How to make any combat playstyle worth it?

[chronic]

Coming from a dedicated merchant's perspective who has never played a combat role (on higher difficulties) how do you ever actually earn a profit as a combat role?

If you play a pirate, or a military officer, contracts pay nothing, and any damage you take while looting ships outstrips any monetary gain from the raid itself.

Obviously, a spy and a bounty hunter are different and I completely understand the mechanisms behind those classes; but the pure combat classes I cannot.

Is there actual tactics beyond using the range appropriate weapon when needed, and depending on specialty either boarding or blowing their engines.

I'm trying to get into the other half of TB games and play a combat role, but apparently I'm too garbage at it

Any help you guys could offer would be immensely useful.

Edit This was actually supposed to be in Tactics, my bad.

[fallen]

chronic - moved it. Yesterday, Cory and I were mapping out components for ST2, and he was explaining to me the complexity of ST RPG combat rules that I never got. My mind was being blown. I am sure some of the vets can hop on and elucidate

[chronic]

Apr 23, 2016 14:02:54 GMT -5 fallen said:

chronic - moved it. Yesterday, Cory and I were mapping out components for ST2, and he was explaining to me the complexity of ST RPG combat rules that I never got. My mind was being blown. I am sure some of the vets can hop on and elucidate

That's incredible that even you can be learning things about the game however many years later.

[xdesperado]

Making money with combat is easy once you've got some levels and a ship suited to your preferred style.

Bounty hunting pays great especially when targets are further away.
If not doing that participate in wars with blockades and loot any ships you encounter.
Spying makes a nice sideline for combat types when not busy killing stuff and can give great profit.
Finally outright piracy can be effective, key is to not destroy enemy ships in combat so you can loot them of any goods then salvage the wreckage.

[chronic]

Apr 23, 2016 14:17:50 GMT -5 xdesperado said:

Making money with combat is easy once you've got some levels and a ship suited to your preferred style.

Bounty hunting pays great especially when targets are further away.
If not doing that participate in wars with blockades and loot any ships you encounter.
Spying makes a nice sideline for combat types when not busy killing stuff and can give great profit.
Finally outright piracy can be effective, key is to not destroy enemy ships in combat so you can loot them of any goods then salvage the wreckage.

What about combat strategy? For me it all seems to end with spamming gun/torp

[xdesperado]

You need to have the right skill set and a suitable ship.

Pilot at least 150% level, Tactics at around level. A Quick ship for gunning with 20+ guns. Sufficient crew to fully man engines and guns minimum, more if you plan on boarding.

Guns and Boarding styles are better than Torp for a few reasons. Torps have to be replaced so cost money if you want good quality ones which you will. They randomly target ship so easier to destroy enemies before you can loot them. You have to maintain range which can be difficult. With guns you a good pilot and a quick ship you can generally close quickly and then either target engines looking to end combat quickly or target decks to soften them up for a boarding attack. Either way you run less chance of outright destroying the enemy ship with random stray shots and it's generally easier to control the engagement.
Yes on higher difficulties you will get encounters at times with high level enemies in quick ships that can drag out the fight a bit but it's much more common to decisively end engagements quickly if your set up properly.

One note for any combat captain make sure you have some rank with one or more factions so you can get repairs when needed. Also an escape shuttle at least in lower levels is highly recommended for those occasions where it just all goes wrong.

Also I recommend keeping your stealth relatively low. Your looking for a fight so higher stealth means fewer encounters. Low stealth and a high signature can get you plenty of encounters meaning more loot/salvage and thus more credits.

[Cory Trese]

Haha, I disagree! Stealth at least 150% of level, Pilot and Tactics around 60% of level. A FAST and QUICK ship is preferable.

We'll use Torps to start every combat -- the money they cost is easily offset by stealing them and buying where you have rank. They pay for themselves!

It is, I have been told, easier to play the combat and contract Captain than it is a merchant. Most people consider Merchant/Smuggler the hardest profession to master.

[chronic]

Apr 23, 2016 18:40:51 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Haha, I disagree! Stealth at least 150% of level, Pilot and Tactics around 60% of level. A FAST and QUICK ship is preferable.

We'll use Torps to start every combat -- the money they cost is easily offset by stealing them and buying where you have rank. They pay for themselves!

It is, I have been told, easier to play the combat and contract Captain than it is a merchant. Most people consider Merchant/Smuggler the hardest profession to master.

Wow this is weird to me. Being a successful merchant is just low risk selling over the entire quadrant. Shift when embargoes occur. Level 40 on my crazy merchant btw

[Cory Trese]

Being a successful combat captain is just finding low risk combat where ever it is profitable. Shift as the Conflicts do, and take Contracts from someone in a position to pay well.

[chronic]

Apr 23, 2016 18:54:32 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Being a successful combat captain is just finding low risk combat where ever it is profitable. Shift as the Conflicts do, and take Contracts from someone in a position to pay well.

Is there any different play styles beyond eithers boarding or gunning the engines?

[qbspy]

I've finally found a "you can't see the forest for the trees situation."

[violet]

Apr 23, 2016 18:59:11 GMT -5 chronic said:

Apr 23, 2016 18:54:32 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Being a successful combat captain is just finding low risk combat where ever it is profitable. Shift as the Conflicts do, and take Contracts from someone in a position to pay well.

Is there any different play styles beyond eithers boarding or gunning the engines?

General consensus seems to be that on Insane or Impossible, you need to be a boarder or a gun bunny to maximize long-term survivability. That doesn't mean you can't do other things, only that they're more difficult and/or risky.

Below those difficulties, you can make pretty much anything work long-term so long as you're able to escape or execute combat effectively.

[Cory Trese]

I would actually say that on Insane or Impossible, you really need to know how Torps work and make effective use of stacking bonuses in all phases of combat.

[poryg]

I earn money with merchandise the merchandise is still possible and quite efficient actually.

[redartrats]

My personal strategy for combat-based captains is a fast/quick ship (Jango Class is an excellent candidate for low/medium levels, switch to one of the high-end ships afterwards), max out pilot+tactics with enough stealth to avoid getting hit, then always move in to close range and spam Engines. Pilot allows you to move in quickly and avoid torp damage, and also to retreat and escape if the enemy is too high-level. Tactics is for hitting engines to disable the enemy ship. Stealth is to minimize damage to your own ship. If balanced correctly, you can pretty much make 100% profit from looting ships, and only have to spend it on fuel and the occasional repair.