Starfield Omnibus Thread

[RIPPA]

Had my first big "oops" moment as I accidentally blew up Marika

We were clearing out a science facility and the pirates had dropped a lot of mines around.

Well I shot one (because I forgot how to disarm them) which would have been fine except I didn't notice that it was sitting next to an explosive container. So Marika was instantly dead. Thankfully I noticed right away (and had just saved) so it was all good as opposed to the time in Skyrim when I accidentally shouted Lydia off a mountain and didn't notice for a hour

[J.T.]

22 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Devrom Kay runs the bar for Vets on Cydonia - can’t hate that

Jack at the Broken Spear is the bartender I have problems with.

22 hours ago, RIPPA said:

Oh is this where I don’t mention I found a second copy of Oliver Twist?

I have also found two copies:  one in the apartment of the GalBank hackers (Alternating Currents) and the other was for sale at Jemison Mercantile in New Atlantis.

And shit.  I can't manufacture my own flash suppressor weapon mods until I have researched Muzzle Mods 1 and I cannot research Muzzle Mods 1 until I have learned Weapon Engineering; a Rank 2 Science skill.  So now I am faced with the dilemma of what to Science skills to invest in (if any) or if I just hope that RNG just drops suppressed firearms in my lap.

If I invested in Science, I'd probably go with Astrodynamics (to get more utility out of spaceships) and maybe Surveying (to improve the range of my scanner) or Research Methods.  I could probably get away with not investing in Astrodynamics because that is Sarah's field of expertise, but I have a feeling we are going to bump heads sooner or later so I don't want to rely on her.

Of course, the more Skill Points I invest in Science, the fewer I have for Combat, Tech, Physical, and Social and I REALLY want Combat Slide from the Gymnastics tree.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

The only thing missing from Cydonia is KUATO LIVES~! written on a wall somewhere in black spray paint.

[odessasteps]

Found a copy of Hard Times on Akila City. Persuaded Shaw not to fight after recovering the artifact. 

did the mission for the bartender at the Viewpoint, persuaded the guard which was enough to unlock Persuasion level 2. 

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by odessasteps

[odessasteps]

Did more Freestar stuff. Had a dogfight, visited Neon for first time, bought some Velocity since it should boost my Presuasion.

also learned that my medical background as a combat medic gives some “medicene” dialog options, one of which got me into a VIP section of a hospital. 

[J.T.]

So the working for the L1 Fitness challenge is a bit misleading.  When it says that you have to use all available O2 twenty times, you actually have to keep exerting yourself until your CO2 meter (the red bar) increases to the point where you start to take physical damage. 

Since you also have to exert yourself for the L1 Weight Lifting challenge, I imagine you can kill two birds with one stone by sprinting 1000 meters while 75% or more encumbered.  Three actually, if you include the L1 Wellness challenge (heal 200 total points of damage) and use MedPacks to recover any health lost by overexertion.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

4 minutes ago, odessasteps said:

Did more Freestar stuff. Had a dogfight, visited Neon for first time, bought some Velocity since it should boost my Presuasion.

also learned that my medical background as a combat medic gives some “medicene” dialog options, one of which got me into a VIP section of a hospital. 

Yes, I was able to talk down the security guard harassing the Freestar Collective ambassador stuck at the spaceport by using the dialogue added by L1 Security.

If you conclude the activity that way, the FC diplomat gives you a gift of 1K credits.   If you just inform the FC embassy that the rep is being harassed, your only reward is the XP for finishing the side gig IIRC.

In addition to Velocity, there is also a drug called Hippolyta that boosts Persuasion.  You can find it all over the Lunar Stardock when you are looking for Moara. 

You can also get Persuasion bumps from red wine consumables and the special alien alcoholic beverage that Nyssa gives you as a gift for retrieving her stuff from the impound.

Edited September 17, 2023 by J.T.

[odessasteps]

I did fail 3 times trying to persuade the loan Shark on Neon before I just gave in and paid the debt on my informant, the ironically named Billy Clayton. 
 

I stopped for dinner/grocery shopping right when I landed on a space station to apprehend a perp. I somehow didn’t have a follower, so iguess I’m taking Vasco on this mission.

Edited September 17, 2023 by odessasteps

[J.T.]

I continue to annoy Kelton Frush with my continued suggestion that the best way to deal with his ultrasonic wave emitting tree is to cut the fucking thing down.

