but I'm not sure if it's my crappy gamepad or what but I spent the entire time spinning round and round. Tried turning off the auto stabilizing thing to see if that was causing it but I still kept spinning. I could move, but my spaceship was essentially rotating constantly so it looked like I was some sort of rifled bullet flying around. Got pretty nauseus after awhile so I had to stop. Would certainly try it again if someone could tell me what I was doing wrong.
I know what is wrong, you have to go into the menu (ESC) and increase the deadzone until it stops spinning. A deadzone of 1 or 2 should fix your problem.
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@ Paul. Someone has posted your demo review over on the official SW3DG forums. I've played the previous game (Evochron Legends) for over a year now and have purchased the full game of Evochron Mercenarys so I thought i'd post some thoughts.
The Full game is obviously better, this is a 90 minute demo afterall. You seem to have a pretty good grasp on how your ship controls. For me, the flight system is one of the key selling points for this game (and why combat is actually quite exciting), the ability to fly anywhere without limits or loading screens etc. is something you don't see in very many games, especially in the genre. The races do start off quite easy but I imagine they get much harder as you get to other systems with more advanced ships. I never really did too much racing in Evochron.
Sapphire is a neutral system, which allows newcomers to the game a chance to get use to the controls/items and other various dynamics without enemies attacking you. I'm not sure if this was just a fluke but I managed to get through the Lambda gate to the Lambda system where when I arrived there was about ten+ hostile targets.
The ships in Sapphire are quite weak, so yes, even when you attack them they won't put up much of a fight or turn on you very quickly. In each system you have an overall reputation with each faction. There attitude towards you will change overtime based on missions you do for each faction, or whether you attack them etc.
Each cargo slot in your cargo bay will hold a limited number of each item. For big items like equipment this will be one, but for others you can hold up to 25 of each item in the cargo.
Planets have atmosphere and are obviously harder to get to. Experienced pilots have no trouble getting planetside in no time. You can set your jump spot right above the city and use various tricks to make decent quite fast. The benefits of city docking is that you often get better prices than you will at station. The ships are not following you, if the system you're in has stations nearby then there will always be a few ships around. If you are in between systems for example it is very rare that you will run into other ships.
The custom ship designing is also something I really like about this series. You can customise how your ship performs in each area. There is a huge variety in the ships you can have, must be in the thousands - and there is more to slightly customising the looks of the ship. There are a huge variety of possible designs, have a look at the players screenshots on the official forum. Not only this but the developer adds customisation kits so people can mod frames/ships/menus etc.
"Now I land on the planet, buy some food thinking it will sell for more at the station, fly back up, and sell it for... the same price."
You bought some items and flew the whole way to the station above the planet expecting profit? Yes, you can make profit within one system. Try buying some goods and flying to another station above another planet in Sapphire. The whole point of trading is working out the best and most profitable routes.
Not many people who buy this game regret it. I really recommend you taking a look at the forums, and getting more info.
The quest is really just a way to get new players to understand the mechanics of the game and provide a distraction from trading etc.
With the regards to the satellite ejected behind you outside the box - where you moving when you jettisoned the cargo? Works fine for me when I do a delivery. This seems like something you're missing more than anything.
"Oh well, goodbye Evochron Mercenary. I really wanted to like you, but I just couldn't."
Give it another chance, do some reading about it. Sure the game is not perfect but it is the work of just one guy, and it's better than most (if not all) the games in this genre. The guy who makes it updates the game constantly to fix bugs or add requests made directly to him by the forum. He is on the forum everyday replying to people and providing customer support. There really is nothing else like it out there.
One more thing, I think the most important - that you miss from the demo is multiplayer and the great community. If the AI (which is pretty good in other systems) gets too easy for you, you can always pop online and challenge a real player. Sounds like exactly the type of challenge you would be looking for.