SPAZ - Space Pirates and Zombies (SPAZ2 EA on Steam!)

Stele wrote:
Quintin_Stone wrote:

I'd go ahead and win, then go back to the save file and see if you can make it all the way around.

That's actually what I thought of after I made my post. That way I finish the game, and get the no respec achievement. Then I can go back, tinker, respec, and take my shot at 100% clear.

Well that worked. Done!

Now maybe I'll respec and try to cleanse the galaxy 100%. Fun game though. As much as I enjoy it I'll probably take a break for a while before trying a harder difficulty. It looks like they still intend to patch more ships into the game and stuff, so it might be fun to try again later with that.

Was a little surprised there were no Huge class ships with bomb slots. At one point I was thinking about going back to my "dropping turrets" strategy for a while, but none of the big ships had that option. Maybe they'll be adding in another huge model?

Tamren wrote:

It goes right through armour and the anti-shield cannons are ridiculously powerful. (and stun!)

Cannons really made me feel overpowered which is why I'm sticking to beams this time around.

Speaking of overpowered, I threw a particle beam on my grinder with a whole bunch of boosters and it tears through just about anything yet consumes so little power I never need to stop to recharge. I wanted to develop a few techs before even trying to take on my first huge ship, then eventually figured I'd give it a shot and see how badly I failed. I obliterated the thing without losing my main ship even once. So that's 17% done on the Hammerhead. Wish I could find more of them so I could grind out my first. You guys think it's worth it to hunt freighters in lower-level systems? I'm not sure I could take one out before it escapes and it doesn't seem all that useful anyway.

I tried setting the Grinder up with a huge mining laser (it's the only ship that can carry one and it's powerful enough to crack mining colony asteroids) but the AI doesn't seem to know how to use it so I switched back to the Mule, which is better at gathering and can store much more per load.

I'm using a Pounder as my medium ship now, mostly so I have something that can drop disruptor turrets (and later, ion turrets).

Freighters are awesome. They have by far the most utility slots and resource capacity of all the huge ships, so they are great for mounting lots of point defence. They also have Huge utility slots, if you mount a tractor or scanner on them they can reach almost the entire screen. Only a couple of small turrets and some decently sized missiles for weapons. But it did great on my playthrough with mass drivers and gravity missiles. Handles like a brick though.

It was the first Huge ship I got my hands on and I doubt I would have survived the beginning of the final chapter without it. The only real way to get them before you go to the core is to ambush them by civilian bases. I've only seen them show up at level 3s, and perhaps only at colonies. My memory is fuzzy. You have to take them down very fast because they will start to warp out the moment they get threatened. With good cannons you can pull it off fairly easily.

How do you define "good cannons?" I have every kind except mass drivers. Also I've noticed that sometimes they're under attack by UTA ships but don't warp out. Should I let the UTA wear them down for a while, or should I hit them hard so they don't make it to the base?

LobsterMobster wrote:

How do you define "good cannons?" I have every kind except mass drivers. Also I've noticed that sometimes they're under attack by UTA ships but don't warp out. Should I let the UTA wear them down for a while, or should I hit them hard so they don't make it to the base?

He likely means putting some research into cannon tech, as well as pulse or particle cannons.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

How do you define "good cannons?" I have every kind except mass drivers. Also I've noticed that sometimes they're under attack by UTA ships but don't warp out. Should I let the UTA wear them down for a while, or should I hit them hard so they don't make it to the base?

He likely means putting some research into cannon tech, as well as pulse or particle cannons.

I'm ranked up to 6 (so I can use particle cannons). Hope that's good enough.

So I tried to take out a level 3 UTA space station last night with a right hook (3 of the blue lasers and 2 reactor boosters) a colt with 3 blue cannons and 2 cannon boosters and ranger with standard loadout.

I failed. Miserably. I took out a level 3 Civ station with ease, but the UTA station just melted my shield and i couldn't stay without losing everything. Any tips?

I can't even take out T3s with a carrier. I'd be inclined to believe you got lucky.

Other than that? Grinder with a particle cannon on its main gun and point defense on its utility. You should be able to pick away at the station from outside its range, with the point defense shooting down any missiles or drones.

