Help me spend my cash

Ask any question about playing and surviving in the Transcendence universe. Newbies welcome!
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blizgerg
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Kyon wrote:Which brings me to my next question, what exactly do the armor +xx% boni against the various damage types mean? I'm guessing +100% means the armor only takes half damage from that type?
Good question, I have always just assumed that was the case and never verified it.
Is there a way to find out which rank I have in the various organizations except reaching a new one and them telling me? Something like the Korolev record for Commonwealth and Black Market? When I get told that there aren't any missions available, is it because my rank is too high or too low? Can it be both?
You can see the rank you are with some factions by pressing F2. For the missions it is different for different stations. For example the Black Market (as of latest so far 1.04) only has one mission they will ever give you. They will give you that one mission forever until you are no longer the rank that that mission is available for. The black market is incomplete IIRC. For the commonwealth I believe they only stop giving you missions if you fail too many or get to max rank. The fleet IIRC, will give missions until you are at max rank too. I'm not sure about Korolov but I remember hearing here that it gets a random number of mission on create and wont give you anymore than that. These can be verified by reading the XML but that can be a bit tedious.
I've completely ignored the Sisters of Domina throughout the game, never tithed. Am I missing out on anything here, story-wise?
Not really. The only thing to miss out there IMO is the Domina powers and pilgrims aid. Both can be useful to get you out of 'impossible' situations where you just can't win and would otherwise die. In another thread George mentioned that there was more story that he was going to add there, something about there being two Sisters of Domina factions and some stuff happening in Sanctuary that he hasn't added yet.
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Kyon
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blizgerg wrote: You can see the rank you are with some factions by pressing F2.
F2 doesn't do anything in my game. Unmodded 1.01. Do I have to use it while in a certain screen?

Well, things are looking not so good again. I was in Qilin, about eight or nine systems past St. K's. It had two Teraton nests, two Commonwealth stations and the CSC Asia. And lots of enemies. This system turned into the biggest scrap heap I've seen yet. An endless amount of Ventari destroyers spawned and they and some of the other reds destroyed each other, and somehow one of the CW stations kicked the bucket too. I did pretty well though, after I got the octocarbide the Ventari seemed unable to damage my devices, and with them out of the picture things settled down. I destroyed one of the Teraton nests.

The next system, Li, had four destroyed CW stations and various red bases I took care of. There are two Xenophobe worldships on patrol there that I seem unable to defeat.

After that it's Point Juno. I had been there previously, very shortly, when I exited Elysium and went through star gates in the wrong direction (thinking to myself, "Why is everyone else flying in the wrong direction? Idiots.") Back then, I got the "Point Juno is under attack" message, but since I felt way too weak to partake in whatever happened at that point, I just left the system again. Now when I arrived, I found a single ship attacking PJ, and upon its destruction by the defenders, I got a "Mission completed" message. Yay, I did it! Somehow. Though I'm worried I missed something important. Particularly since there's this large ring of Ares sentinels that seems to serve no purpose at all. Anyway, after returning to the CSC Asia for a few missions to get my rank up, I completed all the missions PJ offered, and took out all the reds I could find.

On to the next system. Scouting, I found two Teraton nests and lots of nasty enemies, some of which seem, like the worldships, too tough for me. The Phobos Dreadnought for example. I still haven't found a single ringer exchange, and I'm desperate for a better shield. Seems like it goes down in a second against the big guys, and soon after I'm toast.

Current setup:
Wolfen with 1GW reactor
Ares positron cannon
Omnidirectional thermo cannon +10%
Fusionfire howitzer
Ares launcher
Plasma Shield Generator +30%
Smuggler's Cargo Hold (I need it, let's face it, I'm a pack rat)
Longreach I autocannon
2 Patch spiders
4x Octocarbide armor +EMP-immune

I got a transpace jumpdrive and a howitzer loader I occasionally swap in, and a Heavy Ion blaster in reserve. Also got a R9 shield, but it seems like it would only be a small improvement over the Plasma, and I don't want to spend crystals on it. I haven't seen a better shield in the nests, and there isn't any other green anymore except for the CSCs. I have 20k rin and about 400k credits. Should I backtrack to an outpost and try to order a better shield?

