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{{work|wppage=Escape Velocity (video game)}}
[[File:evn_tropes_7287.png|frame]]
A series of three open-ended sci-fi shareware computer games from 1996 to 2002, published by Ambrosia Software for the Macintosh (though the last is also available for Windows). Looks like ''[[Asteroids]]'', plays like ''[[Elite]]''.
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* ''Escape Velocity: Override'' (1998) - The middle one. Humanity (United Earth [and her colonies]) is fighting against an evil alien race (the Voinians). Naturally, the two sides are locked in a bloody stalemate. Curious players are likely to discover the advanced Crescent aliens, consisting of the peacefully aloof Miranu and the bitterly warring Strand polities.
* ''Escape Velocity: Nova'' (2002) - The last game made. Taking the [[Absent Aliens]] of the first game's setting even further, the different “races” are the result of numerous human diaspora, all of which dislike each other with varying fervor. These include [[The Federation]] from Earth (and their [[Secret Police|B.o.I.I.]]), the enslaved [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Vell-os]], the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Auroran Empire]], and the advanced [[Crystal Spires and Togas|Polaris]].
* ''[[Naev]]'', an open source clone available [https://web.archive.org/web/20131026070648/http://blog.naev.org/ here], subtitled ''Sea of Darkness'', exists on all three major platforms. The plot is based around an ill-defined [[After the End|"Incident"]] in which [[Apocalypse How|the Sun is destroyed]], leaving the remains of a [[Vestigial Empire]] and several Houses bickering over territory.
''EV Nova'' has its own wiki [http://evn.wikia.com here].
{{tropelist}}
* [[Absent Aliens]]: Subverted in ''Classic''. The game had them in the backstory, but humanity [[Guilt-Free Extermination War|wiped them out]] after they tried to do the same to us. {{spoiler|There's still one last alien cruiser floating around out there, though.}}
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* [[Breakable Weapons]]: It's possible to design outfits that wear out after a given amount of time by putting together two oütf resources (one for the good version, one for the bad version) and a crön resource (a time delay) that replaces one with the other. ''Nova's'' in-game example is the cheap versions of the Fission Reactor (which breaks down after a few months) and the Thorium Reactor (which becomes an explosion waiting to happen).
* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]: In ''Nova'', the description of the planet Our Spiel, to which the player is teleported once they beat a storyline.
** [[Author Avatar|Nuada]]'s ex-boss appears as a cargo drone with the subtitle [[Creator
* [[But Thou Must!]]: Once you have started the Vell-os storyline, even without realizing you have done so (it's started by a perfectly normal, innocuous cargo run), it's impossible to get out of it -- attempting to cancel the mission will cause the entire Federation navy to hunt you down and kill you. When the time comes for your character to be arrested, it will always happen, even if you have a crew of 250 and two full mercenary platoons with you.
** An attentive player can notice that there is something off with that normal cargo run, but it requires that random chance doesn't put it up too early: ordinary cargo runs ''never'' goes to Earth, which that one does<ref>Random missions in ''Nova'' never go to planets or stations that can get changed during the storylines. Earth can get changed during the storylines</ref>. It is also possible to get out of the Vell-os storyline by rejecting (that is, saying no to, rather than aborting) the ''second'' mission (you are still hunted by the Federation, but you are told where to go to get them to stop following you - and that somewhere is three jumps away) - but you are still locked out from five of the six storylines, just with the Vell-os story as one of the those five instead.
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* [[Dead Man Writing]]: {{spoiler|Techerakh, ''Thurokiir'' of Heraan and the [[Player Character]]'s mentor in the Auroran string, is killed in action about two-thirds into the plot. He leaves a message for the player that ends in the line "Unite us, then lead us to victory."}}
* [[Disability Immunity]]: In ''Nova'', neither the game nor the manual explains what the Vell-os nanite organ actually ''does'' beyond being necessary for a Vell-os's life (presumably it has something to do with their long lives), but the fact that you aren't actually a Vell-os and so lack it ends up being ''very'' important in the Vell-os storyline: {{spoiler|a powerful enough telepath could sidestep the control mechanism in the slave implant for a few seconds and simply remove it, but as the device is hooked into the nanite organ, doing so would be lethal to a Vell-os. The Bureau, not realizing that you aren't actually a Vell-os, never bothered to add additional safeguards in case you got that powerful...}}
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: ''[[
** Mixed with [[Freud Was Right]] in the case of the [http://www.boring.org.uk/evo/ships/igzara.htm Igazra].
* [[Elite Mook]]: In ''Nova'', each ship has several variants. One might also single out Polaris Nil'kimas craft (which are significantly better than regular Polaris ships, but these are the Polaris: you wet yourself regardless of type.)
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** ''Classic'' had an alien invasion that nearly resulted in humanity being wiped out. The Confederation managed to turn the tables on the aliens {{spoiler|but there's still a leftover alien cruiser floating around out there somewhere}}.
** The First United Earth-Voinian War in ''Override'', again an alien invasion in which the Voinians attempted to overrun and enslave humanity and were handed a disastrous defeat at Sol.
** ''Nova's'' more extensive backstory gives a longer list. Read the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140802013046/http://www.ambrosiasw.com/assets/files/graphics_products/evn/preambles/nova_preamble_1.pdf official timeline] for the complete story.
