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News: Celebrating 30 years of Star Control 2 - The Ur-Quan Masters

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salsaman
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What the heck ?
« on: December 11, 2013, 12:11:43 am »

So there I was playing, a few hours into the game...then suddenly an Ur-quan appears, and tells me something like "All of your allies have been destroyed and so has your home planet starbase". And that was it - game over.

So what did I do wrong !???
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Anthony
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #1 on: December 11, 2013, 01:00:20 am »

Was it the Kohr-Ah (black Ur-Quan)?  The game itself has a time limit, until sometime in 2159.  If you can, load an older save and try to progress through the main plot faster before they start taking over.

http://wiki.uqm.stack.nl/Star_Control_II_Gameplay_FAQ#Is_there_a_time_limit_to_the_game.3F

I was shocked too when this happened in my first playthroughs.
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salsaman
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #2 on: December 11, 2013, 10:12:14 am »

Yeah, I guess that is what happened.

I am really disappointed, I thought I was doing OK in the game, building up my flagship and landers, I had contacted a few alien races, persuaded 3 to join me. I had just solved the mystery of the probes and found my first rainbow planet. I had explored about 50% of the map.

I really don't see how the game could have gone much faster. My ship has only just about now got the fuel capacity/resources to start exploring the farther half of the map.

Also for me, the enjoyment of the game was going through it at a leisurely pace, exploring the galaxy and gradually building up my technology. If I have to rush through within some time limit then I am afraid it takes all the fun out of it for me.

I guess I will leave the game for now. I really can't be bothered starting again from scratch and rushing through things a second time.


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onpon4
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #3 on: December 11, 2013, 02:04:43 pm »

I really don't see how the game could have gone much faster. My ship has only just about now got the fuel capacity/resources to start exploring the farther half of the map.

Start over, and this time don't waste time exploring systems you don't need to explore and collecting minerals that aren't that valuable.

Also for me, the enjoyment of the game was going through it at a leisurely pace, exploring the galaxy and gradually building up my technology. If I have to rush through within some time limit then I am afraid it takes all the fun out of it for me.

You don't need to rush. Knowing everything about the game, I can beat it in no more than 2 years or so. You just need to be efficient with your time.

You know how Hays suggests you spend "several months or even a year" gathering minerals? He means that long and only that long. If you spend, say, three years mining stuff, you're pretty much dead if you don't know everything about the game.

So start over. This time, pay close attention to and write down what people are saying. At the start of the game, mine planets that have good minerals (no minerals less valuable than noble gases are worth your time and fuel) until you have built up and balanced your ship, then follow the leads you have been writing down, starting with the ones closest to you. Collect minerals along the way.

Also, be efficient with your travel. Every trip for mining should take you to multiple systems, so have plenty of fuel, crew, and cargo space to mine for that long. There's a guy on YouTube who was doing a let's play of UQM; he was losing ridiculous amounts of time because he was worried about spending his RUs for some reason and kept giving himself just barely enough fuel to maybe be able to do his business in one system. (EDIT: And he was trying to "explore" every single star, which is unnecessary and unrealistic within the 5-year time limit.) The result was he was barely getting anything and on each trip and sometimes having a net loss of RUs.

EDIT: If you're having trouble understanding why the time limit is necessary, just think about what a game would be like if someone systematically visited every single star in the galaxy rather than actually paying attention to the dialog. The game would be boring. The time limit is a way of telling you that it's the wrong way to play.
« Last Edit: December 11, 2013, 04:23:27 pm by onpon4 » Logged

Grand Master Planet Eater
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #4 on: December 14, 2013, 04:14:23 am »

Did you find the Quasispace Portal? It lets you travel across the map a lot faster.
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #5 on: December 14, 2013, 06:08:22 am »

I played through at the age of 15,  right through to the end.   I had no idea there was a "bad" ending.  Once I picked up the plot I ploughed right through.   


 I totally missed the  insinuation by the Melnorme trader that there was a time-limit.

To date this remains the BEST sci-fi universe game I've played. 
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2013, 03:44:28 am »

There's also a couple tips I used to save time in later playthroughs:

1. The sooner you max out thrusters the better, you spend less time moving between stars. Manuevering jets also minimize the time you spend turning in hyperspace. Those should be your first priority.
2. A few of the dialogue tree's name the location of Rainbow Planets.
3. Early on, you can fill up your fuel tanks by spending credits from the Melnorme, then head to your base to sell them off for RUs. Repeat on the way to refuel.
4. Some races may gift you ships. If you don't think you need them, sell them and use the RU's on your flagship.
5. If you can find the Aruilu, they may give you a faster form of travel.
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Death 999
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2013, 05:19:54 pm »

1. The sooner you max out thrusters the better, you spend less time moving between stars. Manuevering jets also minimize the time you spend turning in hyperspace. Those should be your first priority.

THIS.

You should not be spending real-life hours in hyperspace.
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #8 on: December 21, 2013, 12:31:36 am »

IIRC you *can* max out thrusters just from mining in Sol - at the least, you probably shouldn't bother buying anything but thrusters while you're mining out Sol. Turning jets don't really become important until you start using the flagship in combat. (you can reduce time spent turning in Hyperspace by turning in the right direction before leaving a solar system - it still takes game time, but time passes much more slowly than it does in Hyperspace.)
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #9 on: December 28, 2013, 04:42:10 pm »

Also for me, the enjoyment of the game was going through it at a leisurely pace, exploring the galaxy and gradually building up my technology. If I have to rush through within some time limit then I am afraid it takes all the fun out of it for me.

When I first played the game, I went at a leisurely pace too.  I had no trouble finishing before the Kohr-Ah time limit.  Of course, I was playing the PC version where the Melnorme were always talking about their chrono-spike thingy which gave me some clue that I didn't have forever to wander around.  UQM is based off the 3DO version of the game, if I'm not mistaken, which unfortunately does not include that bit.

If there's one thing I'd like to see re-introduced to the game, it's that.  Even if there's no voice work for it, I feel like it's an important bit of info for newbies.  Not because it tells them exactly how long they have remaining or anything, but just because it's a regular reminder that they don't have forever.  That's all it ever told me, and all it needed to.

Also, IIRC, the rate at which time passes in the game is somehow based on the CPU clock speed.  Modern computers are much faster than the ones we had when the game first came out, so perhaps that means time wasted moving around solar systems is "more wasted" now than originally intended.
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onpon4
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Re: What the heck ?
« Reply #10 on: December 28, 2013, 07:55:53 pm »

Also, IIRC, the rate at which time passes in the game is somehow based on the CPU clock speed.  Modern computers are much faster than the ones we had when the game first came out, so perhaps that means time wasted moving around solar systems is "more wasted" now than originally intended.

Actually, that means the opposite: that when you have a low frame rate, you don't lose time faster. Think of it this way: if you're going slower, and the clock doesn't slow down along with you, it takes more in-game time to get from point A to point B, reducing the amount of time you have. Of course, I'm pretty sure that indeed SC2 times based on frames, so everyone has the same chance of winning the game in time.
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