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Post by whitegauntlet on Jun 13, 2013 5:35:01 GMT -5
I've really always done my own thing, when it comes to distributing my attribute points. The only rule I follow is Cory's about keeping your Pilot level at your hull size. Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom like that?
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Post by xdesperado on Jun 13, 2013 5:47:28 GMT -5
I've really always done my own thing, when it comes to distributing my attribute points. The only rule I follow is Cory's about keeping your Pilot level at your hull size. Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom like that? Just personal opinion here but I'd say that pilot=hull size is a minimum and that keeping pilot closer to 200% level will be better long term. Think the hull size to pilot is more for W-F consumption than for what's needed to succeed and thrive. Also just personal opinion here but would caution against raising stealth too fast early on because of the way it impacts your level. You don't need great stealth against low level enemies and having your level inflated by it means your other skills won't be up to snuff against the higher level enemies you'll wind up facing. |
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Post by pliqui on Jun 13, 2013 14:08:09 GMT -5
You can see here a very good ms excel calculator startradersrpg.proboards.com/thread/3649/new-xp-calculatorI just downloaded today (the most update link it's in 2nd page) and it's kinda complicated at first, so play with it a little bit. Sadly it's all I can do for you at the moment, I'm also looking to improve my captains, being merchant all the time and now want to test military officer |
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Fenikso
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 & Elite Supporter ]
Nobody expects the Rychart Inquisition!
Posts: 753
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Post by Fenikso on Jun 13, 2013 14:59:52 GMT -5
Looking at the thread that you have pointed out makes me very sad.
I will explain why:
I played STE for about two years. In my opinion the biggest fun that this game can provide is a challenge. When you learn a lot, climb the difficulty ladder, and invent your own great strategy, complement it with a good skill distribution, and survive long enough, you start to be basically invincible even on Impossible difficulty. That is something which cannot a lot of games provide. This can take you long time of experimenting, living stories with you characters in Quadrant, time of cheering for victories, fear of dead, and sadness for the fallen.
You can experience the awe of finding all the secrets yourself and add shards of wisdom which others got by trial and error - and which of course does not have to be perfect or apply to you. Or you can learn from someone who decompiled the code and mercilessly ripped the secrets of the Quadrant from the game. Your choice. Choose carefully as it may spoil the fun.
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Post by pliqui on Jun 13, 2013 15:49:21 GMT -5
Hey, I just link you something I recently found on the forums, besides, every game (rpg) that I've played has/have a talent calculator or character. From neverwinter night, eve online, world of warcraft, star wars galaxies, star wars the old Republic and countless more. Even the non pc, plain pen and paper ones Like D&D, vampires the masquerade, star wars rpg. I think that's very good because you can focus and plan your captain from start.
But you can choose of not using it, the power of rpg games :-D
Cheers
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Post by slayernz on Jun 13, 2013 17:56:21 GMT -5
Fenikso makes a different point to the one he was actually making. The GREAT thing about ST is that there is no one formula to succeed. Actually, there are a whole ton of different ways you can allocate XP, and off hand, probably a half a dozen or more different, and highly successful options.
You could be a:
1. A gun bunny
2. A boarder
3. A gun then board
4. A Merchant
5. An explorer
6. A specialized bounty hunter
7. An encounter-averse stealth-runner
8. A blockader (note, successful blockades are where you DON'T encounter a ship)
9. A friend to all factions (aka the Pacifist)
... (I'm sure there are plenty more)
Each option requires a different distribution of XP, and they all can be played out extremely successfully. Don't forget though, that it isn't just about XP distribution - it's about the types of ships you buy/acquire, your officer selection, your upgrades, your traveling routes, your ability to pick friends and enemies, your use of specialized ships, caches, rumors, conflicts, and contracts. Oh, and LUCK. You can focus heavily on Pilot + Tactics (my typical gun-bunny approach), but fly a brick with EHr of less than 1, and wonder why it is still so hard to win battles. On the other hand, if you've got your techniques polished enough, you should be able to fly around in an unmodified shuttle on Hard or Demanding difficulty and still rule the skies!
