Early game strategies

[johndramey]

So, we've been talking about this in a couple other threads (namely the early game W/F difficulties thread), but I figured it might be a good idea to try to organize some information into a single thread that we can all contribute to.

So, the plan is to basically keep adding to this thread as we all learn things. I'll try to keep it vaguely organized, but if you have any critiques just shoot 'em out there and I'll take 'em into account.

[johndramey]

Missions

You'll probably want to run at least a couple missions early in the game to build up some funds and gain a little rep with your chosen faction, but how do you select the proper mission for you? Well, for a while the game will be nice to you and give you missions that don't require much traveling, typically no jumps or 1 jump. I'd strongly suggest you spend as much time as possible running these jobs because they are easy money, they will boost your rep with your starting faction, and you'll be able to see your starting Quadrant (and possibly the Quadrants around you). After that, there are a couple things to keep in mind when selecting early game missions. I like to think in terms of the rule of three "S"es.

• Keep 'em short
• Keep 'em simple
• Make sure they are sufficient

So, taking them one at a time, when I say short I mean that ideally you want something no more than 1 jump away, although 2 jumps is doable if the payout is large. By simple I mean that you probably don't want overly complex multi-stop jobs. Easy pick-up-and-delivers or single stoppers are your bread and butter early game. And, last but not least, sufficient means that you need to remember that you will be needing to pay for w/f, crew, repairs, and doctor visits. I generally try to earmark around $2,500 for each quadrant I travel in. Note that does not mean each jump I make, but each quadrant I'm tooling around in. So 1 jump = 2 quadrants = $5,000. but that is honestly a pretty optimistic figure early in the game. If you want to be safe, treat 1 quadrant as costing you around $3,500 to $4,000.

What does this all mean in practice? That if you get offered a job, try to think of it in these kinds of terms:
How far do I have to travel? How many stops do I have to make? How much does it pay?

If you are only making one stop, that stop is in the quadrant you are in now, and it pays $5,000? Good job, take it and get some easy money.

If you make two stops (one picking up a package and the other delivering the package), the stops are 1 sector apart from each other, and you get paid nothing for the first stop (booo!) and $6,000 for the second stop (yay!), it's a pretty ok job. You stand to make a small profit if things go well, but also might lose some cash if you get unlucky.

Ship-to-ship Combat

Put simply, avoid early game ship to ship combat. Getting beat up early game can end your game because repair bills and doctor bills will bankrupt you. Your best bet is to simply bribe everyone that is trying to attack you. If you have the option, do it, because a couple hundred credit bribe is a very small price to pay. If you can't bribe, consider surrendering. If, after making sure that you cannot bribe and you absolutely do not want to surrender, you still have options. In your first round of combat, you'll want to make use of the Sharp Steering talent, as it gives you a bonus to escape. What I usually do is spend 4 reactor points trying to retreat, spend 4 reactor points putting 2 torpedoes down range, and then use Sharp Steering. This strategy has had a relatively high success rate for me, but you will take damage. The enemy ship will probably pop you with a couple torps, so you most likely will not get away without a scratch. Repairing that damage (and probable doctor bills) will cost you a pretty penny as well. So, that final option is really a last resort thing.

When you run into an aggressive ship early game, refer to this check list:

• Bribe
• Surrender
• Escape from combat

To escape from combat, try Nikolai's patented Cut-and-run on your first turn:

• Use the Sharp Steering talent
• Withdraw from combat (this costs 4 RP)
• Fire any torpedoes you have (each torpedo costs 2 RP)

Trading

I've always been more of a non-combat player, I love playing around with the economy and (trying to) make huge money moving widgets around. I'll try to keep a list of some basic, safe trades that I've found. Some of these will be simple items that you can sell almost anywhere, and some of them will require a little more forethought.

1. Medicine is a pretty safe item to carry. You most likely won't make huge cash off of it, but if you are just running missions or traveling and want a way to eek out some small profits from your travels, filling your hold with medicine is a safe bet. Can be sold anywhere, but I've found that Population economies reliably want it.
2. Crop Harvesters absolutely require that you take them to Agricultural economies, but will make you huge money. If you can find some Industrial planets near some Agricultural planets, consider making a crop harvester run.

