The equipment slot is one of the issues I fixed on android ... but its a good idea to have it persistent between saves (I'll make sure it works)
[GAME GUIDE] Classes Alrighty, so I started another playthrough with a Fighter while waiting for c0mas to sort things out and this time I took notes. Let's start with the skills the 4 different classes get. NOTE to @c0mas: you should show this info on the class info screen when you pick a class; no need to hide it from the player till after he selected one. 1) Fighter: Stat boni: Handling +20%, Speed +20% Level 5 active skill: Synchronised Fire. Fires all primary weapons at once, if you have enough energy to do so. Results in higher damage per second. Last only for ~6 seconds. NOTE @c0mas: This could be longer, say 10 seconds, plus 1 second for every level you raise the skill). Or, up the starting value to 7s, and increase for 1s per skill level. Then at max.level 9 - after 8 increases - we'd be at 15s. Level 10 active skill: Double Damage. What it says on the tin: all weapons do double damage while it's active. NOTE: Early on I constantly run out of energy to fire my weapons, something that never happened with the Engineer. Getting a bonus to Battery and Recharge does have more effect than I thought, apparently. UPDATE: Energy is no longer a problem. I added 10 stat points into Recharge, and bought the best generator. Did not test yet what it's like with Torpedoes, and/or when you have a heavy energy drainer like the Smuggler's Compartment equipped. 2) Tank: Stat boni: Shield +20%, Armor +20% Level 5: Taunt Enemy. Makes all enemies target you. Handy for protecting other ships I guess, but be prepared to take one hell of a beating Level 10: Aegis Field. Supercharges your shield; from the description I'd say it makes you invulnerable while it's active. 3) Trader: Stat boni: Cargo +20%, Armor +20% Level 5: Afterburner Extension. Speed and duration of the Afterburner are increased to 120% of base value. Very handy to get places fast, and to avoid enemy fire by boosting. The Engineer has it too, and I use it all the time. Level 10: Aegis Field. Same as Tank, invulnerability. 4) Engineer: Stat boni: Battery Size +20%, Energy Output +20%. NOTE: Not directly obvious from the names, these two give you +20 on the Energy and Recharge stats. Level 5: Repair Tool. Repairs 25 armor points. Handy in a pinch, especially when combined with a Repair Bot. Level 10: Afterburner Extension. As above, makes you go faster. NOTE: Even without putting any more stat points into Recharge & Energy, with the Engineer I *never* ran out of Energy to fire my weapons, use my Repair Bot, etc. Looks like those 20 points make a huge difference - as I wrote above, with my Fighter I run out of energy all the time. Coming up next: How to get the most out of the early game, and have a fun and easy time with it.
[GAME GUIDE] Tutorial Missions & Early Game Now, we'll take a walk in the park and play through the 3 tutorial missions. Then, I'll layout the early game and how to get the most out of it in an easy way. Tutorial Missions, or getting your feet wet: Tutorial Mission 1 - Battle: Kill both enemy squads that show up, it's really easy. Make sure to grab any contraband they drop for a nice cash boost. This ONLY works here, as you will NOT get scanned when you enter the Dysons system. Every time afterwards, patrols will scan you and attack if you carry contraband. See below for more info. Just make double sure you sell it at Dysons before you jump out. I got 7k cash from 3x Light Drugs, enough for the first upgrades. Tutorial Mission 2 - Mining: Another easy one, teaching you about mining. I only mention it at all because it's a good idea to fill your Cargo with Gold - you can sell the excess Mr.Anderson doesn't need for some more cash. If you feel particularly bold and have an appropriate mission like "Hunt down X" available, you can take those as side missions