experience for explorers

[shallowthought]

So I'm back to playing as an explorer. For me this means focusing skill points onto explore, pilot and negotiate rather than combat oriented skills like tactics, warrior and stealth, and getting +ve rep with all factions so that I can mostly avoid combat (apart from independent pirates/bounty hunters). But leveling up takes forever. Some figures - (turns/xp) explorer = 8600/635, general pirate/bounty hunter = 8000/1866.

Previous threads here have said that xp should be awarded for doing risky things, but as an explorer you get wounded regularly and crew dies constantly. So would it be possible for xp to be awarded for explore/harvest? In my 8600 turns I have done 427 explorations/harvests, which if 1 xp was awarded for each venture, would bring the score up to 8600/1062, still less than going as a combat oriented player, but would make playing as explorer somewhat more interesting. Thoughts?

[blackgauntlet]

It'd be more interesting if we get 1 XP/dead crew member. ;D

[taatuu25]

Hmm... I think you can somehow boost your experience by changing your ply style just a bit. I think like dont make everyone your friend so theres always someone ou need to run away from (for xp) (and syndicate/clan pirates still attack you, theyre practically independent but sell their loot to factions) and as i know you can get experience by selling to shortages, and also travelling in space earns xp.

[shallowthought]

Jan 22, 2012 2:03:26 GMT -5 blackgauntlet said:

It'd be more interesting if we get 1 XP/dead crew member. ;D

I'd be level 9000 by now.

After posting this I noticed you get a net gain in rep for blockade / surveillance in solar/spy wars, so I've been taking part in them on both sides and that seems to work out quite nicely. Also, because you have +ve rep, when the warships and bounty hunters come for you, you can just surrender and they don't do anything. Suckers!

[taatuu25]

Eh, i think you are going to lose rep very quicly.. Or do you use pardons?

[shallowthought]

No, you gain rep overall. Not sure of the exact numbers, but for each blockade you (say) gain 1 rep and lose 0.5 rep. So for half the war you work for one side, and for the other half you work for the other. Then overall you end up with higher rep for both sides. Trust me, I have graphs to back this up.

[slayernz]

I can confirm that you gain more RP than you lose with blockade/surveillance, but only in the appropriate solar/spy war.

Attacking independents to gain XP for an explorer is a more difficult strategy because
1) It means you still have to spend valuable XP on Stealth/Tactics when the points could have gone into Explore/Pilot/Negotiate

2) It's really hard keeping morale up at the best of times with Explorer. Even if you are very successful, the best you can do is 7, and that's because you beef up the points in the spice hall. Shooting independents is a surefire way to reduce your crew morale.


So not only should you get XP for NON-combat activities (successful explore/harvest, profitable trades, etc), but you should also get morale for them too.

[shallowthought]

Not sure how easy it would be to track cargo to give xp for profitable trades, but certainly for surplus/shortage trades it would make sense.

[Fenikso]

I think I have just found the old thread which has some insight into this: startradersrpg.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=wish&thread=1063&page=1

[shallowthought]

Yes, but my point here is that exploration IS risky, so even though you play to avoid combat, you should be getting xp for the explorations you carry out.

[Fenikso]

Jan 23, 2012 16:20:08 GMT -5 shallowthought said:

Yes, but my point here is that exploration IS risky, so even though you play to avoid combat, you should be getting xp for the explorations you carry out.

It is kind of risky. You have most of the process under control. Even if you are leaving the planet without Crew and 1 health left, if you are friendly with everyone, it is not that risky...

But I have to admit I had no success with pacifists in this game. Then I realized that shooting everyone is more fun and I switched to super aggressive .

[shallowthought]

The original thread was about high stealth -> fewer encounters -> less xp. But when exploring, you are "doing stuff". You'd think that after the 100th time walking into an old alien trap or volcano, I'd learn something and be less likely to do it next time.

And I get bored with explorer too, eventually I'll go back to shooting up the clans instead of dealing with them nicely.