And about saving stackable upgrades for my endgame equipment ... since this is my first game that went this far, how do I know when I got something that I'll keep until the end? Just check the Wiki and hold out for the highest ranked stuff?
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blizgerg
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I'm pretty sure the F2 screen was not implemented until after 1.01. So, there is no way besides going into debug mode and querying the game variables from the console to figure out what rank you are.

I take out phobos with equipment like that. The trick is to not get hit. Line up shots from the howitzer or omni thermo from long range and wear them down.

I'm not sure about the shields, I consider the R9 to be one of the choices for end game shield. Kaidun and Jotun two others. Most of the other high level shields aren't that good iirc. You can get a Kaidun by killing phobos. The Taikon-200 looks pretty good too but I've never used it. The problem is you can't always find high level shields and you can't order any of the alien or specialty stuff. The past two play throughs I've done I've ended the game with a Jotun and an R9.
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Kyon
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blizgerg wrote:I'm pretty sure the F2 screen was not implemented until after 1.01. So, there is no way besides going into debug mode and querying the game variables from the console to figure out what rank you are.
Well, I've decided not to care about my BM rank if there's only one mission. And for the military, I just do what's necessary, since the missions tend to be frustrating anyway. I've got to be the galaxy's worst freighter escort. Right now they won't talk to me on the CSC Terra due to my rank (guess all that love I got in PJ was ultimately worthless for my career), so I'll have to do something about that eventually.
I take out phobos with equipment like that. The trick is to not get hit. Line up shots from the howitzer or omni thermo from long range and wear them down.
This might bring us back to me being a crappy pilot, but I've found I'm highly dependent on the omni thermo. Without it, even a single Deimos destroyer usually defeats me. And I don't have a lot of ammo for the omni thermo, so I can't rely on it too much. I find using the howitzer against bases pretty boring, and tedious due to the recoil, and I suspect that'll be worse against moving targets. But if I try to take out big ships with the positron cannon, I get hit way too often and die.

I gather the Teraton fabricator might give me more ammo for the omni thermo, so playing around with it and then indeed using the omni against Dreadnoughts etc seems like the best option.

Meanwhile, I finally found a Ringer Collective, got up to 70k rins and bought a Positron lancer ... but then they couldn't install it on the CSC Terra. Duh. Would they have installed it in the Teraton nest where I bought if I had had the cash? I only just had enough to buy it.
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blizgerg
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Ammo for versions before 1.04 was a real problem. In 1.04 George made it so that ammo regenerates at certain stations. But in earlier versions you basically have to use the fabricator to get more than what is available at spawn.

I didn't think any of the Teraton's installed equipment. You may have to go to a ringer shipyard, or maybe a Taikon or Black Market shipyard might will do it.

You do know that pressing '.' will cause your ship to station keep? This means that firing with a howitzer and pressing '.' will make the recoil lots less and keep you in one position for destroying stations.

To take out enemies with the howitzer the best way is to 'run away' using the recoil as your thrust. The easiest way is to line up the enemy directly north/south/east/west. They will keep following you and run right into your shots this way.
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Ttech
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blizgerg wrote:Ammo for versions before 1.04 was a real problem. In 1.04 George made it so that ammo regenerates at certain stations. But in earlier versions you basically have to use the fabricator to get more than what is available at spawn.

I didn't think any of the Teraton's installed equipment. You may have to go to a ringer shipyard, or maybe a Taikon or Black Market shipyard might will do it.

You do know that pressing '.' will cause your ship to station keep? This means that firing with a howitzer and pressing '.' will make the recoil lots less and keep you in one position for destroying stations.

To take out enemies with the howitzer the best way is to 'run away' using the recoil as your thrust. The easiest way is to line up the enemy directly north/south/east/west. They will keep following you and run right into your shots this way.

. is a breaks.
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Kyon
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Just a quick note, I just completed this first playthrough. After I got myself some Domina powers and upgraded my equipment with the Fabricator, the final systems became a cakewalk. Though I think I also got very lucky again, as I was able to buy about a dozen longzhu spheres in the penultimate system.

