he
Curator
Posts: 41
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Post by he on Apr 14, 2013 4:08:13 GMT -5
Please note, when I say "renders you untouchable" I should have put "renders you untouchable for practical purposes."
In theory, if this is a normal distribution (or anything with based on the difficulty clock's level in the help file and not a percentage based on an ideal captain,) then you have a chance of running into a level 70 enemy captain at level 1 if you play out to 15000 turns on insane.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 14, 2013 4:38:51 GMT -5
Enemy lv max and av enemy lv based only on your lv and difficulty.
Turns taken and difficulty determines the difficulty of everything else from exploring to deep space travel to patrols
Aliens are 2x the level of normal enemies.
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Post by Bamf 'DE Elise on Apr 14, 2013 16:23:42 GMT -5
I'll pay more attention to the captain versus ship quality, very well written and speculated on! maybe some Screens of enemy ships and AI levels?
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he
Curator
Posts: 41
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Post by he on Apr 14, 2013 17:54:55 GMT -5
Turns passed seems slightly increase the # of ships near the top of the scale appearing (anecdotal from the number of times ships 2x my level or more appeared per 1000 turns) of course, it could just have been an increase in encounters and severity of encounters that lead me to believe such and i have only played a small number of captains past turn 7000 where i started noticing it. it'd take me writing things down to determine if there was bias.
Also, I have confirmed a kill of a hive! Stardate 82.29, Bounty Hunter level 1 on hard with 1 pilot, 1 stealth, 6 tactics, 9 warrior, and 4 intimidate. All otherskills and stats are default.
Ship used was a pirate crossbow (55 crew) with dreadnought, weapons hold, waterfuel tank, extended mainsails, and sail command probe
Hive found in between De Valtos Prime and Javat Gamma while loaded down with chemicals.
First mate was the only officer.
No reward given. ;_(
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2013 0:17:41 GMT -5
No reward given? Did you destroy the ship or press done? And was it a narvadian hive by any chance? Those aren't considerred space hives. Space hives must have hulk in their ship name.
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Post by laughingman on Apr 16, 2013 15:58:49 GMT -5
So I'm back in the saddle and things are coming along pretty well. Here's where I stand at the moment. Year: 274.45 - Difficulty: Hard Level 38 Star Trader (again, for better repair access at Indy ports) Explorer - 3 (Never Touched) Pilot - 38 (Keeping = Level) Negotiate - 9 (Bought up to base Cha early to make ramp up easier, never touched thereafter) Tactics - 51 (Maxing out alongside Warrior, subject to other constraints) Stealth - 8 (Keeping at about 20% of Level, due to overwhelming PITA factor otherwise) Warrior - 51 (Maxing out alongside Tactics, subject to other constraints) Intimidate - 9 (Bought up to base Cha early to make ramp up and WF use easier to manage, never touched thereafter) Ship - Slayernz Cruiser - Reinforced Prow (for Boarding Bonus) - Escape Shuttle (I'd rather have to bail and try again than start another captain from scratch) - Mercenaries (For Type III bonus) - Water-Fuel Recycling Plant (Otherwise patrols are too short) - Predator Tracking Array (Nothing in this slot is particularly useful against aliens, so it's this or the Stealth Array) - 50 Weapons in Hold - 10 Luxury Rations - 60 Water Fuel (I also have a range of ships stabled in various dry-docks, including another Slayernz Cruiser with the Predator swapped out for an Omni-stealth Array. I have yet to see a Carnifex Cruiser for sale.) Officers: - Bodyguard (Critical for Boarding against Aliens) - Veteran Officer (Critical for actually *finding* any aliens) - Templar (Critical for the anti-alien bonuses) Thus far I've had some success. I recently found a Narvidian Carrier and absolutely demolished it (though I find it odd that I can't loot a big stack of electronics after disabling a Narvidian, or artifacts when looting an alien, for that matter). Sadly the increased encounter rate from destroying the ship did not help, and I'm fairly sure the time on that increase has expired.  