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Other => Discussions => Topic started by: hadesian on August 13, 2015, 05:23:31 PM

Title: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 13, 2015, 05:23:31 PM
Hi everyone.
Wow, been a long time, hasn't it?
I can't really remember when I took a break from SS. Suffice to say, it's great fun still and the gripes I had that drove me away have really been fixed. I've enjoyed coming back to the game and it's refreshing.
Cheers Alex. You remain in my eyes the greatest indie developer of all time. Balance is still top notch, feel is top notch, trading is excellently implemented etc. etc.
I continue to look forward to the new patches and development with renewed vigour.

While I've been gone, I moved into Star Citizen. I'm surprised to see not much is being spoken about of it here - after all, without this forum I'd have never known it existed. I've become really fondly involved with the wonderful community over there, I've also learned a lot about the project's details, including a lot of stuff you won't find written anywhere online. If you have any questions, even if it's as simple as 'is this a snake oil scam?'. Please, feel free to ask. I'll check back here semi-regularly. If I don't know, I'll ask one of the devs like Matt when they're in chat.
I know at least a few of you will be backers. Or maybe none? Whatever the case is, we've started an org (tonight actually) to give you a friendly place to stay in the 'verse.
I was a little surprised to see one didn't exist before.
It's here: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/orgs/ISSF
You don't need to pledge to join, but we were just interested in helping band together this community in the crazy dense world that is SC.
We might or might not play together in game. We probably will cross paths, and probably blow each other up (though I'll win ;) ) but... well, when Operation Pitchfork is go and everyone starts invading Vanduul space at the end of beta, maybe we could bring an Onslaught to help, eh?

Other than that, I hope you're all well. I've finished AS levels and am just about to finish my last year of school. A terrible deal has changed in the time I've been gone, a lot of sad and a lot of happy. Mostly sad.

Other than that, Hi. I'm Xareh.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Takion Kasukedo on August 13, 2015, 10:14:06 PM
Well, i'm possibly new-ish in this forum, so hello

I'm guessing you was around since the first days of Starsector, if so then that's great

I also do hope you had fun on Star Citizen due to the scale it's going to be at, which is cool.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: CrazyDave on August 14, 2015, 12:48:02 AM
Ah yes, Star Citizen, the game that will probably be my excuse to finally get around to upgrading my (way out of date) specs.

I've been keeping an eye on the larger updates and am definitely looking forward to the release. Fingers crossed it lives up the the hype!
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Sproginator on August 14, 2015, 02:47:24 AM

I'm guessing you was around since the first days of Starsector, if so then that's great

Correct assumption, he's a very ancient forum member, dating back to roughly 2012.

Welcome back bud, you looking to play and mod StarFar-Sector again?
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 14, 2015, 11:46:48 AM
I think my future with Starsector is going to be probably very solo. I reckon I'll just grab some mods and have a bit of fun but I don't think I'll especially partake in it all again.
Most of my time is consumed by handling the big beastly ships in SC, like the BMM and Carrack. I spend an unhealthy time helping people out on those forums... you'll undoubtedly see me if you go to RSI.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Gothars on August 14, 2015, 12:12:26 PM
Correct assumption, he's a very ancient forum member, dating back to roughly 2012.

Registered the same day as me, apparently oO
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: arcibalde on August 14, 2015, 10:05:17 PM
I can't really remember when I took a break from SS.
It was that time when SS update with CR went alive. You and Upgradecap made "rage" videa about it and decided not to come back in SS anymore (because of CR)   ;D


Anyway, hi man  ;D
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 15, 2015, 05:19:27 AM
I'm a little surprised as well that Star Citizen isn't brought up much here, considering how good both audiences are at waiting unimaginably long times for updates. I've spent a little bit more than I care to admit on it.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 15, 2015, 05:59:08 AM
I can't really remember when I took a break from SS.
It was that time when SS update with CR went alive. You and Upgradecap made "rage" videa about it and decided not to come back in SS anymore (because of CR)   ;D


Anyway, hi man  ;D
Yeah haha, CR I find is a lot less aggressive and much more workable nowadays. It's actually really interesting now to balance out your earnings with CR, it's pretty clear that before a lot of the elements that made CR tick weren't in there. It was a super jarring change at first but now with proper supply and demand, bounty mechanics and the loot it's way easier to progress your character and fleet. Where before, I really did have difficulties clawing my way to anything better than a Wolf as I was spending huge amounts on supplies which were consumed so quickly.

