Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

Messages - harperrb

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
1
General Discussion / Re: Is legitimate trade dead in 0.8?
« on: April 21, 2017, 07:21:28 PM »
I'm not sure the legit trade is super dead. but . lets hypothesize that maybe its not the intended gameplay.

I just made a run of organics - from one place to another - i found a mission, researched and found an organics producer, took the mission, bought a 12k freighter to move the 100 or whatever produce to land a 100k gross sum.

Not exactly playing the market game - but it keeps me looking to at the contracts more and more and trying to remember: what does this planet produce, what does this contract want.

2
General Discussion / Re: .8 feedback thread
« on: April 21, 2017, 09:52:01 AM »
I really enjoyed the tutorial - though parts are a bit unclear in its first iteration - especially the "save game to progress".

- I wished the "quick save - F5" notification flashed or strobed, to make it clear that it is a requirement to progress in the tutorial. Or it should auto-pause the game and force you to after traveling a certain distance.
- the overall gameplay is developing into what I imagined/hoped it would become five/six years ago when i bought it. very much enjoying the minutae and complexity of managing a fleet and supplies.
- the new graphics updates are great. i love the new scale of the systems.
- there should be a warning of sorts when approaching known friendly ships while your sensor are off - I often forget i'm headed toward hegemony after hunting pirates and i'm dark.
- I wish I could go from Intel screen to the system map with one click.  And if you can, please tell me how. [edit: well easier than i thought - just hit TAB button]
- i'm confused how the weapon filter works with the ship refit - can't tell what clicks are filtering what weapons *edit ' okay, figured this out well enough. I think i was confused initally because types I did have but were the wrong size were auto'filtered out of the list, so I wasnºt seeing weapons when i expected them
- buying black market goods seems very easy without clear repercussions in ship refit screen. Weapons are there that I want. Its not clear what it means to buy them, and theyre available as default.
- a bit more of a transition at the salvaging screen - that is a slight pause, maybe a splash screen. would give a little more weight to the procedure.

edit: added:
- there should be a system map for supply use and distance (or at least time to destination, using waypoints) - like the interstellar map with fuel. I'm often not sure how far i can get my supplies, if it takes 1 day, 2 or an hour to get across to different locations.

Overall, i'm super happy with this release. its great.

3
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.65a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: October 21, 2014, 04:18:41 PM »
Is there a post explaining Destabilization? How to do it/how it works?

4
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.65a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: October 20, 2014, 06:44:49 PM »
Alex.

You are my god.

Seriously though. 15 minutes in, and blown away. 

5
General Discussion / Re: Balance Question
« on: March 18, 2014, 03:44:23 PM »
i hope there is no good reason to have a shuttle superior to a frigate in any combatic aspects.

6
Blog Posts / Re: On Trade Design
« on: March 03, 2014, 05:44:35 PM »
I know its still conceptual, but for clarity, is the intent:

A. that 'events' are the catalyst- A generated chance occurrence based on conditions that produce a change in the environment (AKA Ship Malfunctions). EVENT: Pirate Blockade - There is a 12% chance that local raiders spawn in a system, when it occurs, the planet gains the status "famished" and prices for food increase by 200%; if GatherInformation[PLAYER STAT(>= LEVEL(10))], they are notified

or

B. that 'events' are the result - Existing information produced based on activities, displayed to the player based on their GatherInformation stat. A pirate fleet leaves Pirate Base Alpha, in System Gamma, arrives at a Hegemony Planet Beta, in System Delta, existing traders are unable to land, food stores run low, prices increase; meanwhile the player in system Charlie has GatherInformation >= LEVEL (11), is notified of the Event: a Hegemony trader announces that he was run off by pirates orbiting Planet Beta in the Delta System.

tltr: So are events the catalyst or the result.

7
General Discussion / Re: Tips and tricks for 0.6a
« on: September 16, 2013, 06:31:42 PM »
Good stuff guys, thanks,


8
Discussions / Started Playing Space Rangers 2 again, last night
« on: May 29, 2013, 03:15:34 PM »
and by again, I mean about the 1000th time over the last 8 years.

For those of you who care enough to know, I originally discovered Starfarer a few years ago by google'ing, "Games like Space Rangers."

And for those of you who haven't got a chance to play it, I definitely recommend it, especially if your in for a challenge. The game is somewhat opaque, not sure it comes with a good tutorial and I remember hating it the first several times I played because I didn't understand anything going on;  However, i pushed through and got a handle on it; and it is easily one of the most repayable and most enjoyable space games.  

Anyone else enjoy SR or SR2?

9
Blog Posts / Re: Logistics & Fleet Management
« on: May 26, 2013, 07:29:05 AM »
Quick question Alex,

Could/Should the system map mechanic of "moving" as opposed to "not moving"(or sitting there allowing time to pass) be a factor of LR as well? I don't understand it to be now. But, given the example of adjusting repair allowance; does it make sense that a stationary fleet would risk less and have less chance of accident than a mobile one? The intent not to penalize further, but to allow for some optional period of stationary repair before the decision has to be made to mothball, etc.    