That, assuming you can take down its defensive fleet first. Might help to wait for the base to come under attack by the other faction (assuming you're on good terms with them). That way you'd have a little backup.

Personally, I've discovered the value of being a vulture. I make friends with everyone, then jump back and forth between the bases, or into free battles when they pop up. I tell my guys not to fire back no matter what and leisurely cruise around, picking up the data, goons, rez and blueprints left behind as the two AI teams pummel one another. That's how I got those carrier blueprints. It is WAY easier than fighting everything myself, and I was constantly gaining levels.

Well I'm level 29 and I took out the Civ station about 2 levels ago. I was helped by the opposing UTA fleet, so maybe that's how I jagged it?

I would like to try the sit back out of range tactic, but i can't do enough damage to the shields with only missiles. So far the only good way of destroying shields is with the tripple beams from the Right Hook. But i just can't sustain it without being blown to pieces. What's a good long range shield disruptor?

Yeah the stations I could handle in my Large class ships, but the accompanying fleet was brutal. Sometimes I would have to lure them away, clear them out, and then take the station on solo.

Or just keep pressing until you get a Huge ship. Then you can own the stations.

Even a single particle beam will chew apart anything. It isn't as good as a specialized weapon but it has range and is decent against everything. Three particle beams on a Right Hook will do some pretty serious damage.

Stele's strategy is a good one, and I still stress that range is more important than power. If your range is greater than the station's, it doesn't matter how long it takes to bring the station down because it can't fight back.

BlackSabre wrote:

So I tried to take out a level 3 UTA space station last night with a right hook (3 of the blue lasers and 2 reactor boosters) a colt with 3 blue cannons and 2 cannon boosters and ranger with standard loadout.

I failed. Miserably. I took out a level 3 Civ station with ease, but the UTA station just melted my shield and i couldn't stay without losing everything. Any tips?

Remember the UTA is the military faction, with all the fancy advanced modules and weapons!

I hardly ever bothered to attack stations, especially not level 3 ones, and especially not without a Huge class ship.

I was like that too Quintin, until I got sick of harvesting goons and noticed that a T0 station is weaker than a large ship.

I still don't have any Huge class combat ships, but I've had little trouble taking out multiple T3 stations with a Crawler and my trusty AI dumbsh...err I mean sidekicks. I usually lose one ship in the process, but that's only because I decide to blow it up fast instead of taking time for repairs.

What's defeating me is the cloaking-required missions. I feel like slamming my head into the keyboard every time I see "Your cover was blown!" I'm not sure what I can do differently, maybe it's just because I have low cloak skills and can only use the lowest tier cloak.

LobsterMobster wrote:

I was like that too Quintin, until I got sick of harvesting goons and noticed that a T0 station is weaker than a large ship.

Ah, whenever I need crew, I hop from colony system to colony system until I see a Cheap Hotel mission.

Elycion wrote:

What's defeating me is the cloaking-required missions. I feel like slamming my head into the keyboard every time I see "Your cover was blown!" I'm not sure what I can do differently, maybe it's just because I have low cloak skills and can only use the lowest tier cloak.

The only way I can defeat those missions it to get rid of my wingmen. After the first 2 or 3 that they blew, I tried going in solo. Won every time after that.

They're still slow and a little boring sometimes. But very doable, at low skills. My cloak is only level 2, so I'm just using the blue standard cloaking device, not anything better.

Quintin_Stone wrote:
BlackSabre wrote:

So I tried to take out a level 3 UTA space station last night with a right hook (3 of the blue lasers and 2 reactor boosters) a colt with 3 blue cannons and 2 cannon boosters and ranger with standard loadout.

I failed. Miserably. I took out a level 3 Civ station with ease, but the UTA station just melted my shield and i couldn't stay without losing everything. Any tips?

Remember the UTA is the military faction, with all the fancy advanced modules and weapons!

I hardly ever bothered to attack stations, especially not level 3 ones, and especially not without a Huge class ship.