Not a problem now.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Sproginator on August 15, 2015, 09:06:24 AM
Been meaning to get into SC, Just trying to find the right time to devote my soul to a game :3
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Sproginator on August 15, 2015, 09:22:18 AM
Might purchase the constellation andromeda :3
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Linnis on August 15, 2015, 09:39:55 AM
Well first, Fallout 4 will tide us over for now....
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Spoorthuzad on August 15, 2015, 10:00:14 AM
Welcome back and good luck with.... well you know.... life... ;D
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 15, 2015, 05:25:46 PM
I'm a little surprised as well that Star Citizen isn't brought up much here, considering how good both audiences are at waiting unimaginably long times for updates. I've spent a little bit more than I care to admit on it.
Yeah, I'm at... $1,100? Which is utterly insane for my age (17) - must be one of the youngest Concierge members around.

I mean, that's more than most of my friends have spent on their first cars. I dunno what it was that convinced me to spend so much.
Might purchase the constellation andromeda :3
It's a great ship especially once the rework goes live, though I swapped mine for a Carrack. Excellent all rounder. I had one as my last package, probably pick one up again once I do some more work. It's very fatiguing on your wallet to have to claw your way back up to those levels, usually you 'chunk it' so buy €100 here, €100 there, oh look, only €64 left to get it, that's relatively cheap.

Also, if you're EU, buy in Euroes. the Euro price takes into account VAT and is a lot lower to remain competitive with non VAT prices. Which is an enormous deal when buying $250-350+ ships.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 15, 2015, 07:40:11 PM
Yeah, I'm at... $1,100? Which is utterly insane for my age (17) - must be one of the youngest Concierge members around.

I mean, that's more than most of my friends have spent on their first cars. I dunno what it was that convinced me to spend so much.

Haha, that is pretty intense. My 'fleet' consists of a Constellation Phoenix (+loaner Merlin), a 890 Jump, and a Retaliator. The Retaliator is fitted with a back torpedo bay and front living quarters, the torpedo bay may get melted if another combat related bay is released. I never cared much for limited, high power ammunition weapons. I got into it during the Kickstarter, got the Constellation Package to start for $250.00. I don't regret it, this game is the one shot we'll have for a very long time for a space game of this scale. No development team will be able to pull together the resources to build a game like this with publisher overhead, even if something similar was greenlit.

The Carrack is a really nice ship, the science and exploration roles remind me a lot of a smaller Enterprise. Pretty large compared to other Star Citizen ships however, larger so than the 890 Jump. I'm assuming the armaments will be fairly lacking, but that's always something that can be compensated for. I've always been a fan of the larger more luxury ships myself however.

Might purchase the constellation andromeda :3

Haha, do it. Was my first ship, although I upgraded to a different Constellation model. To me, the constellation is one of the ships that really sticks out to me from Star Citizen. Beautiful ship that looks to be designed for a lot of roles. And then you get the snub fighter, the Merlin makes me happy.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Thaago on August 15, 2015, 08:00:56 PM
Woah... it looks like a cool game, but is it pay to win? Because I don't really want to have to pay 100 copies of SS worth...
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 15, 2015, 08:29:43 PM
Woah... it looks like a cool game, but is it pay to win? Because I don't really want to have to pay 100 copies of SS worth...

There is no denying the immediate advantage someone will have if they initially bought into a good ship, although there are a few things to consider. The ships we're talking about are not available in this iteration of the game, and are not likely to be available until it is basically released. For the current iteration, you can get the better ships such as the F7C-M Super Hornet through in-game rental credits (REC). Once you pick it up with REC, you can renew the term for a discount, so it's somewhat easy to maintain a loadout. You can also get better weapons through the REC system. I have not had any difficulty maintaining my Loaner Hornet's loadout with just a little casual play, a regular Hornet model via REC plus the gear wouldn't be a tall order.

I play mostly Vanduul Swarm, which is Co-op vs AI. In that case, like Warframe it really doesn't matter to me if someone has better stuff since we're all in it together.

