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Guildencrantz posted:I actually quite like the combat system, at least when I can really engage with it, but I'm really at a loss on how to set up my playthrough around it. Spying and trading are pretty secure sources of cash, but when I try the combat-focused classes like pirate and military officer I can't get the playthrough off the ground. Any fights I really commit to generally mean heavy costs for repairs and crew damage, and maintaining those big ships and crews with early game income isn't cheap either. You'll get mad stacks of cash once there's a solar war going. Until then, you're not worth much.
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Aug 13, 2018 22:41
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Guildencrantz posted:I actually quite like the combat system, at least when I can really engage with it, but I'm really at a loss on how to set up my playthrough around it. Spying and trading are pretty secure sources of cash, but when I try the combat-focused classes like pirate and military officer I can't get the playthrough off the ground. Any fights I really commit to generally mean heavy costs for repairs and crew damage, and maintaining those big ships and crews with early game income isn't cheap either. Swapping out a few small weapons for stat-boosting modules (+Pilot is a gamechanger for ranges 3-1, +Navigation if you're at 5-4) and you improve dodging, then if you have room for +Boarding module, that improves which modules and how many get sabotaged during a successful boarding. If you just want to vaporize ships, then getting a Interlocking Sensor Matrix or two really adds some zip - the bonus +crit% is additive, so that 10% to crit can get to 28% with a pair, or you can get to 48% with a 30% crit base. Same goes for crew combat - bringing a Commander and Combat Medic really extend the life of the squad, and the ship talents for healing crew/morale top off your boarding crews. By investing in the talents, you'll come out about as good as you came in, and can maintain for about four fights before repairing instead of one fight. You'll still run into shotgun guys / snipers occasionally one-shotting your frontliners, but 
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Aug 14, 2018 02:15
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I've played this for nine hours now and I am itching to start over with a new captain. I wanted to do exploration because it sounded nice, but I think I want to have more of a trading focus and maybe do some spying, especially after leveling up a bunch of crew and getting a better handle on the various talents (e.g. I didn't have a merchant job for anyone until level 14 and realized all those merchant talents would have been mad useful early on). Also now that I know what the hell I'll be doing I want to create my own captain instead of using a template. Also also, I kinda screwed up by doing the plot quest to such an extent that several other factions started hating me so much that I can't even refuel which makes reaching contacts who can sell pardons for those factions nearly impossible. I'll be more conscious of reputation next time. On the other hand, having one faction love me and the others hate me while having Valencia onboard is going to make for an interesting experience in itself! Had a friend who had the same experience, he played his first game for about ten hours and then decided to start a new one because he actually understood the systems by then. It's kinda like an extended tutorial. Sulphagnist fucked around with this message at 08:52 on Aug 14, 2018 |
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Aug 14, 2018 08:49
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Sulphagnist posted:Also also, I kinda screwed up by doing the plot quest to such an extent that several other factions started hating me so much that I can't even refuel which makes reaching contacts who can sell pardons for those factions nearly impossible. I'll be more conscious of reputation next time. Another big tip is don't be afraid to run the gently caress away, or at least surrender on a encounter. Certain encounters will only confiscate cargo you don't have permits for, so if you're paid up, or don't have anything illegal, it costs you nothing.  Also, abuse the hell out of the Shortage rumour if it crops up. If you're really lucky, the RNG will put a decent trader next door, and you can print money without going further than orbit.
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Aug 14, 2018 09:20
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Yeah, I've gotten pretty experienced at the GTFO maneuver  What's a good max. 380k starter ship for trading and smuggling? I went for the Fidelis Cutter but I can still reroll that game no problem. It's rather bewildering even at this stage to try to compare ships and figure out what's good for what. The Cutter flies off the drydock with 50 cargo which is good enough for early trading, at least, and it seems to fare decently in early combat (either fleeing or aggressively boarding).
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Aug 14, 2018 11:40
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Current status: I am now busily going back and forth from a wilderness zone next to a particular farming zone, gathering a huge stockpile of crop harvesters, terraforming components, fertilizer and God knows what else. You'd think I was done with star trading and instead settling down to start a farm, but no. It's insider trading. One of my contacts has a story thing where she wants to move up in the smuggling world, and when I help her she'll cause a shortage on two predetermined worlds, this is one of them. As soon as it happens I'll swoop in with my stockpile and sell all that poo poo at a ridiculous markup. All I need to do now is murder an innocent man to put the plan into motion, but hey, that's business. Game owns.
