I love this game but the unlock time limits are wack

[ibanix]

Hey, newish player. Gotta first give props to this game, it's the best value for $15 I think I've ever gotten. The depth of strategy and the number of options, along with the balance, is excellent. A+ job.

Now then. So I started doing unlocks, and I have to say some of the time limits on the unlocks are just *bad*. Let's take Faction Defender. You have to Patrol 50 times in less than two years. 

Now patrolling takes on average about 5-6 days. If you factor in the occasional 10+ turn time loss you hit, it's an average of a solid week. For 50 Patrols this will take 50 weeks, or roughly one half of your entire unlock time. This assumes you stay in orbit of one plant and never leave, just spamming the patrol button. You'll eventually need to land to pay your guys and refuel. If you get unlucky and get damaged or crew hurt, that's even more time out.

I unlocked Faction Defender by making a build that did nothing but stack officers with Command, Navigation and Tactics. Used Military Officer/Commander/Zealot. I dumped a bunch of my other guys and replaced them with a pile of Gunnery and ran just enough missions to push them to level 5 to get Supremecy of Firepower to let me reject the -4 and -5 cards. Then I parked myself around one planet and just played the card game for 30 minutes.

I had *one week* left of time when I got the unlock. That's how close it is.

Is this unlock designed to demonstrate to people how to make a build specifically focused on just mashing the same button for 30 minutes?

[ntsheep]

Just like in the original ST, certain unlocks may require a certain build or you to do certain things that might seem strange. Whether they designed it that way to show off the many ways of playing the game is unknown. What most of us long time TB game players do agree on is that they love to prank their players from time to time

[fallen]

Sorry you dislike the unlocks. I think you'll find that completing them will teach you some valuable lessons about core parts of the game and challenge you to try and learn new strategies.

Otherwise, just skip them. The content grants more options but is not strictly better.

[muddball]

None of the ships unlocked are absolutely superior than ships changed to have exactly the same components.

[ibanix]

Jun 21, 2021 9:31:40 GMT -5 fallen said:

Sorry you dislike the unlocks. I think you'll find that completing them will teach you some valuable lessons about core parts of the game and challenge you to try and learn new strategies.

Otherwise, just skip them. The content grants more options but is not strictly better.

I don't think the unlocks are bad. I think the *time limit* on many of the unlocks are bad.



I'm not sure what I learn about core parts of the game and new strategies when unlocking requires nothing but sitting at a particular place hitting the same button enough times over and over. In particular, this bad strategy requires you *not* do something that IS a good strategy: Walking away from a bad hand!



The 2 year limit on this unlock teaches you to ignore the usual and smart strategy of just not taking a bad hand.

[mishaadams198828]

In order to get unlocks with time limits you definitely will want to rethink your strategy right from the get-go. Maybe using a different starter ship, maybe utilizing a captain class that you would not normally use. Different starting contacts can make a huge difference too by allowing you early access to better weaponry for example to help with winning boarding actions.

[cerseisadvocate]

You will have to build a few throwaway captains to tackle these unlocks. Also keep in mind that you can savescum at the beginning of the game, once I realised that I went through the unlocks relatively painfree. Once that is done you can start playing the game as it is supposed to be.

[mishaadams198828]

Jun 23, 2021 10:25:06 GMT -5 cerseisadvocate said:

You will have to build a few throwaway captains to tackle these unlocks. Also keep in mind that you can savescum at the beginning of the game, once I realised that I went through the unlocks relatively painfree. Once that is done you can start playing the game as it is supposed to be.

I never even thought of that! That would make a lot of the card dependant ones (orbital ops spy etc) a lot easier to start off with a solid hand right from the start.

[violetmistum]

Privateer - 50 Blockades.
Covert Operative - 50 Spying.
Faction Defender - 50 Patrolling.

For me, its not just as simple push the button for 50 times, it actually prepares you in the future for other purposes like getting that +25 faction rep card (Patrol), catching that Smuggler/Merchant ship for "First Blood" (Blockading), or gathering 20 intel for Thulun (Spying).

At first I thought the time limits are wack but after achieving 100% on the unlocks multiple times, it is fair enough to have those deadlines for the unlock. When you fail (I did, multiple times) the game will teach you that you missed something and on your next run, you'll be wiser and be ready to accomplish it.

If you're having a hard time, you can actually create templates for a build that will address that as stated above.

The rewards on these 3 will contribute to achieving the other unlocks as well at least for me.