Is hard difficulty meant to have you so on the edge?

[aztra]

I've been playing since when star traders rpg in mobile was new, so I thought that when I jumped into frontiers it would be easy, it hasn't been. Or at least I feel like that.

I've been playing since january, first in hard failed horribly, then challenging, it went ok, have been managing to get a lot of unlocks, almost all of them, so I thought it was time to jump into a hard playthrough. For the last week I've been tryharding to get to ryeline, once I get there it becomes kinda ok, but the biggest problem is that I'm constantly losing crew, constantly running with 0 fuel, having to do emergency jumps... And at first I thought this meant I was failing, but now I realize that those aren't defeat conditions.

So since recruiting is free... like... does this mean you're supposed to be ok with crew just constantly leaving, running at 0 fuel and have low morale, be doing emergency jumps... Like I've already done a lot of tips from the guides, and played for almost 7 months. So now I feel compelled to ask... am I supposed to be doing that constantly? because I just thought that they were like nets so you wouldn't feel bad for losing your playthrough due to forgetting to refuel, but are these mechanics you are supposed to use?

in case it's relevant, I usually play explorer, and use medium mass ships. My current playthrough is a Zenrin explorer, with a frontier liner, I have reached near the end of the ryeline questline, but I found myself constantly "abusing" the traveling at 0 fuel, and then just trying to replenish my skill pools to the best of my ability at every stop, doing emergency jumps, and make quests with my ship 90% damaged. And since it turned out ok, I just went with it, but I now have a lingering feeling that the run may not actually be "valid" like from a gamer point of view. Like... was that run really how you are supposed to play, or was I abusing mechanics that were just meant as a safety net?

[resistor]

Welcome to the forum!

Do you feel as if you are successful with your strategy of not buying fuel? I'm curious about how well that is working for you since most people try to avoid running out of fuel.

It doesn't sound worth it to me, since high rates of abandoning/death means crew will constantly be low level from having to be replaced often. Also the repair/doctor costs from increased accidents of travelling without fuel and understaffed will add up, and the additional time cost of emergency jump, repair, and doctors could have been used as turns making profit.

It's generally best to plan where you will buy fuel on your voyages to make sure you will have enough.

[fallen]

No, no. I would highly suggest that you stop "abusing" traveling with 0 fuel. It is absolutely a huge mistake. Your crew loses Morale at every tick with this type of travel plan. All tests and the damage from tests are worse when you have no fuel. Emergency Hyperwarp jumps are one of the most damaging events you ship can take. You are basically killing yourself by doing this.

Also, recruiting is free, but you are recruiting level 1 and 2 characters. You'll never get anywhere like this.

If you're stuck at this point, what it indicates to me is that you need to focus on the basic profit loop -- make money, fuel ship, repair ship, pay crew and have more money than when you started. It is the #1 critical skill of STF and ST RPG.

Here is a suggestion --
1) Start a new game
2) Use a template with Contacts at least C
3) Immediately visit every Contact and ask about their missions
4) Only accept missions that have "no Jumps"
5) Complete as many of these missions as you can until the Contact stop giving them.
6) Pay, repair, refuel your ship *at every single stop without exception*

[daveal]

I agree that hard isn't supposed to be that hard. I do something similar to what fallen suggested. Also, I make sure to have two skill saves of the ship skills at startup, and get two command, two intimidate, two doctor as soon as I can (within a few weeks). I don't always repair or heal crew at *every* opportunity, but definitely I refuel and pay wages. My goals for the first year are, never leave the home system, never have a ship combat except one turn of running away, and earn at least 100k in the first year. That 100k goes immediately into an A4/A5 weapon locker. Without that crew combat losses are too high.

[grävling]

Also, there are easier ways to make money than as an explorer. The problem with exploring is that it costs so much to get yourself repaired, and until you get yourself a fist full of 'replace this explore card I do not like with something I do like, or remove it' talents, you will nearly always be doing things that cause you to need repair. Plus before you get your a5 weapons locker, crew combat is going to be prohibitively costly.