Launching a Let's Play Transcendence 1.1

[ildamos]

Hello all! I've been telling myself to play this awesome game (I know it is as I'm an X: Beyond the Frontier-Wing Commander fan) but never really got around to it. Now with George having released the long awaited version 1.1 though, I think it's the right time to do a Let's Play of this game. Forgive the accent when the videos come up though; I'm just a newbie commentator and I'm not American nor am I British.

I've already put up news about this on my site to let my mates and my Facebook followers know:

http://imbacore.blogspot.com/2013/02/fr ... 1dot1.html

My YouTube channel by the way: http://www.youtube.com/user/ildamos

I hope that in my own small way, I will be contributing to boosting Transcendence's publicity.

Happy gaming all!

[george moromisato]

Awesome! I can't wait to see it. Thanks for doing this.

[RPC]

Congrats! I'll be promoting this on the Transcendence Facebook page by the way
Will you do vanilla or sprinkle in some mods?

[ildamos]

George and RPC no less! Thanks for the support guys!

I kinda boosted the mic's level way too high so Part 1 one has some hiss in the background ---- sorry about that. I made a playlist (I'm going to fill in the coming days):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... BJCTQn5Pc0

I fumble for words sometimes; I'm more of a writer than a commentator. Here's a sample review of another free space PC game: My Wing Commander Saga Review. I hope to make a Transcendence review in the coming weeks.

Please Like (and subscribe if you like my content) the video.

Part 2 (which I'm editing now) will have questions; I'll post them on the vid's description box. Hopefully the questions will pique the curiosity of others gamers and inform them of the deep gameplay this game has.

Happy gaming!

[Ttech]

George and RPC no less! Thanks for the support guys!

I kinda boosted the mic's level way too high so Part 1 one has some hiss in the background ---- sorry about that. I made a playlist (I'm going to fill in the coming days):

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... BJCTQn5Pc0

I fumble for words sometimes; I'm more of a writer than a commentator. Here's a sample review of another free space PC game: My Wing Commander Saga Review. I hope to make a Transcendence review in the coming weeks.

Please Like (and subscribe if you like my content) the video.

Part 2 (which I'm editing now) will have questions; I'll post them on the vid's description box. Hopefully the questions will pique the curiosity of others gamers and inform them of the deep gameplay this game has.

Happy gaming!

This is really cool! We were talking about how there should be a Lets Play 1.1 and you beat us to it! Probably going to do a better job at it then we would. Good luck!

I really do like the concept behind Part 2, can't wait to watch it!

[ildamos]

Thanks! I hope the accent don't bother you too much!

Have a lookie at the Wing Commander Review; I was wondering if you guys can put a link to my Transcendence review on the wikia or the main page if ever George decides to put up a list of links to Transcendence reviews on the homepage (and if ever I release it; I still have the day job to contend with ).

EDIT: I forgot to answer RPC's question. Yes, I'm playing a vanilla version.

[ildamos]

Part 2 uploaded:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctML2ua ... BJCTQn5Pc0

The questions are in the description box. These should hopefully make the viewers curious, seeing that the questions highlight the deeper gameplay aspects of the game.

[PM]

QUESTIONS:
1. Is it worth replacing sheets of high-hp armor with low-hp ones that have higher resistances?
2. If you intend to complete all side quests (in a given sector) do new ones pop up? Is the quest system randomized?
3. If you do mine out a system (side quests, asteroids and all) and consequently jump up in terms of firepower and durability, would the game compensate?
4. If you make a mistake and rush things, would the game adjust the enemies encountered in later sectors or would this approach make the game unplayable in later sectors?

1. This will vary by player preference. I use solar armor for most of the game (for free refueling), and rely on the most powerful shield I can acquire (and Domina powers Sustain and Desperate Escape) for defense. Late in the game, when fuel and money are no longer a concern, I replace solar armor with high level ion-effect immune armor, ideally light Iocrym armor, though *carbide armor will do in a pinch. As for resistances, enemies vary too much for resistances alone to be more useful than more hit points most of the time.

2. Except for a few loosely connected late game events, no. When a source can give one of multiple missions within a given criteria, one is chosen randomly.

3. Thankfully, Transcendence does not feature dynamic difficulty. Enemies do not magically upgrade when you upgrade. If you grind and/or exploit your way to the top, you get to crush the world as you get drunk with godlike power.

