SPAZ: Space Pirates and Zombies

[you2]

HumblePie you make it sound like the game is ultra short if it only took a weekend...

 

[zinfamous]

HumblePie you make it sound like the game is ultra short if it only took a weekend...

he probably played non-stop, lol. to get to level 96 requires a lot of grinding, especially the first 1/3+ of the game, when you are geenrally underpowered for most things.

 

[HumblePie]

the game does get super easy when you reach the ally point. I spent a lot of time collecting all the blueprints before reaching that chapter, so I was already way over-leveled going in.

I do try to keep the science stations friendly early on, because I like buying research.--at least the ones that offer 1k research/100 slaves. very efficient.

cleaning out the zombies is a breeze, just building up fleet strength. Boost a few of the sec bases to max at certain choke points (these can generally hold off attacks on their own), then work your way back to other systems and ignore the upgrades on security (at least, after fleet size is max).

I then just max out the civilian infrastructures as I go and completely ignore the security bases. I still haven't gone into that zone, mostly clearing out the surrounding systems way beyond necessity.

I've lately been running Carrier/Right Hook/Colt.

Basically I used Darts at first (duh) then Boomerangs. First medium hull I was able to build was a Tug and that was a great little boat. I tried the others and really only liked the Yacht and Pounder for various reasons but the Tug was my main go to command boat at first with a Boomerang which later became a Ranger as my AI ship.

When I was stuck with Large hulls, I used the Right Hook as my command vessel. Some nice beams at first until I got my particle cannons worked well. The Big Bus was decent as well, but anything else I found lacking fire power or utility and space too much. The Right Hook + Tug + Ranger were what I used for a long time. Getting the a huge hull took forever to get. That was the second longest stretch in the game. Trying to find enough huge hulls blueprints to complete even a single one. Luckily the first one I completed was the Carrier pretty quickly. After fighting a few Hammerheads I thought I wanted those, but once I played around with the Carrier I found it to be the most versatile out of all the huge hull boats.

Personally I don't like the Colt as my small AI boat. It dies WAY too often and way too fast. It also spends too much time making tight circles trying to blast those little zombie monkeys off its hull. I really do prefer the Ranger boat setup. Damn thing rarely dies now. It also contributes with decent missile spam in the fights. Works for me.





I did read a very interesting setup that works well is the drone boats + srm spam + point defense lasers. Just get your entire fleet setup with those and sit in one spot. If your video card can handle it then you'll destroy anything that comes close to your boats. From what I understand it works really well in thick zombie infested fields. I haven't tried this setup yet, but I want to when I get home today.

 

[HumblePie]

HumblePie you make it sound like the game is ultra short if it only took a weekend...

Actually, I played about 2 hours Friday night and about 3 hours Saturday night. Sunday I played about 14 hours I think. I had nothing better to do Sunday and played away at SPAZ too long. I play only an hour last night though. Puts me at about 20 hours played and I haven't finished the game. So not bad for a $15 game.

I found once you get past the first "grindage" bit it gets easy to level. I was blowing through levels so fast I didn't realize it. As I said, the only long stretches have been so far at the beginning of getting at least to using a medium hull boat. After that I rarely did any quests. I basically went straight for mods at stations and the "main" story quest. I blew through every blockade and didn't bribe a single station. Early on I had to buy my mods which wasn't too bad. Once I had a large hull boat it was easy enough to stay at a large enough range to take down any station. It took a few minutes to take down the large class 3 UTA stations, but they went down eventually. Any other station type died pretty fast though.

The next "grind" was for huge hull blueprints. Making constant jumps in the inner systems to get huge hull ships to spawn was a pain in the ass. They didn't always come which is why it took so long. That and you didn't always get the same one.

Now the grind is building up the inner system to fight off the infection. I got about a third of them cleared as of last night. I think I might try to clear the whole shebang though. It's not hard either. Warp into a system, blow up the infected part, and then pump up both stations to class 3. Rinse and repeat after that. Only thing I run somewhat low on is goons since building civ science labs to class 3 takes like 500-600 goons. Regening about 200 every 15 minutes or so and fighting zombies doesn't give you a lot of goons. However, I make a quick hop back to a science station I've built to class 3 in a "colony" system will give me 1000 more goons. Once you have free'd up two colony systems and placed class 3 science lab stations there you won't have to worry about running out of goons anymore I've found.

I also didn't bother to go through all of the systems at first ether. If a neighboring system behind a warp gate showed as having a mod for sale then I went there. If not then I didn't bother following down that path. I basically made a bee-line for the main quest locations on the star map as they popped up. I only made slight detours for mods as went for the main quest locations.