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Aug 15, 2018 07:56
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Sulphagnist posted:Yeah, I've gotten pretty experienced at the GTFO maneuver The Cutter is my favourite starting ship for its good native defenses (plus starting with defensive modules), and makes a good smuggler's ship that can still push around other smugglers or merchants if you feel like a little piracy is in order. The Galtek Freighter is probably the best starting trader/smuggler ship, though, as it starts with 75 cargo. It's not great in combat, of course, but better trading returns means you can afford a better ship (like the Broadsword) much sooner anyway.
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Aug 16, 2018 11:04
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Thanks! I'll stick with the Cutter because you need to separately unlock the Galtak Freighter.
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Aug 16, 2018 12:49
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It is pretty easy to unlock if you want it - just start a new captain with Contacts A and whatever everything else because it's basically a throwaway. Do it on the minimum difficulty you can. With so many contacts, it's easy to pick up huge amounts of the starter missions that don't even leave the sector - you'll probably be done in just over half the time needed.
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Aug 16, 2018 13:21
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I have been playing this game for about 21 hours now, and it's pretty good. I like that while there's a fair bit of depth to the different subsystems, you don't really have to engage with them if you don't want to. My first captain was a spy and I just ran away from every single encounter, just focusing on spying, and it worked pretty well - but I haven't played any single captain super long either, since I keep learning more and switching to a new captain with a different class. My last one is a bounty hunter and I don't think I've yet done a single bounty, I'm not even sure how, I've just been doing contact missions mostly. Also, unless I'm mistaken, I think making multiple captains in the same "universe" does actually have the same placement/setup of planets or whatever, which is kinda nice - you can have a random universe but play in it repeatedly, learning the different routes etc. Next captain I do, first I'll fly around with my current one to pick some decent routes for whatever the next one's goal will be. My main complaints with the game have to do with the poor presentation of information to the user. It's hard to just see what your rep with a faction is without clicking through stuff - I think they could've used a lot more mouse-over tooltips and things like that to streamline the experience. I find it really offensive that in order to figure out what I want to buy at a planet, I have to actually take off from the planet to access the map. It's great that you can look in the Atlas to see a listing of places in a system and what they want, but that doesn't tell me which one's closest to where I am, or is along my planned route of travel. Then you have to land again, buy the poo poo, and take off and go to the next planet. I guess if you are forward-thinking and decide on your next location before even landing at the current you can already pick what you buy, but that doesn't help if you just got a mission on the planet and now want to see what's worth carrying with you on the way, to maybe sell at some in-between location. And I still have no idea what the point of rumors is, I mean clearly they affect prices and things, but some more information about what they do and how they impact me, and what I can do about them, would be nice. So it feels like a pretty broad and also deep game, where you don't have to engage too deeply if you don't want to, but if you do want to go deep it's more difficult to figure out what you should actually be doing.
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Aug 16, 2018 16:32
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Koobze posted:My main complaints with the game have to do with the poor presentation of information to the user. It's hard to just see what your rep with a faction is without clicking through stuff - I think they could've used a lot more mouse-over tooltips and things like that to streamline the experience. I find it really offensive that in order to figure out what I want to buy at a planet, I have to actually take off from the planet to access the map. It's great that you can look in the Atlas to see a listing of places in a system and what they want, but that doesn't tell me which one's closest to where I am, or is along my planned route of travel. Then you have to land again, buy the poo poo, and take off and go to the next planet. I guess if you are forward-thinking and decide on your next location before even landing at the current you can already pick what you buy, but that doesn't help if you just got a mission on the planet and now want to see what's worth carrying with you on the way, to maybe sell at some in-between location. And I still have no idea what the point of rumors is, I mean clearly they affect prices and things, but some more information about what they do and how they impact me, and what I can do about them, would be nice. Yeah, the UI is definitely one of the main criticisms of the game. And taking off to check the map really bothered me too, but as long as you don't DO anything once you take off (spying/patrolling, etc.) you can check the map, then "land" again and the game treats it as if you didn't actually takeoff (no resources are expended, time doesn't advance). Also I'd encourage people to dabble in other jobs (bounty hunting even if they're a spy, etc.) once they get a ship & crew they're happy with. You can really hire any crew types you need to get the talents necessary. Jack of all trades playthroughs are definitely doable, so don't think you need to start over to experience other aspects of the game. Lastly, just FYI, rare trade goods are utterly broken and need to be nerfed into the ground as they're basically printing money, so much so that I stopped trading in them so I don't trivialize my current game.
