Fresh start, two hours in, Pirates and Aliens everywhere!

[Scoob]

Hey all,

 

So, I just started a fresh game, have done the usual drone mining, basic ship etc. the usual.  I've then progressed onto salvaging ships left over from a very early-game Pirate raid, so, not a bad start.

 

However, since that first Pirate raid I've had several more as well as a couple of Alien incursions too.  The current state of the sector is about twelve Pirate ships and four alien ships (from two separate incursions) all creating utter havoc in my starting area.  There are a few juicy wrecks to salvage, but I cannot get close to most of them, which is frustrating.  Plus, quite often, I'd say 50% of the time, the Pirates and Aliens appear to spawn in very close to me.

 

Currently, I cannot even get to the Shipyard as it's under siege lol.  Now, I know I could just leave the area, but that's not really the point.  I have played the game before, quite a while ago now, but this is quite a brutal start for me re-learning the game and it must be worse for those just starting.

 

So, is this sort of invasion - there's no other word for it - quite normal these days?  I remember my first couple of hours in earlier versions being fairly relaxed, whereas this one has thrown me into combat - or rather avoiding it - before I leave the starting area.

 

Not complaining, just not quite what I expected :)

 

Scoob.

[Shrooblord]

Intriguing. You have an unmodded game? I have had a similar experience with my friend on a server we started from scratch, so a whole new galaxy.

 

However, I was under the impression that was due to the many balancing and game-changing mods I have installed on that server, but if you're running vanilla, then that means that the spawning rate has been altered in the original game code, too. Curious.

 

We have had a bad time trying to deal with the amount of stuff assailing us / Sectors we're in pretty much continuously, and are barely scratching up the galactic food chain.

 

I agree with you: this is a much different experience to my own first playthrough. My time was pretty chill, only getting into fights when I wanted to, and only infrequently getting ambushed or surprised by a fake distress call. But what happens now, both in your anecdote and in our own experiences, is the lot of us landing in a much more hostile galaxy with a taste for player blood. Yikes!

[Scoob]

I've not even looked at modding yet, so a totally vanilla game.

 

It's interesting as I kept playing, trying to dash in an salvage what I could, and some of the Pirate ships (all red and identified when tapping the closest hostile button) ignored me.  However they did happily shoot at other ships.  These were the ones that arrived earliest.

 

Eventually, forces from the local faction spawned and took down the pirates - some alien on pirate combat helped thin out the hostiles.

 

So, this was good for me eventually, with lots of wrecks to salvage, but it also meant a lot of time waiting around as I was in no way capable of a combat engagement at this early point.

 

Also, I'd have liked to have had a few mining and possibly salvage ships working for me, but I don't think they'd have lasted two minutes.  How is the AI of player-owned ships these days, are they smart enough to flee if they're unarmed?

 

Scoob.

[Shrooblord]

No, they're not. They'll sit there and get shot at while casually mining ore. Also, I've never seen a Captained mining ship with guns shoot back, unless I manually give it the Order Guard This Position. Maybe I need to experiment more in that field, though.

 

Yes, as far as Pirate targeting is concerned, I don't think they automatically lock on to player vessels all the time. If they've got a target, they'll try to kill it, which gives you a little bit of a window to dash in and out for a quick salvaging raid. But I'm not sure if you can totally count on being safe - they may still decide to start targeting you on a whim.

[Scoob]

Yeah, just saw that in action myself.  I've moved to a new sector and there have already been two Pirate and one Alien raid.  Local forces, with some help from me, fought off the first lot of Pirates and the Aliens, however the second Pirate raid has proved devastating to the sectors forces - I can't face five pirates alone.  It was when this second wave arrived - right on top of me, which is cheeky - I had to manually retreat my salvage ship.

 

Re: AI controlled ships with Mining/Salvage beams and weapons, it used to be that the ship would fire its weapons when attempting to mine/salvage - like it could not distinguish between classes, so always used everything.  I'd hoped this had been addressed - I last played quite a while ago - but it seems not.

 

As having a fleet has the potential to be so very cool, these mechanics really need to be sorted as a priority in my view.  I need my ships to be able to flee and/or attack autonomously based on parameters I set.

 

I'm currently playing the waiting game again, hoping more friendlies spawn to sort out these pirates...I might take another pop at them myself, but with no local forces currently, I will be their primary target....I've not even got shields yet!

 

Scoob.

[Scoob]

Hmm, another issue that still persists from the last time I played...

 

If I ask my Salvage ship to follow me or move to a position, it flies at it's full possible speed - around 120, it's very basic.  However, if I order it to "Salvage" it will only fly at a little over 30 when heading to another wreck site.  This means more micro-management to explicitly order my ship to fly to a location - it'll then use it's full speed - rather than just order it to salvage - where it goes at around 25% of its speed.

 

Scoob.

[MetalX]

No, they're not. They'll sit there and get shot at while casually mining ore. Also, I've never seen a Captained mining ship with guns shoot back, unless I manually give it the Order Guard This Position. Maybe I need to experiment more in that field, though.

 

Yes, as far as Pirate targeting is concerned, I don't think they automatically lock on to player vessels all the time. If they've got a target, they'll try to kill it, which gives you a little bit of a window to dash in and out for a quick salvaging raid. But I'm not sure if you can totally count on being safe - they may still decide to start targeting you on a whim.

 

I can personally confirm that non-pirate and non-xsotan civilian craft do in fact fight back now.  Though, not all of them.  I have seen this a few times, rarely, and was pleasantly surprised.  This is a newish addition, as in the "old days" they would have just sat there and died.  I think the most recent ship was a salesman.  The convoys actually defend themselves now too.

[Scoob]

I can personally confirm that non-pirate and non-xsotan civilian craft do in fact fight back now.  Though, not all of them.  I have seen this a few times, rarely, and was pleasantly surprised.  This is a newish addition, as in the "old days" they would have just sat there and died.  I think the most recent ship was a salesman.  The convoys actually defend themselves now too.

 

This is encouraging...I would arm my Mining / Salvage ships but at this early stage in the game they'll still suck.  So, running - albeit manually ordered - is my only viable option currently.

 

The game is fairly solid with fun content as it stands, but I really think these sort of things should have had some love by now.  It's just so frustrating when one of your ships just wanders into danger totally oblivious! lol.

 

Scoob.

[Ravien]

The pirate and alien attacks are random, so it looks like you just had bad luck in getting multiple attacks in a row.

 

Mining/salvaging ships are best used with fighters, once you progress far enough. They will only launch the type of fighters that they need for the task you assign them.

[Shrooblord]

I can personally confirm that non-pirate and non-xsotan civilian craft do in fact fight back now.

This is true, but we were talking about Captained ships that the player owns who've been given the Order to either Salvage or Mine - those don't fight back, and they indeed use their weapons to "salvage" or "mine" if they have any equipped, which is incredibly counter-productive both ways, whichever way you look at it.