Is it possible to keep bounty hunters from killing Valencia Faen?

[Wealthy Aardvark]

I've played through the storyline offered by the game four times now up to the point where you get attacked by a bounty hunter for a third time as part of the Dual of Assassins. Every time, the third bounty hunter has succeeded in knocking out my engines by the third round of combat, whereupon Valencia is killed and my captain would be killed if I wasn't playing on the default difficulty.

My +20 escape skill has never failed me against any other ship, but the third bounty hunter takes me down every time. Is it actually impossible to escape, and I should be focusing on fighting? Is there a trick I've missed? Is it actually impossible?

[Trese Brothers]

Yes, ti is possible to prevent Bounty Hunters from killing her. If you want to publish some of your ship build, crew setup and other stats we might be able to help you figure out how to survive the attack from Zerod. He is the worst and the last.

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Smaller ships (under 300k) are notourisly weak in ship combat, where as ships with higher pools will dodge with ease and control the engagement.
If their ship pools are significantly higher than yours you won't be going anywhere lol.

I would guess that Bounty Hunter has higher than normal pools or a larger ship than you do.

What ship/Difficultly :?
In General I find skill pools are the most limiting factor, I easily cap out at 300-400% (e.g I am wasting half my crews potiential cause my ship is crud :P) in all the categories easily with a decent crew for the sub 300k ships.

[Wealthy Aardvark]

I've been running with a Fidelis Cutter with standard equipment, save for an upgrade to the Weapons Locker. Each round has been moving to escape coupled with shooting the Torpedo MK-Alpha (Level 2 Torpedo) and the Hellfire Torpedo (Level 1 Torpedo). Tactics have been Fast Getaway, Bombardment, and Evasive Maneuvers in that order.

In this last file when Zerod hit I was a level 10 spy with most of my crew at level 9 or 10. Full crew of 30.

Pilot 30/24
Ship Ops 75/33
Gunnery 40/17
Electronics 57/32
Navigation 58/30

As a Spy I could take Bolt instead of Faked Signature so I'd have +30 Escape instead of Fast Getaway's +20 Escape, but as I stated earlier I've never had trouble escaping from any other ship so it hasn't felt necessary.

[Trese Brothers]

@Wealthy - Zerod is a particularly nasty and recurring enemy within the world. All ship buffs stack, so consider using both Bolt and Fast Getaway. Or, commit to the fight and try to take him out. Many different story characters warn you as you approach these choices that it will be very challenging and you may not be able to protect Valencia.

I would suggest upgrading your ship more aggressively as well.

[Moagim]

Of course the easiest solution is to have a level 11 navigator with Skip off the Void talent :D

In general there IMO isnt much point in trying to fight the bounty hunter ships that come after Val (IIRC there are two ships plus Zerod that show up within the time limit that you have to keep her alive) and running is the best option (if you defeat some of the bounty hunter ships there is a bit different dialogue with Val than if you run away).

Sometimes there can also be a crew combat with assassins (if you go to Faen homeworld you will meet like level 17 assassins, so dont do that, the random encounter when you dock somewhere is doable, especially if you have a level 4 weapons locker). If you retreat Val dies, so keep that in mind.

As for your Fidelis Cutter I suggest to upgrade your torps to Dual-Laced Array (level 7). These are expensive (some 40k a piece), but the extra damage you do to the enemy ships as you attempt to escape might make all the difference you need (starting fires, killing crew etc). Other very useful thing is the Reinforced Structures component. Again a very expensive thing, but increasing your ships armour will help a lot (it is best to replace one of the ship weapons with it). In every playthrough when preparing for the Val escort mission I make sure to upgrade my ship as much as I can and I usually dont have much trouble with it (I always play on Hard). Of course the begining of the play through is rather hectic as the Faen storyline unfolds, so you should always focus on making as much money as you can and then spending it (together with the 60k you get for taking Val) on upgrades before you take off with Val on board.


@Trese Bros: Btw maybe this is a bug, but Zerod seems to always be with Rychart and when you play a Rychart character you can sometimes bribe him to leave you alone (I guess it depends on how high your rep with Rychart is).

