I just don't get the plot of this game - here's Y:[Spoilers]

[Ratznium]

I first played through Transcendance when it was v0.99c. I'm greeted by a game with a short text crawl and dropped into a nice little 2D star system where I can head out and blow stuff up.

I've seen dribs and drabs of plot here and there, but only if I thought to key through a few of the added options is some of the stations. Basically, I figured out plenty of the game mechanics, involving the use of various weapon types, shipyards, looting, donating to Domina and so on. I use Elysium as my 'base'. I have my stash of mule autons parked there for where I can dump spare supplies, currently unused weapons, spare weapon boosters, longzhus and so on.

But I don't even know what's going on in the game. It never really tells me where I'm supposed to go, or what I'm supposed to do - other than to continue towards the core and eventually (at present) get to the Heretic system. You start out in Eridani, and if you muddle your way around a bit - you might find out about Argo. However, I started exploring around the place, found the gate to the next system and just went on from there. I remember doing some Korokov shipping missions, but only because they were offering cash.

I've never seen any Ares missions until my recent playthrough - where there were missions from a CSC base. I've been able to infer that they are at war with ?humans.

Sung? Annoying bases that blow up their own critical cargo (slaves can't be cheap to replace) because they are stupid. Either that or they know that I will own them so they're doing it to spite me.
[Reading the forums here I now know some more detail about Sung/Huari - the secret system, the missions, etc. Unfortunately despite my Sung genocide, the Huari still aren't impressed this time around. I'm near certain that I've never attacked anything of theirs, let alone blown up their ships].

Penitent? Just dudes that have a ring of death attack, but are putty at some range with pretty much any decent weapon. Dangerous if you run into one by accident, so they're basically space mines with a few ships protecting them.
[Recently read that they're basically devil worshippers or thereabouts helping the bad transcended being. I just see them as a tasty target].
For the record, I like to use a freighter ship with powerful omni/ranged heavy weapon; cargo space is paramount because I'm a pack rat.

I only realised you can gain ranks and do more missions in the CSC bases through this forum. Other than trying to get a lamplighter, I don't understand the purpose of gaining ranks - other than "just because".

I would have NEVER figured out the black market thing were it not for the forums. Although, that's pretty clever and I like George's sense of humour.

Is there some way to tell how much Domina loves you? She must be pretty damn impressed with me on my current replay. I've donated hundreds of tonnes of fuel rods, a handful of different special gems (including a longzhu or two), piles of Sung's ex-slaves, a tonne of money (yes, every last penny on a few occasions). I also donated all my death cubes, human cadavres etc.

What I'd love to see is a full story walkthrough for this game, something that explains the plot (not just go to A, click 1, go to B, sell item).
At the moment I'm a walking (floating?) ball of death cruising around the galaxy killing anything that so much as dares approach my ship with a red recticle. I know there's a hell of a lot more depth to this game, I just haven't accessed it.

[Blitz]

Transcendence is still WIP. George is steadily adding a lot of content with each new release. I've started playing with 0.97 but I did try out 0.7 (i think, not sure, and I believe that was the first version) and there have been a lot of additions. The 1.0RC4 has even more content.

And, oyu must remember that that this is still essentially only half the game as only pre-heretic systems are done. The last few versions have been finetuning the gameplay and adding LOTS of content. It's actually pretty impressive for a oneman job.

This focus on gameplay at these is the right way to go, in my opinion, as it's the hard part of making any game rather than the story. The story can be expanded and added upon later. That shouldn't be difficult. And this is already being done in stages...

Actually, several factions and features in the game do have interesting back stories (which are not present in-game) which are scattered over the the transcendecne forums and site.

Regarding the black market thing - this game is meant to have a LOT of replay value. I did figure out the black market on my own actually the first time through the dumb luck of having docked with a hotel with illegal items on me...

PS And since this seems to be your first post, welcome to transcendence

[Corporal Jomn]

For the Black Market, here's a single word hint: money. Gaining ranks in the Commenwealth Miltia gives you two suprises. Go to the Officer's Club each time you're promoted.

[schilcote]

head out and blow stuff up.

The entire point of Transcendence is encompassed in that sentence fragment. The storyline stuff is only so you have more money to buy bigger guns to blow more stuff up with.

You can tell how much Domina loves you by pressing I. Doing so is also helpful for blowing stuff up as it allows you to use your "domina powers" like Protect and Shatter.

[Corporal Jomn]

I can't seem to get those. I know how, but in RC4 I can't seem to get the higher levels.

[Curudan]

To expand on what Blitz said, I've found a lot of interesting information on the unofficial Transcendence forum here, though I don't know how much of it is accurate anymore. Most of the Transcendence background information is on the "Explore" section of the website.

I can't seem to get those. I know how, but in RC4 I can't seem to get the higher levels.

I've been getting them just fine in all of the RC's. What exactly are you doing to gain Domina levels?
I've found that the best method of gaining Domina piety is through donating slave coffins at the Domina sanctum. It only takes two or three slave camps to max out your piety.

[Corporal Jomn]

Oh, I did giving them illegal stuff, cause I didn't have anywhere else to put them, and I didn't to get involved in the "business."

[Atarlost]

They don't like people donating illegal stuff.

[Ratznium]

Thanks for the welcome. However I've been lurking this board for a couple of years now (ever since I first played Transcendence, however long that was ago).

Annnyway.

I get that the game doesn't really tell you where to go or what to do. I've figured out plenty of it on my own, even finding the secret system (purely by accident, the first time).


What I would love to see is a detailed walkthrough that leads me to all the plot related missions/storyline/secrets. I just don't have the time to patiently explore this game like I used to have, and I kind of need a guide so that I can enjoy all the hard work George has put into it.

Otherwise I just cruise around in my decked out freighter with ridiculously overpowered guns, demolishing the universe and creating an immense stockpile of loot in the Eridani system.

The last playthrough I was using Xelerus' modpack and had to very CAREFULLY *not* disintegrate the Iocrym.

So yeah - the point of this thread is to request an explanation/guide to the plot based content.

[Blitz]

Hmm..AFAIK, there's plenty of background information on the game but little written data about the progress the player makes during the period of the game.

But if you want to see all the effort and coolness George put in, Use TransData to extract the xmls and look through them. Then, you can see all the possibilities of the game. But I advise you not to without playing through the game thoroughly cuz it's very very spoily...

Here's the link for the TransData version 1.8 for the Transcendence version 1.0RC4

http://www.neurohack.com/downloads/TransData18.zip

[schilcote]

walkthrough

mmlngmngnm...

I guess I might make such a thing if I get bored.

[Blitz]

walkthrough

mmlngmngnm...

I guess I might make such a thing if I get bored.

Better wait for final 1.0 to be released though. There still are going to be plenty of changes...