Space Rangers 2 questions...

[DeepT]

Ok, been playing this for a few weeks now. I still have not finished it, however, the universe seems to be winding down.

I never get any more artifacts from black holes, no new weapons beyond the desintigrator, no new gear like shields over 50% (although some models that science stations had more), basically it seems like I am at the end of the tech tree in the game. No new ship hulls have been introduced in a while either. I think the game year is 3336 now. The dominators are sytematically being kicked out of systems, its only a matter of time.

So...

1. Am I at the end of the tech tree or just in a lull?
2. How am I supposed to beat some of these boss dominators? There is that pyramid one that lives in black holes, and there is no way to deal with it and its minions, i get owned fast.
3. Pirates, are still nearly impossilbe to kill. They just land on planets or jump between systems until my time runs out. How are you supposed to kill them?
4. I thought someone mentioned an artifact that would repair equipment (this would save me a huge bundle). Does it exist and where do you get it?
5. I know one dominator is in a black hole, another one is hiding in some star system (a dominator told me this oddly), where is the third one?
6. Research probes seem to be a waste. THe repair costs always outweigh what I find on planets. Its nice to get 10k worth of goodies but then spend 18k to fix the damm probe.
7. Is there much replayability in this game?

[ron_debry]

I'll answer what I know (you are farther than I am). Then I'm not going to read the thread, because I don't want to know the answers to #2 & #5 yet.

1. Am I at the end of the tech tree or just in a lull?

I think you are. There is a tech listing in the manual that is installed in the game directories, if you want to be sure.

2. How am I supposed to beat some of these boss dominators? There is that pyramid one that lives in black holes, and there is no way to deal with it and its minions, i get owned fast.
3. Pirates, are still nearly impossilbe to kill. They just land on planets or jump between systems until my time runs out. How are you supposed to kill them?

I when I'm given a contract to take out a specific pirate, I typically follow him around without attacking for a while. I wait until he moves far away from any planet, or until he's in a fight with someone else already. If he does land, move far enough away and he'll take off again. If you hover around the planet they seem to know it and will just hole up there.

4. I thought someone mentioned an artifact that would repair equipment (this would save me a huge bundle). Does it exist and where do you get it?
5. I know one dominator is in a black hole, another one is hiding in some star system (a dominator told me this oddly), where is the third one?
6. Research probes seem to be a waste. THe repair costs always outweigh what I find on planets. Its nice to get 10k worth of goodies but then spend 18k to fix the damm probe.

I think probes are most worthwhile early in the game, when scraping up an extra 2-3k in cash is a big deal, and repair costs are much lower.

7. Is there much replayability in this game?

Probably depends on the person. Those that always gravitate to making the most money the fastest and buying the best euipment will probably find the game feels pretty much the same regardless of how you start. Those who don't mind handicapping themselves can probably find enough variety to support several replays. For example, if I replay, I've been thinking of trying to play either as a real pirate/smuggler, or a Maloq who only uses Maloq equipment.

[Backov]

I'm at this point in the game too.. I've got my ultimate hull finally:

890 or so space, all eq slots, 3 artifact and 3 gun slots.

Shielding is 44%+34 (yes, 34.)

But, the missions seem to be few and far between, and even with the nanitoids (which to answer a previous post, I got out of a black hole) - my repair bills after fighting a long Dominator battle are usually at least 70k. It's only rarely I make that much from dropped loot.

So right now I have this loaded out ship, and no one is offering missions so I'm broke from fighting the Dominators. Their late game balance could sure use some work.

Oh, about the nanitoids.. They don't seem to work as advertised. They say something like they "repair up to 10% of one item per day".. So, up to means it's probably a roll, but even then, eventually all my stuff should be repaired. In practice it seems to hit a wall. Possibly it's bugged.

Oh, and I ran into Keller as well, coming out of a black hole to attack a system. I chased him and in and got owned in that silly arcade game.

[Anders Hallin]

I've now defeated Keller, whom I didn't need to research fully to defeat, since there was a diplomatic option, and Terron, whom you can defeat quite easily by getting a submodem, using it to open a landing point on it, and then planetary battle him to death (probably the easiest planetary battle I've played).

[DeepT]

Submodem?

I have defeated all but Keller. How do you even talk to him? He just says somthing about space waves or something distorting so communication is impossible.

The other two I could talk to and defeat by uploading a program. Since you said you did keller diplomatically, they all can be done that way. So how did you figure out how to beat keller? Going to to black hole land with him is just a death trap.

BTW my repair bills can be well over 100k. Combat does not pay the bills.

