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Messages - Terenin

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If you have Nex but not the Scy nation mod, it's in hyperspace, if you have Scy Nation it's in Acheron, their home binary-system.

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General Discussion / Re: Hyperspace Storms: Unfun or Necessary?
« on: August 17, 2019, 11:38:04 AM »
The "consequences" are that you have to

A) navigate through them trying to time the travel through the clouds, dodging the one's with storms in them, or...

B) forgo the travel through the clouds and use the open lanes instead.

This messes with direct line travel, yes, but it costs NO extra supplies per day when you don't get hit by storms. It will however cost you more time travelling, ergo more fuel and some extra supplies due to more days spent travelling. It's now up to you to do the math and figure out if you would prefer the way around, or diving into the clouds gambling on getting hit or not, and if you get hit, if the extra supplies per day comes out as less then it would cost you to 'go around.'

Seems like a decent consequence to me.

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General Discussion / Re: Hyperspace Storms: Unfun or Necessary?
« on: August 15, 2019, 01:47:42 PM »
Hyperspace storms do two things and two things only - provide meaningful 'terrain' to what is otherwise a flat map with land-marks on it, and add hazards that can double as speed-boosts if you know what you are doing and have planned ahead. As in, you have good repair skills and the resources to spare.

I like them myself, it makes moving from A to B more meaningful due to the layout of the 'terrain' and it helps you either move fast or, if it's not a storm in the cloud, it helps you HIDE. This is how ambushes in hyperspace happens, and I love it because hyperspace becomes more than a means of traveling that's not interacted with, it becomes an alternate map equal to the Warp in 40K - here be dangers lurking, either man-made or 'natural.'

My best advice? Plan for them, keep the fleet's agility and speed up to the point where you move around them, learn to dodge between them when it's clear, and learn when it's wise to intentionally boost your speed at the cost of some more supplies. Also removing max-burn on occasion to improve mobility at the cost of speed can really help you navigate around them.

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Having all but erased all resistance in the sector from the helm of an Astral serving Tri-T in a massive carrier fleet, I can tell you this - bring the usual when planning to fight a carrier-focused enemy - better fighters, lots and better point defence. If you don't have a lot of fighters that help you achieve fighter supremacy (Wasps are relatively cheap and help do this easily if you make sure all carrier-able ships have half of their wings as such, or the converted ships all have wasps too) or just shove a wall of point-defence in the enemy's face. Have a look at the bounty fleet and just work from there. Try to not bring too many small ships that are easily overwhelmed and keep the fleet in tight formation to help overlap the PD grid as much as possible, then focus your fire. Astral is hardy, but still not a proper battleship, and will melt under sustained fire, especially if it's fighters never manage to do much but die the moment you get near.

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General Discussion / Re: Humble request for some tips and direction
« on: August 11, 2019, 06:48:45 AM »
Much like what SCC said, some combat ships and freighters will be very useful to you, indeed, some low-tech and many pirate designs in that regard work very well due to shielded cargo bays letting you smuggle contraband without much fear of a scan. Keeping the fleet on the light side works too. Smuggling in a super freighter is not the best idea... Pay attention to burn levels on the ships you get, and the shielded bays.

Personally? Tried smuggling for a while, though it wasn't my thing, I had a lot of success with Pirate class Mule, Cerberus, Hound, and if you can accept the Burn Level 8 and have the mod for it (I think it's a mod ship) the pirate Buffalo. The pirate Camel heavy frigate is also a very nice combat ships and able freighter to boot. My fleet ended up being some 20+ mix of Cerberus, Camel and Hound, most of them pirate ships, as all these have burn-level 10 - they are optimal for fast smugglers. Mules drop you to 9, and the Buffalo to 8, so keep that in mind.

If you have the mods for it, there's a number of other ships too, like the Luddic Path Cerberus and Hound, the Post-Collapse Venom and Shark, the low-tech Rock Hound and ofc the regular Cerberus and Hound ships, whom I think are vanilla. Once you have the ships, it's all about figuring out where you can... acquire... some contraband and where it sells for the most.

