Question: Favourite Ship Type

[OrionM42]

Originally Posted by DamienPS

Is the Negotiater ship from the Unifiers? I haven't gotten it yet.

Apparently yes. That is, I was given an opportunity to purchase a Negotiator class ship (for the first time ever) when I was about half or 3/4 of the way through the series of quests that the Unifiers imposed upon me. My recollection is that I essentially unlocked it, by completing one of the specific quests. Sorry to be slightly vague about this, but things were happening fast at that point, and I can't recall if it was a specific reward tied to a particular quest (i.e. a promised reward), or if it just popped up at one point. Actually I wish I could have gotten it earlier ...

Thanks for starting this Discussion thread, BTW -- Good Stuff!

[OrionM42]

News Flash: Another way to get a Negotiator class ship

Early in my new game (Sector 11) I was offered the opportunity to trade up to a Negotiator class ship. This caught me by surprise, because I have, to the best of my recollection, had no contact with the Unifier faction. Certainly, I have had no significant contact with them; and no sighting of a Unifier embassy up to this point. So (augmenting my prior post), apparently there is more than one way to get a Negotiator class ...

Incidentally this class ship comes with a built in Shield Regenerator (good!), and a built in "Diplomaticizer" (harmless). This ship was markedly better than the second-generation Trader class ship I was piloting, except for having slightly less cargo capacity, and (more surprisingly) a slightly slower speed. Since the Negotiator class ship that I traded up to late in my last game was very fast, this also surprised me. However it's other assets (far stronger hull, and much more crew, for example) considerably outweighed its limitations. Still, the variance I have seen between just two examples of a Negotiator class ship makes me think that the strengths and weaknesses of the various classes of ships may be much more "fluid" than I had thought. Random chance may be a bigger factor!

Final note: Negotiator class ships are nearly solid red in colour, and rather menacing looking ... Still loving this game!

[Waltorious]

Originally Posted by OrionM42

News Flash: Another way to get a Negotiator class ship

Early in my new game (Sector 11) I was offered the opportunity to trade up to a Negotiator class ship. This caught me by surprise, because I have, to the best of my recollection, had no contact with the Unifier faction. Certainly, I have had no significant contact with them; and no sighting of a Unifier embassy up to this point. So (augmenting my prior post), apparently there is more than one way to get a Negotiator class ...

Once you unlock a ship during one of your games, it remains unlocked for future games and will show up for purchase occasionally. Before I unlocked any ships, I only ever saw the four starting ships for sale (Asteroid Miner, Trader, Light Explorer and Assault Scout). But after my first win, where I managed to unlock a few more ships, I now see those ships for sale too. So, since you unlocked the Negotiator in your last game, you can now buy them in your current game (and any future games you play).

Originally Posted by OrionM42

Still, the variance I have seen between just two examples of a Negotiator class ship makes me think that the strengths and weakniesses of the various classes of ships may be much more "fluid" than I had thought. Random chance may be a bigger factor!

The quality of ships available for sale will steadily increase as you head to higher sectors. This is true for all ship types, including the starting ships. As far as I can tell, each ship has a "base" model, which is what you get if you start a new game with that ship. Ships are characterized by the "intrinsic" devices they have (like the Shield Regenerator you mentioned) and certain other characteristics, like "large crew" or relative speed.

As you get farther, the ships available for sale will have bonuses on top of this. Early on, you'll just see that the ships have a few more crew or a few more points of armor than the basic models do. When you get very far, these bonuses get really big, which is why you found that epic Negotiator in your earlier game. Apparently when you're really far, things like ship speed also increase.

I actually haven't ever bought a new ship during one of my games, as I get attached to my starting one. But I should try it, because I was rolling in money when I won and it gives me something to spend it on.

[OrionM42]

Starting Ships, Ship Trade-ups, and Final Ships -- a Second Pass

Having won my second of 5 games (first three ended in YASD's), I remain interested in how players progress through Ships, in the course of a game. Having previously won a game in which I started with a Light Explorer class ship, I started my latest winning game with a Trader class ship. (After a short break, I plan to start my next game with either the Assault Scout, or the Asteroid Miner, so as to try all four of the starting ships at least once.)