[Justin Fletcher]

One Way to Beat Keller:

1 ) Have a strong hull and a good protection field generator
2 ) Have strong, late game weapons, preferably four or five of them
3 ) Have a maxed attack skill
4 ) The second you appear in the black hole, charge Keller, stick to his triangular ass like glue, and unload all of your weapons into him over and over at point blank range; ignore his minions that are firing on you
5 ) You will probably be near death yourself by the time you beat Keller down and have a final conversation
6 ) After said conversation, run like hell towards the exit, making sure to dodge the minions and blast through the exit's protective shields
7 ) If you make it out of the hole, you win
8 ) Repeat eight thousand times until you actually succeed on all counts

[Justin Fletcher]

1. Am I at the end of the tech tree or just in a lull?

You're at the end of the Coalition tech tree, but have you been commandeering the Dominators' weapons?

2. How am I supposed to beat some of these boss dominators? There is that pyramid one that lives in black holes, and there is no way to deal with it and its minions, i get owned fast.

See above for my solution.

3. Pirates, are still nearly impossilbe to kill. They just land on planets or jump between systems until my time runs out. How are you supposed to kill them?

Attack them in a more remote portion of the system. Either lie in wait, or grab their attention by firing on them once and then running. Having a faster ship helps. Also, ask for help from any nearby ships, or attack them with your wingmen.

4. I thought someone mentioned an artifact that would repair equipment (this would save me a huge bundle). Does it exist and where do you get it?

I got nanites (or whatever) from a random drop from a Dominator kill. I'm sure it varies.

5. I know one dominator is in a black hole, another one is hiding in some star system (a dominator told me this oddly), where is the third one?

Each Dominator strain has its own symbol. Look for systems in which the Dominator symbol matches up with the Uber Dominator you're looking for (in this case, Blazer, who has the red symbol). This gets easier as the number of Dominator-held systems decreases.

6. Research probes seem to be a waste. THe repair costs always outweigh what I find on planets. Its nice to get 10k worth of goodies but then spend 18k to fix the damm probe.

I agree that this is an early-to-mid-game source of income and becomes less valuable later on.

7. Is there much replayability in this game?

I think the fact that there are many elements of the game that you haven't yet seen (nanites, submodem, the other ways to destroy Dominators) speaks to that question.

[Justin Fletcher]

But, the missions seem to be few and far between, and even with the nanitoids (which to answer a previous post, I got out of a black hole) - my repair bills after fighting a long Dominator battle are usually at least 70k. It's only rarely I make that much from dropped loot.

So right now I have this loaded out ship, and no one is offering missions so I'm broke from fighting the Dominators. Their late game balance could sure use some work.

I didn't have this problem. I didn't use up all the missions because trading in the Dominator parts to research stations became so lucrative once I started fighting in earnest (you are checking each strain of research for the x2 parts before selling, right?) So whenever I needed a quick buck, I could still find 100K quests (since I was very charismatic).

Also, are you repairing selectively? Once you get into the Dominator-fighting business, don't repair any non-combat systems until you absolutely have to. If you're a notorious pirate, repair at the pirate stations. Otherwise, repair at the military bases.

Furthermore, don't take on the entire system at once if you can avoid it. Jump into a Dominator system and sit there, and the faster, less armored ships will get to you before the battleships. You can then take them out before the big guns arrive and then jump if you need to. And are you using combat programs? Combat programs can make some fights very easy. I believe they require a submodem.

[Backov]

Thanks for the info Justin.. I'm not having any problems with money anymore.. the missions are still there, just not as frequent as before. And it's only the prolonged slugfests with the biggest dominators that give me any damage any more.

That said, I am not doing that stupid thing with Keller in the blackhole.. So, can you tell me the diplomatic way? Or is that it?

[DeepT]

The domoinator weapons I get are not as good as the collolition ones. And I have beaten two of them, like I said.

"See Above" doesn't really give any help. Anders how did you talk to keller? Was a blackhole open near him? I was thinking if you could go in one black hole and pop out one that he was at so it closed you could talk to him. But so far that hasnt worked and those 'arcade battles' are to difficult when you got 5 or 6 ships on you.

I pretty much have the best gear in the game I have seen either drop from a dominator or seen avaiable to buy. I am at the end of the tech tree in the manual. Except for a few artifacts I never seem to get, like the one that repairs equipment, I think I have them all. I have 56% shields, 18 armor, like 870 hull, 5 weapons, and 3 artifact slots. My repair robot heals like 85 hull a turn. Both my piloeting and targetting skills are maxed, and all the rest are like 1 tick from max, except leadership. I am not sure how much more 'uber' there is left in the game to get.

[Justin Fletcher]

That said, I am not doing that stupid thing with Keller in the blackhole.. So, can you tell me the diplomatic way? Or is that it?

