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Stories and Experiences

Started by fragger, August 21, 2016, 04:49:18 AM

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Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

Binnatics

Spoiler: ShowHide
You certainly mean the black hole thingy? I also experimented with that yesterday, since I came across an anomaly station with a Korvax and Gek fellow inside. I got my atlas pass there from the Gek, and the Korvax offered me the option to use the black hole. It forwarded me 2000 lightyears more or less, but my Atlas trail was gone after that. So I reverted to my savegame and chose the Atlas trail instead. I think that will in the end lead us somewhere even more interesting and probably also a fast way to the core.


Great to hear that you're no longer having big issues with the Pirates. I did like you yesterday; made a few jumps forward, but without upgrading my ship. I was just curious, thought I'd made a backup, which I must have forgotten the night before lol :D
Anyway, I only once got a message that "hostile ships were approaching" and I could get rid of them by entering the spasta of the system I just popped up in. When I left there was only a distress call that teased me into joining a fight, which I ignored. I got one or two more distress calls, and could all refuse them. In a 'faraway system' I found a great ship with 47 slots. Price is 47 million so I figured to go back to my second system, the one where trading is so crazy good, save up and then go back and buy that ship. I might even try to find another shipwreck to get a 44 slotter first, so that my dreamship will hopefully come by with the desired 48 slots ;)
I got unlucky though on my last two shipwrecks, because they both were 42 slotters. One slot less :-\\
Anyway, I got a clear task now; get the required preps and buy that ship :)
And in the mean time I try to get the blueprints that still lack a perfect loadout and the omegon that is needed to get things sorted :-D

[smg id=9164 type=preview align=center caption="Dreamship"]
"Responsibility is not a matter of giving or taking, responsibility is something you share" -Binnatics

fragger

Excellent :-X

That Omegon can be a a real hassle to get hold of. I now carry some of it around with me and buy any I come across just in case I need it for some reason.

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

Art Blade

I jumped to a new system, the first planet has got no fauna (nice) but, in red letters, frenzied sentinels  ???? Alright, can't be that bad.. Oh, there are those gravitino balls, too, on that planet. Hey, let's pick up some.. and the battle ensued immediately. First a couple of drones and one of those robotic hounds but then.. a five-story tall battle robot came around the corner. WHOA  ???

[smg id=9173 type=preview align=center caption="madness 1"]
[smg id=9174 type=preview align=center caption="madness 2"]

I didn't finish off all of them and went off planet. That.. was a mistake. I got a "hostile scan detected" or some such and a couple of fighter ships warped into my trajectory. I took them out, but it wouldn't stop. I even had a bloody carrier  :o pop up in front of me out of which squadrons of fighters came right after me. I killed 20 ships before I had enough and reloaded.

Turns out that you definitely, definitely need to get rid of alerted sentinels before you leave the planet. Like, wait until you see the message that the sentinels are no longer after you.

I tried again and did that, killed every witness and the alert was called off, I left the planet and wasn't scanned or attacked.

Crazy.. so, finish what you started or it will finish you off  :-D
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

Crumbs ??? I haven't seen a "Frenzied" Sentinel description before. I've seen "Hostile" and "Aggressive", but not Frenzied.

I wonder why they're so protective of Gravitino Balls? There's another thing they're protective of, I can't remember what it's called - a "Something" Cube. I've seen them on a planet growing on some kind of plant. Like the Gravitino Balls, the Sentinels will be after you the moment you pick one.

Art Blade

no idea, really. Except perhaps.. if you had to protect something that resembled certain body parts, what would be your first choice.. 8-X :-()
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

 :-D

I've landed on a planet where there are lots of weird formations of that Murrine stuff (I always thought "Murrine" sounded like some kind of eye-wash :-())
[smg id=9178 align=center width=600]

It takes a minute for the laser to get through one, about as long as it takes to cut through one of those big, solid pieces of iron-oxide rock. And then - BOOM! It will explode quite violently (this pic was taken a split second after quite a blinding flash).
[smg id=9179 align=center width=600]

And what do you get? A whole 4 or 5 pieces of Murrine ???? It sells for a good price, but for the time and traveling around it would take to get a decent amount of it together, it's not really worthwhile.

Pirate attacks have now become fairly commonplace, but I'm actually dealing with them quite well and gaining increased standing with the various races when I take them out, so I'm leaving them in. I mixed it up with four of them here, and I nailed them all in short order while sustaining comparatively little damage compared to my first game. In that first game, four at once would have meant my death for sure. The upgraded weapons and shields make a world of difference, plus I've gotten more of a handle on their tactics, such as they are.

