Unlocking new ships is way too difficult

[PirateCat]

The problem is that each ships requires a whole bunch of pieces to fall into place, and there's too many pieces. Like get X component and upgrade it to level X, while having a crewmember of a specific race, and you have to be in a specific system and be lucky enough to find a specific event, and then you must still make the right choice during the event. Without a guide, it's virtually impossible to unlock a ship. But even with a guide it's all so random that it's still very hard.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that this part of the game is not designed well at all.

Its not "virtually impossible" to unlock ships without a guide. I got the Torus and Fed Cruiser without a guide. Now granted those don't really count as they're handed to you. But I also got the stealth ship, slug ship, and rock cruiser without a guide, also.

[Zaffre]

It doesn't matter to me, because I think the Kestrel Type A is the most balanced in general. The layout's great and it starts off with good weapons. However, I do like the Torus as well if I get another ion blast weapon.

[OrangeBottle]

I unlocked everything except the secret ship without a guide. Ofc, I was playing throughout the beta, so...

[gingerbill]

Ships should definitely be easier to get. Not because the game should be easier, but because they add a lot of variety and replay value. Right now, by the time you get a few you are already getting burned out on the game.

thats a good point . I play more with the ships unlocked just for variety .

[madattak9]

I got the Zoltan cruiser, the encounter is luck but what you do to actually unlock it after that is mostly skill. I figured out how to unlock the Secret Cruiser, but I was in a wrong place wrong time situation. Other than that most of it will most likely be luck, and Im rapidly getting fed up of my small ship choices.

[icepick]

The unlock events are ALWAYS there (with the exception of maybe the secret ship). You just have to find and complete them. Luck is involved, but there's lots you can do to help your chances.

[madattak9]

The unlock events are ALWAYS there (with the exception of maybe the secret ship). You just have to find and complete them. Luck is involved, but there's lots you can do to help your chances.

Secret ship is always there I think, you just need to do certain things in the right order (Hint: You need the statis pod before the Rockman homeworld.)

[froz]

I don't like the idea behind unlocking the ships. I just don't really like playing for achievements and unlocking ships is very similar to that. As someone mentioned - to unlock a ship you have to play another game - a game where your goal is to unlock a ship, not to kill the boss. Ofcourse you can still unlock a ship during regular game, but it's not related to how well you play (excluding engi and fed ships and some achievements).

What I would like to see is more unlocking through regular game - for example, a ship for beating boss on normal 3 times. Or a special mode where you select which ship you want to unlock and you have a mission for it - just like normal game, but maybe ends in 6 sector and instead fighting boss, you fight the ship you want to unlock (ofcourse it would be fully upgraded). Some ships could still be unlocked like they are now, but I would really like more unlocking by getting good in game, not just by trying and trying and trying to be lucky. It's not about difficulty - I'm good with unlocking being hard, it's just not hard the way I want it to be.

I've been playing the game for some time now, I won twice on easy, still trying on normal. I have 5 ships unlocked (+ some types B), but I got to a point when it started to be boring. The problem is that I will probably play untill I win on normal difficulty, but not to unlock new ships. I just can't imagine quiting a good game just because I was going for slug ship and didn't get the event in slug nebula (or something like that).

[Drok]

I only unlocked the Engi and Federation while playing without a particular aim. However, once I read the guide of how to get each ship I was able to unlock all of them but the Crystal and Slug in a few hours of gameplay. This is because you can be on the lookout for all of them at the same time while playing, and chances are you will stumble upon at least one quest for them and be prepared for the opportunity.
The problem is that for those who don't know the details, the combination of factors needed to unlock them is quite improbable. If you have no idea of how to unlock them, you have to be lucky enough to:

- Meet the system/crew requirement by chance (I'd say 35% chance in average)
- Go through the homeworld by chance (Chances of going through one without looking actively for them are of 30% per playthrough at the best)
- Know what options will actually unlock the ship (I'd say 25% chance to get it right in average, but that may be high considering that most ships are unlocked by a series of correct choices*)
- Getting lucky enough to, once you finally find the sector and meet the requirements, find the actual quest (60% maybe).

All considered in this very very rough estimate, you would have 1,5% chance to unlock each ship each adventure (excluding the Engi and Fed).
*Let's admit it, quest choices/actions are not exactly intiutive. There is a mean rock cruiser blowing me up with missiles while a sun sets in fire my subsystems. I was actually supposed not to blow them up?
And some ships, like Mantis, require very specific strategies that you may never use, in addition to all the luck factors.

That said, I don't complain about the difficulty because I enjoy challanges, but only because I knew beforehand the details to avoid a whole life of blindly going through galaxies waiting to bump into a new ship by chance. I agree ships should not be unlocked at the start. However, hints to get the ships should be much more helpful. Remember that new ships are necessary additions to keep the game fresh, new players may get bored faster if they don't find them.

[AngleWyrm]

Something that could improve the skill/luck ratio would be if the main sector map listed what each sector actually was, so you could make plans as early as your first jump.

If you know that there's NO OPPORTUNITY to reach a Mantis homeworld sector, then that game is not going to be about trying to get the Mantis ship. So you can plan something more appropriate, like spending your points on drones or heavy shields, or going for max crew.

I think this would make the game more fun, with less dead ends.