in addition to the mining. As the tutorial mission only requires you to return to the current system's station, you have enough time to complete the side missions and earn some extra cash, loot, and XP before flying back to base. Tutorial Mission 3 - Escort: Another easy one. Just shoot everything hostile. Pay attention to when the escorted ship jumps - you only have 30 seconds then to jump yourself, so don't stray too far away from the jumpgate while hunting down baddies. Also, more importantly, do NOT carry any contraband this time. When you enter the Dysons system, its border patrol will scan you - and try very very hard to shoot you to pieces if they find anything they don't like. And with that, the tutorial is over and you are on your own, free to roam the surrounding star systems - if you don't jump to New Vegas, which will advance the storyline. I recommend to avoid New Vegas until you are fully kitted out, more on that below. Early game - more bling for the buck: First of all, note that it is by no means required to fully kit yourself out before moving to New Vegas. I simply found it convenient to do so. You can win all/most missions up to a certain point with equipment that is not the best available. And, if you are a better pilot than me (which shouldn't be hard ) and feel like a challenge, I guess you can win the whole game with only the starting ship and starting equipment. So, feel free to peel off and jump back into the storyline whenever you want. Now, what should I get of all this fancy stuff? 0) UPDATE: HG Heatseek Missiles. I am adding these even before the generator. The reason is that they are the best missiles available (and the most expensive). But only Argonite sells them, and in very limited quantities (~20 initially). So, to start their restocking process so you can get more later, it's imperative to clean out their stock as early as possible. Note that you most likely need a ship with more cargo space and/or a Cargo Expander to fit them all. You can get Nano Storage (+20 Cargo) at Stella Quies and Memphis for 5300 - 6000 creds. 1) A better generator. After some thought I put this first (now second) on the list, even before getting better weapons or shields/armor. The reason is that having the best generator early on will help you immensely to figure out if you need to invest points into the Energy and/or Recharge stats (hint: you shouldn't have to with the Engineer class). The best generator available is the BL Heavy Generator sold at Sarmis for 6100 credits. You should have just enough to afford it (note that the price of your current generator is deducted from the new one's price if you select the "Switch" option - which you should). If you want, upgrade to better in-between models as they come around on your way to Sarmis. UPDATE: If you pass through GI915 on your way to Sarmis: next to jumpgate to Sarmis, there is an asteroid field. Just to the left of the gate you should see a rather big asteroid. For me, it yielded Platinum which sells at ~200 creds each. Fill up your cargo for some easy extra cash. 2) Repair Droid. Get the Standard Repair Droid sold for ~3500 credits at Dysons. While there are two better ones, they are more expensive and need more energy to operate. The Standard model is just fine for a good while, and will make your life a lot easier. I got the upgrade to Mil.Repair Droid after upgrading to the Super Titan Armor, that was a good spot to do it. 3) Weapons. Dysons sells the Core Heavy Lasers, the third best weapon in the game. Upgrade to the Core Medium Laser first, then the Heavy Lasers when you can afford them. 4) Armor and Shield. Again, Dysons is the place to go. Get a Core Advanced Shield, and Super Titan Armor. When you can afford it, upgrade to the Core Super Shield (175 capacity, 25 Regen, 6 E.Drain, ~3400 creds at Dysons and Daedalus). After those, there's the HG Power Shield (245 capacity, 25 Regen, 6 E.Drain) for ~7100 creds at Argonite - twice the price of the Core Super Shield, but still way more affordable than the top tier shields. Better armor past the Super Titan gets expensive quite fast, hold off until you have a better ship. 5) Afterburner and Engine: At Dysons again, surprise. In whatever order you prefer, grab a Dyson Enhanced Engine (80 speed, second best in game) and Dyson Afterburner (22 seconds boost, 4.4s recharge time). 