Good luck out there!

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General Discussion / Re: How do I get my core back
« on: August 11, 2019, 05:14:21 AM »
Sounds like a bug to me - I've never once not gotten notice that any threat to my worlds were on their way, inspections or no.

As a side-note, this is a choice for you to make - if you use AI-cores, inspections WILL be an issue for you. Either you keep resisting and accept that the Hegemony and potentially others will be hostile, or you accept the decrease in efficiency for your worlds and don't use cores.

Having said that, AI cores can also be found on plenty of worlds in the core worlds, just go looking for worlds with ruins on them, plenty of them to go around. You can tell by the system info telling you, and the rings of debris around them planets in question, and searching the ruins on these often nets you a lot of high-end goodies. I found my first ever alpha-level AI and a pristine nanoforge iirc, from one of the ruined worlds on the edge of the core worlds. Then again, I am running a fair few mods, so there's that.

You don't always have to go very far to get cores and other goodies for your colonies.

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General Discussion / Re: Fighter Reccomendations
« on: August 10, 2019, 06:59:22 PM »
I've found a Dagger Bomber/Wasp drone combo to be extremely effective on my high tech carriers. The wasp drones being cheap and disposable and coming in large numbers means I will soon overwhelm enemy PD and erase their fighters and missiles from the field - provided ofc you have enough of them and keep the fighter-screen supported with long-range energy turrets/missiles of your own - and right behind that comes endless waves of Daggers in to pop the enemy one by one. Due to the Dagger's speed and their shields, combined with the enmy PD being busy with the wasps, the question is how many, not IF, they survive to weapon deployment range. This leads to waves of golden torpedoes streaking into anything the Wasps don't slowly poke to death with a million PD beams. Sometimes I put into play smaller carriers with a few heavy fighters that can tank a bit more if I find my enemy has a number of PD options bigger than even this tactic can deal with, but the results speak for themselves - it's late game for me, and the Astral/Eos combo with near universal Dagger/wasp wings makes most fights predictable and a tad on the boring side.

All of this DID come at the end of a long series of experimental builds that did use Tridents as the primary means of doing damage, but being so expensive and few in number I found them cost-ineffective very quick. As a result, unless someone want to tell me otherwise, I firmly believe the Dagger to be the perfect vanilla bomber - it's just effective enough for it's cost that, unless running face-first into a PD wall, it's launch, drop, return, relaunch rates are unstoppable.

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General Discussion / Re: Do player colonies share resources?
« on: August 09, 2019, 04:19:42 AM »
IIRC though, the convoys ferrying resources from one system to another DOES physically exist, and can be ambushed by pirates or folks who don't like you, so assuming I'm not wrong on this, you may want to keep that in mind - a logistical run that don't cross the whole of the core worlds full of enemies are more likely to make it.

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General Discussion / Re: pirating aint easy
« on: August 05, 2019, 10:08:10 AM »
I've done a LOT of pirating on and off other plays trying to make it work. I've found out a few things...

* No-one is your friend, not even the one's who are ambivalent about your existence. Do not rely on them, but do *NOT* initiate hostilities with them either, you have more than enough enemies.

* Raiding around on system is rarely worth it, you are burning supplies trying to poach the small patrols or fleets while dodging the big ones. Move around, and get good at being PATIENT while looking for good opportunity targets.

* Talking big opportunity targets, low-defense colonies run by people who don't like you (most people) are usually soft enough for you to raid, often repeatedly, until you have filled your folds with goods. Get those to your nearest pirate base or otherwise 'friendly' non-pirate base as soon as you can, though you will have to smuggle your loot to their black markets to get any decent pay-out.

