Mmmm.

Lone 'PC Race here' 'PC Description here' in a hostile 'milieu here' against 'great evil here' is hardly an unexplored trope.  Saying 'you are incompetent to use fwifo's ship in combat against the sylandro probes - there are specific tactics  A B and C that work' is a legitimate criticism of my playstyle. Or that I just don't like a combat minigame that is a twitchgame.

That's actually kinda what I'd expected - I'm missing something fundamental about the tactics. Wouldn't be the first time.

However, that . . . doesn't appear to be the answer I'm receiving - This seems to be the 'expected' behavior, with explanations ranging from 'don't use a rock versus paper' to 'you're a lone human Captain in a hostile universe'  - well, apologies but being an adventure game doesn't make A balance issue a 'feature', and if this *isn't* a failing in my mastering tactics (annoying but possible), and this *isn't* a twitchgame I have to either master or leave (Annoying because I don't like twitchgames and will probably quit rather than messing with) . . . then this is an adventure game with severe balance issues.  Nethack drops the 1st level character on . . . the 1st level of the dungeon, with equipment just barely sufficient to make it to DL 2.  Saying you shouldn't expect an adventure game to *not* simply drop your level 1 character into level 10, naked, seem to ignore most of my experience in adventure games.

But, at the end of the day, some people obviously like it this way, I'm just not one of them. Time to use that "Satisfaction guaranteed or double your money back" warranty!

Jonnan

So, what I'm getting off this is -

There's one ship type that shows up immediately. You find it in systems and hyperspace immediately. I've found three planets with life forms that you can get to (but not escape from) and possibly get enough info to trade with the Melnorme (I've found others, but all weather 6 or tectonics 8 planets) for something that would actually help.

This ship type is the one you should under no circumstance engage at this tech level, because it will kill you?

What . . . fun . . . 

I'm maxed out on thrusters (Both types) already - that's a large portion of what makes this so annoying. I don't see any way to effectively maneuver in the small space provided - almost as soon as I'm out of range in one direction, I'm in range in another.

I might be able to master this as a twitch game, and if it was even vaguely realistic I might even be inclined to do so, but learning a twitch game about how to beat an opponent that doesn't miss on a toroidal map approximately the size of a broom closet is . . . neither fun nor realistic.

It may simply be I'm better suited to playing Nethack.

Jonnan

My apologies - after hearing about this game for a long time, I wanted to try it. By and large I like it (It reminds me a lot of Starflight, another game I enjoyed), right until I deal with combat.

The long and the short is even after the wiki, I'm not getting how to do combat. I've only been able to afford thruster and speed, and one re-firing gun, and every Sylandro probe I run across completely wipes me out. I certainly can't get anywhere in the game because of them, the only ships I have are even less useful than the main vessel.

Basically, the combat area is so small I can't disengage or get any breathing space, do any tactical maneuvering, engage the enemy on anything less then the AI's terms, and of course the instant there is any possibility of any tactical advantage the enemy disengages and hits you from the other side of the screen, since (not effectively being limited the the 8 cardinal directions) it can basically always hit.

So basically the enemy can attack at will and I die. For a game that is so well thought of, I'm finding a combat system so hideous to be a real frustration.

Any assistance on how to actually manuever in this toroidal-space mess would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks - Jonnan