6) Better Tractor Beam. Mostly for convenience. The Tractor Beam is a cheap upgrade with increased range over the starting model. Good enough till you can afford the Standard Teleporter. Note that I don't think the Multi-Teleporter is worth it: expensive, needs a ton of energy, and how often do you really need to haul in more than one loot at the same time? 7) Extra Armor and Extra Shield: Hold off on those until you have a better ship, as they go into Equipment slots. No need to do this halfway, just get the best there is: Shield Capacitor at Argonite, Heavy Plating at Argonite/Dysons. After Dysons: Go to Argonite next, and take a look what they have on offer. I won't go into that much detail here, but they sell quite some things that are an upgrade over what you got at Dysons. Also note that Argonite sells some of the best equipment available in the whole game. When do I get a new toy? - Buying a better ship: NOTE: Get one whenever you feel like it (and can cough up the creds ) during the upgrade process outlined above. The F28 Hawk starting ship gets you surprisingly far. But you will feel the lack of equipment slots (it only has 2) and cargo space (20 only) pretty soon. If you want to be economic, it comes down to three initial choices. And whatever you pick can carry you through the whole game. a) The allrounder - BL5 Dolphin: 75 Cargo, 4 Primary Weapons, 4 Equipment Slots. Only one Missile Slot though. But that is somewhat remedied by having a Turret Slot. b) The trader and missileboat - F17 Albatross: 180 Cargo space, the largest available. Only 2 Primary Slots, but 2 Secondaries and a Turret, and 4 Equipment Slots. Lots of space for trading, and going all out with all those fancy missiles. Note though that this thing flies really sluggish, just what you'd expect from a freight hauler c) The fighter - S27 Rhino: 4 Primary Slots, 2 Secondaries, and a whopping 5 for Equipment. And good handling and speed. No Turret though; and only 55 Cargo space, which can get tight in some situations (e.g. if you want to collect missiles from various systems). But anyways, this is the best ship available if you want to fly around and happily shoot stuff up. If you need lots more Cargo space at some point, just buy an Albatross then and use that for a while until you go back to fighting. What I did, practical example: First, right after the tutorial missions, I ugpraded to 2 Core Medium Lasers, a Mil. Engine Mk2, a Repair Droid (reps 50 armor), the 550 range Tractor Beam, and also bought 10 BL Heatseek Missiles for some extra punch. I then bought 2 Medevac Kits, as I had a lot of "transport wounded" missions on offer. Easy money, and I sold the Medevacs again after I ran all the missions I wanted. Then I upgraded more or less as I outlined above, turning even the flimsy Hawk into a force to be reckoned with. Now, I almost have enough cash to upgrade to a better ship next. My first pick will be the S27 Rhino: 4 Primary Weapon slots, 2 Side Slots for Missiles/Torps, 5 Equipment slots, and good Handling and Speed. What more do you want if you like to fly around, chewing gum and kicking butts and you're all out of gum? Once I got my new ship, I'll fly some more missions to upgrade more stuff, with the Phase Disrupters being top priority. Those aside, Argonite is a great place for better equipment when you bought all you can get at Dysons for a reasonable price. Next episode we'll talk about the best equipment available, and some general this and that.
