Space... The Anal Frontier (Space Rangers 2 Blind Ironman)

Pope Amole said:

TBH, I think that results with the next three participants won't be that much different and you'll really have a slight chance at finishing this LP only with Korenzel's updated build, because it's one of the most powergamey builds in the game (the other one being peleng corsair, iirc). 2x rokkit launchers from the start (and a third one if you're really lucky in exploring the space) is the only way to achieve anything in early combat.

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I'm not really worried with powergamey builds at the moment. I'm just enjoying the weird random exploration. I've been doing my best to steer clear of spoilers (though I'm wondering about that engine overcharge someone mentioned) so we're probably in for a bunch more stupid deaths. I'll try and have hellraiser up and flying tomorrow.

Dont just concentrate on buying a bigger ship, getting equipment more efficient for its size is equally useful and much more financially tenable in the beginning. Also, the total amount you are hauling and total hull size affect your speed. Your starting equipment usually requires 30-70 space per piece, you can probably get it all down to ~25 space equipment with minimal work, and some equipment can get down to ~15 space each if you get lucky.

Get used to using the search function, you can check pretty much anything on everything in the known galaxy for the cheap sum of 3 cr per search. Commodity prices, weapon offerings, ship locations, all filtered to find exactly what you want at the price you want to pay and the distance you want to fly to get it.

Pope Amole said:

TBH, I think that results with the next three participants won't be that much different and you'll really have a slight chance at finishing this LP only with Korenzel's updated build, because it's one of the most powergamey builds in the game (the other one being peleng corsair, iirc). 2x rokkit launchers from the start (and a third one if you're really lucky in exploring the space) is the only way to achieve anything in early combat.

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If he was playing against Strong or Hardboiled Dominators I would agree (Impossible especially is suicide without the Freyan Corsair start or the slightly weaker Pelang Pirate). But Normal Dominators? There is no imperative for him to be combat worthy from day 1. As soon as he figures out how to boost his engine he won't have problems escaping from the odd pirate gangbang or Dominator invasion here or there, and that is all that is needed until you ramp up the Dominator difficulty level.




EDIT: If you are interested, here are downloads for a somewhat rewritten English translation (mostly fixing equipment descriptions, apparently text quests can't be changed), and a mod that lets the game run at higher resolutions (SR2 becomes absolutely beautiful at high res).

http://www.mediafire.com/?e99azu9u2c186w4

http://www.mediafire.com/?mdp6477n1861t0b

Ulminati said:

I've been doing my best to steer clear of spoilers (though I'm wondering about that engine overcharge someone mentioned) so we're probably in for a bunch more stupid deaths. I'll try and have hellraiser up and flying tomorrow.

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Well, that's cool enough (especially since you're still in for surprise for, like, 1.5 additional game modes you haven't discovered yet, not to mention that text quests really differ and some of them are much, much more complicated that the one you have finished; though I do not now whether the best ones were translated - from what I've heard, they cut off some from english version).

Overweight Manatee said:

If he was playing against Strong or Hardboiled Dominators I would agree (Impossible especially is suicide without the Freyan Corsair start or the slightly weaker Pelang Pirate). But Normal Dominators? There is no imperative for him to be combat worthy from day 1. As soon as he figures out how to boost his engine he won't have problems escaping from the odd pirate gangbang or Dominator invasion here or there, and that is all that is needed until you ramp up the Dominator difficulty level.

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Yeah, but his next 3 incarnations are pirates and it's really hard to do this piratey thing without having some nice, nice weapons. Pretty much as impossible as fighting dominators from day one, so yeah. Not to mention that rokkit launchers are also quite good in you know where (let's not spoil the surprise as to where exactly), up to the point that you can kill one of the dominator bosses with the two starting ones easily (more or less).

It's hard to see him surviving in this game without some random stroke of luck. I tried getting into this game and was constantly bitch slapped with random strokes of misfortunes whether it's a dominator invasion, pirate ambush, or barely scraping by with profits. Courier missions is very low margin...unless you combine it with multiple probe deployments while you're traveling. Even then, something is definitely off with the game difficulty.

Ulminati said:

(though I'm wondering about that engine overcharge someone mentioned)

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You see the little circular button in the top left corner of where your engine is? When you're in open space, open the equipment panel and click this button. (alternatively, simply press the "F" key on your keyboard ) Beware that it'll put a hard strain on your engine, and you might want to carry a spare engine for long journeys.