4. Enemies (and stray loot) get progressively stronger as you travel coreward regardless of your power level. If you do not upgrade your ship, later enemies will one-shot you.

[ildamos]

QUESTIONS:
1. Is it worth replacing sheets of high-hp armor with low-hp ones that have higher resistances?
2. If you intend to complete all side quests (in a given sector) do new ones pop up? Is the quest system randomized?
3. If you do mine out a system (side quests, asteroids and all) and consequently jump up in terms of firepower and durability, would the game compensate?
4. If you make a mistake and rush things, would the game adjust the enemies encountered in later sectors or would this approach make the game unplayable in later sectors?

1. This will vary by player preference. I use solar armor for most of the game (for free refueling), and rely on the most powerful shield I can acquire (and Domina powers Sustain and Desperate Escape) for defense. Late in the game, when fuel and money are no longer a concern, I replace solar armor with high level ion-effect immune armor, ideally light Iocrym armor, though *carbide armor will do in a pinch. As for resistances, enemies vary too much for resistances alone to be more useful than more hit points most of the time.

2. Except for a few loosely connected late game events, no. When a source can give one of multiple missions within a given criteria, one is chosen randomly.

3. Thankfully, Transcendence does not feature dynamic difficulty. Enemies do not magically upgrade when you upgrade. If you grind and/or exploit your way to the top, you get to crush the world as you get drunk with godlike power.

4. Enemies (and stray loot) get progressively stronger as you travel coreward regardless of your power level. If you do not upgrade your ship, later enemies will one-shot you.

Thanks for the tips! Yes, fuel is becoming a problem; I find I'm shelling out jaw-dropping amounts for fuel rods lately, stunting my finances. Solar armor hmmm, have yet to come across it. I'll copy-paste this on the YouTube page but if you've a YouTube account, it'd help the community even more by pasting this yourself; would give the appearance to gamers that "hey! this game really does have a robust fan base!"

I don't know about the others but a large community almost always draws me in into trying out an indie game.

If you're busy though; I'll copy paste these a week from now on Part 2's YouTube page. Thanks PM!!

[PM]

Be warned: Solar armor is fragile. To use it (past St. K's) without dying, you need the following:

* Get the most powerful shield (and reactor to power it) available.
* Avoid Earth Slavers and Sung Citadels at all costs! They use a Shi3lds Down cyberdeck. That will drop your shield instantly, and solar armor will crumple like tissue paper before weapons wielded by Earth Slavers and other enemies of similar power.
* Be faster than the enemy. For ships slower than Wolfen, get either the Titan 440 or inertialess drive, and enhance it if possible.
* Unlock the Desperate Escape power as soon as possible. Once you get it, always have it available. If it isn't, flee to a safe spot (change systems if necessary) until you get the power back.
* Have escape items ready. These include Halo gems, jumpdrive, and a few others. Use them if you cannot get away from enemies fast enough.
* Radiation immunity is must for solar armor, at least if you want to loot radioactive wrecks.
* Later in the game, get a jumpdrive as soon as possible. This will let you warp to Elysium, a hub system. Elysium has no enemies, and you get sit on the star to refuel as long as you want. Better yet, with the jumpdrive, you can access cheap fuel tricks quickly, and ditch your solar armor for more powerful armor that can withstand hits from powerful weapons.
* Most of all, use every dirty trick or exploit you can think of to stack things in your favor. Never fight fair, and be prepared to flee if things look dangerous.

Example of one fuel trick: Donate 750 credits worth of fuel to Sisters of Domina. This earns you an attitude point. Then use Pilgram's Aid to refuel ship. This costs you an attitude point. If you have a high-powered military reactor, this transaction will give you thousands of credits worth of fuel for a fraction of the cost. Sisters of Domina is guaranteed in Eridani or Heretic. Use jumpdrive to reach those systems quickly on demand. 750 credits of fuel is common loot later in the game.

Refuel rate of four segments of solar armor is slow once max reactor power exceeds 100 MW.

Solar armor and/or panels may be difficult to come by. I am not above start scumming for useful items like solar armor/panel or targeting program ROM. Start scumming is only a minute or less per restart. Playing a frustrating game due to lack of basics/RNG spite can last hours. Do the math.

