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Author Topic: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice  (Read 4992 times)

majorfreak

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Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« on: April 27, 2016, 04:26:20 PM »

where i'm at so far in the game (i think it's my 5th playthrough...i usually get ambushed and lose everything or make some stupid purchase, without a game saved recently):

it's Dec 5th, c.206 (think i started dec 205)
i'm level 16 with 3 officers (lvl 12, 6, 6)
i have all of my skill points into technology (i'll be going into leadership for 'special ops' asap)
i'll hire officers if they're lower than 5000 credits (hope the game keeps spawning cheap ones occasionally)
i have a wolf, a sunder(d), and a brawler which i just purchased to help out with a 40k+ bounty
i don't have any marines yet (i really should think about that soon)
i have 40,000 credits
in storage at jangala are a dozen types of armaments i might find useful (max 3 units), 100 heavy machinery (yay. took long enough looting), 500 metals (come on gimmie mission for that. lol), 100 supplies bought on the cheap, and 76 elite crew
i've been rotating out my elite crew into storage at Jangala, and buying rookies to replace up to maximum allowed
I tried and failed a very small cargo mission a while back (haven't tried anything since, but saving up loot just in case)
I find my best random prey just outside a system, in hyperspace, and usually try to come to the aid of any ally if the CR/supply cost is worth wasting
Pirate convoys are my favorite prey though. yummy!
i avoid 'emergency burn' like the plague (lowers CR which boosts supply consumption. eeeks)
I really want to get into carriers/fighters, and have bought a couple of thunder wings (stockpiling them when i can spot them on market)
I'm trying to keep my ship count really low to avoid getting slaughtered with the cost of supplies (trying to stockpile supply/fuel in storage when cheap/loot)
whenever i see supplies going for less than 50cr i buy up as much as i can fit in cargo of my current fleet (or more if i'm willing to stockpile in storage)
I'd love to buy a Heron (fast carrier) but that would DOUBLE my maintenance/month
I'm worried about getting slow ships that won't be able to flee combat when enemies do the pursuit stage
bought some small freighters to help trade supplies between sphinx and eventide (1 wayfarer, 1 mudskipper, 1 hound, 2 hermes; left them insystem, storage; i find i can do that and not have to buy more crew...just run at skeleton crew, insystem)
i tend not to venture further from the 5 systems adjacent Corvus, but i do head to Yma once in a while (have loot stored at the abandoned siphon)
starting to get the 40k+ bounties posted (do they keep going up over time due to...date, ships you have, your level, bounties collected, your assets/credits?)

Sunder (D): cap0;ven6 ; unstable injector/hard.subsystems/extend shield/stab.shields/aux.thrusters; adv.gyros; phase lance, 2 gravitons, 2 harpoon mrms {{on manual}}, 3 light dual MGs
wolf:  cap6;ven6 ; expanded missile/advanced opt/extend shield/acc.shields/stab.shields/adv.turret gyros; graviton beam,2 harpoon mrm, tactical laser, 2 LR PD lasers on the sides
brawler: cap0;ven2 ; aug.engines/aux.thrusters/omnishield/extend shield/stab.shields; 2 thumpers and 2 swarmers

My usual tactic is just to double select the frigates and order to escort the destroyer and then try to get on one of the enemy flanks in order to spread out the incoming units...i hate wolves so will usually attempt to murder them with my harpoons asap.


