Community Challenge: WF Shortage

[poryg]

Okay, I have given it a go. One of my captains on Insane died after mere 232 turns. I just couldn't recover from the constant money shortage no matter what I did...

I think I have finally found the way.. . Will give it a shot on Crazy difficulty, and then I will see.
The best strategy for me was, so far, a pilot that lived of plundering ships, selling their cargo and paying for the operations... 

[Darth Cthoras]

I keep dying horribly - no mutinies, but to other ships. Sigh.

[poryg]

Haha
Well, my last ultimate strategy failed me greatly, due to the fact that I lacked money. So much for being a merchant from the start...

[athios]

Yeah, keep in mind that having low crew morale has a negative impact on all your action rolls, so you are basically at a disadvantage for the entire game.

[Darth Cthoras]

Jul 15, 2016 14:57:51 GMT -5 athios said:

Yeah, keep in mind that having low crew morale has a negative impact on all your action rolls, so you are basically at a disadvantage for the entire game.

Maybe pure Pilot is the way to go, and flee everyone while trading goods between worlds for money to keep morale up.

[redartrats]

It's interesting to read about different approaches people are taking. I find that bounty hunter may still be the easiest to manage, maybe military officer too. Basically you need high strength to survive/win mutinies and boarding battles (when your ship is too damaged and you have no money to repair it, need to capture a new ship), and high intimidate to reduce mutiny frequency and WF usage. Doing contracts also helps with morale in addition to generating much-needed income. But definitely need Pilot too, to reduce WF usage, escape from overly powerful enemies, or capture weak enemies. Well, it's a tough call. Once in a while I'd sell into a shortage which boosts morale, but it's so rare that it doesn't seem dependable as a key strategy.

Pretty much you have to just take it as you go, and improvise to suit the situation. Very hard to plan ahead since small details may require a significant change in strategy.

[poryg]

You lose 1 hp per mutiny regardless of your strength. Only if you have too low strength, there is a chance of losing an additional hp every time you fight the crew.

[poryg]

I would rather take a Captain, make him a gun bunny with the character designer and just loot ships and pay pardons, making use of the fact that the captain has cheap pardons and has 50% chance for the morale not decreasing every turn you run without water-fuel.

[poryg]

Also, with the ship designer and a bit of luck, you can get a starting ship to 30 Sails after upgrading.. . Which cuts Wf consumption to 0.1-0.4 on green, depending on difficulty.

[redartrats]

I'm currently playing a quite-successful bounty hunter on Hard, with no WF/luxury rations bought from the exchange (only looted, if I find any). I'm finding that it's more effective to do contracts and buy morale at the spice hall rather than trying to scavenge enough WF by harvesting or by looting. My crew have been literally running on empty for 36 years, and have mutinied 20 times, but now I have 500+K credits at lvl 12.

My main strategy this time round is:
1) Do contracts, preferably multiple contracts per trip. Long-haul high-paying delivery contracts are the best.
2) Never bribe the crew during a mutiny, always fight for control (requires high strength of course).
3) Frequent stopovers at spice halls to dissipate crew's anger from being forced to fly on an empty tank.
4) Keep positive rep with 1-2 factions so that the doctor is available after mutinies.
5) Loot all hostile ships, unless your ship is weak / captain is injured and you have a permit with the pirate's faction. Even though the amount of WF/LR you actually get from this is far from enough to keep the crew happy, the good thing is that winning battles increases morale.
6) Keep Intimidate high to reduce frequency of mutinies even when morale is 0.
7) Keep Pilot high to make any WF I looted last as long as possible.

Basically I'm using morale as my "fuel tank" instead of WF/LR. So I'm "buying morale" at spice halls, or spending 1 HP of the captain to raise morale by 5 (i.e., fight for control during mutiny). Any WF/LR I find on pirate ships or other hostile ships is basically just a bonus.  It's kind of funny that my ship has been to the far end of the Quadrant and back, several times, and it has been mostly running on empty.

[redartrats]

Haha, the captain's crimes finally caught up with him and he got shot down by a Rychart pirate. Still, he did really well for a captain who never bought a single unit of WF or LR. Here's his obituary:

Captain Chui Ta (aka Thirsty) was an ex-Steel Song bounty hunter on Hard difficulty who was the captain on board the Serpent Tooth. From the very beginning he was known as an austere man, but only those unfortunate enough to be conscripted under his crew understood what that really meant. Not only did he earn the Hardcore Captain and Hardcore Ultra awards for remaining on board the Serpent Tooth all the way to the end; he also demanded bricks where no straws were supplied. His crew had to fly from one end of the Quadrant to the other end, repeatedly, on nothing more than the barest drops of ice that they were forced to collect from the harsh, unforgiving cold of deep space. In spite of making quite a fortune during his career -- eventually he had $1,044,191 credits to his name in the central database, earning the Wealthy Trader, Affluent Trader, Emerging Trader, and Aspiring Trader awards -- he refused to spend even a single credit in the Exchange to buy much-needed water fuel, and certainly no luxury rations. He listened to no reason, and not even for a moment did he lift his unreasonable demands upon his crew. On their part, they simply had to make do or face his wrath: and a wrath indeed he had! During the 48 years of his career he experienced 23 mutinies -- and triumphed in every one of them. No one could stand against him, crew or otherwise. Only occasionally did the crew get relief in the form of a unit or two of water-fuel or, if they were really lucky, luxury rations, both forcefully taken from hapless victims the Captain subjugated in their journeys.

Because of his ruthless efficiency in getting the job done, many a criminal agent in the Quadrant has hired the Captain for various jobs, some more shady than others. Of the 70 contracts he took, he completed 62 but failed 3 and, due to various extenuating circumstances, could not finish 5 on time. In spite of these flaws, however, he did earn the Quick Contracts I award.

In battle he was a dangerous man: having fought in 133 battles and winning all but 2. Among those defeated by him, 111 were looted by him afterwards, and 37 were salvaged even after they had lost. Of their crew, 106 were forcefully conscripted by him afterwards. His fearsome battle skills earned him the Warmaster, Elite Privateer, Ultra Privateer, Master Privateer, and Doom Reaper I awards. He also made many enemies; having started out as a Steel Song agent, his loyalties shifted towards Rychart and later Cadar, and by the end of his career he had made enemies with all except Cadar, earning him the Dark Nemesis award. Even the Cadar could barely tolerate him, and many a time they were very close to cancelling his trade permit and stripping him of his ill-acquired military rank.

He was on his way to fill two more high-paying contracts when a Rychart pirate ship chanced upon him shortly after a terrible battle in which his ship had become badly damaged and his crew had been decimated. He was on his way to Kashtisha, no doubt to patch together what remained of his fearsome ship and pick up more unsavory types to replace his lost crew members, when they found him. In his weakened state, he still put up a good fight, but the Rychart pirates had the upper hand, and eventually prevailed over him. Rumor has it that among their crew were several ex-captains who had barely escaped with their lives after the Captain had incapacitated their ships and enslaved their crew, executing the rest. Perhaps, in these final moments, he had finally met the hand of Justice.

At his death in 105.1 AE, Captain Chui Ta had taken 2497 turns and was a level 15 Grand Master with 393 experience. Finally the Quadrant can rest from the fear that the Captain has inspired in it these past 48 years. Farewell, Captain, and good luck. Or as some would prefer to say, good riddance!

[poryg]

This was exactly what I have been intending to do in the end! Perhaps I will have better luck

[poryg]

Still, I have to say... Very well done, captain!

[redartrats]

Thanks!

[athios]

Let's all raise a glass (of W-F) to the late Captain Chui Ta...