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Well that completely throws every single one of my plans out the window. update last page
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Oct 25, 2017 18:29
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| # ? May 22, 2024 09:58 |
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Commander Keene posted:Does it recharge while not connected to the ship? Can you use it, spend the week refitting your original drive, go on that for a month and a half, then refit the Hyperdrive to use it again? Recalling my own time in this game, I think so, but very few trips are under two months. There's reasons to unequip the hyperdrive but saving time isn't one of them.
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Oct 25, 2017 18:32
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In certain rare circumstances, the hyperdrive charge time can be a big problem. You can keep a spare engine round or you can accept the risk. But yeah, time is not really the issue when you're losing months and you have 10 years in hand. I'm going to play the rest of this one tonight after work, so that gives you 8-10 hours to decide what to do with the equipment. Are we still going with the circular route? Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 20:20 on Oct 25, 2017 |
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Oct 25, 2017 20:14
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Also, it sounds like the Hyperdrive is unaffected by Nebulas and their bullshit.
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Oct 25, 2017 20:22
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 well, I've never had a game turn out quite like that...
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Oct 26, 2017 07:36
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Jaguars! posted:
Oh dear.
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Oct 26, 2017 14:30
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Jaguars! posted:
They don't call 'em strange adventures because they're predictable.
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Oct 27, 2017 02:53
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Commander Keene posted:Does it recharge while not connected to the ship? Can you use it, spend the week refitting your original drive, go on that for a month and a half, then refit the Hyperdrive to use it again? About the only thing you're missing out on when hyperdriving is the occasional black hole between the stars. It is prudent to keep a spare FTL in case of emergencies, but for general travel? FTL wins almost every time. It's really quite something.
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Oct 27, 2017 07:27
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 Voyage 3.2: Captain Jingles of HMS TOG  The HMS TOG after upgrades. Now, If I know my cancelled WWII insurance-policy-against-the-return-of-trench-warfare tanks, then priorities are massive weapons first, armour barely adequate, and engines not at all. Capt Jingles has worked on the principle that the more exotic the name, the more effective it is.  We've seen the Micrometeorite Gun already, it was the mysterious white cloud of particles that took out the Muktian Fighter in Kirk's playthrough. By inundating a shield with thousands of impact points, it breaks down the network that normally allows a shield to focus energy on the single point of impact of a conventional weapon. And of course, it's pretty good at smacking holes in ship hulls as well. But since Jingles is the first one to see it for more than a few seconds, he gets the credit as discoverer.  Hyperdrive engage!  Another Interesting weapon (and hilarious to try and use)  At Ishtar, Jingles hires the Moon Marauder. The Plasma blaster is powerful and compact - the perfect payment.  Jingles decides against contacting these aliens just now - those fighters likely mean trouble. The hasty escape vector ends up at Acheron, but it hardly matters.   The world of Apocalypse - Surprisingly there are aliens in the neighborhood! Jingles has to give up the micrometeorite gun as payment and installs the fission torpedo pod in the second weapon bay.  Hmmm.... To breeze in in style, or to effortlessly show up?  The Zorg helmsman takes TOG to Zappa.  Well, he can hardly back away from one ship.  It's the Urluquai!   Ships in attacking formation! Take the flanks!Uh. Well, that was easy. Torpedoes are the way of the future, I guess. The TOG gets a classy new shield. It's not quite as powerful as the one on the Enterprise, but it's much better than the Gluon shield.  And the Gluon shield can be traded for the Plasma Coil Cloaker! Heh, heh, heh... ...I'm looking forward to seeing what this baby can do!
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Oct 27, 2017 11:41
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Wow. This space really wanted you to explore everywhere. Does the map scroll or is this all we've got?
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Oct 28, 2017 01:31
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Nope, that's it. Things go a bit crazy when you get the hyperdrive. At one point I'd explored virtually all the stars with less than 2 years elapsed.
