SW3 - skill tree and help needed

[Raga]

Hello,

I have just recently purchased the game on Steam.
I finished SW2 some time ago so I chose hard difficulty.
Unfortunatelly the game is unplayable for me, most of plot related enounters are too hard. One of my fighters usually is blown to pieces (in first couple of seconds) with concentrated fire of enemy, or Mothership is blown in 2-3 approaches of enemy squadron.
Credit rewards for missions are such low that I cannot afford 3rd generation ships.

I gave up having:
Astarte - 2nd System Firmware, 600 shields, Hawk scanner , 20 anti missile defense
Pilots: Hero, Trinnie (?), Greyhair
Hangar: 3x Raptor, 2x Cleaner

The plot is around finishing Alex's convoy and investigation missing convoy at place suggested by Greyhair.

Any advice what am I doing wrong?

Edit: I would like to add that I really tried to deal with it. But some missions (ie. when you are escorting Alex, one sector after saving "yellow" transport trom pirates who joins your convoy) are sick, especially when a group pf hammerheads target your mothership or a transporter. There is no other way than loading previous quicksave and hoping that you will finish previous pirates earlier and intercept missile fighters.
Please, ignore what I said above the "Edit". It appears that hard difficulty is not for me - using mechanics to maximum and playing the most efficient way possible. Medium difficuplty will be more fun for me. Just focus on my questions below.

Second question:
I started a new game (medium difficulty) with system specialist.
I undestand that the perks do not stack, but how does exactly work perks leading to Technomage? The description ststes that the bonuses work tor entire team, but I heven't noticed andy differences when putting Hero and another pilot into squadron.
Does Repairman stack with System Expert or the higher value is chosen?

Clarification: How does repairing modules work? One states the it repairs 2Hp/s but the real value is around 16hp/s when mounted on Mastiff (is it 2Hp or 2% Hp?)

Raga

[Simbal]

for your problem, try to load a older save when you are asked to Instant Jump to Destination or something like that, click no and free roam till you got enough credits to buy Good Equipment, or even search hidden stashes (A thread on hidden stashes is here somewhere)

for your question, I don't really know about the bonuses and the difference exactly but i think it does little difference (even if not noticeable)

for the repairing modules, here are the actual heal rates for all Repair modules

- Flight Repair Units
Cleric = 1HP/s
Reedemer = 2HP/s
Sigil = 4HP/s
Phoenix = 10HP/s

- Repair Units
Gnome = 1HP/s
Cobold = 2HP/s
Gremlin = 4HP/s
Nannite = 8HP/s

- Emergency vessel repair Systems
Troll = 10HP/s
Werewolf = 20HP/s
Lycanthrope = 50HP/s
Ogre = 100HP/s

- Base Modules
Chrome = 1HP/s
Nickel = 2HP/s
Vanadium = 5HP/s
Tungsten = 20HP/s

[Raga]

Thanks Simbal:

I really doubt in the repair values.
My Mothership (Mastiff) has a module 2hp/s installed.
My calculations show that Mastiff eaten to 50% hp (1500hp total) should be rapaired in about 6 minutes, but in reality it takes maximum one minute.

The problem with hard difficulty is that the 4 pirate Captains in 3rd generation ships eat all the shields of mothership (about 800) in one approach, two more approaches and you see Game Over screen.

The sad thing is that Your 3 pilots cannot even destroy one nemy ship during that time - believe me, I believe I have chosen good perks and equipped my ships properly.

[Simbal]

hmm, little strange, but these are actual set values for the Repair modules as you can see in the Modules.xml file ^^

just a note: If you have problems in the middle difficulty, Try to buy some mercenaries at trade stations

and i don't think that repairman stacks with system expert.

PS: It seems the Hidden stashes Thread got deleted or something, atleast it was archived: http://forum.1cpublishing.eu/archive...p/t-13753.html

[Raga]

Simbal:

Medium difficulty is really okay, but I must confess that I had to hire a group of 5 mercenaries (for 50k) during mission with Alex convoy (against pirates with Butcher).
I tried three times but in the end my ships survived (and one mercenary in Puma).

The funny thing is that hard difficulty gives you less exp and less cash for missions, but gives much better loot from ships. I have currently 2 saves (I managed to reach the same point on medium and hard) and on hard difficulty I have worse ships but their modules and weapons are many times better then on medium difficulty.

Hard: All my ships have 2x 200 shields
Medium: I manged to BUY one 200 shield from station.

[Simbal]

yeah, less experience and less cash on Hard, but because the enemy ships are so heavy equipped on Hard difficulty, you can just get the Equipment you need from them (if you are able to kill them off ^^)

But i really recommend you to get some Hidden Stashes if you can free roam

Have Fun playing

[Hal2003]

Best way is 2 x Kali and Thugsten for mothership and all small ships 3 x Ghost, that is mostly making fighters invisible and you got only a few hits.

[Raga]

Originally Posted by Simbal

But i really recommend you to get some Hidden Stashes if you can free roam
Have Fun playing

Well You can call me weird, but I do not like the idea of hidden stashes. (it just seams cheating - it does not require any skill)

I do not know how to express that, but if a game (ie. on hard difficulty) takes away my freedom and forces me to play in some fixed way - I just hate that.

On Hard difficulty I managed somehow to get Astarte, but I hated how it looks, so I just Ingnored this quest on medium difficulty.

Yes, I know, I play in a weird way.

Hal2003:
Correct me if I am wrong.
If you make your fighters invisible, then you expose your mothership to all the enemies. How do you make it survive concentrated attacks?

[Hal2003]

No problem with the configuration that mentioned and 3rd sys firmware. There is some way how to make some good money from the USS mission to Al Ariash. Like 500k at normal.

/edit

Error its 1,25 mio, 500k is for hard.

[Raga]

I don't want to start a new topic so I am asking here.

Is there a way to earn noney outside the main plot?
How to trigger random missions?

When I was playing on hard difficulty I was given 2 missions from Patrol Stations to hunt pirates for 10k, but nothing like that occured on medium difficulty.

I remember that there were some missions on station in SW2, but here I cannot find any.

Any advices?