My Mk3 is parked at Devaltos Prime right now, along with the Mk1. However, stupid Planet has some civil unrest, causing access to the military base to be blocked. This would NOT happen on Cadar! Cadar know how to keep the populous in line!
Probably by torping all those dumb scientists who tell you to stop torping and wasting money on torps, am I right
contributor?
@mishaadams: Here's what I know so far. This comes largely from Cory and Andrew, other members of the forums (including the homicidal cat slayernz and master alien slayer lurker) and digging in the help files (seriously, you'll return to them A LOT):
Play Styles (Yeah yeah, seems like you may all ready know this but its important to know where you want to go and your weaknesses first):
Gun Bunnies: Tends to go for an up-close and personal kind of combat favoring the midrange battlefield and more guns than a battleship. Relies on high Engine:Hull and Sail:Hull ratios (2:1 or better for good results) and the crew to handle both your Engines and Guns-- if you don't have the crew for both, your performance in battle will suffer! Weakness: As your pilot doesn't start very high alone you will favor low-Hull ships, which means if you DO get hit, it will likely hurt. Lots.
Torpers: a less-used but more general alternative to "Damn Cadari Bastards!"(DCBs!), torpers like to sit back, relax and pound the torpedo button until their opponent gives up or is blown to space dust. More reliant on Sail:Hull ratios than others, and less common amount players due its weaknesses despite its power due to the use of Stealth rolls in distance combat, virtual uselessness against the Alien types and the expense of torp refills. Still an excellent way to slow an enemy or cause a little damage before an enemy closes in or you step in yourself. Weaknesses: Aliens and Gun Bunnies, who can often dance circles around High-Torp, high Speed but low Agility variants.
Boarders: also known as "Steel Teapots" for the Song's tendency to hold captains at sword point over surrender negotiations, boarders live at the very edge of danger: 0 range, 0 cares and often 0 underwear. Moving from long distance to none in a (relative) heartbeat thanks to high Sail:Hull and Engine:Hull ratios and enough crew to make the Bollish Aliens worry, these captains cut straight to the point with gunfire and duels rather than all that fancy space-dancing. Weakness: You can't hit what you can't even reach, and so Torpers (DCBs!) are more of an issue for boarder-types than most.
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Negotiate: helps shorten time for buying goods on planets, better prices for buying/selling of goods. Also improves salvage prices, I believe.
Explorer: used solely for exploring the wilderness, which is why its never used outside of explorer classes or those seeking a few quick bucks.
Stealth: helps avoid encounters while moving and landing, makes torps more accurate and gives bonuses to long-range movements and actions, stacks with Sails. Also boosts your level by almost (if not exactly, not sure) a 1:1 ratio so God help you if you try to make a torp-heavy captain.
Tactics: helps with landing in wild and urban zones, increases gun accuracy and helps with mid-to-short range movements, stacked by Engines. Also used for Surveillance and Blockade attempts, so more important for military officers and spies than you'd expect.
Pilot: assists landing in wild and urban zones, fuel consumption, mid and short range combat movement (and in avoiding enemy Ram attacks), affected by Hull ratio.
Intimidation: helps in recruiting crew, fuel consumption in red zones and keeping crew loss low while exploring. Often the skill people forget about to their detriment.
Warrior: used for boarding, helps with exploring, boosted by Weapons. Oftentimes the only winning tactic against Aliens (NOT always), and virtually always your last line of defense against pirates.
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Builds and what they should focus on (no order):
Merchants: Negotiate, pilot, intimidate. Give up when you have to, buy as many Trade permits as possible to make it painless 90% of the time. Huge holds with relatively few guns/torps, low speed/agility but a fair number of crew.
Smugglers: Negotiate, pilot, stealth. You generally will have three favored factions, and focus on running from the rest-- best be a fast flyer then! Small holds with moderate guns/crew/torps (depends on play style), high speed/agility.
Pirates: Tactics, Pilot, Intimidate. Plenty of crew for boarding/manning your guns, moderate hold to pillage with and the speed to outrun unhappy military officers.
Military Officers: Tactics, Intimidate, Warrior. Larger Hulls/Armor to take more damage, Intimidate to keep your army in check and not drinking all your fuel, Warrior to board hapless pirates and enemy officers and the ability to sit all day on some poor Indy backwater blockading their merchants until they cry like a little baby screeching, "Mommy!!".
Spies: Tactics, Pilot, Stealth. Surveillance and get the job done as quickly as possible before running away screaming for your home base with a horde of angry bounty hunters after you. Small hold and hull to keep your signature low, high speed and so on to make yourself a difficult-to-hit target.
Explorers: Warrior, Intimidate, Pilot. Stick with agile ships to land on wild zones without encounters, but have a massive hold to store all the loot you can grab every planet. A high crew with high Warrior and Intimidate will keep you in the field longer, and with enough Trade Permits low speed ships won't have too much of a problem. You can boost Negotiate for better prices, but you get everything but water-fuel and repairs for free, so you're only boosting a large net profit.
Many classes will by hybrids, like Smuggler-Explorers or Pirate-Merchants. That's fine too.