* [[Hit and Run Tactics]]: Due to the game's poor grasp of real-life physics and the [[Suicidal Overconfidence|blindly-aggressive AI]], such tactics are favorable in combat. This leads to the infamous "Monty Python" and "Not the Nine O'Clock News" maneuvers. The former involves using an inertia-drive ship and gaining enough momentum to stay just outside of your pursuer's weapon range while firing back with similarly-ranged weapons; the latter is used to bypass a heavily-armed blockade by using a fast ship to goad the slower blockade ships out of the way by chasing after you, then once the blockade is at a sufficient distance from the landing zone, you turn and fly around the blockade and back towards the station to land.
* [[Hyperspace Lanes]]: Only certain system-to-system jumps are possible.
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* [[Punny Name]]: The devs aren't above making jokes in the names of star systems. Like Tekel Over, for instance.
* [[The Rashomon]]: You can only get the full story of ''Nova'' if you play every faction to the end. It's not too important, but several interesting details can be discovered. {{spoiler|1=For instance, you are in fact the universe in human form, [[The Plan|the Rebellion was started by the Federation as a way of finding all the would-be traitors]], the Vell-os were from tenth century Earth (although that is also [[All There in the Manual]]), your father was the king of all the Pirates in the galaxy before being betrayed by McGowan, [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|and that the Wild Geese are Irish]] ([[Captain Obvious|of course, their world is called New Ireland]])}}.
** Do note that the nature of {{spoiler|1=Frandall, the character's nature as the universe in human form (there is [[Wild Mass Guessing]] that the character in the Auroran string is ''humanity'', taken as a whole, in a single human form, in the Vell-os storyline the character joins the Vell-os mental conglomeration, and in the Pirate storyline, the character ''doesn't'' unite humanity, one way or the other, which the Rebellion and Polaris storylines implies to be the raison d'etre for the universe to descend into human form in the first place) and quite possibly exactly who Olaf is an uncle for (in the Auroran storyline, you make contact with a person named Eiric whose father was killed by McGowan and who is leading a rejuvenated Association. Considering that that is ''exactly'' your role and background in the Pirate storyline...)}} is a [[
*** {{spoiler|In the Rebel storyline, Frandall is a jerk for the good guys, but in the Fed string, he's a jerk for the bad guys}}. Go figure.<ref>To be more specific, in the Rebel storyline Frandall is a disgruntled head of Federation Intelligence who wants to get revenge on BoII for replacing the agency he's working in and sacking him, while in the Federation storyline he is the high-ranking member/head of BoII who set up the Rebellion as a trap.</ref>
* [[RPG Elements]]: It's an RPG in that you choose what side you're on, and being on nobody's side is a valid choice. You have a great deal of freedom on how to customize your ship, too, but you need a lot of credits for it.
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*** EV Classic got to it first, except the system was named Arrakis and the planet named Dune. In NAEV it was vice versa.
** Although not a direct shout out, the Old Earth [http://evn.wikia.com/wiki/IDA_Frigate IDA Frigate] bears a striking similarity to [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/EF76_Nebulon-B_escort_frigate this].
** In ''Nova'', several Wraith systems have names like [[The Lord of the Rings|"One'E'Ringa" and "Too'E'Bindem"]].
** ''Nova'' has a [[Ringworld]] named Tre'ar [[Halo|Helonis]].
** The [[Forklift Fu]], a [[Lethal Joke Item]] in ''Classic'', is a reference to an episode of ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]''.
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* [[Standard Sci-Fi Fleet]]: In ''Nova'', the Federation and Auroran Empire each have an interceptor, a fighter-bomber, a gunship, a light cruiser, and a carrier. The Federation adds a scoutship, while the Aurorans later develop a fast battleship designed for close-range brawling. The Polaris use [[Living Ship|living ships]] equivalent to fighters, gunships, frigates, destroyers, and two types of [[The Battlestar|battleship/carrier hybrids]]. Meanwhile the Rebels have an interceptor, fighter-bomber, three different gunships, and two different cruisers.
** ''EVC'' gives the Confederation and Rebels each a fighter, gunship, destroyer, and [[The Battlestar|cruiser]].
* [[Standard Sci
* [[Standard Sci
* [[Starfish Aliens]]: The Wraith<ref>No relation to ''[[Stargate Atlantis]]''</ref> in ''Nova''. They can grow to 30 meters in size and look like the business end of a trident, live in gas giants, can [[Stealth in Space|cloak]] and enter hyperspace unaided, [[Telepathic Spacemen|are telepathic]], and can emit [[Photoprotoneutron Torpedo|graviton beams]].
** Also the Krypt, the [[Hive Mind|hive minded]] result of the Vell-os ruling council having imbued their minds into their nanites upon the Vell-os' surrender to the Colonial Council in 555 NC. The Krypt manifests as "krypt pods", weird purple-glowing spheres in the wastes west of Federation territory.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Video Game]]
[[Category:Video Games of the 1990s]]
[[Category:Video Games of the 2000s]]
[[Category:Science Fiction Video Games]]
[[Category:Apple Macintosh]]
[[Category:The Nineties]]
[[Category:Wide Open Sandbox]]
▲[[Category:Escape Velocity]]
[[Category:Shoot'Em Up]]
[[Category:Pages with working Wikipedia tabs]]
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