Anyone still play this?

[Thethingamabob]

Personally, SPAZ is among my top 10 favorite games, and I go do another playthrough every year or so. It scratches quite a few itches for me, in a way no other game I've found has. Between ship customization, RPG-style development/progression, resource collection (mining is weirldy one of my favorite parts), and combat that is simple to pick up but has a suprising amount of depth to it, this game has stuck with me as easy to get into but plenty of little details and tricks to learn.

The 'dirty space' aestetic is amusing, and I love how every item is a physical object in space that you can destroy - with skill you can shoot down every missile aimed at you (which honestly is part of why fusion beams are so powerful later on).

I've learned quite a few tricks along the way, beat the game several times on insane (using a beam + cloak combination, which included killing the T3/Phase 4 bounty hunter bases on insane), and enjoyed all of it.

So I was wondering: Is there anyone else here who still plays it regularly? Have you found any other games that scratch the same itch for you? Do you wish for more SPAZ goodness in the future?

[Dohi64]

spaz was one of the very first games I bought on steam after trying the demo about 7 years ago, but still haven't played the full game. should look up some viable builds and useful tips, that always makes me hesitant. the grinding as well, because I'd die a lot for sure and the invasion thing towards the end doesn't sound ideal either. but one day hopefully...

I should also play the space rangers series, but been putting them off for similar reasons.

[GLaPOS]

Actually I am thinking of playing it. I played it a few years back but for a few minutes and got distracted playing some other games. Do you recommend any mods or better to play the first play through vanilla?

[Thethingamabob]

This game is perfectly fine on vanilla. Honestly I haven't tried any mods, I'm not sure what the state of them is.

As for cutting down the grind:

• Play on easier difficulties. The best advice by far - the easier it is, the fewer ships you lose = less resources, tech, and blueprints you have to grind.
  
• Play with fewer planets. This makes the tech jump as you enter a new system more difficult, but you have to go through SO many fewer smashing blockades/bribing gates. As you mentioned, it (spoiler) makes reclaiming territory in the 4th chapter MUCH less time consuming. Even better if you get a galaxy who's ring is not fully connected in the center - you can clear it out to one side, then work your way to the other, having to worry about a single front instead of two. This is more likely with fewer planets.

And some general advice to make the game go easier (infodump warning):

• Have a good tech plan - mainly pick something and stick to it. Get a couple haul upgrades, pick one of shields/cloak/armor, pick one of cannons/lasers and focus on them. Avoid Mass Bombs/Drones/Mines/Crew Launchers if it's your first time, they're underpowered and hard to use (except drones, but they're finnicky in their own way).
  
• Get plenty of research for upgraded techs. Early on you can do the comet missions and destroy random crates to get data. Later on you will want to befriend science and colony stations and get them upgraded to level 3 - you can do a loop of Rez > Goons > Data, and this supply can be repeated indefitinely without doing missions (useful early on) and doesn't scale with your level (useful later on as you start to run out of data in your current systems).
  
• How do you get goons? Two methods: Collect Rez (see below) and trade it a colony station. Alternatively, every time you warp anywhere there's a chance of debris/crate fields spawning - these are likely to contain many stored escape pods. Get in a 'troop carrier' (Yacht/Big Bus), destroy them, and scoop up your free goons!
  
• How do you get tons of rez late game? Find a mining station who's asteroid is right next to your beacon. If you're very lucky, you will be able to tractor rez from the asteroid while sitting on the beacon. With a Huge mining ship, you'll suck in rez in no time.
  
  Oh, and, uh, destroy the mining station to keep them from stealing YOUR rez.This will piss them off, but destroying the station drops that faction's power rating for that system to 0 so they'll be easy to crush next time.
  
  If the level 3 station is too much, look for missions that decrease their power to help you.
  
• As you get closer to the core, the amount of resources you get from mining increases, as does the capacity of Colony/Science stations. An asteroid in a level 5 system will occationally give you yellow Rez, a level 60 asteroid will routinely give you multiple red chunks of Rez.

[AlmaShade]

I have 336 hours in this game, it's truly timeless. I play it about every year or so too, but I haven't found any game that scratches the same itch.

In addition to the advice given to GlaPOS, I recommend setting Tech Availability to it's highest, it makes progession much faster.

[Dohi64]

thanks for the tips! I was gonna play on easy but wasn't sure about the number of planets. the other stuff is useful too, noted them down for future reference.

[Thethingamabob]

They suggest more planets for easier progression, but personally it just makes everything homogenous and stretched out to me. Sure, with fewer planets you might have some you can't get past immediately, but for me that adds more reason to explore the galaxy you've unlocked - work towards more techs, trade with civie's, and harvest data or black boxes as other factions fight.

[aZavar.Kul]

yesss, my first game in steam with terraria

[Azulavis]

Fusion beams? I don't remember them being any good. How to use beams correctly?

