A Developer Tries to Reach the Core - Episodes 2 and 3

[gunship256]

If I need a turbolaser and can't find one, it's possible to get one by leaving the Charon ships and stations alone and continually killing off the Vikings that spawn at the gate. Eventually, one will drop an intact weapon.

Killing off Corasiar-II's is also an easy way to get Longbows.

[PM]

I have farmed pirate ships for broken turbolasers, then bring them to Tinkers for custom work on a dual turbolaser. This was great when custom work used to be 50 credits a pop, but this is still useful occasionally. I think I made dual turbolaser once since the Tinker revamp.

[shanejfilomena]

If I need a turbolaser and can't find one, it's possible to get one by leaving the Charon ships and stations alone and continually killing off the Vikings that spawn at the gate. Eventually, one will drop an intact weapon.

Killing off Corasiar-II's is also an easy way to get Longbows.

Just remember that while farming the reinforcements for a Pirate Ship : eventually that Pirate ship is ordered to move out and if you fall within detection range...they might move on you before your ready to fight them Head On.

Your biggest weapons in Early Game are the missiles & MAG: or disposable tracking launchers.

Most Hostile Ships are pretty safe from most Laser hits but Blast / Thermo Damage are the easiest way to take them down.

The Smart Cannon is good - if your Hostile is weak - otherwise you best have something else in your book of tricks

I like to work on getting a MAG Launcher & OmniTurboLaser ASAP : until then I am one Rocket Launching attack force that the Dwarg run away from.

** Best Advice I was ever given when faced with Hard Hitting Hostiles : Circle and Fire : takes alot of Practice, never perfect, and if you can get behind the target, chase them down like a Ferian Warrior .

Remember the Period Key is your FRIEND : EMC(2) the period key will help you keep control of your ship while trying to target without a tracking system : like LongBows.

ALWAYS Dock with a useful Station, there is no law that prevents you from docking at a station you escorted a Freighter to so you can repair or re-arm

[gunship256]

Most Hostile Ships are pretty safe from most Laser hits but Blast / Thermo Damage are the easiest way to take them down....

** Best Advice I was ever given when faced with Hard Hitting Hostiles : Circle and Fire : takes alot of Practice, never perfect, and if you can get behind the target, chase them down like a Ferian Warrior.

The Morning Star cannon great for this tactic. A capital ship will have omnidirectional weapons and an omnidirectional launcher, but if you can get behind an enemy ship and follow it closely, a cloud weapon shoots down most of those missiles before they can reach you.

If all I have is an omnidirectional turbolaser, I'll sit on a planet with the front of my ship barely sticking out and fire until everything is dead. I don't remember seeing an OTL in the game George was playing, but it's a strategy that works without having to upgrade his reactor.

[shanejfilomena]

The Morning Star cannon great for this tactic. A capital ship will have omnidirectional weapons and an omnidirectional launcher, but if you can get behind an enemy ship and follow it closely, a cloud weapon shoots down most of those missiles before they can reach you.

If all I have is an omnidirectional turbolaser, I'll sit on a planet with the front of my ship barely sticking out and fire until everything is dead. I don't remember seeing an OTL in the game George was playing, but it's a strategy that works without having to upgrade his reactor.

I sit on planets & rocks ALOT when I am out-gunned.
However, I did watch the video and I was SHOCKED at the lack of control in the ship and how someone- ANYONE - with experience would bring a Smart Cannon to a Missile fight.
I understand that sometimes the game conspires against the Player and some familiar weapons are not to be found.. But I would never try to Escort without at least some kind of Missiles.

There is a basic NEED for blast / projectile weapons - one such example is when Erica gives you Missiles or a Launcher to take on Arco : this is no accident, Arco is basically flying a Mini Frigate.

I NEVER liked the idea that Benedict has so much faith in the Smart Cannon that he would put you up against {&scAtonement; &scRepentant; } class ships - both of which are hard to kill with higher level weapons!
I took on a Shrine and even with an Omni-TurboLaser and MAGS I had to chase the little critters half a system to kill them all.

There are Plenty of weapons and even shields that you can run with a stock reactor: I am very happy to load up a Laser Deflector ( 35Hp) and take on some targets with Laser weapons..But everything has it's place - once you leave Eridani you need to remember where you are and what is waiting for you - Big Bad Pirates.

One Theme George has in the game that I was Surprised he did not play on is that whatever weapons a faction relies on for offence - THEY can not Defend against very well.

Example : the Sung - I grab a Lancer and some blast projectiles ( for the Sung Walls ) and wipe them off the map.
Ranx : HATE it when you show up with MAGS because they rely on the Kiloton and Akan Cannons to defend them.