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Oct 28, 2017 08:42
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Voyage 3.3: Captain Jingles of HMS TOG  The next destination is Anthem.  The Particle Vortex Cannon is by far the most complex and powerful piece of machinery yet encountered. Electroonics, Hydraulics, even mechanical parts that shake the whole ship as they accelerate to a million rpm in a few seconds. Drop a keycard or pen in the room and it's an even bet as to whether it will slam to the floor and become immovable, or fly up to the ceiling in it's own personal anti-grav field. Crew members doing shifts in the weapon bay sometimes become profoundly depressed for no reason and have to be manhandled back to the sick bay. The Klakar won't even allow it to be test fired and advise against powering it up in populated systems.  More Urluquai are detected on Dagon. Jingles avoids them.  Iblis appears to be the Muktian Homeworld. They at least have the courtesy to warn off intruders, so Jingles avoids them for the moment.  A massive crab is caught on Keph.  The now obsolete tachyon ray gun is traded for a signature projector.  The next stop is Pax, well within range for the helmsman to fold space.  But Pax is not a place to stay long!  This is the one downside of the hyperdrive. Get caught in this event and you'll always keep a spare means of transportation around!  This is gonna give the Zorg Helmsman one hell of a headache.  They get away to the planet of Yath, in the Vesta system. Jingles' away team finds a pretty advanced warp drive.  On the way to Gygax, Sensors on a bearing to Pax burn out as an apocalyptic, weeks-long explosion lights up the whole sector.
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Oct 29, 2017 01:08
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You're really hitting the jackpot on these ship upgrades, huh? Surprised you didn't take on those Urluquai to show off what the PVC can do.
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Oct 29, 2017 01:12
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It's always tempting. But with such a setup, I tend to avoid encounters and try to hoover up every useful bit of technology I can before going on the offense. It's not like we'll run out of time.
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Oct 29, 2017 01:14
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Jaguars! posted:
Uh.  Well, if that's a weapon we can get, please actually get it!
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Oct 29, 2017 02:14
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Aesculus posted:Uh. Jaguars! posted:
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Oct 29, 2017 02:27
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Do you not have a conventional drive to escape the Nova with the Hyperdrive installed?
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Oct 29, 2017 03:22
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I used the Zorg Helmsman to fold space to the nearest planet. He works like the hyperdrive but only within two parsecs ( I assume two grid squares on the map). He hadn't recovered from the previous trip, but the game allowed me to use him on the getaway anyway. Co-incidentally I had traded the crab monster for the original warp drive as a backup as well, so we had triple redundancy in the end.
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Oct 29, 2017 03:55
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Sign up for an interstellar adventure! Voyage 3.4: Captain Jingles of HMS TOG Things seem to be going well. On arrival at Gygax Jingles finds another ship detector.  The only systems left are inhabited by hostile aliens. Jingles chooses Dagon as a known location of the nasty Urluquai.  Uncloak and fire the Particle Vortex Cannon!   Great Scott, they stood no chance! Let's see what damage there was and get underway again. Where'd he come from? They must have a cloaking device.Form up facing outward and we'll get him on the next run! Hmmm... ...it's probably a bit weak from the cloaker taking up internal space. While the away team is capturing the Megamoeba, everyone else is busy repairing the ships systems.   The Zorg ship Kuti has also taken considerable damage. Even when the TOG is finished, it takes 2 more days to finish hull patching.  And then it's FTL drive needs repairing.  Here's the Kuti, by the way. It's the ship the Zorg Helmsman uses and it's a full size corvette, quite a bit more advanced than Terran hypercorvettes, although the TOG is so stuffed with exotic systems that it's probably more powerful.  The Hyperdrive has been charged during repairs and everyone is ready to take on the next planet.    The particle vortexer makes this easy! But these rifts in causality are a bit alarming...Get the other ships out of the way and I'll get behind it with the cloak on. Why can't that scout get out of the way faster... They're firing at it! And it's hitting us! Oh poo poo! Turn off the cloak so we can fire!    Thus ends the Voyage of the HMS TOG. It lasted 2 years, 2 months and 15 days. Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 11:40 on Oct 30, 2017 |
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Oct 30, 2017 09:04
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Do not rejoice when your prayers are answered, for your enemy doubtless prays as well.