The Iocrym Command Ship gave me a hard time at first. I had used the golden halo gem to save the Antarctica, and I tried using the black halo one here, but it always was a suicide pill for me. I was worried my weapons might be too weak since they weren't antimatter, but actually all it took was a switching of shields, from a Nephren X1 +50% to a plain Kaidun, to keep me alive long enough to wear the ICS down.

Final setup:
Positron lancer +110%
IM90 +110% (I want to marry this one and have beautiful children with it)
NAMI heavy launcher
Pteracnium megadrive
4x Light Iocrym armor

Thanks everyone who took the time to read my ramblings and reply. You've all been very friendly and helpful!

Now excuse me, there's a freighter in Eridani waiting for a pilot ...
Curudan
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Congratulations on your first win! May you have many more.


One of my favorite things about Transcendence is its amazing replayability. Even if you don't try any of the awesome mods- there are many-, there are conducts, different playerships, and random generation to keep you entertained through many different games.
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Ttech
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Kyon wrote:Just a quick note, I just completed this first playthrough. After I got myself some Domina powers and upgraded my equipment with the Fabricator, the final systems became a cakewalk. Though I think I also got very lucky again, as I was able to buy about a dozen longzhu spheres in the penultimate system.

The Iocrym Command Ship gave me a hard time at first. I had used the golden halo gem to save the Antarctica, and I tried using the black halo one here, but it always was a suicide pill for me. I was worried my weapons might be too weak since they weren't antimatter, but actually all it took was a switching of shields, from a Nephren X1 +50% to a plain Kaidun, to keep me alive long enough to wear the ICS down.

Final setup:
Positron lancer +110%
IM90 +110% (I want to marry this one and have beautiful children with it)
NAMI heavy launcher
Pteracnium megadrive
4x Light Iocrym armor

Thanks everyone who took the time to read my ramblings and reply. You've all been very friendly and helpful!

Now excuse me, there's a freighter in Eridani waiting for a pilot ...
I Love the IM90 - its one of my favorite weapons, the only other would be the lamplighter which might be a goal for you to try to get next time. Quite a remarkable feat that you managed to get a NAMI Heavy and Ammo on a round, not a common thing to find.

Congratulations, now you can try for achievements such as no resurrections or such. Also you'll find all parts of the community (we have quite a few now) are all friendly and quite welcoming. :) Now that you have completed your exploration of the game, you can have fun and explore the community. :)
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Kyon
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Curudan wrote:One of my favorite things about Transcendence is its amazing replayability. Even if you don't try any of the awesome mods- there are many-, there are conducts, different playerships, and random generation to keep you entertained through many different games.
For now I don't want to really change the game - like with different ships or weapons -, but I got the Captain's Log and No Nav Beacon mods for my current game. I kept taking notes the first time, and the log should make that easier, and let's just say I came to hate nav beacons even more than the Ventari.
Ttech wrote:I Love the IM90 - its one of my favorite weapons, the only other would be the lamplighter which might be a goal for you to try to get next time. Quite a remarkable feat that you managed to get a NAMI Heavy and Ammo on a round, not a common thing to find.

Congratulations, now you can try for achievements such as no resurrections or such. Also you'll find all parts of the community (we have quite a few now) are all friendly and quite welcoming. :) Now that you have completed your exploration of the game, you can have fun and explore the community. :)
I didn't have a lot of ammo, and had gotten tired of collecting materials for the Fabricator (which, once you know how it works, seems overpowered), so I rarely used the launcher before the final battle. The IM90 surprised me in that I had expected the enemies to be almost immune to ion damage at this point in the game. But it was awesome, and the Positron Lancer didn't seem to have any advantage over it.

I had also gotten a Level X launcher from the fabricator. I installed it and loaded some Kytryn ammo (now that was really rare!), but still couldn't identify or use it or get it to work in another way.

