Killed
Being killed means having your ship put into stasis or having your escape pod destroyed.
The conventional method of getting killed is to have your shields reduced to zero. At this point you are removed from your ship. If you have an escape pod equipped, you will be placed into that. If you lack a pod, you will enter into spirit form. There are consequences to both of these, which will be explained in detail below.
When you are killed, the ship you were piloting goes into stasis. It will remain in stasis until one of two things happens: the shields fully regenerate on their own, or 5 minutes elapse. When your ship first enters stasis, it will be blue. While it is blue you cannot reenter it. After one of the prior conditions are met, it will turn yellow, and at this point you can reenter it by hovering over it and pressing the Dock key (default R).
Consequences of Death
- Losing Items
- In previous versions of Star Sonata, players over level 15 would drop items when killed. Gear Glue was used to prevent this, but that whole system has now been replaced by durability. Items can no longer be dropped, but items do become damaged and less efficient each time you die.
- Losing Credits
- Whenever you die, by being removed from your ship or having your pod blown up (colloquially podded), you drop credits. The amount you drop is a portion of your ship's repair cost: and, if you die without a pod, a percent of your funds on-hand. The best way to avoid this is to store your credits in the TSL. Another way to avoid this is to store most of your credits inside a base, but this incurs the risk of having that base blown up and losing those credits. A final option is to store credits inside a team, but unless you own the team you may not be able to get them back or someone else may take them.
Avoiding Death
Dying is something most players experience at some point in the game. However, it is advisable to avoid death as much as possible. Dying means losing money, paying repair bills in order to regain lost durability, and incurring death debt. Here are some tips to avoiding death:
- Pick Your Battles
- Do not attack AI which are a significantly higher level than you are. If you choose to do so, do so near a station at which you can dock before you die, or near a gate where you can safely exit the galaxy. If you have a fast ship, you may be able to run from enemies if they are too powerful. Note that many AI will be aggressive to you whether you have attacked them or not, and that there may be no way to avoid these AI. Avoid PVP action until later in the game. If you choose to PVP, seek advice from an experienced player first. See Also: Aggro
- Use Good Equipment and Tactics
- Better gear is oftentimes expensive, but the costs are worthwhile. A higher shield bank means you will not die as quickly and you will be able to fight more AI at once, meaning you can take on swarms. Better ships often come with inbuilt resistances and mods which will make you harder to kill. A good augmenter setup will make you even more powerful, and good weapons mean you can kill enemies before they are able to deal much damage against you. Bots and drones not only aid fighting, but can take hits for you, allowing damage to be spread out over more shields. Secondary Skills can increase the base statistics of your equipment, ships, bots, drones, and can allow you to focus on one particular style of combat. Neuro tweaks can give you a boost when you need it, and forming a squad or joining a team means you can fight alongside others. You can also use Fighters or Missiles to your advantage, the first dealing large damage over time using little energy and the second capable of destroying many ships at once. Finally, a good energy bank means you can shoot longer and deploy drones easier, and a good radar allows you to target enemies better.
- Dodge
- Learning to dodge your foe's attacks will make you harder to kill. There are several tactics for doing this. Juking to avoid bullets is one, and kiting is another. Some tactics are better suited for fast ships like light fighters while others are better for slow ones like freighters and some capital ships. Using your environment is another key skill to learn: hiding behind planets and other solid objects and shooting with an ethereal type weapon allows you to hit your target without getting hit. Having a good engine is always a good idea, though some players can fight well without much maneuvering (see: Drone Masters, Snipers). Because there are more play styles than space to write with on this page, it is advisable to seek advice from an experienced player about what works best for you.
A good pilot can learn how to survive in almost any situation, with any ship, and against any enemy. Becoming a good pilot requires dedication and skill, taking risks, and making mistakes. The number one rule is to learn from your mistakes, and the best advice is always to never enter into a fight you know you can't win.
Bots, Drones, Missiles, and Fighters
- Drones
- Drones are destroyed when their shields reach zero, but they can still be recovered. A destroyed drone can be repaired either by going 60 seconds without taking damage and not firing your weapons or by docking at a base. Repairing while undocked will also cost twice as much as repairing in a base. To repair a drone, right-click on it in your inventory and select repair. You will be charged a fee based on the type of drone it was.
- Some AI drones can be captured rather than killed by reducing their shields to near-zero and killing them with a radiation weapon.
- Bots
- When a bot dies, one of two things happens. It is either completely annihilated and therefore irrecoverable, or it is placed into stasis. Ships that are captured and not yet docked explode upon death. Bots created by activating a controlbot while docked enter stasis.
- Missiles and Fighters
- Missiles can in fact be destroyed mid-flight, and are naturally unrecoverable. Fighters cannot be recovered once destroyed.
