I just started playing the other day, found out about this game in the darkfall online forums; figured I'd play it until Savage2 and Darkfall come out.

Now, I was doing the basic missions, etc, and the combat, etc. There were times when I barely had cash to do this or do that.

Then all of a sudden I decided to pick one of these "escort" missions... all I have to do is follow some ships to some places, and "bam", I get 900k, 900k, and then 1.2mil credits??? I could have done that the day I started easy.

Now I have no reason to collect stuff for cash, just to up my stats in trading and to do other missions.

This was supposed to be like such?
Am I goin to need this much money so soon?
I guess I'm still a noob, so I don't know the game that well enough yet.
Thanks for any input,
Ted.

Money can flow out pretty fast in the game, if you get into PvP and other areas. But honestly, the escort missions are priced a little high right now. We know that, and have discussed it, but still need to fix it.

Mushinronjya, are you sure you didn't find out about VO in the thread over at the Savage 2 forums where you and I discussed Darkfall, and I mentioned Vendetta Online? ;-) (Yes, I go by a different name there. I am a most complex individual. At the S2 forums, I be Ayjona. But VO is a very special game, and deserves a special user handle. Only place online I don't go by Ayjona.)

To add further to incarnates reply, once you get into PvP, you can burn through 500 000 credits in less then an hour. And you WANT to get into PvP, believe me ;-)

But yes, the economy is a wee bit borked at the moment. But the economical model is being redesigned, and all prices, costs and credit gain in VO will be revamped, from what I've understood.

Regardless of the relative truth of my statement, welcome to VO, Mushinronjya! This way, I can start practice shooting you in the back long before Savage 2 hits us like the massive bomb we all know it will be. (And long before we go on that promised WoW-quitter hunt in Darkfall...)

Yes yes, you're right, it was the Savage2 forums. You're right. I go to both. But yes, thank you for telling me about this game. It's something "to do" until Savage2 comes out.

Why do I want to get into PVP? What are the rewards?
Are you talking duels, or going to another person's hostile area and fighting?

thats like asking why people play halo, theres no rewards there either and people play anyways.

why?

because its fucking awesome!

There are absolutely NO rewards whatsoever. And PvP in VO couldn't be more rewarding.

Nah, seriously speaking, there are some minor rewards, depending on the situation. There are many, many PvP scenarious in VO. Sometimes, the reward is just the fame of proving yourself. Sometimes, it's the nice numbers in your player record that shows that you've just beaten one of the devs in single combat ;-) Sometimes, you push back the enemy and gain some territory. Sometimes, defeating your enemy means you'll help your team win the weekly Nation War events, and gain a rather sizeable sum of money. Sometimes, a mission you've accepted will prompt you to defend other players or NPCs from attacking players. Sometimes, you'll just pick up whatever cargo that survives the explosion. Sometimes, you'll have some shady goal of yer own, based on the agendas of your guild or faction, or just the intention to make life hard for your target.

But it really doesn't matter. PvP in VO is it's own reward, for the simple reason that it is extremely fast, extremely advanced, and extremely skill-based. Sure, the first few weeks, you'll flounder around thinking that you will never understand how it works, and that other players defeat you by random, or because of better equipment (which plays a rather small role in VO compared to other MMOs). But then, suddenyl, and not so subtly, your skill will start to increase rapidly, and you'll begin to feel the combat. And when that happens, and from that day on, you will be hard-pressed to find any online PvP experience to match VOs.

(Worth noting also is that while VO does not always offer material rewards for PvP, it instead focuses on providing many, many scenarios and motivated situations for PvP. No longer will you have to attack random Horde players just because you happen to share the same road (or ever see a Horde player again, for that matter ;-) ). While you certainly can attack people randomly in VO, there are many, many reasons to do so, and many scenarious within the game that will put you up against other players as a part of the event you are taking part in.)

Perhaps Darkfall or Savage 2 can offer a more thrilling PvP experience. But, in spite of having Savage 2 and Darkfall on the top of my waiting list for computer games (apart from VO and Darkwind, they will be the only thing that I will play, and I will probably only have time for one of them), I doubt it. There is just something about twitch combat in all infinite directions, at bizarre speed, with distributed mass physics, hundreds of weapon and ship combinations, and a very dynamic and hardcore game universe to react to the outcome of the combat, that is so hard to approximate...

(For some sort of overview, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vendetta_Online and read my present and planned features list. Though you might wanna ignore everything bu the three first points in the "Planned" features list. Someone screwed it up badly by adding stuff that is either a part of the "Present" features list, or that was already mentioned under "Planned", such as capital ships combat...)

Can I fly into enemy territory and attack peeps, without having to do the stupid /duel thingy?

I saw someone try to do a duel with me, but since my ship was still newbie, I didn't attempt anything of the sort yet.

I'm wondering how I can size up others...
..and what levels should I be at before I begin? (and don't tell me 'any') !

1. You can attack anyone (other then your own faction) anywhere at any time. The friendly fire will be removed soon(tm) and you will be able to attack absolutely anyone (even your own faction) anywhere at any time.

