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Post by pendell on May 24, 2014 22:00:10 GMT -5
Hello, everyone.
I've been playing this game less frequently, and I'm stuck on demanding. I'm aiming to make $10 mil as a trader, but my career keeps getting cut short by Narvidian hunters.
The first time I played through, I had a warrior skill of 1. I somehow defeated the first alien I encountered, but the next one killed me.
The second time through, I was a level 18 captain with level 20 pilot, warrior, and tactics. Plus a templar officer and a full weapons compartment.
I defeated 4 Narvidian hunters, killed a Red Zorba with guns, outran a second, and after a long stretch of peaceful trading was eventually wiped out by a final narvidian.
I'm considering trying again, leveling up my warrior twice for every one time I level up my pilot and tactics -- but, see, I don't actually want to get into a boarding action at all, ever.
My first choice would be to simply outrun the aliens. But I've never successfully done that. I had a Javelin with the advanced solar sail system (+25%), a stealth of 10 and the stealth generator upgrade. Not enough. I was never able to get away from an alien.
My second choice would be to stand off and either destroy the alien with guns, or cripple it sufficiently that I can escape. I don't want to ever set foot on an alien ship if I can help it.
Does anyone have any suggestions for accomplishing this? If I outrun, I assume a fast/quick ship with as many solar sails as I can pack on is good -- how much stealth do I need, as a function of my level? Does anyone have any other suggestions for making this happen?
Again, this is on demanding level, so this style of play should be more feasible than the harder difficulty levels, where if you don't have a warrior captain you won't last long against aliens in any event, or so I understand.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by Cory Trese on May 25, 2014 1:57:49 GMT -5
You MUST have a "Fast" ship. This is absolutely critical.
The key to not being killed by the Xeno-Aliens is avoiding them.
1) Xenos LOVE Dead Worlds (the ones you cannot land one, they look like Jupiter.) 10x-100x more encounters on those spaces.
2) Xeno rumors generate 10x-100x encounter rates. these show up on the zoom map as a warning if you are aware of them.
3) Xenos love Artifacts and ships that are full to the brim with cargo.
So my ideas are
1) Fast ship
2) Stealth like crazy -- you cannot have too much. I've seen build where it was 3x level, but they're risking dying on Morale / Intimidate or never making 10M due to crap Negotiate
3) the skills for escape are the same as Torp, so build a for Torps
4) Start battles with a Torp, if you hit you get a 100% bonus for your next move (escape!)
5) Pilot Officer
Just a thought -- if you drop down a difficulty level, you won't run into any Aliens or Narvs.
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Post by pendell on May 25, 2014 8:32:57 GMT -5
Thanks for the responses! The first two I can do. The third -- well, the entire point of building a blockade runner is to carry high-value cargo, and would defeat the intent I'm aiming for. Likewise, as a merchant, an empty cargo hold connotes a wasted trip. Still good to know. Negotiate -- fagh. My merchant survives by addressing shortages and surplus. When the markup is 500% , low negotiate doesn't matter. The point of negotiate , for me, is not better prices on my stuff, but speeding loading time so that I can get to a shortage with a chock-ful cargo hold brimming with whatever it is they're desperate for. If things are truly desperate -- all factions are embargoed, no shortages or surpluses ANYWHERE in the quadrant -- then I take a cargo-running mission from one of the factions for 100+K. With a 100+ rep with all factions, I can afford the occasional hit. Especially when I'm constantly dumping records on them thanks to my merchant occupational specialty. My last two captains had trade permits, military rank, and near -100+ with all factions. So, outside of the occasional independent pirate they lived a very peaceful life. Well, of course! But I can already survive indefinitely on challenging and below. And -- what is it Clan Javat says? -- if you can't die you can't truly live. The point is, my character is a *smuggler*. Not a smuggler in violation of shalun law, but a smuggler who defies the aliens and narvidians. This means carrying cargo they care about, and outrunning them anyway. Thank you for the great advice! Respectfully, Brian P. |
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Post by contributor on May 25, 2014 9:57:51 GMT -5
Cory Trese has some great advice there. If you want to be able to run, you've got to allocate lots of points to Stealth. Also, if you want to make 10 mil the easiest way to go about that is not as a merchant. Contracts are far more lucrative and reliable if you learn the map, raise your rep with everybody and can take 5 at a time more-or-less from top-left to bottom-right corner.
