Tired of getting killed by aliens ...

[CAB]

The little bastages seem to KNOW when I am nearing one of the achievement unlocks.  I keep getting the kind that close on you in two turns every time.  I've tried putting all emphasis on pilot and stealth and I've tried putting all emphasis on warrior and strength and lots of happy crew.  Same result.  Of course I'm playing Crazy but still ...

Okay so enough general venting.  One question I have is on weapons.  Can we get some clarity on the effect of carrying weapons?  Some say it's the solution and some say aliens are immune to them.  Second question is outrunning them, is it possible with a fast enough ship?  Because I flying what I think are pretty fast ships but maybe could be even faster.  I had the templar hydra and bodyguard the last death and it didn't help at all.  Anything that does?  I don't have the specialty unlocks against aliens because most of them require you to kill aliens.  And when I'm TRYING to find them I can't.  Speaking of not finding things, third question is can I avoid them by never going in red sectors (if that's even possible)?  I haven't tracked if they appear in green ones but I know it's at least a lot more likely.

Sorry, just a little frustrated.  Having little difficulty with the rest of the game.  Can get along fine with about any strategy and usually get to midgame before random alien takes about 20 seconds to wipe it all away.

PS: I have read some of the threads already on here already so I don't think this is just recycle of dead threads.  I didn't see clear answers to the above and haven't found a strategy that works yet based on reading what I can find.

[Cory Trese]

1) Weapons are only good when you are mashing the "Boarding" button and won't help much against Aliens unless you're really focused on that. @starfixer should be summoned to give an analysis of Artifacts vs. Weapons and the various Officers you would stack for Boarding vs. Xeno.

2) You can absolutely out-run a Xeno. You are 1 successful dice test away at long range. If you are going to try to escape, "Agility" does not matter at all, only Speed, Stealth and Solar Sails. You must be FAST and have very high Stealth. The more Solar Sails the better, upgrade upgrade upgrade!

3) I am sorry you are frustrated. The game is pretty vicious, especially on Crazy.

4) Carrying Cargo is a bad idea. Carry as little as possible, especially Artifacts. Do NOT carry Artifacts.

5) Avoid Dead Planets and Red Sectors like the plague.

6) Rumors. You are probably running into Xeno Swarms on the map, but unaware of the Rumor, you're getting killed.

7) The game is designed to do this. You need to use conflicts and rumors to avoid the Xeno -- Xenos love War and they have special rumors that can increase the chance of an encounter with them by 300%

[CAB]

May 1, 2014 12:48:53 GMT -5 Cory Trese said:

1) Weapons are only good when you are mashing the "Boarding" button and won't help much against Aliens unless you're really focused on that. @starfixer should be summoned to give an analysis of Artifacts vs. Weapons and the various Officers you would stack for Boarding vs. Xeno.

2) You can absolutely out-run a Xeno. You are 1 successful dice test away at long range. If you are going to try to escape, "Agility" does not matter at all, only Speed, Stealth and Solar Sails. You must be FAST and have very high Stealth. The more Solar Sails the better, upgrade upgrade upgrade!

3) I am sorry you are frustrated. The game is pretty vicious, especially on Crazy.

4) Carrying Cargo is a bad idea. Carry as little as possible, especially Artifacts. Do NOT carry Artifacts.

5) Avoid Dead Planets and Red Sectors like the plague.

6) Rumors. You are probably running into Xeno Swarms on the map, but unaware of the Rumor, you're getting killed.

7) The game is designed to do this. You need to use conflicts and rumors to avoid the Xeno -- Xenos love War and they have special rumors that can increase the chance of an encounter with them by 300%

#1.  Yeah, saw that summary.  That one seemed more geared towards actually hunting them.  My hats off to anyone good enough to do that.
#2.  SSSS .... I think I can remember that.  Also good to know agility doesn't matter.  I thought it did.
#3.  Yeah, well I am aware that the game is not intended to be a cakewalk.  But after the same thing happening literally about 5-6x that starts wearing thin.
#4.  I only carry water-fuel.  Last time I was flying Honor of Steel and 60 W-F sounds like a lot but I was stopping to gas up CONSTANTLY.
#5.  Okay, I can try that.  There are a lot of red sectors out there though.  The autopilot does a really good job but still hits them sometimes.  But I'll see what I can do.
#6.  Probably.
#7.  So stay away from the rumors of war too then.  Okay.

Thanks for the tips!!

[Cory Trese]

On 5-6 starts with the same outcome is probably bad luck.

You could drop down a difficulty level, but no one likes to hear that

We suggest to get tons of rumors in the Hall and Palace and we plot on the Zoom Map.

