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DLC Avorion Into the Rift Out Now!

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Updated Demo?


AvoClang
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I'm coming from space engineers and stumpled across Avorion today the first time. I downloaded the demo and played a little bit. Since it's some time since the demo release and the actual version on steam, I would like to ask if there is a newer version which I could test before I buy it. I only will to be sure that the game is something for me and my son, since I have to buy it 2 times.

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Do either Sue or the Developers have an answer?

 

Answer

If the demo has been updated within the past year, here are some features you should see:

spacecraft communicating with text bubbles

some ships capable of 1000+m/s

stations having colored glass screens/signs

 

The Game

Glad you’re interested in the game! Part of what makes this game so enjoyable is the ability to easily build and edit a ship, piece by piece. This is very time consuming if you care at all how cool your spacecraft look. BE SURE you either have lots of free time to design your ships, OR are interested in downloading the magnificent ships of the community’s workshop. With your ship, you should play Avorion like a sandbox game.

 

Multiplayer

I’ve played alone for hundreds of hours, so it’s good for a solo game, in my opinion. To join a dedicated public server is very simple. Just press ‘Multiplayer’ and join one in the list. Some big servers reset often, so get onto their discord servers to determine if they reset too often for your liking. Apparently, joining a local game is simple, too (check link).

 

Links

How to join via LAN with your son: https://www.avorion.net/forum/index.php?topic=5441.0

Fantastic community workshop: https://steamcommunity.com/app/445220/workshop/

An interesting ship: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1087480545&searchtext=Megalodon

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I'm not sure about a newer version to the game as a demo, but I can tell you from my gameplay experience that its not quite as technical or Clangy as SE (I've played it a bit too) but still quite fun with plenty of schlooting (shooting and looting).  I've played both SE and Avorion with my Dad as well and while he enjoyed both, he enjoyed the content and the fact that avorion had more direction to it than SE.  Unfortunately, he only wants to focus on one game at a time so his thing now is Ark Survival Evolved lol.

 

Avorion is also much less laggy and MUCH more glitch free than SE.  Ship building is quite different as I'm sure you've noticed and currently there isn't quite as much depth to it as SE, but that isn't really a bad thing because it lets you focus more on the aesthetic and layout of the ships and stations you build.  You can, however, opt to make a super duper performing borg cube and try to maximize the ship's stats if that is more your thing.  Speaking of the ship building, its the best there is without a doubt, just have to figure out the controls.  I would say Avorion is more like EVE and minecraft combined rather than SE.

 

Recently the devs have been pushing out tons of bug fixes, QOL improvements, UI improvements, reworked damage types and resistances, improved the NPC ship generator (its really good now), and balanced weapons a bit.  Idk at what point the demo is set, but I can say that in the past year they have added quite a bit of good changes to the game.

 

EDIT:  If you and your son are looking to join a multiplayer server there are several out there with a decent population.  Alliances in this game are pretty awesome as you can claim space and quite literally build an armada and massive industry/trade.  Because there is a strategy element to the game, you are able to go into "strategy mode" and control your builds like an RTS game.  This makes the "need" for players in an alliance not really a thing since you can command alliance ships both in system and via the galaxy map.  Its just more fun imo to join a group of people who control a set few ships.  You will be able to join fleets with them and have an armada that you can use to go to war with entire NPC or player factions.

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I like SE very much. Especially because of its details and because I can build and design functional ships and stations. Currently I am building a big spaceport with a functional hotel, hangars, lounges and also an industrial part in the station, where you can trade with things and produce goods. Everything really detailed, also and especially from inside the station.

 

As you can perhaps see, I'm more interested in building things in detail that you can really interact with in the end and that will work as expected. That includes being able to move around inside a ship or station, use elevators, etc. If I understood the demo correctly, it doesn't exist in Avorion to that extent. So I don't create a room for the crew or a bridge in detail, but I just put a block on the ship as crew quarters and that's it. So I'm afraid I have little influence on how a ship or station works or where I can improve and optimize something.

 

On the other hand, in SE I am simply missing something "life". In the end everything is finished and works but nobody can use it. There are no outsiders and use the station for trade and barter, at most I have to defend myself against pirates or other factions. But peaceful trade with NPC or other players does not take place. Especially the latter I would wish for.

 

What I also noticed: At first sight the game looks somewhat "old-fashioned". SE on the other hand looks more "polished" and a bit nicer. There are really nice textures that differ, and a lot of details on the blocks (no matter if from the texture or the 3D model). Somehow most of the blocks in Avorion look pretty much the same. The only difference between an engine block and a hull block, at least in the demo, is that the engine block has a yellow light on one side. Please don't take this as an accusation, these are just things I noticed. Maybe it's different in the full game or I just used the wrong blocks. If so, that would be great of course.

