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1

Suggestions / Saved Fleet Compositions

« on: November 04, 2018, 10:51:39 PM »

I skimmed through a dozen or so pages of the Suggestions subforum, performed a forum search for "fleet" as well as "loadout" and read a few pages' worth of replies, and finally tried a Google site search, but I didn't see anything like this suggestion (though those search terms are very common), so here goes.

As it is, we can take ships in and out of storage and auto-assign officers, but those officers may not go where we want. Also, taken ships always end up at the bottom of the fleet screen, so rearranging them in the desired visual order one by one can be a chore.

It would be nice to have a few slots in which the player can save fleet compositions (and possibly also individual ship loadouts within those compositions, though this would be a "deluxe" additional feature). At the touch of a button, the fleet composition script would automatically store and retrieve ships, assign officers, and visually rearrange the ships as specified when the slot was written to by the player.

This would be an immense convenience and time-saver for dramatically changing fleet composition (from a purely high-tech fleet to a purely low-tech one, for example), as well as for stripping down to just a few fast, small explorers or smuggling ships, to cargo ships with a light escort for hauling all of your stockpiled metal to Chico, to fuel tankers with a light escort for making a core systems fuel run, etc.

2

General Discussion / My thoughts and impressions

« on: October 28, 2018, 06:47:05 PM »

Quick background: I played Starsector in 2014 and again in 2016, picked it up again recently, and like probably everyone else, I've played a pile of space-based 4X/strategy/trading/combat games over the decades.

In my current (vanilla 0.8.1a) game, I've re-familiarized myself with the fleet navigation mechanics. I know how to interdict and catch smaller fleets, how to anticipate and avoid larger fleets, employ stealth, travel safely, and so on. I've learned to manage my fuel and supplies, as well as where and how to restock on the cheapest supplies and how to get the best resale value for survey data and et cetera (pretty much Sindria, AKA Starsector Walmart). I'm fairly happy with the officer, mod, and outfit loadouts on my small fleet, which combat-wise are currently a Heron (that I had to sneak out of Sindria after buying it from the black market), a Medusa (that I was super-lucky to find for sale on the open market), two Wolf-class frigates, and a Mule that I use as my flagship.

My commander is heavily invested in Industry and has Navigation 3, which is why I'm now >$900,000 in the bank, ready to invest in fleet/combat skills moving forward, and preparing to take a commission somewhere for access to the good stuff.

That's where my saved game is currently stalled as of this evening, because every faction is enemies with every other faction, with just two minor exceptions. Obviously I'll need to pick one if I really want to enjoy more of the fleet battles side of the game, but having tons of enemies is obviously also very limiting. I'm heavily inclined to side with Sindria due mainly to the fact that supplies and fuel, the most vital resources, are plentiful and cheap there. Then again, Sindria only seems to control a single system. I suppose I could also stockpile thousands of Sindrian fuel elsewhere before picking sides if desired.

It seems pretty bonkers to me that virtually everyone is enemies with everyone else. I wonder if this behavior is intended and/or if that will change in 0.9.0.

Speaking of fuel and such, the early game, as everyone who posts on this forum seems to be aware, is indeed really rough on new players. Emerging from a gravity well right next to a Scavenger deathblob; being unfamiliar with the predator-or-prey, flee-or-pounce fleet navigation mechanics; accidentally entering a gravity well with transponders off and being instantly pounced upon by the local space police; returning to a familiar planet after your first survey mission, only to find no fuel or supplies for sale (happened to me); Spathi frigates; and many other factors, all contribute. Granted, some people just need to do the tutorials and/or RTFM and/or pay attention, but I did all of those things and it was still a bumpy ride.

You guys don't know me, but if you did, you'd know that I'd be the last person to advocate for dumbing a game down, hand-holding, or in general making games easier simply so that they're more "accessible." Still, there's such a thing as gentling the learning curve, and before release on Steam I think the game probably needs... something extra to ease the transition: not a lessening of what's there at the game's core, but a buffer before new players get there, if you will.

This post is already a novel, so I'll wrap up for now by touching on do-nothing/cowardly/Spathi AI. Clearly every board regular is aware of the issue, and now that I've played for a little while, I too have experienced it on numerous occasions. Attack Frigate? More like Aback Frigate, amirite fellas? Self-preserving AI behavior is actually very realistic and Sun Tzu, but well... Sun Tzu isn't always Fun Tzu, if you know what I'm saying. Yes, there are counters, and I've read the two big discussion threads about SpathAI, but Alex says he's trying to tweak this in 0.9.0 and I definitely think that's a good thing. Backpedaling frigates are pretty annoying, especially when CR and supplies affect players and the AI asymmetrically (AI can afford to lose battles/burn out its fleets; the player really can't).