2. To check out someone else's stats target them and press 'k'

3. You can start to PvP at ANY lvl... But you should probably wait till you get combat lvl 5 so you have access to most of the ships/weapons =)

Mushinronjya, it helps if you think about it like this... VO is Darkfall in space. The same kind of dynamic universe, the same kind of hardcore ruleset, and the same kind of open-ended gameplay.

You can join any faction (or, rather, up your standing with them), become hated by any faction, attack anyone (with the current exception of the silly friendly fire rules), steal whatever you see lying around, and use any opportunity without being accused of anything more serious than swarm-spamming your rockets ;-)

Likewise, your actions have consequences that are resolved through IN-GAME mechanisms (one of the things that makes me wait so paitently and hopefully for Darkfall). Strike forces will hunt you if you attack people in monitored sectors, your standing will drop whenever you attack particular factions and NPCs will attack you back at (very slight) provocations. But there are no account suspensions or off-game limitations that limit your in-game freedom.

The universe of VO is also very dynamic. Some of the NPCs in the universe (The Hive, in particular) are particularily intelligent, and will expand and seize territory if we players do not help the different factions in pushing them back. NPCs trade and fight and can throw quite a party out there among the stars even without the help of players.

Missions, while often being of the generic kind, are, thanks to the nature of space games in general and VO in particular, never direct repetitions of other missions (such as questgivers in WoW asking every player that comes across to hunt down the same poor gnoll over and over again. I pray that he will find peace, eventually). Missions are also dynamic, and their resolution is often part random, and also influenced by events partly outside player control. A good example is missions to push back the Hive, where NPCs fight alongside the player, and whether the Hive retreats form that particular sector is partly determined by your contribution, but also by how your fellow NPC pilots fight, and whether the Hive can glean more resources from that sector.

So, thereyahaveit, a quick overview of some of the nicest features of VO, and the features that makes Darkfall resemble VO (since Darkfall features much the same dynamic gameplay). Enjoy your stay until S2 and DFO comes out, but be warned: you might stay far longer than that... ;-)

Yep money grows on trees in VO, we don't have a balanced and realistic "New Economy" yet, where prices go up to reflect demand (and the value of money decreases because of inflation as the Money Supply is ballooning without limit).
That is a technical topic and here are my comments / suggestions about it, with PsyRa's excellent contributions:
http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/3/17418
Money is not the object of VO.
Yep I know Incarnate and Ak10n and momerath are working on it.
Personally I've never found I burned 500k an hour, but maybe that's cos I don't fly around getting flamed in a Prometheus. (Besides, you should earn, what you consume).

I was doing an escort mission, and I accidentally hit a friendly ship with my rockets (sometimes my finger hits the right mouse button without me telling it to).. perhaps that's why I only got 100g's of reward at the end of that particular mission. :) I had one of the ships targeted just for steering purposes, and my damn finger decided to make love to the right mouse button.. doh!

I'm looking forward to finding unsuspecting peeps that are mining in some sector... should I just go sorta near an enemy sector and just start having fun?

go to Sedina B8...

Mushinronjya, alternatively you go to some sector in or near grey, and send out a message on 100 along the lines of:

"Hey everyone, I'm mining in <system/sector location> and wondering how I can best dodge the bots because I have no weapons equipped"

Then you wait for someone to come find you...

Of course, it's highly suggested that you do actually have lots of weapons equipped, otherwise it's going to be a very short fight.

Other comments that could work are:

"I'm flying a Behemoth XC between <X> and <Y> and making lots of money"

or

"Wow, this moth load of Sedina Chocolates I'm taking to <X> really cost a lot of money"

:-)

or, "this Behemoth XC im flying full of samo to <location> sure is heavy"

Any of those should work

"I shot down this convoy of strange stuff here in Sedina B8, and now someone wants me to deliver it to Itan" used to work. A shame no one cares about which faction gets the big gun each week any more...

"Personally I've never found I burned 500k an hour"

Heh, I think the most i burned in a night was about 4 mill, and I've still never flown a prom or a valk on any alts.

I have a lot of money, and spend very little. I fight constantly too. I would like to spend more money, but there is nothing to spend it on. Perhaps some very high end ships, weapons, widgets, etc, would be a nice addition? Heck, in RL products exist specifically for millionaires and billionaires to spend on, and trade goods exist at a scale for very rich investors to trade in. Give us a high profit, extremely high cost per unit (250k+ per unit) trade widget to move around and for people to pirate. Yes, it will make the rich richer, but it will also give us something to lose. How about a 5 million dollar trade vessel that holds a lot more cargo? How about bringing Avalons back and price them way up? How about a sleak, expensive racing ship with no ports and an unreal engine? How about a beam weapon? How about a unique widget every now and then available to the highest bidder?

Being able to make a lot of money in VO is not the problem, the issue is there is nothing to spend it on.

Impavid, I believe those are exactly the kind of things the devs are looking to implement. Rejoice!

And I agree with you. But I also believe in the upcoming economy redux ;-)