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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 - theShadow

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1
Announcements / Re: Blog Posts
« on: May 01, 2012, 10:59:39 AM »

2
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.52a (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: May 01, 2012, 10:58:22 AM »
Will you be releasing a soundtrack? I would definitely pay money for it.

3
That's would be comparable to how movement in space actually works, only instead of low acceleration and high top speed, it would low acceleration INFINITE top speed. However, that would be kind of annoying to deal with.

one thing that could work is have the engine boost you get with lowered shields and no weapon fire scale based on the size of the ship. The larger the ship, the more boost they get. They still shouldn't be as fast as frigates for gameplay reasons, but it can be enough to make moving large distances a bit less painful. This would make a lot of sense, because capital ships require a lot more power for combat systems, but when those systems aren't in use, they can throw that power at the engines. (this could also allow fleet's to move faster)

btw, does the boost to speed also effect turn rate? if it does not, then it should.

4
General Discussion / Accurate reflection of damage
« on: March 25, 2012, 09:45:13 PM »
the visual damage is cool, however I feel it would be better if it more accurately reflected how damaged your ship actually is. Oftentimes I will have some fighters piddling away at my my ship, doing practically no damage whatsoever. I usually ignore them, focusing on bigger threats, but even though my ship is still close to full health, my hull looks like burnt swiss cheese, like i'm moments away from being space garbage.

Just something to think about.

5
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a (In Development) - Live Patch Notes
« on: March 06, 2012, 08:01:54 AM »
Quote
Added fast-forward button (speeds up the campaign game 2x, bound to Shift by default)

instead of binding it to a button, how about we activate the time acceleration when you zoom completely out in the campaign? (it seems like it kind of does that already.)

6
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a (In Development) - Live Patch Notes
« on: March 02, 2012, 09:06:24 AM »
I was thinking it would be acceptable to just have 2x game speed. one thing that would be interesting would be having it acticated by zooming all the way out.

7
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 15, 2012, 07:07:40 PM »
what if we could command multiple fleets at once?
relevant http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=323.msg7740#msg7740

8
General Discussion / Re: The Hegemony's Bane. (In 1080p)
« on: February 15, 2012, 03:57:52 PM »

9
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 15, 2012, 02:39:42 PM »
read my previous post, thats exactley the sort of thing I was talking about. (a solution for that, though mine is a bit different)

10
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 15, 2012, 09:21:27 AM »
@obo: honestly, what i started doing is saving before every combat. if things don't go well for you, reload. it takes longer, but it guarantees that when you make progress, you get to keep it.

BTW, I have a solution for the "cat and mouse" issue that happens when trying to find a battle. the main issue is that as your fleet gets bigger, it gets slower and it becomes harder to catch anyone. so here is my solution.

I propose a major change of the way the travel overlay works. instead of having 1 fleet that you control directly, I would like to see a much more RTS like approach, where you can have multiple fleets, and you control them like units in an RTS. thats how you control your single fleet now actually, so all I am asking is to be able to have multiple fleets that can be controlled as one or separately. also something to make the control system a bit clearer, such as waypoints when you select a destination.

When you enter into a battle, all of your owned ships would be available to call in, not just the ships in the fleet you used to initiate the combat. This would make the concept of your other ships being "reinforcements" make more sense, because they are ships from another fleet coming in to help.


In addition to fixing the cat and mouse issue, this will lay groundwork for much more complex gameplay strategies, allowing you to have your ships in different places doing different things at the same time. for example, you can have your mining and transport craft in one fleet, running a supply line between a base and a meteor belt, and you can have another fleet patrolling that supply line, while you have a 3, small and fast strike group hunting down pirates (which is how it solves the original issue btw)

In fact, I even foresee a slight variation of the command point system translated to the travel overlay, so you can assign tasks for various fleets, or create waypoints on the map to rally specific fleet types, build space stations, along with plateforms to defend them, etc.

bottom line, this will allow you to scale much more effectively.

BTW if this is what you have been planning on doing anyway, awesome :D

11
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 15, 2012, 07:41:56 AM »
the front page is what is planned for the final version. the patch notes for this release are on the first page of this topic.

12
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 15, 2012, 07:21:18 AM »
something that could maybe improve the chase aspect is if ships spent less time aimlessly floating around in deep space, and actually stuck to specified paths, like trade routes between planets, and also tried to  stay in close orbit around planets when possible. this would make it easier to find prey, and also easier to predict where they are going to go. (example, there could be a shipping lane between 2 planets, and pirates set up ambushes along the trade lane, so then you can ambush them while they lie in wait. (or you can just ambush the merchants :p))

anyway, I think the addition of a persistent economy and related game mechanics will alleviate some of the frustration with trying to hunt down pirates, since it will make combat no longer the only method of acquiring wealth.

13
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 15, 2012, 06:45:38 AM »
look on the first page of this topic for features ;)

Also, I agree that the starting ships aren't balanced very well, especially against each other. like, say, the shuttle class vs the lasher class. the shuttle has 2 turret mounts, and starts with 2 medium range lasers that are really inaccurate, as they have to toggle between them, and have different firing arcs. the lasher has 7, with lots of flexibility in terms of what weapon is where.

the random ships is ok, but i think it kind of takes away some of the player choice that should be present. each starting ship requires a different combat style, and forces you to use that style. I found myself deleting a character and recreating it multiple times just to get a different ship.

it would be better if it would just let you pick what your starting ship is going to be during character creation, like a class based system. I would then also have it remember your choice when you die, and have that be the ship you start in, albeit stripped of personel and weapons.




14
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 14, 2012, 06:11:43 PM »
yeah, thats what I started doing, with limited success.

and the ship that is the worst about this (especially in 1 on 1) is the hound class frigate. there was one ship I had where the missiles had the same speed as the hound class, making them completely useless.

15
Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.5a Preview (Released) - Live Patch Notes
« on: February 14, 2012, 05:36:38 PM »
actually, i do have one rather gnarly issue. when engaging in 1 on 1 combat, the AI has a tendency to be far too cautious, to the point of not even attacking at all. I have spent far too many battles where the enemy just hovers right outside of my range, and since all the ships have about the same speed, a battle that could have been over in 3 minutes ends up taking an hour or more.

This is especially annoying when piloting ships with low range, low tech weapons.

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