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[Alex]

Ah, but I like where it's at in terms of tactical depth. More isn't always better here; what you're suggesting is extra complexity which can theoretically mean more depth, but if the AI can't handle it you're reducing the actual tactical complexity by adding more stuff.

(Or, potentially, you're increasing the burden on the player without enough payoff for it.)


Anyway: specifically about the sensor stuff you're talking about - it's a neat idea! Heck, I like it. But it's just an entirely different game. Literally almost nothing about that would fit in with how combat in Starsector works, from the visuals to all the other mechanics.

[ChaseBears]

I think Starsector is actually pretty tactically complex, but in ways that work against increasing fleet-control decision making :^)

So much of the game is maneuvering for positional advantage and manipulating angles that it makes potential things like tight formations and zoning mechanics really potentially fraught and possibly counterproductive.

Creating tactical priorities organically is difficult as well.  You need heavy ship differentation for this to work out - most ships in starsector work out as generic battlers in the end, even if they accomplish this through varying mechanics and with a lot of complexity. Carriers in the current version are a major exception,  as are civilian vessels; but carriers-as-support-vessels are being deprecated, and civilian vessels are only ever seen when one fleet is drastically outmatched and attempts to withdraw.

A lot of this is a consequence of the simulationism that makes Starsector interesting in the first place. For example, a less simulationist game might arbitrarily rule that large weapons cannot hit fighters; in Starsector, this is definitely not the case, so building anti-fighter on your capital ship is more of a matter of attention efficiency than anything else.  

To be fair though I might be more likely to tool up a 'point defense specialist' ship if i could reliably tell it to closely escort another vessel or focus on bullying small fry.

[Megas]

...most ships in starsector work out as generic battlers in the end, even if they accomplish this through varying mechanics and with a lot of complexity.

Not only that, but also generic battlers are the most powerful unit in the game by far.  The best ones can solo a simulator-sized fleet.  Specialty ships like carriers or phase alpha-strikers cannot.  (Weak fighters make carriers underpowered, and phase ships do not have enough missiles and/or peak performance to solo fleets.)  A fleet of generic battlers can easily be chain-flagged to stretch your limited CR budget and/or greatly shave deployment costs.  If the player feels extravagant, he can deploy all and crush everyone quickly, unless the enemy fleet is too large, in which case the player's fleet dies unless he chain-flagships.

[Cik]

I think Starsector is actually pretty tactically complex, but in ways that work against increasing fleet-control decision making :^)

So much of the game is maneuvering for positional advantage and manipulating angles that it makes potential things like tight formations and zoning mechanics really potentially fraught and possibly counterproductive.

Creating tactical priorities organically is difficult as well.  You need heavy ship differentation for this to work out - most ships in starsector work out as generic battlers in the end, even if they accomplish this through varying mechanics and with a lot of complexity. Carriers in the current version are a major exception,  as are civilian vessels; but carriers-as-support-vessels are being deprecated, and civilian vessels are only ever seen when one fleet is drastically outmatched and attempts to withdraw.

A lot of this is a consequence of the simulationism that makes Starsector interesting in the first place. For example, a less simulationist game might arbitrarily rule that large weapons cannot hit fighters; in Starsector, this is definitely not the case, so building anti-fighter on your capital ship is more of a matter of attention efficiency than anything else.  

To be fair though I might be more likely to tool up a 'point defense specialist' ship if i could reliably tell it to closely escort another vessel or focus on bullying small fry.

well, actual point defense ships are not fielded because there are no actual point defense ships (with actual range / accuracy bonuses to PD that would make them noticeably more effective) further, a single ship can stymie several ships worth of ordinance; there's no need to ever bother having any sort of mutual support against ordinance. it's easy to be self-sufficient on a per-ship basis.

flak in general is kind of upside down; instead of damage, accuracy or RoF limited it's RANGE limited, meaning that it can't actually effectively cover anything but your ownship. flak should just be reworked to have a much larger range, slower projectile speed and a AoE proximity/timedet fuse, based on RTT. then give the fighters the actual ability to dodge at medium range and it will be far more effective at covering the battlespace, without making it absurdly effective but only in a very local area relative to the shooting platform.

the whole paradigm flak PD fits in is too tilted towards single ship V. many ship ordinance. make laser PD ownship defense and repurpose flak to be an 'umbrella' you can hide several ships under, wielded by semi-specialized PD platforms.

really, fighters themselves should be doing the heavy lifting in anti-fighter work, but since most fighters are pretty garbage at shooting other fighters due to lack of medium range options, slow movement speed, vulnerability to larger, far longer-ranged weapons, fragility, etc etc etc. it's down to the absurdly effective singleship PD to stop everything. not that it can't i guess.

i feel like back in the day there was an overcompensation for the increasing strength of ordnance, but since .60 it's been really tilted. generally i feel like it should be specialized ships protecting the fleet from overbearing ordnance, anyway. not your average fleet destroyer capable of swatting down 20 missile volleys by itself, but eh

i hope eventually the game moves away from the SHMUP sort of "gunboat moves onto map and slaughters everything by judicious application of gun" without some diversity added by terrain, sensors or re-defined force projection stuff it's mostly just a bunch of de-facto stationary gun platforms shooting at each other until the mathematically superior one wins.

[Megas]

flak in general is kind of upside down; instead of damage, accuracy or RoF limited it's RANGE limited, meaning that it can't actually effectively cover anything but your ownship. flak should just be reworked to have a much larger range, slower projectile speed and a AoE proximity/timedet fuse, based on RTT. then give the fighters the actual ability to dodge at medium range and it will be far more effective at covering the battlespace, without making it absurdly effective but only in a very local area relative to the shooting platform.

We have one such weapon, but it is awful - Proximity Charge Launcher.  Although, it is bad mainly because of limited ammo (EDIT: and high OP cost compared to more effective missiles), but even then, it is too slow to be effective.

The only weapon that could screen for other ships somewhat effectively is Tac Laser plus mods, but it is expensive (so much OP for the two mods to make tac laser viable for PD, not to mention flux cost), and a bit slow.  Maybe LR PD Laser if it had more DPS and did not overheat so quickly.

I like shmup action.  Starsector became more fun with faster-paced shmup-like action that skills introduced.  I like battleships that can hot-rod through space, or at least do not take ages to move anywhere.

[Serenitis]

We have one such weapon, but it is awful - Proximity Charge Launcher.  Although, it is bad mainly because of limited ammo (EDIT: and high OP cost compared to more effective missiles), but even then, it is too slow to be effective.

PCL is tolerable to use when it has a decent rate of regen added to it, so you can just blanket and area with "mines" and not worry about it for a moment.
Another possible improvement would be something like a "hold to charge" mechanic, where you hold down the fire button and the longer you hold it the faster the charge comes flying out.