Help me help you help yourselves.

[Song]

Hey everyone. I've recently got back into Transcendence, and I've decided to try my hand at a fairly basic guide to starting out in 1.07a. Here's what I was planning on covering:

-The 40-facing system, and how to use it to your advantage.
-Omnidirectional weapons and targeting.
-Ship balance, and what each ship is "good" and "bad" at.
-Tricks for Eridani.
-Enemies you will HATE, and why.
-Things everyone misses, but shouldn't.
- Basics of Freighter Escort
- ROMs, and what they do
-Barrels, and what they do
-Economic tricks for beginners.
-What stations are, and what they are not.
-Things to grab on sight.

Anything else I should cover? I'm not going over the "This is how you move", although I'll probably put a little notice in about the keyboard glitches on laptops, and the period key slowing you down. I'm going past the obvious and into the little things that can get you off to a better start, and on your way to find out the rest on your own.

[christian]

I require a video to learn how to rotate my ships, otherwise I'll just keep using fireworks to rotate in 2D

[Curudan]

A note about how enemy ships take damage to their armor in the same way players do. It's something that's not totally obvious from the HUD.

/me won two games before he figured it out...

[RPC]

Add mining to the list (and how to make a pacifist playthrough). Thanks for doing this, it will look great on the wiki!

[Song]

Look, while I'm the original pacifist player, it's NOT a good thing for a newbie guide. Especially now George fixed that fun little glitch I exploited the hell out of to get through heretic (muahahaha, it was actually pretty nice irony). I might talk a little about squads, autons and wingmen though.

[Ttech]

Make a Youtube Channel for Transcendence and we can start posting to it!

[blackflame]

New player here: I'd like to know the ins and outs of being a pirate. Who hates me if I attack which ships/stations? Will the Commonwealth care if I demolish a Corporate station, for example? Where is it safe for a pirate to do business? Can you kill a ship without witnesses and have it go unreported? Stuff like that.

[Song]

Hmm. That's a good one as well. I'll make that Item 2 on the list. Currently I'm on facings and omni weapons. I'm not so keen on Youtube (my connection is too slow for decent upload/download times), and I don't have a screencap program, so for now I'll stick to stills and text.

[RPC]

The CW will jail you if you are caught killing freighters. The Corp will send a cruiser if their stations get destroyed. Although the game lets you be a drug dealer, it does not let you adequately be a pirate. (as in, you can kill felreighters, but they usually have no loot or there's nobody to sell to)

[shanejfilomena]

New player here: I'd like to know the ins and outs of being a pirate. Who hates me if I attack which ships/stations? Will the Commonwealth care if I demolish a Corporate station, for example? Where is it safe for a pirate to do business? Can you kill a ship without witnesses and have it go unreported? Stuff like that.

As RPC points out the Commonwealth will arrest you if your killing freighters: I always thought this wrong because they are actually Corporate ships but the only Corporate Crime is destroying Corporate stations ( and you best be able to handle the Corporate Cruiser if you do: it will come shooting some good missilies at you and will not stop till it runs out or you die ( while your in that system, if you gate it will not follow you, but you can NOT EVER dock a corporate station after that, you will be arrested and go to prison : they have no other option in the Corporate trials. )
==========

[erik dela cruz]

Make a Youtube Channel for Transcendence and we can start posting to it!

Right on Ttech! Right on!
No one seems to be updating the Trans Facebook Page nowadays, will someone please do so?

[Song]

Summary of "diplomacy"in Transcendence (DRAFT):

If it's red, it shoots at you.
If it's green, it *probably* will not.
If there's yellow bits heading towards you from it on the scanner, then it IS shooting at you, and you should be taking evading action rather than reading this sentence.

Commonwealth is OK towards you, unless you commit a crime against them. In which case you get arrested and possibly jailed, UNLESS it's a military crime, where you can be executed. Yay! Piracy can earn a fine for the first offense if you plead guilty. After that, plead "not guilty". You'll either be jailed, or released for lack of evidence. Destroying a friendly doesn't count if there's a hostile attacking at the same time/within X distance. Or if there's no one around to see the crime. Killing a CSC will mean execution by the military if you dock at their stuff again.