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Oct 30, 2017 11:06
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Man, I really thought I had that game sussed. It should have been so easy to sneak round behind and blast him to pieces, showing off the cloaking device as well.
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Oct 30, 2017 23:57
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Have you got shields off with the cloak on, or was that just too much firepower to deal with?
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Oct 31, 2017 01:50
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The shields are still up, they're the circular blue flash each time the TOG gets hit. They go down after the third vortex ball thing and the ship takes about three or four hits before the secondary explosions start.
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Oct 31, 2017 02:05
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Sign up for an interstellar adventure! Voyage 4.1: Captain Grosvenor of Hawk User Habituallyred!   Captain Grosvenor of the Hawk is in orbit around Xanadu.  Here's the novel items:     Most others should be available to see on the second post of this thread.   That's my kind of mission. Does this include potentially friendly species such as the Muktians?You have about 48 hours to plan your mission.
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Oct 31, 2017 11:50
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Just a little heads up, I'm away this weekend, but I need to record this round before I leave, so that's tonight in about 2 - 7 hours. With a bit of luck I'll be able to do a short update on Sunday night. If Habituallyred doesn't post, I'll accept route suggestions from other players, so feel free to hypothesize the best ways to go about it.
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Nov 2, 2017 02:52
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Start off with the Hyperdrive, Fission Torpedo Pod, and the Pulse Detonation Thruster. Trade one of the Chainguns for the Hyperdrive just in case we run into a nova. Trade the Shield for the Full spectrum analyzer and start looking at planets with nothing orbiting them. When we run out of those get the shield back and start our attacks. Don't hesitate to bring in the Klakar once we start our attack runs. Save friendly species for later, if they bend the knee in response to our hiring of a mercenary or something spare them. If possible I would say, "Let the only Glory that remains be our own," but even in the sequel that takes a lot of luck.
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Nov 2, 2017 06:25
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Nice, I've even got enough time to write the update for the peaceful planets! Sign up for an interstellar adventure! Voyage 4.2: Captain Grosvenor of Hawk  This is what the ship is like after the initial trading round.  Grosvenor fires up the new scanner immediately. Herding round a weak ship isn't his idea of fun, so he decides to go elsewhere. So much for the code of the sea!  This is more typical of what you get from the scanner.  Unfortunately the planet has hostile aliens nearby, so Grosvenor retreats.  This filter array will help avoid that in future.  Another common scanner result.  Often these empty planets will yield some sort of functional system.  In the Cinnabar system, a new alien species is encountered! Luckily this one is willing to deal, because the species is quite warlike.   Grosvenor doesn't have any suitable weapon or defense upgrades to pay, so instead gives the Garthian a guidance computer.    A Rare and valuble artifact in the Omen system.   And on Tempest, a vicious bee species.  Best kept as loot, to be honest. I think it's just a one shot version of the scanner.  An extremely useful find in the Brin system, this shield is fitted to the Hawk. Garthian fighters are built tough, but lack shields, so the Gluon shield is fitted to the Slasher  On the way out to Terminus, an abandoned ship is discovered. Wary of ancient security systems, the Slasher closes using high speed passes before the Hawk docks to explore.   Strange space beings still lurk in the eerie vessel.  In obit around Terminus, the scan proves useful in avoiding a nova event.
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Nov 2, 2017 08:25
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Wow, novas are surprisingly common out here in infinite space. ...also I played the hell out of the cardboard dice game based on this game, so seeing the ship silhouettes and weapon names and stuff is a little hit of nostalgia.
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Nov 3, 2017 00:46
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That's really neat! I had no idea such a thing existed! I think the Nova may be related to the hyperdrive - I don't remember encountering it in games without the drive, although I could well be wrong. Our old friend A. E. Van Vogt has popped up again, by the way; Grosvenor is the main character in the novel Voyage of the space beagle that we found in the brass time capsule early on.
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Nov 3, 2017 01:23
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Ah, we've met the Garthans at last. Their fighter is fragile but quite dangerous if you distract an enemy with a bigger ship and use it to flank.
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Nov 4, 2017 01:06
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Yes, I think most Garthian Ships are armed with chainguns, but they can still be very dangerous.