Yeah, it's less fire and forget but we're playing on Crazy now, aren't we =)

[CAB]

Oh yeah, and I guess I might as well go water-fuel tank. It's not like the escape shuttle has done me any good whatsoever.

[CAB]

I can't drop the difficulty level and still get the achievements that I'm still missing ....

[Cory Trese]

May 1, 2014 13:08:15 GMT -5 CAB said:

I can't drop the difficulty level and still get the achievements that I'm still missing ....

I have a solution and it only costs $5 =)

Which Award are you after? Maybe I can give you some tips.

[CAB]

Yeah, well I don't want to wuss out. Gotta get them all honestly ya know.

I think once I can get to the point where I am not killed by aliens regularly I'll get them all. Although I'm not really looking forward to the capture/destroy space hive and kill alien with 100 hull. Especially since finding the hives when you want to is really annoying. Probably comes back to paying more attention to rumors ...

If I get the alien issue licked and still can't get some I'll post again once I've whittled them down to ones I just can't seem to get.

[Cory Trese]

I still play pretty much every day so if I think of anything else, I'll let you know.

[spacecowboy]

I dont see aliens 3x your level as "challenging" they are a miserable and pointless addition to an otherwise sensational game.

I can accept losing a captain to my own mistakes i.e fighting when i should have surrendered, no escape shuttle for indy pirate rammers, not paying close enough attention to health and one too many mutinies but there is nothing worse than losing 3 or 4 days of good gaming to something entireley beyond your control.

Edit: im stuck on 100 hull alien and space hive awards. Space hive is a joke. Im level 78 insane and when i find space hives they are consistently level 7k+

[Cory Trese]

May 1, 2014 13:34:05 GMT -5 spacecowboy said:

I dont see aliens 3x your level as "challenging" they are a miserable and pointless addition to an otherwise sensational game.

I can accept losing a captain to my own mistakes i.e fighting when i should have surrendered, no escape shuttle for indy pirate rammers, not paying close enough attention to health and one too many mutinies but there is nothing worse than losing 3 or 4 days of good gaming to something entireley beyond your control.

Some great posts above may help. It is a matter of opinion, we're all players of this game.

However, I am sad to hear you feel that the ships you encounter are "entirely beyond your control" because that sweeps aside many months of my work.

I did edit your post a bit and I appreciate your feedback. It will give me something to think about this afternoon while I play.

[Fenikso]

Just a bit of feedback. I play regularly on Impossible. I love Aliens and how they are balanced, you either avoid them or prepare and fight (or die). I have just killed 100 hull Alien yesterday. However Hives are mostly boring to me, if I do not count seeing extremely hight level, which is always fun (like 11k or something). Each and every Hive always outrun me in 50+ encounters with them, except the aggressive ones.

[spacecowboy]

Example : playing stealth/pilot/tactics focused. Doing surveillance during spy war for much rep and xp. Heading to another faction world to sell records. Literally going between cadar prime and syndicate core. Green square. Alien encounter level 156 (i am level 78). Cant escape. Cant ram. Just wait to die.

When this happens to your 8th or 9th captain Consecutively and every one is a week or so of game time it starts to grate on your nerves. I thought i was doing everything right to minimise encounters. Omni stealth array small hull small hold high stealth no artifacts green square north eastern quadrant.

How about an option for the captain, when in such a scenario, to have a button to jettison the escape shuttle and leave the crew and ship to their fate. Make it so you lose your officers as well and some rep with all factions as a selfish twat.

[CAB]

I think you meant selfish *twit*.

Great, now I have the abandon ship scene from Spaceballs running through my head. This is your last chance to hit the cancellation button .....

Actually that's not a bad idea though. I'd just like for the escape shuttle to actually work. It hasn't saved me once yet. I know it isn't a "hull crush" death but I thought it still helped sometimes? Not for me. I think I saw someone say that they surrendered to aliens. I thought they kill you if you surrender period. No? Maybe I'll try that the next time, it's not like I have anything to lose.

[Officer Genious]

May 1, 2014 15:21:56 GMT -5 CAB said:

I think you meant selfish *twit*.

Great, now I have the abandon ship scene from Spaceballs running through my head. This is your last chance to hit the cancellation button .....

Actually that's not a bad idea though. I'd just like for the escape shuttle to actually work. It hasn't saved me once yet. I know it isn't a "hull crush" death but I thought it still helped sometimes? Not for me. I think I saw someone say that they surrendered to aliens. I thought they kill you if you surrender period. No? Maybe I'll try that the next time, it's not like I have anything to lose.

Nope, that WILL kill you. Escape shuttles are best used for hull death or, if things are looking desperate, ramming repeatedly into the enemy to smash your ship and then escaping into the shuttle. I always forget to do the "ram to save yourself" thing, but when I do, NOTHING WILL STOP ME!!