Impossible tips?

[Cory Trese]

The ratio of Stealth to Pilot in combat avoidance at Long and Medium range HEAVILY favors Stealth.

At Close/Boarded it it even between the two, with a heavy favoring of Pilot for Aggressive Actions (Ram, Board.)

I agree both builds are viable. Pro-Stealth and Counter-Stealth characters are both very playable on Impossible.

While a fun read, the Pirate Guide frustrates a number of people who e-mail me about it.

The OP may have similar feelings to an e-mail I got a few days ago. The long and short of it is that the guide is far too simple -- it includes things like "take everything" and "get a better ship" which are considered themselves to be too broad or common sense and not helpful. I am not sure that is the guide we should be pointing players to for trying out Impossible. I'd probably suggest Koles Explorer or one of the links SlayerNZ often posts.


I like this thread:

startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=tips&thread=952&page=1

[slayernz]

I'm not the best guy for pirate tips ... I'm always finding I play a more diplomatic approach on the higher levels.

I found (for me) that killing indiscriminately has much higher ramifications than at lower levels. As such, I fly around saying "G'dday" to most of the ships I come across (yes I don't get huge XP for greeting people) ... but I definitely still gain levels and do more than survive (if I'm not killed in the formative phases of the game).

Fenikso is probably the type of gamer who will send his characters running into the middle of a room, guns blazing. I'd be the one moving from vantage point to vantage point picking off the targets one by one. Both are perfectly valid strategies. In fact, Fenikso will guarantee a much faster outcome, and with speed comes more confidence that nobody got away. My strategy means I personally am safer, but some of my targets could potentially escape, and those that remain alive are all the more cautious. Put another way, in the game Aliens Vs Predator, I'm guessing Funikso would be the Predator, whereas I would definitely be the Alien

As you'd expect, I almost always have equal Stealth to Pilot skills, and both Pilot and Stealth sit around 120%+ of my level. In combat, if my opponent is much higher levels than me, I soften him up a bit with torps before going for the Engines. I avoid boarding because my warrior skill is never where it probably needs to be.

Having a Pilot officer and a Military officer would be a fantastic combination for a player who likes to attack attack attack.

Definitely Rychart will be useful as one of your friends because of the space corridor through the center of the map. However, if you're aggressive, flying through that corridor with a death machine could be a great way to rack up kills and experience. It all depends on how risk averse you are.

[mordechai]

Something I noticed which wasn't considered in the pro/con Stealth argument is the double weight Stealth plays towards level:

Aug 9, 2011 11:20:05 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

exp_skill_cost = 3 + mCharacterModel.CharacterLevel() / 7;
exp_att_cost = 6 + mCharacterModel.CharacterLevel() / 5;

final int PointsPerLevel = 6;
CharacterLevel = ((Quickness + Wisdom + Stealth + Charisma + Negotiate + Intimidate + Pilot + Explorer + Warrior + Stealth + Tactics - 50) / PointsPerLevel) + 1;

While I haven't done the calculations, and depending on the way the XP were allocated, by not allocating any XP to Stealth, it seems to result in a 10%-20% lower level for the same number of XP. That would, on average, mean facing opponents 10%-20% weaker per XP. Due to the many factors involved, other than running simulations (or actual game play), I'm not sure how to calculate the actual level difference.

[Fenikso]

Aug 22, 2011 15:21:11 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

While a fun read, the Pirate Guide frustrates a number of people who e-mail me about it.

I am really sorry about that. I tried to express that it is my opinion and not official in any sense. I also have very big success rate with this approach, so I did not think it may lead to any problems. I have moved the guide to another thread and added warning explaining a few things. I hope that will fix it in a long term.

Aug 22, 2011 17:50:34 GMT -5 slayernz said:

Both are perfectly valid strategies. In fact, Fenikso will guarantee a much faster outcome, and with speed comes more confidence that nobody got away. My strategy means I personally am safer, but some of my targets could potentially escape, and those that remain alive are all the more cautious.

Exactly my finding!

Aug 22, 2011 21:13:45 GMT -5 mordechai said:

Something I noticed which wasn't considered in the pro/con Stealth argument is the double weight Stealth plays towards level.

Interesting. I have never thought about it.

Aug 22, 2011 12:43:01 GMT -5 Tenebrous Pirate said:

Tell me how it goes and what you think of it, please.

I would like to move this discussion to another thread, so this one can stick to the topic. After playing a few Stealthy characters yesterday, I have found both strategies playable with a few notable differences. I have written it down here.