I never thought I'd say it, but now that I'm on at least an equal footing with the pirates, I'm actually stating to enjoy the dogfights.

The final enemy - going, going...
[smg id=9180 align=center width=600]

...gone.
[smg id=9181 align=center width=600]

Art Blade

I like that, "going, going.. gone." :-D Glad you can handle yourself now and I think that after a while without pirates, the game might be boring a little. I haven't yet encountered any hostile ships (except one massive battle due to "frenzied" sentinels taking it to the skies and off planet) but as long as I have a fighting chance, I'm OK with it.
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

Art Blade

Found my first pirate. A frontal burst of my photon cannons while he was still trying to materialise turned him into a dirty-looking cloud which dissolved just as quickly. I didn't waste much time there and decided to hit a black hole for a change and for the first time.

And damn, I came out of it and got smashed right into a stupid distress signal (space battle type). Saw some red-glowing energy balls zipping by from behind and some fighters overtaking me while I was also eying a message on my screen that told me my theta shield upgrade had snapped and needed repair. WHAT? ??? Went to the spasta (I had sold most of my stuff.. never thought I'd have to keep materials for repairs) but neither did I have nor could I buy the resources needed.

So out I went again and landed on a moon to find materials and wow, a storm came up, some toxicity and radiation.. and some summerly temperatures just over 300°C  ???

It is getting crazier, I reckon.  :-D
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

Apparently traveling through a black hole will always cause damage to some component of your ship. I had to repair my Photon Cannon, fortunately there were no pirates around at the time.

That's the price you pay taking a short cut, it seems.

Art Blade

I had a feeling it might have had to do with that jump. Thanks for clearing that up :)
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

Thinking of energy weapons reminded me of a funny bit in the original Terminator movie. It's early in the piece when Arnie goes into the gun shop to get his weapons. He's talking to the clerk and rattling off the names of all the guns he wants - "The 12-guage auto-loader" and "The .45 long-slide with laser sighting". Then he asks for a "Phased-plasma rifle in the 40-watt range". The clerk shrugs at him and says, "Hey, just what you see, pal!" :-()

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

Binnatics

Materials for repairs, damn indeed :D

I didn't want to leave all the materials I collected (I have one slot of almost every material in my ship) but later I realised that apart from upgrading you don't need them for much else. I even made a list what you should need to carry with you while travelling, just to make sure you don't run out of things:

Thamium9
Carbon
Plutonium
(those 3 are quite logical, as being fuels for the devices you carry)
Zync
Heridium (those 2 needed while crafting warp cells for your hyper drive)

If you have experience, add the stuff we'd better carry with us in case some repairs have to be made ;)
"Responsibility is not a matter of giving or taking, responsibility is something you share" -Binnatics

Art Blade

OK.. after a very tiresome and at times boring session (trading until my eyes started to bleed) and going through quite a few ship wrecks, I finally had the money and a ton of luck: I got my new 48-slot fighter.  :-D

And now I can do the upgrade-marathon yet again. :'( I created a list for just that purpose :laugh:

[smg id=9190 type=preview align=center caption="new dream ship"]
[smg id=9191 type=preview align=center caption="with headlight"]

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm enjoying the combat now, when it happens. In fact I'm welcoming it as a change of pace :-D Whenever I get a distress call, I'm in like Flynn. If they try to jump me, I'm like "Yeah? Just bring it, you scurvy space-dogs!" >:D


I was right on this guy's tail a few seconds before this shot, he almost filled the window.
[smg id=9202 align=center width=600]

After a bunch of Photon Cannon shots straight up the kazoo, he was out of it. Couldn't miss at this range.
[smg id=9203 align=center width=600]

Apparently I'm officially dangerous now.
[smg id=9204 align=center width=600]

Art Blade

[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

Dweller_Benthos

Had my first real space combat last night. I traveled back to my home system to find some nickel and aluminum for upgrades, since I knew exactly where those were and it was easier than trying to find them in the system I was in, so I mined a bunch of what I needed and took off for the station to sell some stuff I'd gathered and when I hit space, got the distress call thing. I knew I should have ignored it, but went for it anyway. The latest ship I had picked up had decent weapons and shields on it, so I started attacking. Thing is, I wasn't quite sure who I should be firing on. I take it the smaller ships that are flying around the freighter are the ones you need to shoot? So I shot a few, they shot back, and I killed a couple. Then it seemed that one of the bigger ships was shooting at me, or maybe at someone behind me? Anyway, there was this double cannon thing floating around near one of the big ships that may have broken off or been shot off the big ship, and it seemed it was just shooting at anything including me. I couldn't fire at it, as it seemed it wasn't something I could target. But anyway, I got into it with more of the small ships and eventually ran out of stuff to repair my shields with and popped back at the station. Went out and got my stuff and headed back to the station for some trading.

