Few questions

[MegaJohnny]

So yeah, a few days ago I found Vegastrike and started playing it. I'm impressed purely by the scale that it has - specifically watching the speedometer shoot up to 97C and seeing the planet behind you whizz off into the distance like an island disappearing below the sea. And knowing from the config that 3 whole systems are simulated in the game at 20fps at the same time with just 1GB ram.

But that's not to say that I like the game only for the graphics, there seems to be such depth in the choice of ships, weapons, and the ability to upgrade your ship with such little steps at a time gives a constant sense of progress.

A few questions arose about the game, so I was relieved to find the forums still alive, and not just left to waste with no hope of any question being answered. So here's my questions...

1. Is it possible to buy and own capital ships in an unmodded game? Coming from the X-series, I'm used to the idea of being able to own pretty much anything you can see. If a mod exists to make capital ships buyable (without being a total conversion mod or something), where can I find it?

2. Is there any point staying with 0.5.0 or should I get the SVN? Is the dev team still working towards any non-SVN update or is it just an SVN project from now on? If I do upgrade to SVN, how will I be able to carry over my savegame?

3. How big is the galaxy in the game? I can't see much in the ingame map (presumably due to my lack of exploration) and the Wiki seems to have no mention of a full universe map for the game, so is it some kind of procedurally-generated monstrosity?

4. There's a damn load of inertia on the ships in this game so it seems. I was flying up to a relay station and turned off the SPEC drive and turned to face a docking port square. Unfortunately my direction of movement seemed to stay the same and my poor ship splatted all over the station. Left with nothing but an escape pod I reloaded out of instinct. Is the inertia really that high at max combat speed or did I do something stupid? I don't think I turned drift mode on.

5. Leading on from 4, can you strafe (not by turning on drift mode, but rather by lateral thrusters)?

6. My ship apparently is a Refurbished Llama... classed as a cargo shuttle. Now it's nice to have a ship that can haul things around when need be... but when I go on the mission computer I just ignore the cargo mission category and look for some in-system combat. Should I consider doing these courier missions (got enough money for a jumpdrive) and perhaps dabble in some personal trading? As for that, I know very little about the economy in this game, other than that according to the tips, places sell what they make for cheap. If I, say, bought some generic mineral from a mining base, is there anywhere in particular that would pay top dollar for my goods? Or would I just remember the buying price and hope somebody pays more?

7. Besides one nasty run-in with some rescue mission baddies and the hull of that relay station nothing's got past my shielding so far, or so it would seem. The blue segments always hold firm. But my armour takes damage all the same. Is this an intended purpose of the game to have shields a penetrable field when charged, or is there some upgrade I can buy to stop the bullets getting through shields?

8. So there's fuel in this game. Oh great, running costs, I thought. But every time I dock or land, my fuel seems to go up top again. Is refuelling free or are the station attendants just sneakily charging my account for the fuel?

9. At some point I WILL want to get a fighting ship. A cheap one though probably. Any suggestions? I like to be the tank in any game: slow, sluggish, lots of turrets... and bulletproof.

Thanks.

[loki1950]

Welcome MegaJohnny there is some new content in svn ships and some voices for the communications strings but if you are on Windows he current binary won't support the new comm chatter properly till it is updated or you are comfortable compiling from source i recommend staying with the 0.5 release,I am hoping that we can put together a new release this year as all our new content and some addition to the engine do justify it So yeah we are still alive maybe in need of life support but alive like most FOSS projects.Now to your questions in order

1) Capital Ships are not fun to fly that inertia you mentioned but for the record one is available to the player the Clydesdale just a km or so in length found on Trantor class planets and sometimes on Ice planets.
2)Save games can be transferred but it is better to start over as the dynamic universe part may conflict but hacking the save file is pretty easy and examples are all over the forum
3)The galaxy is our own Milky way all of it there is an external map utility that is 3d and good for route finding as well as helper app for traders that uses that map code.
4)Yeah inertia is real as we use a very accurate physics model there is a relative mass readout on the HUD that helps figure out how logy your ship is it reads percentage Mass based on an empty cargo hold so the mass of your cargo is important do some calculations the velocity is shown in meters/sec and the ship masses are shown at the ship dealer screen but it was all the potential energy instantly converted to kinetic energy that got you.I try to approach stations at something below 10 m/sec for easier docking and slower for tricky ones as a bad rub or bounce can piss off the station leading to an other visit with the HAG
5) there is the shelton slide check out the pdf manual in the documentation folder or on the wiki(bit more up to date) the last pages have a key binding table
6) the economy is pretty basic but profitable for traders but for factional relations to stay sane just take missions against Luddites and Pirates but watch it with pirates they have some crazy friends and allies
7) some energy gets by the shields all the time so your armor is taking damage all the time and a few weapons have phase damage that bypass them completely
8 ) Refueling is part of basic repair and gets more expensive depending on your ship and bank balance also game difficulty increases with your bank balance.
9) the Goddard

Have fun and feel free to ask more questions

Enjoy the Choice

[MC707]

@Loki
I can agree with all of them except for 9). The Goddard can have all the features MegaJohnny wants, but it is definitely not cheap. The ship costs a hell of a lot, and fixing it costs another hell of a lot I would recommend... damn, the only cheap one with turrets I can think of is the Franklin.

[loki1950]

All ships are cheap if you hack the cash in the save file but yes playing clean it is not the cheapest but has long been the ship for bear hunting without being bothered by the flies that kind of engagement attracts

Enjoy the Choice

[MC707]

Hacking definitely makes things cheaper. Though we should try to make the VS game, a game. Playing clean is the best way to suck the fun outta VS, especially for new playas.

[loki1950]

You may have noticed that i mention hacking the cash a bit often precisely for that reason if it ain't fun no-body plays and playing with the ships is what is fun ATM and story line work is on the back burner till we have an update of the Universe doc from the Minister of Information to provide the right background for the story and his own already worked on story arc.

Enjoy the Choice

[MC707]

Remember that things you get with sweat and blood are enjoyed far more than things got with roses while you sleep.

[loki1950]

Very true which is why that story line is important as it give a hook to the imagination the true source of all games,But then i had the benefit of an unstructured play environment as a kid.Just running around with the neighborhood kid pack with the occasional ball game(soccer or baseball and snow balls/road hockey in the winter)but mostly make believe role playing.But the most important thing no adults setting the agenda as far i am concerned play is too critical to let the grown ups F#@ it up so there my rant on Helicopter Parenting

Enjoy the Choice

[MC707]

I see. what a story xD

[getstoopid]

8 ) Refueling is part of basic repair and gets more expensive depending on your ship and bank balance also game difficulty increases with your bank balance.

hmmm... that's not really an answer to his question, or do i miss something? if refilling is part of basic repair, why am i refilled everytime i dock to a station (without clicking basic repair)? or is it done automatically (and my bankaccount is charged automatically too)?

[loki1950]

You might check the config file fuel usage was turned off for a while and it maybe be refuelling automatically happens check your balance in flight by toggling the left VDU with "w" your cargo manifest is top by the bank balance

Enjoy the Choice