Unfortunately, I don't know the diplomatic way. I couldn't talk to Keller outside the black hole, and couldn't initiate communication once inside.

Guess I'll have to go back and play again.

[Backov]

The domoinator weapons I get are not as good as the collolition ones. And I have beaten two of them, like I said.

"See Above" doesn't really give any help. Anders how did you talk to keller? Was a blackhole open near him? I was thinking if you could go in one black hole and pop out one that he was at so it closed you could talk to him. But so far that hasnt worked and those 'arcade battles' are to difficult when you got 5 or 6 ships on you.

I pretty much have the best gear in the game I have seen either drop from a dominator or seen avaiable to buy. I am at the end of the tech tree in the manual. Except for a few artifacts I never seem to get, like the one that repairs equipment, I think I have them all. I have 56% shields, 18 armor, like 870 hull, 5 weapons, and 3 artifact slots. My repair robot heals like 85 hull a turn. Both my piloeting and targetting skills are maxed, and all the rest are like 1 tick from max, except leadership. I am not sure how much more 'uber' there is left in the game to get.

The "diplomatic solution" he is talking about only occurs after you chase him into a black hole and beat him, unfortunately. You can then use your researched thing on him to kill him, or you can talk him into leaving in a couple of different ways.

(Just finished)

The solution he posted to beating him works, but is hard. The bumper things sealing the exit are tougher than Keller. You really have to pound them to get them to open.

[Justin Fletcher]

The domoinator weapons I get are not as good as the collolition ones. And I have beaten two of them, like I said.

Have you gotten the super long range Dominator missle launchers? Or that halo-effect thingee which nails everyone within a certain radius? Micromodule a few of those bad boys and you'll have a lot of whammo for long and short range battles.

I pretty much have the best gear in the game I have seen either drop from a dominator or seen avaiable to buy. I am at the end of the tech tree in the manual. Except for a few artifacts I never seem to get, like the one that repairs equipment, I think I have them all. I have 56% shields, 18 armor, like 870 hull, 5 weapons, and 3 artifact slots.

Better hulls are out there. How about a 1780 hull battleship with five weapons and two artifact slots? So slow I eventually traded it in for an 1170 hull, but it was one tough mother. Have you micromoduled all your weapons? And have you gotten the lightest ones you can find? Even if you have plenty of hull, any weight over 500 slows you down. A faster ship can make the difference between victory and space dust.

(On a tangent, did you know you can get a new hull for less than its advertised price? If you try to buy a hull out of your price range, an error message will appear telling you how much you need to get the ship. This number will be lower than the actual difference between the advertised price and your bank account. Its the amount you need to hit the trade-in price, where you give both money and your current ship to get the new hull.

It's basically the same thing that happens after you buy a hull you can afford and then sell your current one through the inventory screen, but it gets you around the technicality of not being able to sell your hull before buying a new one.)

[Justin Fletcher]

The "diplomatic solution" he is talking about only occurs after you chase him into a black hole and beat him, unfortunately. You can then use your researched thing on him to kill him, or you can talk him into leaving in a couple of different ways.

Damn. I was hoping there was another way. Forcing you to play the arcade game with Keller in order to win (the battle and, therefore, the game) is a flaw in my book. It goes against the whole "options-o-rama" design philosophy in the rest of the game.

[Backov]

I have to agree with DeepT.. Aside from early disintegrators, the Dominator weapons aren't good.

The vertix (halo weapon), the AI doesn't handle well. It does good damage, but the AI is too stupid to use it right.

The torpedo launcher is ok, but in the late game you've got to go with one type of weapon so you can use the appropriate artifact. I was using 3 energy weapons and the "Fiver" artifact.

As for hulls.. Ya, there's big ones out there, and ones with lots of guns, etc. However, the only ones I found I liked were (some) of the Ranger hulls. Has to have all eq slots, at least 3 weapons, at least 3 artifact slots, and good armor. That's pretty much only the ranger hulls.

[Anders Hallin]

The other two I could talk to and defeat by uploading a program. Since you said you did keller diplomatically, they all can be done that way. So how did you figure out how to beat keller? Going to to black hole land with him is just a death trap.

BTW my repair bills can be well over 100k. Combat does not pay the bills.

What kind of ship are you flying? Maloq? It's never over 20k for me.
Well, I went into the black hole and kicked his ass. I dunno, had about half health left. He'll talk to you when he's destroyed.

