Update on "Crew of One" challenge(others post here too)

Quote

Originally posted by Ubermann:
**Well, I just started and am playing the following rules.

-No escorts
-Crew of One
-Strict Play
-No Azdgari

I have just completed the first UE mission with the defector and have upgraded to my beautiful UE fighter! Probably the one I will use from now on. How about the rest of you?

PS-Am I the only one doing Strict?
**

yeah i guess, i never do

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'89 Macintosh= Windows 98
The Microsoft Corp= A Solitaire Game
--From A Real UE Supporter--The Truth Is Out There.
You know the best is out there, just don't ignore it.

Quote

Originally posted by MartiNZ:
**...He now pilots a Krait, called Crate, which has just the 1 blaze cannon aboard, along with 2 cargo expansions and the usual weightless items. It's a scary ship to fly - especially when it takes several attempts just to leave the Iothe system in one piece.
**

I didn't think anyone else was crazy enough to try to make a Krait work. Kudos, Martin! Good luck with it... just remember to remove those cargo pods before you go up against the dreadnoughts.

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Quote

Originally posted by Captain Slinky:
**By the way, the dominating thing does work. The defence fleets only go for you, not your escorts. I took control of the renegade base near South Tip Station. Could someone explain how bounty hunters managed to follow me into the Ji Nebula?

**

The dominating thing? Could you please elaborate? This sounds vaguely familiar, like I might have posted it on another topic, but it's after 1:00 in the morning here (insomnia) and my brain is gradually shutting down for the night.

P.S. Next time I'm in the area, I'll drop by Paaren Station and look up those engineers you mentioned, I imagine reclining seats and turning down the gravity in my cockpit ought to do wonders for my back.

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The last time I was on this board, the price of dumb questions was really high.
Ask me what I'm doing.

(This message has been edited by StarStrafer (edited 03-26-2001).)

I think 'the dominating thing' is that when you demand tribute and are taking on masses of defense ships, having fighting escorts and / or a fighter bay is a really good idea because the defense ships won't attack them at all - they're all after you and you alone!

Anyway, more on the Krait situation.. I'm in Crate II now - with just 1 cargo expansion, a cloaking device, 2 blaze cannons and 2 phase cannons at the moment but that's always subject to change... the same with 1 or 2 fuel tanks. I've completed the Dreadnought mission string - going to investigate the research base took a dozen or so attempts because of the 4 jumps fuel maximum, but I got the destroy the dreadnought mission straight afterwards as I had faked my way upto Ultimate by getting in the last shots on a few Voinian Cruisers :). As it happened I also had a pre-emptive strike in the Vorik system pending, so there was no shortage of help when I arrived. It took 3 attempts, mainly because the shields on the Krait just don't recharge! My role in the battle was taking on a few Interceptors that followed me, after which I found that most of the ships remaining were disabled. I was quite relieved as taking on anything more in a Krait is little fun!

Since then I've signed up with both the Zidagar and Igadzra, and have done the missions for Zidagar upto getting the systems upgrade - which still doesn't leave me much space. I'm pretty sure I have to use it on Dospect so that I can survive more than 3 shots from crescent ships. So far I've been using the cloaking device a lot to avoid battles that the Zidagar can handle. I've still got the second Igadzra mission pending and will do that when I've finished for the Zidagar - hopefully they won't hate me -too- much by then :). It would be nice to have a plasma siphon - no room for any other secondary, that's for sure!

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I figured it would be that. I don't understand why Cptn. Slinky mentioned it to me, though. But after a long and restful sleep, I figure I must have mentioned it when I posted my "Assault on Council Station" story, since that's the method I always use to try and dominate planets.

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The last time I was on this board, the price of dumb questions was really high.
Ask me what I'm doing.

Okay, I'm frustrated as hell. Can someone please explain to me how a Krait can possibly keep up with a Crescent Fighter?

I was doing the raid on Pariah in my CF, and I got taken down by the 30 or so Kraits that came after me. They were moving fast enough to catch me despite my holding down the afterburner!

I have come to understand that when you play Strict (which I am) you lose some speed bonus that you have during regular play. I also know that AI ships can be given afterburners in 1.0.2 and that the AI gets harder as your CR goes up. But none of that explains how a ship with a top speed of 350 can catch one with a top of 450 while they are both afterburning (and that's if the Krait even has an afterburner...).

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please let me know.

Paradigm

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That is weird, usually my afterburner is enough to keep me in front of them even when they use theirs. Are you sure you didn't run out of fuel? The only other thing I can think of would be a bug that might let them have 2 afterburners.