I enjoyed starting with a Trader class ship, more than I had expected. The increased cargo capacity can be played for a significant economic advantage, in the early part of the game, if you are careful regarding combat. I did more trading (including some buying, as well as selling) in the first 20 Sectors, or so. Around Sector 12, I made my first trade-up, to an improved Trader. So far, so good.

However, around Sector 20, I was given the opportunity to purchase my first Negotiator class ship in this game. As I've noted elsewhere in this discussion thread, one gains access to Negotiators (un-locks this class of ship) by proceeding through a significant portion of the Unifiers' story-arc (their quest demands). As Waltorious (above) pointed out to me, once you unlock a ship-class in one game, you have access to it in ALL later games you play; although not right at the beginning of a game.

I have to say, I sure do continue to like Negotiators! In fact, in the course of this game, I traded-up to 3 better Negotiators, before I completed the game, in Sector 53. Because I was pursuing a Tentaculon story-arc quest series, I was eventually offered the opportunity to purchase an Observer class ship. I was seriously tempted by that offer; but (as luck would have it) the one I was offered was not really as good as my last Negotiator. However, the quality of ALL offered (purchasable) ships gradually improves in the course of a game (with some degree of randomness), so I expect I might have traded-up eventually to an Observer, if I had played long enough. Maybe next game ...

My final Negotiator in this game had a Weapon 1 with 513 damage and a cooldown of 2, a Weapon 2 with 1,040 damage and a cooldown of 3, and Weapon 3 with 3,157 damage and a cooldown of 7. My final Shield was 3,487, and my final Armor was 2,362 with a speed improvement of 15. (I continue to value ship speed highly; and am willing to settle for less armor value, in order to get this kind of speed boost.) My final speed was 250; my Sensor had a range of 6, with targeting of 30; and my Warp Drive had a range of 4 sectors, with a cooldown of 10. (I am now pretty convinced that a cooldown of 10 is about the best you can get; and I am happy to trade for a very short cooldown, at the cost of a longer range.)

I have still not been able to unlock a Cruiser class ship (Envy: ), which requires building (or purchasing ?) a Reactor with 3 weapon slots, and 6 device slots. I really want to try one of those!

I remain interested in hearing how other players progress (trade-up) in the course of a winning (or long) game; and what ship classes they have come to love.

Play Hard Y'all !

[Baldrick]

I have always played with the asteroid miner wich has great potential, but after my last victory game (finishing some quest lines and finishing with another stupid death), I have started a new game with The Wanderer. In my last game I used the Corsair which was great with Comm Jammer and unlocked several ships. But The wanderer is very interesting for me cosidering it has Robotic crew constructor pre-installed and Warp cooler. It also has 2 weapons slots and 3 devices as start. You can unlock the Wanderer following Vordalene quest line. Anyway there is still a long way to go, since I am still playing on easy mode.

[PvK]

So far, I have been using the Light Explorers. I've only played two games though. The last one was pretty successful until I accidentally sealed myself underground. I upgraded to better and better Light Explorers a few times, and unlocked a Gruff ship class and the stealth ship, but wasn't tempted. I like the explorer's lab and medical ability, as well as the generally good other stats, so far.

By sector 40, the best generator I was able to get could power 2 weapons, 4 other devices, so cruiser was a ways off, but I'd probably upgrade to that if I could. Mainly it would be nice to have more system slots active at once, though using Light Explorers is good because you effectively get two extra good systems without needing generator slots.

I may try something else for my next game though; perhaps an assault class and try being a bad space citizen...

[ibol]

so, who wants a "crafting" ship ?

OR:

can anyone think of a good "theme" for a playable ship, that does not already exist?

