Favorite trick in the game (spoilers possible)

[Phoenix-D]

-You can ram while cloaked. (and BE rammed, but only accidentally..the enemy doesn't avoid ships they can't see)

-The plasma coil cloaker is not a unique item..

-The garthan carries produce an infinite amount of fighters. I haven't checked, but I suspect each fighter gives its own point bonus..

[Zogu]

You can mount 2 Particle Vortex Cannons on your ship, which makes it insanely powerful.

How is that possible? Find the first, "Bauble up" the second!!!

[Foosnark]

Yep, it's been confirmed elsewhere that you get points for every fighter you kill.

- The Bloodfang is both faster and better at ramming than any Terran ship. With a fast thruster, plasma coil cloaker, and good beam weapons it will handle almost anything singlehandedly. You'll probably want to retreat all your non-cloaked ships after taking out the first wave of fighters.

- Don't ram the Tchorak. It hurts.

- The better beam weapons may have less range than the PVC, but they reliably destroy incoming missiles and do more damage. The SQP fires almost nonstop, and the TRG has a decent range and does incredible damage. Equip 2 or 3 of these on a ship and use it to fend off incoming fire while another ship blasts away with a PVC or other long-range weapons -- or cloak your beam-wielding ship and attack from behind at close range.

- Unless you're constrained by a slow drive, you'll want to put off as much combat as possible until you've visited all the unoccupied and friendly systems. You'll be better equipped that way.

[Brainiac4]

The cheesiest trick in my repertoire is the Gong-and-retreat with either the Hyperdrive or the Zorg Helmsman. Attack, hit the Gong, retreat, repeat. With either of the fast-travel options, this is an effortless way to win, since the Gong autokills everything up to and including denizens of black holes.

[rocky8311]

Zogu said:
You can mount 2 Particle Vortex Cannons on your ship, which makes it insanely powerful.

Yes, happiness is a warm Particle Vortex Cannon.

Sheer, unbridled joy is TWO warm Particle Vortex Cannons.

But I prefer to mount them on two different ships.

And if I'm far enough ahead, I just get a Cobalt Torpedo for fun.

[Hugo]

I've indeed tested the "fighter" trick, the game gives 5 or so points for every fighter destroyed. With the right items onboard your ship, you could be going around the combat map for hours destroying fighters and raking in the points.

Some of us agree that this is more than a trick, it's an exploit and therefore should be dealt with in the next patch.

[Puke]

wishing for a Cobalt Torpedo is a neat trick, but a REAL cheese monkey will wish for a NOVA CANNON.

a slightly more legitamate trick, is to use non-point defense weapons to target missiles. just pick a point in space, and fire. Beam weapons are good for this, as is the Micro Metorite Cannon.

A good way to take advantage of this, is to have a smaller ship constantly fireing sideways across the bow of your long range ship.

Or while you're wishing for things you shouldnt, a Flash Crater makes a very nice area-effect point defense weapon. Not good for much else, though.

[Puke]

Hugo said:
Some of us agree that this is more than a trick, it's an exploit and therefore should be dealt with in the next patch.

honestly, it sounds kind of boreing. if someone wants to do that, let them have their points. I'd rather not be deprived of 5 points per legitimate fighter kill, especially with the carrier-centric mod i'm working on.

[Tanelorn]

That's the thing, until this game becomes competitive (co-op multiplayer could be fun), who cares if there's a minor exploit such as the fighters. The endless use gong is a different issue tho.

[Shadowcat]

We maintain a high-score table at ISF, so the game is competitive in that respect