Ramming enemy ships

[poryg]

I have decided to try some ramming, because a couple of times I was really shocked how strong ramming can be. 
I wonder, what helps ramming be successful? 
I have, so far, accomplished with my star trader Rammstein this:
Extremely huge pilot
Resistance to ram
Pilot officer 
20 hull
Fast and quick ship
Huge cargo (just for the fun of it) 

[Cory Trese]

Armor and Hull, in that order. Ramming when you have excess (more than half hull) or stronger structure (more Armor + Hull than enemy ship) will both give you big advantages.

[poryg]

Okay, thanks
I have upgraded into 25 hull, 16 base armor (plus hyperion superstructure and that thing that gives me some ramming bonuses, plus two armor as well), then some engine upgrade that gives me combat bonuses in medium and low range..

I am seriously not afraid of having bigger hull or armor, since it's time for alien hunting!
Well, of course I know that it will be anything but profitable... But money is nothing to me... 

[Cory Trese]

oh and escape shuttle

[poryg]

I wonder, is there some advantage in ramming vs being rammed?

[qbspy]

Hehe

[Cory Trese]

Jul 19, 2016 13:58:32 GMT -5 poryg said:

I wonder, is there some advantage in ramming vs being rammed?

Yes, you do full damage as Ramming. If you both Ram, only one of you is going to do the ram damage and the other will do resist damage only, which is a lot less.

[athios]

poryg , starfixer has an old guide that ultimately uses Ramming as primary attack. Teh game balancing may have changed since it was written, but you may be able to gain some insight from it.
startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/7883/beat-st

[poryg]

I have already read it, but I kind of doubt it's trustworthiness, because high pilot ships ram my boarder for great damage, but not vice versa.

Also, my ramming captain is done. He met an alien 300% of his level, with ship hull 22 and armor 58... Stupid artifacts

[starfixer]

Jul 21, 2016 14:12:49 GMT -5 athios said:

poryg , starfixer has an old guide that ultimately uses Ramming as primary attack. Teh game balancing may have changed since it was written, but you may be able to gain some insight from it.
startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/7883/beat-st

Jul 22, 2016 11:03:05 GMT -5 poryg said:

I have already read it, but I kind of doubt it's trustworthiness

[poryg]

starfixer how long it actually takes you to have 2400 str?

[starfixer]

I don't remember exactly how long it took because I took a two year hiatus from ST. But it did take a while. The trick was to invest in Strength first while XP cost was still low, and to constantly participate in spy battles and solar wars, which are the fastest ways to gain XP. Remember that the huge initial investment in Strength was so that you wouldn't need to invest in Strength as you leveled up and XP costs went up, essentially saving you time overall, and be able to get to ridiculously high levels (I got past 600) while still being able to ram any xeno. If you only wanted to get to lv300, for example, you would only need to invest in 1200 strength.

I'm thinking of doing something cool soon. Maybe I'll push to the lv1000 mark.

[poryg]

Well, I would never recommend to constantly participate in spy and solar wars with just 9 tactics. I always need at least 20 tactics to make it count. With the character designer it's possible to have 30 tactics before your stats price increases, which helps a great bunch. I haven't just been able to confirm that strength increases ram damage. Although if it does, then it would be logical to have a hi str and pilot build, and just ram everyone...

[starfixer]

Jul 24, 2016 3:40:07 GMT -5 poryg said:

Well, I would never recommend to constantly participate in spy and solar wars with just 9 tactics. I always need at least 20 tactics to make it count. With the character designer it's possible to have 30 tactics before your stats price increases, which helps a great bunch. I haven't just been able to confirm that strength increases ram damage. Although if it does, then it would be logical to have a hi str and pilot build, and just ram everyone...

A couple of things:
1. Time, Warrior, Intimidate, Engines, Sails and Pilot also help for blockades and surveillance. Hence, you can easily be successful in blockades and surveillance with just 9 Tactics after enough time has passed. Unless Tactics do more than just help success.
2. The strategy is for ram attack success, not damage. It's to be able to gun all normal enemies and be able to ram any xeno and escape in an escape shuttle. For ram as a primary attack you might want slightly different upgrades and maybe even a different ship with more armor and hull, and for more damage you'd want the same. But any stats which increase ram attack also increase damage, so yes Strength and Pilot do increase damage (but not resistance to damage).

[poryg]

I see, so the point of your ramming isn't to destroy your opponent, but yourself. For that, high pilot and convenient enemy ship are enough. But nothing can help against aliens... Their ships have sometimes so thick armor that it's just better to board them.