Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Author Topic: 7103's First Starsector Experience  (Read 1674 times)

7103

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 1
    • View Profile
7103's First Starsector Experience
« on: April 08, 2020, 05:16:23 PM »

I've spent a couple of days playing the game now and I thought I would share my story

- Start the game
- I want to be a merchant, from what I can gather selecting the scavenger / wayfarer starting option makes the most sense
- Follow the tutorial and end up on Ancyra
- Some dude asks me to go to a mining station
- I spit in his face. He gives me 2k
- Fine
- Spend what little money I have on supplies and random stuff
- Just before I get there, a small fleet of pirates run me down like a dog
- Use my save and this time sneak in through the asteroid belt
- I sell my extra supplies. Not sure but I either lost money or barely broke even
- *** this
- Im not a merchant anymore, I'm gonna be a smuggler
- Go back to Ancyra, sneaking into the orbital station this time
- The commander guy rewards me with 8k and asks me to go retrieve an AI core
- The cash is picking up baby, ok
- I buy a ton of supplies and fuel from the black market
- Retrieve the AI core from behind Pontus
- On my way back I stop by the mining station to sell off excess to the black market
- 30k profit dopamine hit. Holy ***
- Fly back to Ancyra with reckless abandon
- AI core sells for 10k on black market, that could really help me with my 'investments'
- Sell the core, I wonder what the planet commander will say to that
- Dude thanks me for the core that I just sold to the black market
- Ok
- Even gives me money
- Ok
- Confused, I buy the core back from the market
- He doesn't want it anymore
- I guess it's mine now?
- Tells me to go retrieve some ships
- I instead sell everything I can and stock up on fuel, supplies, and drugs
- Activate burners too soon while sneaking out, security runs me down like an animal
- I'm literally loaded with drugs
- They find nothing
- I keep making illegal drug runs between the mining station and Ancyra
- Credit accumulation induced dopamine is off the charts
- Store the AI core in pirate mining station storage box, should be safe here
- 220k in profits
- Without realizing the risk I sell too many supplies for greedy profits at the mining station
- On my return, Ancyra no longer has supplies, neither in the open nor black markets
- Ok, I guess I'd better stock up in the mining station
- The mining station is also out of supplies
-
- Realize I destabilized the market
- Realize my evil capitalist greed collapsed society and trade on an entire star system
- Realizing my imminent demise due to lack of supplies I try to continue the tutorial
- I salvage some ships I think are worth it
- Turns out they are absolutely not *** worth it
- My supply consumption is suddenly astronomical, and I can't buy more anywhere
- My fleet and money are gonna be a floating pharaohs tomb in a couple of days
- What do I do?
- Illegal profitable trades gave me tons of xp and skillpoints
- Realize I need one more ability point for the ability to jump into interstellar space
- Leave the system and barely make it to a nearby star as everything is about to break
- The star's corona is deteriorating my *** even faster
- *** *** ***
- Get stopped by local patrols who tell me to turn my transponder on
- Oops forgot about that
- They also take some of my drugs that I forgot about in the heat of the panic
- Barely make it to civilization by the skin of my teeth
- Use my money to fix everything
- Holy *** these guys sell everything like 5 times cheaper and have drugs AND organs and tons of other stuff
- Try smuggling stuff between other star systems
- For some reason Ancyra and the mining station are the most profitable destinations
- I make multiple runs between local systems and Galatia
- Have 900k in profits at this point
- Spend half an hour figuring out how / where to buy ships in this game
- Buy broken tankers and freighter ships with high storage capacity
- My profits are becoming higher, but sneaking is becoming more difficult
- Getting overly comfortable I keep burners on too long when going to Ancyra
- Police stop me with multiple stacks of hundreds of illegal items
- They find nothing
- This happens like 5 times
-
- Fast forward a few more 'merchant' trips, I have nearly 4 million credits
- Ok, perhaps this is enough for a steady start to the rest of the game
- But why can't I find anything?
- Nothing happening in any bar
- No one on any planet or station is interested in talking to me
- Literally have no idea how to get contracts, bounties, or do anything in the game
- Intel tab is empty, despite having visited and explored multiple star systems
- Except for that tutorial message telling me to unlock the passage
- wtf
- Finally, google searches reveal that I broke the tutorial by going into interstellar space
- A seasoned multimillionaire druglord playboy and shipping fleet commander, I now finish the tutorial
- Bombarded by a relentless barrage of intel, missions, bounties etc.
- Oh
- At this point I've been playing for like 2 days
- The following unfolds in the span of maybe 40 minutes of gameplay
- I do 1 more drug run to the Galatia system, but it isn't as profitable as it was before
- Perhaps I need to explore more
- Some systems are offering contracts for delivering things like 7000 food, 4000 organics etc.
- EZ
- I fail to consider that now my fleet is large and slow
- I fail to consider that at this size I'm about as hidden on the radar as a runescape player in a nightclub
- Ok, maybe getting that amount of materials isn't that simple
- It would require me to visit like 4 or 5 starsystems to collect all of this
- I realize there's no way I can do this in 40 days, I have to also buy from the open market
- Less profits but ok
- Turns out way less profits, but can't go back now, must commit
- My suspicion is rising exponentially, I get constantly stopped and searched
- Its almost impossible to sneak into any civilized planet anymore
- Somehow manage to get enough resources rolling up with my transponder on and buying from the black market in broad daylight
- The hegemony really hates my guts
- I'll deal with the consequences later, lets just get this contract done
- By some miracle I'm maybe like 17 seconds to the contract ending and the planet is in sight
- The police stop me and take my harvested organs
- Rushing from planet to planet I instinctively bought organs to fill up remaining space
- ***
- I have to activate burn again from a deadstop
- I'm half a screen away from the planet as the contract ends
- Honestly, probably wouldn't have made it anyway
- I'm stuck with thousands of useless items like food and organics with no contract to fulfill
- Selling them here would be an even more astronomical loss
- Guess I have to find a starsystem where the prices are better
- A luddic extremist fleet stops me and asks me to pay like 20k out of my remaining 1.1m and many millions in items for my sins
- I of course tell them to *** off
- Not being an experienced commander or fighter I release my fearsome army of dumpster-fire freighters and tankers
- The luddics evaporate my tuna can fleet into a mist in a matter of seconds
- I do have a hammerhead, an eagle, and a medusa with skilled pilots in them
- I have no idea what ships are good or how to fight at this point so I leave it to AI
- They actually play extremelly well, but the enemy fleet is just superior in tech and numbers
- Turns out the entire *** orbital station is a part of this battle too
- Everything I own gets ripped apart, and the game offers me an option for a full retreat
- Thanks
- Wow I still have my items and money. I'll need to dump them into a stable orbit, but...
- The fanatics instantly engage me again
- I have one tanker and freighter left
- Having no other option deploy them
- lol
- Realize I had stripped them all down of any weaponry whatsoever so I could mod them for more cargo and fuel capacity
- They're literally just floating there like *** lemons while getting swarmed by insect sized ships
- Almost died of old age waiting for the inevitable to happen
- My slumdog druglord millionaire fleet is completely gone
- I've lost literally everything
- In a cruel twist of fate that life is known for, someone salvages my pod
- Realize I haven't made a save in a very long time
- In shock of what just transpired I fly back to Galatia in my brand new old rusty Wayfarer
- *** smells in here, and whoever gave this to me forgot to empty the cigarette tray
- I don't even know what I'm doing in Galatia, but it just feels safe and familiar here
- Remember that I stored the stolen AI core at the mining station
- Hmm I wonder what I can do with that
- I recall hearing on youtube that you can use it for ships or managing a settlement
- Maybe I can start a new life and try doing that
- Fly to the mining station to get it
- The pirates, for whatever reason, are hostile towards me
- ????
- Wont even trade with me
- My AI core is gone
- Existentially defeated, I leave the mining station
- On my way out, that *** fleet that caught me at the beginning of this story start chasing me
- Since I had become a millionaire drug warlord pimp these pirate fleets used to make way like the red sea
- They catch me and tickle my Wayfarer's pickle
- I had absolutely nothing, and lost even that
- Try to commit suicide by dramatically flying into the local star
- Realize I can't move in the 3rd dimension, so instead my ship burns though supplies repairing corona damage
- I'm out of supplies, almost out of fuel, most of my crew are dead due to accidents
- My two ships are completely broken and I have no supplies
- Nothing else happens

