|
|
Post by resistor on Mar 4, 2019 15:14:16 GMT -5
Yesterday I had an unusual experience and thought you guys may find it interesting. The story begins with me creating a ship combat-focused MO to hunt and salvage pirates to avenge the death of my last explorer. I was using a Fidellis Cutter, that I would go on to give it close-range weapons, a chaser engine, and four Pilot Assist Modules. I had three combat crew and one combat officer, and I recruited two Doctor and two Engineer crew in addition to my starting doctor and engineer officers for talents to heal and patch damage. After completing a mission to a neutral quadrant, I went to trade on a planet that had both a Refinery and High Tech Ind zones for easy credits. The only danger was that the system had a xeno spores rumor. What I didn't know was that under a xeno spore rumor, xeno ships can sometimes intercept you as you are landing like pirates can under a pirate swarm.
So there I was, trading clothes and polymer ingots and such back and forth on this planet's zones, when suddenly I get interrupted by a Terrox Crusier attack. I was only level 9 at this point and my ship was not upgraded to a point where I would be comfortable with a xeno fight. Since I didn't have a lot of Nav or Speed, I decided I'd probably lose escape rolls, and advanced with Twitch Surge, thinking a close range battle was my best chance.
I got to range 4, but the xeno weapons inflicted several ship debuffs on me. I used Unrivaled Patches to clear the debuffs and restore damaged components while advancing to range 3. More xeno weapons hit and debuff my ship as I open fire with my lances and try to get to range 2 while I use Evasive Maneuvers. I get to range 2, and exchange lance volleys for a few turns, but eventually I run out of ship debuff purge talents, and I have 4 Engine Failure debuffs, rendering me unable to move or shoot. Worse yet, my hull integrity was dangerously low. Fortunately, 3 out of 4 of my Pilots Assist Modules were still functioning, and I only lost a couple crew do to my doctors' Life Saver talents, but I was pretty sure this was the end, anyway. I did the only thing I could do, and threw up another Evasive Maneuvers. The xeno ship fired another barrage; most of its shots missed, but my hull was down to 120 points. Just one more hit would destroy my ship. The next turn comes, and 2 of the Engine Failure debuffs expired. I knew I couldn't win by attacking with my 2 last functioning lances; I decided my best chance was to use another Evasive Maneuvers and advance to board the xeno ship in risky crew combat. I didn't think my combat crew would survive, and we would all probably be destroyed by a xeno ship gun anyway, but what other choice did I have?
The next turn seemed like a miracle. Not only did all of the xeno ship guns miss, but my boarding crew killed an enemy xeno party without taking any damage. For the next 8 turns I would have the enemy ship boarded while dodging 5 xeno guns every turn, using my last remaining ship +defense% talents. When my Pistoleer was injured to very low health, I had him replaced with my non-combat Zealot officer. When my Zealot was brought down to low HP, I replaced her with my full-health non-combat MO captain. Big mistake! The next battle had us face xeno with higher attributes than the previous few fights, and they focused their attacks on my captain. Unfortunately, the captain died in the battle. I like to think the rest of the crew survived, that they overcame the xeno ship in crew combat as easily as they have for the previous 8 turns, and that either my Zealot or combat Soldier officer was elected as the next captain.
There are lessons to be learned in this. First of all, NEVER put a non-crew combat captain in CC on a captain permadeath difficulty. Second, landing on worlds with xeno spores 6 times in a row is a bad idea unless you're ready for a xeno encounter. And finally, never give up; when my ship was on low hull at range 2 with 4 engine failure debuffs on me, I thought next turn would have me destroyed for sure, but I still fought on and played the best cards I had despite the apparent hopelessness, and would have won if I hadn't made the final mistake of sending in my captain.
|
|
|
|
Post by contributor on Mar 4, 2019 15:43:39 GMT -5
Awesome write up. So many captains, but few that go out in true style. These are the ones I remember.
And I love that this all started out as a quest to avenge the last captain. You know what you have to do now...
|
|
|
|
Post by contributor on Mar 4, 2019 15:53:08 GMT -5
I'm not sure why, but STF doesn't spawn stories like STRPG used to. There are some great stories in the Captain's Log board. We need a new Rabid Rabbit for STF.
|
|
|
|
Post by resistor on Mar 4, 2019 16:09:21 GMT -5
Awesome write up. So many captains, but few that go out in true style. These are the ones I remember. And I love that this all started out as a quest to avenge the last captain. You know what you have to do now... Haha, yes I indeed know what I must do next. I'm not sure why, but STF doesn't spawn stories like STRPG used to. There are some great stories in the Captain's Log board. We need a new Rabid Rabbit for STF. I've also been wondering why this is, why there is such a lack of fan fiction compared to STRPG. Maybe STF being more detailed then its predecessor causes people to use their imagination less? |
|
|
|
Post by John Robinson on Mar 4, 2019 21:25:10 GMT -5
resistor Cool post with suspense worthy of fan fiction. Some great ideas. I've only guessed a last ditch effort would be to advance to boarding but never risked it. Something I was counting on and didn't know if it would work. Very helpful to know Xeno ships can be boarded. I've been concentrating on ground combat in wild or economy zones. Currently planning to run a boarding combat team experiment. Great tips, Thank You +1K Major respect you did that with permadeath turned on, wow!
