Naev

Naev (previously NAEV, or Not Another/Neutron Accelerated Escape Velocity, depending on who you ask) is an open source Escape Velocity clone, set in an After the End scenario in which the the sun has exploded in an event known as "The Incident" and created a vast, impenetrable nebula. With the loss of Earth, The Empire (founded out of The Federation) is shattered, unable to keep the Houses under control. Now it's every man for himself as Space Pirates run rampant despite everyone's best efforts.

Currently in development, as is this article.

Links;

• Site: http://blog.naev.org/
• Forum: http://forum.naev.org/
• Wiki: http://wiki.naev.org/
• Download: http://blog.naev.org/downloads/

Tropes used in Naev include:

• After the End: After a massive incident in Sol system.
• All There in the Manual: Wiki and forum, mostly.
• Apocalypse How: X-2, with 6s, 5s, and 4s to most other planets in systems within the blast radius. Ouch. Plus the plagues on Sorom.
• Arbitrary Maximum Range: Projectile/energy weapons fade out, missiles presumably run out of fuel... yep, limited ranges all around.
• Attack Drone: House Za'lek doesn't have the manpower to waste on the classic Space Fighter, or otherwise find them wasteful. Or something. So instead, they use squads of small attack drones. Also, the Collective.
• Bio Augmentation: Soromid's drastic answer to The Plague. Eight out of ten who underwent the augmentation died prior to the breakthrough
• Church Militant: House Sirius. They're not zealous fanatics (and infact have a fairly healthy cultural elite) but, as the wiki puts it;

"To the Sirii, faith is what air is to other people. You don't see it, you don't pay attention to it, you often don't even think about it. But without it, you can not live."

• Death World: The world of Sorom seemed pretty hospitable at first... but it would constantly throw bigger, badder and more lethal variants of The Plague at it's inhabitants, until one day, The Big One came along. It seemed like nothing could cure it. To prevent this extremely infectious airborne disease from spreading offworld, The Empire enforced Lockdown and wiped out the spaceports from orbit, preventing any and all ships from landing or taking off. The people who would become the Soromid only survived thanks to a breakthrough in Lego Genetics that allowed for Bio Augmentation of their immune systems. And then The Incident sterilized it. Oops!
• Determinator: The Soromid;

"Sorom was caught in the blast and was rendered sterile. But elsewhere in the galaxy, the Soromid persisted. All Soromid knew the history of Sorom, and they would not suffer to be destroyed, no matter what the universe threw at them."

• For Science!: House Za'lek and the Soromid. House Za'lek are just nerds scientists who spend all day arguing about what to do next. Soromid had a choice: For Science!, or The Plague would wipe them all out; it was a slow, certain death, or a Million-to-One Chance.
• Klingon Promotion: Combined with retirement. Dvaered Generals take a small contingent with them when they retire and become a Warlord governing one or more planets that they 'acquire' themselves, usually by knocking off an existing Warlord.
• Proud Warrior Race Guy: House Dvaered. They were originally workers, miners, outcasts and low-ranking soldiers fed up with how things were being run, so they rebelled until they were acknowledged and given what they wanted. Now they fly around in bright red ships and start fights. Usually when it's least convenient for you.
• Space Is Cold: Averted. Management of weapons heat is part of combat.
• Space Is Noisy: Very noisy. If you can't hear gunfire at any given moment, then you're either in the starting systems or the Nebula.
• Space Friction: As with Escape Velocity we'll have none of that Space Is an Ocean nonsense, thank you.
  • Played with. You can drift in one direction with thrusters off, but to maintain full speed you need to maintain thrust. (Let go of the accelerate button, and you'll slow down a little and then stay at that speed.)
• Space Pirates: Complete with black and red spaceships and pirate talk... and Suicidal Overconfidence. Arr matey!
• Super Soldier / Ubermensch: Soromid don't exactly get along too well with the rest of humanity due to their enhanced capabilities and appearance. Or more accurately, the rest of the galaxy doesn't get on too well with the Soromid. The Soromid could care less.
• Wide Open Sandbox: Continuing the tradition from the series that inspired it.