The Alien

[jaden]

What ship upgrades (and ship) are best if you wanted to go Alien hunting?

And is it true you cannot capture alien ships? Maybe they have a cruiser or frigate that could be captured. One that is not upgradable because its an awesome alien ship and that most pirates will run from.

Edit: Are alien sightings in rumors or a ship scanner for finding aliens would be nice.

[ghrasp]

It's true you can't capture alien ships. The button is greyed out. You really want to find a hostile alien ship with stats better than what you have that kills you when you loose?

[sgtcookie]

oldalchemist: Artifacts are narvidian, not alien.

[oldalchemist]

I guess I need to pay attention to my spice hall rumors instead of flipping through them and then running off with the entertainment!
So, make a new commodity called 'alien artifacts' and keep it separate from 'narvidian artifacts.' Give them different values and accident rates.

[lonewolf6668]

You are on a routine haul of metal to Steel Song Clan when you are confronted in your home sector of House Thulun by a Narvidian Hunter starship. In an epic battle of life and limb you try to retreat but the enemy ship is 3 times faster than your puny jango class ship. You turn your bow to face impending doom and fire all weapons in an effort to somehow damage the alien craft so that maybe just maybe the next captain will be able to defeat this relentless monster. The battle seems to last eons as it is waged at boarding and medium range some of the aliens have boarded the ship most of your crew run or huddle in terror at this enormous thing hoping it kills them quick. In a flash the chief engineer picks up a pipe and swings with such precision that he blinds the creature and quickly kills it and is covered in a glowing blue substance the blood of this new species. With reports coming in from all over the ship the captain is filled with renewed strength and orders to advance and fire. The science officer scans the alien ship their hull and engines are only half drained. Stay close orders the captain and let them board. Luckily the aliens are weak at hand to hand combat and bring them down to 1 crew sealing our victory. Our relief is short lived as the science officer calls out they have activated a self destruct we beam over the only cargo they had 2 barrels of water fuel and limp away making sure the alien vessel destroys itself.

[darkmonk]

Possible Alien-y spoiler...maybe?
Funny question..so I ran across a level 61 Zendu Space Hulk with 1000 cargo and 0 guns or torps.. was this a glitch, or an alien?

[kingpinnius]

At what level do Aliens begin appearing? I just upgraded to Elite and reached Level 25 or so before losing to my thankless, mutinying crew, and I haven't seen any Aliens yet.

(I am aware they will likely rock my face if they DID show up, but I'm curious.)

[Cory Trese]

DarkMonk: The Zendu is one of the most common hulks (1:4000) I think I posted the story of the "Second Battle at Zendu Belt" somewhere, which is the origin of the Zendu hulks.

KingPinnius: I am sad to report that the Alien are possible, even on Level 1. The number and ferocity of the Alien increases as the years pass. By year 100 they're lurking behind many a dead planet.

It is just random chance that you might encounter them. After enough play, they'll eventually show up.

I have also seen them very early in the game and been mercilessly slaughtered at level 4.

[ryan]

Yeah... I was playing on a normal difficulty campaign, and was killed by aliens like 50 times before level 20, they were literally EVERYWHERE!!! scary stuff. Twas very sad :/ and very abnormal! I've only encountered aliens like 3 other times on my other captains.

[Ben]

I'm approaching year 180 with knife class ship (hard rating), about 45 of engines and 40 of sails. I've rarely used torpedos recently, just advance and shoot engines.

I used trade alliances to bring my reputation all above 0, and had more than 1 million in cash before losing it all to bribing my crew as I spent too long blockading and not looking at my water supply, now it's back up to 400,000.

I dont find any aliens, or space hulks; where are they? I've only come across 1 alien (all ship stats=50), it was easily beaten but I wasn't allow to take ship. Am I still playing for something or should I start over?

[Cory Trese]

There are bigger ships, tougher aliens and the game is still getting harder at 180 year and hard difficulty.

I like taking a break from finished characters (or really stable ones with 400K) and trying them again 1 difficulty higher.

It is about 7% harder per level. Can you repeat it?