[GAME GUIDE] Best equipment, misc. stuff Last episode of our little show for now. Today, children, we will show you where you get the best of everything available. And we'll talk about some general topics too. Best equipment per type: 1) Engine: HG Prototype Engine. 85 Speed, sold at Argonite for ~8700 creds. 2) Afterburner: HG Prototype Afterburner. 28 seconds boost time, 4 seconds recharge time. Argonite, 9500 creds. 3) Generator: BL Heavy Generator. 38 Output, 300 Storage. Lilla & Sarmis for ~6000 creds. Note that the description implies that there is an even more powerful military model; however, if it exists, I did not find it yet. 4) Shield: Two options here, coming down to personal preference: a) Core Bombing Shield - 400 Strength, 20 Regeneration, 10 Energy Drain, Dysons for a whopping 20000 creds. b) HG Force Shield - 350 Capacity, 25 Regeneration, 10 Energy Drain, ~17k creds at Argonite. 5) Armor: Tellurium Armor. 280 Armor Points. Sarmis & Whitehead for 12000 creds. 6) Primary Weapon: a) Phase Disrupter. 65 dps for only 1 energy. Dysons exclusive, for a hefty 18000 creds each. b) Argonite has the HG Laser Mk3 that does more damage/second at 72 dps for 3 energy, for ~12k creds. But it has 0% EMP effect, vs the Disrupter's 50%. On the other hand, it's cheaper by ~6k. So, for pure firepower the HG Laser is slightly better than the Disrupter. But you'll need EMP in some story missions, and it disables enemy ships before you destroy them completely, balancing the Disrupter's lower total damage nicely. Go with the Disrupter for overall better usefulness despite slightly less DPS. Or, go with half/half - e.g. 2 Disrupters and 2 HG Lasers in the Rhino's 4 slots. UPDATE: Playing Fighter Class now, I went with HG Lasers for general combat, and keep the Phase Disrupters in my cargo for when I need their EMP. Especially with the Fighter's two skills that increase your damage output, the HG Laser is far superior to the Disrupter, as long as you do not need EMP. 7) Missiles: The best available is the HG Heatseek Mk1. 180 damage, and the shortest reload time with 1.5s . Combine it with a heavy hitter like the IAR Missile Mk3 (300 damage, 5s reload), and you just turned into a veritable missile-spewing monster. Note though that the HG Heatseek is very rare, so best save it for the really tough fights. The BL Heatseek is a good alternative, with the second fastest reload at 3s, but only 130 damage per shot. Except for the IAR Mk3, go with whatever is available in sufficiently large numbers. In the long run it doesn't matter much what you use, and more that you have enough of them to blast away to your heart's content. 8) Torpedo: HG Energy Torpedo. 200 damage per shot, for a hefty 100 energy. Sold at Dysons and Argonite for 13k - 14k creds. 9) Misc. Equipment: a) Tractor Beam: The Standard Teleporter is the best bang for the buck, as I already explained earlier. 750 range, 2 delay, 10 energy. Sold at e.g. Dysons for 5500 creds. b) Repair Kit: Dyson Repair Kit. 95 armor repair, 70 energy drain, 10 seconds reload. Sold at Dysons and New Vegas for ~14k creds. Note that there is another Repair Kit "Nano Repair Bots" that repairs 100 armor points, but has a lot slower reload and higher energy drain. Clearly inferior in my book. c) Extra Armor: Heavy Plating. 35 extra armor. Sold at Argonite and Dysons for 7k - 8k creds. UPDATE: Just found Extra Armor Mk2, also +35 armor, and cheaper at 4200 - 5000 creds on Daedalus and Greenfields. d) Extra Shield: Shield Capacitor. 43 extra shield, 34 energy drain. ~9300 creds at Argonite. e) Storage: Nano Storage, 20 more Cargo space. Sold at e.g. Stella Quies and Memphis for 5k - 6k creds. f) Med Evac: Med Evac Kit. 4 Capacity, 7 Energy Drain. E.g. at Argonite and Daedalus for ~3.5k creds. g) Passenger Cabin: 5 Person Cabin. 5 Capacity, obviously. 20 Energy Drain. E.g at Hope and Sarmis for ~7.5k creds. h) Smuggler Compartment. There is only one version. Capacity for 5 contraband, whopping 50 Energy Drain. Sold at e.g. Lilla and Zerand for ~10k creds. i) Battery: I never used an extra battery extension, so I don't have the data readily at hand. f) Scanners: Same as with the battery extension, I never used those, so cannot comment. Some General Notes: Buying and selling: Contrary to convention in many other games, you do NOT make a loss when selling stuff. E.g. a Med Evac Kit sells for 3000 at Daedalus; when you buy it back later, you'll pay the same price for it. Use this to your advantage to save some inventory space if needed; and, more importantly, to stock up on missiles (see below). Contraband and you: If you enter a civilised system (aka most), a patrol will scan you for contraband and attack you if they find any. I don't know if that has any longterm effects (e.g. turning patrols hostile permanently), as I decided to stay on good terms with them. To avoid that, equip a Smuggler's