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The last time I was on this board, the price of dumb questions was really high.
Ask me what I'm doing.

Hi guys. I'm back. Spring break. No internet access. Ooh not nice. Still my trusty laptop got me going till the battery died on me.

Quote

Originally posted by StarStrafer:
**Mission Accomplished...

Well, as proof that I have less of a life than any of the other challengers, I am apparently the first to have completed the "Crew of One" challenge. I flew a Crescent Fighter, and finished in June of 2159. In addition to the UE, Zidagar, and Nebula objectives, I completed the New Calcutta plague, the Kirrim Prime Ski Resort, the rescue Anna Balashova, Free Huron, and Needle Jammer mission strings. I did not play Strict, so the finish line for strict players remains uncrossed, and I died a warrior's death quite a few times, since you have vitually no time to eject. Anyway, I look forward to everyone else's results, and now I can resume work on my plug-in. Thus, Dave "Baby" Cortez (I got the name from a 50's musician, anyone heard of him?), pilot of the Crescent Fighter StarStrafer , hereby retires his vessel. Having saved up close to 50 million credits, he plans to take some time off before resuming his career as the captain of a brand new warship.
**

Wow. Congratulations. Were you on strict?

Anyway my own progress - I got the dreadnaught, Paaren and was working for Voinians Emagha, UE, Renegades (Human and North Tip), the Iggys and the Ziggys. I took on the Aggy warship in the Ziggy string. I killed it and its poxy fighters but I ran out of fuel and then these Aradas showed up. They seemed a little peeved about something (can't imagine what). Anyway there went my Crescent Fighter. Shortly after I died permenantly in a UE fighter thou I can't recall why. I was coming up for my 15th hour in a train at the time. OMG US trains are slow. Back to square one but it shouldn't take too long to get back to where I was now I'm back from break.

Quote

Originally posted by Entropy:
**The crew of an Emalgha fighter is zero, if you stay in one too long. They're probably worse than kraits.
**

Ooops. Sorry.

Quote

Originally posted by Paradigm:
**Okay, I'm frustrated as hell. Can someone please explain to me how a Krait can possibly keep up with a Crescent Fighter?

I was doing the raid on Pariah in my CF, and I got taken down by the 30 or so Kraits that came after me. They were moving fast enough to catch me despite my holding down the afterburner!

I have come to understand that when you play Strict (which I am) you lose some speed bonus that you have during regular play. I also know that AI ships can be given afterburners in 1.0.2 and that the AI gets harder as your CR goes up. But none of that explains how a ship with a top speed of 350 can catch one with a top of 450 while they are both afterburning (and that's if the Krait even has an afterburner...).

If anyone has any thoughts on this, please let me know.

Paradigm
**

Yeah. I don't get this either. I've actually learned to fear (!) Voinian Heavy Fighters. This is really annoying.

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Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.

GWG- Strict?!!! No way!! 😄 You get maybe a second to eject from a Crescent Fighter, I'd be lucky if I'd completed ONE central objective by now. No one has finished it on strict play yet, so I hope your persistence pays off.

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The last time I was on this board, the price of dumb questions was really high.
Ask me what I'm doing.

GWG -

So you've noticed this, too. Yeah, Voinian Heavies were a real pain in my UE Fighter. Again, they're supposed to be slower, but they kept catching me.

Just out of curiosity, how are you dealing with this? As much as the Kraits annoyed me, the idea of going up against Azdaras that are going to have an additional edge is just plain scary. This is getting pretty hardcore on Strict.

StarStrafer -

I don't think there can be a bug with them having double burners, but anything's possible. As far as running out of fuel, sure I ran out eventually, but they were keeping up while I still had fuel. Plus, Kraits only have 2 jumps worth of fuel compared to my 5, so their burners should have run out much faster than mine. Thanks for your ideas.

Paradigm

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(QUOTE)Originally posted by Paradigm:
(B)GWG -

So you've noticed this, too. Yeah, Voinian Heavies were a real pain in my UE Fighter. Again, they're supposed to be slower, but they kept catching me.

Just out of curiosity, how are you dealing with this? As much as the Kraits annoyed me, the idea of going up against Azdaras that are going to have an additional edge is just plain scary. This is getting pretty hardcore on Strict. (B)

I now fly (or did till it got trashed) a CF. I can out manouver a Voinian Fighter and blast it with swivel cannons. Incidentally is anyone NOT using swivels on their fighters. They are the perfect weapon. With Dospex (sp?) this is a rather good ship. I took on and beat the Aggy Warship in the first part of the Ziggy string and took out 6 Azdaras by myself which rather surprised me. The one I fear is the Attack the Rock mission (yes I know I don't Have to do it but I'll try anyway.) BTW where is anyone else on strict (I'm starting again (and I really mean Again again)).