I've done some Wiki reading, and while it's great to see people put all the work into it, parts of it feel like they were written by modders for modders. And I don't mean the modding section, heh. The station trade prices list for example is not very reader-friendly, especially when you're not used to dealing with all the tags from the XML. I'm aware though that the Wiki, just the like the game, is a work in progress.
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Ttech
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Actually, I have never figured out hte fabricator

And I'm sorry you feel that way about the wiki, we try to make it as friendly as possible. If you want you can let me know what areas feel that way, or you can even start working on the wiki making it more player friendly. :)
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ThePrivateer
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Kyon wrote: I've done some Wiki reading, and while it's great to see people put all the work into it, parts of it feel like they were written by modders for modders. And I don't mean the modding section, heh. The station trade prices list for example is not very reader-friendly, especially when you're not used to dealing with all the tags from the XML. I'm aware though that the Wiki, just the like the game, is a work in progress.
Currently, headed up by me (and sadly, run just by me), we (read : I) are making "Community Description" tags that take away the jargon and make it easier to read -- I agree the wiki is currently too techy. Check out the Missiles section to see some of the Community Descriptions.
Kyon
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Ttech wrote:Actually, I have never figured out hte fabricator

And I'm sorry you feel that way about the wiki, we try to make it as friendly as possible. If you want you can let me know what areas feel that way, or you can even start working on the wiki making it more player friendly. :)
I need to be careful not to get myself into a trap there. :wink: Actually, the fabricator is a good example. When you're not someone who looks at the XML regularly, the table at http://wiki.neurohack.com/transcendence ... on_factory blows your mind. Like, what's a “d~swvr <8”? I found the fabricator explanations given in http://www.neurohack.com/transcendence/ ... f=2&t=2882 much more helpful. An expert might get much more exact information from the Wiki table, but it doesn't need to be that exact for the casual player.

Just to be clear, I really don't want to criticize the Wiki unduly. It's great that this game has a passionate and active community, and people willing to make the information available for others is wonderful. :D
ThePrivateer wrote:Currently, headed up by me (and sadly, run just by me), we (read : I) are making "Community Description" tags that take away the jargon and make it easier to read -- I agree the wiki is currently too techy. Check out the Missiles section to see some of the Community Descriptions.
The Missiles section is good, not only is it less techy, but the flavorful descriptions are nice to read. What might be confusing there and on the weapon pages in general is that the game shows you a set damage value, while the Wiki gives the range and dice types and numbers. It's not wrong, but it might be irritating the first time you look up a weapon.
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Ttech
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Kyon wrote:
Ttech wrote:Actually, I have never figured out hte fabricator

And I'm sorry you feel that way about the wiki, we try to make it as friendly as possible. If you want you can let me know what areas feel that way, or you can even start working on the wiki making it more player friendly. :)
I need to be careful not to get myself into a trap there. :wink: Actually, the fabricator is a good example. When you're not someone who looks at the XML regularly, the table at http://wiki.neurohack.com/transcendence ... on_factory blows your mind. Like, what's a “d~swvr <8”? I found the fabricator explanations given in http://www.neurohack.com/transcendence/ ... f=2&t=2882 much more helpful. An expert might get much more exact information from the Wiki table, but it doesn't need to be that exact for the casual player.

Just to be clear, I really don't want to criticize the Wiki unduly. It's great that this game has a passionate and active community, and people willing to make the information available for others is wonderful. :D
ThePrivateer wrote:Currently, headed up by me (and sadly, run just by me), we (read : I) are making "Community Description" tags that take away the jargon and make it easier to read -- I agree the wiki is currently too techy. Check out the Missiles section to see some of the Community Descriptions.
The Missiles section is good, not only is it less techy, but the flavorful descriptions are nice to read. What might be confusing there and on the weapon pages in general is that the game shows you a set damage value, while the Wiki gives the range and dice types and numbers. It's not wrong, but it might be irritating the first time you look up a weapon.

The idea of the wiki is to have useful resources for all, so updating and moving items from the forums to the wiki is something we have a hard time keeping up with. :P
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Kyon
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Back so some newbie questions, if I may.

1. I can't check the in-game description right now, but I was looking at the level X armors in the Wiki, and I found the one for Octocarbide confusing: The quote from the game says “The most advanced armor produced by the Taikon corporation, octocarbide can absorb almost 1500 units of ion damage before collapsing.”, but the table below gives 225 adjusted HP vs ion, from a base of 400. How is this meant to be read?

2. And speaking of armor, what is the blinding effect some are immune to?

3. Are there any shield upgrades that stack? The Molbidium crystals give +30%, and the ROMs +20%, but they don't stack. Do longzhu spheres work on shields, and are they the only way (apart from Hiro's ROM for shields up to level VI) to get more than +30%?
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