[Injustice]

Ok, for starters, I got a couple of prizes from the goody bag for showing up. Scorch gave each of us an 8x10 glossy of the screenshot showing a 2-point POS with a bunch of AI haulers doing their thing. I also got a Netdevil Jumpgate Evolution T-shirt with the ND logo on the front and the Jumpgate Evolution logo with depictions of a ship from each player faction on the back.

So, obviously, the game looks better than the current one. But I don't think people really realize just how gorgeous this game looks. I mean, it doesn't just knock the socks off of Jumpgate Classic, it literally puts games like EvE to shame. The game is also further along than I thought from a gameplay perspective, though it's not at the player beta stage yet (especially if they want to use it as a marketing tool more than for testing).

I did asked Scorch about an East Coast presentation, and he said there isn't one planned because there are no conferrences on that side of the country. If, however, anyone knows of one, let me know and I'll nag him about it.

So what did I see? Well, I saw the three Core stations and Amananth, all of which look awesome btw. I saw AI haulers, flux, and pirates, and something new that nobody else has seen yet. According to Scorch they're calling them "battlestations" and their are supposed to be both PvE and PvP versions.

Essentially what they are are POS's that have a bunch of AI turrets mounted on them, and it's destroyable, but you have to do it systematically. Blow up a few turrets, and you have to attack the shield generator. Take out the generator, and you have to go for the powerplant. "Take it all out and the battlestation goes boom" is the general idea.

Apparently they will come in different sizes, sort of like POS's, and are both pre-spawned as PvE content or buildable by players for PvP purposes.

Scorch stated they are planning to use an "auction house"-style system for the player craftable stuff, which won't be equipment, from what I understand. Actually, if I get what he was saying, there won't really be equipment at all as we know it. The ships in the game will come with all of that stuff pre-installed (except weapons). The upgrades will come in the form of "mods" which are what the player crafting and loot system are for. Istvan is the one working on that aspect of the game, along with the tag system.

He also mentioned that, while Jumpgate Evolution will have levels like Jumpgate Classic did, they won't be as stringent, and are simply a means to track character progression. Apparently the main source of equipment availability will come from licenses.

A few other things:

The power curve works different now. They did away with efficiency so it's simply a matter of what your ship can support and what it can't due to its power budget. Whether or not that means that using guns that put you into a power deficit are a no-go, wasn't really clear.

The first/third person views are seemless. They basically work the same way as EvE where you control it via your mouse wheel or whatever, and can zoom out from 1st person into close 3rd person, far 3rd person, or even way the heck out there to where your ship is just a tiny speck.

The weapons I saw used were all really fast firing ammo weapons, no instant hit lasers that I noticed. Scorch said his vision for "laser weapons" in the game were more along the lines of what you see in cap ship fights where the laser is a solid persistent beam that sort of rakes across the other cap ships hull/shields.

I noticed Scorch using lateral thrusters a lot, which he mentioned were currently too powerful since he could use them to dodge incoming fire from a standstill. I also watched him bounce off Sol Core a couple of times , though according to him he was "cheating" (god mode?), so, I dunno.

Inertial dampeners didn't matter that much from what I saw. The ship still drifted along in the last direction of flight when he cut the engines. When he launched from a station and just let it drift he went on for what looked like a good 8k.

Another big change was in the afterburners. Flashfires are apparently gone, and afterburners have been cranked up a lot to compensate, however, when you use them, you can't maneuver hardly at all.

We saw some of the UI implementation as well. From the looks of it we can expect much the same of what WoW has in regards to chat functionality (i.e. seperate, customizable chat windows, and a combat log). The radar system has a drop down menu that you can use to select targets as well. All of this occupies the edges of the screen, so the center is clear of clutter.

You'll notice that I use qualifying adjectives like apparently and supposedly a lot. That's because none of this is set in stone yet. But for the most part what I got to see has me wanting a lot more.

I'm probably forgetting a couple of things, so I'll add it in if/when I remember them.

[Luke]

Sounds better than what their PR people say. Maybe they should hire you instead.

[Jump]

Great to hear. Post some pics!

[Eraser55]

good, finally we will get rid of circle fights ammo will rule!

oh, what did the pirates do? how do they pirate ?

[vorlon31]

afterburners have been cranked up a lot to compensate, however, when you use them, you can't maneuver hardly at all.

Absolutely fantastic, spot on and brilliant!

And a great report Injustice, I was concerned when Ambro never posted anything up after he got a looksee at the ND offices so I'm pleased you have.

[Solo]

Thanks for the impressions Injustice, nice to hear it looks that good.

If it's done that way I just hope this mod system doesn't kills off the little bit of individualism in ship setups that was in Jumpgate Classic. Or shipping mods? Nah, I hope that part was misunderstood, no offence ment.

[Istanbul]

I thought Ambro posted...

Apparently not, but there's a bit about his visit here:

Netdevil

[dahalb]

Nice post Inj. Have to agree with almost everything you said. I actually liked the new fast-travel though i thought the inertial dampeners were strong enough. As it was explained to me, they're really only there to help n00bs and not to present a completely new flight dynamic. For the most part, Jumpgate Classic vets won't be able to tell the difference to any great extent.

One thing you didn't really cover was scale... I would like to hear your impressions. Toph and I both thought it was fantastic if a little harder to get used to.

[Radi]

Maybe there wasn't anything new to report?

