Escape Velocity Nova Download PC

On inhabited planets, the player can refuel their ship, find and accept missions, trade commodities, buy ships or ship upgrades, and hire escorts. Each planet, "spaceport bar," and ship or ship upgrade has associated images and descriptions.

Main goals

The player starts as a freelance space pilot in a shuttlecraft, out to make a penny in the vast and unforgiving galaxy. There are many ways to play Nova; for example, a starting player seeking funds can become a trader or courier, delivering cargo between worlds; become a pirate or bounty hunter, attacking and disabling ships to steal their money, cargo, or the ships themselves; become involved in one of the main storylines; or even conquer the galaxy by subjugating worlds.

Missions, storylines and plot

The game has six major storylines that the player can participate in, one for each of the major factions: Federation, Rebellion, Auroran, Polaris, Vell-os, and Pirate.

These storylines are the bulk of the game. Each storyline is a long and involved set of plot-filled missions which are like "playing" a short story written in second person. Each story-line forces pilots to align themselves with a particular faction, restricting a player's freedom but giving him access to more powerful ships and technology. A single story-line can take anywhere from an hour to several days to play to completion, depending on the player's level of experience and preferred pace. There also exist a few shorter minor stories and missions, which are difficult to find but have great rewards, such as the ability to use the old hypergate system.

Some major and minor storylines branch into others so that, for example, a player in the midst of the Federation story-line can, along the way, choose to join the Rebellion instead. Nova has only a small fraction of the freelance missions that were common in the previous games in the Escape Velocity series.

In the standard game, only a single major storyline can be played per pilot, as opposed to previous games in the Escape Velocity series where one could play most all missions as one pilot while gathering ever more powerful ships and weapons.

There are two minor storylines however, both of which help the player into the major storylines. These include the Bounty Hunter and Wild Geese storylines. The Bounty Hunter storyline can lead to either the Federation, Rebellion, or Auroran storylines. The Wild Geese storyline can lead to either the Auroran or Pirate storyline.

Ships and technology

Starting with a simple shuttlecraft, the player obtains new ships, weapons, and other technology, such as cloaking devices, beam weapons, and fighter bays, by purchase or as the result of completing certain missions. Throughout the course of the game, the player can choose to pilot bigger and better ships — ultimately leading to powerful capital ships with alien technology — that can also carry more cargo, and can also obtain controllable escort ships.

Extensibility (plug-ins)

Like the other games in the Escape Velocity series, Nova allows registered users to create their own plug-ins which can be used to slightly or drastically change stories and technology, or even completely replace the universe. There is a large community at the official Ambrosia forums where players can trade tips, get help, and swap favorite plugins and pilots.

Of particular note are two official plug-ins available to registered users which replace Nova's scenario with those of the first two games, allowing the original Escape Velocity and its sequel Escape Velocity Override to be played natively on both Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

Setting and plot

The game takes place in the Milky Way in 1177 NC and follows several human civilizations that have broken away from the Colonial Council and developed independently of each other. There are three main governments: Federation, Auroran, and Polaris, and several smaller factions. Back-story and other role-playing information can be gathered from several "preambles" that come as documentation with the game.