[Anders Hallin]

One Way to Beat Keller:

1 ) Have a strong hull and a good protection field generator
2 ) Have strong, late game weapons, preferably four or five of them
3 ) Have a maxed attack skill
4 ) The second you appear in the black hole, charge Keller, stick to his triangular ass like glue, and unload all of your weapons into him over and over at point blank range; ignore his minions that are firing on you
5 ) You will probably be near death yourself by the time you beat Keller down and have a final conversation
6 ) After said conversation, run like hell towards the exit, making sure to dodge the minions and blast through the exit's protective shields
7 ) If you make it out of the hole, you win
8 ) Repeat eight thousand times until you actually succeed on all counts

Ah, I managed on my first try. I think if you're far enough away from Keller, you don't actually need to be out of the black hole, because I took my time.

[DeepT]

I have gotten all the big dominator weapons you see them use, and they suck. The halo thing does crappy damge, the torpedo launcher does nice damage, but not for 214 weight. The third one as I recall is crappy damage.

As for a hull that big, 1780, I have never seen it for sale, ever. The one I have, 870 with all slots but one artifact and 14 cladding, I have only seen forsale once, and it costs like 490k to buy. It is a human hull.

My repair costs come from my equipment, not my hull. My shield generator can cost 20k itself to fix, my weapons can cost well over 10k, and sometimes over 20k to fix each too.

Still I have over 600k in the bank, although after a few repair sessions ill need to avoid dominator combat and try and get some government missions to build up my reserves again.

BTW does anyone know what weapon in hyperspace shoots the blue heat seeking balls? I thought it might be the missle launcher, but its not.

[Justin Fletcher]

What can I say? The Vertix and Torpedo apparatus did wonders for me, especially micromoduled (I think Dominator weapons can take any module, regardless of Coalition race restrictions). YMM(and, obviously, does)V. Timing is everything with the Vertix, as it fires after the rest of your weapons; you should always plan for it to fire at the middle to end of your day's flight path (which should, preferably, be into the middle of a group of Dominators).

As for the heatseeking weapon in hyperspace, I believe that's the wave phaser. Also, I forgot that the Disintegrator is not the end of the tech tree. That would be the deadly Turbogravir, which can be very heavy but you can find better ones from Dominator ships or micromodule them to cut their weight. Thank god for them, too, because I find Disintegrators and their narrow firing beam useless in hyperspace. Of course, those like Anders who find the black hole missions easier may disagree.

[Justin Fletcher]

Ah, I managed on my first try. I think if you're far enough away from Keller, you don't actually need to be out of the black hole, because I took my time.

Yeah, you're right. Running like hell to get out of the black hole once you've talked to Keller isn't to run from his explosion (or whatever), it's to get out before the minions kill you in your weakened state. It was this part that took me eight thousand times to do because, as Backov says, the shields guarding the exit are tough. You're probably just a bit more adept at the ol' arrow keys than me.

[DeepT]

Well I am about to give up on this game, I can't beat keller. I can not even come close to killing him. I get owned to fast by him and his buddies.

Are there any invlunrability cheat codes or anything?

[Backov]

Did you pound him down to half health before you went into the black hole after him? Me and the group of BSes had him to about 2k before he fled, and he stays there when you catch him in the black hole.

[DeepT]

I only managed to get the colloition forces to attack him once. Most of the time they ignore him, and if you asked, the say "what are you crazy?!"

So no, they didn't pound him to half health before I entered.

[Backov]

Well that was the key to me.. I had about 6 other ships pounding him with me (although I could have eventually taken him down myself, he wasn't damaging me)... Having him at half health made it doable, just.

[Anders Hallin]

Yeah, you're right. Running like hell to get out of the black hole once you've talked to Keller isn't to run from his explosion (or whatever), it's to get out before the minions kill you in your weakened state. It was this part that took me eight thousand times to do because, as Backov says, the shields guarding the exit are tough. You're probably just a bit more adept at the ol' arrow keys than me.

I think I had a bit of luck, because when I made my dash to the exit, the shields were already gone. Might have been the location Keller had died at earlier, or maybe I destroyed it earlier when trying to find anything that would help me in the fight.

[Anders Hallin]

You can find Keller outside the black hole?

[Backov]

You can find Keller outside the black hole?

Yep, he often comes out of the black hole with a bunch of Dominators to attack systems. He'll hover directly around the blackhole and when he gets to half health, he buggers off.

[Justin Fletcher]

I think you have to approach him early in the battle for the system, though. I jumped into Keller's system after almost all of the Dominators had been routed by a squad of rangers. As I approached Keller, he immediately bolted into the black hole. Cowardly, triangular bastard.

[Anders Hallin]

I think you have to approach him early in the battle for the system, though. I jumped into Keller's system after almost all of the Dominators had been routed by a squad of rangers. As I approached Keller, he immediately bolted into the black hole. Cowardly, triangular bastard.

He's still in the black hole, though. I didn't even see him outside it when I caught him.

[Backov]

Anyone want to buy my copy? I'll never play it again most likely now that I'm done it. It got a lot of my time.