[FourFire]

you get Solar armor from Heliotrope destroyers, farm (don't destroy, but let it spawn ships which you kill) Heliotrope colonies until you have a full set, personally I go for OK armor, low HP high regen/resist shields and rapid, fuel efficient gameplay rather than handicapping myself in order to make it. You should find the playstyle you are most comfortable with and have most fun with though

[PM]

you get Solar armor from Heliotrope destroyers, farm (don't destroy, but let it spawn ships which you kill) Heliotrope colonies until you have a full set

I do not remember finding such colonies until after St. K's, and by then, that is too late in the game for me. What I do is explore the first few systems for solar equipment, and if nothing sells them, BAM! restart game. Only takes a few minutes. If I am really impatient, I quit if Eridani does not sell any solar items, unless I obtain targeting program ROM (in a standard game with non-EI500). Fuel is a problem the moment the game starts, and acquiring solar items immediately eliminates a vicious money sink.

[ildamos]

Be warned: Solar armor is fragile. To use it (past St. K's) without dying, you need the following:

* Get the most powerful shield (and reactor to power it) available.
* Avoid Earth Slavers and Sung Citadels at all costs! They use a Shi3lds Down cyberdeck. That will drop your shield instantly, and solar armor will crumple like tissue paper before weapons wielded by Earth Slavers and other enemies of similar power.
* Be faster than the enemy. For ships slower than Wolfen, get either the Titan 440 or inertialess drive, and enhance it if possible.
* Unlock the Desperate Escape power as soon as possible. Once you get it, always have it available. If it isn't, flee to a safe spot (change systems if necessary) until you get the power back.
* Have escape items ready. These include Halo gems, jumpdrive, and a few others. Use them if you cannot get away from enemies fast enough.
* Radiation immunity is must for solar armor, at least if you want to loot radioactive wrecks.
* Later in the game, get a jumpdrive as soon as possible. This will let you warp to Elysium, a hub system. Elysium has no enemies, and you get sit on the star to refuel as long as you want. Better yet, with the jumpdrive, you can access cheap fuel tricks quickly, and ditch your solar armor for more powerful armor that can withstand hits from powerful weapons.
* Most of all, use every dirty trick or exploit you can think of to stack things in your favor. Never fight fair, and be prepared to flee if things look dangerous.

Example of one fuel trick: Donate 750 credits worth of fuel to Sisters of Domina. This earns you an attitude point. Then use Pilgram's Aid to refuel ship. This costs you an attitude point. If you have a high-powered military reactor, this transaction will give you thousands of credits worth of fuel for a fraction of the cost. Sisters of Domina is guaranteed in Eridani or Heretic. Use jumpdrive to reach those systems quickly on demand. 750 credits of fuel is common loot later in the game.

Refuel rate of four segments of solar armor is slow once max reactor power exceeds 100 MW.

Solar armor and/or panels may be difficult to come by. I am not above start scumming for useful items like solar armor/panel or targeting program ROM. Start scumming is only a minute or less per restart. Playing a frustrating game due to lack of basics/RNG spite can last hours. Do the math.

Whoa Attitude Points? Nothing in the game mentioned those. @_@ It's good that this game has hidden features; nothing to intrigue a player into playing further than hidden features (and I mean that seriously).

I'm still in the early phases of the game and am juggling finance so donating to the Sisters isn't exactly much of an option right now.

PM, if you have a YouTube account, could you paste your replies on this page?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctML2ua ... c0&index=2

Not only would it help my channel, but it would reinforce the fact that players DO play this game, making viewers feel that the game is worth downloading. If you don't have an account, it's ok; I can post them myself. But it would seriously help if you yourself would post the helpful tips. Will ask more questions tomorrow on my YouTube pages.


PS

There are radioactive wrecks? This game is getting better by the day!! Awesome job George!


EDIT:

PPS

I died in Part 4 of my Let's Play (playlist here - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... BJCTQn5Pc0) but it's ALL GOOD! I like games that provide a reasonable amount of challenge (hard but not frustrating). I'm going to continue and respawn and make a Part 5. This game is awesome!

[ildamos]

Copy-pasted PM's replies to YouTube.

Meanwhile: Part 5 of my Let's Play #Transcendence (#Freeware #FreetoPlay #PC game) is split into two parts, owing to me realizing belatedly that I've used a different compression scheme for each of the two segments. 5a went live several hours ago:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uftOo1QNqw

[ildamos]

Posted about my Let's Play on my site. Contains screenshots, an embedded video (the first part) and a "the story so far" section where I summarized all the parts in the video series:

http://imbacore.blogspot.com/2013/02/Fr ... -Game.html