So, first space battle and I didn't do too bad, I think I got at least 6 or 7 of them, I did get the milestone for shooting down 5 ships, so at least that many.

Oh yeah, has anyone had an issue with the online services not connecting? You know, when you upload discoveries, there's the little indicator in the lower left that tells you if you're online or not? Mine's been offline for a couple days now, and I know my internet isn't the greatest, but it's usually connected. I wonder if their servers are down or something.
"You've read it, you can't un-read it."
D_B

fragger

Sometimes I get that online services not connected message too. I don't know why, it seems to go up and down. Maybe it's due to traffic or something, but I don't think it's just at your end D_B. My connection is pretty stable - actually it's very stable - but I still get that too, a fair bit actually. It doesn't seem to adversely affect the game or the saving or anything.

Re the combat, yeah, the little ships are the bad guys. But it's entirely possible that one of the freighters was shooting at you. They're a fickle bunch - if you target a pirate ship but miss and accidentally hit a freighter, they'll classify you as an enemy and will open up on you. The game needs a "transmit apology" key that you can hit to let them know it was an accident :-() I haven't seen a turret tumbling around in space by itself still firing, but maybe you were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On another tack, I came out of hyperspace into this system so close to the space station that I couldn't slow down in time and I ran into it. It didn't do any damage though, I just sort of bounced off the wall. But I mean, really - that's the last time I let Chewie do the calculations ::)

Art Blade

 :-D I popped out of hyperspace once and got the message "no free slots available" plus there was a bit missing in my health bar. Apparently my Chewie-idiot had me materialise right next to an asteroid that blew up in pieces.  :D :-D

I got the disconnection problem for a week or so now. It's more off than on. Sometimes reloading the game helps.

With those distress signals, I remembered fragger's story about that he got shot at by the big ships because he might have hit one of them by accident so I knew I would have to avoid hitting them at all costs.

I've got the anti-pirate mod, just a file, installed and when I came to pay the priest and Polo a visit for the path of the Atlas, the third time, Polo wanted to know about the pirates. My only option I had to answer his question was greyed out. Because I needed to be level 3 regarding killed ships. The game crashed when I backed out.

I removed the file, went out to space and got two distress signals in short succession. When I was close to the big ships I never fired towards them. When the little bastards were attacking the big ships and flying right at them, I waited until I had empty space behind them so I wouldn't hit a big ship. It worked, and I never got shot by the big ships. I had racked up enough kills to get the required level for Polo so I slapped the anti-pirate mod back in and all is good.

I did the last Atlas mission just like Binnatics and am now free to horse around a bit :)
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

The big ships will definitely target you if you hit them, I've had that happen twice now. I saw one of my Photon Cannon shots hit a big ship, I was too close and I miscalculated the deflection :D I saw the shot hit and the whole fleet turned on me (got a whole bunch of green arrowheads in the hud, pointing from different directions).

There's quite a diversity in freighter design too, I'm noticing. I saw some in one system that were truly gigantic, like Star Destroyers. They were immense ????

Art Blade

reminds me of when I left a planet while the drones were still on full alert. They took it off planet to space and a bloody carrier popped up next to me, spilling out squadrons of fighters.
[titlebar]Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare.[/titlebar]What doesn't kill us, makes us weirder.

fragger

I've completed the Atlas path and "birthed" a new star, which was pretty anticlimactic and all rather pointless - not to mention that following the path took me further away from the core. Some sort of beneficial reward like a big boost toward the core would have been nice, instead of the "satisfaction" of creating a new star that you will never see nor apparently have anything to do with.

Learning all three races' stories doesn't appear to reward you in any way either.

It's starting to look like there is only one worthwhile goal: get to the galactic core. IF it turns out to be worthwhile, that is - it takes a lot of jumps to get there. Which isn't actually much fun, just watching the hyperspace effect over and over for about a minute each time.

Well, nothing else for it...

Binnatics

I think you didn't read my spoiler in my complaints post. Anyway, I had the exact same feeling when completing the Atlas trail. I did some research about space navigation which at least learns us that taking black holes is the best way to travel and that the giant lightball on the 'horizon' is the galactic core. ;)

You can find that here
"Responsibility is not a matter of giving or taking, responsibility is something you share" -Binnatics

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