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Aug 16, 2018 17:45
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My most successful character was an explorer/exo-scout / bounty Hunter captain w/ a smuggler contact that could handle selling xeno artifacts. Print money indeed.
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Aug 16, 2018 17:52
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This game interests me but the character art and animations remind me of those lovely Facebook cartoons and its really off putting.
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Aug 16, 2018 18:57
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They do indeed suck but there is a good game behind them.
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Aug 16, 2018 19:01
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Vietnom nom nom posted:Lastly, just FYI, rare trade goods are utterly broken and need to be nerfed into the ground as they're basically printing money, so much so that I stopped trading in them so I don't trivialize my current game. It's a known issue - it still uses the old UI when you're buying, so it clearly hasn't been updated in a while. I believe buying rare goods is supposed to cost both personal rep with the contact, and the contact's Influence, so you'd be very hard-pressed to buy more than one load without doing a bunch of quests for that contact. As it is though, it's pretty hosed. Maybe set a personal restriction, like not buying anymore until you do three quests for the contact, or something? Or maybe only a set amount of loads a year?
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Aug 16, 2018 20:40
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Koobze posted:My main complaints with the game have to do with the poor presentation of information to the user. It's hard to just see what your rep with a faction is without clicking through stuff - I think they could've used a lot more mouse-over tooltips and things like that to streamline the experience. I find it really offensive that in order to figure out what I want to buy at a planet, I have to actually take off from the planet to access the map. It's great that you can look in the Atlas to see a listing of places in a system and what they want, but that doesn't tell me which one's closest to where I am, or is along my planned route of travel. Then you have to land again, buy the poo poo, and take off and go to the next planet. I guess if you are forward-thinking and decide on your next location before even landing at the current you can already pick what you buy, but that doesn't help if you just got a mission on the planet and now want to see what's worth carrying with you on the way, to maybe sell at some in-between location. And I still have no idea what the point of rumors is, I mean clearly they affect prices and things, but some more information about what they do and how they impact me, and what I can do about them, would be nice. You can sort the system atlas by distance or faction, which helps tremendously in figuring out what's closest. You can also mouse over the banner of a faction to immediately see the reputation, or click the dedicated contacts button on the left to see what's happening with then. Both of these are clickable when on the planet, just not when talking to a contact or in the actual market screen. The devs have posted in the discord that adding the buttons when in the black market/missions/contact screen is something on the to-do list.
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Aug 17, 2018 04:07
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With a lot of the ship info not being clearly presented when shopping for ships, I find it hard to determine which one's the best for my purposes. I've currently got the Sword Battlecruiser and it's working out pretty well, but I'm wondering if there's something else I could consider upgrading to from there. Doing a lot of fighting with this one so probably not the Cautela Titan since it seems to be more of a freighter, but maybe the Broadsword Class? Or the Warhammer Class? I don't know. Which ships would you lot go for, given enough money?
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Aug 17, 2018 14:56
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You can see a list here. Pretty sure the Sword Battlecruiser is the largest ship (as far as available component slots) you can get right now, though it does have fairly low hull for its size. The Titan drops two small slots for the best hull point count in the game, and a larger starting fuel tank, but it also has lower native Armour and Shield. In other words, you're probably better off just staying with the Sword.
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Aug 17, 2018 17:55
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I think once you have one of the 9000 mass ships fully outfitted that's pretty much the endgame. I got there for the first time too, and there's not much else to do but maybe dunk on some xeno ships just for the catharsis of being able to do so. I'd just start a new playthrough with a different class and a higher difficulty setting. There isn't much endgame content right now, which I think is one of the game's big flaws: no boss to defeat or ridiculous "make my mark on the galaxy" prestige project to accomplish, you just climb the ladder of advancement until you get to the top and go "huh, welp". Even the achievements are largely weighted toward the early game. I hope they improve on that in the future, but since it's Trese Bros there will probably still be frequent content updates for months to come.
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Aug 17, 2018 19:37
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ohhhhhh these are the Star Traders RPG guys. Back when I got my first Kindle Fire that was the only decent game I could ever find to play on it. Glad they're still in business, I'll have to check this out.
