athios
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Posts: 1,611 
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Post by athios on May 14, 2013 4:21:37 GMT -5
Progress report: Very early run-in with a level 2 Space Hive. The Picky Beggar wiped the floor with them, and Metalbeard got away with 39k worth of loot!  Also got lucky with quite a few close proximity shortages. Saw another Space Hive, but this time it was level 72 and Metalbeard wisely decided not to tempt fate. Did some long distance contracts, then bought a Pirate Ripper from Cadar. Triple solar war against Rychart made Metalbeard a hated criminal (and friend of others), then similar situation against Steel Song. Unlocked Dark Nemesis award (two wanted flags for 25 years). Bought a Pirate Battlecruiser from Cadar. Now am kind of bored because there are no wars going on. Guess will have to take some bounty contracts. Currently at turn 3168. Level 16 (I'm locked in!), 60 looted ships, 0.98 million credits. Have yet to "commandeer" any conquered ships as they all seem quite crappy so far. Will see what the future holds... Three-eyed Metalbeard signing off for the day.
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Post by slayernz on May 14, 2013 4:58:42 GMT -5
Very nice! I like how you're almost at the $1m mark, which is not easy regardless of the challenge  |
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Post by contributor on May 14, 2013 8:07:54 GMT -5
Ughh, I'm having a hard time getting started. My third try is finally getting going a bit. He's been doing lots of contracting to raise funds and traded a Rychart bounty hunter for a Dagger Dragon. All he wanted for it was a bullet in the head. Steel Song, my starting faction, got all pissed at me for trading during one of those embargos that start while you're landing and you never find out about. Since then they've been sending warships after me every 20 turns or so. This might be one of those games where you don't stay loyal to your starting faction. I'm sure most of you will think that's great in this case.
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ncaoa
Templar
Getting killed by Deathkin. Again.
Posts: 972
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Post by ncaoa on May 14, 2013 11:40:00 GMT -5
Yar. NoLegs IV just bought it at lvl 13. (Still in! ;D)
306,013$, 1675 turns and 85 looted ships (The majority of which were DeValtos)
50+ with all clans (120 with Thulun) -100+ with all Syndicates. B-)
Was lucky enough to get a triple Clan trade alliance durring my pillaging. I tend to start pirating at around lvl five, moving between a Syn planets and a home base Clan planet. Get a lot of early credits and XP. The Daisy Cutter shall fly again with NoLegs V!!
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athios
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Posts: 1,611
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Post by athios on May 14, 2013 16:13:02 GMT -5
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Post by johndramey on May 14, 2013 16:45:31 GMT -5
Yeah, this challenge is definitely making me stretch my ST muscles a bit. I think I've finally got a keeper of a captain, although he is living on the edge.
John McClane IV has been doing absolutely everything he can to piss off every faction except for Javat. I think I'm a hated criminal everywhere by now haha. With that said though, I'm edging into level 10 with about 30 ships looted so far and around 150k. I just... well let's say procured a Dagger class ship and have been working on trying to upgrade it to be a gunship. Hopefully this guy lasts, it's been a challenging ride so far but my current strategy of "check flag, if not Javat then attack" has been paying dividends. I've accidentally blown up too many ships though, but that's ok!
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ncaoa
Templar
Getting killed by Deathkin. Again.
Posts: 972
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Post by ncaoa on May 14, 2013 16:51:31 GMT -5
Ive found the Pirate Skylift to be an epic long haul/ blockade pirate ship. 70 hold means more than enough space for WF, Weapons and loot. An Ares Torpedo Array perfectly offsets the lack of torps, and Advanced Sail System gives it infinite movement in green space.
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Post by johndramey on May 14, 2013 16:56:45 GMT -5
Ive found the Pirate Skylift to be an epic long haul/ blockade pirate ship. 70 hold means more than enough space for WF, Weapons and loot. An Ares Torpedo Array perfectly offsets the lack of torps, and Extended Mainsails gives it infinite movement in green space. I'll actually have to try one out then, I've been looting lots of Steel Song and Rychart Skylifts so maybe I'll pick up a light gunship on the cheap and steal one. So I'd like a little advice. I know this is a competition and all, but if you guys could help me make sure I'm not crippling my captain I'd really appreciate it. My current stats are Pilot - 13 Tactics - 16 Stealth - 10 Warrior - 8 and I've been mainly focusing on tactics as I've been looting a lot of higher level ships. Good move? Bad? Help me out here, TB community! |
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ncaoa
Templar
Getting killed by Deathkin. Again.
