newbie questions and feedback

[kazuhiro808]

After dying horribly a few times and going through a couple of different strategies, I have a few questions/observations.

First, I feel like the game paints a target on your face very easily. Taking missions from your home faction pisses people off, but so does breaking trade bans, fleeing from port inspectors, and taking an opportunity to strike a blow for your side in a conflict. Soon you're in a situation where no matter how great your Pilot and Negotiation skills are, you will take damage from stray torpedoes, you will be forced to defend yourself, and you will spiral downward in reputation beyond the point of no return. Making it worse is the fact that this also attracts attention from neutral factions, causing a downward spiral with those factions as well.

I feel like this is possibly by design, but it takes a LOT of work to prevent it from happening- your build and playstyle must be specifically based around it- and it is really cutting my careers short.

Second, boarding seems overpowered. Shooting at the enemy ship blows it to smithereens and you could potentially take just as much damage as you would from the risky prospect of boarding if you board, you can refill your Crew and recoup some of your expenses by looting the hold, and on non skullfuck difficulty levels you will rarely lose a duel if you have even moderate Warrior skill.

Thanks for taking the time to read and good work with this game!

[celu]

First, yes it does paint a pretty picture on your face, but also you can be the one painting targets on other peoples faces, depending on what course you have decided to take.

All clans hate each other one way or another, it's up to you how you would take advantage of each situation. Being an aggressor or stepping aside and cool off for a few weeks or surrendering (you got nothing to hide...right?) can work to your advantage -all the time if you know how to play them(the clans). Even a negative rep can be a good thing (an excuse to loot their smugglers and merchants or steal a ship)
Yes, you must consider your play style and profession when choosing which skills to develop.

Pilot skill with tactics and stealth can improve the result of your encounters, offense and defense.

[slayernz]

Reading through the numerous guides that you can find on these forums and in the Wiki will almost certainly help you reduce the gradient of an otherwise steep learning curve. There's a ton of information on strategies for most of the major classes of captains in the game. Especially fleshed out are the Explorer, Merchant, and Smuggler.

In any event, focusing on building up your pilot and stealth skills early means that you have a higher chance of surviving any encounter. Focus on your other skills appropriately too (eg Explore skill for Explorer, Negotiate for merchants, etc).

Definitely become friendly with at least 2 factions, preferably one on Syndicate side, and one on the Noble house side.

[Cory Trese]

I appreciate the feedback. There is definitely a lot of design work and effort that went into creating the mess you're describing.

It's like climbing -- eventually something gets out of balance, your luck wears out and then you fall. =)