He has no sense of humor.

[odessasteps]

I saw I can talk to him again but haven’t done it yet. 
 

im still trying to figure out how to do the Beauiful Secret mission, where you have to find the missing data for the guy at Enhance.

[RIPPA]

I am been making a list of the ultimate stupid people in this game and my new #1 is the soldier who was trying to punch a Xenomorph with his bare hands

[Raziel]

Ok, everyone says the UC Vanguard line is good, let's give that a shot.  Oh, it's starting with a milk run...

 

Spoiler

HOLY SHIT, THAT'S A TERRORMORPH???

 

[J.T.]

The vicious Skryim cycle repeats itself.  I go to Cydonia with the intention of talking to Trevor about the labor situation and now I am tracking my way across the frikkin' Martian desert looking for a missing shipment for Denis, the local UC Distribution rep.

WHY MUST I FOLLOW EVERY LINE OF DIALOGUE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE~???

I'm unable to mark progress towards the Fitness challenge while running the surface of Mars.  Not sure if it's the spacesuit or the fact that I am on a planet with less than one G.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

Well that's like I am trying to expand BEYOND New Atlantis and Cydonia and the game goes "that's nice - we are gonna make 6 of your quests all go to New Atlantis at the same time"

[odessasteps]

I am trying to track down this fugitive on her asteroid base. These little bug aliens killed me once or twice. Luckily, in middle of the mission, I leveled up and raised my Pistol Ability to level 2, which now lets me one shot them with my deadeye. 
 

made it to bottom of caves where I now have heel robots and heel robot dogs. Died once and called it a night. 

[Raziel]

Hey, Akila is there too.

[J.T.]

So, that mission for Denis....

Spoiler

The cargo is infested with heatleeches.  It is nigh impossible to sneak up on them and shooting them is just a waste of bullets.  If you have the Dueling skill and need melee kills for a challenge or have Boxing and need to beat things to death with your bare hands, it's a bonanza.  

It will take two or three shots from a gun to kill one but one or two swings from a melee weapon or a flurry of punches will end them quickly.

There are also some crates full of crafting mats and some spacesuits and helmets to sell if you're hurting for creds or saving up for a ship.

I now have Denis as a connect for new jobs as if my Mission Queue wasn't already exploding with shit to do. 

At least he had the mats I needed to add Ballistic Shielding to my Constellation spacesuit and helmet and Oxygen Reserve for my Constellation pack.  I still need to see if any Boost improvements can be made without investing in Spacesuit Design.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

Holy shit.  Space Frogs from Outer Space is the best mission in the game.  Renee is a thoughtful child and it is a decent way to learn how to navigate Cydonia's Central Hub.  It is also a productive way to burn off time while waiting for Tia to leave for the day so you can access her computer during Red Tape Blues.

Sure, you could pass time away at the bar, but where is the fun in that?

Now that I have unlocked SPACE FROG POSTERS~! as decorations for any outposts I build, I should probably look into building one somewhere pretty soon.  Perhaps this work I am doing for LIST will factor in?   One mission is completed; another one takes its place.  My Missions Queue will always be huge.

I have to hand it to Bethesda.  In most of their RPGs, there are skills and abilities that are absolutely worthless depending on your build, so you know what to focus on and what to ditch.  In this game, just about every skill seems to have importance somewhere.  I fucking hate it that I want to be good at everything and I am not.

Also this game has to be the most dialogue rich of any Bethesda RPG.  You can be either completely cool or a total dick to just about anyone, including children.  I wonder how many quests that Mark will miss simply because he avoided talking to kids or refused to say anything nice to them?

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

Well, I am now working for Peter Brennan as part of Trevor's little plan.  The first thing he said when I met him is that he hates the Space Frog posters I put up for Renee.   Peter is obviously an awful human being.  He is lucky I don't shove him over the railing and let him fall to his death.

Oh, and I finished up The Old Neighborhood over the weekend.  Sarah and I have bonded during battle and i don't find her to be nearly as insufferable as I used to.  At least she has the common sense to take cover in a firefight and she talks mad garbage when the shooting starts.  I need to get her a better laser rifle than the shitty one she grabbed from God knows where while we were exploring the Lunar Shipyard space station. 

