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Post by pendell on Oct 27, 2019 19:27:57 GMT -5
Version: 2.6.29 Platform: Android Reading through my log here: link 431.51AE K'ittzix's second shadow talent saved K'ettraex from imminent death during a ship combat. 431.51 AE Ctrik's life safe talent saved Kroaktix from imminent death during a ship combat. 431.06 Ei'rittrix's Second Shadow Talent saved K'ettraex from imminent death during a ship combat. Who are these people? They certainly aren't on my crew roster. Are xeno sneaking aboard and stealthily writing entries in my log, and probably surfing all kinds of unsafe sites , thus cluttering up our systems with malware? Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 27, 2019 17:06:53 GMT -5
Version: 2.6.29 Platform: Android Short description: Combat buffs/debuffs do not expire. See link I don't know if that will work or not. As you can see, it is now turn 9. I hit the cruiser with 'tag the beast' on turn 1. All of the buffs and debuffs I put on it are all still functional on turn 9, as are his debuffs (such as targeting lock) inflicted on me in turn 1. This is new behavior and did not occur in previous versions. Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 27, 2019 16:18:34 GMT -5
I'm having a similar problem with craft. Version: 2.6.29 Platform: Android Short description: Craft do not interdict torpedoes.
I have a Sword battlecruiser with a single hanger carrying a Faulker D5. When launching the craft with mission 'Tip of the spear' or 'Screening Swarm' with 3 turn flight plan, craft will neither intercept incoming xeno warp darts at range 4 or 5 nor will it ever land unless forced to by "knock from the void".
This did not occur in earlier versions.
Do you require more details?
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 11, 2019 14:46:48 GMT -5
I am interested to the answer to this question as well. I'm looking forward to Xeno carriers!
...
Of course, if we're going to give a measure of how effective carriers really are, there should be a chance to encounter small craft apart from the mother ship. After all, in the real world most carrier battles are fought well over the horizon. In the most momentous ones such as Midway and Coral Sea, the surface ships never exchanged so much as a shot. One way to realize this would be to add a "small craft encounter" card to the patrol/blockade/spy/salvage games.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 11, 2019 13:57:37 GMT -5
Custard Pie Launcher Large Slot weapon Inspired by the classic Sci-fi short story Mr. Jester , inflicts -20% accuracy for 3 turns. Tongue-in-cheek, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 11, 2019 8:09:26 GMT -5
Some people (like me for example) do not like to play without permadeath even if they get their ass wiped on a regular base. Yes; but you're not the person who's quitting in disgust because a routine combat ends their game. Clearly you benefit from permadeath, and that's good! It's the way the game is intended to be played, I think. Thing is, not everyone who plays STF wants a game which is less about winning than it is about survival, especially at the higher difficulties. Not everyone can simply shake it off and start fresh when the game ends two game-years on because an ordinary battle killed critical crew, or even ended the game altogether. And those players need to either play at a lower level of difficulty, or disable permadeath on their existing level. That's why the Trese brothers created the custom difficulty level ; so that if (say) having your Captain one-shotted by a sniper and ending the game isn't something players enjoy, that is a part of the game which is now optional. That doesn't have to be your STF experience unless you want it to be. My view of permadeath is: You have to treat every combat like a gamble, which means you can't afford to "bet" more than you can afford to lose. Any crew combat means potentially losing all four members of the fighting crew; this is a hand of poker, and they are your table stakes. Any SHIP combat potentially means losing the ship; if you don't have an escape capability and another ship berthed somewhere, you're risking your entire game. So, yes, permadeath makes every card game , every combat, roulette. And the higher the difficulty level, the more bullets the RNG puts in the gun. So the game becomes about stacking the deck your own way; the reason combats are roulette but the game ISN'T is because you have the option both of not giving the gun to the RNG , and of taking bullets out of the gun. Practically speaking, this means making friends with almost all factions so that most ship encounters are friendly. It means cultivating talents like skip off the void or stiff salute to escape independents or xeno who can't be bought. It means being willing to pay bribes to lower hostility. It means buying trade permits so you can surrender with minimal penalty. And, yes, it means surrendering even without a permit , forfeiting cargo and contract, if that's what it takes to avoid being killed prematurely. It means ignoring the early missions and skipping out on some sidequests so that you don't antagonize one faction or another down into -100 and get bounty hunters sicced on you. It means walking away from blockade/salvage/patrol/explore card games if there's a risk card you can't accept. In short, it means being an abject coward until you get rich enough in terms of credits and experience that you can soak a few lost combats and start being brave. And even then, you've got to pick your battles carefully , ensure that you have just the right mix of talents and crew and ship such that you have five bullets to shoot at the RNG and it only has one. It still means you need to pick your battles and avoid those which you haven't planned and prepared for. It still means that you could lose critical crew and go back to coward phase until you've been able to recruit and train new crew. STF on permadeath and on the higher difficulty levels isn't so much about gambling as it is about risk management ; about determining what risks you are willing to accept and doing whatever you possibly can to avoid or mitigate the unacceptable ones. And the higher the difficulty level, the more stringent and careful you have to be. In my view, this is what it takes to win on permadeath at the higher difficulty levels, and if this isn't fun for a player, both those aspects are optional. I will say that in some ways Frontiers is far more forgiving than the original ST. The original ST had no one-year grace period and no talents to avoid combats. So for most players the game would end when they eventually ran into a Xeno which they could neither escape nor fight. The Brothers have done a lot of work to make it easier to survive without being killed by random chance, and I for one am grateful for their efforts! Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 10, 2019 16:44:23 GMT -5
At the risk of sounding like a complete coward .. why not just turn off the permadeath option? Then, if you're coming up against a fight that's going to be difficult, save beforehand. If it doesn't go the way you expected, reload your save and try again, this time with different tactics.
