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Post by slayernz on Aug 29, 2021 19:46:21 GMT -5
I actively choose not to believe that the Slayernz Cruiser ship exists. It's clearly a myth and we should all be grown ups and focus on a reality where cats and sheep fly the quadrant killing deserving Steel Songers.
For me though, the key difference between Gun Bunnies and Torpers is that Gun Bunnies go to close range then hit hard aiming for the engines (or decks). Torpers sit at Long Range and target from afar. I haven't really been a torper in a long while so only know the thrill of getting up close, knocking out the engines, then deciding on a whim whether I want to plunder, scuttle, or free the enemy.
Invest almost everything you can into Pilot, and only invest in Tactics when you find you aren't hitting as much. One of my captains has 234 points in Pilot and 90 points in tactics. He tends to do one-shot engine knock-outs at close range It's cheaper and more efficient than using torps. The ship I am flying is specifically designed for gun bunnying, with a hull of 23, engines 51, sails 51, guns 51, and crew 100. It probably needed a few more crew but works fine
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Post by slayernz on Aug 26, 2021 15:54:25 GMT -5
Yup, don't bother with torps at close/boarding range. Stick to guns. Playing at higher difficulty means that Xenos have a lot more levels on you though, and definitely have the ability to retreat and leave. I have never been a boarder, so a retreating Xeno has often been my source of annoyance. That and stupid Steel Song, but that's a whole different discussion.
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Post by slayernz on Aug 24, 2021 23:00:24 GMT -5
Trade missions are super easy and probably your bread and butter missions early on. Don't forget though, that even before you do take on missions, you can buy and sell goods and just deal with encounters - especially blowing up Steel Song ships. Once you boost your pilot + a bit of stealth + tactics (or whatever your skill mix), then sign up your first contract.
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Post by slayernz on Aug 22, 2021 16:08:26 GMT -5
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Post by slayernz on Jul 5, 2021 22:10:04 GMT -5
We all did go silent. I wonder if it was the fact that everyone wanted to go away and enjoy the festivities - but also felt compelled to self-isolate so that you won't catch anything. It's almost enough to give you a split personality Hope you got to see some fireworks - or at least got to blow up steel song ships.
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Post by slayernz on Jun 14, 2021 0:35:03 GMT -5
And Steel Song do steal ships that are named after me. Evil Steel Song. MUST NUKE THEM ALL.
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Post by slayernz on Jun 14, 2021 0:34:31 GMT -5
Must ... not ... derail .... although in saying that I have ONE Steel Song captain in my roster (Captian Glurk the Stoopid). I must confess in Impossible, I have had reasonably good success (one in five captains make it to level 20, but most of those captains go on to at least level 50 then to 100), but that is because I do NOT hunt Xenos in Impossible. I never board enemy ships until I have killed their engines and/or they have surrendered. I focus on Pilot first, Pilot second, and ... yeah, that's about it. You need to have some tactics to be able to be more accurate in combat (at least that's what I remember in my captain's basic training lessons). "Only increase tactics when you start missing". Investing in Stealth allows you to avoid encounters, but if you have a good ship and high pilot (with a spritzer of Tactics), you should be golden. Orbiting above a Steel Song planet, with multiple strobe lights, RF emitters, and a trail of Steel Song debris is more beneficial than running silent. Pilot at 2+ times your level will keep you alive. Now in saying all of that, you're after specific advice on how to deal with Xenos, especially in mid-late stage games. First up on levels. The whole adage of an enemy captain = 190% of your level in impossible is true. Does this mean you should avoid adding any XP to your captain to artificially keep your captain level low? Myeahmaybedependsnotreallykindasortano. Don't forget that there are two parts to the game difficulty. One is the enemy captains = 190% of your level, but the other part is that the game becomes more difficult as time goes by. You mentioned this already so do know about it. The difference isn't that dramatic though and the formula is pretty straight forward: Formula for calculating turn difficulty is as follows: INT ( Turn / (200+5xDifficulty Level) ) As Cory's mentioned in other posts, the difficulty level is a bit backwards. Impossible = 0 Insane = 1 ... Basic = 7 SO that means at turn 1000 (about 3 years in), the game level is 4 for most levels, but 5 for Impossible. At turn 10,000 Basic is at level 42, Crazy is level 47, and Impossible is level 50. Balance your captain's level to try and at least keep up with the game turn level, otherwise you'll find that even basic things will give you grief. So back to what you need to do. Boost your Warrior and Intimidate to at least your captain level - if not a smidgen higher. Of course it means you are investing in: Physical Stats: * Quickness * Strength Trained Skills * Pilot * Warrior * Intimidate with a blurp towards Stealth and Tactics. Get some officers. THe ones to use are the Alien hunter, the Pilot, and then either the Military officer or the Veteran officer. Ship upgrades should include Structure * Dreadnought Architecture Combat * Leviathan System OR Escape shuttle. If you have unlocked Star Paragon, consider the Crew Xeno Suit or Hyperion Exo-Suit, but bear in mind the latter only boosts the captain. Interior * Mercenaries Propulsion * Don't really care Armament * Predator Xeno Torp array or Hyperion Superstructure Escape shuttles are extremely useful when you're about to get hull breached with the Xeno, but if you are focusing on boarding, then flag it. Finally, carry Weapons - I don't remember ever seeing a post saying they lose effectiveness in the long game, however I don't board and I don't Xeno hunt, so I could be wrong Carry some artifacts too, as they are the aphrodisiac of choice when trying to ensnare a Xeno lover. Fly in red zones - away from the green shipping lanes. Alternatively orbit dead planets and do your thang. Good luck - you're a braver captain than I am and I hope that you will live to level 30.
