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

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Author Topic: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 468384 times)

Wyvern

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1170 on: December 06, 2018, 01:10:56 PM »

Ah, okay; so this is more of a "I'm reading the patch notes wrong" than anything else.  Also good to know.  Hopefully understandable how I got to that conclusion, though, given the black-box nature of the expedition launching mechanics.
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Wyvern is 100% correct about the math.

Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1171 on: December 06, 2018, 01:17:35 PM »

Yep, totally understandable! It's good to talk this through, because there's always the possibility I've missed something, and it's also good to get the details of how it works out, too.
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1172 on: December 06, 2018, 01:17:44 PM »

If I need to gain reputation fast, I probably would get commissions with everyone (not at the same time, one at a time).  Build up to cooperative, then dump them.  Join the next faction before rep goes too low, build up rep.  Rep gain is faster with commission.  Just need to avoid fighting with enemies that are not pirates or pathers.

I would think that player will eventually get max rate sometime during the endgame, and he might as well do everything profitable because like Wyvern says, things cannot get any worse.

Hmm. I was thinking that you'd still want to use the station for support - since it'd be an extremely tough fight otherwise - and intercepting something in hyperspace could be pretty chancy anyway.
Early, sure.  But by endgame, player can probably do it.  As for finding them, you get a big arrow showing where they come from, and I have accidently blundered into the fleets while going out to explore or coming home for more supplies several times.  So intercepting them in hyperspace is not very hard, and I would have done it more if not for the rep penalty.

P.S.  Of course, there could be the option of being hostile with the faction and eating the accessibility penalty.  If staying out of hostile is too hard, might as well nuke the core worlds to win the game.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2018, 01:35:46 PM by Megas »
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1173 on: December 06, 2018, 01:50:17 PM »

So if say the quiet period is 6 months and it normally takes 6 months for 3 expeditions to play out, but free port cuts that down to 3 months (all numbers 100% made up), then that's 3 expeditions per 9 months instead of per 12, etc.
I think by endgame, having all three happen at once is more useful than three spread out.  Just grind all three at once, then enjoy an extended quiet time because the factions shot their wad immediately (provided player is not bothered by pirates or pathers in the meantime).

Sure, it would be bad early, but I have learned to avoid colonies until I can deal with endgame threats.  My second game gave me much less grief by waiting until I built up my fleet and money before attempting colonization.
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Recklessimpulse

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1174 on: December 06, 2018, 06:55:57 PM »

In taking an onslaught into a few battles I noticed it does fine when fighting battleship heavy fleets but not carriers heavy fleets so I started to pay attention, ships hold back and even turn to aim at fighters they have no hope of engaging some times hitting their own fleet in the process.
Did the priority of fighter as targets get increased in in 0.9?
Is max fighter distance from carrier counted as the weapons range of a carriers causing ship to be far to shy when fighting said carriers?
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solardawning

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1175 on: December 06, 2018, 07:29:48 PM »


I think by endgame, having all three happen at once is more useful than three spread out.  Just grind all three at once, then enjoy an extended quiet time because the factions shot their wad immediately (provided player is not bothered by pirates or pathers in the meantime).

Sure, it would be bad early, but I have learned to avoid colonies until I can deal with endgame threats.  My second game gave me much less grief by waiting until I built up my fleet and money before attempting colonization.

I find this kind of interesting, because in a dozen games with built up colonies, I've never personally fought an expedition. If you have two built up colonies in the same system, their combined fleets are always enough to handle any expedition, including Very Strong ones. There's never been a single one that can threaten my colonies, except very early... and that's why I bribe the first few.

The mechanic feels weird because it's so binary. There's either zero gameplay (you bribe or don't need to fight), or it's exceptionally punishing if early and unprepared (say, you didn't read the forums and know how expeditions work). There's little middle ground.

The upcoming change to add in reputation loss, however, will probably get me to stop using colonies at all. Treadmill mechanics, where you lose ground unless you actively work against them, aren't something I enjoy. Fortunately there's enough other gameplay in this sandbox that I find wonderful and fun to engage in; the exploration aspect, especially.
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code99

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1176 on: December 06, 2018, 09:15:43 PM »

The upcoming change to add in reputation loss, however, will probably get me to stop using colonies at all. Treadmill mechanics, where you lose ground unless you actively work against them, aren't something I enjoy. Fortunately there's enough other gameplay in this sandbox that I find wonderful and fun to engage in; the exploration aspect, especially.



I have to agree with this. I will probably stop using colonies as well. (i will try them out when 0.9.1 comes but if i understand how they will work from the discussions here then I most likely wont like it).
Sorry but I just dont feel like grinding reputation my whole game. Im looking into modding this whole colony/punitive mechanics to something else but with my limited knowledge in java, it will take me a bit of time.

