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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Messages - JJ842

Pages: [1] 2
1
Suggestions / Re: Add official support for larger sector sizes
« on: March 27, 2024, 01:15:20 AM »
@Alex Thanks for the clarification, I can see how the size issue would depend on personal preference too. Hope you'll at least consider adding the option of a larger sector (there is one for a small sector after all) for those who prefer it at some point. Mods are nice and all but it's a real bummer if they get broken (and maybe never updated) on a new release.

For me the main issue aside from preferring more to explore is that especially once all the traversal tools get unlocked it's completely trivial to get to the edge of the sector and back, takes a lot out of the sense of adventure as the above post put it. As for finding important/rare stuff, if it's critical that something is found then surely there are ways to breadcrumb/guide the player in the right direction like with the survey drones/motherships for example?

2
Suggestions / Add official support for larger sector sizes
« on: March 25, 2024, 11:46:51 PM »
Given that the next release will incorporate an updated Java version which should help with framerate issues, would it also be possible to add support for larger sectors (both in terms of map size and number of systems)? I've been using mods to that effect and the default sector size now feels positively tiny, especially with all the great new traversal options we have access to.

3
Bug Reports & Support / Re: [0.97a-RC9] Game crashing after pirate battles
« on: February 13, 2024, 10:03:56 AM »
Awesome, cheers!

4
Bug Reports & Support / Re: [0.97a-RC9] Game crashing after pirate battles
« on: February 13, 2024, 05:32:58 AM »
Thanks for the quick reply. Sent the save, hope the bug can be sorted out :)

5
Bug Reports & Support / [0.97a-RC9] Game crashing after pirate battles
« on: February 13, 2024, 03:20:15 AM »
Seems to happen consistently after every battle with pirates after updating to the newest version. No mods. Log:

518535 [Thread-3] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
   at com.fs.starfarer.api.impl.campaign.rulecmd.HA_CMD$StationKingScript.reportBattleOccurred(HA_CMD.java:294)
   at com.fs.starfarer.api.campaign.listeners.ListenerUtil.reportBattleOccurred(ListenerUtil.java:113)
   at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.reportBattleOccurred(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.api.impl.campaign.FleetEncounterContext.applyAfterBattleEffect sIfThereWasABattle(FleetEncounterContext.java:816)
   at com.fs.starfarer.api.impl.campaign.FleetInteractionDialogPluginImpl$4.coreUIDismissed(FleetInteractionDialogPluginImpl.java:1615)
   at com.fs.starfarer.ui.newui.o0Oo$2.coreUIDismissed(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.ui.newui.L.dismiss(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.coreui.p.actionPerformed(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.ui.n.buttonPressed(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.ui.I.new(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.ui.I.processInput(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.ui.classsuper.super(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.BaseGameState.traverse(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.super(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

6
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.97a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: February 06, 2024, 11:17:37 PM »
Can we please get the option to prevent unwanted colony growth somehow apart from removing the starport?

A habitable world with farming for example would be a nice early-game colonization target (providing enough income to cover the running costs of a small-ish fleet after the Galatia stipend runs out) if it didn't put you on a hard timer till it automatically grows and brings unwanted attention.

7
Suggestions / Allow players to directly control colony size increases
« on: February 06, 2024, 12:20:30 AM »
On the newest release colony threats escalate quickly once their size and associated effects grow. This can feel overwhelming and take away from the other game aspects like exploration, bounty hunting, quest lines etc. While most aspects of colony output can be directly managed via player choises in industry construction, apart from choosing high hazard rating worlds that see no natural growth to colonize there is no such option for colony growth on most habitable planets as it happens automatically even with zero accessibility boosts apart from a basic starport.

I'd like to see this changed so that once growth hits 100 % players would need to directly allow the size increase. Visually it could work by just changing the growth bar to an "increase colony size" -button once the threshold is reached, clicking would present players with a prompt stating that the colony is ready to grow but it might bring unwanted attention, are you sure y/n. Maybe even require a modest investment in supplies/heavy machinery (scaling with colony size) to account for the needed infrastructure to justify the player agency?

8
General Discussion / Re: What is your general take on v0.97?
« on: February 05, 2024, 10:08:01 PM »
Unfair? Definitely, and intentionally - although, again, lots of ways to actually handle it. Unrealistic? I'd disagree. But, to your point about hidden colonies - you can kind of do this by managing what you produce, managing colony growth, etc.

On this note, it would be a really nice addition if we could actually choose when eligible colonies get to grow in size (make it something the player has to approve instead of happening automatically).

