SmartCannon is suboptimal, but it is not always useless. I have used it a few times when I could not find anything better than an omnidirectional laser, or if I wanted an early omni weapon but did not have the cash to buy one. Tinkers can build them from damaged AK15 Partisans, and T31 ships can dro...

Phobos is easy to kill with a long range weapon (as in FusionFire or Xenophobe ion lancer). Drift backwards and shoot. It is the same strategy for killing various slow AI-controlled ships with inferior weapon range in Star Control 2. It took some practice when I encountered the Phobos for the first ...

Sounds like an acceptable break from reality. Still, the Commonwealth should bust you if they confiscate too much contraband from your ship. By too much, I mean above an arbitrary credit threshold. They are known to bust you if you are caught with a black market container, which is worth 50000 credi...

After learning of the various factions, including space pirates (Charon and others), bug people (Ferians and Zoanthropes), Borg (Sung), space elves and dark elves (Ringers and Teratons), and Martians (Ares); sometimes I think the Iocrym and Domina may have the right idea of frying everyone to ashes,...

Yes. After Eta Ceti, once Jenna takes damage, she leaves for good. The only way you can stop this is not let her shields collapse in the first place. Weak as her shields are, her shields will collapse at some point. Being a load, it is best to let her go. (I would decline her offer to join if I did ...

Side quests such as becoming legendary hero of the Battle Arena or serving in Commonwealth missions can easily provide resources the pilgram needs to make his ultimate journey. Even the pilgram himself can come to that conclusion. If the pilgram believes Domina is God (which the quote from George sa...

Another thing, the pilgramage can just be an excuse for the player to become a pirate or omnicidal maniac, and blast every ship and smash every station. All just "For the Evulz". This game has plenty of cruelty potential.

This bugs me too. (To yacht: You saved me the trouble of writing about this.) Another thing, that is a bit funny, is when you want to install or remove forbidden devices, they can clearly see your contraband, but just do nothing except maybe say "We do not install...". Also, if you have a smugglers ...

Playing the game, Domina feels like a nicer version of the metaphysical gods of Nethack. Domina does not get angry and give divine punishment such as cursing your equipment or killing you for invoking or praying one too many times. At worst, Domina just scolds you if you attempt to use Sustain too f...

Kytryn Launcher Since pointing out underachieving weapons seems to be the order of the day, I like to submit another: the Kytryn Launcher. The problem with this weapon is the ammo it launches, Kytryn Plasma Pods, have a high enough probability of not spawning anywhere in the game. Without ammo, the...

Yes. You need 2000 xp to reach the fifth rank. Each slave coffin is worth 100 xp, and each Halo gem is worth 200 xp. Other offerings include optical knowledge arrays worth 20 xp apiece. Abbasid thanograms and jewels of contemplation go for 100 xp per item. There are other items such as death cubes t...

Yes, the Akan600 is not the best weapon, but at least it can kill stuff; and the enhanced one given by Dvalin is not too hard to get. The only game I used it in, I did not find any omnidirectional weapon stronger than an omnidirectional laser cannon or particle beam by the time I met Dvalin. The Aka...

In other Roguelikes, the lower your score and the quicker the game, the "better" you are supposed to be. I suppose the thinking is anyone can grind to maximum score, but it takes skill to win quickly while avoiding stuff that can kill you.

Shield downtime is long enough not to matter in a fight. Once your shields are down, you have three options: use Domina powers, flee the battle, or fight to win or die.

I dislike refueling too. Fuel drains too quickly unless everything is off, which is too risky unless armor is endgame strong.

Slave coffins are "Soul" items. Soul items fed to the fabricator increase its disposition by the level of the item offered. In contrast, luxury food such as ice moss, Misato sake, or rotten fruit (yes, Sarlacc likes rotten fruit, even if no one else does) is worth one. (Exception: Ringer Ambrosia is...