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Author Topic: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 291576 times)

Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #360 on: December 08, 2015, 08:35:27 AM »

Leadership bonuses apply to ship maintenance, which is a minor drain of supplies.  The greatest drain of supplies is repairs (CR or other).  Combat Aptitude 10 is probably the best mitigation for CR deployment costs.  Not sure if faster repairs means less supplies used or proportionately faster supply drain over time.

Tri-Tachyon players have limited access to low-tech ships bigger than frigates.  (They make up for this by stocking more high-tech stuff than anyone else.)  Personally, I like a mix of epochs, but factions other the Tri-Tachyon barely, if at all, stock high-tech aside from Wolf.  Even Independents, who can theoretically use anything, seem to favor more low-tech and midline than high-tech.  Tri-Tachyon also have smaller markets, and getting some of the better ballistics may be hard or impossible.  In particular, I have not found HVDs (the best medium kinetic ballistics) for sale at Tri-Tachyon markets.

In my Tri-Tachyon game, all of my Enforcers so far came from Black Market.  At least I can find much more low-tech than high-tech there.

I agree joining battles is mostly a trap.  If you are weak enough that you need the help, you will leave combat at a loss; and if you are strong enough, the others will mooch off of your loot.  Extended battles is mostly a tool to combine multiple enemy fleets into one big ball of death.

The best way to profit from combat is to solo everything with one overpowered ship.  This is harder to do in 0.7a+ than in 0.65, thanks to enemies with officers and the change to the Maximum Power perk.
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Bastion.Systems

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #361 on: December 08, 2015, 09:16:16 AM »

I agree with this, repair is by far the biggest drain of supplies, I assume the repair speed bonuses help reduce the cost (otherwise these would be more harmful than useful) and in that sense the repair ship is essential to not go bankrupt pirate hunting. Overall it seems that having smaller ships or ones without shields is a supply suicide.

I think one thing that could make the situation better would be free or discounted repairs at the factions shipyards you are commissioning (or maybe have friendly rep.) for.

Overall seems like a design that makes early game combat far harder than late game where you have a arsenal of support perks, the repair ship, some freighters and a strong main ship so you don't have to employ several shoddy frigates witch cost piles of supplies to repair after every engagement.
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Voyager I

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #362 on: December 08, 2015, 09:44:07 AM »

The game is going for something of a survival atmosphere.  To that end, while combat is the real meat of the game, it's still meant to be used primarily as a means to an end.  Slamming into military fleets should not be a reliable avenue to monetary gain.  If you're fighting, it's generally because an enemy fleet got in the way of something else you want to do, or you're chasing a bounty, or you're trying to make friends with people who don't like the people you're shooting at.

Combat rewards are still pretty carefully tuned so that you can roughly cover your expenses if fights go well.  You shouldn't be needing major repairs on multiple ships after every engagement, and if this is happening to you it probably means you're still climbing the difficulty cliff.
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Thaago

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #363 on: December 08, 2015, 09:47:37 AM »

I find the expanded battles a good way to make money in the early game, when its just me and one or two other frigates. The other fleets do lower the amounts somewhat, but risk is far reduced and the main source of bounty is kills, which the player has a large advantage with. Once I have a fleet that can take most of the random small fleets, then I shy away from expanded battles against anything but huge enemies.

The biggest reason I join those battles though is reputation and experience. You can easily get 3 rep bumps from a single fight - commission, bounty, and helping a fleet. If somehow its a named bounty, you can get 4, though I haven't managed it. I'm not sure what the exact formula is for experience from a fight is, but larger fights give more, letting me and my new officers level up fast. (To me this makes a lot of sense - getting experience from participating in a bigger battle and watching an allies tactics and all that...)

On supply use in battles: I tend to, when fighting pirate combat fleets, make back around the number of supplies I spent, assuming damage falls within the CR regen period. Heavy damage of course wrecks that, but I think it should. When I'm hunting trade fleets, I can make HUGE profits.
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #364 on: December 08, 2015, 09:59:37 AM »

I am beginning to dislike joining battles.  I just finished a big battle where my lone Medusa slaughtered most of the ships.  My allies managed to get themselves slaughtered, and the survivors were out of CR.  By the end, while I got my share of supplies and XP.  I did not get ANY of the enemy weapons!  It is like my allies are like "Thanks, suckers!  We took all of the good stuff like all of the Needlers the enemy had!"  The only good part of the battle was boarding an enemy Heron, and with marines about 250 a pop at Decivilized worlds, that is quite a bargain.
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Gothars

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #365 on: December 08, 2015, 11:44:01 AM »

I've been playing with a Gryphon as my flagship for some time now, and I have to say despite the nerf it does not feel weak at all. While due to lowered OP it is not easy to fit it with everything you might want, it performs great even with sub-par equipment. With Missile Spec 10 and the the corresponding hullmods it can easily take on any cruiser with a level 20 officer. It's also great fun popping a dozen or so flimsy pirates within a minute.
On the other hand I rarely feel so confident that I can just spam my missiles, it still requires thought. So, overall it seems in a relatively good place now.
Further balancing should maybe address the very powerful missile skills more than the cruiser.





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Dri

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #366 on: December 08, 2015, 02:21:06 PM »

Large missile weapons are super rare in my game. I went to like 6 different systems and checked ALL the markets and out of all of them only Volturn, of all places, had two Cyclone reaper launchers.

