The Bugs, Glitches and Exploits of Infinite Space Revisited: The Kawangi Trap - To Cheese or Not to Cheese?

The Bugs, Glitches and Exploits of Infinite Space Revisited: The Kawangi Trap - To Cheese or Not to Cheese?

Earlier in my sub-series of blog posts, I explained some of the bugs and glitches found in Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars, as well as some handy exploits that can help you give you all the money you want (or need) to upgrade your existing ships or trade them in for new ones. Recently, however, I discovered an extreme example of how to exploit one of the game's bugs for loads of cash. For this one, you will need, at the very least, a capital ship with lots of firepower and strong shielding to exploit this particular bug. In addition to this, you may want to fit some advanced equipment such as a cloaking device, powerful thrusters, a high-end targeting computer (such as the Sardion Optimizer) and an onboard repair mechanism (such as the Multibot Repair Drone) to make your task easier.

The version of the scenario I encountered also requires a very specific set of circumstances with regards to map generation: the random map generator must yield a sector map in which the quest required to win the game is to destroy a Kawangi Dreadnought before it annihilates the entire Glory system. In addition to this, the Limited Vacuum Collapser (whose discovery will trigger the quest) must also be initially placed at the same star system that the Kawangi will visit first on their route to Glory. With this in mind, once you have a ship that can take down a Kawangi Dreadnought in direct combat without too much hassle, get to that system, stay there, and obliterate the Dreadnought the moment it arrives.

You'll need a perfectly executed strategy to blow up a Kawangi Dreadnought; one such method is taking a very heavily armed and shielded ship (preferably with a Nova Cannon, or lots of Multi-Missile Launchers) into battle, fitting a cloaking device, and lurking in the Dreadnought's blind spot, only decloaking to fire, and then cloaking again to avoid detection. Repeat the procedure until the Dreadnought is destroyed - you will earn a solid 5000 credits for doing so. Since the LVC was initially spawned at the Kawangi's first destination, destroying the Dreadnought will instantly trigger the bug, causing the quest to begin again. Make repairs to your fleet if necessary, then repeat the procedure as many times as you wish until you are satisfied with your earnings.

When you wish to end the Kawangi menace for good, activate the LVC, set the timer so that you can escape but the Kawangi can't, and get to a system outside the blast radius. When the LVC detonates, the Kawangi will be engulfed, and more importantly, the system in which you first found it will also disappear from the map. Without the ability to visit that system, you will never risk a Kawangi incursion for the rest of the game - but you won't need to do so, given that you will have plenty of cash to spare by then.

This is exactly what happened in a recent play session, where I repeatedly sent a Terran Corvette into battle against the Kawangi. It was armed with a Nova Cannon (the best weapon to use against Kawangi Dreadnoughts, bar none) and a Proton Blaster, but I took the precaution of fitting it with a cloaking device and Quantum Corkscrew thrusters for a devastating mix of stealth and speed, as well as a Hyperfoam Injector to repair damage more quickly.

When I acquired the LVC, I waited for the Kawangi to arrive, and when they finally came, I used the same "cloak, hide, wait, decloak, open fire, repeat" strategy which I had found to be incredibly effective not just against Kawangi dreadnoughts, but also other kinds of hostile formations. I repeated this procedure after destroying each dreadnought, until I felt satisfied enough with the amount of cash I had obtained.

Above, from top: I triggered the infinite Kawangi bug by picking up the LVC at the same star system in which the Kawangi would make their first visit, then ambushed their ships repeatedly to earn lots of points and cash, before detonating an LVC to annihilate that system and the Kawangi once and for all.

At that point, I activated the LVC, ordered my fleet to get out of its blast radius, and waited for the device to detonate. When it did, the Kawangi were gone for good, as was the system in which the LVC had been detonated. By the end of the game, after upgrading my fleet still further, I had obtained 61849 points and the rank of Planetary Ambassador - and this was on the lowest possible difficulty setting. Can you imagine how many more points I could have scored if I had used the highest difficulty setting available?

This was my flagship's loadout by the end of the game. Please note that it was equipped with a Proton Matrix Shield for the battles against the Kawangi; it was only after they were gone for good that I traded up to a Meson Lattice Shield.

Being promoted to Planetary Ambassador seems like a decent reward for saving the galaxy several times over, don't you think? 

That's quite an impressive fleet, but even so, my flagship was powerful enough to be a flotilla unto itself by the end of the game.

So what have we learned from this example? First and foremost, under a very rare set of circumstances, it is possible to abuse the only bug that can be potentially beneficial to a Sea of Stars player - and get away with it. Secondly, although I have previously mentioned this next hint (and the one after that), it's worth repeating: you'll need a lot of advanced weaponry and equipment to have any chance of destroying a Kawangi Dreadnought in direct combat, and even then, top-notch strategy and tactics are a must if you actually want to win such a difficult battle. Last but not least, difficulty settings (as determined by AI fleet strength and nebular density) will significantly affect your final score.

I must also mention that the infinite Kawangi bug has not yet been patched out as of this writing, and I don't think it will anytime soon. So if you wind up playing on a map where it can be triggered, you might want to seriously think about exploiting it - after you've built up your fleet strength first. It's a cheesy way to rack up a high score, but it works very well, and since nobody complains about it (or wants to), you might as well exploit the bug anyway.