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Post by hashassin on Apr 13, 2011 9:07:39 GMT -5
Just dropping some thoughts to get myself involved in the forums. I've been uninvolved for too long considering how much I love and play the game.
We all know the higher difficulty settings are HARD....very hard. Doom is almost certain. My solution to this (especially during attempts to unlock achievements) is to never level up. I have to adjust my play style to accommodate the lack of skills and stats, but having a better ship, officers, and the right goods and upgrades seems to be more effective than levelling up. If I'm level 1 enemy captains won't overpower me as easily since they are also low level. Being a level 100 captain doesn't mean much when a level 250 captain comes and squashes you. Being a level 1-2 captain and going head to head with a level 3 foe and relying on a better ship and every bonus I can squeeze out of crew/upgrades/cargo makes for a much fairer fight. Also....id much rather die early on while attempting to obtain the ship and upgrades etc than to die after spending a few days levelling my captain. I die a LOT. I succeed a lot as well, but this game loves killing me. Yesterday I died on my first turn on crazy. Pirates took me out as soon as I moved. Cough cough *cadar pirates* cough....
Anywho, just thought id throw that out there and see what other captains think or do t handle obscenely dangerous battles on the more challenging modes.
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Post by Cory Trese on Apr 13, 2011 15:02:16 GMT -5
Interesting technique. The game reacts to your behavior (storing up XP > next purchase) by lowering your XP earn rates.
You very well may be correct that this unbalances the game. Perhaps the enemy captain level should be an AVERAGE of the Player and Game level.
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Post by slayernz on Apr 13, 2011 17:39:36 GMT -5
If you played the one true faction, Cadar, Cadar pirates will no longer try and share Torps with you using the pointy end first. In saying that, if a Cadarian warship captain saw a Level 1 person flying an Overlord-class ship, they'd say "Where are his training wheels ... he mustn't be able to reach the pedals and turn the wheel at the same time!" and therefore consider you fair game all the same.
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Post by oldalchemist on Apr 14, 2011 7:54:37 GMT -5
I'm holding off on spending XP while I jack up my smuggler's reputation with the syndicates. It seems to be a viable tactic, but I'm still getting shot up once in a while.
A better solution might be to base level on xp earned instead of xp spent.
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Post by slayernz on Apr 14, 2011 20:13:05 GMT -5
I would prefer that approach (XP earned rather than spent) because it is more widely used as a method of level gain in RPGs. Also, calculating levels is much easier in this method than adding up all of the abilities plus stats and then doing some whizzy thing to make it into a number  ... Not that I am dissing your awesome coding, Cory! This means that level ups are consistent ... if you earned 120 XP, you are level x, regardless of whether you put all of your XP into Piloting, or Intimidation or Strength. |
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Post by oldalchemist on Apr 15, 2011 15:19:34 GMT -5
There's got to be a way to stop learning things in space!
New Class: Slacker Captain. Keeps getting older, but the officers stay the same age.
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Post by absimiliard on Apr 15, 2011 19:09:55 GMT -5
I actually like the current system. The incentive to get a bunch of stats early on is perverse. It's good if you can survive, but often the lack of skills kills.
