Tenebrous Pirate
Exemplar
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Why? Well, why not?
Posts: 482
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Post by Tenebrous Pirate on Aug 31, 2011 9:00:55 GMT -5
So, mainly I wanna bug Fensiko, slayernz, abs, and company with this thread, but all others are welcome to contribute!
How long do your longest characters last? I am curious about how long various games go, and how lthe level-date ration spread looks across class divisions.
List your most advanced living and deceased characters, with their faction, level, exp, difficulty, class, date, and whatnot. Here are mine:
Living Freeman Level 71 Cadar Spy (3,427 Exp.) 445.1AE on Impossible(7)
Seymour Butts Level 37 Cadar Zealout (1,160 Exp.) 140.12 AE on Impossible(7)
Chip Level 33 Thulun Merchant (1,052 Exp.) 315.28 AE on Insane(6)
Dr. Jones Level 16 Javat Explorer (400Exp.) 219.26 AE on Crazy(5)
Deceased Morgan Level 69 De Valtos Pirate (3,700 Exp.) 566.28 AE on Impossible(7)
James Bond Level 51 Cadar Spy (2,030 Exp.) 308.15 AE on Impossible(7)
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Post by absimiliard on Aug 31, 2011 12:11:55 GMT -5
I'm afraid my characters are largely disposable tissue-paper.
Though I have characters who last for a while they tend to get set aside somewhere around level 20 or so. By the time they're pretty much winning all the time I'm starting to lose interest in them. I enjoy the phase of the game that is about "surviving the start, getting the awesome ships, perfecting your captain's role, setting up caches, etc." much more than actually using those things.
At that point I usually go try a new class or playstyle for an old class. I don't delete the "winning" character, but they get a lot less play, mostly just time-killing rather than "deep thinking".
My new characters often die somewhere in the 3-7 level, then have a mortality rate that goes down a bit over levels. I find that there comes a point where I've gotten the essential spread of skills I need, but at the cost of being specialized in what I should be doing, that is very dangerous to my characters, that's right in the 3-7 range. If a character is lucky enough to get a decent ship, and tough enough to survive that period, they enter a phase where I'm adding skills pertinent to their playstyle and as a result their survivabity begins to rise over time. Somewhere around 20 or so they are clearly "successful" characters and I move on to newer challenges.
If you're getting the impression that what I most enjoy about the game is getting my ass kicked and dying in gruesome and horrible ways (often involving mutiny or boarding-attempts gone horribly wrong) you would be 100% SPOT ON.
(which is why I play on Impossible)
Oh, there was a phase where I was ramping up to impossible and took my favorite charcters and deleted them to restart them on impossible. That often involved a lot of deaths, followed by their identically-named sons/daughters taking their place. After all, my ST: RPG world wouldn't be complete without the notorious spy Lidda Sly, the skeezy Rychart smuggler "Snuggles McSnugglypants" (don't ever call him by his real name "Teris DeNova"), the Steel Song fanatic assassin Algernon Flowers, or the famed DeValtos merchant who goes only by "Mssr. DeValtos".
{edit} Damn, can't believe I forgot the terrifying pirate Lissa Cadar, she's seriously bad news for any Indep captain out there. Her fanatic defense of humanity against the alien, and her belief that Indeps are a weak-link in humanity's defenses, coincide in such a way that she's never met an Indep she won't shoot on site. "Damn Indeps are even worse than the aliens they collaberate with, fire a spread of HK's Mr. Gunner," is a pretty common way to start off a morning on her ship the "Virtue of Audacity". {/edit}
But once that phase was over I pretty much went back to my normal playstyle.
-abs
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Post by Cory Trese on Aug 31, 2011 13:42:18 GMT -5
While I don't have much to add, I really like the concept that Independents are the weak link. I think we'll add that to the character motivation list for when we have authors writing ST RPG books =)
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Fenikso
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 & Elite Supporter ]
Nobody expects the Rychart Inquisition!
Posts: 753
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Post by Fenikso on Sept 1, 2011 4:59:12 GMT -5
Right now I have only 3 Captains in my roster: Alia (if that is possible, I would rename her to Alia II. Shawarazan ) Level 83 Rychart Pirate (5,623 Exp.) 380.50AE on Impossible(7) Smith II.Level 20 De Valtos Merchant (668 Exp.) 159.34AE on Impossible(7) Alioth VII.Level 4 Cadar military Officer (94 Exp.) 70.26AE on Impossible(7) I am not keeping track of the dead Captains. But there are a lot of them. Especially my Bounty Hunters are unlucky ones. Last one, Gaah XX., died recently. I have also deleted a few characters which I did not enjoy playing anymore. Usually, until level 5 they are just as abs mentioned "disposable tissue-paper". After level 5 they have strong will for living and die of stupid mistake or baaad luck about level 20. The most common cause of death is "could not resist taking over this ship, I will get lucky and get to the star dock in one piece". BTW: The nickname is Fenikso which stands for Phoenix in Esperanto.
