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Darth Saber
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George Moromisato:

1.) I was fighting a foe in the arena and destroyed him; the ship passed through the one of the lower right hand energy barriers, and I was able to pass through it as well, in order to loot the ship. Upon trying this again after revisting the system, I could not do so. The barrier should consistently block both ship and weapons fire, yet since it did not do so, this may be a bug.

2.) The starting credits are too low. I chose the Sapphire Yacht as my ship on the second test session; during gameplay I found that the reactor seemed to drain moderately fast, and it was becomming harder to find or buy enough fuel to stay alive. I had to import one of my mods into the extensions folder, then find and install its solar array in order to be able to continue the game. I would like to suggest three things which would improve this situation: 1. make the credits go further by making it cheaper to buy the same fuel at different stations which sell fuel - there is no universal price for fuel in the real world, which makes finding a bargain more interesting; 2. make solar panels more available; 3. at the University quarter of New Victoria: make an option to be able to make the reactor more fuel efficient as well as raising its output factor.

3. On the unknown devices such as: "laser etched device;" "titaniumc-cased device;" and "For Oxygen Use Only device" - I have purchased devices bearing each of these names. The property of only one of them was revealed upon installation, and that one was a cannon accelerator. On the other two, it was not revealed what they were, and they did nothing to help the ship; (i.e. - neither was a solar panel, transpace jumpdrive, or quantum cpu.) In versions former, when you installed an unkown device, you found out what it was; if you used an unknown rom, you quickly discovered for good or ill, what program it carried. Please, let the buyer know what he has bought; for what good is it to spend your money for that which does nothing?

4. Charon System: By this time I had been to two systems past St. K's and was able to purchase a Heracles Reactor (mod). I was rather glad that I did when I went back to the Charon system to deal with the pirates. I took out one station using the following: Sapphire Yacht - PK 25 Morning Star cannon - Mark III Howitzer - Cyclotron S1200 shield - MAG launcher - 800 Hexagene rounds - miner's cargo hold - Heracles array - Heracles Reactor - three segments of blast plate, and one of heavy celeroy.

I took on the Charon station using the Mark III, and after defeating the ships of that station, I was chased by over twenty ships to the lifeless hulk of the Korolov station. I had to invoke the sustaining power of Domina twice to reach it, and there I currently am. There are too many of them to take out without dying multiple times, and whenever I have taken some out, I find that there are more comming in with each passing minute.

Now then consider this: if I did not have the Heracles Reactor or Array, what position would I be in? This is the same position in which any other pilot would be found: a ship besieged by overwhelming numbers with depleting its fuel being depleted, or in other words - defeat!

This is something which needs to be addressed, George. I do not mind a challenge, but overwhelming odds being continually spawned by the program; come on George let's get real, pilots who play this through for the first time are going to either be discouraged, or they are going to create godmods to cope with the issue. I would vote for the more subtle approach: increase the delay between the destruction of ships and the spawning of their replacements. If there is a reasonalbe delay, then the regular pilot should be able to take out the stations without being massacred by unending hordes of misisle spewing Corsairs and Vikings.

Those are my observations and opinions for the moment; and no, I am not a perpetual whiner or baby; for those that may be thinking that...
Last edited by Darth Saber on Wed Nov 11, 2009 8:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Aury
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I didn't encounter problems like that with the charon pirates. I think you may have just been unlucky.
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Darth Saber
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Wolfy, I have encountered the same problem, though in a somewhat lesser degree, in versions .98b, and versions .99a-c; in RC2 the problem is somewhat compounded by the arrival or mor missile firing Corsairs than previously encountered. Oh yes, I forgot to mention this: my shield was enhanced with a special rom which I was given prior to defeating the Slicer at the arena; and that battle was prior to my obtaining the two Heracles mod items mentioned previously. I was forced to call upon Domina twice - with enhaced shields. This might give you an idea of how many Corsair missile ships were after me.

Unlucky is an understatement. :twisted:
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Aury
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:? Hmmm...

Well, when I killed the charon stations, I had invested in an invincible class deflector and an omni Tev9 (yeah, I did some serious backtracking... I was on my way back from the arena and almost getting killed from kate's patrol bug)

The Tev9 really chews through those charon ships XD
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Darth Saber
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Wolfy, where did you find and Invincible deflector and an omni Tev9; I could not find those items in the systems leading up to St. K's, nor in the two systems beyond. Did you order either at the CW Trading Post just beyond St. K's?
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Darth Saber
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Wolfy, what is that: "patrol bug" which you mentioned?
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I've never had much difficulty with the Charon system, even in 99c. The first time I tried it, I was using a wolfen with a dual flenser cannon+accelerator, and I cleared the system with ease. I just recently cleared out the Charon system in a Sapphire yacht with a fairly weak outfit: particle beam weapon, class V deflector +50%, a NAMI missile launcher with lots of ammo of every sort, and a full set of light blast plate. With this load-out, I not only managed to wipe out the Charon bases in the System, I also saved the Korolov station from destruction. Based on recent experiences, I'd have to say that the difficulty in the Charon system is just right. I had to work a little bit to finish it, and though I had to use sustain once, I never got into a situation that I couldn't fight my way out of.

What really bugged me in my most recent game, is that I never found a single tinker. Tinkers are one of the most important station types in my games, and I think that there should be a guaranteed tinker spawn in Eridani, Rigel, or St K's.
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Aury
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Darth Saber wrote:Wolfy, where did you find and Invincible deflector and an omni Tev9; I could not find those items in the systems leading up to St. K's, nor in the two systems beyond. Did you order either at the CW Trading Post just beyond St. K's?
I found a BM shipyard that was conveniently placed near some sung... and using a little exploit... >:D
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Fossaman
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Charon doesn't need tweaking, I promise.