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What you described about not being able to walk around and really interact with the ship is correct.  There aren't things like rotors or pistons and doors with programming timer blocks, ect. However, just because you can't walk around in your ships you make in avorion does not mean you can't go into heavy detail on your ships, just take a look at the steam workshop.  There are also mods on the workshop such as Avorion: The Journey Texture pack which update several textures in game if you don't like the vanilla skins for blocks.  The main benefit of the simpler designs on the blocks is to allow for large scale fights.  You can jump into a new sector in the mid to late game and there could be 20-30 ships in the system and you can fight them all with little to no lag assuming your gaming rigs aren't ancient, which I'm assuming they aren't since you can play SE lol.

 

And what you said about having no point to building all this cool stuff that you can in SE is the main reason why I switched from SE to Avorion.  After you build a couple of really cool and in-depth stations/ships/rovers in SE there isn't really anything left to do sadly, where as in Avorion you can design your stations, ships, turrets, and fighters then proceed to use them to try to advance towards the center of the universe (I won't spoil it for you).  Along the way you will encounter numerous different factions and aliens.  Part of the appeal for me even after endgame is building a literal space empire where you own sectors of space, trade with NPC factions, go to war with NPC factions, ect.  And all of this is doable in Multiplayer as well.  There are even "Neutral zones" where you can log off in your ship and other players can't damage you there. 

 

In short, SE and Avorion have pretty different playstyles.  Avorion will give you more game content than SE will and lots more fighting and interactions.  SE is still a fun game for me, but once I've built all the cool things (even mechs and hovercraft for me) it becomes a bit boring to me.

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That sounds great. I have found the texture pack you mentioned, from the pictures special the second and third one looks good to me. But what i mean is, i miss highlights on the textures from light sources like the sun on textures and deep shadows, but maybe i haven't played the demo enough. Or reflections from other objects in glass etc. If there is some way to enable such things, that would be really cool at least on some spare parts.

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Old SE Veteran (5k+ h) here.

 

I was a bit suspicious of Avorion at first, too.. mainly due to the fact that you will not work around with your astronaut in Person. Rather the ship(s) or drone 'become' your avatar. This removes a lot of the detail need, you may have in SE, like laying out and building a ship so that a Person can really walk around in it and steer/use it.

Yet even though I never was the person interested in good looking stuff, due to the freely resizable and strechable (is that a wod?) building 'Blocks' you can build details in your ship which are never possible in SE in a smaller scale (like non Star Wars Executor size.) As mentioned though, Rotors, Pistons and Merge Blocks are not available.

 

What eventually really got me hooked, was the fact, that you have not only encounters with hostile NPCs, but the economy and faction play really has an impact up to the End Boss. There is always something happening that you can immerse yourself in.

And I can have a variety of different weapons, including turrets of all sorts, coaxial guns and launchers, torpedo launchers and even fighter compliments, which are usable with ease (and no need for cool but complicated scripts.)

 

Don't get me wrong, I love the SE PvP play with my friends. But beyond that, SE has the sandbox for shipbuilding with realistic physics (which it was intended to be, no critic here) and little beyond. Some very very cool scenarios made by modders showed the potential, but Keen originally did not even intended in that direction. ;)

Avorion was described to me as a mix of SE and 4X and I can confirm fully.

 

Note: I've only played it in Single Player mode yet, but over 208h since I bought it just not quite a month ago.

 

 

Have fun playing it with your son! :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

I'm coming from space engineers and stumpled across Avorion today the first time. I downloaded the demo and played a little bit. Since it's some time since the demo release and the actual version on steam, I would like to ask if there is a newer version which I could test before I buy it. I only will to be sure that the game is something for me and my son, since I have to buy it 2 times.

 

Hey :) Current we are not planning to update the demo version. Sorry :(

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No problem. The community gives me enough reasons to try it. Many thanks for that. I purchased the game for me and my son a few days ago. Well, what can I say... we love it! At least I'm missing a little bit of detail from Space Engineers. But there is more real life in the game and you are not as alone as in SE. You always have a goal in sight and discover new things all the time. We haven't regretted it so far. Please keep up the good work!

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No problem. The community gives me enough reasons to try it. Many thanks for that. I purchased the game for me and my son a few days ago. Well, what can I say... we love it! At least I'm missing a little bit of detail from Space Engineers. But there is more real life in the game and you are not as alone as in SE. You always have a goal in sight and discover new things all the time. We haven't regretted it so far. Please keep up the good work!

 

Oh love to hear that! :) We will do our best! :)

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