Reached lvl 33, things got REALLY bad.

[Ludak021]

PS.

okej. Previous sector I did was normal pace, expert difficulty set at level of my ship (I think I set it to 32 bcs it was the closest) but mobs actually started at lvl 26/27 and ended up at lvl 31. Something was wrong. They were hitting hard though, and I say that because I just started NEW sector and selected lvl 36 starting point, and selected fast pace and mobs aren't any harder and they are indeed lvl 36... strangely, there is a lot less of them ( like 3 times less). Thing to note is that I leveled to 35 so starting point is above my ship level. I get 100+ xp per kill, and quest now indeed give 2000+ xp (killing some blue boss gave 4500xp o.O) So, the problem seems to be gone now, for now. All quests give above 1000xp, even the dumb ones. This just let fresh air into my droxing

Also, I got my 50 points in eng. so I know I got some extra power and was able to ditch yellow power plant and I can play with that slot, tried flak, not bad, tried dmg modifiers, firing speed modifiers, all are nice, I wish I had 10 yellow slots Oh well, in time. Best thing I found is that EM bubble aura! That thing rocks! it says 33EM dmg/s but with my tactics it is doing 60+ and criting over 150 all the time to everything around me, destroying missiles in the process so screw you flak. I might even ditch the shield soon, need one bigger before I do that though.

So for now, it seems "Normal" is really not the setting to play on (but it is the default!) and even on expert it seems you do need to select higher level than your ship in order for quests and system to work as intended? This should be double checked, I cannot claim that it was not one time bug. I assure you that I have no reason to make things up, everything was as I wrote in the OP and up until this post.

But thread is far from waste, some helpful tips were given and I am thankful to all of you for reading and contributing and helping me out!

Cheers mates! Now I finally have that new 5/4/4 ship in perspective (20 command points is 4 levels that seemed impossible an hour ago)

[darksilver]

strangely, there is a lot less of them ( like 3 times less)

That gives me an idea... maybe there was a sector with some nasty affixes like Crowded or something, so the basic numbers of mobs was increased AND many of them were veterans and higher. Gosh yes they hit hard, still don't know what Talon's Bounty Hunter did, but he managed to one-shot me at 44 lvl (around 1500 point shields+armor+structure), and it was definitely not mines
Anyway, glad that everything's solved

[Ludak021]

Originally Posted by darksilver

That gives me an idea... maybe there was a sector with some nasty affixes like Crowded or something, so the basic numbers of mobs was increased AND many of them were veterans and higher. Gosh yes they hit hard, still don't know what Talon's Bounty Hunter did, but he managed to one-shot me at 44 lvl (around 1500 point shields+armor+structure), and it was definitely not mines
Anyway, glad that everything's solved

yea, I had two of Talons bounty Hs after me, they doing like 300, so I had to boost thrust just to escape then plant mines along the way and that's who I managed to get rid of them, one by one. They shoot lasers at me and that was like 2-3 seconds of that and I am on half of my 750 structure (so 700 shields and 450 plating gone + ~300 structure). Very hard-core. Worst thing was killing them gave only ~100xp if even that much :S Imagine my frustration during 4 hours of that acursed sector...damn.
Now I am fine. It is not too hard, this EM shield helps a bunch and with culling 95 energy per kill I feel godlike hehe Some veterans are real nasty though but I am managing.
PS. I gained 2 lvl's in this new sector, and I am about to hit one more o.O All is fine now :P

o/

PS. Which parts increase Critical CHANCE, not crit multi? Does 50 points tactical bonus gives 10% more crit chance (as in I will have 15% instead of 5% or at least get 5% replaced with 10%) or what? Nothing is explained... :S

[Tyrax Lightning]

Sensor Components ftw... & ya might also wanna try out a Active Use Light Component called "Deadly Aim" sometime when one drops for ya...

Bounty Hunters are evil... they always hit DAMN hard while being tank durable, sometimes they're Veteranized & flying broken OP fast... they seem to hit with their Lasers for full damage at long range while our Beams don't... they seem to always be equipped with 3-5 Beams that they can Chain Fire as if they gotta 3rd hand to keep a finger on each Laser Hotkey while still using their Mouse & Keyboard WSAD Keys correctly AI style, like no Player ever could... & they give very stupidly little reward for defeating compared to how strong they are... I swear they should give as much reward as stuff like the Ancient (insert name of ancient Race here) Destrowyers, & the like, whatever they're called in general... the ones that ya Quest Reward cash in for 10.0 Fear Points & 10.0 Legend Points that can hit FIERCELY hard...