Bear in mind though, that not all hulls have this capability. I think it's human and fayan (or whatever they're called) hulls only, but when you look at a new hull, see if there's this button and you'll know if you can use the afterburner.

RK47 said:

It's hard to see him surviving in this game without some random stroke of luck. I tried getting into this game and was constantly bitch slapped with random strokes of misfortunes whether it's a dominator invasion, pirate ambush, or barely scraping by with profits. Courier missions is very low margin...unless you combine it with multiple probe deployments while you're traveling. Even then, something is definitely off with the game difficulty.

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The game gets extremely difficult if you up the dominator strength. At strong or hardboiled, you'll soon be left with only a couple of systems, seriously limiting trade possibilities, and all the AI rangers will die within a year. It's possible to survive by using missile launchers builds, but it relies on finding a good and cheap Rapid hull to escape dominators, or they'll outrun and destroy the ship with ease.

For money, nothing beats luxury trading in the beginning. Later on, high-end dominator parts sold for double price at science stations are the way to go. Missions are usually not worth it for money alone, but can be a cheap way to acquire good micromodules to further upgrade equipment.

God do I want a Space Rangers 3! Please make it so!!

I've used up SR2

A small tip: farm them black holes, whenever you see them. You may end up in the butt end of a dominator-ridden system when you exit, but there's a good chance (especially, on Normal and lower difficulty) to get some really useful artifacts.

Also, keep in mind that if your total mass is over 500, it begins to negatively affect your speed. You can check the current status by hovering the cursor over "SPEED" in the upper-right corner of the inventory, IIRC.


PS: This codexian linguistic popamolization of SR2 makes me a sad panda, but an LP of my most favouritest game evar is still hell yeah!

korenzel said:

The game gets extremely difficult if you up the dominator strength. At strong or hardboiled, you'll soon be left with only a couple of systems, seriously limiting trade possibilities, and all the AI rangers will die within a year. It's possible to survive by using missile launchers builds, but it relies on finding a good and cheap Rapid hull to escape dominators, or they'll outrun and destroy the ship with ease.

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But it's kinda fun that way, perverted, but fun. Sure, you're stuck in 3 systems (if you're really, really lucky) and, if you have a bad fortune, some (or most) of the stations will be destroyed (cool with taking a big loan from the business centers, not so cool if you're missing a ranger center or a science base; oh, and army men will be 100% dead after their suicidal attempt of liberating some system early), but it makes it that much awesomer when you finally liberate your first system or when you, at the very least, manage to shoot some nice loot there and manage to return to your system alive or when you jump into a nearby wormhole and manage to get some phat lewt and also warp out in a safe enough place... It's much better than the normal, where the game basically wins absolutely without your input.

korenzel said:

For money, nothing beats luxury trading in the beginning.

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But how about doing initial technique runs with your engine overloaded (and most of your stuff sold, so you can afford the maximum of it)? Luxury runs really pale before the possibility of earning from 10 to 20k in the first month of the game.

Doma said:

God do I want a Space Rangers 3! Please make it so!!

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Not gonna happen. Or, rather, pray that it's not gonna happen. All of the original developers are in the Katauri (authors of the new King's Bounty) right now, while the still existing Elemental Games (which, by the way, still holds the rights for the name and for the development) is composed of some motherfucking good for nothing amateurs that milk the brand by doing Free to Play online and browser games in the same universe. So if SR 3 will ever see the light of day, it will be the declinest decline we've ever seen.

Pope Amole said:

But it's kinda fun that way, perverted, but fun. Sure, you're stuck in 3 systems (if you're really, really lucky) and, if you have a bad fortune, some (or most) of the stations will be destroyed (cool with taking a big loan from the business centers, not so cool if you're missing a ranger center or a science base; oh, and army men will be 100% dead after their suicidal attempt of liberating some system early), but it makes it that much awesomer when you finally liberate your first system or when you, at the very least, manage to shoot some nice loot there and manage to return to your system alive or when you jump into a nearby wormhole and manage to get some phat lewt and also warp out in a safe enough place... It's much better than the normal, where the game basically wins absolutely without your input.