I'll also echo the suggestion some others have already made to please consider making the trigger conditions more granular so a player without meta knowledge isn't swamped with crises too quickly when starting colonies. For example, in my (still ongoing) first playthrough of this release the instant a colony hit size 4 I got hit by 3 new crisis factors:
- Church because of the planet proccing the Luddic majority condition
- TT because the bonus from the above together with growth made farming cross their competing exports threshold
- League because of combined colony size

Out of these, I'd suggest bumping the League trigger up (perhaps by a lot) for gameplay reasons but also so that their heavy-handed actions would seem a bit more called for by the player faction becoming notable: as others have pointed out a few colonies with a combined population in the tens of thousands doesn't feel right.

9
Blog Posts / Re: Colony Crises
« on: November 25, 2023, 02:22:49 AM »
Looks great, can't wait to see how it all pans out in practice! One thing I was wondering though is whether the remoteness of the player's colonies has any effect on the speed the crises "tick up"? At least from a gameplay perspective it'd be nice if setting up shop in some remote corner of the sector had some benefits to offset the accessibility malus & hassle of travelling there (at least before gates etc.).

10
Suggestions / Give the player the ability to add custom notes to map?
« on: November 24, 2022, 03:12:14 AM »
Title basically says it all, kinda surprised this isn't possible currently. I spend way too much time going through different systems on the map screen trying to remember which one was the really good one I surveyed way back when. Or which one had the mining station that I coudn't salvage last time because I was out of cargo space. And so on.

Concept: Right-click on a system, planet or w/e -> select "add note" -> up pops a text box where you can write the note ("Good system, gate + low-haz terran + 2 x ultrarich barren" etc.) and select an icon to display (exclamation mark, question mark, skull & bones etc. with a few color options). The icon is then displayed next to the star in the main map, clicking on the star would then let the player view/edit/remove the note as needed.

A text search option would be really nice too, although there's a mod for that already iirc.

11
Blog Posts / Re: Uniquifying the Factions, Part 2
« on: May 03, 2022, 12:32:19 AM »
I'm also a bit bummed about the awesome-looking Sindrian variants being a strict downgrade, even though the in-lore reasoning is sound (and hilarious). How about giving the "special modifications" d-mod the added effect of allowing for an additional s-mod to be built into the hull as long as the ship isn't restored? Something about the engineers involved coming up with truly innovative ways to implement the supreme executor's ill-advised suggestions with only a slight decrease in performance, which could be built upon to increase the hull's effectiveness (which won't happen in Sindrian service for obvious reasons) with additional effort. That way there would be an incentive to actually use the cool looking ships :)

12
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.95.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: December 20, 2021, 11:44:39 PM »
Just wanted to ask about the rationale behind the extreme resource demands (10 volatiles / transplutonics) of the Fusion lamp and Hypershunt tap items. By the time they can be met the bonuses given by the items barely matter, so why not let us actually use them in the early/midgame phase when they'd be useful? Maybe lower the costs significantly but make it so that it has to be met by in-faction imports (something something safe use requires non-standard exotic componds mixed in the supply due to copyright issues or whatever)? For the Hypershunt tap the player has to beat one of the most difficult combat encounters AND fork over a fortune's worth of materials to fix the Hypershunt, isn't that enough?

Also, apparently the description of the Fusion lamp is a bit misleading (at least according to the wiki) and it can be used with less than 10 volatiles with reduced effect (and no risk of meltdown hinted at in the item description), maybe update that as well?


13
General Discussion / Re: Termination Sequence
« on: December 14, 2021, 11:25:44 PM »
I wish there was a way to stop the AI from using the system entirely, the drones might as well not exist as far as point defence is concerned because it seems the AI is way too trigger happy with spamming Termination sequence. I'll probably just remove the system too or replace it with flares.

Really a shame too, the concept is really cool but in practice it just makes the ship worse than not having a system at all.

14
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.95a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: October 06, 2021, 12:05:36 AM »
Here's some quick feedback on the current version after finishing a second playthrough recently, even though some of it is probably a bit belayed. Please feel free to disregard stuff that's already being changed etc.

Skills:

I'm not sure whether this is being addressed in the coming skill tree revision but the skills that have diminishing returns based on the player's fleet composition/size feel bad in general. I'd suggest making them work so that the player'll always get a baseline benefit and a bonus on top of that based on fleet metrics. Even if the final numbers would end up being more or less equal to what we have now it would in my opinion feel better that way around (i.e. no skill would ever give _zero_ benefit regardless of the player's fleet because of the "baseline" bonus).