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Nov 6, 2017 09:29
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Thanks for waiting. No time for a full update just yet, but let's see what captain Grosvenor gets up to next, shall we? Sign up for an interstellar adventure! Voyage 4.3: Captain Grosvenor of Hawk   Hyperaggresive does not mean suicidal.  The diversion ends up at Amber. Of small consequence thanks to the hyperdrive.  That's more the speed.  Battle is joined as the fighters swarm.  One Urluquai is walks into a hail of chaingun bullets.  And the guidance computer on the Slasher has an unexpected synergy with the chaingun. You don't want that combo on your tail!  With the fighters out of the way, the Slasher takes off on a decoy run while the Hawk takes on the other cruiser by feat of arms.  The decoy works! Battle is joined again as Grosvenor takes out the shield with a torpedo and rips apart the hull of the unfortunate Urluquai Corvette.  With a number of hull ruptures, the Hawk needs to break contact, but the thrusters are too slow to escape the Urluquai!  In desperation, Grosvenor hits the emergency button on the Beacon that the Klakar gave to him.  The huge Klakar ship lays into the remaining Urluquai!  It has to be said that they do most of the heavy lifting for the rest of the battle.  Of course, the Klakar will exact their toll. The Piranha Bee is given up.  However, to the winner the spoils.  With damage repaired, it's onward to new frontiers...
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Nov 7, 2017 11:33
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The Klakkar are always so reasonable and yet so smugly self-assured  Their ship is very powerful but not invincible. It wouldn't have beaten that mega-fleet earlier in the update. But they can and will get you out of trouble if you don't mind tossing them something from your cargo bay. We also saw fighters do what they do best - distract bigger enemies. Of note is that when the Klakkar trade ship appears, it plays the hyperdrive sound effect - presumably that's who builds the things.
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Nov 7, 2017 11:43
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The Slasher is quite effective now, but the flip side of that is that if it gets blown up, a sizeable portion of the score goes with it. That's the main problem with the Klakar too - the payment they demand will directly affect your score. That said, I should use them more often. The other thing that we saw is a little frustration with the game - the low tier thrusters can leave you at the mercy of the enemy. Some games can leave you with the starting thrusters and you'd better hope you get good weapons to compensate!
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Nov 7, 2017 12:08
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Well, at least you've got an emergency call to get out of these horrible overwhelming battles.
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Nov 7, 2017 17:22
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Yeah, it does help. There are some pretty nasty ships out there on the hard levels!
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Nov 7, 2017 21:03
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Sign up for an interstellar adventure! Voyage 4.4: Captain Grosvenor of Hawk  From here out it's hostile aliens everywhere. Grosvenor departs.   Hmmm, something is missing...  but the fighters go down easy enough.  Ahhh, there it is.  Grosvenor doesn't hesitate to call the Klakar in again. The Urluquai have got the positioning and close in, they have their prey in their sights. They hit the Hawk's thrusters and the poor ship can't get away. The once proud Hawk fails as the pilot of the Slasher dies the death of a proud Garthian.   Oh dear. Seems I'm not actually much good at this game  I'm very sorry to have failed you once again, and it's rather embarrassing that my test games remain at the top of the scoreboard (Wish I'd thought to wipe them first), especially as the last two games would probably have topped the scoreboard.
Jaguars! fucked around with this message at 06:30 on Nov 8, 2017 |
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Nov 8, 2017 06:27
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drat. Maybe future captains will want to take your combat skills into account?
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Nov 9, 2017 03:01
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Guess so! Some of it is that it's such a short game that you just start again when you strike out. None of the games I've played in this LP have lasted more than 20 minutes. A lot of it is down to luck too - Reactionless thrusters make things much easier when your corvette is as manoeuvrable as a fighter, or with a cloaking device you can chip away at any pace you like. The Urluquai are not a desperately hard fight, it's just the way they surround you can be fatal for a slow ship.
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Nov 9, 2017 03:59
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| # ? May 22, 2024 09:58 |
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I've decided to join in, as a Captain who definitely thinks discretion is the better part of valour.
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Nov 9, 2017 22:16
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