When the game eventually comes out, people will be starting with potentially better ships but that is where it ends. You will have to earn the ships in game, although players can still buy a set number of in-game currency per month. The system is intended to help people who might have little time, but still want to stay at least somewhat competitive. It will not be enough to replace playing the game. The benefits of buying the ships are really just given to the people who backed the game before it comes out. Considering how long the game is hoping to be alive, the advantages would quickly disappear.

My recommendation? If you are interested, get this (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/Packages/Mustang-Alpha-AC-Starter). The Mustang is a blast to fly, albeit a little fragile. If you want to try the Aurora, there is a system in place that lets you swap it for free and back as many times as you want. The Aurora is the other starting ship. For $45.00, I would say the existing iteration of Star Citizen is worthwhile. Getting the end product at this price is icing on the cake. Just a warning though, the game is very demanding. You can visit this page (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/promotions/gamescomflyfree2015) and use the GAMESCOM2015 code to try it out free until 8/24/2015, IIRC.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Sproginator on August 16, 2015, 03:21:40 AM
I was thinking about picking up a Redeemer too, Looks like a beautiful ship! :)
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 16, 2015, 04:37:32 AM
I was thinking about picking up a Redeemer too, Looks like a beautiful ship! :)
It really is. If you haven't been following the development, you may not be aware that the Redeemer was designed by a group of backers. They did a large-scale competition where multiple teams entered to create a ship for the game based on set criteria. The winner would have the ship put into the game, among other awards/compensation. The result was the Redeemer, an armed-to-the-teeth dropship intended for hot-dropping marines into combat zones.

As a result of the fact it came from a separate group, I'd say it looks particularly unique but still fitting.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 16, 2015, 05:37:50 AM
Thr 890 is nice anf for a while I was ready to melt my Vanguard and Connie for one. It's basically a super Connie.
However a dev told me that it's not nearly as defensible as many believe... A Vanguard would eat it alive, it doesn't qualify as a hard target, just a big one.
That and it's totally dwarfed by the much cooler, and equally as liveable Banu Merchantman. I'm a little biased though... And they massively undercharged for it. Should be a $400+ ship nowadays.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Sproginator on August 16, 2015, 10:19:29 AM
Thr 890 is nice anf for a while I was ready to melt my Vanguard and Connie for one. It's basically a super Connie.
However a dev told me that it's not nearly as defensible as many believe... A Vanguard would eat it alive, it doesn't qualify as a hard target, just a big one.
That and it's totally dwarfed by the much cooler, and equally as liveable Banu Merchantman. I'm a little biased though... And they massively undercharged for it. Should be a $400+ ship nowadays.

The amount of money that can be spent without realizing is quite troubling :/
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 16, 2015, 11:10:33 AM
P2W is a really complicated discussion in SC, and honestly it comes down to this.
1. You are 'pledging' to get ships. In other words, you're basically buying these ships to help fund out the game. Because there is no publisher, the money being made right now is all that matters, no sales quotas.
2. These ships are sold at a much cheaper price than what they will be in game. Tripling or more costs if $1=1,000 UEC (though it may go to $1=10,000 UEC or such). At launch, you will not be able to buy any more ships, but can buy UEC.
3. Buying ships now grants almost nothing unless it's an LTI sale or you just want these ships right now.

Okay, here's where P2W gets actually complicated.
If you balance against P2W, you damage the progression of the PU. Why? Because if a $25 Aurora won't be P2W'd to death by a Hornet, there will never be a reason to go to a Hornet. I don't mean that fully - skill will always matter, but there does have to be a very large semblance that you do not go fighting a Constellation in your 300i. Otherwise, the bigger, expensiver ships suffer terribly.
At the same time, there shouldn't be a 'king' or 'god' ship. Right now we think that'd be the F8 Lightning, followed by the A3G Vanguard.
I was one of many to trade their Super Hornets for a Vanguard, because we thought it was basically going to be a bigger, more expensive version of the SH that did away with the short ranges for high armour, range and firepower at the massive expense of profile and agility. We are now learning it's much more a hunter-killer designed to prey on Vanduul Void Bombers, Retaliators, Frigates, even Destroyers. But the heavy-fighter element has really been lost.
The closest to a 'god' ship we've had as an actually buyable ship is probably the Constellation, which used to actually have many of the features of the Idris Corvette (before THAT got turned into a full frigate) before getting nerfed. It remains absurdly powerful, though it's lost antimatter powerplants and TR6 engines. Nevertheless it also now has counters - like the beastly Vanguard.

