Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Save/Load UI, Autosave, Intel Map Markers, and More (04/10/24)
You can simply go into settings.json and set
"playerMaxLevel":99,
I personally love the dual flak for AA. It's got great DPS, it does HE damage, actually hits without a dedicated point defence AI, the only meh thing about it being the very short range making it only very effective on flagships using ITU.
I tried really hard to use devastator cannons but they just don't give me that costant cover flak does. I just wish it fuctioned like an autopulse laser with very, very bad accuracy and a decently sized clip.
I don't think that dual flak does HE, but I agree its great for constant cover, and its a quite efficient high DPS gun. Devastators are actually pretty poor against missiles because of their long cycle time - after that first burst, the missiles are going to come right in! - but against massed fighters its damage and range make it a very good weapon.
Dual flak does Frag damage and I also agree it provides very nice missile cover
I was pretty sure flak does HE damage aswell as the Devastator cannon, machineguns do kinetic and only Vulcans deal fragmentation damage.
What I also like about flak is that the single barrel version has more range, possibly making it the most efficient missile busting weapon in the vanilla game.
I've got a tyrant design (a ship from Vayra's ship pack) that can actually beat an Astral and an Onslaught under AI control mainly thanks to both having 5 dual flaks and integrated point defence AI. Effectively neutralizing 4 Annihilator rocket pods, 6 bomber wings and two squalls is no small feat and I do not think an equal OP amount worth of Annihilator cannons could do the same.
I personally love the dual flak for AA. It's got great DPS, it does HE damage, actually hits without a dedicated point defence AI, the only meh thing about it being the very short range making it only very effective on flagships using ITU.
I tried really hard to use devastator cannons but they just don't give me that costant cover flak does. I just wish it fuctioned like an autopulse laser with very, very bad accuracy and a decently sized clip.
I don't think that dual flak does HE, but I agree its great for constant cover, and its a quite efficient high DPS gun. Devastators are actually pretty poor against missiles because of their long cycle time - after that first burst, the missiles are going to come right in! - but against massed fighters its damage and range make it a very good weapon.
Nope. That was perfectly officer-less Astral. With the officer I could just outright kill the Paragon. No kiting needed.
OK. Took control of myself. Did some testing against Paragon.
Since it wasnt able to deploy its shields fully before Thunders arrival it got disabled right from the start. I could circle around it in the Astral and kite indefinitely without ever allowing replacement rate to get lower than 90%. If I would be allowed to call this a combat it was completely one sided. Each time Paragon traded part of its armor/hull for several fighters and thats all. Since it can only shoot down about 4 fighters on approach, you dont need Astral to make it work. Couple of Drovers is enough.
At 8000 su, Storm Needler has exactly zero hit ratio on the Condor. Whatever damage it deals to fighters will be regenerated back. Free of charge, obviously. All beyond shield damage to the Storm Needler carrier will be permanent.
And compare this to FMR and the missile balance as a whole.
Nebula clouds slowing ships down (and affecting vision range?) were cool.
Yes the AI couldn't abuse them, whatever, they were a pretty subtle effect. More subtle than beacons are, though more impactful than asteroid fields.
Game's balance is founded on the flux usage. Burst-defence balance.
Condor (no fancy carrier systems whatsoever) with its 110 dissipation and 2200 capacity, while equipped with two Thunder wings can create 400 dissipation and 3000 capacity out of thin air and for about 50 permaflux it can throw them at 8000 range where all that flux can be converted into 800 KE DPS plus some handy HE and EMP bonuses.
Condor's Fast Missile Racks cost ~500 for single use. Storm needler deals 750 DPS at 700 range for 650 flux/sec.
Not only fighters are worst case of a perpetuum mobile (why antimatter is even a thing!?) but they are a huge breach in the game's balance.
Hp is only the half of it I'm afraid. Armor on planes is a real issue too, especially concerning broadsword and the chunky one with the double light mortars.
I also do not get why fighter squadrons are so small and why the models are so big. Decreasing the overall armor/HP and splitting fighters if they have multiple identical weapons would go a long way.
Most anti fighter weapons also kind of suck, mainly due to how bad their aiming is most of the time. You need to dump a lot, and I mean a lot of ordinance points to even be able to fend the smallest amount of fighters.
A lot of PD weapons should get increased range only when firing at enemy fighters and also be able to fire over allied ships to actually make dedicated PD units actually viable.
Not the system but the fighters. They break the DPS/Flux/Range curve. One fighter bay is equivalent of the Large mount weapon, capable of providing much DPS at great range with minimal flux costs. Just as a bonus they work like HP regeneration. From the optimal strat point of view, it makes no practical sense to use anything else in any role but the general support if even that.
Even Broadswords which were supposed to be strafers can just wait 8 seconds on top of the target and wait for the flux to dissipate. No problem.
To illustrate the problem you can just mod the LMG to have 4000 range and see that happens.
i have not got a huge amount of experience but from what i have seen so far the drover is much better in a fight because it is faster and can run away from things that the C MK3 just can'tThat 300 cargo space is also amazing for a fighting ship, that's as much as a Mule.
i would rather take a gemini for that reason slightly less cargo space but better all round
Also I like how you didn't even mention timid haha
Should have brought a couple Dooms, Arcagnello. Mine Strike obliterates fighters.
