Newbie: I just keep dying

[RichOfOz]

I've played Starmade for several hours but I keep dying.

Looking at the log, I see "MOB_Isanth Type Zero Mb_" blah "[Pirates] [100% Power]" etc. So a pirate is killing me, a lot. See screenshots.

The problem is, I've never seen this pirate!

It happened a few times so I built a bigger better ship, protected the core with lots of armor, put 1000 or so worth of shields on it, and as I approached a Shop, RESPAWN! I watched the radar, nothing was there.

I respawned at another shop about 3000m away, so I built a quick ship and went to navigate back to the shop where I had died. I figured I just wasn't seeing the pirate. I saw my ship in the Nav list. So I selected it and headed off. I read a message saying the core was overheating and there was about 180 seconds left.

I got up close to my old ship, it had a massive hole in it, then RESPAWN! Killed again by the pirate! I was near the shop! I would have said I was within range, but I'm not certain. I didn't think you could get killed near a shop?

I have never seen this pirate!! Not the ship, or on the radar.

What am I missing?

 

[ToyotaSupra]

Ah, the missile pirates.

Yes OP, I've complained about this as well, they're practically mini bosses right now, all we can do is wait (SOON tm) until it's eventually fixed in about 5 or 6 months time.

There's a fix for this if you're single player. If not? Fugheddaboudid.

1) Go to ships folder
2) Remove all isanth variations starting with the letter M
3) Reset universe.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Isanth Type Zero Mb fire sniper missiles or as I like to call them "Radar Missiles". It has been my experience that these are typically rare so you shouldn't see them too often.

Your best defense against them is to equip your ship with a radar jammer and keep it on as if they cannot get a lock they will not fire on you. Your next best defense is to make sure your ship is equipped with anti missile turrets.

There is also a bug that makes missile invisible if they are fired from a neighboring sector.

Additionally this game really needs an audio and visual warning when a locked missile is fired at you...

 

[ToyotaSupra]

this game really needs audio period

 

[RichOfOz]

Sniper missles.... would never have thought of that.

For a Newbie the complete lack of warning does not do the game any favours. An audio warning would be great. I hope this comes in soon.

Thanks guys! I'll try your suggestions.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Sniper missles.... would never have thought of that.

For a Newbie the complete lack of warning does not do the game any favours. An audio warning would be great. I hope this comes in soon.

Thanks guys! I'll try your suggestions.

The fact that the missiles are almost always invisible doesn't help either. Even if your ship is capable of shooting them down and you are looking directly at the ship shooting you, you're dead because you can't shoot what you can't see.

 

[proudlimey]

This just happened to me. I was sitting next to a shop and did notice it on my scanner about 3000 metres away (but didn't see anything on the map), but it was not moving any closer. After about 5 minutes of sitting at this shop I am suddenly blown to smithereens by this ship, still in it;s same position, in an INSTANT. If I had known this ridiculous thing can kill at a click of a finger and not even be seen by me, I would have powered up my jump drive and ran a million miles

 

[Deleted member 433088]

Yeah, those missiles seem to pack a crazy punch... I didn't know about the invisible missiles part though, that certainly explains a lot.
I'm a new player as well, and after being insta-gibbed a few times I got used to periodically checking my navigation screen, scouting for pirate bases and avoiding their neighborhood, and generally running like hell every time I see pirates, as I don't yet have the capability to take the fight to them.

I did find it funny that in my recon runs (in one of those super-cheap 3-block "probes") I found that, as long as they're only equipped with beams and cannons, I can dance the macarena employ evasive maneuvers in front of pirate stations and take minimal damage. Are missiles just that much more powerful?

 

[KiloZulu]

If you are the only player in the region, log out for about five minutes and let the sector unload. I believe that should remove any pirates loitering in the area.

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

Missiles are very annoying especially since beams have no effect on them. I find it humorous a point beam defense has been deemed too OP, but missiles that use to burn up in my shields are now one-shot-killers. It is especially funny because most of the time they don't shoot just one. I guess the extra are to atomize the pieces, and then reduce the atoms to quarks.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Missiles are very annoying especially since beams have no effect on them. I find it humorous a point beam defense has been deemed too OP, but missiles that use to burn up in my shields are now one-shot-killers. It is especially funny because most of the time they don't shoot just one. I guess the extra are to atomize the pieces, and then reduce the atoms to quarks.

Cannon Cannon Defense Turrets. If you are playing single player make sure you have your difficulty set to high so the turrets are actually accurate enough to be hit missiles.

 

[Deleted member 433088]

Cannon Cannon Defense Turrets. If you are playing single player make sure you have your difficulty set to high so the turrets are actually accurate enough to be hit missiles.

When you say "Cannon Cannon" I assume you mean a cannon with another linked cannon for extra fire rate? Also nice tip for the accuracy.

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

Cannon Cannon Defense Turrets. If you are playing single player make sure you have your difficulty set to high so the turrets are actually accurate enough to be hit missiles.

Yes that works, it is what I do, but its not the point, the point is beams should work but they have been restricted, while missiles have had their restrictions removed.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

Yes that works, it is what I do, but its not the point, the point is beams should work but they have been restricted, while missiles have had their restrictions removed.

Missiles are the only weapon that can be intercepted, that's a fairly large restriction. Schema decided that instant travel hit-scan beams against missiles would be OP and the last thing we want is useless missiles again.

There are a lot of missile bugs that need to be address though. They have higher splash damage than they should, cannot be seen behind glass, are invisible if fired from a neighboring sector, AI have no lock on time, and AI can fire them at you regardless of if you have a radar jammer or not.

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

Schema decided that instant travel hit-scan beams against missiles would be OP and the last thing we want is useless missiles again.

I understand the reasons that where given, I do not however agree with them, how is this different from using cannon cannon with 1000 accuracy. The end result is the same, except now everything mobs included hits with more accuracy.

 

[Sven_The_Slayer]

I understand the reasons that where given, I do not however agree with them, how is this different from using cannon cannon with 1000 accuracy. The end result is the same, except now everything mobs included hits with more accuracy.

The difference is travel time, beams are instant but cannons have to compensate for time it takes to get to the missile. This adds error where missiles can have moved out of the way after the shot is fired.

 

[Marduk_Zoekoff]

The difference is travel time, beams are instant but cannons have to compensate for time it takes to get to the missile. This adds error where missiles can have moved out of the way after the shot is fired.

I understand the reasons that where given, I do not however agree with them, how is this different from using cannon cannon with 1000 accuracy. The end result is the same, except now everything mobs included hits with more accuracy.

No missile passes the cannon point deference at 1000 accuracy, the distance at which they are destroyed seems to be a small point to argue against beams not being able to hit them at all, especially considering that beams have a shorter range than cannons, that turns the chances that a missile is destroyed early in favor of the cannon, where the beam has a 0% chance to hit something outside it's range. but a machine cannon with 97% accuracy at 1000m is going to hit the missile before it hits you. However, this is getting way off topic, so I will consed that what is done is done. That does not require me to agree with it now or at any future time.

The best suggestion I would give to the original question if it is a single player game, go in and use /god_mode, go back target the pirate with your navigation screen and use /destroy_entity, You may want to also consider going into the catalog under admin options and remove the Enemy use flag from the Isanth Type Zero Mb as well as any that end with M*, the ending describes the weapons being used the capital letter being the main weapon with the lower case being the linked weapon. M= Missile linked to a b= beam. Other examples are Cc meaning Cannon linked to cannon, Bc meaning Beam linked to cannon, etc.