Hmm, good point. I might see if I can rank up a bit more and get some more advanced weapons before heading back to a tier 3 UTA station. Or wait for a huge ship. Suppose I should go back to the story now. Only done 2 or so missions.

Finally got me a Hammerhead with two turrets of three particle beams each, and two small ion turrets at the front. The thing lives or dies by its shields so I haven't really decided which one is best. Right now I'm using the Fortress Shield, which gives it about 3,000 shield points but not a whole lot of regeneration. With a quick-charge reactor I can fire continuously and obliterate just about anything, including T3 bases.

Now I'm up to a mandatory stealth mission. I'm using a small ship (solo) with a standard cloak and point defense but I keep getting blasted by mines.

I was all about the Hammerhead as well, if you like it you may want to start investing in armor tech more. I find that turret-based ships do well with more armor because they don't have to be as maneuverable and you can do the "rotating out damaged facings" trick I mentioned earlier.

LobsterMobster wrote:

Now I'm up to a mandatory stealth mission. I'm using a small ship (solo) with a standard cloak and point defense but I keep getting blasted by mines.

That mission is really annoying. I didn't have a single point into cloaking tech when I did it.

I'm using heavy armor on all sides. It works pretty good, until the zombies eat it. Fortunately if I move my cursor down the center of my ship while firing it does a pretty good job of cleaning the hull.

Tamren wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Now I'm up to a mandatory stealth mission. I'm using a small ship (solo) with a standard cloak and point defense but I keep getting blasted by mines.

That mission is really annoying. I didn't have a single point into cloaking tech when I did it.

Me neither. I had 3 research points on hand and threw them all in there which is why I can use the standard cloak. I just don't like cloaking. That little damage boost is far too small a benefit to outweigh going the rest of the fight with no shields.

Tamren wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Now I'm up to a mandatory stealth mission. I'm using a small ship (solo) with a standard cloak and point defense but I keep getting blasted by mines.

That mission is really annoying. I didn't have a single point into cloaking tech when I did it.

You can break cloak for a little bit before you give yourself away. What I would do is kill a mine or two, wait for their alert level to die down, and repeat. It was annoying and took awhile, but I got through it all right eventually.

Think I should use a heavier ship?

I don't know, I can't remember whether the size of your ship affects how fast the alert bar raises. Even if it does maybe a medium ship would still be worth it if it could kill the mine generators faster. Unfortunately I can't remember which ship I used on this level.

Well, keeping the ship size small has the advantage of reducing the odds of a stray shot revealing you. I regularly do the stealth missions solo with a turtlehead and lots of patience.
--
TAZ

Stupid addictive game. *grumble grumble* Make me load it up for 10 minutes before work. *grumble grumble*

LobsterMobster wrote:

Now I'm up to a mandatory stealth mission. I'm using a small ship (solo) with a standard cloak and point defense but I keep getting blasted by mines.

Don't mines usually not follow cloaked ships unless the cloaked ship does something to draw aggro?

Quintin_Stone wrote:
LobsterMobster wrote:

Now I'm up to a mandatory stealth mission. I'm using a small ship (solo) with a standard cloak and point defense but I keep getting blasted by mines.

Don't mines usually not follow cloaked ships unless the cloaked ship does something to draw aggro?

Usually, but one specific type can see through cloaks.

There's at least one mine type that can hunt cloaked ships. If the AI happens to roll some of those in a system that you do a stealth mission in, it can be pretty painful. (Edit: Crosspost. :))

If the AI doesn't have them, you only have to worry about scanners - which are still a pain.

I don't know if they had scanner mines (which would be kind of a dick thing to do on a mission where stealth is mandatory!) or what but they kept catching me right as I got to the escort ship. Eventually I got lucky and got a version of the mission with a relatively straight shot, such that I could move the escort ship a small ways each life and die without failing. Eventually I got it clear of the active area and the rest was smooth sailing.

I honestly do not see why I had to use a cloaked ship for that. It would have been far easier to roll in, obliterate everything, and take the target.

I am now on the cusp of Chapter 4, and a little sad that I'm not going to get my 4th hangar without closing off most of the game. Not that I really need the extra firepower, I guess.