|
|
|
|
Post by LordofSyn on Mar 4, 2019 21:39:00 GMT -5
Awesome write up. So many captains, but few that go out in true style. These are the ones I remember. And I love that this all started out as a quest to avenge the last captain. You know what you have to do now... Haha, yes I indeed know what I must do next. I'm not sure why, but STF doesn't spawn stories like STRPG used to. There are some great stories in the Captain's Log board. We need a new Rabid Rabbit for STF. I've also been wondering why this is, why there is such a lack of fan fiction compared to STRPG. Maybe STF being more detailed then its predecessor causes people to use their imagination less? There is fiction being worked on. Please stand by. |
|
|
|
Post by Zer0Winds on Mar 4, 2019 22:35:41 GMT -5
Standing by
|
|
|
|
Post by fallen on Mar 4, 2019 23:11:10 GMT -5
I'm not sure why, but STF doesn't spawn stories like STRPG used to. There are some great stories in the Captain's Log board. We need a new Rabid Rabbit for STF. Someone just needs to get that ball rolling. Perhaps this post is the beginning ... |
|
|
|
Post by LordofSyn on Mar 4, 2019 23:11:46 GMT -5
TBH, I have had so much on my plate...
But the stories I originally wanted to tell would be based directly off gameplay and would fill in the empty spots in the stories told during gameplay.
Of course... That would stretch out a few turns into 10+ pages or so of story...but it *was* a plan.
Aside from working on S.U.R.G.E. or the
ShalUniversal Role-playing Game Engine...
I am also collaborating with another long time community member and fellow writer on a specific STF related story. It is still in the early planning phase but has some content already written.
|
|
|
|
Post by John Robinson on Mar 5, 2019 6:28:28 GMT -5
LordofSyn I've read and enjoyed the sample of lordofsyn fiction . The style is uncluttered, and very visual. The level of creativity in your STF Let's play videos is just the tip of the iceberg. Looking forward to your next effort. +1K down payment. 
|
|
|
|
Post by LordofSyn on Mar 5, 2019 9:30:23 GMT -5
I very much appreciate the kind words and will endeavour to keep up the level of quality you expect.
|
|
|
|
Post by resistor on Mar 5, 2019 13:49:52 GMT -5
Small correction: I actually boarded the xenos 7 times, not 9.
Another lesson I learned is that I should start with the Cautela Heavylift instead of the Fidellis Cutter for MOs. The 6 extra crew space is important for hiring extra fighters to replace a fighter that is injured or dead, as well as hiring more specialist crew like doctors. I successfully used the Cautela Heavylift for MOs very often in alpha and early access.
This battle happened on Impossible difficulty, if anyone was wondering.
|
|
|
|
Post by John Robinson on Mar 5, 2019 15:35:55 GMT -5
Small correction: I actually boarded the xenos 7 times, not 9. Another lesson I learned is that I should start with the Cautela Heavylift instead of the Fidellis Cutter for MOs. The 6 extra crew space is important for hiring extra fighters to replace a fighter that is injured or dead, as well as hiring more specialist crew like doctors. I successfully used the Cautela Heavylift for MOs very often in alpha and early access. This battle happened on Impossible difficulty, if anyone was wondering. Excellent! More great tips. The Heavylift is one my favorites. My plans usually try a purchase on around Captain level 20. Impossible difficulty; 1.) Brain: Swear to God Snake, I thought you were dead... Snake Plissken: Yeah, you and everybody else! 2.) Isn't there a character trait called Death wish? Definitely rates a hearty +1k |
|
|
|
Post by resistor on Mar 5, 2019 15:52:49 GMT -5
Yeah there is a Death Wish trait
|
|
|
|
Post by LordofSyn on Mar 6, 2019 0:58:27 GMT -5
Small correction: I actually boarded the xenos 7 times, not 9. Another lesson I learned is that I should start with the Cautela Heavylift instead of the Fidellis Cutter for MOs. The 6 extra crew space is important for hiring extra fighters to replace a fighter that is injured or dead, as well as hiring more specialist crew like doctors. I successfully used the Cautela Heavylift for MOs very often in alpha and early access. This battle happened on Impossible difficulty, if anyone was wondering. Excellent! More great tips. The Heavylift is one my favorites. My plans usually try a purchase on around Captain level 20. Impossible difficulty; 1.) Brain: Swear to God Snake, I thought you were dead... Snake Plissken: Yeah, you and everybody else! 2.) Isn't there a character trait called Death wish? Definitely rates a hearty +1k +2k for that sick ass Snake Plisskin ref. |
|
