Anywho, I have been browsing for a space mmo for a long time. I have been waiting for the EnB emulator to come back, but thats going to take a while. I looked into eve, but didnt like the very limited combat options, and the boring longs grinds. Mostly just the fact that its directed towards long term and constant gameplay. I very much like the fact that this game is heavily pvp based, and skill plays a key roll in it. I just signed up for the trial, but before I go home and download it I have a few questions. Is it still fun to pvp without a joystick, as I dont have one.
Is the economy player based and ran? Like I know you can make money trading through different stations and what not. But is there any player to player trading or market? Or do people have the option of creating items? Thats one thing I really liked about EnB, the endless options to create stuff and market it to the rest of the galaxy.
Ummm how many people are on average at this current date?
I see that some people chose to become a pirate. Now I dont like people who grief, but what are the benefits of being a pirate? Do you get anything for it? And what are the drawbacks to it.
Only question other then that is how customizable is it. Like how many different type of npcs are there to kill. And how many different types and styles of ships are there.
Well thanks for reading through this, and if anyone has any input, please let me know. Thanks a lot.

The developers are still adding new content, so VO is certainly an evolving game. As of right now there is little or no player-to-player trading and no crafting or manufacturing.

Pirating is profitable because you can make people pay a fine to leave them alone, or if you kill them you can take their trade goods and sell them for yourself. The drawback is that everyone hates you.

As far as NPCs and ships, someone else will have to answer, but there are dozens of each.

I hope that helps some.

You ask quite a bit, but I shall try to answer all of it.

One bit of information before I sound off, this game is underdevelopment by only four, count them (4), developers. Plus you can find more information from them in their news posts through the 'News' button to your left.

Yes it is still fun to play without a joystick for I play without a joystick and use a keyboard and mouse. Other players have different controllers and such they use it can vary but most play on joysticks and keyboards+mouse.

The economy as of now is not really a economy but a place in which all items are infinite and prices go up and down due to local item sales and such, but the developers do plan to implement a real economic system soon enough. And crafting is on that 'soon' list as well.

Average player base has been building up to about 30-40 with peaks varying along the week. For example, 60-70 one day to 80-90 the next and so on.

The benefits of being a pirate are not fully known to me but one thing is the near endless supply of targets since most pirates are native KOS to their nation and therefore bypass friendly fire restrictions. There is not much to benefit either unless you are well versed in the local trade of your camping grounds and being a decent shot in most ships and setups. The drawbacks may include, poverty, hated by most, and a general feeling of being singled out, but that's why there are pirate guilds to help you cope with it and better yourself in that particular 'trade'.

Different types of npcs... hmmm, we have the Hive which is widespread throughout VO and then we have station guards, strike forces, capital ships, the nation controlled CtC bots, and the border conflict.

There is a variety of ships to satisfy you for a while and the same goes for weapons.

Thanks a lot of the info, it all helps. This game seems like it might be good so im going to give it a try. I just really really wish it had an implemented player based economy, nothing is more then chasing down some hard ass mob for some sick loot, or creating your own little mini market by crafting. But oh well soon to come I guess. Do you guys think they will make these updates in the next year or so, or what. Thanks again.

I too am waiting for more non-combat content to be added to this game (which is brimming with potential).
There is some ore mining, which is fairly well done, but without rest of the player-driven economy it is mostly pointless.
Lot of content is promised to come this year, so let's hope it won't all be combat related, like most of the new content added so far.

Not for everyone, but if you are into writing code, you can build plugins in Lua.

http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/msgboard/9
http://www.vo-wiki.com/racecar/index.php?title=Main_Page

One player, Nautargos, has even built an automated store system.

There is also at least one "Craft" item, the corvus widowmaker. It's more of a taste of things to come than anything else at the moment.

But if you like a single energy weapon rig and a light fast ship, it is an effective weapon.

skat said: I see that some people chose to become a pirate. Now I dont like people who grief, but what are the benefits of being a pirate? Do you get anything for it? And what are the drawbacks to it.
Some might say that pirating chooses YOU. Well, not in my case. I was joking around after leaving the [ITAN] guild and Mystic sent me a [CLM] invite, and I joined 'cause I was rather drunk. After a couple of weeks I discovered I wasn't in [ITAN] anymore, which finally made me realize why the Vipers were shooting me a lot. After that, I accidentally killed a few people in Itani space, and now that my standing is tanked, I'm too lazy to gain it back. So being a pirate is essentially the "lowest energy state" for LeberMac. Which is good, cause I'm a pretty lazy pirate.

Well, griefing isn't done too much in this game, mostly because it's kinda hard to do so. Well, not if you're DEDICATED. But anyway, I guess most people just don't do it too much. Because you're kind of an asshole if you grief a lot. Then some of the other really GOOD players tend to grief you in return, and then the game becomes kinda dull when every time you leave the station someone has a fresh load of sunflares for your face. So I suppose the game is kind of self-regulating at the moment.

Pirate benefits? Well, now of course I'm essentially uninsurable. Which is not that much of a change from previous life, except that now the insurance agents actually OPEN FIRE on me before I can even enter their offices, instead of just hiding like they did before.

That's not really a benefit, though.. is it? Okay, ummm...

