Post by tomdini on Jan 24, 2013 17:56:12 GMT -5
Ugh, it's taken a couple gnarly weeks (in the real world) to get a foothold on this build on the Insane difficulty, but it was worth it and I learned a lot more about how to play this game in the process. Amazing that I am still picking up strategies and techniques after playing for just over 18 months. A testament to Star Traders' richness and depth.
I tend to play combat-oriented captains, especially bounty hunters and pirates. I don't do a lot of hybrid class builds and when I do, they are usually rather bloodthirsty so as to be able to fight their way out of a sticky situation.
I've read about Cory's smuggler-explorer hybrid several times in the forums and thought I'd give such a build a try. My vision was for a rough-and-tumble Javat captain, an unflinching negotiator, contractor, and adventurer with no fear and unparalleled instincts on the bridge of a starship. The idea was to create a character akin to a smuggler in our world... ducking checkpoints and military patrols, clashing with other smugglers and pirates (no honor amongst thieves) and generally taking advantage of trade wars, ensuing embargoes, and shortages to make a fortune while mostly eschewing combat in favor of stealth, cunning... and the ability to tactically retreat when necessary. Essentially, a lawless merchant. And a pacifist. Capable in a fight, as might be expected of a member of the criminal underground, but not inherently violent or looking for trouble.
Obviously, I chose the smuggler class.
My early game strategy was to fly the Neutiquam Erro and get my explorer skills to 10 right off the bat. The Neutiquam Erro is a fine ship, not particularly fast or agile but not slow, either. Mainly I wanted the massive cargo hold and its fuel economy (.96 in faction space, 2.07 in uncivilized space) despite my utter lack of piloting skills, which I would not raise for a few levels. I dumped points into stealth to help keep my signature down and survive on feral planets, and bought only one ship upgrade because the plan was to ditch the Erro as soon as was feasible. I grabbed the additional quarters because it's cheap (I think I purchased it for $3400 or so on Javat Prime) to give me more men for my expeditions.
I ran a few contracts for most the factions in civilized space, purchasing trade permits to keep pirates off my back and give me as many potential markets to sell to as possible, and then hit the Big Three near Javat space... Zat Ogotthara, Caabhosi, and Rift-Leporis 4. I dispatched crewmen until my own wounds were too grave to risk further work, or aliens had begun to swarm the area, stirred up by our reckless disruption of the natural order. With an explorer skill of 10 and a stealth skill of 10, usually only 2 or 3 men died at a time and I would take a wound every 3 or 4 runs. When my hold was filled up, I'd dump the goods into a cache and keep exploring until my crew was decimated or I'd attracted enough xeno attention.
I got lucky, with two nearby weapons shortages as well as chemical, metal, and vudka shortages rippling through Clan space, and racked up a half million credits in no time flat. I grabbed a Javat Templar and took to the stars once again, running contracts to raise my explorer skills, while increasing my pilot and tactics abilities to give me a fair chance in a fight.
Up until this point, I surrendered to most nearly every indie pirate who came my way. Sometimes I could outrun them on a sheer lucky dice roll, but mostly they'd torp my engines and sails and leave me with thousands in repairs while STILL taking my cargo. Bastards. The early high stealth skill gave me solid odds of making undisturbed runs with electronics and artifacts piled into my hold, however, so mostly I only ever got caught with water-fuel and unrestricted goods and therefore, the loss wasn't too bad. The weapons and metal shortages more than made up for what I lost in other stolen goods.
All the trade permits I accrued gave me immunity to warship searches and factional privateers, so I really only had to worry about independent pirates (and the Song... early misunderstandings kept me from a good reputation in their courts for several years).
Currently I am in the galactic frontier, embroiled in factional politics and trade conflicts, and ravaging ancient city ruins on long-forgotten dead worlds as often as I can, and raking in massive dough. It's a lot of fun. Even with the stealth array upgrade and a legendary stealth skill, every run with a hold full of artifacts is terrifying. Never know who might manage to stumble on your ship. Might be a military officer munching down an Ormox beef sandwich from the luxury rations supply and more than happy to wave you through after viewing your permit... or it could be a fringe pirate who's succumbed to too many weeks without clean water-fuel, and has void spirits whispering dark lullabies into his brain... it's awesome. Feels just like Han Solo. Even I get boarded sometimes...
Some benefits to the smuggler class in terms of blending exploration with smuggling... my caches are ultra-protected by my class abilities, and ending shortages or surpluses or scoring ridiculous profits on restricted goods generates trade records which can be used as exploration intel on feral worlds. So I hit a feral world, dig til my hold's full, drop the goods into a heavily-shielded cache, repeat til aliens or other Rogue Traders show up and start disrupting my operation, and then find a shortage world or hit the nearest indie planet to dump my goods and get rich. Usually, I collect records from the transaction, and either return to my cache to do it again or head somewhere else and utilize the records for even better finds at the next dig site.
I find the spybank, databank, and weapons cabinet upgrades useful in this regard for obvious reasons... you can carry more of the good stuff!!!!! I considered putting a Battleship Architecture upgrade into my Javat Templar (which I christened "Thrillseeker") to give me a massive crew for harvesting and explorations but with 62 bodies, I am finding my expeditions to be proceeding smoothly enough and I think the water-fuel tank will prove more useful by giving me even more space to cram with restricted cargos. I haven't decided yet, though.
