My questions

[dunkmujunk]

So I'm smack in the middle of my most successful playthrough to date. ChainToad is a level 53 Boarding Combat captain who started his career as a friend to all factions, but is now a Legendary Crime Lord in the eyes of the Houses, and Rank 21 with all Syndicates. He's taken around 5 Alien ships (boy if felt good to finally take some of these suckers down), and nearly lost everything due to poor choices/lack of preparedness a few times. But he's still at it.

One of my main questions involves the description of the Pilot and Intimidate. Pilot is described as a critical skill for fuel consumption, where as Intimidate is described as CRITICAL for keeping the crew fuel efficient in Deep Space.

I'm guessing Pilot is just a straight bonus to general fuel consumption, and Intimidate keeps moral from dropping as fast, thereby fuel efficiency is boosted by the simple fact that your crews moral is kept higher for longer? And is this only the case in Deep Space, or is that last bit just flavor text?

To frame the question a bit, I obtained the Assault Hawk. An amazing ship, I felt untouchable. But the Medium/Low speed/agility, I was not ready for this after being spoiled on faster ships, and my fuel did not last nearly as long as I was used to. Would increased Pilot and or Intimidate skill help me in this area?

With around the same amount of cargo space as my previous ship, I was seeing about a 25% drop in fuel efficiency (where a full tank in my previous ship would get me across the map with fuel to spare, in the Hawk that roughly same amount would get me maybe 80% of the way across the map before I was empty).

If someone could speak on these aspects of the 2 skills I would greatly appreciate it.

Also, while I am enjoying the Boarding style, my heart is in Guns/Torps. I was wondering how viable a Gun/Torp Captain is long term. In all my previous experience with this build I was always completely destroyed by aliens. I didn't have nearly as much knowledge, and I know I wasn't leveling properly.

My question is, if done right, can Guns/Torps take aliens out? I know there are many variables of course. But in general, does a Gun/Torp Captain have just as much chance for success against aliens as a Boarding Captain if both captains are leveled properly?

I have more questions, but lunch is over and work is calling.

Thank you in advance!

[ntsheep]

Pilot is the best and main way to increase your fuel efficiency. Always focus on it. Especially on the higher difficulty levels. Also I believe there is a limit to just how much certain ships can have their fuel cost lowered. A lot of your fuel costs\efficiency also will depend on what upgrades you have installed. Some ships with your Pilot at the right level and the water\fuel tank upgrade can easily go several trips around the quadrant on just that 25 units. I always think of the line from the movie Critters, 'they have enough fuel to cross the galaxy three times over, so fuel is not their concern,'

As for the Gun Bunny approach to xenos, the right ship, upgrades, officers, and skills points spread, will allow you to blast them away in just a few turns. I don't hunt them myself but there's been a few good posts over the years from some other members I'll see if I can find. Keep an eye out for a slayernz cruiser for sale in the ship yards. They're one of the best xeno hunting ships in the game and you can brag and tease slayernz that you have one. He claims he has never gotten one himself. So sad to get your own ship in the game but never get it.

[Cory Trese]

ChainToad heck yes

[Cory Trese]

Aug 25, 2021 10:45:53 GMT -5 dunkmujunk said:

My question is, if done right, can Guns/Torps take aliens out? I know there are many variables of course. But in general, does a Gun/Torp Captain have just as much chance for success against aliens as a Boarding Captain if both captains are leveled properly?

Yes, 100% -- at the game's height, Boarding was more popular but both are totally viable. You want to pick an ideal range for your ship (Torp or Gun) but have a backup when the enemy pushes you out of range.

Gun/Torp is more nuanced and thus more difficult.

Boarding strategy is as follows "Hit them some, now get to boarding range, board to destroy the enemy"

Gun/Torp is more like "press the right sequence of buttons to win" but is defo my personally preferred way to play. It feels a lot more decisiony.

Once you're actually leveled up correctly and fighting the BIG risk of Gun/Torp is that the opponent gets away.