Idk .... I was just taking on the Universe with a Mining Laser but the Nova25 reactor killed me ( ran out of fuel in a fight )
I was taking on outposts head on with a Mining Laser and a Class II LOL

P.S._ I used the Mining Scanners to defend the AG station by blowing them to weaken the targets for my Mining Laser I used to try to buy Barricades for that mission - now I got a new toy

The "resurrection 1 " was because I loaded the game just to get the Stats to show you can go pretty far with a Mining Laser ( if you remember to buy fuel....)

Code: Select all

SHANE J. FILOMENA

Adventure	Domina & Oracus I: The Stars of the Pilgrim
Game	Registered
Genome	Human female
Money (credits)	16,316
Score	3,055
Ship class	Sapphire-class yacht
Time played	1 hour and 46 minutes
Version	1.6.1

ACHIEVEMENTS & REGRETS

Destroyed Benedict's autons in 9 minutes and 46 seconds	

COMBAT

Enemy ships destroyed	149
Enemy stations destroyed	34
Friendly ships destroyed	2

COMMERCE

Profit on goods and materials	26,370
Profit on illegal items	765

CONDUCTS

Game resurrections	1
Never destroyed friendly stations	

DAMAGE SUSTAINED

heavy plasteel armor	153
Ceratops 1T quasi-armor	1,307
plasteel armor	90
class II deflector	269
class I deflector	370

ENEMY SHIPS DESTROYED

Arco Vaughn	1
Viking-class gunship	6
Centauri heavy raider	3
Corsair II-class gunship	3
Hammerhead II-class gunship	1
Borer II-class gunship	2
Hornet-class battlepod	21
Borer-class gunship	11
Earthzone-class armed shuttle	4
Hammerhead-class gunship	6
Corsair-class gunship	52
TA3-class sentinel	5
Centauri raider	34

ENEMY STATIONS DESTROYED

Arco Vaughn's container habitat	1
outlaw palladium mine	1
Abbasid outpost	3
Anarchist gathering	6
Charon Pirates outpost	2
outlaw titanium mine	1
Anarchist habitat	2
Centauri warlord camp	8
Charon Pirates cache	10

EXPLORATION

Systems visited	6
Never reached St. Katharine's Star	
Never reached Jiang's Star	
Never reached Point Juno	
Never reached Heretic	
Never reached the Galactic Core	

FRIENDLY SHIPS DESTROYED

Salvager Nomad	1
Borer-class gunship	1

ITEMS INSTALLED

heavy plasteel armor	
Ceratops 1T quasi-armor	
plasteel armor	
miners's cargo hold	
NAMI missile launcher	
Nova-25 reactor	
class II deflector	
DM1500 disposable missile rack	
mining laser	
Nova-15 reactor	
reactive armor	
class I deflector	
recoilless cannon	

MISSIONS & ACTIVITIES

Agricultural colonies defended	1
Commonwealth habitat missions	3
Mining colony missions	2
Money earned on missions	6,300

WEAPONS FIRED

DM1500 disposable missile rack	16
mining laser	3,315
recoilless cannon	193

[gunship256]

I did watch the video and I was SHOCKED at the lack of control in the ship and how someone- ANYONE - with experience would bring a Smart Cannon to a Missile fight.
I understand that sometimes the game conspires against the Player and some familiar weapons are not to be found.. But I would never try to Escort without at least some kind of Missiles.

I agree that it's definitely helpful to have missiles, especially since Drakes and frigates are farmable for them. Using just an OTL and flying in circles between the frigate and the freighter works too IF the ship's armor is good enough to make it a battle of attrition.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

However, I did watch the video and I was SHOCKED at the lack of control in the ship

Honestly controlling ships is still pretty difficult even with the facings improvements I don't think that it's simply a skill issue. I wish that George would address it at some point, perhaps by implementing some sort of mouse/keyboard hybrid control.

The game would be much more satisfying to play if every weapon had at least a small degree of swivel and a mouse-controlled targeting reticule. This would necessitate a switch to WASD and a dynamic reticule that changes shape and size based on weapon type and ship acceleration, with invocation and/or item use performed with the scroll wheel.

[PM]

What would be nice is if player had 360 or more facings and the 120 or so frames of the ship sprite are merely used as the frame displayed that is closest to the object's facing. This is similar to Diablo 2 where character sprites had 16 facings, but can move and aim at 60+ directions.

Mouse support is a good idea, although I like keyboard-only to remain viable.

[Watch TV, Do Nothing]

I find that I consistently oversteer even in the slowest-turning ship classes.