I realize this is not what the best players do, and Cory and Fallen enjoy permadeath -- but I personally never use it. I don't like it. In ANY roguelike or similar game where you can't restore a save state, you're always one dice roll or one game glitch away from losing your file. I could tolerate that in the 1980s when I had no investment in the characters or the ship. I could tolerate that in nethack when I was building up one character that could be lost -- BUT when I'm playing a game where I have to invest in and keep track of NO LESS THAN FORTY-NINE CHARACTERS, having to start over from scratch is , to me, simply unacceptable.
So I turn off permadeath and save regularly.
And I enjoy the game immensely that way.
This means I have to forfeit any claims to be "the best" or even a good player. Playing on permadeath means you have to be much more careful of your characters and you have to greatly restrict those tactics and abilities you explore in any given run to minimize the chance of a rapid and untimely death. It may even mean foregoing quests you would otherwise enjoy playing through because the risk is unacceptably high. It means treating the game more as a simulation and less as something "for fun". Back in the 80s, even strategy games that could end instantly with one bad dice roll were common.
I ... don't enjoy playing that sort of thing any more. I have enough stress in my real life that I get no pleasure from additional stress from games.
So I turn off permadeath and have fun. And I'm happy that way. It's not for everyone, but it works for me, giving me the fun and challenge I want rather than pushing me to deal with something I'd rather not.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 4, 2019 8:45:57 GMT -5
Actually, I have some spoilery speculation on that last mission. We encounter the name Gux Malleus, last seen in Templar Assault having his head ripped off by a Xeno lord. Evidently, however, there are still Guxs around, and more than one, up to evil tricks.
How is Gux still functioning when the Templars saw him die?
To me, the answer is obvious: Gux is a Zendu. Not a Templar -- the brothers have stated in no uncertain terms there will NEVER be a rogue templar -- but this game introduces several other kinds of Zendu as well, possibly precisely to allow a few of them to go bad. A renegade Zendu lineage in which Gux is an ancestor would explain why Gux' talents and memories live on, even when he has apparently died more than once.
Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 3, 2019 20:56:34 GMT -5
Well, it took about a year but it did eventually show up. Two missions back-to-back. One involving a retired diplomat acting as a spy to ferret out another faction's technological secrets, the other called something like "buried secrets". It's this second mission that's the major mission of the era. No spoilers (here) but you get a choice of actions. Depending on the choice you make , the next era will either be Consolidation (as the United Coalition expands its power) or Dissension (the Coalition is weakened).
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 3, 2019 5:52:09 GMT -5
Right; I'll do just that. Thank you!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Oct 2, 2019 18:19:29 GMT -5
So I've been giving STF a rest for awhile; I was interested in continuing the story. So now I'm restarting my game and updating to the latest version for my droid: 2.6.17 I see it is now the fourth century. Additional alliance delegates are being seated.
And nothing happens that is different. I flew around, completed a mission, unloaded some artifacts, touched down on multiple faction worlds, flew to Ryeline Ganne and spoke with Estelle. No response. Sold her some intel records.
Is there something I have to do to trigger the next set of story events, or is there a problem with the game? Do you require any additional identifying details for the game I'm playing?
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Sept 27, 2019 8:57:54 GMT -5
If I may elaborate just a bit:
The starting Explorer is a cruiser, not a fighter. Consequently it cannot be repaired by carriers. It will, however, be repaired by factions if they end the turn in a green square, same as everything else.
That being said, the confusion is understandable because the explorer looks a lot like the basic starting fighter. Something to add to the backlog of stuff; maybe redraw the explorer icon to be more cruiser-ish.
Although as we all know, the brothers are busy making STF the best game they can as their highest priority. I suspect that the next really big update to 4X will be a brand new game on a brand new engine -- if there is enough interest.
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Sept 23, 2019 10:05:54 GMT -5
Thank you!
Still haven't found it. Decided to fill the sky with cheap cruisers ($60/turn maintenance) to eliminate the fog on the map. There are still a few black spots on the map, but I can click on them and get the cross hair, meaning that is empty space. The major question mark are the asteroid fields and belts, though I have almost fully explored those as well. It seems very unlikely a system would appear IN the field; even anomalies are on the edges.
Probably going to give up soon; the point of diminishing returns has certainly been reached.
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Post by pendell on Sept 18, 2019 22:33:27 GMT -5
If anyone would like to, I'm playing on Degla 80x80 (90 worlds). I won about 4 game years ago, and it is my intention to colonize every star on the map. I have colonized 85 worlds and have discovered four others. However, that last planet eludes me. I'm going to try to include a screenshot. drive.google.com/file/d/1-IR1JoICn6ku6Wz6LE4qtq5waPzfq3eU/view?usp=sharingAny ideas where the missing planet is? I've spent four game years hitting every corner of the map with scout cruisers. I assume it's probably near one of the clusters, since there aren't many single stars on this map, but I still haven't found it. Respectfully, Brian P.
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Post by pendell on Sept 13, 2019 9:39:10 GMT -5
Thank you very much, fallen. I see you answered 2-4, but what about #1?
"1) What exactly do Xeno do in their civilization beyond building defenses and ships? Do they construct improvements (though we can't see them) to improve their XP ? Do they have a monetary income? Can they subsidize or rush ships or improvements? Put simply , do they have anything to spend CP on besides ships and defense? "
Again, thank you for the time!
Respectfully,
Brian P.
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