Please help me with my Elite Ironman Challenge rules!
- Thread starter Obsidian Ant
- Start date
I've played 5 or 6 ironman "characters" in ED now. I'm NOT wiping my save, so my rules are identical to your Ten Commandments except:
1) No repairs except for Wear And Tear.
Wear And Tear isn't performance based, so in my head it doesn't represent the same thing as say fixing the Shield Generator etc.
7) No Shield Boosters, Shield Cells, AFMU or Hull Reinforcement allowed.
It's really possible to overpower the defensive capabilities of ANY ED ship if you ignore cargo racks/fuel scoops/exploration kit. Taking out the defensive Add-Ons makes the game tougher, but also means you won't be tackling Anacondas in Eagles without any real risk of damage.
8) No discovery scanners allowed
Put simply, I took my second Sidewinder out with a Basic Scanner, and tried to find a Black Market to sell 2T of scooped metals (Gold I think). By the time I'd travelled through 40 systems (a 1E Scoop takes a couple of minutes to fill the tank but only costs 303Cr. That trip took an hour in itself) I had made about 38,000Cr in Exploration Data, mostly from just the basic stars and the odd nearby planet. That doesn't fit the basic premise of IronMan to me. I'd be off out of unpopulated space for a day, make 2MCr in exploration data, and back to fight my way up to the Vulture in an A-Class Eagle. No D-Scanner makes Fuel Scooping MUCH harder too. I just destroyed that Sidewinder and on the next one I binned the D-Scanner.
10) Upon ship destruction, the 0Cr "Trevithick/LHS3447" must be chosen (I think different people get different options depending on where they started at the beginning of the game?)
In order to cope with not deleting my save game, when I started off I bought my first Sidey and crashed it to clear my bounties/exploration data that I hadn't cashed in. The second one was "#1"
I made a note of my exact Cr amount at the start of each "character" and subtracted 1000Cr from it and wrote that number down. If anything I did, e.g. outfitting, caused my balance to go below that figure, I reverted to the previous loadout. That way I never spent over 1000Cr from my starting balance.
Experiences so far? I haven't made enough Cr to buy a KWS yet, so have had my ship badly damaged for 230Cr bounties.
In general, smaller ships like Sidewinders and Eagles seem to have larger bounties anyway for some reason. An Elite Viper (TOUGH fight in a Sidewinder with twin Burst) and a Competent Cobra (not quite as tough as it didn't have turrets, but I only had one Burst on that Sidewinder so I had cash for other stuff) both had me down to about 70% Hull and both had 230Cr bounties. Yeeep.
My 2nd or 3rd fight in my most recent Sidewinder had me against an Expert Eagle had the 5000+Cr bounty I needed to get a couple of Lasers, bigger Power Dist and Shield Gen. That Sidewinder ended with me being interdicted whilst fuel scooping by a Deadly Eagle. I'm on my work PC, and Outlook had popped up a notification in the background, so my keyboard wasn't locked to the Elite Client when the fight started. Switching to desktop and back took a few valuable seconds, and I'd put my Shields offline whilst I was scooping to keep the heat down. I finally got into battle, but was at 43% Hull by that time. I should have tried to run straight away as my shields never came online. Module damage meant I couldn't get into SC or Hyperspace (or indeed do very much apart from crackle and spin). EJECT EJECT.
Sorry, long post. Ironman is definitely a valid playstyle for ED, and it definitely shows that a second CMDR slot would be a fabulous addition for the game. Also, it's exhilarating and interesting, gets you thinking, and going back to a Sidewinder and 1000Cr when you muck up is pretty humbling when your garage has a 13MCr Vulture in it. I've never flown the Sidewinder as I got the free Eagle in Gamma, and it is a surprisingly tough little ship with even basic upgrades.
1) No repairs except for Wear And Tear.
Wear And Tear isn't performance based, so in my head it doesn't represent the same thing as say fixing the Shield Generator etc.
7) No Shield Boosters, Shield Cells, AFMU or Hull Reinforcement allowed.
It's really possible to overpower the defensive capabilities of ANY ED ship if you ignore cargo racks/fuel scoops/exploration kit. Taking out the defensive Add-Ons makes the game tougher, but also means you won't be tackling Anacondas in Eagles without any real risk of damage.
8) No discovery scanners allowed
Put simply, I took my second Sidewinder out with a Basic Scanner, and tried to find a Black Market to sell 2T of scooped metals (Gold I think). By the time I'd travelled through 40 systems (a 1E Scoop takes a couple of minutes to fill the tank but only costs 303Cr. That trip took an hour in itself) I had made about 38,000Cr in Exploration Data, mostly from just the basic stars and the odd nearby planet. That doesn't fit the basic premise of IronMan to me. I'd be off out of unpopulated space for a day, make 2MCr in exploration data, and back to fight my way up to the Vulture in an A-Class Eagle. No D-Scanner makes Fuel Scooping MUCH harder too. I just destroyed that Sidewinder and on the next one I binned the D-Scanner.
10) Upon ship destruction, the 0Cr "Trevithick/LHS3447" must be chosen (I think different people get different options depending on where they started at the beginning of the game?)
