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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 - ActuallyUlysses

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1
Hi,
came back to check out your mod few months later and I gotta say - I love it. Previously I had to alter settings to make it work with my tastes, now it works great right out of the box :D

2
Will all features of this mod work when added to existing save?

3
See: hull_styles.json; the shield color is among the things that's defined there. You'd want to create your own new hull style (probably based on copy-pasting an existing one, then tweaking the shield color/whatever else) and then set your ship to use it.

Thanks for quick reply Alex :D

What I found after more research is that shield colors are determined by hull_styles.json, just like you said, and they need to be applied to ships via <hullname>.ship file of specific hull (ie. atlas.ship).

I had no idea about that second part, hence my confusion :)

4
Hi,
so I am trying to figure out how game decides how shields look like.

I noticed that sometimes shields are stable + blue color and sometimes unstable + red-ish. I played around with changing shield upkeep and shield efficiency values and while I was able to make shield look unstable, I was not able to make them have that red-ish tint that you get if you use ie. makeshift shield emitter hullmod.

So... anyone knows how to get red tint? :D

5
Eagerly waiting for full release. Looks like something that will end up on my default mod list!

6
Modding / Re: Please be mindful of the tone of your mod
« on: August 19, 2019, 07:04:55 PM »
Huh, every one of those screenshots except for one is from my mod.  Guess I'll take that as a compliment. ??? On the upside for you, it means you can get rid of them with a single simple change to your mod folder... I think I even have a tip that tells you how to do it.  ;)

That said, there is also a warning in the forum OP for each of my mod pages about this, heh.

I am in the middle of playthrough, so for now I will add just those tips :D

Not like there is anything wrong with your mods. I finished my mod list before you split your big mod into three.

On a side note, I see a number of people complaining about stuff in mods that's super easy to alter in 5 minutes or less. If modder can spent dozens of unpayed manhours hours writing and selecting only the most kosher of tips, you can spend few minutes removing them. All you need is notepad and Microsoft Excel.

7
Modding / Re: Please be mindful of the tone of your mod
« on: August 19, 2019, 09:05:49 AM »
Wow, which mod adds those tips? I want more where that came from :D

8
Modding / Re: [0.9.1a] Terraforming [Beta] 0.0.1v
« on: August 19, 2019, 07:58:14 AM »
Purge Center icon is very joyful :)

If you have some free time and wish to learn about more plausible ways of terraforming planets, I recommend watching Isaac Arthur's video on terraforming. His "Colonizing Space" series is quite amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ikoNQNj9ZnU

Anyway, looking forward to adding this mod to my mod list once it get more developed. It looks like a solution to absurd amount of credits that late game players tend to end up with.

9
@Sundog
I think rating system is great. After I tweaked the numbers in settings it works very well for me. I think the issue is that you try to support all types of playstyles with system that does not account for all variations.

Ie. I play small and invest in "piloted ship" skills, meaning that your balancing of how skills affecting fleet strength are off in my case. Luckily you added settings and we are fine.

I understand that it is preferable for mod to work for most people out of the box and account for as much as possible, but in short term I think it's better to make people aware how to tweak it to fit their playstyle. It's really nice to know that your battle performance has a meaningful impact on ship's reputation :)

Edit: without some way of affecting ship's reputation via combat rating it becomes more of a random thing. I think it would help to also ie. Explicitly state that even if ship gets bad rep, it can change in the future. I learned about it recently and felt kinda dumb for selling ships with bad rep instead of working towards improving it.

10
I recommend that you take a look at settings file in mod folder. OP was kind enough to explain how everything is calculated and it's very easy to tweak settings to your liking. I had similar issues, took me 5 minutes to "fix" them.

Just remember that you need to restart the game client after you save changes ;)

Edit: also, once you look on formulas you will have better understanding of how to obtain higher rating. One thing that killed mine (and I was pulling 1 Vs 10 fights with destroyer) was my character level.

11
@Sundog
Thanks for lengthy reply. I will explain my reasoning for my suggestions, but don't feel like you need to address those if you would otherwise work on improving your wonderful mods :)

1. Ignoring hull damage for purpose of estimating CR gain after winning battle.
You incentive very cautious gameplay by punishing hull damage. One can claim, that this is how highly skilled player would play, but one can also claim that such playstyle lacks tad bit of bravado. Swinging in, exchanging broadside fire with enemy? Nope, it's better to kite them to death... And you avoid this whole "is armour tank disadvantaged by this" debate.

2. On using hull damage when calculating CR gain after retreat
 Hull damage can be good indication of how successful hit-and-run raid was as the whole point is to attack and run before enemy can hit back. Also it is an indication of how successful retreat was.

3. On lowering CR based on number of lost ships
I think you mentioned that the game does not care if I win or lose? If all that matters is relative strength of deployed fleets, why losing a battle after retreat lowers CR?

