I got this game ~2 months ago, after watching a video that started with "Hey hey people..." and gave it a try, got a key, and wanted to share my experience and stories of this game:
TL;DR: Great game, but it got boring after I started to Steamroll with my very profitable colonies. 7/10. With mods however: 9/10.
Beware the Wall of TextBeginningAt first I did the Tutorial and some missions. Those gave me enough experience for small battles. I still sometimes let the Auto-Pilot do it's thing though.
The Tutorial-Story-Mission in the Campaign also helped a bit, but I had to look up the methods of Sensor Profile and Strength, since it didn't understood it good enough.
I restarted a lot in my first days of play, and noticed how unbalanced the Story mission ca be, as I made +200k by just trading between the Pirates and the Hegemony without the need to turn the Transponder on and finishing the Stabilizing Jump Point Mission.
I slowly learned where Producers where, and when to accept Procurement Missions, which to pass, and came to the conclusions, that smuggling is not more profitable than these, unless it is a Procurement Mission for Drugs or Organs.
Exploration Missions more or less thought me how to handle Automated Defenses, Surveys and the strength (or sometimes lack of) [REDACTED] Fleets. Low Warning were no problem if I had ~2-5 Frigates, in Medium Warnings I needed to be either sneaky or needed a bit more Firepower, but still no sweat. Only the High Warning Systems were a challenge, especially if I couldn't dodge 3 of their fleets (resulting in the destruction of half my fleet, at this point I was in vanilla End Game).
Never did Commissions; they seem to bring more trouble than benefits, and most ships I wanted I could either buy on the Black Market sometimes or later produce myself.
After the BasicsI mostly used the Black Market to either get ships or large amounts of Supplies and Fuel. The 30% Tariff also made me think of just dumping everything there. So early game I went for Shielded Cargo Ships and Insulated Engines, though I never felt that I needed them, as either the planet I wanted to trade with had no Patrols or annoyingly many, making me leave the Black Market trades with none or maximum Suspicion every time on the same Markets.
As for skills I usually went for Transverse Jumping first, followed by Navigation, then Salvaging Skills etc, with Combat Skills coming last. For Officers I found a nice PDF somewhere, which explains which skills to take in which role. (Basically: Damage Control Bad, Combat Endurance Good)
Also I learned to buy good weapons whenever I find them in early game. I only saw the Storm Needler once on sale in Sindria only for a Cooperative Commission on the Military Market.
First ColonyIn my last Vanilla Playthrough (+QoL Mods) I made 2M before starting a Colony (although I don't know how man Cycles passed) in a High Warning System at the edge of the Sector, which was the only good System I found, and I had surveyed a lot. Most of the money came from Bounties after I first made money by Procurement and Exploration, and used it to get my Fleet together.
I did want to find a Pristine Nanoforge and Synchrotron Core before starting a Colony, but never found one after I did, and then both of them were in ruins on a 300% Hazard world in the same system. Just my Luck. Something similar that happened a lot in later playthroughs.
I used a Command (per Mod) to add a Stable Location, because there were none even though the system was big. Something I now use more often for Colony Systems.
After settling and building 5 colonies across 2 Systems, with Populations between 5-7, all with Star Fortresses, High Commands and Heavy Batteries + Industries, I made them all Free Ports, and watched the Hegemony Fleets turn into Debris fields. I farmed a [REDACTED] Nexus next Doors for AI Cores, and had installed Betas in most industries. At this Point no one could be a threat to my Colonies anymore.
I also finished my Fleet, with High Tech Frigates (Wolf/ Tempest), 1-2 Conquest (depending how big the Enemy Fleet is going to be), 3 Herons, mostly Eagles and Falcons for Cruisers, with some Hammerheads as Destroyer.
Even in newer Playthroughs I find this Fleet to be very comfortable. I do prefer higher Burn Levels, with an Ox I usually get 19 with Sustained Burn. I did add an Apogee, used as a Shield Tank, and Auroras later. I also had one Prometheus and 2 Atlas + a troop transporter with me all the time.
Personally I leave command of Capitals and Carriers to my Officers, as I personally underperform with them. I stick to Cruisers, usually Eagle or Doom, or Frigates. Alternatively I activate Auto-Pilot and micromanage per Commands.
So now for my fleet, I use mostly Midline for Capitals and Destroyers, a mix of High Tech and Midline for Cruisers and High Tech for Frigates, and still do in later playthroughs.
Something interesting about this Playthroughs was, that the Hegemony was Hostile to everyone but the LC very early, and a pirate Raid succeeded in stealing a Nanoforge. The pirates ships only had 0-2 DMods on average afterwards, but they were hardly a greater challenge, just better ships for me to salvage.
Going into modsBut after 2 Weeks of Gameplay I got bored and didn't touch the game for another ~3 weeks. I came back after contemplating if I should go for another round of Stellaris or this, and decided to try out SS with Nexerlin, Vayra's Sector, + Industrial Evolution later.
And boy was it worth it.
I had 3 runs thus far, with around 1-2 Cycles, with the last being 6+ now.
The first playthrough I tired being a trader, and usually had 1M after 1-2 Cycles, with a nice fleet and a place surveyed to become a Colony.