I am sure the lessons learned from the silent running and dogfighting parts of the mission will come in handy in the future.

I wish my Constellation gear had cool patches like Barrett's does, but now I finally can ditch my ugly mining suit.  I guess I need to consider working towards the Spacesuit Engineering skill so I can research better mods for my gear.

Now I have to go to work.  I may start playing this game only on the weekends when I can burn most of the day.  An hour or two here and there before I get ready for work or after dinner on the weekdays doesn't really give me a lot of time to do what I want to.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[J.T.]

Remember when I said that I was surprised that Bethesda did not put addictions into the game like they did in Fallout.  Turns out I did not inject enough buffs to find out.

Unbeknownst to me, I had a raging alcohol addiction from downing shit tons of wine during Persuasion attempts and did not even realize it until I noticed that my 02 and regen appeared to be slower than normal and my Carrying Capacity would drop mysteriously.  I struggled in combat during The Old Neighborhood, so I knew something was up.

To test it, I went to Jake's to pound down some more wine and my stats went back to normal... and then dropped once the alcohol wore off.  Drinking lager did not recover my stats.  You have to use the same substance that got you hooked in the first place.

I went to see the doctor in the Well and payed 450 creds for rehab.  Now we know that medical facilities are not just in the game to serve as vendors for buffs.

Thanks to my Wanted trait, I got jumped by Ecliptic mercs while delivering a wheat shipment to Gagarin.  One of the mercs had a data slate on him entitled SECRET OUTPOST~!  I'm guessing that the first thing I should do when I start playing this afternoon is read the slate.

Also, HTH damage scaling is TERRIBLE and that's sad because I wanted to invest in Boxing / Martial Arts for my Ronin.  I will probably waste the points anyway because i am dumb and stubborn.  It looks like you can beat the L1 Boxing challenge simply by smashing level one critters with your fists, so there are exploits in place that you can use to improve your CQC abilities.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[Shadow]

10 hours ago, J.T. said:

Holy shit.  Space Frogs from Outer Space is the best mission in the game.  Renee is a thoughtful child and it is a decent way to learn how to navigate Cydonia's Central Hub.  It is also a productive way to burn off time while waiting for Tia to leave for the day so you can access her computer during Red Tape Blues.

Sure, you could pass time away at the bar, but where is the fun in that?

Now that I have unlocked SPACE FROG POSTERS~! as decorations for any outposts I build, I should probably look into building one somewhere pretty soon.  Perhaps this work I am doing for LIST will factor in?   One mission is completed; another one takes its place.  My Missions Queue will always be huge.

I have to hand it to Bethesda.  In most of their RPGs, there are skills and abilities that are absolutely worthless depending on your build, so you know what to focus on and what to ditch.  In this game, just about every skill seems to have importance somewhere.  I fucking hate it that I want to be good at everything and I am not.

Also this game has to be the most dialogue rich of any Bethesda RPG.  You can be either completely cool or a total dick to just about anyone, including children.  I wonder how many quests that Mark will miss simply because he avoided talking to kids or refused to say anything nice to them?

The best part of that quest for me was after doing it, going to Akila City and seeing them posted everywhere. I think Renee would be so incredibly happy if I could tell her.

[J.T.]

@Raziel

It may be too late for you, but I found a pretty good guide on improvements you can make to the Frontier to make a bit more reliable.

I will probably try this on my first NG+.

The most important caveat to this vid is that you will need at least L1 Pilot to build it, otherwise you won't have access to higher level grav drive and cargo pods.

Edited September 18, 2023 by J.T.

[RIPPA]

2 hours ago, J.T. said:

Now I have to go to work.  I may start playing this game only on the weekends when I can burn most of the day.  An hour or two here and there before I get ready for work or after dinner on the weekdays doesn't really give me a lot of time to do what I want to.

Yes - there are only so many hours in the day to hang posters and spend too much time on terrible gear

[RIPPA]

An example of how doing "local" exploration is slowing me down

Going to do In Memoriam and I can't jump there because I haven't been remotely close to the system yet

Okay - the closest I can get is Altair. Hey - a random freighter told me there was shit going down here. I will do that on the way!

Yeah.... that has turned into a whole deal

[J.T.]

17 minutes ago, RIPPA said:

Yes - there are only so many hours in the day to hang posters and spend too much time on terrible gear

And you say that I am the angry old man.