« Last Edit: April 27, 2016, 06:21:13 PM by majorfreak »
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DeMatt

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2016, 12:02:30 AM »

Hmm...
  • Stabilized Shields is really only valuable for ships which want to keep their shields up ALL THE TIME - basically, capitals.  Smaller ships tend to do better with more vents instead.
  • Ships with omni shields (your Brawler) don't need Extended Shields.  That's what "moving the shield" is for.
  • Try adding Hounds to your combat fleet.  If you can fit them with Front Shield Generator and a Heavy Mauler, they'll gladly kite the crap out of everything slower than themselves.  And they're not too shabby on the cargo front, too.
  • Enforcers make good "anvils" to a player-controlled "hammer".
  • You might as well sell that stack of metals.  A bit at a time, into whichever markets are nearest, regardless of whether they demand metals or not.

starting to get the 40k+ bounties posted (do they keep going up over time due to...date, ships you have, your level, bounties collected, your assets/credits?)
They go up as you collect more bounties.
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majorfreak

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #2 on: April 28, 2016, 01:08:48 AM »

i tend not to have invested much in the way of vents. what's the benefit to having capacitors and vents? is there a happy medium or is it "get all the cap/vents!"?
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ValkyriaL

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #3 on: April 28, 2016, 02:24:07 AM »

Capacitors increase your maximum flux capacity, which allows you to sustain more damage on your shield and fire for longer (with accociated side effects).

Vents increase the rate at which your flux dissipates, which again, allows you to fire for longer because you dissipate flux faster versus the amount of flux you generate. also allows you to shield tank to some extent if you have hard flux dissipation.
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Aeson

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #4 on: April 28, 2016, 12:39:45 PM »

Quote
bought some small freighters to help trade supplies between sphinx and eventide (1 wayfarer, 1 mudskipper, 1 hound, 2 hermes; left them insystem, storage; i find i can do that and not have to buy more crew...just run at skeleton crew, insystem)
Given that your collection of freighters and your Sunder are going to reduce your fleet's burn level to 9 anyways, I'd suggest replacing your entire freighter group with a single Buffalo. Your 5 freighters together have 350 cargo capacity and consume 14 supplies per month and 5 fuel per lightyear; a single Buffalo has 300 cargo capacity and consumes only 3 supplies per month and 2 fuel per lightyear. If you really feel that you need the combat capability that your freighters have, then consider that a Mule provides 250 cargo capacity for 7 supplies per month and 2 fuel per lightyear and doesn't reduce the fleet's burn level below 9; a Mule and your Wayfarer would thus have 350 cargo capacity for 12 supplies per month and 3 fuel per lightyear while having fairly similar or perhaps greater overall combat power to your entire current freighter collection.

Whether you choose to replace the freighters or not, though, I would suggest that you at least get rid of the Hermes shuttles, as the Hermes shuttles are the least efficient dedicated freighters in the game, to the point that they're almost not worth using in trading fleets even as an interim ship until you can afford something better (this is especially the case if you primarily or exclusively trade on legal markets). The only reason I can see to use a Hermes shuttle as part of a trading fleet at present is that you don't have any better alternatives and you actually need the additional cargo capacity; the Hermes shuttle is barely a more profitable freighter per run than a Wolf or Vigilance is (exactly the same fuel consumption and only barely more cargo carried per run), and might actually be less profitable overall if the Wolf or Vigilance is allowed to make use of its higher speed.
« Last Edit: April 28, 2016, 12:42:31 PM by Aeson »
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xenoargh

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #5 on: April 28, 2016, 03:26:10 PM »

I'd replace your freighter Frigates with two Mules.  With Pulse Lasers, ITU and level-20 Captains with the right perks, Mules are very good at surviving, well, practically anything, really, up until you're meeting Capitals on a regular basis.  Plus they carry cargo; they're not as efficient as Hounds that way, but they're more efficient than Hounds as mid-game fighters.
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goduranus

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2016, 05:02:07 PM »

Hold off getting logistics skills, they aren't that useful, get combat instead.
Always buy these if you find them: Afflictor frigates and dual Atropos launchers.

