Posted April 07, 2017
Okay, this game seriously needs a game guide for it...but since there isn't much out there, please share any helpful info from your trials and errors in the game.
Here are a few to start:
Crew selection - this is purely up to you. I've had a pretty good run with my current 2 pilots, 2 cleaners, 1 repair, and 2 science. That leaves one empty bed in case someone gets sick (see Crew Shifts section).
Crew relationships - when you read things about this game, they state to choose crew members that have things in common (food preferences and religion being the most obvious choices in the game). Well, that is absolutely true. If you have two crew that both like meat, they tend to get along just fine. If your pilot likes bread and your cleaner likes meat, pretty soon they'll be unhappy. So if you have to choose someone who who is different, make sure they are at least working different shifts from the others. They still tend to get unhappy after a while, but hopefully you will have switched them out with someone better by then.
Crew morale - after a while your crew gets restless in the ship...who can blame them? So make sure you have some free time where you are not under the clock for a mission, and just do some fast-time sitting at a base. The crew will get a little "shore leave" in them and become refreshed.
Sick crew - this happens annoyingly often. Crew will get sick no matter how many cleaners/clean-bots you have on the ship. Meds can help, but until you get a Medic, you'll have to spend some time on "shore leave" and eventually that sick individual will go to a hospital and get well. They would eventually get better on the ship, but it can take a long time and it could spread the illness to shipmates.
Crew on strike - this can happen, especially with someone who is "different" from his/her shipmates (see crew selection). Some "shore leave" can help, but I find its just easier to fire their butts and replace them with someone less picky. You can try to pay them a bonus, but that's wasted money early in the game, just toss them out the door. Later on, crew will go on strike if you don't have entertainment facilities (or a shower), but you can avoid this by not leveling up your crew too fast. Keeping them at level 1 or 2 will work until you have researched the necessary facilities and placed them in your ship.
Crew shifts - I've found its best early on to work crew only half the time. I usually do a 1st/3rd or 2nd/4th shift for a crew member. You can have 8 crew members and only 4 beds by doing this, but watch out for sick crew, because they will tend to stay in bed and ruin someone else's sleep time.
Research - I read on another board the people couldn't figure out the research stuff, and I can understand that since the in-game hints don't explain this well. But for the research involving rooms/items, if you click on the icons that look like elements on a periodic table, you will notice they are the things that need to be researched. Research them and you'll get the room/item eventually. There are also upgrades to rooms which help a lot, too. The cabin and toilet upgrades help quite a bit with keeping your crew content.
Trade - This is pretty obvious...if someone imports paper, buy some from a paper exporter and sell it to the importer. However, if someone sells robots, you can sell them pretty much anywhere else for a very good profit. The same with art, books, textiles, and anything else that is not stated as an import/export on a particular planet. You need big money to buy things like robots, but its how you make the bigger bucks. The biggest issue is if you have a load of 20 robots and the planet only accepts 10 of them, you have to take the other 10 to a different planet to unload them.
Getting attacked - Flee...right away! I don't even know why this isn't the automatic selection in battle, especially if your ship is unarmed. If you get hacked, try a bribe (click the phone icon on the opposing player's icon) - its better than death which is the only other alternative.
Missions - There are a couple easy ones where you deliver a shamrock, or take people to a planet, which can bring in some okay money early on, but I've found trading goods works the best after that. If you want to do battle missions, I would recommend waiting until you have a fighter-type ship with multiple weapon slots and some good hacking abilities. But from what I've heard from others, fighting is at best a break-even profession - you won't be making much money in it. A really great money-making mission is one where you have to deliver as many of a certain good(s) as you can in an alloted time. I made over $60,000 credits by delivering a ton of textiles at $1900 a piece. You need a good stake of money on those missions, though, because you don't get paid until the mission is over - so you have to cover the cost of the goods as well as payroll for the crew until the mission ends.
Well...that's all I can think of for now. Please feel free to add anything that might help other players in this game.
Here are a few to start:
Crew selection - this is purely up to you. I've had a pretty good run with my current 2 pilots, 2 cleaners, 1 repair, and 2 science. That leaves one empty bed in case someone gets sick (see Crew Shifts section).
Crew relationships - when you read things about this game, they state to choose crew members that have things in common (food preferences and religion being the most obvious choices in the game). Well, that is absolutely true. If you have two crew that both like meat, they tend to get along just fine. If your pilot likes bread and your cleaner likes meat, pretty soon they'll be unhappy. So if you have to choose someone who who is different, make sure they are at least working different shifts from the others. They still tend to get unhappy after a while, but hopefully you will have switched them out with someone better by then.
Crew morale - after a while your crew gets restless in the ship...who can blame them? So make sure you have some free time where you are not under the clock for a mission, and just do some fast-time sitting at a base. The crew will get a little "shore leave" in them and become refreshed.
Sick crew - this happens annoyingly often. Crew will get sick no matter how many cleaners/clean-bots you have on the ship. Meds can help, but until you get a Medic, you'll have to spend some time on "shore leave" and eventually that sick individual will go to a hospital and get well. They would eventually get better on the ship, but it can take a long time and it could spread the illness to shipmates.
Crew on strike - this can happen, especially with someone who is "different" from his/her shipmates (see crew selection). Some "shore leave" can help, but I find its just easier to fire their butts and replace them with someone less picky. You can try to pay them a bonus, but that's wasted money early in the game, just toss them out the door. Later on, crew will go on strike if you don't have entertainment facilities (or a shower), but you can avoid this by not leveling up your crew too fast. Keeping them at level 1 or 2 will work until you have researched the necessary facilities and placed them in your ship.
Crew shifts - I've found its best early on to work crew only half the time. I usually do a 1st/3rd or 2nd/4th shift for a crew member. You can have 8 crew members and only 4 beds by doing this, but watch out for sick crew, because they will tend to stay in bed and ruin someone else's sleep time.
Research - I read on another board the people couldn't figure out the research stuff, and I can understand that since the in-game hints don't explain this well. But for the research involving rooms/items, if you click on the icons that look like elements on a periodic table, you will notice they are the things that need to be researched. Research them and you'll get the room/item eventually. There are also upgrades to rooms which help a lot, too. The cabin and toilet upgrades help quite a bit with keeping your crew content.
Trade - This is pretty obvious...if someone imports paper, buy some from a paper exporter and sell it to the importer. However, if someone sells robots, you can sell them pretty much anywhere else for a very good profit. The same with art, books, textiles, and anything else that is not stated as an import/export on a particular planet. You need big money to buy things like robots, but its how you make the bigger bucks. The biggest issue is if you have a load of 20 robots and the planet only accepts 10 of them, you have to take the other 10 to a different planet to unload them.
Getting attacked - Flee...right away! I don't even know why this isn't the automatic selection in battle, especially if your ship is unarmed. If you get hacked, try a bribe (click the phone icon on the opposing player's icon) - its better than death which is the only other alternative.
Missions - There are a couple easy ones where you deliver a shamrock, or take people to a planet, which can bring in some okay money early on, but I've found trading goods works the best after that. If you want to do battle missions, I would recommend waiting until you have a fighter-type ship with multiple weapon slots and some good hacking abilities. But from what I've heard from others, fighting is at best a break-even profession - you won't be making much money in it. A really great money-making mission is one where you have to deliver as many of a certain good(s) as you can in an alloted time. I made over $60,000 credits by delivering a ton of textiles at $1900 a piece. You need a good stake of money on those missions, though, because you don't get paid until the mission is over - so you have to cover the cost of the goods as well as payroll for the crew until the mission ends.
Well...that's all I can think of for now. Please feel free to add anything that might help other players in this game.