I'm alternating between patrolling various independent dead worlds and exploiting Solar/Spy wars when theres a faction in multiples of the same conflict type (mainly for XP, so my tactics doesn't fall too far behind the turn level). My reputation is over 400 with every faction, and over 1000 with Thulun and De Valtos (Rank 12-20 with Trade and Death Warrants with every faction). I've been in a bit of a dry spell since the Narvidian, and I've still yet to see a hulk of any sort, nor has the elusive Heela Alien (as far as I know, the only 100 Hull vessel) opted to show itself. While they might help me find aliens, I have a strict "No Artifacts On Board" Policy, unless I'm making a focused run for surplus/shortage events (which I rarely do with artifacts, as it's too nerve racking to travel 30+ AU with 80 artifacts in the hold). The bonuses they give 75% of the aliens out there are too catastrophic to risk. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2013 17:25:21 GMT -5
Battle prow is better than reinforced prow. Think of the battle prow as a super reinforced prow. Also i think you're Confusing some of the bonuses of officers. Templar is critical for Board vs Allen's. Bodyguard doesn't help as much. But bodyguard also helps find ships for patrol, including alien ships. Also Consider your crew available for board equal to crew minus engines. The amount of crew on your ship that is available to fight is low, but you're only on hard so i guess it's okay (for now). Also water fuel plant decreases fuel for deep space travel not map operations like patrol.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 16, 2013 17:56:57 GMT -5
Man I'd love to edit the alien section of the help. If only SOMEBODY would put it up on the forum so I can edit it  |
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Post by laughingman on Apr 17, 2013 13:12:38 GMT -5
Battle prow is better than reinforced prow. Think of the battle prow as a super reinforced prow. Also i think you're Confusing some of the bonuses of officers. Templar is critical for Board vs Allen's. Bodyguard doesn't help as much. But bodyguard also helps find ships for patrol, including alien ships. Also Consider your crew available for board equal to crew minus engines. The amount of crew on your ship that is available to fight is low, but you're only on hard so i guess it's okay (for now). Also water fuel plant decreases fuel for deep space travel not map operations like patrol. Wait really? The battle prow text doesn't say anything about boarding bonuses. Are you sure that this is the case? I also didn't see anything on the forums about the bodyguard giving any sort of patrol bonus (I thought only the Veteran Officer helped with that). My understanding is that the Bodyguard gives a minor type-III boarding bonus and reduces the chance of the captain getting wounded. I've found having the bodyguard helps a great deal against the aliens with hard-to-kill (or invincible) captains, as I need to survive long enough to slaughter every last alien crewman. Maybe that's just my anecdotal experience though... I seem to have misunderstood how WF consumption on patrols worked. I had thought that patrols ate the same amount of WF that moving through the space cost, but looking at what's actually happening that does not seem to be the case, as you said. Next ship I pick up will be grabbing a different propulsion upgrade (suggestions?). What ships would you suggest for alien hunting? I've been looking for a Carnifex Cruiser, but have never actually seen one on any of my many many playthroughs. I'm now almost another 100 years later in game time, and have not seen another alien yet. I'm worried that I'm approaching the point where patrols will be useless soon. Does anyone have a guide (or formula) for what the minimum useful tactics score for patrols is as turns progress? |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 18, 2013 0:23:17 GMT -5
Yeah, Cory said st 2 will be better documented. I'm also hoping its simpler so there's less details for people to worry about.
battle prow - increases ram attack. increases resistance vs ram. increases board attack.
dreadnought - increases resistance vs ram.
battle prow is better for ram attack and board attack while dreadnought is better for board defense, which also is good when gunning as your highly vulnerable to being boarded
attack shuttle bays - increases board attack for board transitions. major bonus for outnumbering crew.
attack shuttles gets an additional bonus based on how much you outnumber the enemy. have a hunter more crew when boarding enemy and attack shuttle will help alot for board roles.
for the officer bonuses, it may not be all in the help, but it's in the forum under the thread a list of officers and how to get them please.
