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 !