[Siveria]

I think you game has gotten bugged somehow, because at level 33/34 I have gotten quests that give 4-6k exp for Killing 1 boss mob. I have no idea why your quests are so low exp wise.

[Sedlex]

Here's how I level:

Sector size: tiny - anything else is a waste of time for leveling.
Pace: fastest possible.
Races: max.
Sector level: ideally between three and ten levels above your current level if you can hack it (very build dependent - you'll just have to test). If the sector level is equal to your ship level or lower, you can basically just ditch that sector and move on.

On start, your first priority is to locate the races (usually two or three) in your initial sector. The instant you have two, hover over the star to check missions in your sector. At level 30+, you should have at least one, probably several "kill monster X" missions and some "rescue" missions. Do those, ignore all others. Once done, if you haven't met the other races yet, trade with the races you've already met for contacts. Do kills and rescues.

Right, now that you've finished that, you're allowed to take a starlane.

The instant you run out of instantly available "kill" or "rescue" missions, or if your level reaches the monster level, abandon the sector. There is no reason to stick around - rewards are... underwhelming to say the least.

Wash, rince, repeat.

[Ludak021]

Originally Posted by Sedlex

Here's how I level:

Sector size: tiny - anything else is a waste of time for leveling.
Pace: fastest possible.
Races: max.
Sector level: ideally between three and ten levels above your current level if you can hack it (very build dependent - you'll just have to test). If the sector level is equal to your ship level or lower, you can basically just ditch that sector and move on.

On start, your first priority is to locate the races (usually two or three) in your initial sector. The instant you have two, hover over the star to check missions in your sector. At level 30+, you should have at least one, probably several "kill monster X" missions and some "rescue" missions. Do those, ignore all others. Once done, if you haven't met the other races yet, trade with the races you've already met for contacts. Do kills and rescues.

Right, now that you've finished that, you're allowed to take a starlane.

The instant you run out of instantly available "kill" or "rescue" missions, or if your level reaches the monster level, abandon the sector. There is no reason to stick around - rewards are... underwhelming to say the least.

Wash, rince, repeat.

yes. You summed it up pretty nice. Game has serious problems with story/mission writing and keeping ones interest in any except the ones you described. XP given for other missions is so small compared to pure grinding that abandon sector is very much viable. I reached lvl 82 and I pretty much have no interest in this game any more. It same 'ol same 'ol all the time. I wish if I could just nuke all the races and be done with them in a sector but tracking every system and every planet is exhausting so I started abandoning sectors, just like you described.

[Professor Paul1290]

Power-leveling in a Soldak game is like playing X3: Terran Conflict doing nothing but plot missions, playing Dishonored doing only playthrough gunning down everyone going for the objective as fast as you can, or running Terraria purely to get all levels of stuff as soon as you can.
I guess you're "winning" but it's kind of a waste if you don't stick around to poke and prod just for the hell of it.

I'm gonna go see if I can coax out a rebel faction somewhere, tech the hell out of them, and see what happens.

[Tuidjy]

I'm with the Professor on this one. I like to come to a sector, spend some times getting my bearings, and make a plan for its future. Then I try to implement the plan. Sometimes I fail, and the fight is still well worth it.

To each his own. Or her own, although this is the first Soldak game that my wife has absolutely no interest in. What is it with women and starships?!

[Ludak021]

Originally Posted by Professor Paul1290

Power-leveling in a Soldak game is like playing X3: Terran Conflict doing nothing but plot missions, playing Dishonored doing only playthrough gunning down everyone going for the objective as fast as you can, or running Terraria purely to get all levels of stuff as soon as you can.
I guess you're "winning" but it's kind of a waste if you don't stick around to poke and prod just for the hell of it.

I'm gonna go see if I can coax out a rebel faction somewhere, tech the hell out of them, and see what happens.

I disagree with your example. X3 is trading and getting more credits to be able to trade even more to be able to build your fleet or just get a better ship. You ain't going to get that battlecruiser by disabling it and hijacking it's hull now will ya? You also don't have any influence on the universe unless you follow the plot story.
Drox is, to me, a grinding game. There isn't even a plot. What else is there to do but to lvl up and get better stuff? But never mind, it's just my take on it.