I'm Not Dead Yet

[Cyberis]

OK,
I finally feel like I got a "victory" even though I don't think you can have one in the demo. I got completely through Sector 7, and completed the first Firaxughinian quest and successfully explored a cave 11 levels deep. Since I can't go further, and I've now got weapons and armor that can smoke Gruffs and Pirates in the first six sectors, I'm going to mothball my captain and his five officers for now. Here are a few stats:

Difficulty: Easy
Captain: Jeff Burke
Ship: Serendipity (Light Explorer)
Credits Earned: 581,391
Data Collected: 174,002
Turns Played: 34,532
Quests Completed: 7
Achievements Completed: 9
Fame: 1069
Infamy: 61
Artifacts Found: 1 (Curtain of Blight)
Caves Explored: 24
Deepest Cave Level: 11
Crew Lost: 71
Officers Lost: 0
Monsters Killed: 754

Bunnies Petted: ??? Probably several hundred.

Most Useful Skill? Being able to land the shuttle anywhere (like right next to that 11 level cave).

[Tim Brooks]

Bunnies Petted: ??? Probably several hundred.

I usually spend more time petting bunnies than exploring planets! You have done well. I have found it very hard to stay alive by the time I reach Sector 7. Have made it to Sector 9, but not for long.

[Cyberis]

The first few times I played the game I died pretty quick. I found that when multiple pirates or monsters attack that running and drawing out just one works better than trying to fight them in a dogpile. Its going to be awhile before I can making it very many sectors further but it's fun learning. And I also probably spent more time petting bunnies than exploring caves. Usually I had to pet bunnies for about 3 tanks of Ox for every trip into the cave.

[Tuidjy]

I don't get bunnies. I've been playing this game for months, and they have always been amongst my top five irritants. For the life of me, I cannot understand why anyone would feel good about them.

- They are likely to be acquired as a target, even when they are more dangerous enemies around, thus forcing you to use extra keystrokes to do what you need.
- They often stand next to things that you need to shoot, when you have a AOE weapon, thus making you choose between wasting a turn and generating infamy.
- They often happen to block your shortest path to the shuttle, making you waste turns walking around them or killing them.
- They are one of the two sources of infamy that cannot be avoided no matter how careful you are, unless you are willing to endanger your crew. (The other is losing crew to a disease in space, when you roll really badly)
- Once in a blue moon, they actually are hostile, so you get to shoot them with impunity... But that happens too seldom - so you can neither sate your lust for rabbit slaughter, nor learn to watch for the firebreathers - theoretically, they can endanger your crew.
- And finally, they are absolutely bloody useless.

The should be an achievement for killing a thousand of the pests. And a "Muah-ha-ha" sound effect when you blow one of them up. Infamy be damned!

[Cyberis]

If you pet the bunny, you get one health point. Keep petting the bunnies and you can regain health without having to go off planet. That will 1) keep some of your away party from dying and 2) avoid a cost for take off and re-landing. While there isn't currently a cost for that I know Ibol is considering changing that game mechanic.

I too have accidentally shot a bunny or two when they were next to a monster that I killed with shotgun blasts. Besides, they're bunnies -- every planet should have some

[Tuidjy]

The healing is either brand new, or demo only, or only available at low difficulties. I did not know about it. Just wait, as you get your hands on the full game, you will stop relying on the damn ex-rodents for healing, and see them for the damn annoyance they are.

[Cyberis]

I don't know which is the case, and yes, I'm sure I'm not going to want to pet bunnies to restore 500 hp (but I have spent the time restoring 200+ hp with bunnies and it gets a bit long in the tooth). Perhaps one of the first mods to come out will be a "no bunny" mod. Maggie would not be pleased :-P

[Tim Brooks]

Tuidjy, for all the reasons you don't like the bunnies, I think they add to the game. And yes, some have restorative properties.

I agree with you Cyberis, that I can't see myself trying to restore 500 hp petting bunnies. I have been thinking of late that maybe a degree of healing could be used. The more healing that needs to be done, the more points are restored with each pet? Of course that may throw things out of balance...

[Tuidjy]

I never said they should be removed. You need annoyances in any game.

I'll even admit that the healing is a nice touch, at the lowest difficulty. But I do not think it belongs at normal and above.

[Cyberis]

Tim,
Yeah, while I like petting the bunnies, I think maybe the long term strategy is to have an officer on the away team that has the Field Medic specialization as that is supposed to cause away team members to heal over time. You could make your captain a field medic but then he has to be a part of the away team on many missions -- that's a bit too risky for my blood. Otherwise you have to hope you can hire someone in the Science class and then give him that specialization during promotion. It would be nice if there were some healing drops just as there are for oxygen but maybe that's too FPS like. The suggestion about better bunnies on tougher planets/sectors might be a bit more keeping with the current mechanic. I still like the bunnies even if they do get shot and/or in the way. Plus... maybe I want to be a bad dude with high infamy points so bunny hunting will help me get their along with going through away team members as the red shirts they truly arrrr.