New Pilot, questions about ship design and reputations

[Waltorious]

Hi everyone,

I just started playing Evochron Legends, and I got enough money to upgrade my ship and try some more dangerous areas of the game, and I have a few questions.

First, regarding ship design, I was wondering about the auxiliary equipment (i.e. fulcrum drives, cargo scanners, etc.). Is there any downside to having these installed? Is there any reason to not install a better cargo scanner / fulcrum drive, other than price? Things like energy use, etc.?

Second, I am a little confused about how shields work. I read a nice post by Vice somewhere else on the forums where he explained the components, but I'm still a little confused about the shield core. Does this just determine how fast your shields can recharge? My understanding is that the shield boosters determine the total charge they can hold, but the core is what powers the recharging... is that right? Vice also mentioned that the frame you're using can limit how much power is available to shields... how does that work? Is the energy supplied by the frame different from the assembly points? Would a really powerful shield core on a lower-cost frame be a bad idea (other than the assembly points required)?



**MINOR SPOILERS BELOW**



I also had a few questions about reputations and such. I'm following the beacon quest and was just informed that the next beacon is in Fauston and requires a Saber frame. So I upgraded to a Saber frame, filled up the assembly points with better wings, engine, fuel tank and shields, and headed over. I was immediately destroyed by a large group of hostile ships. Upon reading the forums, it seemed like Olympus would be a safer place to go first. The description of the system says that hostile encounters should be rare. However, when I went to Olympus it seemed like I was quickly engaged by several enemies... On my first attempt I was able to dock but them was destroyed by someone while I was perusing the contracts available. After reloading I tried again and there were several hostiles immediately upon my arrival. I was able to kill a few but then they destroyed me.

I believe that the reason there are hostiles there is that my reputation in that system isn't that high yet, but I wasn't expecting so many hostiles when not on a contract. Does my civilian rank have anything to do with it? I've made most of my money by mining so far, so I haven't done too many contracts and still have a low ranking. Would ships fear / respect me and not attack if I do some more contracts in Sapphire and get my ranking up? If not, I guess I just need to try to clear the hostiles before docking anywhere and then take some contracts to up my reputations in Olympus, is that correct?

As a new player, I was a bit surprised by the hostile reactions I received upon leaving Sapphire. While I haven't done any jobs for anyone in the new systems, I also haven't done anything to anger them, and it didn't really make sense that they would simply decide to destroy me for the hell of it. It was definitely a shock going from Sapphire, with no hostiles, to Olympus, which is supposed to only have a few, and getting attacked so often and so quickly. Is Sapphire really the only "safe" area? Seems that the game is a bit hard on people trying to make money from non-combat activities, if they have to defend themselves all the time even in "Fair" systems which are supposed to be relatively safe according to the descriptions.

Also, if I may suggest it, I think that the game's training mode could benefit from a few more bits of combat practice, especially in evading missiles. It was a bit tough to learn it on the fly while facing several hostile ships. Also some stuff on particle cannons versus beam weapons would be nice, as I don't think the difference was explained in the manual anywhere (I learned it from the forums).

Anyway, hopefully changing my ship design around to get some better shields will help with my survival, but I was just wondering if my rank will help also, or if there are other things I can do to avoid an immediate hostile reaction when traveling.

Sorry for the long post! Thanks in advance.

Oh, and I should mention that I was online briefly and would like to thank Alpha for answering a bunch of questions. I think I need to play offline for a while though to raise my reputations, as I'm still only a beginner at combat and the hostiles are a bit tough for me right now.

[Maarschalk]

Hi Waltorious, Welcome to the Game and Forum!

Your rank does not do much for your reputation. The only way to get good reputations is to do contracts for Navy, Energy, and some missions for Minners, and destroying all rebels and guild clans. You can change your reputation from Hostile to Moderate to Fair to Good this way. There are ways to avoid beeing destroyed by hostiles using an inertia slide through hostile systems. You can basicaly slide at full inertial speed through hostile systems without beeing hit by hostiles. This takes some practice but is usefull for exploring in the beginning. It is always best to get the highest class equipment and yes energy use is
a factor to consider but so is speed and the role you want to play.

[49rTbird]

Hello Waltorious, welcome to the forum and the Sim. C U in space sometime.

[Vice]

Hello Waltorious and welcome.

First, regarding ship design, I was wondering about the auxiliary equipment (i.e. fulcrum drives, cargo scanners, etc.). Is there any downside to having these installed? Is there any reason to not install a better cargo scanner / fulcrum drive, other than price? Things like energy use, etc.?

Priority in design can be a factor. By installing one item, you are using up an equipment slot that you might want for a different item. So it's more a matter of prioritizing your design for the role you want to play rather than any functional limitation of the component itself. When it comes to fulcrum drives and cargo scanners, higher is better. At some point, you may decide a cannon relay is more important to you than a scanner, or a repair device more important than a mining/tractor beam. And you may want to change your ship's design from time to time as you decide to complete different objectives. One of the primary reasons for a 5 device limit on equipment is to apply this kind of design prioritization/optimization.

