Stucked with the Ox ship, consumption and thrusters performance issues

[senseimatty81]

Hi, I only bought this game a couple of days ago so I'm probably missing something because I can do almost nothing with the Ox ship because of undersized thrusters and excessive power consumtpion.
Before travelling to the second island I wanted to pick up some cargo do trade with the new bases. I crashed because the ship couldn't properly take-off. It lifted but when I moved forward I sunk immediately. I tried to take-off again but thrusters were damaged so I remained stuck.
I reloaded the game and the game showed me the bill of the insurance (even if I did not destroy the ship).
With an empty cargo hold I could travel to the second island by changing flight mode and making an intermediate stop. Everything's fine so far.
When I landed to the base I received a rescue mission. The search area was definitely in the ship range (10000 when it can travel roughly 60000).
I found the first signal and then the escape pod, with the pilot looking for help.
I could load the escape pod in the cargo bay but I immediately noticed that I didn't have enough battery charge to go back anymore. I tried anyway but the ship couldn't almost takeoff because of the weight of the escape pod. And I had no chance at all to gain speed and change flight mode (high mountains all around).
Is the game challenge focused on the power consumption and underrated thrusters performance or am I missing something?

[Solid Snack]

They could have drastically changed stuff since I last played (waiting for them to fix the 20minute load times before I can play again unfortunately), but don't think I ever had such issues. Your thrusters DO loose a lot of lifting power when they are damaged, so maybe that was the case? You could also call a drone (for a price) to your location which would refuel and repair your ship, from the map screen when you are landed.

[senseimatty81]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

You are supposed to buy better engines and eventually batteries extensions/upgrades.
Before picking up cargo, look at its weight, you should have a warning telling you it's either heavy or even impossible to lift with your current configuration.

When you buy a new engine, look at the power, but be careful about fuel consumption too.

If you don't have enough money, do Taxi missions, they are not worth much, but it's better than ending in the red because you carsh.

About the rescue mission, first, it's better to do them with the Scarab, second, you can call a drone to refuel you once you are landed, just open the map and push R twice.

Hope it helped.

I can't give you more tips about upgrades, I'm still figuring it out. I had read in a guide that buying an engine with the same HP but bonus in power was the way to go, but I didn't notice any change in my carrying capacity. (I assume dHP=Horsepower, but is it Health Point ?)

It's a cargo ship, I can understand upgrades will help to do more and quicker, but the basic ship should be able to perform its basic task without extra required.
If this is intended gameplay it doesn't make a lot of sense to me...

[senseimatty81]

Originally posted by volkier:

They could have drastically changed stuff since I last played (waiting for them to fix the 20minute load times before I can play again unfortunately), but don't think I ever had such issues. Your thrusters DO loose a lot of lifting power when they are damaged, so maybe that was the case? You could also call a drone (for a price) to your location which would refuel and repair your ship, from the map screen when you are landed.

When I did the rescue mission the thrusters healt was 100%.

[senseimatty81]

Originally posted by lnomsim:

It's a cargo ship but it still has a weight capacity. I think the max tonnage is 10T without any upgrade, the ship by itself is already around 7T, that means it can only transport around 3T of cargo, it's around the same as the scarab.

So, yes, it's a cargo ship, but the only thing it has on the Scarab is its range. If you want to transport heavier cargo, you need upgrades.

It seems then I need to save some money for the upgrades before using properly then. Thanks for your tips!

[Lebretonfou]

Pro tip: Save 2 B2 Rations before the Drone delivery mission & the arrival of the Space Cargo ship at Astlan, Bring those 2 rations with you for your first trip to Hard Mine, sell it, you'll have enough money to buy some nice upgrades. Then... water is key to fortune.

[Spello]

The rescue mission ... especially the rescue mission has a veeeery heavy cargo for unupgraded Ox (the rescue pod). There is like one more mission which has such heavy cargo. It's the "transport 5 radars around" and the 5th is 10? ton too. The Ox can carry 10ton, but the lift power is almost zero, which would mean you would have to be charged at max power to get somewhere.

I would recommend to fit the Ox with upgrades for Taxi-ing people. With this even if you get your ship destroyed, you won't be missing the money you would have to pay to get cargo. You just kill a passenger ... hell yeah, that sounded very morbid :D
But it's easier to get earnings. While doing so You get familiar with the terrain and learn how to avoid varios hills and vulcans that bases are build at.

Passengers fit recommendation:
- Best upgrade to be able to fly far far away with passengers would be one for the engine "Economy LongBow-21G4 Engines" and when still unconfortable you can slap a battery on it to get even more juice for longer trips.

- Passengers are patiently waiting for you to get to them, but get very impatient when already on board. Timer doesn't allow You to make a pit stop, they don't tolerate hurricanes etc. You can land anywhere on the destination base to get them to be happy. The longer the trip takes, the longer the trip takes the less money they pay, starting to drop rapidly after timer runs out.

- "Pro-I Batteries" which is -1.82 T of weight. Makes your ship like a feather in the wind, probably literaly :D

- "Slinker Wing" doesn't provide any lift bonus, but hey ... it's more than a ton lighter and passengers don't come with noticable weight :)

- You can afford not to have any stabilizers, passengers don't care (yet?) for turbulences. But you will need one when starting cargo transportation. The less weight you have, the easier the ship can maneuver, take off and reduce velocity while landing.

- Dampeners are so that your radar can take a bit more of this "static damage" from radiation.

Switching to cargo later (but pricey):
- Ox can take care for a 6-7 ton cargo easily when outfitted for power and lift. "EVO2 Engines" power +40% lift +20%, "Titanium M Wing" lift +60%, "Suspended Strider Batteries" +7400 charge.

- When catched by weather, a Cyclone or Strong winds, while flying above the sea, You can either fly at 200-400 meters above sea or a safer alternative is to land on one of those bigger round floating thingies ... ehm, no idea ... there are small and big ones like every 100 meters.

edit: somebody please correct me if I am wrong here and there to deliver the correct info, and maybe we can even create a little guide for new enthusiasts :)

[Spello]

I made a small "shopping list" i hope it's not outdated.
EVO2 Engines (for Ox) - Cargo Spaceway (hard langind bcoz 2300 meters high, look for weather radiation announcement)
Titanium M Wing - Cargo Spacewasy (again o_O)
Suspended Strider Batteries - Cargo Spaceway .... wow, now I have to go ingame a double check this.

edit: yes, it's all there in Cargo Spaceway, together with the Strider (7400) battery. I bought the 200% power chassis, which didn't help, because it's heavier by 1 ton. I bought Lynx Drones 7.5 tons and could not lift off with 12400 charge. Remember each 1000 charge is a ton? ... i guess. 10000 charge was doable, because Cargo Spaceway has a long way down, landing at PW (BK) with 3k charge left posed no problem. 3k charge left because weather announced to fly under 1000 meters, which greatly reduces speed and you have to be carefull between the hills.

[Spello]

yeah, crashed into that multiple times, now with respect ... starting to slow down at 15 km :)

[Spello]

I just made a test with the lighter modules for transporting passengers, with good weather You can do a 70k km trip for 25k earnings spending only 1500 charge. Fly safe :)
https://imgur.com/a/9ftCn5U

[Spello]

Feeling a bug here, try to uninstall the current battery you have and after a few moments install / buy the new one. The animation of installing the new battery will be missing and yes, you will be paying 2nd time :-|