Introduction and Questions

[Veeshan]

Another newb here, newb to space sims in general, as well.

Bought my copy Friday but don't think it'll go through my bank until Tuesday, got some protections on my bank account. Just been resetting the demo and attempting to win a single combat quest

So far I've been attempting the Cargo Scanning combat quest, where you must remain within range of a big enemy ship for X seconds. I've gotten pretty good at eliminating the 4 enemy ships, only die when I get careless on the last one and try to beat him up with my face.

First question, after I've eliminated all the enemy ships I attempt to stay close to the carrier to scan. During this time my left over allies are bombing the carrier, and it dies before I can finish scanning. Should I be scanning before they are all dead? Seemed to add a few missiles, but maybe I can handle them. Perhaps keep carrier between myself the remaining ship. Or perhaps instructing my team to "Defend Me" would stop them bombing it?

Second, I can rarely handle staying that close to the carrier anyway. The bombs get pretty crazy, requiring me to swing around 180 degrees every few seconds, and if I miss a missile it kills me in one hit. I found a good spot once, right at the tip of the nose, it seemed he couldn't hit me with any missiles. However, the flak cannons (orange flashes) tore me up eventually despite boosting my forward shields.


Small stuff:

Also, I'm assuming I'm expected to win the first few combat missions? I took some damage once and tried to go repair but it cost 10x the money I had even after the mission prize. That's without upgrading anything (since I can only afford one missile.)

Countermeasures, theory is you drop them as bomb is closing. Does ship facing matter? The faster you are going the closer the bomb needs to be to be duped, yes? How fast does IDS stop generating heat? Several times I've been changing direction as a bomb closes and dropped IDS seconds before using a countermeasure, wondering if that works or not.

Thanks.

[Marvin]

For the spy contract, upgrade your shields and configure your ship to carry at least 50 CMs. Then, when you jump to the contracted waypoint, route all youre energy to the shields and get right underneath the capital ship. If you're close enough to its belly, you'll be inside its shielding and fairly safe from attack. Do this with IDS on. After you've completed the contract, plug in afterburner and engage inertial ... burn fuel until you've reached about 2400 kps, then coast until you're out of range of the enemy. Finally, before anything bad happens, save.

[Nigel_Strange]

Welcome, Veeshan,

Mining is a lucrative way to earn money without much risk, especially if you can manage to do it in a rich system. I would go to Rucker and then sell platinum in Pearl, or if it is too hostile, you can go to Alpha Centari. They are nice people there. You can stay with my cousins.

Once you have some cash, look around. You might find some technology that will help. I, for one, love to do spy missions. I use a stealth device. I'm in, out. They never know I'm there until afterward when someone discovers the "Shoot me" sign that I slapped on the cruiser's back end.

As for game tips, there is a guide for Renegades. Much of the information is also good for Mercenary. You can get the Renegades guide here: http://www.starwraith.com/evochronreneg ... rguide.htm. Warning, however: there are spoilers. Some secrets might be best left for personal discovery.

As for missiles, here's what you do...

1. Keep your speed up. Missiles cannot catch you if you are going really fast. The downside, though, is that you do not have much time to hit your target. This is referred to as the Zoom and Whoosh method (as opposed to Zoom and Boom, which allows you to hit your target).

2. Use inertial. You can fly backward in space, and in combat, flying backward or sideways relative to your target is critical. YOu can shoot down enemy missiles that are coming at you, and this is much easier if the missile is taking its time to get to you (i.e. you are moving backwards fast).

3. Countermeasures are only effective when the missile is really close. REALLY close. That means you need to listen to the missile warning. When it starts beeping at its fastest rate (only experience can tell you what that rate is) you release the countermeasures. When the missiles are close enough for the fastest warning beep, it only takes one CM for each missile. Keep a tab on how many missiles are tracking you.

4. All missiles are heat-seaking. That means that if you are using your afterburner, even if you filre a CM, the missile will still track you. Turn off your afterburner. In fact, turn off your engines. Coast. It's cool. Use the inertial control method.

[49rTbird]

Hello Veeshan, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you in "Multi-Player" sometime.

[Jack Dandy]

Heya bro, welcome aboard.

I'm pretty good at spying missions- What you gotta do is this:

After warping in, maximize the shield output, accelerate to about 1000 V, and then start using the inertia to make circles around the capital ship.
When you get close to the ship's edge, just turn IDS back on, plot a new vector, and continue circling it.
Stay alert for missiles- use the CMs or shoot them down in a pinch.
And don't forget- using the boost can really help out making those sharp corners!

Good luck!

[Edited on 8-5-2011 by Jack Dandy]

[DaveK]

Does that mean that you don't have to take out the hostile defence in order to complete the spy contract?:)

[Dingo]

Does that mean that you don't have to take out the hostile defence in order to complete the spy contract?:)

Having to kill all your enemies would be a heck of a way to spy lol

I just use a stealth generator for those tho.

[Veeshan]

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't expect to encounter a mission that required upgrading my ship or buying stealth thingies right off the bat, so I'll save those spy mission for later.

Although, now that my copy is registered I've mined my way into a new ship and went out hunting. However, the only missions offered to me are piddly solar array cleaning, etc. Do I just have to do enough of those to get to the good ones? I started a miner/trader so I could start mining right off the bat, then just upgrade to a combat ship later. Which I've done, even got a Cannon Relay!

Gonna go exploring more, tried going to Fauston and zoned straight into 10ish tough dudes with only 2 ally ships. Not good.

[MMaggio]

Fauston is not a very friendly place. Try jumping to Olympus if you want a little combat. There are no reds in Sapphire. it is a safe place to practice mastering ship controls and all the menus.

[Marvin]

There are four levels of "global" reputation ... depending on which system you're in. Your current system and reputation level are displayed on the navigation map. Reputation is color coded ... green is the safest and you won't find any combat contracts there while red is the most dangerous and you won't find any easy contracts there.

[Maarschalk]

Hi Veeshan, Welcome to the game and forum. Hope to see you out there some time!;)