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Post by pendell on Jun 3, 2014 18:29:02 GMT -5
Thank you everyone. My latest character (Struan) was able to make $10 mil on demanding and just retired on Leiwin following those tactics.
It appears that, in the higher difficulty levels, the fact that the skill checks are higher means that you have to really focus on one or two attributes and build your character around that. A non-combat character must emphasize stealth above all. A combat character must emphasize warrior and tactics.
In my case, I leveled up as follows: 2 points quickness, 2 points piloting and stealth, then 1 point wisdom and tactics. Every 5 tactics points ,throw 1 point into charisma and 1 point into negotiation. I ignored all the other attributes.
I then flew a ship with every possible stealth upgrade, fast, and 50+ sails. In the 200+ years of Struan's career, he fought exactly one battle which he could not escape from -- against a Rychert Pirate, which he looted. After about 100 or so he was able to flee from every battle with "ignore", not even stopping to flip a torpedo at the enemy to discourage pursuit. Despite crisscrossing the quadrant, only encountered 1 alien -- a space hive, level 768. With a warrior of 1, I let it be.
The only major challenge was a single load of crystals traded against an embargo by Rychert which made his rep drop from 17 to -85 in one go. Nonetheless, my character persevered and did not return gunfire for gunfire. Instead, we outran every Rychert warship we came across, leavin' em behind as if they were standing still. In time, rychert signed a trade alliance with a faction I had a permit with, and I spent a few hundred thousand credits shoveling electronics, artifacts, and weapons to that faction regardless of profit. Rychert rep was improved by the alliance, and so my rep went first from -150 to -120, then on the second attempt went from -120 all the way up to +5 (convert). After that, it was a simple matter to purchase a trade permit, and the game was finished with positive rep among all factions.
So thanks much! You made it possible!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by Officer Genious on Jun 3, 2014 18:57:32 GMT -5
Thanks for your post, it means I don't have to give up hope on making a working Javat Smuggler on Demanding! Now I just need to make my life less busy to make time for it.
Hey, breathing isn't mandatory to life or anything so I can cut that out, right?
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Post by starfixer on Jun 3, 2014 23:55:53 GMT -5
You MUST have a "Fast" ship. This is absolutely critical. The key to not being killed by the Xeno-Aliens is avoiding them. 1) Xenos LOVE Dead Worlds (the ones you cannot land one, they look like Jupiter.) 10x-100x more encounters on those spaces. 2) Xeno rumors generate 10x-100x encounter rates. these show up on the zoom map as a warning if you are aware of them. 3) Xenos love Artifacts and ships that are full to the brim with cargo. So my ideas are 1) Fast ship 2) Stealth like crazy -- you cannot have too much. I've seen build where it was 3x level, but they're risking dying on Morale / Intimidate or never making 10M due to crap Negotiate 3) the skills for escape are the same as Torp, so build a for Torps 4) Start battles with a Torp, if you hit you get a 100% bonus for your next move (escape!) 5) Pilot Officer Just a thought -- if you drop down a difficulty level, you won't run into any Aliens or Narvs. Wait. I thought xeno rumors only generate 2x more alien encounters? Also, I don't think Pilot Officer would help for escaping or topping, as such actions are stealth-based, not pilot-based |
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Post by Cory Trese on Jun 4, 2014 12:19:33 GMT -5
Pilot officer was a suggestion to help you get back to Stealth range if they close on you.
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