First off: This is about a commercial game, so all those who have objections
to games and/or non-Free software can stop reading now :-)
I've been playing it on and off for the last couple of years, and since
it's the only game of its kind that I'm aware of that's available for Linux,
I thought some people here might be interested in knowing about it (there
must be some people who play games on the list).
Vendetta[1] is a space-based MMORPG which could be described as multiplayer
Elite. Basically, it's a first person shooter where you buy a spaceship
(and suitable weapon and other systems), and go out into the universe to
trade, mine or just shoot other people. It's a twitch based game - i.e.
it is not point-and-click like Eve, but relies much more on your skills
as a player rather than your character's ratings.
When you start, you choose between one of three nations - the Itani
(religious fanatics dedicated to the purity of their race), the Serco
(technologically and genetically enhanced humans who have been forced
into war against the Itani) and the UIT (mostly trading unions who are
caught in the middle of the war). The choice doesn't affect much beyond
where you start and your ratings with the various factions. The Itani
are hated by the Serco and vice-versa, so neither can enter the space
of the other without being shot at.
The game is mostly based around the idea of Player v Player combat,
so dying is relatively cheap (you loose your ship and any cargo, but
apart from the monetary cost of buying it all back, there's no real
penalty). If you don't want to fight players, it's relatively easy
to avoid, and there are lots of opportunity for peaceful trading or
mining, or simply hunting bots. If you venture into grey space however,
you're likely to get jumped by pirates (both NPC and players), where
you have the option of paying up, running or fighting.
There's a good selection of different ships to choose from (from the
free 'bus' you get at the start, through light fighters such as the
Vulture, to heavy bombers such as the Ragnorok or bulk freighters
such as the Behemoth). Weapons range from simple plasma cannons to
missile swarms, lightning mines or gatling turrets. Currently all
player-controllable ships are single pilot affairs. Capital ships
do exist in the game, but can't currently be piloted by players.
What ships and weapons you can buy is limited by your faction
standing (some types can only be bought if the nation or company you
are buying from likes you - if you've been shooting up their ships
recently, they may restrict what you can buy, or even prevent you
from docking at their stations) and your license levels. License
levels are the main 'levelling' part of the game, and all start at
zero and need to be raised by doing various missions. Nothing stops
you from going into Grey space to buy things on the black market,
where they tend not to pay as much attention to your licenses.
The game costs £10/month, though there's an 8 hour free trial and
you don't need to buy anything first. Linux and Mac are actively
supported (as in, there are 2 native binaries available for Linux,
one for x86 and the other AMD64) and a large percentage of the
player base is non-Windows. It's also available in portage[2] on
Gentoo - no idea about other distros.
It's possible to play it for a few months, stop paying, then come
back to it later without loosing your characters. Effectively
the game is still in Beta, and it's not being actively advertised.
The total player base is probably less than 1000, and things are
busy if there are over 50 players online at once (as I write,
there's 23 active players). There's only 4 developers, and though
they have some grand plans, development is moving slowly.
There's lots of things that could be better about it (the faction
system needs an overhaul, which is happening Real Soon Now, and
there's no real exploration to do since the universe is quite small),
but it's a fun game that can be played either for 15 minutes of
blasting bots, or more extensive group missions on the Itani/Serco
border or careful pirating in grey space.
It is however the only commercial MMORPG that's truly supported on
Linux[3] (Eve and WOW may run under WINE, but I don't consider that
supported), which is one reason I do play it. I think it's definitely
worth checking out if you like that sort of thing, and most of the
people who play are reasonably friendly (some will shoot you for
your cargo, but they're generally nice about it afterwards :-) )
It is a 3D first person shooter, so requires a 3D Graphics Card.
It's also online, so requires internet access to play (there's no
offline mode). The graphics are reasonable, and don't require
cutting edge hardware however.
Have fun,
Boojum (Trader, Union of Independent Territories).
[1]
http://www.vendetta-online.com
[2] emerge vendetta-online-bin
[3] That I'm aware of. If there's another, I'd like to know.
--
Be seeing you, http://www.glendale.org.uk
Sam. Mail/IM (Jabber): sam@???