4. (Maybe) CR can only fall if player could potentially increase it in given battle.
Currently, I will avoid fighting weak fleets at all cost, because fighting them would lower my CR. This punishes whole set of activities:
- killing smuggler to affect supply? Let's hope his fleet is big enough not to tank my CR
- pirate fleet on radar? Ups, too small, let other bounty hunter to take care of it
- oh look a supply convoy I got intel on and wanted to kill... Tsk, got into fight on way here and now its too weak...
Your solution for that problem is to field weaker ships but I am not sure how that will hold up when I am high level character. Basically you are punishing for being successful and earning levels or not traveling with small ships in fleet.

Lastly, I would add in FAQ a short guide on how to play with default setting and what to look for in order to reach high CR

12
I've made account just to post this :)

I think the idea behind this mod is great. Bonuses are not overwhelming yet make me stick to my ship longer. Also makes it more unique, as it may lead player to upgrade ones ship to play into reputation strengths.

I downloaded the 1.2.0 BETA and here is my feedback thus far:
NOTE: I don't understand exactly how various things are calculated and I base following observations on the way things felt when they happened. It is entirely possible that things work differently, I just couldn't tell.

1. There are some weird interactions with, possibly, Ruthless Sector? Something to do with how battle difficulty is calculated or XP is handed out post battle. I fight non-stop against fleets that have numerical superiority (ie. 1 me vs 10 ships) and somehow I cannot break past combat rating of 65% in my destroyer. Seriously, I pulled 2 cruiser kills + 7 frigates with a single destroyer and my rating went from 65% to 67%. In previous version I had no such issues and went past 70% easily. I cannot imagine what kind of odds need to be stacked against me to go up to 90% right now.

2. Combat rating system as implemented punishes hit-and-run tactics, as it cannot distinguish between orderly retreat and total defeat. Basically the only way to rise it is to go in enemies face and nuke it out. I did two runs against one huge convoy and even though both times I pulled out with around 20-30% hull (and many kills), my rating went down from 65% down to ~50%. I got entire convoy third time. Went up to like 53%? I mean I just killed smth like 20 ships with a single destroyer. Give me some cred :P

3. Does hull damage affect battle combat rating? It seems to do so and tbh I don't think its good idea. Battle performance is already measured by number of kills/damage player manages to deal and it punishes armor ships that always end up with some hull damage. As a result fast and maneuverable shield tanked ships get much higher CR.

4. While not necessarily a bad design choice, some reputations are game changing for given hulls and some are not very useful. Ie. basic 4% of Strong Armor on puny destroyer with paper thin armor vs same bonus on Onslaught... 3% of Strong Engines on same overdriven destroyer? Frigate killer.

5. Current system punishes pirate play style a lot... like, I hunt smugglers, trade convoys etc. to get supplies when in hostile territory or when non are available and every single time my combat rating goes down because I pick on too easy targets... which forces me to attack bigger convoys... which I need to raid several times to chip down annoying ships... which lowers my CR even more... you see where this is going :P

6. Right now I am not even sure how lost in combat rating is calculated, but I went once against hegemony fleet detachment (solo, they bounced off Hyperspace Storm and got me) and while I cleared all frigates and destroyers while under heavy fire from cruisers and capitals... I got -7% to CR... like seriously? Haven't I just done something epic? If I would do the same thing without hundreds of Pilum missiles flying around and won, my rating would go up.

Suggestions:
1. Ignore hull damage to ship when calculating score for won battle.

2. Factor in hull damage to ship when calculating score for battle from which player retreated (would work nice with hit-and-run), so that i.e. if 0% hull damage then CR penalty for losing would also equal 0%.

3. Lower player combat rating for lost battles based on actual number of ships lost.

4. MAYBE only battles that can rise combat rating can also affect it negatively? I mean, I get that - killing small smuggler fleets is nothing glorious, but cruising around and around just to find the fleet of right size is just not fun.

Edit:
I noticed how difficulty is calculated in Ruthless Sector and now I see what was the problem with point 1. What got me was that "1% per player level factor in calculation of player's fleet strength. Since I fought 1 vs 10 from the very start, I got ton of XP and raised my character level super fast to almost level 30, so for the purpose of strength calculation I got 30% stronger.

Also, when I look at my fleet strength evaluation I also think that your mod counts player level twice. Once as that "1%" and second time as "2.5% per officer level" when strength of individual ship is calculated.

Now tell me if I am wrong, but I don't think that even level 50 player in frigate is going to contribute to a fight as much as a carrier, but according to the formula he would add more fleet strength. Unless, everything went into "fleet" skills. I can see why it was done that way, however it not going to work in all situations. Luckily its very easy to tweak in settings :) Amazing mod!

I would suggest adding some more text to FAQ, ie. "If you enjoy playing small, you might want to change the [setting] to [something]".

Edit 2:
Further reading also allowed me to deal with point 6... kinda. There is this "maxBattleDifficultyEstimation" set at default to be 2.0. I think you put a limit, so that even super impressive victory would not catapult player up to level 20 or higher in one go? Now this will also limit how your combat rating is going to rise from same victory, wouldn't it?

Is it possible to add another factor in xp calculation? Like "whatever XP I get... multiply it by 0.5". That way I can make impressive battles to have more impressive impact on ships' reputation, but by lowering overall XP by a factor of XYZ, prevent suddenly becoming too high level frigate pilot.

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