Their answer to P2W is quite a great one. There will be roles for your ship, and if your ship is big or does a very complicated/niche/multicrew heavy role (Carrack, Reclaimer, Orion) it costs more. Also rarity factors into cost, rarer ships are more expensive, so a Khartu-Al you had to go out and buy on the border of Xi'an space is more expensive. Your ship has a given role and is a hard counter to another ship if we talk combat, but will also have its own hard counter. In other words, rock paper scissors. They give pretty good lore reasons for sales too, like frontier colony auctions for the Vanguard, surplus sales for the Idris, luxury yacht preorders on the 890 etc. etc. (There is a very strong sense of ship ownership). They rarely if ever sell military grade hardware - the Idris-M and Vanguard being the only exceptions.

In short, if you go into an asteroid field and get jumped by a Hornet, you better be skilled, because short range engagements are where the Hornet is king. But get away, or open the distance, or out turn him, and you'll likely win. A Constellation will beat a Hornet, but a Vanguard will beat a Connie, but a Hornet will beat a Vanguard. Rock, paper, scissors. Every ship has an 'ideal' engagement and target. Beyond that, even the bigger ships are balanced. A Hull E is a monstrously expensive project to run, the Javelin was sold without any systems. You need crew for bigger ships and some idea of where to go... stuff like that.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 16, 2015, 10:37:57 PM
Thr 890 is nice anf for a while I was ready to melt my Vanguard and Connie for one. It's basically a super Connie.
However a dev told me that it's not nearly as defensible as many believe... A Vanguard would eat it alive, it doesn't qualify as a hard target, just a big one.
That and it's totally dwarfed by the much cooler, and equally as liveable Banu Merchantman. I'm a little biased though... And they massively undercharged for it. Should be a $400+ ship nowadays.

The Merchantment is 'good value' when compared to the other ships of it's size, certainly. The 890 Jump is certainly no battlecruiser, but aesthetics are very important to me. I have a strong preference towards sleek, attractive ships like the Connie Phoenix and the 890 Jump, it'll be nice to just cruise around and relax in the ship. Part of why I am so excited for the passenger system, since the 890 Jump is primarily a luxury passenger ship.

I never liked the alien aesthetic that much. I am a proud human.

The amount of money that can be spent without realizing is quite troubling :/

Yeah, seriously. Unless you have a lot of disposable income, I would strong advise buying anything more than the starter package, and maybe the FPS Module pass for $5 when it comes out.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 17, 2015, 05:43:01 AM
The BMM is actually super sleek...
(http://puu.sh/jEyqY/c5c74d9129.jpg)
and would probably blow a Constellation in half if you messed with it.
(http://puu.sh/jEytt/76cdfbf1a8.jpg)

The only issue is... both of those pictures are very old. Nobody has any idea what it looks like now, other than it looks something like that, George Hull (who did the Reclaimer and Orion, as well as the alien Battleship from Battleships and a bunch of Transformers stuff) has taken over the concept, and none of the concept we have reflects the dramatically increased size (which is set to grow again to about 125M-150M long and we have no idea on height and width as it's already one of the widest/tallest). Oh yeah, and it's meant to have a 9,100 M3 cargo hold, fully internalized.

big, bigger, biggest.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 17, 2015, 11:52:31 AM
I based my thoughts mostly on the original concept images.  (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/pledge/ships/merchantman/Merchantman) It is an attractive ship, but it looks quite a bit more rugged in these. The first image you posted is the first image on the concept page as well, which is higher resolution. It almost appears to have scales, and in the middle it has that cage-looking section which I am not fond of. In the second image of the concept page, you get a clear view of the pointy crown on top. It's clear they can go in a few directions, but if I had to guess they're going to go the alien route.