One thing to remember is that I think the max level is 100. Which means you only get 300 skill points to use at 3 per level. With all the skills in the game it would take 770 skill points to max them all. 14 different skills go to level 10 and the skill turrets only goes to level 5. So it means you need to plan out your skills wisely.

Personally right now I have cannons and turrets maxed. I then have points spread out in everything but mines. Most of my points are in reactors, engines, shields, and crew. I have a decent smattering in armor, hulls, beams, launchers, cloak, and bombs. Only a few points in drones, subsystems, and the rest I think.

Thinking about it, drones and subsystems can be left empty in my opinion. Stealthed enemies are rarely a problem. they always show themselves when they fire at you. Even if you lose lock before they restealth it is easy enough to spray the area they were last in with cannon fire. Once you hit them they drop cloak and you can keep a lock as long as you keep hitting them. Which means the only utility mounts worth having are point defense lasers and tractor beams. Tractors beams I could care less if they grab things a little bit faster and further. Point defense are only good if you are making a drone boat + srm spam fleet. Otherwise who cares.

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Looks alright.

 

[GaryJohnson]

One thing to remember is that I think the max level is 100.

It's not, I'm at 107.

Thinking about it, drones and subsystems can be left empty in my opinion.

Subsystems gives you booster overdrive at the higher ranks. It's better to put points into what you're boosting first, but once that is maxed you might as well do subsystems.

 

[HumblePie]

Yep, just read the forums. Supposed max level is 150. But suppose to slow down majorly after level 100.

I want to try this build when I get home for grins

1) sunspot
No armor
fortress shield
2 small shield boosters
All drones

2) Flora = same config

rest of the ships are srm missile boats.

Just using shield with a leech emitter to keep the shields going from reactor drain to them. Then sit around while drone and srm spam waste everything. Looks interesting.

 

[Elcs]

Remember guys, research bonuses are spread randomly in each game but are the same at tech level 10.

Also, try Insane difficulty with a 150 system galaxy. Good fun.

Can't wait for the patch to come in. I know some people struggle on normal or veteran, but I found Insane to be a bit too easy.

 

[HumblePie]

Remember guys, research bonuses are spread randomly in each game but are the same at tech level 10.

Also, try Insane difficulty with a 150 system galaxy. Good fun.

Can't wait for the patch to come in. I know some people struggle on normal or veteran, but I found Insane to be a bit too easy.

Lol, I decided to forgoe finishing the game with my high level on normal.

I started the game last night and jumped from level 96 to 109 in about 20 minutes of playing. Just ran around collecting data drops from all the science stations.

So I was thinking maybe I should jack up the difficulty some and restart. So I started a new game on Insane with 150 systems.

Damn game is even easier now it seems like. Especially since I know what I'm doing.

Why so easy? Well just blew through the into missions. Ran over as fast as I could to a 25+ zone. Got my faction to neutral with both CIVS and UTA. Ran into a "conflict" map and just flew around on passive. Waited while CIVS and UTA killed each other and picked up the blue prints. Within an hour of playing I was flying a Right Hook. So I ran over to a 40+ zone. It was harder to crack that gate but I kamikazed it as I could. Did the same thing as before with getting to neutral and sitting on a conflict map. Just warping in and out as I could to collect blue prints. Already have a hammerhead and carrier although I can't fly either yet.

So now I'll head back to doing the main quest after I pick up some more mods.

 

[zinfamous]

you don't have to pump up both stations to keep the zombies at bay.

at certain points, you can warp into a chokepoint system and pump up that security base to level 3, which can then defend itself.

then jump from system to system behind that station to clear them all out, and ignore both stations. infections/attacks only spread between connected systems. so, while clearing out one, you may have one invasion pop in to an undefended system. You can usually ignore it for one jump while you clear out another, then go back and fight that one off.

the level 3 security bases seem to take care of themselves 90% of the time, or so.

there are long stretches, though, where you can only jump linearily. But then, you can still use the same technique of clearing out the infected planet only then jumping to the next station until you reach a choke point. It saved a lot of time for me--you don't have to restock resources every couple of jumps to increase the bases. Once you get far enough in, you just jump from one level 3 cilvilian base to the next and pick up the free goods after giving them time to stock up.

 

[Worthington]

Are you sure about that? I could have sworn that on my last playthrough I had infections pop up well behind my "front lines" so to speak. No directly connected infected planets.

 

[Zargon]

when do you get teh second mothership upgrade?

