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1

Suggestions / Re: Better ways to get strong enemy fleets

« on: August 24, 2023, 05:31:12 AM »

My loadouts use the Mining Laser trick to force venting and true autofire on the AI.

Is the autofire trick so generally beneficial that it (or at least something closer to it) should be the default behaviour? I'm interested in more takes on this and if there are plans for more liberal weapon AI in the next patch.

2

Suggestions / Re: Better ways to get strong enemy fleets

« on: August 19, 2023, 04:46:03 AM »

make autofit try to pick S-mods that are good for the ship (or let .variant files specify a 'wantedHullmods' table that autofit can read), and use the feature on more vanilla fleets.

Before we get into hard stat buffs I'd extend this to loadouts in general, it seems like there's still power being left on the table in terms of weapon-hullmod-officer synergy.

3

Suggestions / Re: Use all the space you need to draw docking UI instead of 50% of the screen

« on: July 14, 2023, 09:18:00 AM »

I think what you're asking for here is a bit bigger than it might seem, the game's UI is very "unscaleable" because it's very raster-based (like a lot of games from before the era of higher-ppi screens) so it would need a rework of the UI. I think currently even the text uses bitmap fonts.

So that's why there's "UI Scaling" in launcher options as a band-aid solution.

4

Suggestions / Re: Keep more means of progress open in the end game

« on: July 07, 2023, 03:44:44 PM »

Yes, a lot of us would like the game to offer more challenge rather than less. And personally I find that in this game challenges that are more symmetric are more satisfying to solve.

But frankly, you're also overstating the difficulty of the existing challenges in the game. The game does not "switch off", the game doesn't require you to use a fleet composed solely of Gryphons or anything like that. You can get by with just a little thought and optimization, and manage everything the game asks of you.

5

Suggestions / Re: Keep more means of progress open in the end game

« on: July 07, 2023, 03:10:04 PM »

Wow, is this for real? All you have to do for more challenge is deploy fewer ships or leave OP unspent. Literally zero effort.

Have you considered that most people don't actually want to do that? You could make almost any game harder by enforcing handicaps on yourself (hey, let's start playing one-handed and blindfolded), but it doesn't follow that this should allow the game to be arbitrarily easier for everyone.

If you think there are core parts of the game that are genuinely beyond your skill then the normal solution would be an even easier difficulty mode.

But some games do have a minimum level of enforced challenge, and in my opinion that's fine.

6

General Discussion / Re: A huge nerf to the missiles

« on: July 03, 2023, 09:20:05 AM »

Also, I would like to ask, are the same people that say that pd is not good enough for blocking missiles, the same people who prefer taking double light autocannon in small slots on their low tech battleships instead of pd choices and then asking why missiles are ruining their day? (or not even putting anything in the small slots in the first place).

Coincidentally the thread I clicked on just before this one was Vanshilar's thread about killing 5 ordos with a Conquest-focused fleet (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=27471.0)

A fight that requires a ton of endurance (maybe more than you ever need in the unmodified game), but they still get good use out of four Conquests and two Gryphons with all missile slots filled.

But conversely it's totally light on PD, each Conquest has just one Devastator on the weak side. Conquests don't need as much PD as a typical ship thanks to their range and firepower, but still: the opportunity cost of PD is probably too high if it's being passed over for tactical lasers.

7

General Discussion / Re: Best Omega Weapon Platforms?

« on: July 01, 2023, 10:11:01 AM »

Yeah, some players are so desperate for more challenge that they're tricking the game into letting them fight five Remnant fleets at once.

8

General Discussion / Re: Taking out 5 Ordos with 5 Paragons

« on: June 23, 2023, 10:03:38 AM »

I didn't actually watch the whole video, skipped around a bitlot, so apologies if this should be already clear: are the Radiants just the last to die, or does the AI just always end up deploying them last in this kind of fight? If it's the latter, then that seems like it's probably a bug of some sort.

I saw this pointed out in an unrelated youtube video a few weeks back, so it seems like a real pattern (https://youtu.be/OLx2etWGQCU?t=796)

9

General Discussion / Re: What does the s-mod effect of ECCM Package do?

« on: June 19, 2023, 12:53:49 AM »

I'm just pointing out that by the rules of English grammar it's an ambiguous sentence, despite claims to the contrary.

There's no comma because it's not considered mandatory for either meaning: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conjunction_(grammar)#Separation_of_clauses

(Sorry to extend this tangent for so long, I was set off by people so confidently making incorrect assertions about grammar and punctuation)

10

Suggestions / Re: Ship AI Feedback Messages

« on: June 18, 2023, 09:31:57 PM »

I think it could just go in the target information next to the armor cells etc. This would require any ship to be target-selectable at any time as well.

11

General Discussion / Re: What does the s-mod effect of ECCM Package do?

« on: June 18, 2023, 05:06:57 PM »

These are two separate items, separated by an 'and'.

That's not how sentences work. "And" is not a separator in this example. Or whatever it's called in English idk.

"And" in English is used to separate the last two items in a list. So as noted above the intent is something like "Fully negates the effect of [ECM] and [flares on missiles...]" for a list of two. The ambiguity comes from whether "on missiles..." belongs to the last item on the list or modifies the entire list.

12

General Discussion / Re: Thoughts On Destroyers

« on: June 18, 2023, 02:13:12 AM »

Yeah, I agree that the Medusa is pretty good but the Enforcer, Hammerhead, etc have fast cruiser counterparts that are actually faster than they are. Not saying the speed brackets should never overlap, but the gap is not so distinct in the destroyer vs cruiser case.

13

General Discussion / Re: Combat in this game is frustrating

« on: June 16, 2023, 07:38:52 PM »

Maybe you could post some screenshots of your typical fleet and ship builds? You may be doing something wrong at a very low level that is strangling your combat power.

Yeah, it often has to be pointed out that the AI in this game is symmetrical, ie it's not the AI putting your fleet at a disadvantage because the enemy uses the same AI.

As for the eliminate command: usually if it isn't resulting in an actual engagement or kill it means the AI thinks it's at a really bad local disadvantage. I find it's better to just cancel the order in cases like that and let the battle flow more naturally because bad eliminate commands can put your ships into even worse positions.

14

General Discussion / Re: Ship types you want to see added before 1.0? What niches are left?

« on: June 16, 2023, 02:33:30 AM »

I'd like one new heavy/elite destroyer per tech level. Ships that are oversized for their class (like the aforementioned Desdinova) tend to be more dynamic, basically the inverse of the Falcon effect where it's pushed into a boring standoff role.

15

General Discussion / Re: Current ballistics balance is almost the inverse energy balance

« on: June 15, 2023, 02:01:51 AM »

@BaBosa
If we buff all weapons, then buff all shields, what did we do actually? Maybe screw over Shield shunt builds even more, but that's it. If anything the game has too much of a focus on shield damage, I blame the current end game for that. Then we get to discussions where soloing Radiants is suddenly a prerequisite.

I suspect BaBosa meant "decrease efficiency" literally, ie nerf shields