Corporate entities operate in conjunction with each other: Destroy one corporate building, and the corporates won't be hostile to you....unless you dock. Which is an instakill, and you cannot recover from it.

Corporate "crimes" are basically station destruction. The destruction of any station with a "corporate" tag will result in two things. One is the aforementioned instakill on docking with another corporate station. The second is the immediate dispatch of a fleet of EI500s and a single Corporate Cruiser from the nearest stargate. The 500's will make for the station, and recover any goods left in it when it died (unless you looted them), while the Cruiser will attack you. While remaining "Friendly" on the LRS. Go figure. But if you can kill the cruiser, the loot's pretty good. Good luck with finishing the rest of the game, mind you.

Annoying the Black Market guys is generally a Bad Idea unless you're really ready for it. This can be done by blowing up (landing the killing shot on) any BM station of any type (This includes tempus labs). You'll get a price on your head, and Molotoks will be *very* eager to collect it. This can be exploited to farm their valuable equipment, and used to be able to be used to trigger the most awesome glitch ever. Now, if you dock at a BM station after this, they'll either take a VERY large amount of money and reset relations.....or kill you. There's no middle ground.

Crimes against the ringers (probably smashing their stations) will result in cryogenic suspension, which is a Game Over.

Friendly stations will start blocking you (Denying docking rights and shooting at you) if you kill one of their guards. This can be very annoying if it's done by accident to a critical station.

Crimes against teratons aren't really punished. Yet.


Oh, and the way these work is by logging where the damaging fragments came from. This means crate bombs don't get around it. A crate bomb detonated by ANOTHER crate bomb however, WILL get around the detection system, while being unbelievably wasteful.

Edit: Then there's the Ferians. I'm not spoiling those.

[PM]

Not sure if Shrike wants this kind of help, but here goes...

Ship balance, and what each ship is "good" and "bad" at.

EI500 Freighter
* Strengths
EI500 is the best item carrier thanks to its cargo capacity. If you are a packrat, and do not mind the slower turning speed, this will be the most useful ship. EI500 can carry much more than the other two playerships. Also, the EI500 cannot carry enough to slow down much more than it already is. At worst, acceleration will slow down somewhat with a heavy load, but that's it. Turning speed will always remain the same.

Aside from the two weapon limit, the EI500 has more slots than the other two playerships. It has enough slots for a variety of miscellaneous devices; and if leftover slots remain, fill them up with more devices. For example, need to be somewhere in a hurry and one jumpdrive is not enough, use two! You can never have enough device slots!

The EI500 can equip nearly any armor in the game, and not get encumbered much doing so.

* Weaknesses
The EI500's greatest weakness is its two weapon slot limit. Until the endgame, the player will want three or four weapons to combat a variety of opponents. Due to the EI500's slower turning speed, one weapon will likely be an omnidirectional or tracking weapon, and the other will be chosen among alternate damage type, basebusting, mining, or a launcher.

The EI500's slow speed will hurt somewhat early in the game. Once it gets an engine, its top speed will match or exceed the other ships. Turning speed will always remain slow.

Sapphire Yacht
* Strengths
Sapphire's best advantage is its eight all-purpose device slots. However, this advantage does not help much until mid to late game when the player gains access to enough equipment. With optimum equipment selection that devotes three slots or less to weapons, the Sapphire can do nearly anything the Wolfen can do better.

* Weaknesses
The Sapphire is terrible in the early game. Its starting equipment is among the worst in the game, and the extra cash is not even close enough to buy whatever the other two playerships begin the game with. After starting, the Sapphire is, in essence, a slower Wolfen. Until a Titan drive or better is found and installed, its top speed is not fast enough to avoid enemy ships.

Wolfen Gunship
* Strengths
Wolfen's best advantage is its default speed. Not many enemy ships match its speed, much less exceed it. The player can search for stargates, evade enemy ships, and try to loot whatever is lying around in more dangerous systems.