What kills it for me though, is the concept shot of the deck. It's a beautiful interior, but that type of aesthetic does not appear to me. The big cagey screen, the all-around alien look. The Merchantmen will be a cool ship for me to see around I'm sure, but it doesn't have the look I'm trying to find. It will be without a shadow of a doubt an alien looking ship. Not like the 'halfway' thing they're claiming to pull with the Freelancer.

That I don't wanna run cargo. Cargo size is wasted size.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 18, 2015, 01:51:34 AM
the alien design is seriously amazing though, esp. when they make it into an 'alien sailing ship' like they say they will. some of the vault images of it make it look like an alien skull. it's also going to be pretty scaly, which i think is great.
weirdly, the deck interior was confirmed a while back to be totally obsolete/useless art, we asked Ben about it and he said 'ignore it'. We now understand that it has a full bridge which... well, yeah.
also the art i posted is very different - the other art has a different profile and much different interior design.

also they've pretty much said you can deck out this thing as a warship and run it like that. this thing isn't meant to run cargo, it's meant to run blockades because you have something very special to sell to a contact or whatever.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 18, 2015, 02:03:51 AM
I'm thinking that we're looking for two totally different things in our ships :p. I guess right here we have a good example of what makes that game so interesting. There are a wide variety of great ships that we all can talk over,  chat about roles, debate advantages, etc. I think this variety, as well as the attention to detail is going to be one of the strong points of the game. At the end of the day, we've invested so much into this game because this is the closest we're going to get to going on these adventures in space and we all want to do it our own way.

I guess that's everyone's real fascination with it. It's a very risky thing, but if this game can pull off all of this variety I don't think any other game will ever come close to what Star Citizen is trying to accomplish. The more you think about it, the more stressful that 'If' gets though.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 18, 2015, 07:56:31 AM
still might melt for that new corvette. Maybe. Looking to drop another $100-500 on it soon... trying to figure out which package to get.

won't melt my bmm ever tho. the Hull C rage was so sweet - it has bigger cargo, much bigger guns, it isfaster, it has armour, and fully internalized cargo, and it was only $10 more! oh yeah, someone told me it was going to be faster than a constellation in a straight line too to allow it to open distance between it and its threats. NICE.

and it'll probably get a lot bigger too. fun fun fun. we suspect it'll end up bigger than the old Idris corvette (140M) because George Hull is making it now and he likes his ships pretty damn huge (Orion and Reclaimer). EVEN better we may see it at citizencon. good times. looking forward to seeing if we keep the aurora sized foreguns or get the turret of supreme death back. either which way, i'm getting an 890 in game but i overall think they're building it out to be more of a status symbol than a 'working' ship. It doesn't have a lot of cargo and its firepower projection is not really that amazing (but it is a totally stunning ship). what i really like about the BMM's design is it's not only meant to be an absolutely genius design that has lasted the Banu for a very long time but it's also meant to be really homely.

Ignore me tho. I'm super biased for the BMM since I run the owner's club org for it :P

for me what excites me more than anything is everyone getting online when PU launches and taking my friends around in my Carrack or BMM to go sightseeing at Goss, Sherman, Crusader etc.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 18, 2015, 10:38:48 AM
Haha, yeah careful now. It's one of those ships that we have the least information on. It's pretty unlikely they would make a ship that is literally better than everything in it's size/price class.

What is this about a new Corvette? I thought I heard about a new ship concept coming up, but I recall it being some specialized role that I have no interest in. If anything I really would like the Avenger variants. I never really cared much for the bounty hunting thing, I'd prefer something a little more well-rounded. The whole bounty hunting system of having cells seems a little odd too, I'm curious as to how that will play out.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 18, 2015, 02:24:20 PM
The new Corvette is because the Idris got upsized to a frigate so they said 'we'll make a new corvette'. Might see it at the November sale.

Also on the BMM front - a friend of mine made one at the right size and found the cargo hold was over 4,000 metres cubed too small for what CIG has it specced out to be. So it's gonna get a lot bigger.
And on price, it's meant to be $400-600+ now, $250 was the old 'constellation sized specialized ships' like the Retaliator. And the really big tradeoff with the BMM is you have all these great roles but you will never be able to take it further. No mining, exploring, salvaging etc.