[ntsheep]

I always shoot my critics out the torp tubes. They drive me nuts. If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all






Sorry, I had to do it

[hyfrydle]

Thanks for the tips hopefully I can get a bit further and not run out of money so quickly 

[bookworm21]

As in STRPG, playing explorer is an excellent way to earn money early-game

[fallen]

Feb 3, 2017 8:07:08 GMT -5 bookworm21 said:

As in STRPG, playing explorer is an excellent way to earn money early-game

Confirmed!

[fallen]

Might be worth playing a new game and updating the missions section

You shoudl be able to build up quick cash reserves by helping out your starting Contacts.

[bookworm21]

I do wonder if it's almost too easy to gain mass +rep and cash at the start, as there are usually only a few planets per quadrant and combined with the 'go to the palace for pomp and ceremony' I found myself on 100rep very fast. It got to the point where I was taking 4 contracts to the same planet repeatedly.

Has contract pay been rescaled to go with the enforced shorter distance (initially)? I was getting a lot of 6k contracts for deliveries pretty close by.

That said, I'm playing on normal, and there's many difficulty levels above that

[fallen]

bookworm21 - thanks for the feedback.

My feeling is that at this time, Rep bonuses for completing missions is not scaling properly. It is too high.

Your honeymoon of local missions doesn't last, so have fun and make some money.

[johndramey]

Feb 3, 2017 11:02:44 GMT -5 fallen said:

Might be worth playing a new game and updating the missions section

You shoudl be able to build up quick cash reserves by helping out your starting Contacts.

Definitely plan on it, as the new version has changed a lot of the mission stuff. Also plan on adding a badic trading section with some of my personal experiences in it.

Not at work at the moment, so stuck with phone posting. Excuse my lack of presence over the weekend, no computer at home these days!

[Deleted]

Feb 3, 2017 8:07:08 GMT -5 bookworm21 said:

As in STRPG, playing explorer is an excellent way to earn money early-game

I seem to be having an exceptionally bad run of luck with exploration. Pirates are everywhere and I'm losing crew members faster than I can get off an aimed shot. Not to mention that the goods found are bringing in virtually no profit since I am spending so much to heal my away teams.

[Officer Genious]

Feb 5, 2017 8:57:41 GMT -5 @earthsuit said:

Feb 3, 2017 8:07:08 GMT -5 bookworm21 said:

As in STRPG, playing explorer is an excellent way to earn money early-game

I seem to be having an exceptionally bad run of luck with exploration. Pirates are everywhere and I'm losing crew members faster than I can get off an aimed shot. Not to mention that the goods found are bringing in virtually no profit since I am spending so much to heal my away teams.

You might have to buy some disposable red-shirt soldiers and keep a few high level ones for training and getting the real damage off. Then you just heal the favorites and let the rest die off.

On the other hand, that's a little complicated for those just getting into the game. That might be a tutorial strategy.

Sorry, just thinking in text.

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2017 9:02:22 GMT -5 Officer Genious said:

Feb 5, 2017 8:57:41 GMT -5 @earthsuit said:

I seem to be having an exceptionally bad run of luck with exploration. Pirates are everywhere and I'm losing crew members faster than I can get off an aimed shot. Not to mention that the goods found are bringing in virtually no profit since I am spending so much to heal my away teams.

You might have to buy some disposable red-shirt soldiers and keep a few high level ones for training and getting the real damage off. Then you just heal the favorites and let the rest die off.

On the other hand, that's a little complicated for those just getting into the game. That might be a tutorial strategy.

Sorry, just thinking in text.

I've been recruiting qualified folks for the away teams. I also ensure that I have an officer that is a soldier. I always train atleast one of my soldiers with combat medic.

Is there any way to dismiss a crew member so that a replacement may be recruited? If I "dismiss" an officer, is that just a demotion rather than kicking him off the ship? If it is the latter case, the button should be labeled as "demote", not "dismiss".

[bookworm21]

@earthsuit dismiss kicks them off the ship. As recruiting is free, my away team can sometimes be a little... disposable

[Deleted]

Feb 5, 2017 9:21:50 GMT -5 bookworm21 said:

@earthsuit dismiss kicks them off the ship. As recruiting is free, my away team can sometimes be a little... disposable

True,redshirts are always the first to bite it. But, while recruits are easy to get, they are only available when on a planet that even has a spicehall.