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That is also my opinion, but it's only doable while playing with Strong dominators. I believe at this level they don't try and conquer the very last systems, but on hardboiled, they will have everything by the end of the first year except the sector I'm currently in. I suppose survival is possible in a fast ship, while probing planets, shooting asteroids and slowly destroying dominators with rockets, but I've never managed it, in my couple last tries I've run out of funds and can't afford repairs or reloads.

korenzel said:

But how about doing initial technique runs with your engine overloaded (and most of your stuff sold, so you can afford the maximum of it)? Luxury runs really pale before the possibility of earning from 10 to 20k in the first month of the game.

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You mean the tutorial extremely low Equipment prices on one planet at the beginning ? I'd milk that as much as possible, but it's only available for a short while. With a decent pool of money, luxury runs can get about five thousand credits per trip.

korenzel said:

That is also my opinion, but it's only doable while playing with Strong dominators. I believe at this level they don't try and conquer the very last systems, but on hardboiled, they will have everything by the end of the first year except the sector I'm currently in. I suppose survival is possible in a fast ship, while probing planets, shooting asteroids and slowly destroying dominators with rockets, but I've never managed it, in my couple last tries I've run out of funds and can't afford repairs or reloads.

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I've done it twice or thrice, don't remember correctly, on the hardboiled in russian version of reboot (but it's not like it has some gameplay differences with english, eh?) Perhaps you were unlucky there? I mean, usually I was left with two or three systems(in one of the tries, it was a 4 system sector, where 1 of the systems were already captured - maybe that's the reasons why the dommies were not so keen on attacking the other three; well, blazers and terrons, Keller still continued to be a pest, but his warp incursions are kinda easy two repel if you have 2 rokkits) and it never was even close to being left with but one.

korenzel said:

You mean the tutorial extremely low Equipment prices on one planet at the beginning ? I'd milk that as much as possible, but it's only available for a short while. With a decent pool of money, luxury runs can get about five thousand credits per trip.

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Hmm, but what were the difficulty of trading in this case? I mean, I always play with the worst prices and 5k per trip sound kinda insane on this difficulty (and early in the game, obviously).
As for the equipment - yeah, the window of opportunity is short, but if you sell almost everything you have(radar, grappler and other useless stuff), if you take an upgraded engine from the start(and the race/class combination with engine overload option enabled) and if the planets are more or less closely aligned, you can earn a lot of money there even with the worst prices possible.

Seems excessively painful experience to me. I like the idea of facing challenge...but man, going around checking for best price item can only be fun for 2-3 hours....after a while it just gets boring and I lost interest because the precious space for upgrades are very limited.

This is what bugged me most in the game:

Engine is prime. High speed allows shorter travel time, evading of dangers, not to mention long jump distance allows ease of courier ops. But everything is still limited by fuel...hence it's best to buy some cheap 20-30 size tanks, upgrade them than to land and refuel...

After that, it gets fuzzy. You're not going to want guns...because they take up space and trading ships are hardly combat worthy. Recommendation? Get shields to stop them from scanning and that's it.

Grind for cash like crazy...take on courier missions and hope your best trade routes don't get Dominated. Maybe drop probes on the sides. It was fun while it lasted on my first and second run of beating the game. But after that, I lack the motivation on my third run. I really want to make it really different, but taking bounty missions is a random luck. Either the guy is within shooting distance, or you get unlucky and he'll imprison himself in some colony for 2 months. Auto-mission fail. Alternative would also be doing high-risk salvage ops in the midst of Dominator Attack or Defense. So, instead of helping with the war effort, you play like a vulture and go for the sweet juicy loot while the galaxy burns around you... That was my best moment,..and still unmatched in most games out there.

Any advice to make the game more fun is welcome. Cause I really want to come back to this but having problem to get back in the groove.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Overweight Manatee said:

EDIT: If you are interested, here are downloads for a somewhat rewritten English translation (mostly fixing equipment descriptions, apparently text quests can't be changed), and a mod that lets the game run at higher resolutions (SR2 becomes absolutely beautiful at high res).

http://www.mediafire.com/?e99azu9u2c186w4

http://www.mediafire.com/?mdp6477n1861t0b

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Tempting. But then I'd have to scale all the screenshots down for the LP. Will definately give them a look once the LP is over

I'm firing up the game now to create Hellraiser. update in a couple of hours.

[Edit]

Ended up jumping into a group of dominators. That was quick. Writing updatan now...

