Leveling and Skill/Attribute Advancement

[pendell]

Okay. SO you can't fire guns when boarded. I didn't realize that.

The particular issue is when my brand new gunner got boarded by a Krang with about 4x my crew. I was looking for a way to scrape them off or execute a WBD (we both die) maneuver. It looks like ramming is what I'll have to use for that option in future.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[fallen]

Yes, ramming is a good way to head toward WBD

Best to try to escape to range and gun again, but that can be really hard depending on the enemy.

[poryg]

If you meet a huge level alien, you usually cannot escape... That is the main problem with many aliens you just get trapped and have only one try.

Only once did I beat an alien 300% my level by a different thing from boarding. I torped him to death, because he didn't have enough stealth to beat my captain's 1,5x level stealth.

[pendell]

By the way, I would like to point out an exception to this (otherwise excellent) rule of thumb:

As raising a skill requires you to first raise the associated attribute, this means you can:
1. Constantly keep 3 skills at par with your level

2. Keep 1 skill 300% of your level to the detriment of all your other skills (meaning you will never raise your other skills)

3. Keep 1 skill and attribute to 200% of your level (4 points/level), and another skill to 100% of level (2 points per level)

The exception is if you're raising related skills. For instance, both stealth and pilot are raised by quickness.

On my last pacifist run on hard level, I decided to go for stealth with secondary specialization in tactics and pilot.

So of the 6 points we get per level that gives us

1 points for wisdom
1 points for quickness
2 points for stealth
1 point for tactics
1 point for piloting

= 6.

Thus, I could push my stealth up to 200% of level, while maintaining both tactics and pilot at roughly my ordinary level.

In the event, I never needed to shoot at anything; there was nothing I couldn't run away from, even Xenos. So I rolled up 10mil credits and retired to Galantia.

Since I didn't need to shoot at anything, it follows that I might have risked eschewing tactics altogether and put everything into stealth and pilot. Since the two skills are directly related, I could have maintained both at levelx2.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Officer Genious]

pendell, you might be a genius. A genious, even. I'm stealing this strategy. If you can pry me off ST2.

[poryg]

Yes, since version 6 came out, having huge stealth has became a pretty much sure survive strategy. Before version 6 running away from Xenos was way harder. Now with stealth 200% your level, Pilot officer, Veteran and sails upgrade you can even torp Xenos if you have tactics. And if you want to be a torping alien hunter, you will also have a pretty fuel efficient ship, so no need for huge pilot.

Also, having Omni stealth array and huge stealth pretty much eliminates alien encounters altogether. I always equip my first ship with Omni stealth array and cargo things. The result is easy spy and solar wars due to much fewer encounters.

[pendell]

I appreciate that change. Part of the reason I got away from the game is because it seemed like pre-6 versions forced me to either go warrior or die. My first preference is to smuggle goodies and avoid contact altogether. My second preference is to go gunbunny and disable vessels before I ever set foot aboard them. The new version 6 changes enhanced those strategies and made the game much more interesting to me.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Officer Genious]

Apr 6, 2017 13:50:29 GMT -5 pendell said:

I appreciate that change. Part of the reason I got away from the game is because it seemed like pre-6 versions forced me to either go warrior or die. My first preference is to smuggle goodies and avoid contact altogether. My second preference is to go gunbunny and disable vessels before I ever set foot aboard them. The new version 6 changes enhanced those strategies and made the game much more interesting to me.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

That's excellent news, and news that I hope carries over to ST2. One of my biggest peeves about the ST series (and thy're only a handful) is that unless you are some kind of warrior, the game punishes you with Xenos. For smugglers and merchants, this means having to invest in some kind of warrior skills even if you don't plan on ever fighting enemies. The ability to invest in Stealth to actively outrun Xeno is a godsend for more pacifist players like myself.

[roybie]

Poryg:
Thanks for the comments.
I will eventually move up to impossible level for actual alien hunting.
I'm at crazy difficulty because I'm trying to get the fist of Shalun award. This captain is not actually hunting aliens but is just a practice build. I figured I'd use an alien hunter template to survive the occasional pirate Cory throws around.
I think I have 6 stock carnifex cruisers dry docked as spares. I sometimes get destroyed by ramming high-level pirates despite adding 10 armor to the carnifex.so having a stash of spares come in handy.

Pendel:
Thanks for the additional insight about related skills. Gave me a few new ideas for different builds.

Great game! I'm looking for an up-to-date ship list as the in-game ships seem to break the ship designer limitations (60 s as sails!)

[poryg]

Apr 14, 2017 2:21:58 GMT -5 roybie said:

I sometimes get destroyed by ramming high-level pirates despite adding 10 armor to the carnifex.so having a stash of spares come in handy.

That's because ship design can never save you if you don't have the suitable build. 
Of course it's pretty much impossible to have a build against everything,, because every coin has two sides and as far as my experience goes, there's nothing such as a 100% versatile build. 
Pirates are the only ones who can give you a run for your money, because they love ramming. Before version 6 it used to be more manageable, because as strength didn't use to increase levels, you had more free points for pilots. But since pilot took huge hit in alien hunter builds to keep the warrior up, the susceptibility to ramming is way higher. Nothing will save you from a pirate that tries to ram you. Only bigger pilot at the cost of warrior. 
If I get to playing the game again, I will try to find a healthier balance that would protect us from being rammed to death. 

[athios]

Wasn't there some sort of Prow Upgrade that gives Ram defense bonus and offense bonus? Does that help?

[poryg]

Not too much. Build has the highest impact, especially the more your character advances.