Compartment. While it's expensive and uses an equipment slot and lots of energy, it earns it's price back pretty fast. IMPORTANT: However, it is not strictly necessary. After the border patrol scanned you, or if you stay in-system and don't jump out, you can pick up contraband to your heart's content - just sell it at the station you are currently at before jumping to a different system. Pirates of the Carrib...wait, wrong movie: Before a certain story mission, the two Insurgents systems Procyon and Zerand are VERY dangerous places, brimming with pirates. While you can easily get shot to pieces there, the upside is that you can destroy a lot of pirates in no time and grab lots of nice loot. A word on weapons: The Phase Disrupter you can get at Dysons (and only there) is the overall best primary weapon in the game. However, at first you can buy only two. And they restock really slowly, I think one in ~5 hours of gametime. So, make getting those a priority, right after buying a better ship (or even before that, if you are rather impatient ). Also rather important, as it's not obvious from their description: The Torpedoes do not use ammunition like the missiles do. Rather, you buy them once (hence the high prices); and when equipped they generate their own ammunition, using your ship's energy supply. While you rarely need them, when you do they come in quite handy. Note that torps are flying too slow to hit anything other than the broadside of a barn ... as in capital ship or stationary target. Against enemy fighters - even the slower-moving bombers - they are quite useless, and you are much better off using missiles. Missile supplies: If you have a similar playstyle to mine, you'll chew through your missile supplies like no tomorrow. Procyon and Zerand are great places to stock up. I do recommend to get an Albatross (180 Cargo, largest available), and optionally equip Nano Storage(s) on it for another +20 Cargo each. Then buy every missile you come across and store them in a central place like e.g. Dysons: just sell them there, they won't disappear. As additional side effect, with their stocks depleted, these stations will slowly start restocking so you can buy more later. UPDATE: I am playing a Fighter Class now, and with the two skills that increase your damage output, I need a lot less missiles than with the Engineer. Repair Kits: You can only have one equipped at a time. When you equip a second one - doesn't matter if it's the same model or a different one - the first one automatically gets unequipped. Too bad, having e.g. 2 Dyson Repair Kits would be nice for a Tank. --> @c0mas: What's the reason behind this? Balance concerns, I assume? Speed Races: With the possible exception of really sluggish ships like the Albatross (Handling 53, Afterburner Bonus 125) and Dolphin (Handling 58, Afterburner Bonus 135), you should be able to win any race with any ship. I did win a few with the Dolphin, in fact; but with a Handling stat of 125 and 115 Speed stat. If you really need the best Handling available, the F28 Hawk starting ship is your best friend. It has the highest stats of all ships, with Handling 93 and Afterburner 150.
Balance indeed and interface issues ... would have been difficult to add more "repair buttons" and to identify which one is linked to a button.
Thanks for the info, c0mas! By the way, almost forgot: If you want to link to my guide posts or copy them to your homepage, feel free to do so. Permission happily granted
Thank you very much! I was about to ask that and I think its the first proper made guide to Stellar Wanderer.
Most welcome And yep, it is. I looked around a bit yesterday, was searching for some details, but couldn't find anything. Then I started to make notes, and the rest is the history... I need to add a short piece about the races tomorrow, and a list of missile stats and which ones you can buy where. And then it's pretty much done. I don't feel like the story missions need a guide, those are all pretty self-explanatory; and that Science mission was the only really tough one till now.
Like I suggested earlier, just having Mr.Anderson's ship recover full health with each jump might be enough already. If you don't have to pay really close attention that two folks (him and you) don't blow up, it'll be a lot easier. No problem with having a tougher mission or three
QUESTION: How does Battery, Power & Energy Drain work? @c0mas: Can you explain exactly how Battery, Power (from Generator) and Energy Drain works? I just equipped a Shield Upgrade Mk2, which is listed with 23 Energy Drain. But that does not show in the "Battery" line in the Hangar as I'd expect, i.e. it doesn't say "23/300 Battery" but still "0/300 Battery". But a Medevac Kit - 7 Energy Drain - shows as "7/300 Battery". I'm trying to figure out when it is better to equip a Shield Upgrade or Extra Armor, to add that to the guide.