The spreadsheet is amazing and does reveal how you would compare to enemy captains (and therefore guide you a little in distribution), however the spreadsheet doesn't take into account how you play and what your other (non Skills) stuff is.
Once you tailor a strategy that suits your own style of play, you should be able to move up in difficulties, tweaking the strategy as you go. In fact, if you've learned from your mistakes and done the progression well, you can become pretty much invincible all the way up to Insane. Yes, Impossible is survivable, and you can indeed flourish, but I wouldn't guarantee that you will always come out of a skirmish intact, even with the perfect captain, ship, etc.
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Fenikso
Templar
[ Star Traders 2 & Elite Supporter ]
Nobody expects the Rychart Inquisition!
Posts: 753
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Post by Fenikso on Jun 14, 2013 1:03:56 GMT -5
Hey, I just link you something I recently found on the forums, besides, every game (rpg) that I've played has/have a talent calculator or character. From neverwinter night, eve online, world of warcraft, star wars galaxies, star wars the old Republic and countless more. Even the non pc, plain pen and paper ones Like D&D, vampires the masquerade, star wars rpg. I think that's very good because you can focus and plan your captain from start. But you can choose of not using it, the power of rpg games :-D Cheers Sure, I am not against it. It bothers me a bit that it is now built on reverse engineered formulas directly from decompiled code but whatever... Consider that just a friendly fellow Star Trader warning  . On another point I would not advice to plan your XP spending from the start. I recommend spending your XP by thinking what issues is your character facing recently. If you are getting hit a lot on long range, improve Stealth. If every puny merchant can outrun you, improve Pilot. If you get boarded and beaten often, improve Warrior. If your ship is eating you alive worth of Water-Fuel and your high Pilot does not help anymore, improve Intimidation, etc. |
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Post by pliqui on Jun 14, 2013 5:50:32 GMT -5
Will do, thanks for the tip! In fact I need to improve a lot, can't pass lvl 30
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Post by John Robinson on Jun 23, 2013 18:46:33 GMT -5
I've never gone past Hard. Played the game allot trying different starting character types. What drives leveling? I'm never sure when I've allocated xp, when it will trigger a level increase. Pretty confused about the titles how did I come to be called a "Expert Adventurer" Lvl:9 My stats are;
Chr 9, Wis 12, Quick 11, Str 13. Explor 1, Pilot 11, Neg 2, Tac 12, Stlth 10, War 13, Intim 9
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Post by slayernz on Jun 23, 2013 21:27:53 GMT -5
Hey John, Here is how the captain level is calculated: final int PointsPerLevel = 6;
Level = ((Quickness + Wisdom + Stealth + Charisma + Negotiate + Intimidate + Pilot + Explorer + Warrior + Stealth + Tactics - 50) / PointsPerLevel) + 1; ------------- Because Level is skill / attribute based (not total XP) the "Level" can be different based on how the XP is spent, in what order and in what concentrations. Therefore, depending on the character's build, Level 50 can be reached with a range of at least +/- 500XP based on the strategies that I am (so far, someone probably knows more) that I am aware of. ------------- ST RPG uses two types of Level. Game Level and Character Level. Enemy Captains are scaled vs. Character Level Approximately Everything Else vs. Game Level Here is the equation for game difficulty.... int premium_raw_glevel_int_dtx = (int) Math.ceil(Turn / (200 + (5 * GameDifficult)));Raw Game-Level is used to scale almost everything. The area of the game, the alien threat and other factors increase game level. NOTE ... the "GameDifficult" variable obviously refers to the game difficulty (basic, normal, crazy, etc). Less known is that the basic (the lowest difficulty) is actually assigned the value "7" whereas Impossible is assigned the value "0". It's because of this tricky nuance in what each difficulty value is that stop us from being able to get a difficulty higher than "Impossible" (you'd end up with a GameDifficult value = -1! |
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Post by John Robinson on Jun 24, 2013 17:43:12 GMT -5
Thanks again Slayernz. Kept smacking my head with the help file but still didn't quite understand what I was reading. The devil is in the details, thanks for helping me speak with him.
