100 tips for new players

[Aesop]

I was looking at some of the reviews and some people seemed to find the game too hard - even on easier difficulties. Some because they were fighting every ship that came the way. So what tips would you give them (no spoilers)? Add a number and see if we can help with 100.

1) Surrender is your friend - I often go 3 years without engaging in ship to ship. If your rep is good and you have all the permits, surrender, let them search you and go on your way.

2) Flee the battle - If you have to engage and you're not yet equipped. Flee straight away. Look for talents like Spy rank 5 "Bolt" to help you escape.

3) There are some key talents to help you avoid battle. Military Officer R1: Stiff salute; Merchant R5: Jettison cargo. Try and get these to help you survive.

4) To help you escape increase your pilot skill to help you evade incoming missiles and navigation to help your chance of escape

5) Repair your ship at a world with a high Starport value - it will take less time

6) Repairs can be expensive. Don't let your balance run dry. Always try and have at least $15k credits in reserve in case you're forced into a bad fight.

Any more....?

[MTBLiberty]

7) If you do want to focus more on battle equip the best torpedoes and missles you can, few ships will get within range and you will quickly gain the upper hand in combat.

8) Boarding an enemy ship is riskier and far more damaging to your ship and crew then straight up fighting or fleeing, there is very little gain from it.

[starfaller]

9) have your Soliders use Shotguns as their weapons. You can get the 1 lvel burst talent which mean you will be able to hit from all four positions with them. 1-2 for the shotgun and 3-4 for the burst. Its what I do and it works great.

[Aesop]

10) When you stard a trade war is in process. Careful of not losing rep trading into your starting faction.

[archenemy]

11) Always check the Spy, Blockade and Patrol possibilities. You don't have to do any of these, but if one seems lucrative, go for it.

12) Try not to run empty. Even just carrying biomass covers you the fuel cost at least.

13) Meeting with Indie merchants or pirates? Ransom, then extort, then attack, then blow up, then scavenge. Who cares?

[CoryTrese]

14) Start on Basic difficulty.

[willsama974]

Originally posted by CoryTrese:

14) Start on Basic difficulty.

Someone starts to feel the weight of the "fake pro gamer attitude" ^^

[LordofSyn]

I approve of this thread.

[Outlaw2044]

15) Spying is the easiest way I've found to make some money.
16) I've found upgrading torps and staying at a range of 5 you can cripple most ships.
17) With the Scavange talent it's more lucrative to destroy the vessle than to ransom but your reputation will suffer.

[davea]

See also:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/335620/discussions/4/1727575977527044914/

[davea]

Originally posted by MTBLiberty:

8) Boarding an enemy ship is riskier and far more damaging to your ship and crew then straight up fighting or fleeing, there is very little gain from it.

I am not very sure about this one. If you decide you want combat, which may not be necessary, there are two approaches. (1) Stand off and fire weapons to destroy the enemy and get only salvage, or (2) close quickly to range 1 and win via crew combats, which allows many talents to fire and gets a number of other possible rewards. For example, you can get multiple batches of intel, or conscript crew, or ransom the crew for a large reward.

[Outlaw2044]

. [/quote]
I am not very sure about this one. If you decide you want combat, which may not be necessary, there are two approaches. (1) Stand off and fire weapons to destroy the enemy and get only salvage, or (2) close quickly to range 1 and win via crew combats, which allows many talents to fire and gets a number of other possible rewards. For example, you can get multiple batches of intel, or conscript crew, or ransom the crew for a large reward. [/quote]

I usually beat on the ship from range and once I'm like a few torps away from destroying them I then close and board. Most of the crew you encounter are all beat up and injured.

[GameDragonZero]

18) Collect Intel records and use them to easily make friends and raise your Rep and their Influence.
19) Get every talent you can that lets you find new contacts. Done right you'll never lack for employment.
20) Remember Pardons. Loading a contact with Intel Records and purchasing a pardon may be the best way to recover from a dismal rep.
21) Some missions simply request you bring or drop off cargo. They are great ways to make money with little worry and can work around Trade Bans.

[wolkenwand]

22) patrolling is a good way to restore your reputation from a faction, find a faction's planet that you have negative reputation with and start patrolling, make sure you have enough money to heal your crew amd fix the ship.

[thadlerian]

23) Get the talents that let you see a trait of a new recruit. It also gives the recruit better stats. Level 1 Commander and level 5 Military Officer.
24) Early on, mercilessly prune crew that have bad traits such as spice addict (takes longer time to spice) or stuff that hurts morale.
24b) Look for the Mercenaries rumour when you replace crew. Only replace them one at a time, to let the recruiting talent recharge.
25) They're your starting officers, not your children. Replace them as well if you find someone with better stats.

[Bariel]

26) At the start of the game make sure to take at least 2 of each of the "saving" talents - eg automatically pass a navigation check. In the early game you will fail a lot of these checks and the saving talents will save you a fortune in morale and repair costs.

27) Saving talents also work on missions - make sure that you have a saving talent for the type of missions you are undertaking.