Brave Comrade Hellraiser! May his career be long and fruitful!


I notice there are advanced difficulty settings. Any Kodex Kritikal Konsensus on which ones need tweaking?


Being a veteran SR2 player, I opt to skip the tutorial


Fuck yeah! FIRE ZE MIZZILES!


Our first job is to fly to the giant space penis and get an infodump already covered on page 2


While there, the Laz0r is upgraded



There are no missions on the space station, but Mars is nearby


The faggots give me lip!? They will rue the day they got uppity with me, just as soon as I get bigger guns.


They offer the tutorial land battle mission. I rememeber it paid pretty well, so we'll be doing that again



Boom! Pow! Etc. since the enemy bots just idle at their base, it's mostly a matter of sending wave after wave of disposable bots at them.



A shitload of gold, a ton of xp and a micromodule thingie that we can't use since out ship carries only superior human components.


I figure if we're going to pirate shit, we should go for Xeno scum so we can fall back and land on human planets later. I assume the relationships are per race like with the 4 nations in Sid Meiers Pirates. From this day forth, Hellraiser will only piratize Xeno merchants.


A friendly military base in the system. I check it out. Maybe they have surplus BIG GUNs™


Some new Xeno race tells me I need to shoot moar shit up.



As I exit the base, I notice this hugely valuable gadget floating around in space. Sadly, our gripper is too small to pick it up.



Another jump should land us in a system with non-friendly, non-dominator ships we can plunder


Even better! No reprecussions for blastign a pirate, plus the nearby traders will lend fire support!


I give him the option of surendering peacefully. He chooses to do things the hard way.



Pew! Pew! Pew! I'm not sure if the mizzilez make much if a difference to be honest.


He calls us again, but still opts to be turned into space dust


Aided by the traders, photon torpedos are shoved up his rectum


See? that wasn't so hard. If he'd just surrendered immediately I could've saved myself some ammo.


Hellraiser sets course for the nearest planet for repairs


Battling dominators? In orbit? Er... Oh shit.


We scramble and link up with the ranger fleet. The plan is to take a few pot shots to say we participated, then hang back and salvage whatever is dropped when ships are blown up. Risky, but possibly profitable.


We're immediately drafted into attacking... Holy mother of god. Yeah, good luck with that one, BRO.


Hanging back behind the other ships in the fleet. Hopefully they'll draw all the fire.


Were asked to help take out a decidedly smaller target. I accept, not noticing the Rapeship at the bottom of the screen.



....Yeah.

Ulminati said:

I notice there are advanced difficulty settings. Any Kodex Kritikal Konsensus on which ones need tweaking?

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My advice is:

Dominators - I love my dominators hardboiled, but let 'em stay normal. Higher difficulties are really not for the true blinf ironman LP.

Price range - I usually play with minimal since I can't be bothered with grinding up money via trading.

Scientists - dumb. It's much more profitable that way since you can sell them dominator equipment at 2x prices for much longer time.

Equipment failures - I prefer rare. Micromanaging repairs is borefest.

Eqipment - doesn't matter that much(best ship hulls in the game are quest-related and best weapons must be scavenged from dommies), so it can either stay at average or go at best for teh fun.

Quests - normal is fine, hard can do, anything else is too boring.

Black holes - doesn't really affect game difficulty, so go with many - more enjoyable gameplay for you and us.

Luck - low luck means that you wil die-die-die in text quests, so go with average or higher.


Oh, and considering the longevity of your average ranger, sign me up on the roster. Yeah, the chances of you continuing this LP that long is small, but still, nevertheless, Pope Amole wants to be a faeyan corsair with skills in attack & defense and engine & rocket launchers upgraded. Or maybe a peleng pirate with the same load-up, either is fine.

Screw this, I'll sign up as well.

Pope Amole said:

Higher difficulties are really not for the true blinf ironman LP.

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I believe it to be the contrary, actually. Almost all the fun I had with this game was playing it blindly, ironwill, and with every dificulty on its highest from the very begining. Sure, I never got to see the end... But who cares about that? All the runs were very intense and dramatic and tragic, and there's a certain beauty in surviving long enough like that and get to fight on the defense of the last free system against the Dominator onslaught.

And getting your crappy little ship blown up, naturally, after everyone making naught but a scratch on them.