If you find any Afflictors, set it up with
2x dual Atropos
2x reapers
1x Antimatter blaster on the turret
Augumented Engines
Hardened subsystems
then the rest go into capacity and vents

Support this Afflictor with 1-2 Hounds to carry cargo and marines, equip Hounds with
Unstable Injectors
Safety Override
No guns

Go after bounties with this fleet, with the Afflictor as flagship, you can just assassinate any bounty target by getting behind it and flushing your torpedo launchers, then retreat and disengage to claim the bounty. Enemies might pursue you but your Hounds will go at a speed of 450, too fast for the enemy to hit. You'll be claiming 400k bounties in no times, I've destroyed several Paragons with this setup already.

With this setup the best place to invest skill points would be Missile Specialization under combat.

majorfreak

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2016, 05:14:07 PM »

cheers to you both. Yeah, i'll definitely think about the mule later and the hound sooner (or in a new campaign if this one tanks)
FYI, that ragtag fleet was just what i could whip up on short notice in Samarra to take advantage of a market buy/sell advantage insystem between two planets. I'm sure i'll sell the lot once i upgrade to mules/hounds.
BTW, as for the mule i probably won't use it if it can't flee fast enough under pursuit (i assume we'll need to flee once in a while, amirite?) and 40 top speed is god awful.

----------
omg that's a cheesy exploit, goduranus! lol. love it. hehe.  Hmm...you may be right about the logistics skills now that i've had a chance to get them to lvl10 early on, but 20% ordnance points and 100% faster repairs and the ability to purchase 100% more cap/vents....yeah, no
« Last Edit: April 28, 2016, 06:42:04 PM by majorfreak »
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Aeson

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2016, 07:25:48 PM »

[Mules are] not as efficient as Hounds [as freighters]
I disagree. Mules have 250 cargo capacity, burn 2 fuel per lightyear, travel (up to) 0.9 lightyears per day in hyperspace without Augmented Engines, and consume 7 supplies per month; Hounds have 75 cargo capacity, burn 1 fuel per lightyear, travel up to 1 lightyear per day in hyperspace without Augmented Engines, and consume 3 supplies per month. That's 125 cargo*ly/fuel, 225 cargo*ly/day, and ~36 cargo*months/supply for the Mule to 75 cargo*ly/fuel, 75 cargo*ly/day, and 25 cargo*months/supply. To look at it from another perspective, it takes 3 Hounds collectively burning 3 fuel per lightyear and consume 0.3 supplies per day (9 supplies per month) to ship a similar amount of cargo to what a Mule would while burning 2 units of fuel per lightyear and consuming 0.23 supplies per day (7 supplies per month). Hounds are no more than ~11% faster than Mules (with Augmented Engines on both the Hounds and the Mules, that's reduced to 10%), and so with fuel costs, which are related to travel distance rather than travel time, being by far the greater shipping expense a group of Hounds would be hard-pressed to use their minor speed advantage to outperform a group of Mules as freighters.

Consider a hypothetical trade run from Corvus to Askonia. A direct run from star to star is about 4.3 lightyears; using this as the length of the run, a Mule will consume 8.6 fuel and a group of three Hounds will consume 12.9 fuel per run. Assuming you keep a month and a deployment worth of supplies in the cargo hold, the Mule can carry 236 cargo per run while the four Hounds can carry 207 cargo per run. Assuming optimal conditions and a direct star-to-star trip through hyperspace, it will take a Mule about 4.8 in-game days and a group of three Hounds about 4.3 in-game days to complete this trip; in this time, the Mule will consume about 1.1 supplies while the three Hounds will consume about 1.3 supplies. Assuming that fuel and supplies each cost 50 credits per unit, the cost of the journey will be about 485 credits for the Mule and about 710 credits for the three Hounds; the Mule will therefore need to sell its cargo at a profit after tariffs of at least 2.1 credits per unit to cover shipping expenses while the three Hounds will need to sell their cargo at a profit after tariffs of at least 3.5 credits per unit to cover shipping expenses. If there is an event making trading worthwhile and the Hounds can make two trips and the Mule only one while the event lasts, the minimum profit per unit of cargo at which the Hounds will surpass the Mule in profitability is about 9.3 credits after tariffs, but note that since the Hounds are only 11% faster than the Mule (10% if both the Hounds and the Mule have Augmented Engines) it is not terribly likely that the Hounds would be able to make two trips and the Mule only a single trip while an event was ongoing.
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majorfreak