And Avenger variants are coming, there are three planned but the Avenger is getting updated first. Apparently they're making the Avenger a bit bigger. On cells, that was for live captures.
New concept was the Hospital ship Endeavour, sort of like an Enterprise without a lot of the more major multicrew features.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 18, 2015, 10:30:24 PM
That might be kinda neat. Really depends on the role though, I don't really need a battleship. We'll see. Part of the problem is I refuse to melt anything but my Retaliator. I can't melt the Avenger because It's actually a $5.00 upgrade from a $25.00 AMD Omega code, and melts for only $5.00. Concierge can probably help with that, but I want to keep a single-seater. I'd love for it to be bigger. I have a special place for it in my heart and I can't explain why.

Well, and I got it cheap.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 19, 2015, 05:35:14 AM
I melted my Super Hornet LTI Alpha package and a Freelancer MIS package. For the Vanguard.

Shoot me.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 19, 2015, 10:55:33 PM
Vanguard is a cool looking ship though. I like the idea of a deep space fighter too. Super Hornet LTI though, that's something. I don't personally disagree with the trade though, not right now.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 20, 2015, 01:17:37 AM
well back then we were under the impression the Vanguard was effectively a very big Super Hornet with the range to be a suitable escort for our bigger ships so we could sufficiently protect our ships in deep space.

now it's a big ship hunter which i'm alright with but... well, maybe the SH would have been better. meh.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 21, 2015, 04:17:10 PM
Well, they are announcing the Variants now so perhaps there'll be a good one xD. Depending on how good might determine the fate of my Retaliator.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 22, 2015, 06:24:22 AM
it seems like the Harbinger will be a torpedo bomber, if the Warden (base) isn't good enough i'll get either the Sentinel or the Harbinger. if the variants are sold with LTI (which apparently they will be) I'll buy another Vanguard.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 22, 2015, 05:38:45 PM
For some reason I don't like Torpedos. I never really liked missiles. That's true for Star Sector too, but less so since missiles are replenished for free in this game after battle. I'm hoping for a new module in the future for the Retaliator that doesn't involve Torpedos. I'm always eager to see new ships though, even if it's just Variants.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 22, 2015, 05:59:04 PM
For some reason I don't like Torpedos. I never really liked missiles. That's true for Star Sector too, but less so since missiles are replenished for free in this game after battle. I'm hoping for a new module in the future for the Retaliator that doesn't involve Torpedos. I'm always eager to see new ships though, even if it's just Variants.

Other than the whole recent module sale? :P More are coming.
And I don't like missiles in SC because they seem to have no idea how to balance them. They're right now looking like an 'I Win' button that you can employ at great expense if a fight is going badly, and if they hit... they're super powerful, but are pretty easy to dodge.

I really like the way missiles work in Starsector, always have. Harpoons and Sabots give frigates the ability to effectively outskill larger ships carefully, but are limited and require knowledge of how to deploy them to be good. For instance, a Sabot is wasted on armour, and dropping shields to let a Sabot pass is effective. Harpoons have poor range so if they miss the first time, you have to be careful not to get hit as they flameout coming around or smash into the shields. Salamanders can be duped, Reapers are very slow and unguided, Atropos are also very slow, Annihilator pods are totally unguided and rely on numbers, Pilums are long ranged but easy to defeat.

In SC... it's basically just lock on everything and fire, you're bound to kill someone. Torpedoes will likely be more fun with bigger, slower ships where there's a real risk of blowing a hole in the hull and creating all kinds of problems (GoST will do that).
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 22, 2015, 06:17:23 PM
Eh, I think for me it has less to do with how effective they are. I don't like paying for limited ammunition in general, which is why I tend to focus on laser weaponry. Ballistic weapons in general are okay if you have enough ammo storage. Missile balance in SC right now means very little to me, since I know it's going to be a completely different system in the PU. The torpedoes specifically seem huge. I don't really want to engage targets that are bigger than me to begin with, but we'll see.

Perhaps my mind will change if there are large NPC targets in a PvE setting. I would prefer not to engage other players, I am also not likely to be involved in an Org so anti-capital weaponry wouldn't really suit me well.

