Noob Question about ship upgrades

[draegon]

Hola,  First my apologies to the developers that I ignored this game for so many years - it's friggen addicting.

Second, I'm playing as an Explorer/Smuggler type my current ship is a Martus Jammer with the Cargo Prow, Heavy Bulkheads, External Crew Pods, Titan Components, and ARES Missile upgrades.  I really haven't unlocked much of anything, but I'm sitting at level 14 with $995,000+ credits and thinking it's time for a ship upgrade.  What would y'all suggest?

[poryg]

For an explorer/smuggler some fast ship with lots of cargo. Perhaps honor of Thulun?
Or at least with five purchased upgrades I assume you are talking about a new ship.
If not, then my apologies. I would opt for Omni-stealth array (requires unlock) and the rest cargo upgrades, making sure my stealth is high to escape any ship that wants to steal my cargo.

[draegon]

Yes, new ship. "Honor of Thulan" you say... I might have to pay for a few promotions then.

I haven't unlocked the omni stealth array yet, though. I'll probably work on that my next run through once I up the difficulty.

[poryg]

I seriously can't really recommend you any ships though, because I use ship designer

[draegon]

Yeah, the wife's already pissed at me for buying the game....

[poryg]

Hahaha I know I shouldn't be laughing, but just can't help myself.

[draegon]

I was able to beg her into letting me pay for the ship designer.

So I started a new captain on the next difficulty level (I was playing at challenging with #0004 - I stopped naming my captains after a run of 6 that were killed by alien before level 3)

So my first design for a starting ship follows:

Hull 10
Armor 5
Engines 24
Sails 15
Crew 30
Cargo 50
Guns 10
Torps 4

The first upgrade I got for it was titan components for the extra 5 engines. Thoughts?

[resistor]

Dec 23, 2016 14:05:28 GMT -5 draegon said:

I was able to beg her into letting me pay for the ship designer.

So I started a new captain on the next difficulty level (I was playing at challenging with #0004 - I stopped naming my captains after a run of 6 that were killed by alien before level 3)

So my first design for a starting ship follows:

Hull 10
Armor 5
Engines 24
Sails 15
Crew 30
Cargo 50
Guns 10
Torps 4

The first upgrade I got for it was titan components for the extra 5 engines. Thoughts?

Titan Components is the go-to propulsion upgrade for Gunners. Not sure how useful it is to an Explorer/Smuggler, though. Engines only help mid/close range movement, so Titan Components won't help you retreat at long range, or avoid encounters.

[draegon]

Thanks

[draegon]

D*** #0009 just killed by alien. I need to unlock that omni stealth array, but I've got to make it to level 10 for that. I was going from the urban side of Tucanae-Javat Mining to the wild side for round #2 of exploring when they struck.

[sheff]

What you need good sir is more torpedoes.

If the other ship can't get to you, it can't loot you.

[draegon]

Dec 23, 2016 19:11:51 GMT -5 sheff said:

What you need good sir is more torpedoes.

If the other ship can't get to you, it can't loot you.

Yeah it was a ship with 30+ engines, I fired one torp and was immediately boarded and killed. I think I rolled a 1 for the encounter.

[sheff]

There's your problem. You fired ONE torp.

Ntsheep, educate the young one. Please.

[resistor]

Dec 23, 2016 20:40:33 GMT -5 draegon said:

Dec 23, 2016 19:11:51 GMT -5 sheff said:

What you need good sir is more torpedoes.

If the other ship can't get to you, it can't loot you.

Yeah it was a ship with 30+ engines, I fired one torp and was immediately boarded and killed. I think I rolled a 1 for the encounter.

Excuse sheff the Cadarian. Torpedoes are most Cadarian captains' only means of interacting with the universe.

After torping an enemy, you will get a bonus for your next action, so torpedoes can be useful if you want to retreat or advance at long range. To run away from an enemy ship, the best strategy is to launch a torpedo, and retreat the next turn if it hits.
Doing any one action, such as torping, for 3 turns in a row, will reduce your chances of success if you keep mashing the same button, so if you miss after 3 turns of attempted torping you might want to hit "retreat" before torping again.
On the other hand, if the enemy is torping at the same turn you are retreating, they will have an increased chance of hitting.

Hope this clarifies the benefits of torping.

[draegon]

That does, thank you. In this case the actions went something like torp - retreat - s*** I'm dead.