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Post by sgtcookie on Sept 1, 2011 5:21:22 GMT -5
Current characters:
Cookie: Pirate Level 10 Rychart 83.34 AE Shawarazan method
Trea: Bounty hunter level 4 65.5 AE Modified verson of the Shawarazan method
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Post by absimiliard on Sept 1, 2011 11:19:19 GMT -5
The most common cause of death is "could not resist taking over this ship, I will get lucky and get to the star dock in one piece". I don't think I can second this experience enough. Vast, no really, seriously VAST, majorities of my dead fighting characters die from taking over a new ship. Often I'll make it back into port for repairs, though far from "always". But I then lose fights because it takes a while to find the upgrades I need to get my ship up to snuff. It's almost to the point where I check before buying that ship to see if there's a starport with upgrades for me. I'm definitely at the point where I will consider not flying a new ship until I get a rumor about a starport with lots of upgrades. I can usually manage one trip across the galaxy, if I'm lucky, having to go too far beyond that in search up upgrades during my character's "fragile" phase is very dangerous for me. -abs
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Tenebrous Pirate
Exemplar
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Why? Well, why not?
Posts: 482
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Post by Tenebrous Pirate on Sept 1, 2011 15:52:23 GMT -5
Yeah, I am pretty good about avoiding this pitfall.
I don't take over ships unless it is a. A royal or spear class and I am still in my starter ship OR b. I already have enough money saved up to fully repair it and get an upgrade or two.
If I am buying a new ship, I will only but it outright, and not trade in my old one. That way I can keep working on upgrades for the new one as they become available or as I have the cash.
What can I say? I am pretty patient and methodical.
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Fenikso
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 & Elite Supporter ]
Nobody expects the Rychart Inquisition!
Posts: 753
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Post by Fenikso on Sept 1, 2011 15:56:08 GMT -5
@abs - As I usually do not use stealth, my captains are the most vulnerable when I am flying damaged ship. After repairs I am usually able to defend myself without problems even without upgrades. But things like 3 engines and no sails are real danger.
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Post by 12coryt on Sept 1, 2011 18:46:47 GMT -5
I'm a little bit of a late bloomer. I like to scope everything out and just try different things.
Captain Death: Level 16 Star Trader 181.39 AE on Hard
I've had like two other characters but they died.
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Post by celu on Sept 2, 2011 23:58:10 GMT -5
I usually try a specific job until I can survive and dominate, then I get bored of it and start another one.
current captains: Lv 50 smuggler for the reward on crazy.
spy @ lv32, suspended play until I get used to the new fuel curve.
and many, many Captains below lv10 who sacrificed their life through research for future generation.
and many, many lv20s and up that I just got bored with or becomes suicidal and try to engage as many ships as possible without repair and refueling, either I die from hull collapse or be killed by my own crew.
I usually try to create a long name with the least amount of vowels and still be pronounceable.
@cory: I have been imagining a fan fiction novel/saga while I perform my non-cranial-requiring-tasks for employment. but i have ADD to start even a page of it.
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Fenikso
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 & Elite Supporter ]
Nobody expects the Rychart Inquisition!
Posts: 753
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Post by Fenikso on Sept 7, 2011 5:16:42 GMT -5
I have created a new Captain recently. His name is "Fenikso", but I am calling him "Test Pilot" for a purpose. I have used and idea posted by Slayernz.
Test Pilot Level 6 Rychart pirate (503 Exp.) 105.48AE on Impossible(7)
Pilot 15 Tactics 15 Warrior 5 Intimidation 5
390 free XP and ~800,000$ Game turn ~2500 Jango Class ship without any upgrades
As you can suspect, I have created him on Star Traders RPG Free, so I can copy him to Elite at any time and use his free XP and money to test various strategies or replicate bugs.
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Tenebrous Pirate
Exemplar
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Why? Well, why not?
Posts: 482
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Post by Tenebrous Pirate on Sept 7, 2011 8:39:27 GMT -5
I have never used the free version... >.<
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Post by boeu on Sept 17, 2011 10:22:47 GMT -5
My best, god rest his maimed soul, was : Insane Pierat, lvl 43, 1568 xp, died at the hands of an independent, in the yr 557.3AE. Damn ship looked good. Just cant seem to get to lvl 50
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Post by rabidbite on Nov 11, 2011 0:19:03 GMT -5
How long do I last?
Just to be infantile:
As long as my lady friend needs me to last baby! Yeehaw!
Game wise:
Mostly 20ish-30ish level as a non combatant. NOT because I can't go higher as an explorer, I find explorers to be extremely easy to play. Once your faction rep is good with everyone, and you got your trade permits, the only thing you have to worry about are independents. My last explorer became space dust when his ship was rammed by an independent Longbow Pirate. Lvl 33 at the time. I should have just surrendered but I was so bored I made a conscious choice to die fighting.
As a pirate I am having so much more fun. Boom BOOM! Stealth and Quickness for the win. My god I love it.
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nyktos
Star Hero
[ cut-throat ]
Posts: 530
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Post by nyktos on Nov 11, 2011 0:23:36 GMT -5
I have never used the free version... >.< +1 im such a noob, i cant even answer this with my head up... not yet anyway! trying to feel the game out as a captain, thinking of turning pirate.
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