What's going on is that you've angered the pirates, so all the ships normally docked at the other charon stations in system are being sent after you instead. The trick is to hit the stations rapidly in sequence, so the ships attacking you stop getting reinforced. Your weapon choice is somewhat poor, which might make it difficult to clear away attacking ships fast enough. Neither the howitzer or the PK25 are especially good at large groups of ships, although the howitzer is nice at close range. A collimated laser weapon or a particle weapon would serve you better. Remember that the vikings have reactive armor, which is resistant to both your weapons.

As to fuel: Loot the vikings. Their corpses typically have a few He3 fuel rods in them. If you've upgraded your reactor past that point, you should be carrying around fifty or sixty He3 assemblies to tide you over.

This isn't going to be easy for the new player, no. It's not supposed to be. Charon is a side quest, one which you don't have to do. You can gate on through to St. K's and continue on your merry way.
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bluesaberist
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Dark Saber, I think that you just need to upgrade your reactor more often. I almost never go past the first or second system without a 50MW, and I upgrade basically as soon as possible. Maybe you just don't spend enough time making money in Eridini.

I think the unknown devices are a known bug that George is working on.

Your shield generator sounds kind of underpowered to be attacking Charon. The Cyclotron S1200 is only class IV. I always go into Charon with the best shield I can, which was the Ceratops 5T level VI +50%. I found numerous 5Ts in Rigel, plus some level V shields.
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2. Loot everything, you increase your cash input greatly this way.

Consder other means of getting cash such as freighter escorting and mining. Both are very lucrative for the early game.

Turn off your shielding or use inferior equipment (such as kinetic weaponry or monopole shielding) if you are facing weaker enemies to use less fuel. Getting a larger reactor helps capacity a lot.

3. Some of those devices are awsome, you just have to figure out what they do. If they help you right now they'll be identified, otherwise you have to test them every once in a while to figure out if you've got a use for them. Other people feel the same way as you do about this though.

4. Better shielding is often avaliable (Yoroi S100/S500 are my personal favorites) and should help. You could probably make more use of dodging incomming weapon fire. A NAMI missile launcher would also be useful (pull missiles off of the drakes). Perhaps most of all, a drive enhancement (normally avaliable by Charon) would be a big help if you have #2 solved.

PK25 is fine, and I love it for dealing with large groups, as long as you're the faster ship. Since it spreads you can usually get all of the ships that are bunched up following you on autopilot without having to engage them properly. Because of the large number of projectiles, it can usually put a stop to incomming fire.
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Wurmish
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Not being a freighter user I can't say how they cope, but whenever I'm ambushed by a horde of pirates in Charon while I'm blasting their stations to dust I always try the run and turn around trick...

A particle weapon coupled with the NAMI is probably the most useful weapon combo in Charon. The new Arena usually lets me sport a Class V with +50%(Korolov is now being nice to me finally), and some good particle weapon (preferably a double particle beam), with a NAMI typically stocked with 500's for corsairs. I'm usually holding light blast plate or ceralloy by then as well. The Arena is generous.

I haven't gotten very far in RC2 yet... friendly ferians = no crunchies...
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OddBob
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particle beam weapon, class V deflector +50%, a NAMI missile launcher with lots of ammo of every sort, and a full set of light blast plate.
I consider this loadout, as well as Darth Saber's initial one, for Charon, to be "armed to the teeth".

(although I don't farm systems and finish every mission so I'm always running a little under what some other folks have, so take my advice at your own risk I guess)

Well, except for the cyclotron - low regen doesn't lend itself well to large fights. There are just too many corsairs and the cyclotron can only just barely keep up with a few of them (whereas the class III can take a couple lasers all day, meaning you just worry about the big ships), so the first time you dodge wrong and take a missile/turbolaser volley to the face you won't be able to overcome them all to get back up to full.

However I disagree with fossa about the mark III - howitzers are my favorite early crowd control weapons (seeing as you don't have any kilotons on hand :D, although I used to be partial to the shuriken, but I don't always have enough power to run one before st k's.).

Especially in the asteroid field, you've got plenty of cover and in close quarters you can pick your fights a little bit - in a freighter I like to set up behind an asteroid (if you have barricades, this is what they are for) and greet everyone who pokes their head over with a howitzer shell - the corsair I's should be one hit kills and maybe even the vikings (tbh I have never got a mark III before st k's, I'm not even sure where you found it, usually I hop into st k's first to grab a mk ONE if I can afford it).

I do agree however that you're going to want something laser/particle for the drakes (or you can just run from them if you don't want to take their missiles) as I believe they sport blast plate.
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Prophet
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I, too, have had a similar experience. The Viking-IIs show up much more often vastly increasing the difficulty in Charon especially. In one test they were able to destroy the Korolov station before the drakes had even gotten within firing range.

Being a freighter pilot myself, they pose a greater threat than to wolfen or sapphire pilots who are able to dodge the missiles and/or outrun the swarms of charon ships.

Being stuck on a planet with hordes of ships swarming is a situation I have found myself in many times. Your best bet is to poke your nose out and fire, retreating when you need to recharge your shields or heal armor. Although, if reinforcements continue to arrive it is a losing situation (I know it sucks) you just have to hope you get res-ed somewhere safe and jump back or forward.
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Atarlost
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The big problem here are that you get swarmed, but it illustrates a deeper problem with the new shields. The advantage has shifted from defense to offense making the game a lot more unforgiving than it was previously. This hurts the freighter most because it can't run away until it gets one of the later propulsion upgrades and can't really dodge well ever.
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