Infinite Space Insights: One Pair is Enough?

Infinite Space Insights: One Pair is Enough?

A recent playthrough of Infinite Space III: Sea of Stars ended in one of the weirdest ways possible, when a supernova shock wave engulfed the capital ship Kestrel (which would cause Pirate fleets to spawn at three different systems had I boarded it) before I could add it to my flotilla. However, I decided the risk associated with capturing the Kestrel would not be worth it this time around: if the Kestrel spawns at the start of a regular game, and it is destroyed before the player attempts to board it (by deploying any of their ships onto the battlefield), the Swamp Pirate Rebellion quest will not begin. 

Above: I didn't get the capital ship Kestrel (which would've triggered the Swamp Pirate Rebellion quest) in this playthrough - I deliberately ignored it (and in fact, didn't even attempt to board it) in favor of letting the supernova shock wave engulf it - but I was fine with that, considering that it made this particular playthrough attempt easier.

This saved me some time, hassle, and credits (the latter of which I would've otherwise spent on upgrading and rearming the Kestrel), but there was another capital ship in this playthrough that I could've added to my fleet, but didn't. That vessel, a Garthan Scout, was just as useful in combat as the Kestrel, but once again, I decided to save more credits by destroying it instead of adding it to my flotilla, and in fact I did so (with a well-placed Limited Vacuum Collapser detonation) before the Kestrel was wiped off the map in a supernova explosion.

Above, from top: A well-placed Limited Vacuum Collapser detonation overwrote the system in which I found a Garthan capital ship - but since I deliberately chose not to add it to my fleet before then, I missed out on the chance to do so. I didn't miss it all that much, however, considering that my existing capital ships could more than hold their own in combat.

That left me with just two capital ships in my flotilla: my starting ship (a Terran corvette) and a Zorg capital ship (which I'd upgraded, and later traded in for a Zorg corvette for more firepower). And that was it: aside from a pair of escorts (a Garthan fighter piloted by a mercenary, and a Muktian fighter flown by a noble pilot), I did not have any other ships in my flotilla by the end of the game. Even though I was attempting the playthrough on the lowest difficulty setting (minimal NPC fleet strength and nebular mass), I knew that having only two capital ships available for combat may not be enough unless I had acquired enough upgrades - fortunately, I had acquired a Multi-Missile Launcher to install on one of those vessels, and had I allowed the in-game clock to progress further, I could've purchased at least one more from the Muktian and Terran home systems, but I'd explored the entirety of the map before then, so I chose to end the game right away.

It could've been worse, though. As described in an earlier post, I managed to complete the game with just one capital ship in an earlier playthrough, though this is even rarer still. Then again, in most of my playthroughs, I'm content to fill all four capital ship slots in my fleet, which goes some way to maximizing your score with the chosen difficulty settings - and isn't that what you should be doing? Even so, completing a regular game after adding fewer than three capital ships to your fleet is quite an achievement, because it forces you to manage your fleet more carefully with fewer capital ships in it, especially on higher difficulties.