 

[zinfamous]

Are you sure about that? I could have sworn that on my last playthrough I had infections pop up well behind my "front lines" so to speak. No directly connected infected planets.

yeha, I haven't had a single infection pop up in unconnected zones.

however--if you have a border zone currently under invasion, and you ignore it for a jump, or even during the jump to defend that station, the infection can spread to the next zone (which was unconnected to an infection zone).

In retrospect, I find that my suggestion is rather time-consuming--as leaving those zones undefended can see you jumping back and forth way too often.

 

[zinfamous]

when do you get teh second mothership upgrade?

it's after you break through the core zones, then initiate the mission to attack the central gate, or whatever.

I forget specifically what that mission is, but it's unlocked soon after you enter the core area.

...a lot of shit happens.

 

[Zargon]

it's after you break through the core zones, then initiate the mission to attack the central gate, or whatever.

I forget specifically what that mission is, but it's unlocked soon after you enter the core area.

...a lot of shit happens.

damn. I was hoping for sooner. feel so cramped. on the way to mining station now. hate being limited to 150 goons and 2500 res

 

[HumblePie]

yeha, I haven't had a single infection pop up in unconnected zones.

however--if you have a border zone currently under invasion, and you ignore it for a jump, or even during the jump to defend that station, the infection can spread to the next zone (which was unconnected to an infection zone).

In retrospect, I find that my suggestion is rather time-consuming--as leaving those zones undefended can see you jumping back and forth way too often.

I have.

I went through and have almost completely cleared all zones of infected. I have like 3 left before I will go on. I am getting the "HELP" notification from systems that are not next to infected systems and have for awhile. It doesn't happen as often as ones near infected system, but it does happen. The strength isn't as high usually either.

 

[zinfamous]

I have.

I went through and have almost completely cleared all zones of infected. I have like 3 left before I will go on. I am getting the "HELP" notification from systems that are not next to infected systems and have for awhile. It doesn't happen as often as ones near infected system, but it does happen. The strength isn't as high usually either.

weird. I haven't seen a single one in the time it took me clear out all (but 2) zones.

Did those "help" icons pop in zones that were connected to other uninfected zones currently under invasion?

that is the closest I have seen of the infection spreading beyond my choke points.

 

[HumblePie]

weird. I haven't seen a single one in the time it took me clear out all (but 2) zones.

Did those "help" icons pop in zones that were connected to other uninfected zones currently under invasion?

that is the closest I have seen of the infection spreading beyond my choke points.

Nope. They just showed up a couple of times randomly. One was 2 systems removed and another was about a dozen systems removed.

 

[zinfamous]

well, I learned last night that clearing out all the zones is pretty much a pointless grind--I assumed that going in.

the final mission is a cake walk...more or less. At least, after going through all the levels that you would by clearing out those zones and picking up massive free data dumps form the science outposts.

 

[HumblePie]

well, I learned last night that clearing out all the zones is pretty much a pointless grind--I assumed that going in.

the final mission is a cake walk...more or less. At least, after going through all the levels that you would by clearing out those zones and picking up massive free data dumps form the science outposts.

I figured it would be a grind, but I knew the game would be over soon as I finished that. The game is fun, but relatively simple and quick. 20 hours play time tops. I went back and started a 150 galaxy system on insane before finishing my previous game and I'm already at part 3 in about 6 hours. Knowing what to do made it even faster.

 

[Specop 007]

Jesus, how the hell do you fight the zombies? I feel like I've hit a brick wall. I've done probably 15 missions and have failed every one against the zombies. The little almost invisible guys swarm my ship and with the appear-out-of-nowhere zombie horde I'm just completely overrun.

 

[zinfamous]

Jesus, how the hell do you fight the zombies? I feel like I've hit a brick wall. I've done probably 15 missions and have failed every one against the zombies. The little almost invisible guys swarm my ship and with the appear-out-of-nowhere zombie horde I'm just completely overrun.

auto turrets are rather helpful. they keep those guys from getting near you rather well.

I remember the first 2 or 3 times I faced them, it was quite difficult--spending most of my time ejecting crew to keep them from taking over, but then they became something of a minor nuisance for the remainder of the game.

I spent most of the end game controlling the carrier. turrets with particle cannons and, more specifically--drones--took care of those problems, I think.

 

[Jschmuck2]

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[you2]

How does amazon work? Client like steam or is it more like gog ?

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[KaOTiK]

On sale at Amazon for $7.50

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Direct2Drive has it at this price as well. Though I prefer Amazon over the two.