Star Sector does do missiles well. Well enough that even though I don't like them for being limited, I still equip most of my ships with them. Swarmers seem to be made for me too, little support missiles that replenish. That made me very happy when Alex added that. I don't really need to say this on this forum, but Star Sector really is a great game. The only real issue I have with it is the release schedule, but that's not something that's really worth complaining about. At the end of the day, it effects the developers more than it effects us. There are other games out there to play in the mean time.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 24, 2015, 04:31:29 PM
Yeah, I just got massively back into SW:TOR after burning out in WoW.

I can't describe how utterly brilliant it's become.
For one, I am getting more out of my sub playing that than I am in WoW. In WoW right now I do garrison missions daily. £10 a month.
In SW:TOR, I get 12x XP boost for class quests up to 55 (meaning I can just play class story and never bother with side quests comfortably), two expansions (First and upcoming) for free, an allowance of 500 Cartel Coins for the F2P shop, no limitations on anything else and assorted bonuses. £8.50 a month.

So much of it is so much better than WoW now. They've redone the talent system which makes me a little sad as now you really have to play 'by the book' but the old talent system was just some % anyway, and the new one has lots of intriguing abilities that replace the flexibility of the old system with a much higher skill ceiling.
Class stories are utterly amazing and you can level any class 1-55 probably in under three days, which sounds off but is actually great fun as you never grind, combat is now just better than WoW (complexity lost over expansions in WoW is in there in FORCE [badumtss] in SW:TOR), and...
...Huttball.

Oh, and Mandalorians.

On the SC front... The Vanguard is meant to have quad S5 Torps (Gladiator torps) in the nacelles. All of them. The Harbinger has a missile turret and... and stuff. Lookout this friday... I highly suggest looking at replacing your Retaliator with the Harbinger. The sustained firepower etc. will be killer. + LTI.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 26, 2015, 01:00:29 AM
I played SWTOR briefly. Got to around Level 32, when I just kinda stopped. I was never much into Star Wars. Went back to WoW for a bit, but lost interest after a month. Luckly a friend of mine was paying the sub with Gold for that month as a bit of a Trial, I got to 100 and did just about everything in that month.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: ValkyriaL on August 26, 2015, 01:14:25 AM
SWTOR never really spoke to me, i didn't find it enjoyable, maybe it was the setting idk, i simply tried to be as mean as possible, think i hit max evil at like lvl 20 or something, i play FF-XIV a lot nowdays, its become SSOOoooooo good now, *** on every MMO ive touched to date in terms of content and gameplay.

WoW is terrible now, its to old, it can't compete with new releases, the expansions bring little to nothing new in terms of gameplay, and the content has been dumbed down so hard so that absolute idiots can get top end gear that they clearly don't deserve to wear, im not even going to buy the latest one, i stopped playing it a few years ago, and im never going back.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 26, 2015, 04:36:04 PM
heyy Valky.

Wondered about FF-XIV. Lot of people were saying it was totally brilliant and with the new expansion it'd be prime for WoW leaving.

With SW:TOR I watched the prequels and said 'screw this I want to choppy with a lightsaber.'. I am a bizarrely large Star Wars nut, it comes from the blue when I watch the films or play the games again. I don't have a lightsaber yet, but I'd love to get a full Republic Commando armour set. With knuckle-plate vibroknife..
Here's a short list of things that have changed since I was gone:
1. Gearing is fixed (three levels of commendations and all - even basic - net excellent gear throughout all levels).
2. Dramatically extended class complexity (three unique disciplines per class for a total of 48 individual classes (2DPS + 1 Heal/Tank each)
3. Levelling is fixed (12x XP means the game plays as a full story and you rapidly become stronger, whilst still maintaining a good challenge)
4. Strongholds and Guild Starships
5. Two free expansions
6. Current expansion is uber cheap
7. Subscription makes many things free (Race/Appearance/Transfers/Name change/Legacy bonuses) that would otherwise cost (esp. in WoW) upwards of £7-£22+ each. A server transfer for WoW is £22. A server transfer on SW:TOR is like 50p. Just need to wait for your monthly coin drop.
8. Flashpoints are 10x better than any other dungeon experience.
9. Class stories remain beyond stellar.
10. PvP is in excellent shape, far better than WoW.
12. Galactic Starfighter.
13. It's not WoW.
14. Tactical Infantry Armour.
15. I broke a sergeant's heart. She was very sad, then I was too.

