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Trader

12 (9.2%)

Bounty Hunter

32 (24.6%)

Scavenger

43 (33.1%)

Smuggler

14 (10.8%)

Pirate

3 (2.3%)

Other

10 (7.7%)

Explorer

16 (12.3%)

Total Members Voted: 70

[Alphascrub]

So recent I've began to become very curious on how others play the game. I would love to go deeper here but I'm unsure of how this post would be received. Naturally this post might see a large amount of edits once I figure things out or a complete redesign or abandonment if people aren't really interested in the type of other questions I want to ask such as what kind of sector the generation do they use, how many mods do they use, how long does one of their champagnes generally last, what kind of start mode they use, ect.

The poll allows you to pick three choices however I picked only two since I don't do any of the others often enough to really. Feel free to use all three choices just try to keep it to ones that you use quite a bit.

Also if this is something people dont want to see feel free to comment below, not trying to rock the boat and I'm only curious.

Edit: Removal of strawpoll replaced with forum tool that was staring me in the face.

Edit: I've removed miner from the poll after feedback about it not be available in the base game and replaced it with explorer because its something you can actually do in the vanilla game. This may have skewed results as some may have picked scavenger to represent part of their exploring. Hopefully this doesn't skew things to much but I don't think I need a new poll just yet. This is kind of a learning experience for possible future polls for me so it might be a bit... inaccurate as well as inconclusive. Sorry in advance.

[chancoco]

As a new player I do a little bit of everything, but mostly I like to do trading/smuggling since I'm not quite good enough to take down bounties unless I outnumber them. Explorer/surveyor should be one of the options. Also, isn't mining exclusive to the Nexerelin mod?

I'm looking forward to colony management when that time comes. Would that be considered mid-game or end-game?

[Alphascrub]

As a new player I do a little bit of everything, but mostly I like to do trading/smuggling since I'm not quite good enough to take down bounties unless I outnumber them. Explorer/surveyor should be one of the options. Also, isn't mining exclusive to the Nexerelin mod?

I'm looking forward to colony management when that time comes. Would that be considered mid-game or end-game?

Well for me I kind of consider early game basically have sub capital ships and a large amount of frigates in your fleet. Outside of super frigates I generally try to phase them out by midgame and more often than not I'm running cruisers and up during latgame. You can for sure have a colony in the early game but in my experience its not the best idea until you at least have a few decent cruisers or carriers in your fleet to deal with ai factions picking on you. Midgame to me is basically having cruisers, having a colony or two and looking for some capital ships to save for or salvage.  Hmm your are definitely bringing up more questions which is what this post is all about so go wild.

[Thaago]

I think colony growth can fit into any stage of the game, depending on how early the player builds a colony. I know it sounds kind of silly to say so, but the player can get a colony very early if they really want to: take a commission with the Hegemony straight away and build a colony in one of their systems. They provide free protection from pirates.

[Alphascrub]

I think colony growth can fit into any stage of the game, depending on how early the player builds a colony. I know it sounds kind of silly to say so, but the player can get a colony very early if they really want to: take a commission with the Hegemony straight away and build a colony in one of their systems. They provide free protection from pirates.

Thats true, taking the pirate base with the nex mod on in Jangela can be a decent start as well with hegemony. Overall I might be a bit colored in my perspective since I have so much time playing without the new colony system compared to with. My perspective is probably quite skewed in that regard.

[chancoco]

...take a commission with the Hegemony straight away and build a colony in one of their systems. They provide free protection from pirates.

Oh, I didn't know that about commissions. I might try that out and see how it goes. Progression wise, I always felt there was an odd gap between starting out as a lone spacefarer and then being a colony manager fending off every other faction. Being able to work up to that under the protection of another established faction should fill that gap.

[Nanao-kun]

Wait what? A commission allows you to colonize in their systems? I never knew this.

[Alphascrub]

Wait what? A commission allows you to colonize in their systems? I never knew this.

Hmmm keep in mind I pretty much don't play without nex so maybe it doesn't allow it in vanilla? Not want to send out misinformation. As a matter of fact most the time Ill just pick system with a pirate colony in it an conquer it and then get my commission rep from turn ins. In my experience this stops them from threatening you, and allows you get get the colony at least with nex without losing rep for taking it for yourself instead of giving it to your commissioned faction which is what do normally unless you want a reputation hit. That being said its a pretty meaningless hit 10 or 20 or something. Easy to fix with cheap AI cores or High Value Prisoners.

[Thaago]

Wait what? A commission allows you to colonize in their systems? I never knew this.

This works in vanilla! I haven't actually tested it yet in Nex, but in a recent vanilla game where I've been playing the loyal Hegemon soldier there was a 100% hazard tundra world with +0 farmland in the same system as Nakachika (spelling, sorry - the small fuel planet). I scrimped and saved my early bounties and commission payouts to colonize it and put farming down ASAP, and it made for a very nice storage + small income homeworld. Haven't advanced it to the point of attracting more than pirates, so we'll see what the Hegemony does when I'm eventually attacked.

I was exaggerating a bit when I said 'free protection from pirates'... their patrols will engage the pirates, but only if they happen to be around. They won't actually orbit your world with their own patrols. Still, its enough free help to make colonizing while still at the frigate/destroyer stage work.