Game Guide update summary I updated the game guides with new/additional information, summary: 1) Added note on the Fighter Class that running out of Energy no longer is a problem. 2) Added section on getting the HG Heatseek Missiles first to "Early Game". 3) Info on mining Platinum in GI915 on way to Sarmis to get the best generator. 4) Added info on HG Lasers being superior to Phase Disrupters especially when playing Fighter Class to the "Best Primary Weapon" section. 5) Added note that with Fighter Class I need a lot less missiles to "Missiles Supplies" section of the General Notes. 6) Added section on Speed Races to the General Notes.
Well the shields, are a bit special, about 5 seconds after the last damage inflicted, the shields start to recharge, the "energy drain" in their stats represents the energy units used per second of recharging, so its practically reducing the generator output while the shield is recharging I think it might be quite a penalty when your shields are low and the primary weapons are too energy hungry for the equipped generator.
Okay, for Shields I think I get it. Example: I use the HG Force Shield with 10 Energy Drain. So, when my Shield is depleted, it drains 10 Energy from the Generator output while it's recharging. But, how does the Shield Capacitor work then? Does it drain an additional 34 per second from the Generator when the Shield recharges? Or does it permanently reduce my Generator output by 34 (which would make it less useful)? Or does it reduce my Battery capacity like e.g. equipping a Medevac does (I assume that's what it's doing)? Oh, and those explanations should be in the game somewhere.
Also, wishlist As those were spread over several posts, I am repeating them for your convenience. Plus, some new ones. 1) Medevac with Capacity 10. 2) Passenger Cabin with Capacity 10. 3) Cargo Expander with more than 20, say 40 or 50. Wouldn't mind if that one drains energy. 4) Remove the capacity restriction from the Smuggler's compartment. With 50 Energy Drain, it's limiting enough already I think. 5) Change the Multi-Teleporter to drain a lot less energy. The single Teleporter drains 10, so I think 25 for the Multi would be ok. Currently it drains 70 or so, which makes it far less attractive than the Single. 6) Change the Nano Repair Kit (the most expensive one). With its current stats, it's clearly inferior to the Dyson Repair Kit. My suggestion: 125 Repair points, 75 Energy Drain, 15 seconds reload. Then it's down to player preference if you want less repair with shorter reload or more repair with longer reload.
(I was offline/off the grid ... in the mountains for a day) The shield capacitor is just like a passive equipment (it permanently increases the maximum shield capacity and also it permanently consumes a portion of the battery).
No worries hope you had a nice day out. Okay, makes sense. But shouldn't it then show as draining part of the battery, e.g. as "Battery 20/300"? That part is missing currently.
whitehead superring How to win the second race in the story the whitehead superring i lose everytime the race that is after save donna and made a couple of missions in hope then mr smith come back and you have to win the race
Hey, sorry for the late reply, there was little action here ... and it seems notifications somehow failed for me. So, the race missions are all about speed and afterburner First advice would be to get a good afterburner (all it matters is the burn time, try IRA AFB MK3 or DYSON AFB, but for the secondary race I think even CORE ADVANCED AFB would be enough). The engine is also important, of course, try an engine with a speed above 70 or 75 (higher even better). Also on the race missions the ship you use is quite important since all ships have an afterburner ration (how much the speed increases on afterburner). A good race ship for the first couple races would have a ratio of 1.5 (F37 Sparrow or F28 Hawk or I15 Hyena) also good for all races would be I25 Wolf with a ratio of 1.75 but that is a bit more expensive. As strategy ... just hit the afterburner as soon as it gets charged ... every time it gets charged ... and don't miss any gate. I hope it helps