Where has this beautiful game been all my life? I haven't played video games in like 4 years but I'm so glad that out of all of them I found this. I'm starting a new save. Any tips?

« Last Edit: April 08, 2020, 05:19:32 PM by 7103 »
Logged

Nick XR

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 712
    • View Profile
Re: 7103's First Starsector Experience
« Reply #1 on: April 08, 2020, 06:08:42 PM »

General Advice: Do system bounties until you learn how to fight. Also low tech ships like Enforcers with a single D-mod are cheap as chips and can take a serious beating.  A design goal (and success!) is that you don't have to do trade runs to get a good ship before you can play the game.  If you get good at killing spaceships, this whole game will be a lot easier.

There are some great tutorial videos out there about how to fly well and how (and why!) to arm you ships.

Fleet speed: Make sure your fleet can outrun anything it can't kill

Mondaymonkey

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 777
    • View Profile
Re: 7103's First Starsector Experience
« Reply #2 on: April 08, 2020, 10:00:44 PM »

You do not need any tips. Looks like you are already doing fine.

Losing is fun! ©
Logged
I dislike human beings... or I just do not know how to cook them well.

Tempest

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 98
    • View Profile
Re: 7103's First Starsector Experience
« Reply #3 on: April 09, 2020, 09:27:22 AM »

Not bad for a first run.
Logged

Modest

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 179
    • View Profile
Re: 7103's First Starsector Experience
« Reply #4 on: April 09, 2020, 01:25:06 PM »

Oh, that was really fun read. I am sure you would be allright without any tips. And youtube is full of proper helping videos anyway, but since you asked I will give you this one (since you seem to like to smuggle things for profit and fun!). When buying freighters, buy pirate versions (pirate versions, not necessirily buying from pirates themselfs) - they have special hullmod that makes illegal items not detected via inspecions most of the time. But this is small tip for somebody who likes to smuggle stuff.

Tip for how to play this game is already given by Nick XR.

Have fun out there.
Logged

Aereto

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 278
    • View Profile
Re: 7103's First Starsector Experience
« Reply #5 on: April 09, 2020, 03:37:32 PM »

Not bad for a first run.
I remember my first run, deciding I am better off befriending pirates than spacing them after some battles before establishing my first colony.
Logged

Daynen

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 413
    • View Profile
Re: 7103's First Starsector Experience
« Reply #6 on: April 09, 2020, 06:58:07 PM »

This is, by leaps and bounds, the single greatest "first time" in Star Sector I have ever read.  After about eight lines in I could not physically stop my laughter.  I still can't as I type this.
Logged