Posts: 972
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Post by ncaoa on May 14, 2013 17:22:39 GMT -5
Ive found the Pirate Skylift to be an epic long haul/ blockade pirate ship. 70 hold means more than enough space for WF, Weapons and loot. An Ares Torpedo Array perfectly offsets the lack of torps, and Extended Mainsails gives it infinite movement in green space. I'll actually have to try one out then, I've been looting lots of Steel Song and Rychart Skylifts so maybe I'll pick up a light gunship on the cheap and steal one. So I'd like a little advice. I know this is a competition and all, but if you guys could help me make sure I'm not crippling my captain I'd really appreciate it. My current stats are Pilot - 13 Tactics - 16 Stealth - 10 Warrior - 8 and I've been mainly focusing on tactics as I've been looting a lot of higher level ships. Good move? Bad? Help me out here, TB community! Sorry. Advanced Sail System is the upgrade. Your stats are about what I'm using. I keep weapons around and maintain a decent Warrior Stat so I have an OS button if I am unable to escape a powerful ship. I havent put much in Stealth, which is probably why i sometimes get overwhealming numbers of encounters. I max Pilot and keep increasing Quickness so I can out run and manuver enemies. The Skylift has a disadvantage in that its Agility and Speed are both medium. If you are willing to sacrafice your escape pod, I like Assault shuttles for type II transition board and gun combat. |
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Post by slayernz on May 14, 2013 18:42:20 GMT -5
OMG! ... I think I screwed up. I must have mis-mashed a button during my Bluebeard creation, and he's playing at "Hard" difficulty (in between Demanding and Crazy). Ack!!! He's only level 8, with $350k at around turn 1600 but I need to start a new captain ...  Maybe I can compete in both classes of the competition ... Bluebeard will be in the Demanding challenge (remaining on Hard difficulty), and Dread Pirate Bananapants will be my Crazy Captain. |
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Post by xdesperado on May 14, 2013 21:02:43 GMT -5
Nigel Stormraven IV is now official as he just hit level 16. Recently aquired a Royal Lifter from a pathetic Cadar Smuggler that crossed his path (Nigel was level 14 at the time and the Smuggler was level 26) Epic boarding action saw both crews decimated, but in the end Nigel owned a relatively undameged ship. Luckly there was a Thulun planet nearby where he could re-crew his new ship and aquire a full set of upgrades. Ship has Extended Gun Deck, Escape Shuttle, Advanced Bridge System, Titan Components and Preditor Tracking Array. Hull 19 Armor 8 Engines 43 Sails 26 Crew 64 Cargo 88 Guns 23 Torpedos 12 Previous ship had a lot more Guns but was down pretty much every other way, plus since the idea is to loot think having to many guns risks a lot more accidental kills instead of just destroying the engines or wiping out the crew. Anyways have MO, Pilot and Templar for officers. Currently Turn 2435 Destroyed 115 ships Conscripted 11 crews Looted 98 ships Only have about $80,000 in bank but currently ship is absolutly stuffed to the gills with restricted trade goods and records (only have 4 water-fuel, everything else is Artifacts, Weapons, Electronics and Records  ) Hopefully Thulun ends their bloody aliance with Rychart soon as I've gone from rank 17 down to rank 8 in the last 50 or so turns.  Rep is +193 Steel Song, +148 Thulun, +17 Javat, -299 DeValtos, -317 Rychart and -654 Cadar. ;D |
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Post by contributor on May 14, 2013 21:06:27 GMT -5
Bites lip.... johndramey, as for your situation, I would recommend keeping pilot above tactics. Also, for this challenge, I'm stopping my stealth at 10 because I want to have as many contacts as possible. That might not be right for everybody but I'm going to give it a try. I would also keep your warrior up, 110% of you level at least. |
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Post by johndramey on May 14, 2013 21:23:35 GMT -5
Bites lip.... johndramey, as for your situation, I would recommend keeping pilot above tactics. Also, for this challenge, I'm stopping my stealth at 10 because I want to have as many contacts as possible. That might not be right for everybody but I'm going to give it a try. I would also keep your warrior up, 110% of you level at least. Thanks a lot! I'll focus on that more then. I've been having a hell of a time, John McClane is Die Harding it up all over the sector. I'll take one or two high paying contracts for Javat, focusing on capture and destroy contracts cause I just hit level 10, and basically looting everything I come across that isn't a Javat ship. I'm sure this will explode in my face when the rest of the quadrant decides to ruin my life, but until then my fully kitted out Dagger class (christened the Charnel House) is making short work of just about everything. I've basically focused mostly on pirating at this point in my career, and am able to maintain a pretty steady cash flow. |
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Post by xdesperado on May 14, 2013 21:29:15 GMT -5
Arggh That's a wrap for me. Unloaded all those restricted goods only to be jumped by a bloody level 26 indy bounty hunter in a Terror Class. Couldn't keep him from closing and boarding and the bastard killed me before I could hit the Escape Shuttle.  Hope the rest of you have better luck than I've had. Been a fun change for me, now back to trying to get my normal MO/Spy captain going again. |
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Post by johndramey on May 14, 2013 21:39:48 GMT -5
What was your score xdesperado? I'd post it if I were you, this challenge is hard enough that you could still take it away!
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Also got lucky with quite a few close proximity shortages. Saw another Space Hive, but this time it was level 72 and Metalbeard wisely decided not to tempt fate.
)