Oh! I get access to [CLM]'s tequila dispenser. Which was pretty cool until someone stole it - damn you Denji I will hunt you forever until I get my tequila back.

So that's one benefit. Chasing Denji Royhu across the galaxy. Oh, another benefit is talking with Yoda on the CLM forums. He has the BEST knock-knock jokes, which you'd never guess from ingame, where most of my conversations with Yoda went like this before I joined [CLM]:

Yoda: Yarrr! Gimme monies ye Itani Scum!
LeberMac: Wha? Who'szzere? Whatcha-
Yoda: DIE!
LeberMac: <boom>
LeberMac: Nice talk.
Yoda: Yarrr.

So I suppose that one benefit of being in [CLM] is that, usually, the other [CLM] members do not pirate you. Most of the time.
I suppose [SYN] would be free to pirate you, I mean there's no Union Rules or anything.

Drawbacks:
- Most people generally have no compunctions to killing you anyhow, anytime, for any reason.
- Some people (Vipers, other uppity guilds) actively go out hunting for you cause they're afeared of ye. They actually have a CHANNEL to report pirate activity on! Imagine!
- You're usually on the gankee-end of the ganking.
- You must pretend to like Yoda's knock-knock jokes. Failure to laugh is punishable by immediate death by limerick.
- You might have to share a cabin with me. Some people have complained about the cleanliness of my cabin, but really it's not too bad. After we had to vent the last cabin into space, I've really been good about keeping the empty bottles neatly piled in a corner, opposite the pile of citrus rinds in the other corner.

Seriously, the life of a Pirate gives you fame, fortune, and glamour that others could only wish for.

Lebermac you are awesome!

MysticRogue is hot.

Awww BG, you say the sweetest things :)

There are pluses and minuses to every aspect of the game. Being a pirate, people either love you, hate you or could give a damn one way or another. A wise pirate once told me, the more they complain the better you are at your job. So yeah there are drawbacks, sometimes they dont complain just the right way :)

In reality, I don't do much pirating. I'm far too lazy. However, I do participate in CLM's activities (when I'm actually active in Vendetta) I end mostly acting as an enforcer for our activities. I've had a couple of "Blow that Jerkwad out of the water" missions.

But usually I just sit around in Sedina b-8 blowing stuff up.

Pirating has allowed me to live my lifestyle!

Just beware, for those who live by the limerick, shall die by it too.

There once was yoda at a wormhole vector,
who blew IRS up since he was but a prospector.
The taxman was quite vexed,
coming back in an Atlas Type X,
to see his Denic leaving the sector.

Stop pirating my thread! Mine I say!]
Anywho, got into the game for about an hour last night. Nothing past training... Flying around is a lot more difficult then I imagined, so now I can see how combat is really challenging. Anywho I made an Itali, as I noticed there wernt very many itali or serco, but TONS of UIT... or something like that whatever they are. I wonder how long till I can actually find some action. Oh yea one more question on piracy...Once you have pretty much... well pissed everyone off, from there on you basically cant trade or do stuff at various stations correct? Like even your own.. So it seems like you have to get all your equipment and what not in advance, from friends, or off your kills. Maybe im completely wrong, but this is just what I gathered from reading various posts and what not.. Thanks.....Also if any guilds are looking for a new trainee for pirating... or for the hunting of them, let me know. All I know is I want to hunt people, for whatever the reason may be.

All I know is I want to hunt people, for whatever the reason may be.

If you want to hunt people who are better than you are, and do so as part of a group for safety, then join [VPR]/[ITAN].

If you want to do so on your own and actually get good, become a pirate or a Serco combat pilot.

See how easy that is?

If you want to hunt people who are better than you are, and do so as part of a group for safety, then join [VPR]/[ITAN]. If you want to do so on your own and actually get good, become a pirate or a Serco combat pilot.

...Says the person who hasn't played VO for months, is obsessed with trolling this forum, and doesn't have the slightest clue as to what's going on in the actual game.

If you want to be a pirate and hunt traders, join CLM or Syn. If you want to hunt Serco, join Itan. If you want to hunt Itani, join SCAR, SDF, or ONE. If you want to hunt pirates, look into VPR.

Well I joined itali because I thought they were the smallest faction from what I saw by monitoring the current player list. Smallest faction to me means enemy of larger factions, therefore more peoples to blow up...Maybe I made the wrong choice.. That was really my own consideration when I chose a faction.

Says the person who hasn't played VO for months, is obsessed with trolling this forum, and doesn't have the slightest clue as to what's going on in the actual game.

Strat, I haven't logged in as Lecter/Shar since I started work. Yes, until recently I maintained that meant that I'd stopped playing entirely--but that's not the case.

And Skatter, it's ITANI, ffs.

Damn, when would you have to look at the active players list to get the impression that itali's the smallest faction?

Skatterbrain, Serco have the fewest players currently. They are in need of active pilots to fight the more numerous Itani. They're are also more fragmented than the Itani because they are divided between 3 equally active nationalist guilds. Pirates also outnumber anti-pirates, but that's a harder fight to get involved in. Based on what you've said, you may want to consider creating a Serco character and contacting either SCAR, ONE, or SDF.

Itali may be small, but they got great pasta.