[PvK]

Hmm, I think everyone would want a good crafting ship, as crafting seems to be the easiest path to great component performance, variety of devices available, AND money (since you can sell the stuff you craft for heaps more than the cost of components, once you get good). Seems like you'd almost need/want to add limits to crafting without something everyone could do. Having crafting components take cargo space which is enhanced by the an ability the special cargo ship has might do, except that would be a nerf to the way crafting can currently be used by everyone, so not everyone might approve. Just seems like crafting may already the uber ability that's available to everyone eventually.

I have only unlocked a few ships so far so I don't know what may already exist.

Just brainstorming:

A starliner with lots of crew and cargo, good for cleaning out caves and shipwrecks, but quite slow and very negative evasion, so vulnerable to other ships?

An express courier ship that's very fast but has very little other ability?

A ship with a bonus to secondary ship systems that can be powered?

Occasional unique ships based on existing ships, but customized by the previous owner so that some ability or strength is cut, but some random other ability or strength is added? They'd be tempting since you'd almost never get to get that ship combo again.

A heavier exploration ship with a scanner bonus?

A ground assault ship with bonuses to away team firepower and/or armor?

A Firax ship which has a special teleporter unit that can extract an away team from anywhere (or maybe up to a certain cave depth limit), though it also aborts the away team mission to do so, and leaves behind any cargo carried by the team not yet on the shuttle.

A mine warfare ship?

A smuggler ship with a fake ID device and ? maybe a bypass to Banker base docking fees.

A deep explorer ship with a high oxygen supply booster.

...

[Chris Steadman]

A Firfax ship that ensures smooth, even performance of any artifacts that it is carrying.

A Tardis ship that can have many more devices installed - perhaps to run it a special artifact is needed to boost the performance of your reactor

[OrionM42]

Interesting Questions ... and somewhat Tricky Ones, too; since many of us don't really know much about many of the ships that are already available (un-lockable) in the game. Still, it's too tempting not to lobby on behalf of some favorites.

Originally Posted by ibol

So, who wants a "crafting" ship ?

I expect most of us would appreciate a Crafting-themed ship. The longer I've played, the more I have come to enjoy the crafting element in this game; and the more I've come to realize just how important crafting can be to a successful strategy. In fact, it recently dawned on me that Crafting is to Approaching Infinity, about the same as Research is to most 4X games. If each case, if you concentrate on that one aspect, and are good at it, you can mostly stay ahead of the curve, traced by the competing races/empires. As PvK suggested, it may the most important single strategic element in the game. So, we would all want it in a special ship; but it will need to be fine-tuned (handicapped), so as not to be over-powering.

Originally Posted by ibol

Can anyone think of a good "theme" for a playable ship, that does not already exist?

I've indicated previously how much I value speed in a ship. I would really like to see a true frigate (or battlecruiser) type ship in this game -- a ship concepted on the idea that it can outrun anything it can't outfight . In the age of sail, frigates were relatively powerful ships that could easily dispatch Brigs, sloops, etc. They could not stand up to the largest ships (Ships of the Line, or Men of War), but those they could outrun. In the 20th century BCs were supposed to be analogous. They had pretensions to being capital ships (think: HMS Hood), but could not really stand up to battleships, because they were seriously lacking in armor, which was sacrificed to give them the speed advantage. In Approaching Infinity, you could limit their armor to only what was included in the starting ship (the basic hull strength) with no ability (or very little) to add any armor. They would still have shields, but if they lost them in a battle, they would pretty much be dead ducks. Again, they would be fast ships (call them Swift-frigates, or the like) that could outrun anything they could not outfight.

One last thought: should there be a Dreadnaught ship class in AI? ... or is the Cruiser perhaps a close analogy? Such a ship would need to be very difficult to get -- maybe only late in the game. For balance, you could create a few really powerful opponents, say the kind that show up in some combat quests (so-and-so ship is terrorizing Sector 50 -- go and neutralize (eliminate) it), so not everyone would be forced to face such behemoths.

Sure like the fact that you keep exploring ideas for new content in this game!