* Be picky with your ships. I've tried the 'horde of weak pirate ships' myself and it's the absolutely opposite of cost-efficient. These ships bloat your fleet, costs you more crew, fuel and supplies, and often are D-mod barely-floating wrecks you picked up somewhere. It's tempting, but unless it's a very cost effective hull (and you will find out what those are as you get more experience, or whatever conforms to your doctrine) break it for salvage and thanks pappa Khorne for the free supplies and materials.

* Hoard your weapons in whatever pirate base you name your home. Do NOT sell them unless you know for absolutely sure you don't want them, they generally are not worth much and will serve better being fitted to the replacements for the losses you will inevitably suffer.

* Be paranoid. There are a *LOT* of people out to get you - especially if you actually manage to be effective - and the WILL find you unless you are good at getting gone at the first sign of trouble.

* Be a prick. You are not looking for fair fights, you are looking to survive as the most hated individual in the sector - raid that planet when the chance presents itself, wipe out that small patrol and do salvage their best military hardware for yourself, DO extort money from that fleet out mining, or salvaging, or anything. Remember, money does not take cargo-space, and free money you don't have to fight for if effectively worth twice as much as it won't be used to pay for replacement assets.

* Finally, remember that sometimes hard work does pay off, and might even get a few choice people off your butt so you won't have to feel them breathing down your neck all day long. If a particular faction is giving you to much grief and you think you can take it, do go off and kill that bounty they want dead - so long as it's not another pirate, that would be a poor choice indeed. If you do enough dirty-work for them not only will they pay your your hard earned blood-money, not only will you be able to salvage the very ships that bothered them so much, but they will even improve standing with you, if only a little every time. Also, choosing to NOT raid their stuff - anymore - and making life hard for those OTHER folks who hate you and who happen to be hated by this faction, will help you too. ESPECIALLY if you manage to invade and TAKE one of their worlds, then gift it to that faction...

Finally, always remember - you are looking out for number 1 - by whatever means you can. The sector don't care about you and you don't care about them.

Now if only I was better at following my own advice :D

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General Discussion / Re: Do you hoard weapons? (Poll inside)
« on: August 04, 2019, 06:12:03 PM »
Selling weapons generally don't pay much, so I tend to keep anything I find early on. Later on as I'm solidifying some kind of doctrine for my ships I tend to sell the stockpile of things I don't use, but by then it's not even about the money, but limiting the time looking over the weapons list when fitting new ships.

I've found it's nearly always a good idea to keep weapons you salvage or otherwise find for 'free' as they can make good options when you are desperate. Ironically my piracy runs always tend to be the poorest so the one fleet most likely to use a random smattering of different weapons and ships ends up being one of the few cases where I sell weapons, desperate for the money to keep my broke raider fleet running :P

Same policy goes for ships too btw. I hoard what I can, even if I don't use them right off the bat, because salvaging ships for your own use tend to be the only way to go, selling hulls you find often nets you far less than you paid in fuel and supplies to get that battered hull to the market. If it's a ship you have little to no interest in, scrapping it for salvage in the field is usually the best idea.

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General Discussion / Re: Thematic games
« on: August 04, 2019, 04:59:58 PM »
Finished the Carrier-focused run, ended up doing one with Tri-Tachyon instead of the Shadowyards as I liked found the large number of possible carriers under the high-tech branch to be very appealing. Ofc, this does mean it was more of a "High-tech carriers" run than a universal one, but the point remains. Also, Astra and Eos Class carriers with Dagger bombers supported by drone fighters and near universal PD setups on the carriers makes for extremely potent firepower virtually unchallenged by enemy missiles/fighters. Those torpedo-volleys sure kill swiftly when several dozen of them are on their way to various targets and there is virtually no enemy PD (to busy with your drones and missiles) to stop them.

Speaking of missiles, that's gonna be the next focused run. By the looks of things Blackrock has an extremely liberal selection of ships with a multitude of missile hardpoints, so that's gonna be the faction of choice. I suspect this one's gonna go very differently for a variety of reasons...