[Thaago]

I never actually answered the OP with text...

In about 80% of early games I bounty hunt, and do quick explorations of whatever constellation the bounty spawned in (and clean up black holes/neutron stars along the way to get the research stations). About 20% of games I play as an explorer and go on long expeditions to find blueprints, cores, and good planets, fighting if I feel like it. To spice things up I will often try to limit myself to certain themes, like all low tech or all high tech, no carriers, or not using some skill branch. (My next game's skill path is going to be combat 6 points, Industry D mod mitigation, more combat, leadership, then industry colonies. No tech! I'm going to find a good use case for freaking Enforcers or die trying.)

I'm also weird in that I tend not to use the faction mods, or at most 2-3 of them at a time.

[Megas]

Player can build a colony in another faction's system if he has a commission in 0.9.1a.  That was not the case last release (0.9a), but it is now.  This is for unmodded game.

Colonies can be built early, but player needs to avoid expeditions (but needs to repel pirates).  A simple Waystation with farming is fine.  Mining might be if output is low enough.  Fuel Production and Heavy Industry is a big NO until player can repel expeditions.  Orbital Station and Patrol HQ is mandatory to repel pirates and reclaim relays.

I tend to bounty hunt with occasional exploration on the side.  My last game, I raided stations frequently.  I tend to delay exploration until I can get some cargo space and stack Surveying Equipment.

[Arakasi]

I guess scavenging is what I'll vote for, but what I do is more so exploration/salvage (I'd imagine scavenging is more so going around home-world battlefields and looting). Basically I've found that the easiest way to make a quick profit is to go around, explore, avoid [REDACTED] and salvage their stuff.

That said - I modded my latest game and gave [REDACTED] +2 burn level, so now that's much, much harder, so I start out by trading instead with a little exploration mixed in.

[Summerstorm]

Usually i go through these steps:

1. Scavenger - Getting some supplies, maybe a ship or two and some credits by hanging around the starting fights.
2. Opportunistic Trader - Supplying shortages and destroyed Outposts to get my starting money.
3. Looking for a World to claim: Usually these become year-long expeditions over 1/4 the map or something. (I start this when i have the spare 1000 People to colonize and enough ships to Survey (Around 6 Shepards, a few Wolves or something for Defense and loads of Fueltankers)
4. Endgame

I don't do Missions and such. Always working for myself.

Oh and Skillwise: Usually i take nearly the whole Industry block, starting with the scavenging - then i take Command - commanding a Carrier later on.

[SCC]

I played for a long time. Initially I went for either bounty hunter or exploration early on (which is what I selected in the poll), but now I just do one thing the whole run. I start as an explorer and I end as explorer (though rarely, since explorations is not risky enough). I start as a bounty hunter and I end as a bounty hunter. I start as a pirate and I end as a pirate.
By the way, it is not possible to be a miner without mods. You should remove that from the poll.

[Serenitis]

First thing I do when starting a new game is to see if there's any system bounties I can claim in my starting system (or nearby). There usually is.
Depending on what kind of start I picked, I may not be able to fight pirates on my own. In that case I tend to pick a patrol fleet to hang around and join any fights it gets into.

This is also a good time to expand my fleet with useful ships recovered from battle, or just found.
I also make an effort to salavage every wreck and debris field I can. Not only can you cover some or all of your supply costs, it's also a good source of weapons which neutral markets lack.
Recovering Shepherds is one of the highlights of this stage. Sheps rule early game.

Once the bounty has ended, I make sure my fleet is in order and equipped as far as my ability allows.
Then I use the planet list to look for any worlds in the core with ruins, and visit them in whatever order feels most convenient. The salvage from ruins will frequently yield useful things to keep, and various things to sell.
Blueprints are learned as I find them, if I want them. Unwanteds and duplicates are then sold to the pirates to expand my loot selection.

Once all the ruins in the core have been cleared, I will take a few transport missions for the extra money. This also gives me the opportunity to look over many markets for interesting ships etc.
All the time I'm doing this, I'm still jumping on any wrecks and fields to salvage.
I will repeat this until I feel like it's time to do something else. Nothing really set, just when I've 'had enough'.

Now I move on to named bounties. I'll pick one which is fairly close and complete it, then use that as a 'jumping off' point to explore the surrounding area. Once my cargo is full or fuel/crew is low I will head back to the core and sell off whatever I don't want to keep, and see if there's any way I can expand my fleet. Repeat for as long as 'feels' right.
Slowly I will replace my ships with larger ones to allow me to fight larger fleets and haul more loot.
All the while I'm doing this, I am looking for interesting systems which might be suitable for building a colony in.
At first I only bother surveying worlds if they have ruins on them, but eventually I just roll through system after system surveying everything.

At this stage I can keep my fleet out exploring almost indefinitely, as recovered supplies and fuel can cover your useage with the right preparation. The only real limits are crew loss, and cargo space/fleet limit.
If I find somewhere I want to build, I shift my focus to that and then re-start exploring once adequate defences are in position and carry on from there.
If I explore the whole sector and have not found anywhere I would consider suitable for building, I just re-start.