Second, I am a little confused about how shields work. I read a nice post by Vice somewhere else on the forums where he explained the components, but I'm still a little confused about the shield core. Does this just determine how fast your shields can recharge? My understanding is that the shield boosters determine the total charge they can hold, but the core is what powers the recharging... is that right? Vice also mentioned that the frame you're using can limit how much power is available to shields... how does that work? Is the energy supplied by the frame different from the assembly points? Would a really powerful shield core on a lower-cost frame be a bad idea (other than the assembly points required)?

Think of the component order like this: Power Core > Shield Core > Boosters

The power core is the basis for how much power can be delivered to the shield system as a whole. That is determined by the frame. The shield core determines how efficiently/effectively that power can be used (better impact recovery, better displacement, etc). Boosters determine how much power can be stored (also improved impact recovery, less needed recharge time, etc). You can indeed use the assembly resource rating as a way to gauge how much power the frame can provide to ship systems, The assembly rating counts for both frame space to hold components and the power needed to operate them. A high class core on a low end frame isn't necessarily a bad thing, except you will have to devote much of your ship's power (assembly rating) to operate it. Plus, with the limited power available to it, it won't provide the same level of protection as a higher class frame would. You'll likely want to expirement to find the balance in design that works best for you and your flying/combat style (and that's true for other ship components and the ships themselves).

Regarding hostile reputations:

As a new player, I was a bit surprised by the hostile reactions I received upon leaving Sapphire. While I haven't done any jobs for anyone in the new systems, I also haven't done anything to anger them, and it didn't really make sense that they would simply decide to destroy me for the hell of it.

If you were affiliated with the US Navy in 1944, why would the Japanese Navy attack you, but the US Navy not? It's the same reason(s) many Richton and Federation territories (and their Navies) will attack you, but Alliance/Sapphire's won't. If you are from an opposing territory (or allied with it), you will be attacked by the enemy of that territory. By default, you are from Sapphire, an Alliance territory and your reputations start out as allied to that group. This automatically makes you the enemy of forces that oppose the Alliance. There are also other, much more hostile systems where it can virtually be 'every ship for itself'.

Is Sapphire really the only "safe" area?

Sapphire and the upper Erato solar system are the only truly 'safe' locations in terms of not encountering any unfriendly ships at all. Others nearby have limited numbers of hostiles.

Seems that the game is a bit hard on people trying to make money from non-combat activities, if they have to defend themselves all the time even in "Fair" systems which are supposed to be relatively safe according to the descriptions.

You do have the option of not engaging those hostile forces if you don't want to. It's your choice if you want to engage them, but there are plenty of defensive options available to you to avoid combat if you just want to trade and explore... even in hostile space. Those options involve proper jump drive management, no-IDS high speed travel, cloaking devices, baiting, and bribing. You can do a lot of trade and exploration without ever having to fire a shot, but it does require a different set of tactics.

[Edited on 6-18-2009 by Vice]

[Waltorious]

Thanks for the advice! I think I understand the ship design things much better now. I think I should re-design my ship to include some better shields, which should help. Also, I hadn't paid much attention to which factions controlled which territory. I saw the territory map once but then I forgot about it... oops. I was thinking that the navy was just the navy, not that it might be the navy of an entirely different government. So I guess it makes sense that other systems could be wary or outright hostile towards me.

I guess the main thing was that I was expecting resistance to come a little more gradually... Sapphire has no hostiles, and I was thinking that the next area might still be generally safe but have a few pirates / rebels every once and a while, mostly when on contract to destroy them. That's what the description of Olympus sounded like to me, so I was surprised a bit that there were significantly more hostile ships than I expected.

Anyway, I'm sure I'll get the hang of surviving with a little practice... also there are lots of other locations I can explore to find areas I can deal with. Just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing something wrong, resulting in a lot of hostiles!

Oh, one other question... is one always vulnerable when docked at a station? I read somewhere on the forums that one way to avoid hostile ships is to jump very close to the station, and, I assumed, to dock quickly before they can attack. But, I was destroyed once while docked... does this strategy only work if the docking business is completed quickly, followed by a swift escape? Or if you own a station license?

Thanks again.

[Edited on 6-18-2009 by Waltorious]

[Vice]

If one hostile finds you, they will usually call out for reinforcements, bringing more the longer you stay in one place. If you keep moving and try to stay outside of the sensors of hostile ships, you'll reduce the frequency of encounters, particularly in less hostile systems like Olympus.

Oh, one other question... is one always vulnerable when docked at a station? I read somewhere on the forums that one way to avoid hostile ships is to jump very close to the station, and, I assumed, to dock quickly before they can attack. But, I was destroyed once while docked... does this strategy only work if the docking business is completed quickly, followed by a swift escape? Or if you own a station license?

You can technically be attacked any time you're in your ship, including while docked. The risk is less, since most hostile will generally fly around the hangar much of the time and typically just use guns, but there still is danger. It's best to make the area safe before you dock, or use the high speed docking method you mentioned (and yes, conduct transactions quickly), or once you're pretty far along in the game, dock while cloaked.

[Waltorious]

Ah... I hadn't thought about the enemies calling for reinforcements. Next time I get a chance to play I'll try to eliminate hostiles quickly to avoid that problem.

How far is sensor range, by the way? Is it safe to assume that if I can see them, they can see me?

Thanks for all your help!

[Vice]

Yes, they have the same sensor limits, 10,000 on the target indicator/display.