One somewhat off-topic and perhaps future aspect this post did make me think off is the application of system phenomena mechanics could be (in its simplest form perhaps) a modifier of fleet LR - causing already strained fleets to be privy to accidents for a temporary state while they navigate through difficult areas (Gravity wells, nebulae, and asteroid fields)

And I continued to be excited and impressed by Starsector's developments

10
Blog Posts / Re: Fleet Encounter Mechanics, Part 2
« on: April 08, 2013, 03:01:36 PM »
really enjoy the development of the pursuit and board edge.

My only concern on the boarding is that the value of boarding attempts (one) is arbitrary.

Isn't there a better limiting factor(s)?

I completely understand the means by which getting a new free ship is something that should be avoided; but i feel like limiting the number of boarding actions to one, no matter the size of the fleet is a somewhat glaring gamey-mechanic. That is - to recall a previous blog post, breaks the game's immersion.

I feel by
  • controlling the amount of repairable damage while in transit
  • the cost of those repairs both in space and at a dock
  • the viability of towing near-scrap ships

that boarding a ship for only vessel-gain would be nearly prohibitive in a similar fashion.  Additionally, I really enjoy the options to assault other ships - but following the logic just stated, making those options tied to specific hullmods would also limit the opportunities you can attempt to board. (eg. adding "Boarding Craft" or "Assault Dock" tied to those relative actions.

That way players have the choice to board as many ships as they can, even if in the end, its a negative gain.

Other options like making boarding for special cargo/information/people are too far off to mention here.

Still, loved what your giving us Alex, thanks for taking the time to break it down.

[edit: to clean up my points]

11
Blog Posts / Re: Fleet Encounter Mechanics, Part 1
« on: March 31, 2013, 03:10:36 PM »
Huh.  I find "harry" to be a perfectly valid word given the context

There's no doubt that it's fitting. But given that a good portion of  Starsector's players know English only as a second language, I think it is not a bad idea to eschew words that those players are very likely to not know. Of course my only measurement of that likelihood is the fact that this is the second word on the game I had to look up (first was entoptic, which just sounds cool), so it doesn't have to mean anything.

“The more one pleases generally, the less one pleases profoundly.”

 – Stendahl, Love 1822

12
Blog Posts / Re: Fleet Encounter Mechanics, Part 1
« on: March 30, 2013, 08:28:17 PM »
So i can technically defeat a big fleet with one ship by just retreating and challenging every time now?

Take a another look. Retreating from battle will take a CR hit on top of deploying. So a single ship wlll run out of CR before a larger fleet, assuming the fleet has more ships with greater combined CR than the single ship.

Secondly, if your single ship is not faster than the fastest ship from the fleet, they can "Harry" you and cause a third CR hit.

I think i got that right.

13
Blog Posts / Re: Fleet Encounter Mechanics, Part 1
« on: March 30, 2013, 08:21:39 PM »
that's a fair point...

speaking of which, will there be a way to stop CR regeneration to conserve supplies for accident aversion and such?

I had this same thought.  I'm imagining a Victoria 2-style Army Supply Slider per fleet. That is, a % bar that will limit ships in a fleet to only resupply to the set limit. Allowing for control on longer missions with limited longterm supply

14
Blog Posts / Re: Fleet Encounter Mechanics, Part 1
« on: March 30, 2013, 04:31:30 PM »
Alex, you hit a high note each update.

Can't wait.

15
Blog Posts / Re: Combat Readiness
« on: February 19, 2013, 05:34:55 PM »
I love it, Alex.

Few questions/comments, answer any or all of them at your convenience:

1. First, I for one, vote, no "healing" in combat (including CR healing).

2. Does fuel come into affect here? or is that limited to interstellar travel at this point.

3. As mentioned above its clear that with this addition there's now a definite time limit to flopping around the galaxy (which i applaud). You hinted at the slower pace of game play anticipated; in regards to that, are there some elements that are being pursuing in parallel to this post to further flesh out galaxy mechanics, outside of "fight, sell, restock"? Or is a one-step-at-a-time sorta deal.

3a. On that note, can I infer from your replies above that galaxy gameplay will take the form of more "mission" based travel for combat craft. That is,  a combat fleet, unsupported, travel may become too taxing to not have a specific destination.  I really really enjoy the cargo capacity limits on the hightech ships and the relatively large cargo for the lowtech - and I really hope this plays a faction in CR in some fashion.

4. How will players be able to interpret/predict the CR delta with travel on a galaxy map? Is this something, where knowing the amount of combat ships I want to send across the map, what they will do there, and their possible condition on return that, I will be able to accurately assign the appropriate support ships in tow?

5. Will CR be tracked and accounted for AI fleets? Or generated (instanced) based on fleet/race type at the beginning of battle/when spawned?

6. Will CR be available after pursuing any ship (friend or foe)(and Galaxy map, Battle Map, or both) - do you imagine limiting that information from the player with some revealing mechanic (espionage/forward scouting/player skills, etc)

7. The idea of deploying ships at a time in preparation for a longer battle is intriguing.  Will there/could there be additional fleet structure to pre-arrange "battle groups" for ease of selection and predicted deployment.

Thanks Alex,

Oh, and to be clear, I understand this is all under development - just curious if you are stacking your cards one way or the other

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6