Easiest class

[sebastian]

I don't seem able to accomplush anything unless i am a smuggler.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Funny, I don't seem to be able to accomplish much unless I am a combat class.

[HateSolstice]

That's because we Cadar rule the skies. It's only a matter of time before the others realize this.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

Jun 2, 2011 20:36:18 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

oh dear! Bounty Hunters (and to a less extent, military officers) can use Surveillance to get the "Target has been tracked. We can attack at our leisure, Captain." toast.

Once you have that Toast, you can "Attempt Contract" and enter battle. If you do not like the looks of the target's escort, break off (he could be hostile, like riding with pirates tho) and you might see a Contract Failed dialog, but it will be modified with some text that says something like "He has not gone far. We tracked the landing location on the planet's surface..."

At that point you repeat the surveillance cycle. of course, this all burns fuel and angers the natives, but i'm on the job.

Dear god, I had no idea about this. I am seriously going to have to give bounty hunters a new chance!

[oldalchemist]

Holy Hats! I've been playing blind and stupid hunters this whole time.

OK, new request: Stop updating the game and put this stuff into the manual under the help button. More than anything, this sort of information will make the game playable. Either that, or you need to put more overt strategy information into random toasts.

[Tenebrous Pirate]

I totally agree! I am beginning to understand how much I DON'T know about how to play, and I consider myself a badass!

[that1guy]

Don't beat yourself up tenebrous pirate you are a badass. Who's the biggest badass pirate? Who's the biggest badass pirate? You are. Yes you are................ Sorry, couldn't resist :-p

[callidus]

After reading Cory's post, I'm amazed I was able to keep a bounty hunter alive for any time at all. I've never used surveilance to track a target, and my response to an enemy in a tougher ship was to charge at it and try to board.

I think I'll have to retire my spy and start a new bounty hunter.

[noesis]

So that's what the "surveillance special ability for contacts" is about for Bounty Hunters and Military Officers on the new character - starting profession description ! - damn I thought it was like the political officer saying - they weren't really independents - they were actually with some faction - but clearly it's completely different. I'm with oldalchemist this should be documented ! - It changes the whole dynamic of how these professions can be played - and for the better.

[slawyer]

You don't need to be a Bounty Hunter or Military Officer to do Surveillance and track the bounty target, if you have the Predator Tracking Array unlocked. But you have to get Intrepid Explorer award to unlock it, which requires exploring a 20+ danger wild area successfully (which requires lots of Explorer skill).

You can also make a lot of $ with piracy while using the bounty surveillance, by repeatedly catching the target, looting it, then either killing it (if the contract was capture) or capturing it (if the contract was kill) so the contract fails, and you can use the surveillance again to rinse and repeat until your hold is full.

[rudeboy]

Nice to see so many different takes on it - I always figured different players would find different playing styles better suited to their needs.

My longest-lived Captains were always Explorers who "moved into" other roles as they got older... But after checking the comments here, my next one's definitely gonna be a Bounty Hunter - can't wait to try that style.

[oldalchemist]

So do you need the Predator Array if you're a Bounty Hunter?

[absimiliard]

Nope. Bounty Hunters and Military Officers get the ability as part of their class. When I've tried putting a Predator Array into Crom of the Steel Song's ship (a, now dead, bounty hunter of mine) it did nothing that I could detect. Of course my Tactics was pretty high, so if it helped the chances of surveillance in producing target tracking info I didn't see it.

Non-bounty/military captains who bounty hunt will surely want one though.....

(My current captain, a "Captain", has been searching the galaxy for the upgrade rumor for some time, while keeping that slot open on his Jango. The moment I hear that rumor I'm dropping EVRYTHING and flying straight to the world in question, I would dearly love to get Valetian 437 a Predator Array. The thought of being able to pick and choose my target makes me drool, not attacking tougher/traitor ships is really sweet.)

-abs

[HateSolstice]

I have yet to see this ability work at all for any of the military officers I've made. I even tried earlier and saw no results. What is required for it to work?

[absimiliard]

You do have to have enough Tactics to be able to succeed in the check for whether or not the surveillance is successful. (~10+)

Is it possible your captain was just failing to successfully surveil the area?

-abs