Drifter
Posts: 1
Joined: 6/3/2010
Status: offline
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Not much has been posted for a while, so I thought a newbie could add a few words. I have about 55-60 hours of time spent on the game. That's about fifty cents an hour, can't complain about overall value. I think I'll now move on to something else, however.
My experience in this genre goes back to the original Reach for the Stars on Apple II GS and Pirates, both of which kept me going for hundreds of hours on 512K floppys. All of the Wing Commander/Privateer games were great, as were MOO I-III, XCOM I-III, Alpha Centauri, Civ I-IV, Galactic Civ I, right up through Europa Universalis I-III.
This game feels very close to Pirates in many ways, but is not as much fun. I could happily go back to Pirates and try to sail a brig around a galleon and capture it, or do a sword fight with sabre vs. a cutlass; however, I don't really want to do any more of this Smugglers IV combat, with stationary images and pushing a limited number buttons to put up a shield, fire a torpedo, or try to escape a losing fight. It was fun, as in beer-and-pretzels fun, for a while, but there is just too much of it, and it is too much the same.
After a few short plays of getting the feel of the game, I began as a pirate, and made it to admiral, had a planet all my own to retire too, and some half million points. It took forever to get enough money together to buy, and trick out, a ship powerful enough to take on a Maurader. Capturing enough 'bots was expensive, because of the number of marines lost in each combat boarding. After some 8-9 boardings, I finally had captured 18 'bots, and with their help, got past the large number of combat crew on the bridge of a Marauder, and I was in business. Once that ship was beefed up, combat was no problem, and I could take on fleets and make some good money.
Next time, I sent out as a mercenary, and took over a Stonewall more quickly, beefed it up, then took over a Gettysburg. Once that was upgraded, it is easy to take out star systems and rake in 2.5 million as payment. I was able to get my faction to control about 12-14 planets at any one time, but if I took over a star system at one end, a star system at the other end quickly fell. I finally gave up, and retired with about 1.5 million points.
Last time was a pure trader, never even tried to board a single ship. I was as defensive, and as full of cargo space, as possible. It took forever to get going. The early ships have so little space, and the missions take far too long. Missions to deliver 200 units of cargo can require 15-20 trips. With an eye at the later promotions, you have to go for defensive benefits from the early promotions, so you are hard pressed to take easier, higher paying missions that require fighting. Once I had the necessary drives to exit my original system, I did much more trading runs than missions. The cash starts to build up at a good rate then, and before long, I had the biggest ship money could buy, some 1800 units of space, and just ran up the trading, unless a decent mission became available. With some $25-30 million cash in hand, I retired, at age 60, as an admiral, again with my own planet, and 4.5 million points. My faction held only 2-3 planets at the end, however.
Some changes I would like to see: I wish merchants could more easily avoid combat. Even cloaked and with fast engines, combat comes far too often, and with weaker guns, it takes a while to whittle down all opponents. If not for the ability to re-generate shields, I don't see how I could have survived as a merchant. For combat missions in general, I wish there was some way to control my final destination. As a mercenary, if I go after a pirate who is wanted for cash, and just before I encounter him, I get intercepted, I can be in big trouble. I will very likely win the interception fight, but am down to half shields, or even less, and am immediately thrown into combat with the enemy ship I had been headed for, and his ship is at 100% health and all set for a romp. There should be some option to return to a planet, or at least change direction, after every combat. Also, I can't seem to find a way to repair my ship on a planet. A few times I was really limping along, landed on a planet to hire crew, and hoping I would not be intercepted when I left. More than once, after lift-off, I was killed, because I was too weak after battles like the one mentioned above. Trading missions do not reward the time and money spent to fulfill them. In later stages, you are asked to supply 2000-3000 items. Often, the planet that wants the items is paying very little for the item. Even to find 2000 engines, diamonds, etc. at a break-even cost may require visits to as many as 6-7 star systems, and even with a huge cargo ship, will require at least two trips out of and back to the star system in need. All of that time, you are constantly intercepted, and fighting long battles, all for very little reward. In the earlier trading missions, your ship simply does not have the cargo space to allow you to complete the mission without multiple runs, and you may not have the cash to purchase the cargo, either.
My final thoughts? A good game, fun, but it becomes too repetitive. It is a nice, easy, casual game. It is very close to the old Sid Meier Pirates in many ways, though not as addictive. Maybe a bit like Galactic Civilizations I (very) Lite. This is NOT Wing Commander, or Privateer, and most certainly not Sword of the Stars. So take it for what it is. I received my money's worth. Next up? Not sure, Maybe Galactic Civ II, Europa Uniersalis' new addition called Heir to the Throne, or Matrix's own Distant Worlds.
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