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Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.

(This message has been edited by Great White Godfather (edited 03-27-2001).)

(This message has been edited by Great White Godfather (edited 03-28-2001).)

Quote

Originally posted by Paradigm:
**GWG -

So you've noticed this, too. Yeah, Voinian Heavies were a real pain in my UE Fighter. Again, they're supposed to be slower, but they kept catching me.

Just out of curiosity, how are you dealing with this? As much as the Kraits annoyed me, the idea of going up against Azdaras that are going to have an additional edge is just plain scary. This is getting pretty hardcore on Strict.

StarStrafer -

I don't think there can be a bug with them having double burners, but anything's possible. As far as running out of fuel, sure I ran out eventually, but they were keeping up while I still had fuel. Plus, Kraits only have 2 jumps worth of fuel compared to my 5, so their burners should have run out much faster than mine. Thanks for your ideas.

Paradigm
**

One comment... I believe that non-human controlled ships have unlimited fuel.... you think those Ziggy fighters could have their phased beams shooting at you that long with their low amount of fuel, and the insanely high rate of fuel drain from the beams, if they didn't have unlimi-fuel?

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Originally posted by Great White Godfather **
BTW where is anyone else on strict**

I'm playing Strict, and here's the other people I know of who said they were going to play Strict: Ubermann, diddlysquat, JediBrass, and kiwi_a2. Yup, I almost always use sw. cannons (occasionally switch to blaze against Voinians). I'm a little worried about the Rock, but hopefully there will be enough support that it'll be okay. Also, by then I plan to have the Zid systems upgrade, so I hope to have a little more shielding for my fighter.

Flatulence-
I think the Zid fighters used to run out of fuel in earlier versions of EVO. In the notes for 1.0.2, it mentioned that AI controlled Zid ships would now be able to regen fuel over time. I think Zid ships are the only ones which can do this. Now that I think about it, I don't think the notes say whether AI ships using burners use up their fuel. But it would be pretty unfair for them to not run out.

Paradigm

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I too shall accept the challenge. When I get the time of course! 😄

All rules apply...

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"Never think you've seen the last of anything."

Quote

Originally posted by Paradigm:
**I'm playing Strict, and here's the other people I know of who said they were going to play Strict: Ubermann, diddlysquat, JediBrass, and kiwi_a2. Yup, I almost always use sw. cannons (occasionally switch to blaze against Voinians). I'm a little worried about the Rock, but hopefully there will be enough support that it'll be okay. Also, by then I plan to have the Zid systems upgrade, so I hope to have a little more shielding for my fighter.

Flatulence-
I think the Zid fighters used to run out of fuel in earlier versions of EVO. In the notes for 1.0.2, it mentioned that AI controlled Zid ships would now be able to regen fuel over time. I think Zid ships are the only ones which can do this. Now that I think about it, I don't think the notes say whether AI ships using burners use up their fuel. But it would be pretty unfair for them to not run out.

Paradigm
**

Wherer are you up to? How far did you get on your best run? I'm guessing you've had a few shots at this.

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Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.

Feast-
Glad to hear we have another taker. When you say "all rules" are you including Strict?

GWG-
My progress has been slow. I work, so I don't have the kind of time I once had for playing. I'm only on my second pilot. My first I lost when I got too cocky and tried to take out a Voinian Frigate in a shuttlecraft. But I pulled it off with my current pilot.

I've been doing UE missions like Paaren Station and the Jammer string. Sadly, I lost my CF to the pack of heinously fast Kraits in the final mission of the Jammer string. That's the incident that I posted about earlier. I took a break from playing for a couple days (I was really annoyed), and now I am building up funds for a new CF. If I had finished that mission and then lost my fighter, it wouldn't have been as big a deal because I would have had enough funds to replace it. As it happened, I had to run another several 100k worth of cargo missions to get enough credits. I just got my cash reserves up to where I can purchase the fighter, but I haven't picked it up yet. Ah, the joys of Strict.

I'm going to experiment with a slightly different configuration with my next fighter, so we'll see how it goes. My next step after this mission string is over is to join the Zids.

But it's frustrating as the creator of the challenge to be stalled like this. I've done it all in the past, both regular and Strict, but that was with earlier versions of EVO. The 1.0.2 changes make the AI tougher and make the fighters we're using weaker. But I'll get it together tonight and start blowing through missions again.