[Aimstrong]

I found this build and used it to great succes for protecting Valencia.
Guardian Interceptor Build to take on Zerod (he will be the one to flee)

Deck 1:

Officer Cabin(x4) (small)
Weapons Locker A4 (small) -- (*** REPLACE THIS IF YOU GOT ARMOUR and WEAPONS from Contacts ***)
Retribution Gravcannon (level 7 Gravity Driver) (large)
Luxury Suite (large)
M6000 Void Engine Ex -- I have no idea what the Ex does, but extra soak is nice.
Storage Hold 10 cargo (medium)
Barracks 4 (medium)

Deck 2:
M6000 Hyperwarp Ex (medium)
Capital Bridge 4 (medium) (Improve this to 4 early, but not as early as the 2 Assist Modules.)
Deflector Array 4 (small) (You already have one of these from the start. Keep it.)
Pilot Assist Module 4 (You already have one. Improve it to 4 as soon as you can. Don't go fighting ships without this upgrade.)
Nav Assist Module 4 (You already have one. Improve it to 4 after you improve the Pilot Assist.)
Defense Pattern Matrix (small)
Radi-Shield Pulse Booster (small)
Void-Shield Pulse Booster (small)
Advanced Mass Dampener 4 (1 or 2 depending on your needs) (medium)
Commander Plasma Artillery (level 7 plasma cannon) (medium)
Torpedo Dual-laced Array(x2) (level 7 torpedo) (small)

Hope this helps at least it did for me on Hard!

[Trese Brothers]

Thanks to everyone for posting great strategy tips and builds!

[Ghini]

Wasn't sure where to post this... after Val's death to the bounty hunters I started the Heiress Remains quest. However the Prince wasn't at home, only his children. Not sure if this is a bug or intended.

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Originally posted by Ghini:

Wasn't sure where to post this... after Val's death to the bounty hunters I started the Heiress Remains quest. However the Prince wasn't at home, only his children. Not sure if this is a bug or intended.

Common occurance for me as well. After a certian point Faen dissapears and you can't talk to him anymore/

Either a bug or that part of the storyline has been done yet

[Trese Brothers]

Originally posted by Ghini:

Wasn't sure where to post this... after Val's death to the bounty hunters I started the Heiress Remains quest. However the Prince wasn't at home, only his children. Not sure if this is a bug or intended.

Directly after her death you were not able to meet with Faen? Not even to tell him her fate?

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Originally posted by Trese Brothers:

Originally posted by Ghini:

Wasn't sure where to post this... after Val's death to the bounty hunters I started the Heiress Remains quest. However the Prince wasn't at home, only his children. Not sure if this is a bug or intended.

Directly after her death you were not able to meet with Faen? Not even to tell him her fate?

Been a feature in all games I have played, and I have heard of others experiancing it as well.
Somewhere along the quest chain Faen dissapears from court and you can't talk to him anymore.

Been there since release (or at least since I got it).

I'm working through a new playthrough atm, I'll try and identify the point when he won't talk anymore.

[Trese Brothers]

Ok. Never seen it in my testing and am looking around for other reports of it happening.

Maybe someone could send in a saved game where this is happening?

Are you all playing on the latest version of the game?

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Originally posted by Trese Brothers:

Ok. Never seen it in my testing and am looking around for other reports of it happening.

Maybe someone could send in a saved game where this is happening?

Are you all playing on the latest version of the game?

Yup, had it happen in previous versions as well.
I'll send one it.
Tbh I thought that was ment to be part of the next story arc lol

[�[Dire_Venom]�]

Originally posted by Trese Brothers:

Ok. Never seen it in my testing and am looking around for other reports of it happening.

Maybe someone could send in a saved game where this is happening?

Are you all playing on the latest version of the game?

Sent in a saved game

[Hybrid Sentience]

That stupid little dingbat annihilated my perfectly repaired engines with long range weapons on turn 2. Didnt even have a chance. I really wish this game was a little less obtuse so you can tell what the hell is even going on with any of this damn nonsense. =/