I tend to play combat-oriented captains, especially bounty hunters and pirates. I don't do a lot of hybrid class builds and when I do, they are usually rather bloodthirsty so as to be able to fight their way out of a sticky situation.
I've read about Cory's smuggler-explorer hybrid several times in the forums and thought I'd give such a build a try. My vision was for a rough-and-tumble Javat captain, an unflinching negotiator, contractor, and adventurer with no fear and unparalleled instincts on the bridge of a starship. The idea was to create a character akin to a smuggler in our world... ducking checkpoints and military patrols, clashing with other smugglers and pirates (no honor amongst thieves) and generally taking advantage of trade wars, ensuing embargoes, and shortages to make a fortune while mostly eschewing combat in favor of stealth, cunning... and the ability to tactically retreat when necessary. Essentially, a lawless merchant. And a pacifist. Capable in a fight, as might be expected of a member of the criminal underground, but not inherently violent or looking for trouble.
Obviously, I chose the smuggler class.
My early game strategy was to fly the Neutiquam Erro and get my explorer skills to 10 right off the bat. The Neutiquam Erro is a fine ship, not particularly fast or agile but not slow, either. Mainly I wanted the massive cargo hold and its fuel economy (.96 in faction space, 2.07 in uncivilized space) despite my utter lack of piloting skills, which I would not raise for a few levels. I dumped points into stealth to help keep my signature down and survive on feral planets, and bought only one ship upgrade because the plan was to ditch the Erro as soon as was feasible. I grabbed the additional quarters because it's cheap (I think I purchased it for $3400 or so on Javat Prime) to give me more men for my expeditions.
I ran a few contracts for most the factions in civilized space, purchasing trade permits to keep pirates off my back and give me as many potential markets to sell to as possible, and then hit the Big Three near Javat space... Zat Ogotthara, Caabhosi, and Rift-Leporis 4. I dispatched crewmen until my own wounds were too grave to risk further work, or aliens had begun to swarm the area, stirred up by our reckless disruption of the natural order. With an explorer skill of 10 and a stealth skill of 10, usually only 2 or 3 men died at a time and I would take a wound every 3 or 4 runs. When my hold was filled up, I'd dump the goods into a cache and keep exploring until my crew was decimated or I'd attracted enough xeno attention.
I got lucky, with two nearby weapons shortages as well as chemical, metal, and vudka shortages rippling through Clan space, and racked up a half million credits in no time flat. I grabbed a Javat Templar and took to the stars once again, running contracts to raise my explorer skills, while increasing my pilot and tactics abilities to give me a fair chance in a fight.
Up until this point, I surrendered to most nearly every indie pirate who came my way. Sometimes I could outrun them on a sheer lucky dice roll, but mostly they'd torp my engines and sails and leave me with thousands in repairs while STILL taking my cargo. Bastards. The early high stealth skill gave me solid odds of making undisturbed runs with electronics and artifacts piled into my hold, however, so mostly I only ever got caught with water-fuel and unrestricted goods and therefore, the loss wasn't too bad. The weapons and metal shortages more than made up for what I lost in other stolen goods.
All the trade permits I accrued gave me immunity to warship searches and factional privateers, so I really only had to worry about independent pirates (and the Song... early misunderstandings kept me from a good reputation in their courts for several years).
Currently I am in the galactic frontier, embroiled in factional politics and trade conflicts, and ravaging ancient city ruins on long-forgotten dead worlds as often as I can, and raking in massive dough. It's a lot of fun. Even with the stealth array upgrade and a legendary stealth skill, every run with a hold full of artifacts is terrifying. Never know who might manage to stumble on your ship. Might be a military officer munching down an Ormox beef sandwich from the luxury rations supply and more than happy to wave you through after viewing your permit... or it could be a fringe pirate who's succumbed to too many weeks without clean water-fuel, and has void spirits whispering dark lullabies into his brain... it's awesome. Feels just like Han Solo. Even I get boarded sometimes...
Some benefits to the smuggler class in terms of blending exploration with smuggling... my caches are ultra-protected by my class abilities, and ending shortages or surpluses or scoring ridiculous profits on restricted goods generates trade records which can be used as exploration intel on feral worlds. So I hit a feral world, dig til my hold's full, drop the goods into a heavily-shielded cache, repeat til aliens or other Rogue Traders show up and start disrupting my operation, and then find a shortage world or hit the nearest indie planet to dump my goods and get rich. Usually, I collect records from the transaction, and either return to my cache to do it again or head somewhere else and utilize the records for even better finds at the next dig site.
I find the spybank, databank, and weapons cabinet upgrades useful in this regard for obvious reasons... you can carry more of the good stuff!!!!! I considered putting a Battleship Architecture upgrade into my Javat Templar (which I christened "Thrillseeker") to give me a massive crew for harvesting and explorations but with 62 bodies, I am finding my expeditions to be proceeding smoothly enough and I think the water-fuel tank will prove more useful by giving me even more space to cram with restricted cargos. I haven't decided yet, though.
