content that I think we all know would age very, very well. Today's E&B is a polished and professional volunteer project and that gives me hope as a City of Heroes fan.

[MWRuger]

Ok, got it all downloaded. I'll install tonight. Unfortunately, I have to work early on Saturday. But Saturday night I'll be in game looking around and such. is there a wiki for this game? (I'm pretty spoiled by Titan)

Is it being updated with new content? I have dozens of SF tales that I would love to see enjoyed by someone other than me, if possible.

[Power Play]

Just as an addendum to the above poster about PvP in Star Citizen.  You will have areas (the core areas of the UEE, the ingame government "empire") which are totally lawful.  You will have a PvP "slider" to determine your risk level.  In the core areas, if your slider is all the way down, you will have no PvP.  As you get into lawless areas, the chance for PvP goes up.  However...they plan to have 90% NPCs versus 10% PCs in the game at launch, so 90% of your encounters, even in the most remote areas, will be with NPCs.

[Little David]

Oh wow, they've got Earth and Beyond back from the dead? I have got to check that out!


Most of the other space MMOs I can think of have faction-based PVP. There's Ace Online (AKA Space Cowboy Online AKA Flysis AKA Air Rivals), which is way more action-oriented and follows a two-faction based setup. Faction wars are the bulk of PVP play, I've found, unless you go looking for trouble on the front-line zones. When a war's in progress, you'll know. A lot of the action takes place planetside, but later zones move to the skies, outer space, and other celestial bodies.

Ace Online's NorthAm servers are here: https://ace.subagames.com/

The European servers (called Air Rivals) are here: http://en.airrivals.gameforge.com/


Another alternative is Armada Online, which is being developed by two guys who worked on the original Sega Dreamcast game called Armada. They've been at this for years, and have tried (unsuccessfully so far) to get the game on Steam and get funded though Kickstarter. Armada Onine is reminiscent of Ragnarok Onine in its control scheme--point-and-click overhead 2D movement. Faction PVP is entirely optional and takes place in specific zones. There are also other zones where the two factions cooperate to achieve a goal, and others which are free-for-all.

Armada Online can be found here: http://www.armada-online.com/


Man ... all this talk about space MMOs makes me wish I could have played Reakktor's Black Prophecy. I had been following that MMO for years, and it only lasted a year before the publisher Gamigo killed it and made an EVE-knockoff called Black Prophecy Tactics: Nexus Conflict to take its place.

Alas ... Maybe some day it'll come back like Earth and Beyond.