We are getting a lot of information from people that did see Jumpgate Evolution in action.

Thx IJ for the write-up.

I just hope "the mods" will not mean that with higher level you will get better stats for your ship. Because this is what really comes down to: higher level > better mod > better stats on your ship = win? But the good news is that Istvan is working on it.

Licensing sounds intersting.

PvP w.o FF's? Ammo only? Mouse FTW?

I like that you can zoom out all the way. It might give more control for commanders during combat.

[Istanbul]

until they get blown up radi...

[Jump]

Well they better be bringing goodie bags to SFO. We don't want to here any of that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" crap.

[Radi]

Originally Posted by Istanbul

until they get blown up radi...

I don't know about that. That new AB sounds like a good "jumping" technology to avoid the combat.

[Jump]

They have that in Taikodom. It's called cruise speed. It can be an escape if your in an explorer ship with a little faster cruise. However, someone in your path can bump you out, bombers can fire off traps and slows and a good missile hit can knock you out as well. So an organized force can get you quite easy.

Hopefully they work all the limitations out for Jumpgate Evolution.

[Eraser55]

in Freelancer they had Cruise disruptor missiles.. but I hope its not going to go that far just to stop running ships..

[Injustice]

Originally Posted by Jump

They have that in Taikodom. It's called cruise speed. It can be an escape if your in an explorer ship with a little faster cruise. However, someone in your path can bump you out, bombers can fire off traps and slows and a good missile hit can knock you out as well. So an organized force can get you quite easy.

Hopefully they work all the limitations out for Jumpgate Evolution.

The concept of missiles doing "different things" was mentioned

Originally Posted by Radi

I don't know about that. That new AB sounds like a good "jumping" technology to avoid the combat.

Keep in mind that the AB isn't an instant on/off like flashfires. When they were engaged they sputtered a bit at first, giving off a tell-tale flash from the engine exhaust. You can see an example in the game trailer video.

Originally Posted by Jump

Well they better be bringing goodie bags to SFO. We don't want to here any of that "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" crap.

Whatever happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.

Originally Posted by Radi

Maybe there wasn't anything new to report?

We are getting a lot of information from people that did see Jumpgate Evolution in action.

Thx IJ for the write-up.

I just hope "the mods" will not mean that with higher level you will get better stats for your ship. Because this is what really comes down to: higher level > better mod > better stats on your ship = win? But the good news is that Istvan is working on it.

Licensing sounds intersting.

PvP w.o FF's? Ammo only? Mouse FTW?

I like that you can zoom out all the way. It might give more control for commanders during combat.

I'm guessing the use of mods will stem from whatever licenses the pilot has access to.

Originally Posted by dahalb

Nice post Inj. Have to agree with almost everything you said. I actually liked the new fast-travel though i thought the inertial dampeners were strong enough. As it was explained to me, they're really only there to help n00bs and not to present a completely new flight dynamic. For the most part, Jumpgate Classic vets won't be able to tell the difference to any great extent.

One thing you didn't really cover was scale... I would like to hear your impressions. Toph and I both thought it was fantastic if a little harder to get used to.

The scale is absolutely huge compared to Jumpgate Classic, everything is bigger, especially the jumpgates, which are massive. Oh and the jumpgate effect? The game trailer and Jumpgate Classic website graphic don't do them justice.

Originally Posted by Solo

Thanks for the impressions Injustice, nice to hear it looks that good.

If it's done that way I just hope this mod system doesn't kills off the little bit of individualism in ship setups that was in Jumpgate Classic. Or shipping mods? Nah, I hope that part was misunderstood, no offence ment.

One thing I forgot to mention, which was brought up later. I think it was Scorch who said in an interview or on the Jumpgate Evolution boards that they wanted multiple versions of each class of ship for each faction. The way I interpret that is you can choose between an Oct MF that is fast but with few weapons, or is slow with many weapons, or has more power available, etc.

Also, with stations not being responsible for equipment manufacturing, what happens to the economy? Essentially, the stations will still have a common commodity market, but that's exactly what it'll be, just commodities. So haulers can still haul, it just cuts out on the station stripping aspect.

Originally Posted by vorlon31

Absolutely fantastic, spot on and brilliant!

And a great report Injustice, I was concerned when Ambro never posted anything up after he got a looksee at the ND offices so I'm pleased you have.

Well I'm not certain if he was subject to an NDA or not, but we weren't told not to disclose anything.

Originally Posted by Eraser55

good, finally we will get rid of circle fights ammo will rule!

oh, what did the pirates do? how do they pirate ?

The best analogy I can come up with for the way the ammo looked is that it's just like what you see in BSG, absolutely cooler than instant hit weapons like lasers. I'm also psyched about the way he described cap ship lasers. It reminds me of Colony Wars for the PS1. If you never played the game, it's basically like Jumpgate in that you always fly a fighter/bomber, but there are cap ships with incredibly powerful laser cannons exactly like Scorch described, you just make sure to avoid them and go for the cap ships undefended areas.

Originally Posted by Jump

Great to hear. Post some pics!

Keyba (a new pilot) was also there and brought a digital camera with him, so once he posts the pics I'll link them here.

Originally Posted by Luke

Sounds better than what their PR people say. Maybe they should hire you instead.

I think that they try to avoid making definitive statements about the game because it tends to get skewed out of proportion.