That is all I can find; the two new large missile weapons are nonexistant thus far. Granted, the Cyclone launcher is fine but still! =/
« Last Edit: December 08, 2015, 02:30:59 PM by Dri »
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SafariJohn

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #367 on: December 08, 2015, 06:04:59 PM »

I've seen all the large missiles, but they are rare. There's not that many large missile mounts to put them on, though.
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #368 on: December 08, 2015, 08:05:13 PM »

Just remembered:
Quote
?Improved autofire logic when using beam weapons for point defense (less likely to keep turning beam on and off vs a fast moving target)
Beam PD is more effective than ever.  Tactical lasers with IPDAI are extremely effective, noticeably more than before.  Only reasons to use alternatives is lack of Tactical Lasers, lack of OP to support the Adv. Gyros and IPDAI hullmods, or flux cost is too much.
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AeusDeif

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #369 on: December 08, 2015, 09:31:38 PM »

So glad to have found this thread, did not realize the patches were coming so rapidly. +1 for Faction rep changes!

Why remove rep decay? This seems like a good way to forgive/encourage experimentation by the player. Unless you read the forums religiously, you won't know all the rules about factions and relationships; neither do I think that the game should explicitly tell you all these things. Leaving it opaque is fine, but the decay is a mechanic to make sure it isn't too punishing.

I don't think it was actually doing that, though. So in my view it's more cleanup of stuff that's in there but, if we're being honest, that I've completely forgotten even existed. Not opposed to possibly bringing this back in some other form eventually, though.

Idea for 'repairing' bad rep: You go to the faction, open comm links, find an official, and 'offer your services'. You get a special smuggling, trading, or bounty event ('mission') which pays less based on how bad your rep is (0 if hostile). Upon success your rep with that individual gets a big +, and you can get more missions from them. When it's high enough they start 'lobbying' or putting in a good word for you. 'Your reputation with X faction has improved by Y due to your work with (Quartermaster Ericcson or w/e)'.

Consider also the ability to offer money, goods, a ship, an officer, etc. but they might turn those down and offering services seems like it should be the most reliable (if time intensive) way to build rep with individuals. If your rep with an individual is high enough, perhaps you could ask them 'how can I serve the hegemony / make amends / clear my record' and they offer you a really tough or unprofitable mission which has big impact with faction. They might ask you to do something which hurts your rep with a hostile faction. If you had to sneak into port to talk to them it has a nice little spy feel to it.

sidenote on the gryphon's ability: instead of only 1 use, you could give it a sizable cooldown that is multiplied by how many missiles it replaced. So first use is 'free' but if it replaced all the missiles, a very long cooldown. This might even make it easier on the AI as an 'early' use wouldn't get as much cooldown.
« Last Edit: December 08, 2015, 10:07:18 PM by AeusDeif »
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #370 on: December 08, 2015, 09:54:30 PM »

Question: did the crashes some people were experiencing on transition to hyperspace/star system/taking a screenshot stop with this release?


sidenote on the gryphon's ability: instead of only 1 use, you could give it a sizable cooldown that is multiplied by how many missiles it replaced. So first use is 'free' but if it replaced all the missiles, a very long cooldown. This might even make it easier on the AI as an 'early' use wouldn't get as much cooldown.

Hmm, interesting idea. I think it's probably in good shape right now, though. Seems to be a potent cruiser, and the ability - while not something you can use often (duh) - is unique.

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Midnight Kitsune

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #371 on: December 08, 2015, 10:04:00 PM »

Not sure if faster repairs means less supplies used or proportionately faster supply drain over time.
Sadly this is the latter version and it sucks, especially with Hyper storms and such
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AeusDeif

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #372 on: December 08, 2015, 10:07:29 PM »

I still think players should have room to break with a faction. Commissions seem to make you an official member of a faction, which makes me wonder why there are privateers in the game as privateers are basically hired pirates. Shouldn't there be some 'sneakier' way to work with a faction, via a temporary contract or something -- 4 to 8 months, still limited to one faction, still gaining rep and credits, but maybe not access to anything over favorable? Also, the ability to downgrade from a commission to a temporary contract would be great. A little rep loss (-10 or 20) and if you break the contract before it ends, faction goes inhospitable.
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #373 on: December 08, 2015, 10:10:09 PM »

I still think players should have room to break with a faction. Commissions seem to make you an official member of a faction, which makes me wonder why there are privateers in the game as privateers are basically hired pirates. Shouldn't there be some 'sneakier' way to work with a faction, via a temporary contract or something -- 4 to 8 months, still limited to one faction, still gaining rep and credits, but maybe not access to anything over favorable? Also, the ability to downgrade from a commission to a temporary contract would be great. A little rep loss (-10 or 20) and if you break the contract before it ends, faction goes inhospitable.

The commission mechanics are intentionally pretty bare bones - the minimum so they work (though they need a few tweaks for sure, regarding how hostility is handled etc). The kind of thing you're suggesting sounds reasonable, but would be a good bit of work, and might need to be redone when there are more proper "warfare" mechanics in place. Keeping it lean now is going to make it easier going forward.
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AeusDeif

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #374 on: December 08, 2015, 11:05:21 PM »

thanks for the quick response!

Am I correct in thinking that the independents now offer commissions and go to war with factions? This makes them seem like they are another faction, not scattered independent ports. How hard would it be to implement independent market behavior for the independent faction? As in, Asharu is effectively its own little faction with its own reputation set, and your commission/faction wars with Asharu only pertain to Asharu and not Nortia or Maxios. If you still want it to effect general independent reputation, Asharu reputation could be averaged with all other independent market reputations, and that would be the +/- to independent reputation. So Asharu might be inhospitable regardless, but several other ports would have to be hostile too before all independent markets refused trade to the player.

Maybe it would be simpler to have independents behave like pirates with no commissions or faction wars.
« Last Edit: December 09, 2015, 03:39:37 AM by AeusDeif »
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