[Thethingamabob]

Early on I used focal emitters forever - the damage is poor, but they have amazing range which lets you avoid most damage in the first place. Vital on insane.

Fusion beams become very powerful and fun later on, but mainly because Leech Beams are nearly broken. Leech beams sap an enemy ship's capacitor so quickly a single large leech beam can neutralize a huge ship's capacitor in 5 seconds or so. All of that energy gets added to your own, and you can throw it right back at them using fusion beams. And because their capacitor is drained they can't even fire back!

Without leach beams they would be pretty mediocre - the energy use is way too high. With them, they become a wall of death that no ship can survive.

Using them isn't that simple, though. Placement is important - if you can get behind most ships, they can't shoot at you (at least not before their capacitor is drained from the leeches). Cloaking and engine upgrades are extremely useful for this, plus if they can't shoot you they can't drop your cloak, which means you're getting +50% damage or so because of the cloak the entire time. Better manuverability is good for popping those tiny ships too.

Against missile launching ships (ie The Carrier), get on the side that the missiles launch from - the missiles will get vaporized as soon as they are launched. Fusion beams are very good at popping projectiles - anything that moves in front of you dies. You will not have to worry about drones/missiles/mass bombs again.

In other words, with fusion beams, you need to prioritize Range, Mobility/Speed, Stealth, and Raw Damage (in that order). My favorite setup was the Manta Ray: 2 leeches in the middle, 6 fusion beams. Only the outer 2 large slots were beam boosters. I put 3 engine and 2 cloak boosters in the 5 huge slots - it could turn as fast as small ships and the cloak would be up 2 seconds after it dropped. Cut through hordes of zombies like butter!

[Thethingamabob]

Not to say you can't tweak it. To take out core bounty hunter bases I had an alternate loadout: 8 fusion beams, 2 leeches, and 5 huge beam boosters. Completely unsustainable and useless against most ships, but a bounty hunter base has infinite capacitor and you can't "get behind" the turrets - you need as much damage as possible to melt through it before it can kill you.

[AlmaShade]

Interesting. I've been struggling to get past insane so this is helpful. What do you do for the other ships in your fleet?

[Thethingamabob]

I leave them Tiny and Cloaked. Unfortunately larger ships get hit so easily they don't last any longer, and they're much more expensive to replace, where as tiny ships are dirt cheap. Tiny ships are tough lil buggers to hit, plus small weapons do suprisingly good damage. Use engine and cloak boosters - they recloak in less than half a second.

Weapons can be whatever - if you're using cannons, energy pulse cannons are very good. If you're using beams, leach + fusion is still powerful (against other small/tiny ships). You could experiment with Ion or Leech only, using them as support.

Personally, I like the Gopher. Fusion + Leech + 2 boosters (normally engine and cloak). Fast and flexible. If you want something with a little more oomph (and find they last long enough), you could try Colts or other brawlers with a similar setup.

[Azulavis]

Whenever I use cloaking, the enemies go straight to my beacon and destroy it. What should I do?

[Thethingamabob]

Be agressive! They only attack your beacon if they can't see your ships - as long as any of your ships are attacking them, they will prioritize those ships first. That's another reason I like tiny ships: They get built much more quickly. As for yourself, use range and speed to your advantage. You can out-range smaller ships and get behind larger ones.

If you're not ready to attack, you can hassle/kite the enemy ships. Just occasionally fire your weapons at maximum range at the enemies and wait 5 or so seconds - they will keep 'locking on' to you, but if you're far enough away they will be unable to hit you (if they even fire). Do this every time they lose interest, and they should attack you again. This is mainly good if you're waiting for ships to repair/rebuild, or while you let the swarm of tiny ships wear down/take out some of their ships.

On insane your defenses are paper thin. The point of cloaks is to avoid damage and get in position, so ships can't hit you until you want them to. Every point of damage you avoid is another point of damage your cloak/shields don't have to absorb.

Your cloak can't tank, and it will drop frequently. The main point is sneak attack damage while it's up (again, avoid damage, don't absorb it), and it lets you 'strike and fade' - take out one or two targets, then cloak and harass them while your health/capacitor/cloak recharges, ships rebuild, and you pick your next target. The point is you choose when they get to attack you.

I should say: None of this means Insane will be easy. It's called that for a reason. You will still die frequently, and technological superiority is vital.

If you can't fight them, act as a scavenger. Look for 'UTA vs CIV' encounters, skim whatever data/goons/blueprints you can. They're a great way to get plenty of large ship blueprints, if the system level is 25+ (large ships drop tons of goons too). Same for huge ships when you get to the core. Bribe your way to the high level systems if you can't fight your way through. If you can't find more data, do the Rez > Goons > Science Base loop I mentioned.

You don't need get your upgrades by force, but once you have them you can swat aside future problems. Eventually you will be able to return with a vengeance.

[bongerman85]

i still play. with big beef mod