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2016, 08:16:07 PM »

you're not worried about the slow speed (in combat) of the mule when fleeing? is this even a consideration?
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SafariJohn

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Re: Dec 5th, c.206 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2016, 04:44:56 AM »

The Mule has Maneuvering Jets that make it quite a bit faster.
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majorfreak

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Re: Feb 2nd, c.207 ... seeking tips/advice
« Reply #11 on: April 30, 2016, 12:41:50 AM »

it's Feb 2nd, c.207
i'm level 35 with 8 officers (lvl 12, 6, 6)
i have lvl10 skills in tech, lvl5 skills in lead, and lvl4 skills in combat (which i'm prioritizing now)
i'll hire officers if i can find another couple timid ones for piloting more mules (and potentially carriers)
i have an Eagle, a Gryphon, 2 Sunders, 2 Wolves, 1 Brawler, 1 Mule, and a new Afflictor
i have about 90 marines bought on the cheap
i have 80,000 credits
in storage at jangala are a dozen types of armaments i might find useful (lots of stuff)
i've loaded all my elites and am concentrating on getting everyone else levelled
I really haven't tried any more trade missions although i do have stockpiles of loot at Jangala
running around blowing up pirates, bountied fleets, and the occasional Tri-tachyon convoy
i avoid 'emergency burn' like the plague (lowers CR which boosts supply consumption. eeeks)
I have a Heron in jangala along with about 6 wings of thunders, and a mothballed hound. lol
I'm trying to keep my ship count really low to avoid getting slaughtered with the cost of supplies (trying to stockpile supply/fuel in storage when cheap/loot) so i'm saying "no" to drugs like fighters
whenever i see supplies going for less than 50cr i buy up as much as i can fit in cargo of my current fleet (or more if i'm willing to stockpile in storage)
I'm going to try to visit Eos Exodus for the first time

Eagle class cruiser (flagship)          [loadout: hypervelocity drivers/tactical lasers/graviton beams/harpoons]
...cap0;ven15  advanced turret gyros, augmented engines, integrated point defense, integrated targeting
Gryphon class missile cruiser (cautious)           [loadout: Salamanders MRMs and Pods/dual flak/dual lt mgs]
...cap0;ven7  advanced turret gyros, accelerated shields, augmented engines, extended shields, hardened sub
Sunder class destroyers (aggressive)           [loadout: autopulse laser/gravitons/salamanders/dual lt mgs]
...cap0;ven12  advanced turrent gyros, acc. shields, aux. thrusters, extended shields, hard.subs, integ.targ.
2 wolves (both 'cautious')                          [phase lance/swarmers/LR PD lasers]
...cap0;ven13  advanced turret gyros, acc.shields, expanded missile racks, extended shields, hard.subs
brawler class frigate (steady)                     [thumpers/swarmers]
...cap7;ven8  acc.shields, aux.thrusters, extended shields, hard.subs
Mule class freighter (timid)                         [Ion Beam/salamanders/lt. dual mgs]
...cap0;ven6   acc. shields, adv.turret gyros, augmented engines, hard.subs
Afflictor class frigate (cautious)                  [2 tactical lasers/2 salamanders/LR IR laser in 360 degree slot]
...cap0;ven10  adv.optics, adv.turret gyros, augmented engines, aux.thrusters, blast doors, hard.subs, int.tgt.

all ships have one thing in common: Hardened Subsystems!

My usual tactic, now that i have the right officer temperaments sorted is just to go with the default AI and wing it. usually works really well

I'll think about using the afflictor as my flagship as equipped like goduranus suggests, and the mule maybe should have the pulse laser.
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