In the first run I had a balance between Procurement Missions, and Supplying Deficits, which now were more common with all the periodically occurring Hostilities, Trade Blockades, Conquest and new Colonies. In the end I felt that I did rather few Profits though, but I it helped my Reputation a lot. And the reduction in Tariff off 18%, or 9%, was a blessing.
In the second playthrough I mostly did Procurement Missions. This time The Sector seemed to be in an FFA War almost all the time, but markets barely changed hands and demands never truly increased.
Here I also felt my profits rather small. This time it also felt as if there were far less ships and weapons on sale. I barely found Phase Lances, or High Tech Ships and Weapons in general. Most missiles were also missing from sales. I tried to go for Navigation Skills first, instead of Transverse Jumping, and I must say it was a mistake, as some of the good Bar missions I got were in pirate infested systems, and using jump points there was most of the time rather a bad idea.
Current PlaythroughIn my current playthrough I decided to start with a PL commission (my first commission ever) and went on exploration Missions instead. Since I was mostly away from the core worlds, I didn't had to worry about the constant war with the Hegemony, or Tri-Tech sometimes. The Political Climate in general seemed nicer in general, and I finally figured out how exactly Agents work.
Within 1 Cycles I almost made 2M, the commission helping me a bit and giving me access to some ships early on like an Atlas, and wanted to start my Colony ASAP before one of the newer Factions popped up or someone else claimed my Planets. I resigned my Commission, and settled down a bit north of the Core Worlds, relieved that the the Stormhawks(?) settled in a System at the southwest corner of the Sector (only to lose a rebellion 3 months after founding the colony against Pirates and then becoming decivilized soon after).
I had to rush my second Colony, as the LC decided to go there too, then dealt with their Colony Fleet.
My reputation with Pirates was at -20 as they put up rather a lot of the Exploration missions, but it went to -100 fast, as I grinded Bounties and Reputation with other factions. The unique High Profile Bounties were a nice challenge.
I somewhen found the Red Guards HQ in Hyperspace and chuckled when I heard their Faction Music.
Sindria and Tri-Tech had an Alliance I later joined, with the PL joining soonly after, only to leave a month later because a random Diplo Event making Tri-Tech and PL inhospitable towards each other.
And rather frustrating was that then the Alliance went to war against PL (without me) with Sindria also voting Yes, despite having a +60 Relation with PL.
After their Ceasefire, I used my Agents to raise their relations, lucked out 2 times in a row + good Diplo Events, and PL rejoined.
Three new minor Factions popped up soonly after, one in the old System where the Stormhawks lost their colony, another in a system next to them, and the last one on the southeast corner sector and formed an alliance with the Hegemony.
I checked out the two of the new Factions, and why there were so far away (and also because some Bounties were there).
The first one, Ashen Keepers, settled on a semi good planet, but without food. A Cryosleeper was in the system, first time a saw one.
The other one, Independent AI Mandate in the system next door was the same. Barely good, with 200% Hazard, but the another Cryosleeper was also there! Guess that's why the Stormhawks tried settled there before... on a 300% Hazard world with some ores.
I can only imagine how the Decivilized Subpopulation is trying to survive there now.
By now I had fully surveyed 1/3 of the Sector, 6 Colonies and made at least +300.000 Credits per month. My defenses were not perfect, but good enough against Pirates and Pathers. I found nice BP, Artifacts etc, and slowly upgraded my Fleet and Colonies, leaving some in Storage so I wouldn't use too many Supplies in Explorations.
With the Alliance between Me, Sindra, Tri-Tech and PL we easily controlled 2/3 of the Core Worlds.
Sindria declared War against LC, and everyone joined. I tried the new Fleet Request function and ordered an Invasion of Gilead. I watched my 5 Fleets destroy the System alone; I joined to bombard Ground Defenses before my requested fleets invaded (~3 days after destroying the Station in Orbit), and then went on to conquer Asher alone.
Now LC is reduced to one system + an outpost I found in a Nebula, which was a surprise, I didn't know they could have "secret" markets.
The last things that happend was the Stormhawks coming back, resettling at the east end of the Sector, a Medium [REDACTED] Fleet showing up and attacking me, and the Hegemony having negative Diplo Events with our Alliance.
I guess I will deal with them or Pathers next. The only thing I lack is to find a [REDACTED] Nexus for farming purposes.
Next Playthrough I'll definitely start with a few more Content Mods.
A few Complains- Fleet Logs from Derelic Ships etc and Bounties on Bases are also listed in the Exploration Tab, and that Fleet Logs cannot be deleted if you looked into it or don't want them anymore.
- When an Officer LvL up, there are only 2 Options, and more than once I had to choose between 2 suboptimal once, and no option to just redo the LvL progress for another Skill roll.
- In battle, it was sometimes rather hard to find ships which had low Hull, and got destroyed before I could order them to retreat.
- Allies (like mentioned above) just declaring war at each other, because an Alliance member wanted it. (Nexerlin problem I guess)
- Some weapons being just very rare or unbuyable anywhere, even with Commission, like Storm Needler, or Ion Pulsers.
- I can't seem to change my factions color