On WoW, I feel like Legion will likely bring me back (it did preemptively for a month after announcement) if only to roll Ret paladin to nab my Ashbringer and have an epic duel with Arthas wearing original HC25 ICC gear. The trend in my eyes is threefold however:
1. Kill PvP in WoW to push to easier to make, more lucrative offerings (OverWatch, Hearthstone, HoTS)
2. Extend F2P-esque monetization to offset falling sub numbers and extend sunken cost (this was actually confirmed to be going on by an earnings report in Q2 I believe)
3. Employ features like 90/100 boosts, Demon Hunters and Artifact Weapons to entice a 'lower denominator' audience which will part more easily with funds.

Perhaps, a last one.
4. Reduce WoW to its knees to eventually spin down servers and retire, because who cares, Hearthstone makes more money than WoW if this goes ahead.

Returning to SC, Social Module is in PTU testing! Might be out this Friday, with reports that Nyx (another zone) may be in at October. Finally, after years it's coming.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: ganesh99 on August 27, 2015, 04:29:18 AM
Can any one tell me, What is SC?
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: ValkyriaL on August 27, 2015, 05:08:16 AM
SC stands for Star Citizen the game of money spenders

the FF-XIV expansion made the game so much better, No MMO since WoW vanilla/BC has got me so, idk, happy about logging in, the content becomes extremely challangeing at the end game aswell, its not noob friendly at all for what ive seen, either you know what you are doing or you are not doing end game content period, which i like, and the game prepares you very well for this along the way, so one has no excuse for being bad.

im not buying legion, WoW is a dead game, and has been for a long time.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 27, 2015, 05:54:08 AM
I believe the highest record for a single backer in SC is something like $100K.

If not, more. I don't think we have a million dollar backer (yet). So it is definitely money spenders. Spend, spend spend. I want a Vanguard, no, I want three, I want different variants, and I want a Carrack, and I want two Banu Merchantmen to sell fabulous rarities about the galaxy.

Oh, alright then. I'll take an Idris too to run that squadron from. Perhaps I'll get some Hornets to run as an extra squadron too...
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 28, 2015, 12:54:53 AM
I really don't have the time anymore for games like WoW, SWTOR, etc. Over time I've started to warm up to the idea of 'pay for progression', simply because even working just 40 hours a week doesn't leave much free time. Not but 2 years ago I was part time, I felt like my days were over twice as long. I could do so much in these games with all that extra time, but now if I spend 4 hours playing an MMO on a workday, I don't have any day left.

I feel a little guilty actually. I genuinely believe you will be able to play and enjoy Star Citizen without shelling out 1k+, although I really couldn't help but to let my dreams of having a space adventure fantasy take over. In my current situation I have a pretty decent amount of disposable income, but I think anyone can get a good deal by just getting the bare minimum package. If you don't have the extra cash to throw around, there is still an excellent experience to be had with the minimal fly-now package.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: ValkyriaL on August 28, 2015, 01:00:08 AM
Even with disposable income, i find it completely insane and stupid to throw THAT much money at a GAME, buying a few cosmetic items or buying like 1 or 2 things, fine, but i can think of so much else to spend ones money on.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: hadesian on August 28, 2015, 05:43:42 AM
Other than music, which I stream free online all the time, clothes, which for me costs a fair old chunk because reasons, and non-existent girlfriends, I have more than enough to waste on games.

I could easily drop another £200 today on Star Citizen, I won't, but I could, the issue is most people do do that without realizing they are.
Title: Re: A quick hello and a friendly place in SC
Post by: Verrius on August 28, 2015, 06:42:58 PM
Everybody has different priorities. I think two vacations a year are silly, at that point you won't even remember what you did. That is another way to spend 1-2k easily. Everybody has a number of'quirks' that end up eating a fair amount of cash, be it daily coffee, smoking, eating out vs eating in, international vacations, etc. If you look as you're budget over the course of a year, it's easy to find what these might be and evaluate if you think it's worth it or not.

As long as you aren't in debt and are saving a moderate amount for retirement, I will never judge another person for how they spend their money. Hell, even if you are in debt, if you're current on your bills and still putting aside a decent amount for retirement, by all means treat yourself to something silly once in a while. Life is too short.