Zoe fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Aug 18, 2018 |
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Aug 18, 2018 16:13
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Woebin posted:With a lot of the ship info not being clearly presented when shopping for ships, I find it hard to determine which one's the best for my purposes. I've currently got the Sword Battlecruiser and it's working out pretty well, but I'm wondering if there's something else I could consider upgrading to from there. Doing a lot of fighting with this one so probably not the Cautela Titan since it seems to be more of a freighter, but maybe the Broadsword Class? Or the Warhammer Class? I don't know. Which ships would you lot go for, given enough money? There's actually merit to running smaller ships, since faster engine speed takes less time to cross distances in space and you burn less fuel doing so. A 9000 hull is for kitting out to be a king of ship combat, but for practical purposes of narrative, a 6000 or 7000 hull is actually a good balance on running missions efficiently and having enough firepower/modules to be creative. The three biggest considerations on the ship hulls is how many compartments they have, what sizes (the smaller ships have scout bridges in a small module, which allows them more room for cargo / big modules), and what the balance on hull/shield/armor is. The smaller ships have more base shield/armor to compensate for less hull, while the bigger ships have to spend modules on reinforced hulls / battle prows and such. Swapping out a couple weapons for sensor modules is a huge boost to ship combat dice, too.
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Aug 18, 2018 20:07
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The trese bro's have done it again! If you guys like this game, there are several mobile versions of various flavors (there's a pirate one, a cyberpunk one, star traders, and... one other I'm forgetting).
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Aug 19, 2018 02:43
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Martha Stewart Undying posted:The trese bro's have done it again! If you guys like this game, there are several mobile versions of various flavors (there's a pirate one, a cyberpunk one, star traders, and... one other I'm forgetting). Templar Battleforce. Basically an off-license Warhams game. Real good like the rest of their stuff!
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Aug 19, 2018 02:55
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Just picked this up over the weekend and finally got a chance to play. Quite a lot going on in the UI, but otherwise I'm having fun. I'd ask what I ought to do at first but I think this sort of game is more fun just diving in headfirst and seeing what happens.
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Aug 20, 2018 16:22
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frogge posted:Just picked this up over the weekend and finally got a chance to play. Quite a lot going on in the UI, but otherwise I'm having fun. The only thing as a new player to be aware of is keep in mind is that missions (including the narrative) have deadlines - it's okay to focus on 2-3 missions at a time instead of accepting every mission offered to you. If you do have missions active, be careful about doing patrol/spy/blockade or exploring planets, because those can eat up dozens of weeks very quickly between the actual patrol and repairing ship damage. Even if you do miss the deadline, you can still finish the mission most of the time, just with reduced pay. If you do wander off the narratives, keep enjoying yourself - side quests and branches will open up and you can still do your own thing.
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Aug 21, 2018 01:15
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The devs are continuing to push out a tangible update every week, and the past two weeks have been doozies: This week's Update 98 completely revamps the Rare Trade Goods system - they scale on an eight-tier system like other contact services, and scale in profitability the more jumps away from your source you are. Also huge, not only did Update 97 introduce a double speed option for sailing around space, but Update 98 also includes a double speed option for the card games for your exploring binges. It's a huge improvement to zipping around on new saves, but since the skill checks are calculated in double speed also, it's important to keep a close eye or you can have a dead and mutinous crew by the time you reach your waypoint if you didn't notice the radiation storms. Update 97 also has new end-game enemies who seek you out to test your endurance in your tricked out ships. Update 98 posted:- Added new option for faster results / animation speed during minigames Update 97 posted:- Added option for faster movement/animation speed during map travel
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Aug 31, 2018 06:48
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This game is obnoxiously addictive, even though I suck at it. Is the narrative worth doing? The story is cringe-worthy.
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Sep 11, 2018 21:47
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:This game is obnoxiously addictive, even though I suck at it. I personally dgaf about the story and never bothered.
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Sep 11, 2018 21:51
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:This game is obnoxiously addictive, even though I suck at it. The cringe is part of the genre. This is from the Dune school of SPAAAAAAACE being future feudalism with psychics and warp carriers.
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Sep 11, 2018 21:59
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:This game is obnoxiously addictive, even though I suck at it. If you get involved in the Faen family drama you can get some extra contracts and gain a lot of rep with your starting faction (while burning down your relations with the Char's faction). Doing the Arbiter storyline at the start will also set you up with a bunch of extra contacts in diverse factions and decent rep with them, which I feel is one of the best options for your time in the early game. You can also get some unique encounters. It is certainly worth doing for a change of pace, though with the caveat that the devs keep touching up the storyline quests.
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Sep 11, 2018 22:03
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If doing stuff for Prince is the level one tutorial then the kids are the second level. Each of the kids are sort of the patron saints of certain trader careers. Mr. future heir has a storyline that is all about bounty hunting. Ms. totally not a bomber will get you into all the ship to ship combat you can handle, followed by some light trading and treason. Ms. conspiracy theorist will send you spiraling down a rabbit hole that requires expert spying to see through. You can always blow the whole mess off, but if you want to bone up on a particular facet of the game they are a good impetus.