In order to cope with not deleting my save game, when I started off I bought my first Sidey and crashed it to clear my bounties/exploration data that I hadn't cashed in. The second one was "#1"
I made a note of my exact Cr amount at the start of each "character" and subtracted 1000Cr from it and wrote that number down. If anything I did, e.g. outfitting, caused my balance to go below that figure, I reverted to the previous loadout. That way I never spent over 1000Cr from my starting balance.
Experiences so far? I haven't made enough Cr to buy a KWS yet, so have had my ship badly damaged for 230Cr bounties.
In general, smaller ships like Sidewinders and Eagles seem to have larger bounties anyway for some reason. An Elite Viper (TOUGH fight in a Sidewinder with twin Burst) and a Competent Cobra (not quite as tough as it didn't have turrets, but I only had one Burst on that Sidewinder so I had cash for other stuff) both had me down to about 70% Hull and both had 230Cr bounties. Yeeep.My 2nd or 3rd fight in my most recent Sidewinder had me against an Expert Eagle had the 5000+Cr bounty I needed to get a couple of Lasers, bigger Power Dist and Shield Gen. That Sidewinder ended with me being interdicted whilst fuel scooping by a Deadly Eagle. I'm on my work PC, and Outlook had popped up a notification in the background, so my keyboard wasn't locked to the Elite Client when the fight started. Switching to desktop and back took a few valuable seconds, and I'd put my Shields offline whilst I was scooping to keep the heat down. I finally got into battle, but was at 43% Hull by that time. I should have tried to run straight away as my shields never came online. Module damage meant I couldn't get into SC or Hyperspace (or indeed do very much apart from crackle and spin). EJECT EJECT.
Sorry, long post. Ironman is definitely a valid playstyle for ED, and it definitely shows that a second CMDR slot would be a fabulous addition for the game. Also, it's exhilarating and interesting, gets you thinking, and going back to a Sidewinder and 1000Cr when you muck up is pretty humbling when your garage has a 13MCr Vulture in it. I've never flown the Sidewinder as I got the free Eagle in Gamma, and it is a surprisingly tough little ship with even basic upgrades.
These iron men seem to be suffering a little metal fatigue. Surely a true iron man mode would mean deleting the account on character death?
11. Flight Assist OFF
Please please tell me how you don't die cos I was killed every hour by either a player or a npc pirate. in my little sidewinder.
But I like your idea.
Also is ejecting dying?
You have ejected so you have the chance to be saved. If there was a 30 second window from ejection to return to last station where you show as a pod in space and the player or npc has the choice to kill you or spare you then that could be a new way. I know theres talk of the iron man system being added or not, but this would make for a more interesting direction. Sorry just an idea.
You have ejected so you have the chance to be saved. If there was a 30 second window from ejection to return to last station where you show as a pod in space and the player or npc has the choice to kill you or spare you then that could be a new way. I know theres talk of the iron man system being added or not, but this would make for a more interesting direction. Sorry just an idea.
The only thing that occurs to me to add is rares trading. It can make you a few bucks, but you have to travel a ways to make it worth while and that exposes you to more danger.
That makes #3 read - Must never buy or sell to the commodity market (except rares), however items may be sold to the Black Market.
As for stating a goal, doing a complete 71-stop rares run would be an admirable task. See here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=101211
That makes #3 read - Must never buy or sell to the commodity market (except rares), however items may be sold to the Black Market.
As for stating a goal, doing a complete 71-stop rares run would be an admirable task. See here: https://forums.frontier.co.uk/showthread.php?t=101211
I'm still joping for IM to be implemented properly and play games that have it (e.g. x-Com, Crusader Kings 2, Pillars of Eternity) exclusively in IM and some more with self-imposed IM rules. Not doing it with ED yet, as I want to keep my old save and don't want to support FD for the absence of features such as multiple saves that could be considered standard by buying another account.
If I did however, I'd use mossfoots pilot ejection table to make up for the absence of an ejection capsule which was planned for the original IM mode.
Considering your rules, I understand you want to make the game harder, but some of them appear highly artificial to me.
1. I would allow ship repairs, but add a timer - e.g. 10% take one day to repair, so 50% damage -> fly a different ship or not at all for the next 5 days.
2. I don't see the point and it would also conflict with #1 to some extent.
3. I can see this as a valid lifestyle choice/house rule - doesn't really have anything to do with IM though.
4. See #3.
5. Good Point.
6. Personally I'd pay fines - as opposed to bounties, they're something that's supposed to be clearable.
7. Not really necessary imho - wouldn't make any difference for me as i hate using Gimbals/Turrets anyway and havent used any in months - wouldn't even use them if I was paid to do so, but if someone likes them, why not? Don't really see the point of not using shield cells either except for making the game artificially harder - would be fine for solo, but in open? Nah...
8. Don't see the point, again.
9. Of course.
10. See my previous comment on mossfoots ejection table.
Maybe my IM rules are too soft for you, but I play IM for the added suspense and "immersion" (I hate that word), not to make the game artificially harder.
Beer.
Always creates challenges when you least expect them
Always creates challenges when you least expect them
all the commodities you are going to buy/sell MUST BE EITHER STOLEN OR ILLEGAL.
All the ores MUST BE MINED.
All the ores MUST BE MINED.