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General Discussion / Re: Help me with my thematic games
« on: July 16, 2019, 02:15:48 PM »
Thanks for the ideas so far. On my end the carrier-focus run goes on ever better, the SYS BrightWitch, Charybdis-class trike carrier was recently purchased as my new flagship, a step-up from my 10 Sargasso-class light carriers. I'm not terribly fond of the strike carrier concept, it's a tad to "warship" for my tastes, makes dedicated warships feel like they are missing something on their own, but it's doing the job well. Shadowyards ships are a tad slow, at least the carriers are, so it's not like the ship-mounted guns the the majority of damage anyway.

I've also found a new appreciation for raiding, and the fact you can raid the same target repeatedly while waiting for their ships to come back to the area. It's absolutely accelerated my credit-gains here without having to rely on mining, something I used to build up capital when doing the Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering run, the one so far where I've beat the game (I love their designs, so damn sweet) and it's been a very different experience. Hell I'm leaving the pirate locations closest to the Shadowyards homeland intact so I can come by and raid and pillage more targets, how's that for irony? :P

Speaking of irony I do think the light-ship focus will be a new piracy run, now that I realise you can repeatedly raid specific locations it might make that run more viable, help replace the trash-tier frigates I'll be losing over and over again D:

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General Discussion / Re: Help me with my thematic games
« on: July 13, 2019, 12:19:37 PM »
Altered the title of the tread to high-light what I want. I'm not asking for more themes to play, though it's not harmful to share those here, I'm asking specifically for any ideas as to what factions suit the listed themes best. Anything that don't help with that's effectively off topic :P

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General Discussion / Re: Thematic games
« on: July 12, 2019, 04:53:52 PM »
If you want to play super-hardcore to the level of sadism that's on you, I'm not that fond of pain quite yet. I'd like more input on the topic at hand, if you wish to share, otherwise I thank you for the bump.

For the record I'm currently trying the carrier-focus with the Reclamation Authority's ship's... it's pretty interesting, in spite of issues with their speed, at least for the light carrier's I'm using so far. Thinking of trying overdriving them in spite of the impact on their carrier functionality, just to see if the mobility increase is worth the trade-off.

Some research on my own also reveals that of all the factions I've seen so far Blackrock seem to have the most missile-friendly hulls of all, virtually all their ships allow multiple missile weapon mounted. Unless I find more easily accessible low-tech hulls - the second best option so far for missiles - I think I'll go for them.

One thing at a time though.

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General Discussion / Thematic games
« on: July 09, 2019, 10:20:37 PM »
*EDIT* Se latest post for progress. This treat is now back open for a more general sharing of themes to hold to to make games a bit more challenging or interesting in later play sessions.

*************************************************

So I've beaten the game once so far, in all the months I've been playing it on and off, and while I'm now still knee-deep in my piracy run, enjoying that sweet sweet "Piracy: HARD" feeling, I've been thinking this idea over in my head for a while. I've been enjoying myself a lot, but I've never really devoted myself to any specific 'theme' for my fleets, it's always a mix. I like everything about the various ships and systems in this game so it's been hard to decide on any place to start, and I'm unsure where to do so even.

So I've a question for the more seasoned players here.

--------------------------------------

What factions would be best suited to run a thematic game? Specifically, I wanted to limit myself to only one theme at a time, sticking to it as loyally as possible. The themes in question are as follows:

Carrier focus.
Missile barge focus.
Light-ships focus. (Frigates, gunboats, militarized civilian freighters etc.)
Medium-ships focus. (Destroyers, Cruisers, bigger freighters etc.)
Large-ships focus. (Everything above a cruiser, essentially.)
Gun-ship focus.

Keep in mind that Carriers can have the means to effectively fight themselves, but a battle-carrier that's more warship than carrier is hardly what I'd call a "carrier" myself. Also, by missile-barge I don't mean a ship with a few 1-shot torpedoes on it, I mean something that relies on missiles through the whole fight as close to 100% as possible, potential PD guns aside for instance. Tech-level for ships and weaponry is not a big deal to me, so long as the theme fits.

Any suggestions?

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