The fighter skills feel a bit too weak overall with the bonuses enemy officers can get vs. fighters. I generally don't bother with fighters at all now becuse they get shot down in quick order when deployed against any serious opposition which is very sad. Maybe giving them some sort of evasion stat so that only point defence weapons/anti-fighter missiles would be able to target them consistently would help?

Also built-in drone wings counting for the skill limits is silly and should be changed. As is the new phase transports/freighters counting as "combat ships" even though they have no weapons at all.

This might be a personal thing but I feel that the progression from lvl 10-12 onwards feels a bit too fast? At least with the big fights that I was constantly getting into I reached max lvl really quickly. Maybe tweak down the xp awarded from fighting numerically superior but weak enemies like the domain drones? Fighting those always makes me feel dirty with how much xp I get for bullying them, especially later on once their numbers go through the roof.

Items and exploration

The new domain artifacts that can be found are an awesome addition overall, but I feel like the supply demands for some of them (fusion lamp and hypershunt tap) are way way overtuned for what benefit -and when in the campaign- they give. When exactly is the player supposed to make use of them? It's only possible with maxed out colonies and perfect or near-perfect mining setups, but the added benefits are barely noticeable then.

It would also be nice to be able to move the domain sleeper ships to other systems, even if at significant cost. I must have been really unlucky but during both of my campaigns the sleeper locations were terrible with no potential systems inside the effect radius.

Domain exploration drones should maybe get to have more varied/intersting interactions. They appear to be spawned in "clusters" with several constellations having nothing but probes/survey ships in them, which is kinda demoralizing when you run into one because you'll know that there's probably not too much else of interest salvagewise in a given area. In my last campaign I headed elsewhere to explore pretty much immediately when encountering them because it kinda feels boring to salvage system after system of nothing but probes.

I've noticed that most of the pirate fleets that "spawn in" from quests etc. now have the "fighting these guys will not affect your reputation" tag, which is very nice when the player is trying to build up rep for the pirate faction. For some reason not all of them do, however. I think at least the ones that spawn from fake distress calls and booby trapped derelict ships. Maybe add it to them as well, or at least an option to talk them out of attacking if the player has high enough reputation with pirates?

Weapons and ships

Most of the "spoiler" weapons feel disappointing for their extreme rarity & generally high op costs. Maybe I'm just not using them right? Also, the hidden cache the player can find early should not have totally random weapons in it in my opinion, feels really bad when you don't get any of the better ones. Maybe buffing the rest would help, I dunno.

The new Hyperion is all kinds of awesome! Really just love everything about it. Just needed to get that out there.

The new AI-driven ships that can be salvaged with the right skill feel a bit weak overall with the exception of the bigger ones, they keep getting blown up with little to show for it. The suicidal ai might be to blame here, would it be possible to manually set the ai to cautios/steady/agrressive etc?

Also, had a new hull mod idea when fitting out the Venture which imo is really let down by the built in drone wing: Convert hangar housing "built-in fighters" to one that can use any fighters (no penalties other than the increased crew requirement since it's already an actual hangar and not a shuttle bay). Can't be used on (non-civilian?) frigates.

Colonies and economy

Overall I feel like the current update was a big step forward in this regard. The pather interest values from the new colony items feel a bit too much though, basically if you ever use any you'll more or less automatically spawn a cell, which was something that could be avoided in the previous version with careful planning.

Also, it would be nice to get a more transparent breakdown on how much interest you're generating with ai core usage (is there even a limit value or is it just a timer that'll eventually trip even if you're just using a single gamma core?). Given how limited the benefit from the lowest tier cores generally is I feel like a certain ability to "fly under the radar" with limited use of cores would not be too overpowered.

Selling space drugs and weapons (bought from tritach markets with zero risk) to pirates that have constant shortages of them feels like cheating with how easy it is to accumulate money that way. Maybe give the pirate bases a "rampant basement drug labs" industry or something that reduces the local demand so that it's less over the top profitable?

Finally

Just wanted to give huge props for making the game, it really has come leaps and bounds from the early days. Just stellar work all round, it's really telling how minor the criticism I can scrape together ends up being. For most in dev games I wouldn't even bother giving feedback but this one really is special :)

e: Added some stuff I forgot

15
Title. The description of the High Command industry seems to indicate (at least to me) that it's THE command hub for the player faction's military so it appears silly that you can have multiple ones. Maybe the first one that's built could also be used to set the world in question as the player capital with a small corresponding bonus? Any further bases could be upgraded as before, becoming statwise identical to the old High Command industry. Call them Hardened Military Bases or Stellar Arsenals (heh) or something.

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