Captain K. Slips follows the suggestions from Pope Amole in regards to difficulty settings. Overall difficulty is 112% of normal, so I don't feel emasculated by having some settings on easy.


He starts with attack and maneuverability skills tagged, as well as an upgraded engine and a missile launcher. The missile launchers range is impressive, but it seems to me most missiles get shot down before they connect with their target.


The ground assault tutorial is completed. I'll be doing this for everyone since it's really easy money.


K.Slips is offered an escort mission. this seems simple enough. Money for following a ship around. And since we're in the human homesystem, odds of a billion dominator death stars appearing to assrape me seem close to nil.


Some corsair scumbag took potshots at the guy K.Slips was escorting. A few missile volleys changed his mind soon enough. A short jump later and the contract is almost up.



People who tell you that a game from 2006 is really pretty do not lie.



I'll be damned. A filthy Xeno who has manners. I'm so moved I'm going to offer to let them pay me to do shit for them.


Ir's a courier mission. People in this thread have said theyr'e easy money, so let's go for it!


The target is out of jump range, so a short stopover to acquire fuel is necessary.




K.Slips makes it to the planet with 30 days to spare. Easy peasy.


Wait, what?





88 days is way too long. The only way K.Slips will ever complete his courier mission is by enactign a daring escape! Starting a fight withthe inmates seems the manly option, and noone is manlier than Slips.


Whoa, that's a big one. The inmates seem to be impressed by the size of Slips testes. This may be his chance!


It's do or die time! But Slips is faster than Han Solo!


...Or maybe not. The game throws a final insult at me by suggesting I'm not man enough to play ironman. Fuck you, russian programmer.


Lesson learned: Check if the place your courier mission is bound to is hostile with you before accepting.

For extra difficulty, limit yourself to Maloq equipment shops only. They get technology at an insanely slow rate, even on easy difficulty.

anus_pounder said:

For extra difficulty, limit yourself to Maloq equipment shops only. They get technology at an insanely slow rate, even on easy difficulty.

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Look at the fate of the pilots thus far. do you honestly beleive I need ADDED difficulty?

I'm not going to cry and say the game is too hard -- most of my deaths are from silly newbie mistakes, such as thinking I can survive a 1 on 1 fight with a household pet. But it's hard to be enthusiastic and interesting when I write an update for a pilot I know is already dead.

Just play it safe....

Being paranoid is actually quite rewarding in this game. Double fuel tanks, two engines in my run so far leveling up from non combat, by donating cash to construct Ranger Centers earned from aggressive trading and courier rushes.

Ulminati said:

it seems to me most missiles get shot down before they connect with their target.

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1. This also means that gun isn't shooting at you that turn.
2. Neads moar rokkit lonchers to be effective. One barely cuts it for decoys. Get three to five, if you can find decent ones cheap - then you have something.
3. I actually don't like RLs: they need rearming, do little damage per missile (excellent for shrugging it off completely) and worst of all - they hit anything in their path - including valuable trophy dom equipment! :fffuuuu-: Also, allies.

People who tell you that a game from 2006 is really pretty do not lie.

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Those liars! It's from 2004.

Based on a quick 10 hour refresher game, each guns excel in something...

-Frag Cannons are up-close and most damaging of all. It's equal risk to both you and your opponent though, if you are very damaged, being very close to your enemy may not be a good thing.

-Ray guns like lasers and the like tend to have a wider damage range which makes High attack skills a must. It's quite useless at the start, since most lasers barely cut the 20 dmg range. But late game has some sweet guns that sacrifice that little bit of power for good distance, letting you pummel from range with impunity.

-Rockets are the safest bet of the lot. This is probably best employed during Dominators Defense. You had the right idea, sit back, steal kills and salvage best loots. Just failed to gtfo in time, that's all. Also, salvaging Dominators will get you valuable exp when you turn in their nodes...science stations also buy their loot at good prices. Not a viable option early game due to small hull size and sub-optimal parts...but who knows..one good salvage will set you up for a nice upgrade sometimes. And military based offer cheap repairs.

Final note:

If you're heading for a bounty mission or trouble, take the time to head to a Med Center and drug yourself up with Maloq's Eye & Time Galistra to enhance your combat effectiveness. This makes medical insurance a logical investment, since it cuts medication costs by half! - Once I learned that drugs are the way to go...I began to ignore combat skill ups and focus on Charm instead.