Armada Online - Now this is my kind of EvE

[geldonyetich]

It's been awhile since we brought this up, but Armada Online is looking newsworthy and I think there may be a few people here who might want to try it out.   Armada Online apparently had has open alpha signups since September 2006.  How this became news is because it showed up on Fileplanet today, where it's currently sitting at their #2 download.

Official Website.
Free Signup, instant acceptance.
Demo Client.

I putzed around it a bit, it's not a bad little game.  It's loosely based on the Dreamcast Armada series.  I say loosely because it doesn't really play the same despite having similarities here and there.  Currently, I've just head over to the Alpha Sector where an 8 on 8 match takes place between you and a rival side of players.  Both sides have fleets of NPC ships and star stations going about their business of conquering the sector.  A nasty alien race doesn't seem to like either side.

[Viin]

Reminds me of SubSpace a bit, but not as fun. (SubSpace was the bomb  - back in 1995).

[sinij]

So is this GW-ish, EvE-ish or Diablo-ish game?

[geldonyetich]

Yes.

GW-ish in the character progression, encapsulated scenarios with player limits, and instant travel in between.
EvE-ish in the asteroid-mining, manufacturing, and space theme.  (EvE's economy is considerably more advanced.)
Diablo-ish in the tree-skill progression, hotkeyed skills firing off, nuking hordes of NPCs.

It's... an interesting game.  There's other aspects as well, such as picking up various temporary upgrades.

I'll have to agree with Viin when I say it's not quite as fun as subspace.  The pace seems too slow.  All that sitting around waiting for things to happen kinda sucks.  But... it's a bit more epic, since there's a whole lot more going on in the alpha quadrant in Armada Online.  Fleets clashing, bases being built, armada (aliens) attacking, ect.

[tazelbain]

This is one worst PvE games I have had the misfortune of playing.  Passout boring after just a few hours.

This has great team pvp in spite of it's many problems. Population imbalance and said PvE is the only way to customize your ship are the two main issues.  Still, for free its pretty fun.  If they fixed the above problems on more maps, I'd pay.  But the developers appear to cater to carebears, so there is not much hope.  Anyway its a design lesson, they do a few little tricks in pvp that I haven't seen before.

Also don't play United Systems, they are the zerg.  Cowboy up and play Nomads.