[Cory Trese]

that's a great thread and clearly ppl are +1 Karma for it.

good work =)

[celu]

The hardest part on Impossible (or any difficulty for the matter) is the beginning phase.
Patrols want to search you, pirates want to loot you, merchants & smugglers outrun you, constant sail damage every turn, out of fuel all the time, psychotic crew who wants to kill you...on and on...
When taking missions, negative rep against a faction is larger than positive rep you gain from employer.
So how can we overcome all these challenges?

One word: Train
Train yourself on each profession:
Merchant - makes visit to exchange a practice. rumor chasing, goods budgeting, fuel budgeting, escaping/surrendering from pirates and patrol search as a normal business procedure.

Pirate - desensitize loot and mercilessly blowing up traders. combat maneuvering. Confidence boost in battles. Capturing ships.

Minor training:
Smuggler - Carrying banned goods, caching, practical application of merchant+pirate skill.

Stop thinking explorer! there are plenty of ways to make money (emphasis on merchant's learned skill).

Surrender to pirate/patrol takes precedence over battle if potential damage and doctor fee is grater than profit from cargo hold. (until you develop your skills and flying a better ship). CAUTION: surrender reduces crew morale, so spice it up if it drops below 7.

Buy cheap pardon before you offend them again.
"Try" for trade permit on all clans before you decide which 2 or 3 you would favor. Don't rank up or register for a death warrant before you pick which team to play for or strong enough to carry the action packed misadventures.

Train: pilot, stealth (or not...according to fenikso) to improve survival rate and fuel efficiency.
Then, tactics for winning encounter and targeting engines. (If tactics is low, most likely you will hit the haul and not the engines).

Capture the right ship at the right place.
Hunt for "Quick" ships NEAR an accessible star dock and make sure you have money for repairs. Preferably a lower haul size compare to your current pilot skill or at least as close to it as possible if pilot skill is lower.
Then, when your pilot/stealth/tactics are developed, look for the everyone's favorite THE Royal Class.

Upgrade: whatever your ship is, try to upgrade the engines to be more than twice the size of the haul
Officers: a mechanic is a must (with 3+ metals on hold) to save on repair expenses.
Maybe a Political officer to keep you out of trouble when trading until you're strong enough to not care if other factions wants your head on a silver platter.
Pilot officer: for multitude of benefits
Officer of choice: depending on your profession.

Heal every scratch and spice up to 7.

If you survive more than a few turns, you're gonna have to take some bounty contracts that can pay between 35K to 80k+ (only if you're not playing merchant), that should be enough to fund your lavish lifestyle.

[slayernz]

Great response Celu. Pretty much summarized as "be very cautious, train hard, hire officers.

The great thing is that on impossible, at the beinning you're often near broke, so officers are dirt-cheap. I picked up a mechanic for $7 one time. What a bargain!!! Of course, I ran out of fuel 8 sectors from my next port of call and the crew killed me during a mutiny, but it was still fun while it lasted

[Cory Trese]

great post celu. +Exalt!

[hayenne]

Pilot officer? Alien hunter? Who are they and what do they provide? Neither of these are in help files!

[Tenebrous Pirate]

They are officers that can be recruited to serve your captain. You can have up to three officers, and each one gives you different bonuses (and in some cases penalties).

The Pilot Officer can be found in a palace on a planet that has the rumor of visiting spice traders. He gives bonuses to piloting stuffs.

The Veteran Officer (often refered to as the alien hunter) can be found on the wild zones of planets that have the rumor of alien activity. He give bonuses to fighting aliens, does extra damage when you successfully board an opponent, but he is so crazy and creepy that he can hurt morale.

[Cory Trese]

Aug 31, 2011 3:09:49 GMT -5 hayenne said:

Pilot officer? Alien hunter? Who are they and what do they provide? Neither of these are in help files!

Help File Oversight #245 =)

We are working to improve the help files. I have been saying that for about 7 months now, I know, but I do mean it. I'm just slow.

[hayenne]

Thanks Cory, nice to hear that!

[slayernz]

Cory's made a good point - the help files are still a work in progress and unfortunately there is a distinct lack of time for some of us to make the necessary improvements. I'm also a culprit of not making any changes even though there is a wealth of information in the forums that isn't included in the Wiki.

So if anyone who's relatively senior here is keen on adding some content to the Wiki, please send me a pm. I'll grant you edit access to all of the pages so we can get this stuff rolling again.

Cheers
Stu

[Cory Trese]

I'm working with Liz to get the source documentation for the current manual project which will be a 200 page guide when finished. I think we're 95% done at this point, just needs that last push.

Unfortunately a lot of the senior members got busy (I miss Spike / Liz.) Thanks for staying with us SlayerNZ =)

[slayernz]

I miss old Alchy too ... I hope he comes back soon as his hat supply must certainly be down to the last fedoras.