Any clues on how we get one title versus another; like "Expert Adventurer". I think it has something to do with where I allocate xp in skills/attributes.
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Post by slayernz on Jun 24, 2013 17:53:13 GMT -5
The titles are allocated to level number, not skills allocation. Each level has a title assigned to it. However, the titles don't go as high as many pilots seem to end up getting to, and so the highest title typically end up being "Hyperion Overlord Captain" or some such over-flowery title  ... suits Thulun nobility. Same for reputation with factions. Faction reputation titles (eg "Legendary Hero", "Terrorist", or "Star Hero Centurion") is based on the level of RP you have (or don't have). I'll need to get a file from home in order to display the names ... but then again, the files I have are from was a gajillion versions ago, so it might be out of date |
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Independent Pride
Curator
A proud independent who secretly loves the prestige of gaining the favor of the great houses.
Posts: 31 
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Post by Independent Pride on Apr 14, 2016 20:50:59 GMT -5
Hey guys! I'm new to the forums but I've been reading them for a while and this is by far one of the best forums I've ever seen. I just had to be a part of them. I just use common sense when it comes to what profession I choose. I usually play as a Spy so as a general rule of thumb especially early in the game, I don't touch anything except Pilot, Tactics, and Stealth. It's always wise to go with your strengths first especially early in the game because it's gonna get harder and you definitely don't want to be behind the game clock. You'd rather be light years ahead of it if you can manage that. With how I build my captain, the only thing I really have to worry about killing me in space battles are aliens. Since I pump all of my XP on just those 3 skills alone and since I'm a Spy, I can take advantage of Spy Wars and Solar Wars with Blockades and Surveillance when the factions are fighting and gain tons more XP to pump into those skills. With those 3 skills pumped up, it is beyond easy to execute successful Blockade and Surveillance operations. Also, I can pick and choose my battles especially if I have a great ship. I can outrun anyone and outmaneuver anyone. Which means I can stay back and torp the hell out of them until they're weak enough for me to move in on them if I want to. If I want to fight, I really never have to worry about them escaping, me escaping, or my ship getting hit. I'm actually surprised when I get hit unless I'm boarding. Even at close range I'm safe because those 3 skills alone allow me to control the fight as long as it stays ship to ship with no boarding. I can run circles around any ship in the Quadrant unless it's an Alien ship. It's funny how they try to run when they find out how fast and deadly accurate and evasive I am. With just those 3 skills pumped up, no one can touch me and my crew in the sky. I haven't tried exploring as a spy yet and I better not. Life is much safer in my ship. So in essence, you will live, die, and prosper by your profession's skills. You already know what you're good at. Run with it and never look back. Needless to say, if you're a Merchant or Explorer, don't try to be a spy. I'll be seeing what's left of you, your crew, and ship if anything when I'm speeding through deep space. |
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Post by beverage on Apr 14, 2016 22:57:03 GMT -5
Welcome to the forum Independent Pride . A fellow brownshirt. We independents must stick together because even though no Clan or Syndicate pansies will acknowledge it, we Indys are the only thing holding this quadrent together!! With their endless bickering and political hogwash they seem determined to pave the way for the Dreaded Xeno to consume us all. Thats pretty much my go-to build for a spy aswell. One little awesome tip is to make sure you raise Negotiation to a minimum of 2 ASAP. It will save you many many weeks of time when making exchanges thus helping you stay even further ahead of the curve. |
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Post by slayernz on Apr 15, 2016 17:43:04 GMT -5
Independent Pride welcome to the forum! May your interactions be full of positive and helpful responses ... or cat pictures ... or torps (if you are game enough to venture into that thread Focusing on Pilot, Tactics, and Stealth is great, but too much Stealth strongly limits your encounters, resulting in lower XP (from destroying enemies). Pilot is key - Tactics can be 60%-80% of your level and still be fine ... actually, after a while, you can neglect tactics and only bump the skill up when you start missing.
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... suits Thulun nobility. 