The Wolfen begins with weapons and a shield powerful enough to dominate the first system and possibly the next.

* Weaknesses
The Wolfen's worst disadvantage is its four non-weapon slot restriction. Two of those slots will be taken by a reactor and a shield, which leaves two. Two non-weapon slots are not enough for whatever the Wolfen player wants. Among the devices include cargo expansion, weapon enhancers, missile defense, patcher arms, jumpdrives, and even a plot device in the final system. The Wolfen player can only pick two among the list.

Tricks for Eridani.

If you begin the game as an EI500, you can start scum for a targeting program ROM and/or regenerating nanos. Targeting program ROM is critical for omnidirectional weapon use. You will save more time start scumming for the targeting program than to suffer through the game without it. Regeneration nanos are worth over 1200 credits (for four), and they are difficult to find elsewhere in the game. The EI500 can sell its barrels and armor patches for cash. It is possible to start with MORE cash than the Sapphire.

Visit habitats for missions to destroy stations. What is better than blasting enemy stations for loot? Getting paid to do it!

If you can get a mining laser and a miners cargo hold, do it! Proceed to strip mine every asteroid in the system. It is possible to earn from 5000 to over 10000 credits in Eridani from mining alone.

Fuel is a money sink, especially early in the game. If solar armor or a solar panel are available for sale, buy them. The free fuel pays for itself and more.

For the EI500 and Sapphire, try to install a NAMI missile launcher before you accept the mission at Raisu. If you do, you receive KM500 Stiletto missiles instead of a DM1500 missile rack.

After you accept the mission to kill Arco, damage him to make him angry enough to kill you. Then fly back to Starton Eridani and sit on top of a large station. Arco is slower than all playerships. As soon as Arco approaches, all of the station guards will wake up then blast him to paste. Can you say "Mission accomplished"?

Enemies you will HATE, and why.

Early game enemies
* Charon Frigate: Powerful early game opponent, and you will encounter at least one if you escort freighters for Korolov. The frigate's turbolasers and homing missiles will destroy ill-equipped playerships and Korolov freighters with ease. If that is not enough, the frigate usually has several escorts, which can include Corsair-II and Viking ships. If a frigate is found idle, it is best to leave it alone.

* Salvager Nomad: Technically not an enemy, but Salvagers steal loot from any and all wrecked objects. Even worse, they can equip and use weapons they loot. You will have far more loot than you can carry, and you need places to store the loot. The Salvagers' brazen thievery means you cannot safely store loot anywhere in the system they are found. Salvagers do not respawn, but they are slow and can wander long distances, which makes it difficult to confirm their utter eradication from a system. For reference, systems where Salvagers cannot spawn include Eridani, Rigel Aurelius, St. Katharine's Star, and all systems beyond Sanctuary. The special systems Huaramarca and Elysium are also Salvager free.

Mid game enemies
* Barbary: It is armed with an EMP cannon, and it is as fast as a Wolfen. If you cannot kill it, it WILL paralyze your ship eventually, unless your armor is immune to EMP.

* Dwarg Master: The cnidocyst cannon fires long-range, tracking EMP shots that will quickly drain mid-level shields then paralyze the playership. Repeated hits will paralyze your ship far longer than necessary for other ships to finish you off. This alone is enough to drive players crazy, but there is more. The master is escorted by numerous Zoanthrope raiders and the occasional behemoth, and while the escorts attack the player, the master itself prefers to keep away and bombard the player with the cnidocyst cannon. If you get past the escorts and catch up to the master to get a clean shot off, its armor reflects particle beams. Your best bet for dispatching one with midgame weaponry? Contaminate it with radiation and let it wander off to die somewhere.

* Huari: They are overpowered when the player first encounters them. Hurin destroyers are armed with six slam cannons and are protected by superconducting shields, which can regenerate quickly as long as their plentiful supply of superconducting coils lasts. Huari fortresses are armed with four Mark III howitzers. Straying too close to a hostile fortress is a very quick way to die. If you wish to befriend the Huari, you cannot destroy any of their ships or the fortresses they guard. On the other hand, they have excellent loot and are easier to destroy than Ventari.