You'll fight at range 4/5 at lot as a Torp'r which means there is a risk of that low % shot escape roll by Merchant.

Not a problem with Xenos tho.

[slayernz]

Yup, don't bother with torps at close/boarding range. Stick to guns. Playing at higher difficulty means that Xenos have a lot more levels on you though, and definitely have the ability to retreat and leave. I have never been a boarder, so a retreating Xeno has often been my source of annoyance. That and stupid Steel Song, but that's a whole different discussion.

[dunkmujunk]

Aug 25, 2021 23:01:02 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

ChainToad heck yes

The name is not my creation unfortunately lol, it's from One Punch Man, but it was too good to not use.

I actually have discovered and purchased the slayernz. I ran into it 2 nights ago and having seen the buzz here on the forums I picked it up no questions asked. If you still haven't obtained one slayer there is a bit of good news as I picked it up on the Cadar Capital City (that's what my screen shot says, I'm guessing it was Cadar Prime), not a Steel Song world.

I've started a Captain on Crazy difficulty in an attempt to create either a Gun/Torp Captain. It's still early, all my points have gone into Pilot so far, but I'm making good headway on Crazy for the first time ever so I'm excited.

A question though, what differentiates a Gun Captain from a Torp Captain? Tactics I'm guessing is the main factor in both. Does Stealth benefit one or the other, or is the style dictated by the ship being flown?

Anyway I'm glad to know these are viable. Before joining these forums I was in the middle of my best playthrough as a gun/Torp Captain before getting absolutely curb stomped by the first aliens I came across as my level point and upgrade choices were not the best.

Also, in regards to ships such as the Assault Hawk, I notice as time went on (and I neglected the Pilot skill) it became increasingly difficult to dictate the range at which a battle took place. This lead to Boarding becoming ever more difficult as actually getting in range for it took a lot more work. I even had to bail on a few battles because I simply couldn't close the gap and my ship started to take some heavy damage (I barely got away one time).

Is this simply life in a bigger, slower ship, or can enough Pilot points be spared to negate the worst of these effects while still keeping my Warrior skill where it needs to be as enemies increase in difficulty? My first thought was I'd use the Hawk only when enemies would not retreat immediately (Pirates, Faction Military ships) but these encounters became too dangerous (the Assault Hawk seems to be a deceptively dangerous ship to fly in general), I'm finding myself most comfortable in a fast/quick ship.

I've seen (and maybe even purchased, can't remember) a ship with the same skin as the Assault Hawk, but with a 300 crew count un-upgraded. On the face it looks like an absolute monster, but it's obviously slow and sluggish, and I can only imagine how difficult it would be to maintain the crew, especially after some upgrades.

[ntsheep]

The upgrades you choose are the main difference in a gun or torp captain. If you use a lot of gun upgrades, you do better when attacking with them. It's the same for torps. Your ship also is a determining factor. If the ship naturally has more of one type of weapon, guns or torps, then that is the best attack method in most cases.

[slayernz]

I actively choose not to believe that the Slayernz Cruiser ship exists. It's clearly a myth and we should all be grown ups and focus on a reality where cats and sheep fly the quadrant killing deserving Steel Songers.


For me though, the key difference between Gun Bunnies and Torpers is that Gun Bunnies go to close range then hit hard aiming for the engines (or decks). Torpers sit at Long Range and target from afar. I haven't really been a torper in a long while so only know the thrill of getting up close, knocking out the engines, then deciding on a whim whether I want to plunder, scuttle, or free the enemy.

Invest almost everything you can into Pilot, and only invest in Tactics when you find you aren't hitting as much. One of my captains has 234 points in Pilot and 90 points in tactics. He tends to do one-shot engine knock-outs at close range It's cheaper and more efficient than using torps. The ship I am flying is specifically designed for gun bunnying, with a hull of 23, engines 51, sails 51, guns 51, and crew 100. It probably needed a few more crew but works fine