Piloting

Pilot skill

By default, the Pilot skill is needed to launch the various craft in the Daedalus bays. People without the pilot skill can also launch ships if the NERON admin turns off the pilot lock off. However, non-pilots piloting has some drawbacks, which are listed below.

Patrol Ships

Patrol ships are the most effective way to deal with the hunter threat. These are small piloted fighters with powerful cannons that can take out hunters with ease, should you know how to fly one.

There are three patrol ships in both Alpha Bay and Bravo Bay, and one patrol ship in Alpha Bay 2.

To use a patrol ship, go to one of the bays and take off (costs 2 ). Be careful, if you are not a Pilot, you will damage yourself, your patrol ship, and the hull of the Daedalus when taking off and landing. Once launched, you can shoot your ship's weapon for 1 per shot, accuracy depending on whether you have the Pilot skill or not (80% for pilots, 40% for non-pilots). Each miss will increase the accuracy of the next shot, so you will eventually hit something for 3-6 damage. Landing back on the Daedalus once you're done also costs 2 . A patrol ship has 10 shots before it has to dock and reload. The Teslatron Reservoir project increases this to 16.

Because of the costs inherent in launching and landing a patrol ship, it is recommended to save up at least 10 before piloting one, barring emergencies.

Flying a patrol ship is not without risks. If you are outside when a hunter fires at cycle changeovers, it has a chance to hit you instead, dealing its damage to your ship and also damaging you for 1 . A patrol ship has 10 durability points, and once this reaches 0 the ship will explode, effectively removing you from existence. For this reason it is not usually recommended to stay outside in a patrol ship beyond the amount of time it takes to use your current AP/shots. A Pilot can affect how often they are hit by spending 1 to change flying stance.

• Stance: Bait - Every shot from an enemy is almost guaranteed to hit you instead. This will effectively protect the Daedalus, but keeping this up for even one cycle could mean your downfall.
• Stance: Neutral - Standard flight stance. Offers no benefit or downside. Everyone flying a ship starts out in this stance.
• Stance: Retreat - You will no longer be hit by hunters, but you cannot fire back either. Perfect if you run out of ammo/action points and there are still plenty of hunters alive.

Lastly, if the Daedalus jumps between planets while you are in a ship, you will be left behind, effectively killing you. Coordination is key.

Pasiphae

The Pasiphae is located in Alpha Bay 2. It cannot fire on hunters, and should not be launched when there are threats to the ship (including asteroids), as it will take damage from them. The Pasiphae also costs 2 to launch and land, for a total of 4 AP. If hunters have been killed at the current location, the Pasiphae can be used to collect scrap for 2 per collection, yielding varying amounts of scrap metal, plastic scraps and space capsules. The Pasiphae can't fly if hunters are still threatening the ship. After all scrap from a particular round of hunters has been collected, the pilot will receive a message saying that there is nothing left to collect. Again, it is recommended to have at least 10 before launching, and more is better. As with patrol ships, non-pilots will do damage to themselves, the Pasiphae and the hull of the Daedalus when launching and landing, but they too can collect scrap, provided the piloting lock is off. If the ship moves, all potential scrap from dead hunters at the current location will be lost.

Icarus

The Icarus is located in Icarus bay and used only for expeditions. When the Daedalus is orbiting a planet, an Expedition can be launched. The only cost is 4 for launching, from the person who launches. Everyone else in the bay is brought along automatically, and more is not needed to return. If the pilot lock is off, anyone can launch an expedition. As long as there is a pilot on the expedition, the team will not take damage regardless of who launches. If there is no pilot in the expedition team, negative events can occur. See Landing.