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Sep 12, 2018 06:41
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Ahahaha look at you scrubs siding with a single corrupt family in a galaxy full of them. Arbiter Brokstrom all the way, baby!
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Sep 12, 2018 07:25
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What's the best ship for spying?
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Sep 13, 2018 20:58
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Been having a fun time learning the curve to this game. I'm sort of only doing missions in this play through because I found that it costs too much to stay afloat to just fly between planets with cargo in the starter ship. I should blockade systems since I rolled as a pirate, but I'm doing that whole peace among worlds schtick for the space lawyer. I dunno what's best for spying but as a total newbie I just learned you start with different ships based on what you roll your captain as.
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Sep 13, 2018 21:07
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Your start is fully customizable. You prioritize how much you get for different things - your level, your attributes, your contacts, your ship funds. You can prioritize ship up a bit and still buy a cheaper one, which leaves you with more starting money. My preference for spying has been the smallest ship.
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Sep 14, 2018 22:59
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:What's the best ship for spying? Yeah, I've had two successful spy captains (successful as in, they didn't die and eventually had more money than I knew what to do with) and did both with the Scout Cutter (requires D priority for ship). It is a small ship with low maintenance costs and also a smallish crew. One advantage for a smaller crew is that your guys level up faster, so you get quicker access to the high level talents. Hire extra E-Tech personnel to help with Intel gathering and focus your pilots into evasion. You want to avoid space combat until you can graduate to a bigger ship, but if you must, aim at going for boarding actions because that's the only way you will beat anyone, so get Bombardment (to reduce enemy hit-rate, which combines very well with evasive maneuvers in the opening turns) and Boarding Assault so you can do boarding from greater distances. A Bounty Hunter officer or crew mate will also help you getting those boarding actions going on. You can even sell most of your guns and replace them with boosters to Intel gathering or piloting/navigation. Get one of your officers to pick up Military Officer (I usually put it on the Quartermaster) and get Stiff Salute at level 1, which will give you a quick way to avoid combat encounters with military and zealot ships. This talent will save your life, and you should always take it in the early game, no matter your captain template. It also helps to have Diplomats and Merchants as officers or crew, as their early talents will aid you in cultivating contacts. Having a wide range of them is good to keep you in the good graces of several different factions, as well as always having someone to sell valuable Intel to, amongst the many perks of a contact network.
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Sep 15, 2018 00:48
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ZearothK posted:Yeah, I've had two successful spy captains (successful as in, they didn't die and eventually had more money than I knew what to do with) and did both with the Scout Cutter (requires D priority for ship). It is a small ship with low maintenance costs and also a smallish crew. One advantage for a smaller crew is that your guys level up faster, so you get quicker access to the high level talents. As a generalist strategy, having a Pirate or Commander in the Officers is really useful in early ship combat, as Steady Hands (Commander) and Furious Prodding (Pirate) let you mitigate crew effects from torpedo aftershocks and Furious Prodding has a bonus to morale recovery, too.
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Sep 15, 2018 20:47
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I just started playing this game and whoa, is it complicated. My first captain died, the second one went broke, and now I'm on my third. Still not sure how I want to play this, either.
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Sep 18, 2018 03:14
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Pick a aspect to pay attention to. Let that inform your gameplay loop and your next steps. When picking talents focus on advantages you can immidiately leverage. Let all the mechanics wash over you.
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Sep 18, 2018 05:15
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Also don't start at any difficulty above normal. It is common to have a bunch of failed captains before hitting stride. I am going to quote myself here. quote:Get one of your officers to pick up Military Officer (I usually put it on the Quartermaster) and get Stiff Salute at level 1, which will give you a quick way to avoid combat encounters with military and zealot ships. This talent will save your life, and you should always take it in the early game, no matter your captain template. This will help you avoid a lot of fights in neutral/hostile sectors. There are other talents to avoid fights with different captains, but I think - and someone correct me if I am wrong - that's the only one you can easily grab at the start of the game. One thing that helps with money is always trading, when you stop at a world to refuel pick up whatever is cheap there and sell it at a decent price somewhere along your route (the market screen tells you in the upper right corner what types of world have something in demand, and you can double check that info in the cargo screen). You don't need to sell it where it is most valuable, just at any level of profit to cover your maintenance costs.
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Sep 18, 2018 09:48
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