* Slaver, Earth: Shi3ldsDown 3.1.5 can knockout shields instantly. This is deadly for playerships that have weak armor and rely on shields for defense; more so for Invincible-class shield users. Fortunately, Earth slavers are relatively rare, and are usually found guarding Sung Citadels or as siege units during missions related to the Huari.

* Slaver, Wind: The second fastest ship in the game, appears in swarms, and equipped with fast-firing Shuriken neutron blasters, which cause particle damage. Wind slavers can easily overwhelm and destroy playerships that failed to upgrade equipment adequately.

Late game enemies
* Gaian Processor: The Gaians seek and destroy shipwrecks and all loot within. At least the Gaians cannot destroy wrecked stations, and they do not loot. Fortunately, they are easily baited with crates. Drop one near a Ringer station and watch the ensuing fireworks.

* Luminous Drone: Appears in swarms, and each has a shield that is nearly immune to a single damage type chosen randomly among particle, blast, ion, and thermo. While Luminous drones are not very fast, they are agile and relentless, making them difficult to shake off for long. Their immunities impact equipment choices. To add insult to injury, the Luminous have poor loot.

* Phobos Dreadnought: As of 1.07, the Ares plasma archcannon can hit for up to 576 damage, although average is 300. The maximum damage is enough to kill most ships, or stations for that matter thanks to WMD7, in one or two hits. The archcannon also has the range of a howitzer. For those who think they can outflank the Phobos for safety, think again. The dreadnought is also armed with two Ares lightning turrets.

* Ventari: Armed with an ion disruptor that will ionize equipment. While ionized, equipment malfunctions as if damaged. Weapons misfire, shields fail, reactors lose peak power, enhancers become non-functional. Ioniziation is very bad stuff. The only redeeming quality the Ventari have is the generous loot their wrecked ships leave behind.

* Xenophobe Worldship: Armed with six Xenophobe ion lancers, all of which have very long range and can destroy most ships and stations quickly when several lancers focus on a target. Each worldship is escorted by several defenders, which are escorted by fighters; but all of the escorts are insignificant compared to the worldship. They serve more as a warning (that says "beware of worldship") than as actual threats.

[PM]

Economic tricks for beginners.

General
How buying limits work: If the playership selling an item has more of it than the station buying it has, buying limits do not apply to that item. If the station is offering less for an item than it paid for previously, return when you have more than the station has in stock. Ideally, you should sell a given item twice to the same station. The first time, the maximum amount your ship can carry minus one, then subtract how many the station has in stock. The second time, the maximum amount your ship can carry. For example, an EI500 wants to sell as much titanium ore as possible. The station has 20 tons of titanium in stock. The EI500 sells 179 tons of titanium ore to the station. Station now has 199 tons of titanium ore. Later, the EI500 returns with 200 tons of titanium ore to sell. The station will pay full price again for all 200 tons of titanium. If you EI500 returned with less titanium, the station would refuse to buy anymore.

Early game
Tinkers are a good way to convert select damaged items into new items, some types of ore into armor segments, or fusion triggers into XM900 Lucifer missiles for 50 credits a pop. Damaged armor may be bought, repaired, then sold elsewhere for a profit.

Kill friendly T31 convoys. They carry loot and illegal items, including possible Black Market ID.

Insurance is useful only to those who wish to honor the permadeath conduct. Otherwise, insurance is not only a terrible waste of money, but it can also ruin games if you plan to die and reincarnate to reset a bad game only for insurance to respawn your ship and save the game.

Mid game
Ice farms pay the most for helium fuel rods, twice of what the fuel rods are worth. They do not buy any other fuel, not even helium assemblies. Hoard as many helium fuel rods as you can, buy out the farm, then sell several hundred fuel rods. Doing so will yield a 10000 credit profit and all of the farm's merchandise. The merchandise the ice farms sell are all luxury food. Make of that as you will.

