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Post by contributor on Jan 28, 2013 11:21:03 GMT -5
After a couple of months I've managed to get almost all the awards at various levels and unlock all of the unlocks. The only awards left are "Blackheart" and "Independent Captain." I haven't even tried to get them yet.
I was just wondering what other player's experiences are with these. What difficulty level did you accomplish them on? What strategies did you use?
Cory I see they're slated for future unlocks, is there any chance you would drop us a hint about what difficulty level we would need to accomplish them on?
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Post by contributor on Jan 31, 2013 14:20:16 GMT -5
Looks like I'm on my own on this, as any good independent captain should be!
I think my first try will be as a pirate since I'm likely to fight as many independents as faction types. We'll see how far I get on Hard difficulty which is probably overly optimistic for the Independent Captain award, but I'd rather start high and have to back down.
I think I'll spend some time leveling up and getting a decent ship or two, before I begin sinking my reputation with all factions.
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martyparty
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Posts: 326
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Post by martyparty on Jan 31, 2013 18:27:38 GMT -5
These are the only awards I'm missing too. Let us know how you go.  |
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Post by Cory Trese on Jan 31, 2013 23:00:07 GMT -5
I think "Hard" is a good idea for the required difficulty.
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Post by contributor on Feb 1, 2013 1:10:07 GMT -5
Well, Blackheart is done. Things moved faster than I wanted because the factions were especially caty. I couldn't help but piss most of them off. I'm level 11 now, flying an Honor of Thulun. Managed to get it fully tricked out before all the faction starports closed to me. From here on out it's indepedent ports all the way. My pilot is a dog-fighter, all pilot, stealth and tactics, because I don't want to put any XP into warrior. I've put more XP into intimidate and negotiate than normal since I'll be flying in the red and getting no Rep/rank discounts at stingy independent exchanges. I think I might try staying in the top left corner of the map. There's lots of independent worlds close together within striking distance of all the "civilized" peoples. Attachments:
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martyparty
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Posts: 326
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Post by martyparty on Feb 1, 2013 1:14:52 GMT -5
Caldora in the bottom left of map, and Traneldor Home World in the bottom right, have powerful economies and are also good places to pick up contracts.
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 1, 2013 2:11:48 GMT -5
Caldora in the bottom left of map, and Traneldor Home World in the bottom right, have powerful economies and are also good places to pick up contracts. Great tip martyparty! Is that speaking from experience earning this awards? |
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martyparty
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Post by martyparty on Feb 1, 2013 2:42:19 GMT -5
It's from experience looking for water fuel on Indy worlds when all the factions are trade embargo-ing each other!  |
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Post by contributor on Feb 1, 2013 16:47:31 GMT -5
Hmmmm, that was easier than I thought it would be. I haven't played on "Hard" for a while. My Honor of Thulun had this invincibility shield and when nobody can touch you it's not hard to sink your reputation to -121 (I actually mistakenly thought I had to go to -151) in a hurry. You can see how I developed my captain and outfitted my ship in the attached screenshots. In the end, finding the right ports was hardly important as other captains kept me readily supplied with water/fuel. I just had to poke a few holes in their cans to get it out. To complete the picture I had a Pilot, Mechanic and Military Officer on board. It is kind of fun never having to look at the faction conflicts when you get a new contact and worry about what this could do to your rep. Every ship got the same treatment from my little angel of death (Battlestations > Advance > Advance > Engines > Engines > Engines > Engines > Done > Rearm > Take All > Enslave > Destroy!). Maybe I'll see how far I can play this out or maybe I'll just start again on a higher difficulty level. Attachments:
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Post by starfixer on Feb 16, 2013 1:11:45 GMT -5
The problem with being an independent is that military repairs on indy worlds are really horrible. One solution is a new "independent" profession whose bonuses would include improved military repairs at indy military bases and would be unlocked with "Independent captain" award on Hard. Another would be for the reward of blackheart/independent award to be improved repairs at indy military bases when you're a "hated criminal" (two wanted flags) or "independent" (-11 rep with all faction), prehaps in addition to a future unlock.
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Post by rawrpaw on Feb 16, 2013 1:56:55 GMT -5
Seems I was missing this achievement as well. Nice post, just completed this myself, seemed easier then I though it would be. I grabbed a ship with high guns and engines and systematically blockaded every faction planet not in a solar war to -121. The only upgrade my ship had was +5 Engines and I didn't get any other officers. Completed by level 11 on hard. Maybe knock the difficulty requirement up a setting?
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martyparty
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Posts: 326
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Post by martyparty on Feb 16, 2013 2:25:43 GMT -5
The problem with being an independent is that military repairs on indy worlds are really horrible. One solution is a new "independent" profession whose bonuses would include improved military repairs at indy military bases and would be unlocked with "Independent captain" award on Hard. Another would be for the reward of blackheart/independent award to be improved repairs at indy military bases when you're a "hated criminal" (two wanted flags) or "independent" (-11 rep with all faction), prehaps in addition to a future unlock. How about, make the difficulty level of this award harder, and its reward is that you can play as an Independent faction captain. So you can't earn reputation with Independents, I can accept that. But the benefits can come in other ways. For starters, as starfixer's suggestion, if you fly an Independent flag, then Independent worlds will be more accomodating to you, that's only fair. |
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Post by contributor on Feb 16, 2013 8:40:30 GMT -5
I agree with the idea of making some awards for these that would make playing as an independent more fun/easier. It's sort of a fun way to play: a true pirate. I kept my captain going for awhile after I got the award and kept looking for a better ship, but I never saw any really great ships for sale on the independent planets. What about an unlock for some sort of independent "rank ship"? Maybe "flagship" doesn't work conceptually for independents, how about just the "Black Pearl." Also what about creating an even more challenging unlock such as -1000 rep with all factions. This would force you to really be in it for the long-haul.
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Post by Cory Trese on Feb 16, 2013 13:41:37 GMT -5
Unfortunately the game crashes on almost every screen if the character is an Independent, because the way that is implemented is that Independent = No Faction.
In Cyber Knights RPG we fixed it by making the "Free Streets" a full faction instead of the lack of Faction.
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Post by starfixer on Feb 16, 2013 15:16:37 GMT -5
Unfortunately the game crashes on almost every screen if the character is an Independent, because the way that is implemented is that Independent = No Faction. In Cyber Knights RPG we fixed it by making the "Free Streets" a full faction instead of the lack of Faction. When I said Independent profession, I didn't mean as a faction. You'd still be 1 of 6 factions, bu your profession would be an "Independent". Independent abilities: - Major bonuses at indy worlds (or "no faction" worlds) -better prices -increased availability of goods/repairs/upgrades -better ships (stacks with high lv/xp/turn) -increased recruits - Rep penalty protection ability (prehaps more at indy or "no faction" space) - Penalty for ganing rep Or the reward of independent/blackheart is indy bonuses for any captain that has negative rep with all 6 factions I'm still confused why captains can't just have no faction and get bonuses at other planets with no faction, but I don't understand video game codes so I take your word for it. And I suppose it would take forever to chane the code so independents are a faction, or make it so each indy planet is a different faction. Oh well, ST2 |
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