Stealth?

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Alright, so I am gonna ask for advice on a conundrum I am looking at.

I started my new alien hunter on insane difficulty, an ambitious Cadar Zealot that already has a spiffy recently-appropriated Blade Class ship at level 2.

Anyway, my end goal with this character is to kill me some aliens, or die trying, and I am wondering about putting points into stealth.

I am gunning to be a pro at space combat, which the info in the game says stealth helps with, but how does it help exactly? Because, stealth also helps avoid aliens in space, which I do not really want to do in the long run.

I want to find those slimey, uncle-probing, livestock-loving, antenae-waving space creeps, and let my soon-to-be-recruited Veteran Officer have his vengeance.

Anyone wanna clarify? Cory, will you weigh in?

[Cory Trese]

Stealth will be critical in terms of fighting the Alien.

Your best bet is to not run into the Alien randomly -- they're best fought in orbit.

Your best % chance to find them is in orbit of a Dead World (AKA, Jupiter/Gas Planets)

They are more common the farther from green space you are. If you pan around in Zoom map you con see a few obvious places to Patrol.

May the Maker protect your Soul and the souls of the Crew.

Good bye.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

I believe it can be done, lol! Thanks for the info!

[slayernz]

Stealth provides significant benefit in both avoiding encounters and surviving them when they do occur.

Higher Stealth reduces the chance of a random encounter. You've made your 20,000,000 ton star ship pirouette around the sectors like a black swan in the dead of night during a power cut.

When you do have an encounter, high Stealth provides an increased ability to dodge the torpedoes and barrage gunfire that scuds your way. A captain with a very high level of Stealth becomes almost teflon coated in battle.

Of course, high Stealth doesn't actually help in closing distances during combat (or retreating either). That is where higher piloting skill comes in handy. It's no good being able to dodge weapons fire only to have the enemy ship sidle up beside you in boarding position.

Finally, when you are in a position to board the enemy, you want to have high Warrior skill so that you know which end of your weapon is the business end. You might think that common sense, but given that these days, some ship to ship weapons are cubes or spheres, it's become more of a challenge.

I missed the "Intimidate" skill, which is more useful when YOU are being boarded. I hope you have high enough Pilot and Stealth skills that you can avoid being boarded.

Good luck on the alien hunt. May your crew taste better than you do so at least they'll be eaten first.

[edze]

great post slayernz, thanks.

Does Warrior affect ship weapons (like guns and torps)?

How does Tactics play into it?

[Tenebrous Pirate]

I just killed my first alien at level 15. A level 12 boll alien scum has been brought to justice! Scrapped their ship for about $250k too!

[Cory Trese]

Level 12 Boll ... nice =)

Look out for Horror and Terror, or Swarm Ships. DR. Kamp has the full list of AI types

[slayernz]

Warrior is principally focused on offensive person to person combat, so no, having higher warrior skills won't help your ability to aim straighter.

When looking at skills for specific activities, you shouldn't overlook actual Physical Statistics. For example, Quickness is a physical stat that governs your maximum Pilot and Stealth skills, but my understanding is that Quickness itself is used as the modifier for guns and ship defenses. Quickness won't help you be more accurate with Torps, but it will help you get both the ships and turrets aligned on your rapidly moving opponent.


Your question on Tactics is a good one though. It won't help in encounters (although perhaps it should have some bearing), but it definitely helps in Blockades, Surveillance, and Wilderness Landings as you'll use your analytical skills to determine the best place to be at the right time. It also helps you during mutinies as you need to think your way through how to get your rebellious crew into one of your airlocks.

Cory's made a game that is really great because every skill is interrelated to any given strategy. You can't just focus on one or two skills and expect to succeed. Instead, you have to constantly adjust your broader skills and basic statistics portfolio.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

May 2, 2011 21:54:08 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

Level 12 Boll ... nice =)

Look out for Horror and Terror, or Swarm Ships. DR. Kamp has the full list of AI types

Yeah, I hit one of the big planets in the center like you suggested, and on my very first patrol had the boll alien pop up. He was a lot easier than I would have expected.

I got the impression that I got pretty lucky in getting the newbie alien instead of something that would eat my face off as easily as a fat kid eats a twinky. I had this little imagined visual of some sad, dorky looking green slimey thing sitting at an instrument panel, sucking down a slurpy, when suddenly my spear class pops out of omni-stealth right behind him, alarms start going off as I open fire, and he squeeks in fright after crapping himself.

I was certainly sadly disappointed that I couldn't commandeer his ship, but I guess that is game balance and all. After he bit the dust, all I could get on a patrol in that area were some very scared (and very short lived) steel song pansies who helped fill up my cargo hold nicely. I look forward to finding bigger, nastier aliens, who know how to probe like they mean it! ;-)

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Ok, so my next question is regarding Engines and Guns. I seem to have a pretty effective play strategy, even if I am not too clear on the mechanics of everything yet. So, I will bug Cory and you guys some more, and see what I can squeeze out of you.

Anyway, engines and guns! I love having high engines. From what I can extrapolate, the more you have, the more maneuverable your ship can be in combat. I have also heard or read that they power/affect your guns. Is this directly, as in reactor power hard wired through a capacitor into the guns, or is it due to the maneuverability at short ranges that the increased engines provides?

Because, only both Structural and Propulsion upgrade categories offer the choice of upgrading guns or engines. I generally go with increasing the engines over the guns, because they also affect my water usage and I have seen little difference in damage between a freighter with 12 guns vs a crusier with 30.

Also, why is it that there are gun upgrades are in Structural and Propulsion, but only torpedo upgrades in Armament?

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Second alien bites the dust. Level 65 Knife alien. His ship was kinda sad and pathetic, but I didn't let that stop me from blasting em! Not too shabby for a level 32 zealot...

Attachments:

[oldalchemist]

Bravo!

Skills: I think you can totally skip Explorer if you're not going to explore anything.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Oh, I totally skip explorer. I am now at level 33 with the following stats:
Charisma 9
Wisdom 15
Quickness 49
Strength 9

Explorer 1
Pilot 48
Negotiate 1
Tactics 15
Stealth 48
Warrior 1
Intimidate 9

[boeu]

Good job tenebrous

[oldalchemist]

A few points in Warrior is totally worth it if you get boarded.