Corporate manufacturing plants will consume items sold to it and produce more items they sell. If they lose interest in buying a given commodity, wait and they will consume it after a while. Then you can sell that type of commodity again. Nice when you have hundreds of tons of an ore they are interested in buying.

If the School of Engineering at the Arcology enhances reactors, you can buy and install a non-military reactor, enhance it at the school, then sell it for a profit!

Donating 750 credits worth of fuel to the Sisters of Domina will let the player use Pilgram's Aid to refuel or repair armor up to level IX once without any additional cost. 30 helium fuel rods, 10 helium fuel assemblies, or 3 pteracnium fuel rods are worth at least 750 credits. Refueling military reactors can cost tens of thousands of credits or their equivalent in rin. This is useful when the player has a jumpdrive to reach Eridani via Elysium.

The higher militia rank is, the cheaper items sold at Commonwealth Fortresses are. At Colonel rank, items at sold are 55% market price, except Katana Star cannons and XM900 Lucifer missiles. Buy discounted military items then sell them to Black Market stations, which buy military items at 95% market price, for a profit.

Once you get the Domina power Ingenuity, use it at every opportunity. It often enhances a random installed item. Enhanced items may be sold for a profit.

Learn which enemy stations have reinforcements, and kill the reinforcements repeatedly for loot.

Late game
Do *NOT* get suckered into Dvalin's research. His gifts require the offering of many rare and valuable items. A Ferian cannon that can be farmed from a Ferian warrior is superior to anything Dvalin can give you.

Donate medical items to CSC hospitals. Want to trade medical supplies worth 10000 credits to the CSC for a level VIII shield worth 60000 credits? Yes, please! You may receive a specific gift item from the CSC only once, except beverages. This means you cannot donate 10000 credits worth of medical supplies multiple times for multiple plasma shield generators.

Commonwealth Fleet dock services become free if you raise Fleet rank high enough.

If you attempt to visit a Teraton trading chamber while your ship's reactor has a peak power of 250MW or less, there is a chance of a Teraton mugging. If that happens, the Teratons will steal the most valuable item they find in your ship's cargo hold, then place it for sale.

If you do not care about honoring the permadeath conduct, offering yourself to the Teratons for research yields a free item if you survive. A portable autodoc in your ship's cargo hold will greatly increase your chances of survival. If you die, just reincarnate and try again. This process can be repeated as much as you like, with a delay enforced between research sessions.

Read the so-called "spoilers" for the Teraton fabricator, learn how they work, and master them. Consider them as part of the Transcendence instructions manual, much like "spoilers" for other Roguelike games. Effective use of the fabricator will break the game wide open and make your ship very powerful for almost nothing, or at least far below market price. Little else in the game is as overpowered as the Teraton fabricator.

If you have powerful long range weapons, you can destroy Teraton stations without risk then loot them. Teratons will retaliate by spawning more Teraton defenders near other Teraton nests. Not very intimidating, isn't it?

Heretic, the final system of part I, is a relatively safe system until you accept missions or destroy an Iocrym outpost. Destroy the pteravore nests for ore and a place to stash loot. Heretic has plenty of asteroids, and no random encounters. It is a good system to mine asteroids in. If the playership is powerful enough, the player can search for Iocrym outposts and destroy the Iocrym sentinels for loot, namely light Iocrym armor. Do NOT destroy the Iocrym outposts unless you are ready to finish the game.

[christian]

New player here: I'd like to know the ins and outs of being a pirate. Who hates me if I attack which ships/stations? Will the Commonwealth care if I demolish a Corporate station, for example? Where is it safe for a pirate to do business? Can you kill a ship without witnesses and have it go unreported? Stuff like that.

Hey, I'm working in the Mod "New sorvereign" it'll let the player chose by actions what he want to be...
....If you destroy a Commonweath station or ship, the &svCommonweath 'll be hostile to the player even hunt the player, but, other &sv such as Pirates, sungs, or ares 'll become neutral or ally of the player....