However, there are differences that mean that Perpetuum doesn't do everything in quite the same way. For example, instead of slowly building up skills over time, as EVE does, this learning system simply accrues points which you later spend on the skills of your choice. Clearly a better choice, because it means you don't have to worry about logging in to set the next skill running. Also, it means that you won't be running two weeks behind your chums if you decide to go on holiday and your skill runs out.
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As a starting player you begin as a member of a non-player-character corporation, and find yourself in a hangar with your starter robot. More robots can be purchased as you skill up, and they fill different roles, such as a hauler robot for cargo, industrial robots that are best suited to mining resources on the planet's surface, and various combat robots. Robots can be fitted with various modules, which can be purchased from the market, or found as drops from killing NPCs. As in EVE, everything apart from the most basic equipment requires skills, so you'll be waiting for some time to get into the more advanced robots and even longer to be able to make use of the kind of equipment that you could fit into them.
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Once out on the planet's surface you are faced with a weird alien landscape full of plants, mountains, more techno-fortress things, and other robots. There are a whole bunch of NPC robots that you can shoot up for resources, and these rapidly get dangerously tough as you wander off into the surrounding areas. Some are simply hanging out, waiting to be exploded, while others are tied to the various mission objectives you'll be able to take on.
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What's sort of interesting about this early wandering is that you get to see how Perpetuum's terrain-based interactions affect things. You can't hide in the depths of space here, and there's real scope for wandering into danger, either from NPCs or other player robots. Combat here is handled in real time - you move your robot around with the WASD keys - but firing and damage is calculated per turret, or per missile launcher. Whether you hit, and how much damage you do, is a factor of your skills, the type of weapon, and the range you choose to engage at. PvP is, of course, fairly open, and it feels a lot like EVE. I've yet to see a proper pitched battle, but I should imagine it's going to be fairly intense (and fairly laggy) when two sides manage to pitch two armies of robots against each other.