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Post by slayernz on Feb 24, 2021 20:28:29 GMT -5
These aren't the Evil Bears you're looking for.
I'm just waiting until we can start being guinea pigs and test the new game out ourselves. My aim is to actually learn how to hack. I never figured it out in CK. I nutted out pretty much everything else, but I guess the law-abiding side of me stopped me from trying. Incidentally that's why I keep targeting Steel Song - they are the ultimate law breakers. Mayhap they have their origins in Blue Ox ...
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Post by slayernz on Aug 17, 2020 16:14:07 GMT -5
g As Fallen has stated, it's a sandbox and doesn't have a story line at all. The only backstory you really have is that your ship was left to you by your father, you owe the quadrant nothing, and Steel Song are targets of opportunity. A long time in the distant past, we had some community challenges, which allowed you to test your skills against other forumites, but other than that, it's pretty much open. The game will go on for ALMOST ever. I say almost because there is a point where you make so much money that the game goes from positive values to negative and you suddenly fly with an impossible amount of negative credits. Don't worry though, you need to have banked about 2,147,483,648 credits (give or take). I've only heard of one person who did that. My highest is only around the $100m mark not billions. Some quick challenges for you to try: 1) How long can you play in a starting ship 2) How many credits can you earn in 10,000 turns (you can check the number of turns played in your Captain Record) 3) How long can you survive in Impossible difficulty (or if you're relatively new to the game, substitute "Crazy" difficulty) 4) Can you play with everyone hating you? Build up your character and reputation until you are say level 20 with what you deem a decent ship, then attack every ship that comes across your path. repairs/refueling is only at Independent planets 5) How long can you play without winning or losing a space combat? This requires that you run from every hostile encounter (hint get Pilot + stealth skill up for this). ST RPG is a deceptive game in that it is relatively easy to learn the basics, but has so many layers that it will take ages for you to really learn how everything works. It is also significantly different from the sequel, ST Frontiers, not just in style and graphics, but in gameplay. ST Frontiers does have a more robust story line if that is what you are after, but it is still an endless game.
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Post by slayernz on Aug 12, 2020 16:37:42 GMT -5
When you go into your Status --> Cargo, you can see all of the icons for resources. Clicking on any one of then will open up a summary of what the resource is, along with the buy/sell prices for all of the recent exchanges that you went to, including distance and navigation options. You can also see the average buy/sell prices (based on your exchange history).
This means that if you are carrying a large amount of Vudka that you liberated from a Steel Song ship, you can go into your status-->cargo and see where the best price to sell that stuff would be. You can then click on the "plot" button and it will set a course for that planet.
Alternatively, you can pull out the stopper in the bottles, stuff a rag in there and after lighting the rag, start hurling them at any Steel Song infrastructure that you see. Given everything that Steel Song make is usually out of corrugated cardboard, it will either burn down - or just collapse because soggy cardboard has no structural integrity.
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Post by slayernz on May 18, 2020 16:26:38 GMT -5
Okay - from quick experimentation, you can have a maximum 4 ships in Free (1 ship active + 3 ships in dry dock). For Elite, you can have 2o ships (1 ship active + 19 ships in dry dock.
Note that a useful tip for ships in dry dock is store as much Water fuel as you can in each ship before you park it in dry dock. That way, if you are running short on gas but have <cough> caused enough damage to Steel Song to get you barred from the market, or there is a trade embargo going on, you can top up without getting penalties.
Of course if you have annoyed Steel Song so much that they bar you from the star dock, then it's probably better you don't have any ships stored there anyway.
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Post by slayernz on Jun 26, 2019 19:14:07 GMT -5
The bartender goes "Where the hell have you been?!?" The cat simply replies ... "I've been on paws." Questions! ... where the hell is the spice den section, or was there not a section and it was part of the general ST group. It shows how long I've been away, I can't even find the local spice den! Why is combat in ST2 so much harder than in ST1 Well okay it isn't harder (it is it is) .... it's different (it's harder). I have so much to learn and spent about 30+ hours playing ST2 while flying around the world (actually, I went half-way around the world to Sweden, loitered there for a week, then to London before back to Sydney. I therefore didn't go right around the world, but clearly got half way, got bored, and went back the way I came). It's mildly addictive, way way WAY more complex, and somewhat confuzzling. In saying all of that, it seems that I am back. Please treat me as a newbie because I do not know what I am doing, and am probably acting about as skillfully as a veteran Steel Song captain (haha, veteran. As if they make it beyond their first year before the cardboard in their hull buckles) ... I'll come back with real-ish questions, a few requests for enhancements, and generally try and do the cat-chup thing.
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Post by slayernz on Jan 17, 2018 17:24:37 GMT -5
Zer0Winds Good luck in battling whatever issues you've come across. I know what it's like when life hands you some terrible cards. Sometimes, Steel Song factories recycle those cards and turn them into very practical cardboard plating for your ship hull. We'll hopefully see you again - until then, keep playing STF (and other TB games), and contemplate life outside of Steel Song ...
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Post by slayernz on Dec 28, 2017 19:11:22 GMT -5
Yeah but that's the traditional Cadar greeting to most people Oh oh it's official, I've gone past -50k rep with Steel Song ... it's a proud day for the cat. of course, I'm now considering seeing if I can get to -100k ...
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Post by slayernz on Dec 28, 2017 17:41:27 GMT -5
Yeah well err actually I haven't hit the -50k yet. I'm actually on -49,593. It's been on my to-do list this year but like all things, procrastination and STUPID faction alliances with Steel Song thwarted my plans. I have pretty good rep with all factions (except Thulun with a measly -1,770 Rep. I want to get them back into positive too, so I can't just indiscriminately kill all Song-flagged ships. Oooooooooh it's so tempting though. No - I show restraint - I show good judgement.
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