titan cruiser has the greatest board power but it's slow in speed and agility so it can be rammed easily and ranged combat is very difficult. 300 crew 43 hull 99 cargo slow low
carnifex cruiser has less board power but median in speed and agility so better ram defense and ranged combat power 225 crew 40 hull 100 cargo medium medium
omega cruiser is okay for board power. its got decent crew but low hull so lower board defense. its fast in speed and agility though so great ram defense and ranged combat power. because it's fast and quick though it consumes more fuel and combined with a smaller hold you can't carry as many weapons. 180 crew , 15 hull 90 cargl fast quick
and some other ships...
battle frigate 180 crew 32 hull 110 hold mediim medium
royal battlecruiser 202 crew 40 hull 92 hold slow medium
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Post by laughingman on Apr 18, 2013 13:03:53 GMT -5
Ok cool. I actually just found my first Carnifex ever this morning, and on Rychart Prime of all places.  I'll be going with the Battle Prow this time, based on what you've said. I'd love to take the Leviathan* system, but there's no way I'm going anywhere without an Escape Shuttle; getting a captain up to speed for this just takes too friggin long. What are your thoughts on Mercenaries? They seem like a great option for the type 3 boarding bonus, but is the crew bump from Battleship Architecture a bigger advantage (so 240 crew w/ Type 3 vs. 312-ish crew)? I didn't really see anything that offered a significant advantage for hulk/Heela hunting in the propulsion upgrades, from what I understand the bonus from Titan Components isn't really going to help for that. Do you think Cargo Pods or the Water-Fuel Recycling plant is a better convenience item for a ship like this? Similar feelings regarding armament upgrades, as Torps are basically useless for hulk and Heela hunts. Do you think the sail command probe offers any real advantage, or should I just grab the extra 10 cargo for more WF and weapons? *Shuttles are less ideal for the specific targets I'm hunting, as the most dangerous of them has 500 crew. |
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he
Curator
Posts: 41
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Post by he on Apr 20, 2013 22:55:48 GMT -5
instead of editing help files, why not start a wikia? I think it would get everything up to speed faster AND would enable a spoily section vs. the standard vagueness, which is kinda fun too.
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he
Curator
Posts: 41
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Post by he on Apr 20, 2013 22:58:23 GMT -5
also n yeah, I was way off on the level of enemy coding.
Although it appears longer the game the better the ships that can be generated in dock.
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Post by laughingman on Apr 22, 2013 14:25:18 GMT -5
After over two hundred years of hunting, despite becoming a lauded hero of every major house and syndicate, I had become a bit of a running joke and cautionary tale amongst the spacers of the Quadrant. The Spice Halls had begun to carry whispered epitaphs of "'old Ahab", "Fringe Ghoul", and other less complimentary names.
Then finally, in the year 403.16, in orbit over Zeti Reticuli II I finally found myself face to face with the dreaded Heela Alien Flagship. Despite outclassing and outnumbering my Battle Frigate dramatically (level 126 vs. my 58, with 500 aliens vs. my 195 crew) the xenos filth never had a chance.
My bodyguard and I led a strike team of elite Shalun mercenaries to the alien drive core while my Veteran Officer and the Templar attache onboard held the line against the bulk of the alien horde at the staging area on the Heela vessel. The alien commander had forseen this tactic, and awaited us within the ship's core.
Seconded by my bodyguard I engaged the Alien commander, holding it off in an hour long epic standoff while my mercenaries went to work. Though I was pushed to the brink of exhaustion, the filth failed to lay a claw on me once by the time the mercenaries finished blowing the Heela core.
The alien horde above had already suffered 50% casualties to our own 15%. With the ship's power, propulsion, and life-support systems knocked offline, the alien resistance collapsed. Each and every one of the filth, commander included, were then put to the sword in short order.
If any survivors had hidden away it did them little good. Standing beside the Templar attache and my Veteran XO on the bridge of my frigate, we all watched as the Heela Alien Flagship plummeted into Reticuli's sun, destroying it utterly.
Now I just need to loot a space hulk...
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Post by contributor on Apr 22, 2013 15:48:41 GMT -5
Congrats! Well done!
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