-abs
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Post by hashassin on Apr 15, 2011 23:53:48 GMT -5
Hmmmm....I've been holding off on my reply to this. I'm toying with the game and I say....I'm leaning towards cory's answer. Why? Simple. If xp earned equals captain level I'm stuck for a solution again. It just forces me to level with no benefit. 190% my level means 190% my level. Death is imminent regardless of how well I play (yeah yeah, I know) twice my level with permadeath means I lose. Not at the first battle, but I lose. I like being able to win. Not easily, but having the possibility of overcoming. On impossible (and I rarely play below crazy) death is imminent. Quickly. No matter what. (Teach me to be wrong?) If foe levels are based on xp earned rather than spent it changes nothing for the average xp spending captain that doesn't stay humble and go for the win at level 1 or 2,etc, but if corey goes with an average I assume it would be variable as it is now, with the maximum being an average of the difficulty levels captains vs my level, so instead of mostly captains at nearly 200 when I'm at 100, but also seing plenty of say....120-175 level captains to reflect the fact that I am an above average captain. What is the point in becoming badass if everyone in the universe automatically becomes twice as badass as I am? Easier to rely on knowledge of how the game works and remain a well taught noob than to advance. I don't want to strip the challenge from the game by any means, and I never complained about the difficulty lying therin, I merely proposed my solution to the overwhelming odds. Instead of gameplay feedback and tactics I was replied to with game changes. Do I think a change MIGHT be good? *shrugs* maybe. Do I personally have a great plan to rebalance things? Nope. What would I do if this was MY game? Assume players knew "impossible" meant "almost impossible" and laugh. I'm not crying for an easier st game. its hard as **** and that is one of the reasons it keeps my interest. Would I like it to be a wee bit fairer?.....yeah I would. Will I complain if it stays the same? Nope.not one bit. This post was not meant to change the code, just to present a strategy for manipulating the game....exactly as I will do again if the game does change. That being said, again, I reiterate my stance on "if the game changes" it SHOULD have a meaningful effect other than ****blocking my solution.
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Post by oldalchemist on Apr 18, 2011 9:55:40 GMT -5
Yeah...getting awards is way easier when you only spend your points up to a survivable level of pilot, stealth, and warrior and hold off on spending more.
I held off some 200+points and pretty much ruled the quadrant with a fully loaded Pride of Rychart. Now I've unlocked the Templar ships by just grinding contracts in a tricked out ship with 6 factions that love me.
I think it might be a seriously unbalancing issue.
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darkmonk
Curator
[ Elite & Heroes of Steel Supporter ]
Posts: 72
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Post by darkmonk on May 3, 2011 2:40:11 GMT -5
If you played the one true faction, Cadar, Cadar pirates will no longer try and share Torps with you using the pointy end first. In saying that, if a Cadarian warship captain saw a Level 1 person flying an Overlord-class ship, they'd say "Where are his training wheels ... he mustn't be able to reach the pedals and turn the wheel at the same time!" and therefore consider you fair game all the same. I like this guy ;D |
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Post by sakai4eva on May 3, 2011 4:13:22 GMT -5
Cory, I have recently created a new captain (with a few added help) that confirms that this is a possible exploit.
I simply played at Crazy difficulty with the starting ship, and surrendering at every single opportunity and let enemies frisk me. I carry no contrabands, and simply perform tasks for politically neutral factions.
I have since gained about 600 xps, but I'm still facing up to level 5 enemies only. Additionally, once I've unlocked the Ships of Power/Honour, my ships have a tendency to be much more overpowering compared to those of my opponents. This becomes even more apparent when I use a Military Officer, with about 60 weapons and the additional WF storage. Once I get close enough to board the enemy, I have never lost.
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Tenebrous Pirate
Exemplar
[ Star Traders 2 Supporter ]
Why? Well, why not?
Posts: 482
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Post by Tenebrous Pirate on May 3, 2011 8:34:04 GMT -5
I have been playing on insane difficulty a lot lately. I have found that with my play style, the higher level I get, the easier it gets. This has mainly been starting with a spy, zealot, or pirate, but I have had good success with both merchant and explorer too, by focusing very closely on my faction scores.
The only hard time I have is from around level 1-5. After that, I have been able to reliably beat the pants off of much higher level NPC captains. I am going to have to try the impossible difficulty here pretty soon.
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Post by sakai4eva on May 3, 2011 19:52:30 GMT -5
What skills do you focus on as a pirate?
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Post by boeu on May 3, 2011 21:35:46 GMT -5
Pilot, tactics, stealth
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... Not that I am dissing your awesome coding, Cory! This means that level ups are consistent ... if you earned 120 XP, you are level x, regardless of whether you put all of your XP into Piloting, or Intimidation or Strength. 