What's your status now?
Paradigm

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Actually, I forgot I posted the thing about dominating planets in another topic. Basically, you just get yourself a heap of escorts, demand tribute from a planet, and cloak. It can take a few cloak-uncloak and recharge fuel things to get it.

I think I know why kraits and voinian fighters can be so annoyingly fast too. I'm pretty sure that it's only the fighters that are launched from ships that are faster. They must replace the hyperdrive space with more acceleration and top speed. Really pisses me off though.

I may upgrade to a warship soon. Only disadvantage would be I couldn't sit in the captain's chair in just my underwear. I'm currently in an Arada. I'm finding it impossible to do the Capture Gualon station mission though, since even when I destroy everything that attacks me and land on the station, my cargo of marines dissappears, but nothing else happens! It is pissing me off so much! I was also doing the Igzadra mission string, but I've lost that now. Any tips on how to find that again would be nice.

Good fortune,
Slinky.

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"My, captain, how did you manage to fit such a luxurious double bed onto a scoutship... Oh, captain..."
Kinandra Alfar, Shipmate onboard the Wolverine II

Quote

Originally posted by Captain Slinky:
**I may upgrade to a warship soon. Only disadvantage would be I couldn't sit in the captain's chair in just my underwear. I'm currently in an Arada. I'm finding it impossible to do the Capture Gualon station mission though, since even when I destroy everything that attacks me and land on the station, my cargo of marines dissappears, but nothing else happens! It is pissing me off so much! I was also doing the Igzadra mission string, but I've lost that now. Any tips on how to find that again would be nice.

Good fortune,
Slinky.

**

The "Capture Gualon Station" mission is infamous for doing this. Every time I come up with a new theory for why, I try the mission again and disprove it. You just have to keep aborting, going back to Outpost Gamma, getting the mission again, and doing it again until it works. Sound fun?

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The last time I was on this board, the price of dumb questions was really high.
Ask me what I'm doing.

Quote

Originally posted by Paradigm:
**
GWG-
My progress has been slow. I work, so I don't have the kind of time I once had for playing. I'm only on my second pilot. My first I lost when I got too cocky and tried to take out a Voinian Frigate in a shuttlecraft. But I pulled it off with my current pilot.

I've been doing UE missions like Paaren Station and the Jammer string. Sadly, I lost my CF to the pack of heinously fast Kraits in the final mission of the Jammer string. That's the incident that I posted about earlier. I took a break from playing for a couple days (I was really annoyed), and now I am building up funds for a new CF. If I had finished that mission and then lost my fighter, it wouldn't have been as big a deal because I would have had enough funds to replace it. As it happened, I had to run another several 100k worth of cargo missions to get enough credits. I just got my cash reserves up to where I can purchase the fighter, but I haven't picked it up yet. Ah, the joys of Strict.

I'm going to experiment with a slightly different configuration with my next fighter, so we'll see how it goes. My next step after this mission string is over is to join the Zids.

But it's frustrating as the creator of the challenge to be stalled like this. I've done it all in the past, both regular and Strict, but that was with earlier versions of EVO. The 1.0.2 changes make the AI tougher and make the fighters we're using weaker. But I'll get it together tonight and start blowing through missions again.

What's your status now?
Paradigm
**

Alas I am starting again due to forgetting that a bucnh of psyco CFs sow up in the Kirrim missions. The fact that I was running at x2 and talking to someone didn't help. I turn back to the screen in time to see my CF explode in a ball of fire. Noooo! Still I can get a couple of mil and the Paaren string in under an hour now so I should be back on form soon. Is anyone interested in sharing ship configurations or shall we do thia alone?

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Non est ad astra mollis e terris via.
An auto-eject, an auto-eject. My kingdom for an auto-eject.

(This message has been edited by Great White Godfather (edited 03-30-2001).)

Quote

Originally posted by Great White Godfather:
**Alas I am starting again due to forgetting that a bucnh of psyco CFs sow up in the Kirrim missions. The fact that I was running at x2 and talking to someone didn't help. I turn back to the screen in time to see my CF explode in a ball of fire. Noooo! Still I can get a couple of mil and the Paaren string in under an hour now so I should be back on form soon. Is anyone interested in sharing ship configurations or shall we do thia alone?
**

My favorite configuration is a crescent fighter with four blaze cannons and a rocket launcher. Against the rens, you can take them easily with 3 needle launchers and 250 needles. I beat ten turncoats with that setup.

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