I’ve merely opened a fraction of the solar systems found in my galaxy (there are about 200 in total and vary from game to game). On the map, each system has a number associated with it, which is the level you’ll need to achieve in order to break the blockade (if you wish you fight your way through; there are others ways). Each system has two factions, civilians and the UTA (don’t ask me what it stands for, I don’t remember) and each gate is blockaded by the UTA, and each system has a station for each faction, and these can sometimes house blueprints which you’ll need to gain better equipment. You need to be nice nice with the folks you wanna buy this stuff from, which is where the fun begins…

After the jump, I’ll tell you which one of you I like…

The interesting thing about factions in Space Pirates and Zombies is that they’re totally self-contained within their systems. Whereas you might be loved by civilians and hated by the UTA in your current system, jumping to the next system might give you the reverse scenario. The reason for this in the game world is some cataclysm or some such nonsense that made all of the military all separatist or some such nonsense, and really doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that each system is a new opportunity for new mayhem.

As you can see in the image at the top of this entry, in the current system the UTA didn’t like me much while the civies did. This made going to the civilian station to buy a blueprint easy peasy. Once I did that, I checked the system map for missions, of which I didn’t see many, but one did jump out at me.

As you can see, there’s a skirmish going on between the two factions, which is ALWAYS a great place to grind rez, goons and data, so that’s exactly what I did. I jumped in to find a pretty big fight going on, and of course my two Turtleheads and one Tug jumped into the fray. This did present me with a moral dilemma though. On the civilian side, they had a REALLY nice big ship that I hadn’t encountered yet, take a look:

Now I COULD have attacked that ship and tried to destroy it, grabbing its black box and gaining some useful info on how to build it myself. I guess I’m too nice a guy though because I just couldn’t bring myself to actually do it. I did gain some needed data on that Helix hull though, which looks like a winner. However, this was weird in that it went against what I USUALLY do in these systems.

See, in Space Pirates and Zombies…I’m kind of an asshole. I’m not entirely sure how others play it, but each system has missions that not only increase your standing with one of the two factions, but can also increase their power in the system. Usually what I do is fight on the side that has the blueprint I want, making them my friend. Then, once I have it, I’ll start taking missions for the other side, eventually making THEM my friend. It’s a pretty fun system that’s worked well for me so far.

However, this does have its downsides. Currently there’s one system that has a blueprint I want, yet BOTH factions hate me and there aren’t any missions generated for which to gain their favor. Even if I joined in a skirmish, the odd targeting system (which targets only enemies, not friends, and the tactics screen also doesn’t show you who’s who) would target EVERYONE, so I couldn’t even curry favor that way.

There is also a fourth faction in the game, the bio-mechanical zombie menace. I’ve yet to run into them though, but I hope to soon. I’ve put maybe 16 hours in the game so far and am not anywhere near ‘em. I don’t know if I grind slowly or what, but I’m still having a blast.

Up next, RPG elements, upgrading, and data farming.
Click here for the previous Space Pirates and Zombies entry!

Brian Rubin is currently an underemployed freelance search engine optimization consultant sharing an apartment with two cats in sunny Los Angeles. You can read more of his inane rants at VonGeekenstein.