Like you said tho, there is always exploration which I love in this game. I do that 90% of my time in starsector.
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Recklessimpulse

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1177 on: December 06, 2018, 09:21:33 PM »

Heh me too, I'm hoping it will be mod-able in that case I'm going to set it so I get +5 rep per fleet a reward for victory.
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Draba

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1178 on: December 07, 2018, 04:07:25 AM »

Ah, I see what you mean, thank you for elaborating! I don't think that's exactly how it plays out, though - with free port, "anger" will get built up more quickly, so while the "quiet" period will not be affected, you'll get the 2-3 expeditions more quickly, which will mean a higher rate of expeditions over time.

So if say the quiet period is 6 months and it normally takes 6 months for 3 expeditions to play out, but free port cuts that down to 3 months (all numbers 100% made up), then that's 3 expeditions per 9 months instead of per 12, etc.

Ultimately what this means is there's some diminishing returns on on things that build up anger, but they should always have some effect. And since the anger-buildup is halved, the time it takes for those expeditions is longer than in the current version, so there's more impact.

I think there could be more varied triggers/punishments in the colony system, there is only so much you can do when your only tool is a hammer(expeditions).
Factions could tell you to cut your market share below X for Y commodity for Z time/close free port/shut down whatever, not complying triggers various "or else" responses depending on their annoyance level.
That way player you can avoid all penalties, but potentially go in the red to do so.

Some "or else" options(beyond current expeditions):
  • Black ops: trade fleets of the player are targeted by pirate fleets using the faction's ships
  • Sabotage: faction causes a minor disruption in the specific industry
  • Sanctions: faction and allies count as hostile for accessibility calculations, for a given commodity
  • Embargo: faction counts as hostile for accessibility calculations
  • Full embargo: faction and its allies count as hostile for accessibility calculations
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1179 on: December 07, 2018, 05:40:51 AM »

The alternative to grinding rep is to let it sink and fight everyone.  If your main colony's accessibility is still high enough, it might be acceptable to just be hostile with everyone that refuses to leave you alone.  I wonder if Free Port will give more than enough accessibility to offset two more hostile factions (Church and Hegemony)?  This would be no good in modded games that feature tons of new factions (which probably would tank accessibility too much with so many factions).

Being hostile with factions also means I do not need to bother with stealth if I want to raid.
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Draba

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1180 on: December 07, 2018, 05:49:33 AM »

The alternative to grinding rep is to let it sink and fight everyone.  If your main colony's accessibility is still high enough, it might be acceptable to just be hostile with everyone that refuses to leave you alone.  I wonder if Free Port will give more than enough accessibility to offset two more hostile factions (Church and Hegemony)?  This would be no good in modded games that feature tons of new factions (which probably would tank accessibility too much with so many factions).

Being hostile with factions also means I do not need to bother with stealth if I want to raid.

Currently hostilities with a major faction and its allies are somewhere around a 25-50% accessibility loss(just a guess, TT comission is ~40%).
Big colonies won't care too much about that but I'd assume later on getting 200%+ won't be possible/will have some real consequences.
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1181 on: December 07, 2018, 05:57:41 AM »

@ Draba:  I had -40% with Tri-Tachyon commission, and it cut accessibility too much for my fringe colonies (at first).

I tried sat bombing, and I got -80% accessibility from all of the factions that became hostile.

Normally, penalty is -15% at worst if only hostilities are with pirates and pathers.

I think colonies near the core can take the penalty, but those at fringe may not without Free Port.  (I have not turned on Free Port yet because the profit increase was not enough when colonies were small and stability low, but it might be now that both my big colonies are now size 7 and have lots of stability.)
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Gothars

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1182 on: December 07, 2018, 07:57:02 AM »

Part of managing your colony in a peaceful way is the ability to regulate exports in the first place. At the moment you have to either shut down an industry completely or tank global accessibility to (for the time being) comply with the wishes of a faction, both of which are too drastic a measure. If you could limit extra-faction export of a resource in a controlled manner, that would be an important step.

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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1183 on: December 07, 2018, 10:11:34 AM »

Actually, it is nice to ignore fighting when my main colony is at the easternmost fringe (-20% accessibility due to distance from core worlds).  I would be so annoying to go from one side of the sector to another as soon as possible because I have a colony threat alert that I cannot ignore.  So far, that fringe system has one great planet (+75% terran planet with decent resources), a secondary planet that is viable as a primary in its own right (+125% water world, with enough volatiles to supply fuel production at primary as long as sizes are equal and admin has Industrial Planning 2), and third that has high hazard (+200%), but has plenty of rare ore that the other two lack, and it is in the same system.  Not sure if I sure build up that one or look for one for much less hazard far away from that system.  (Tertiary is still at size 3 so I can abandon it later if I find a much better place.)  I like to ignore fighting while I am busy looking for another system to colonize (that is closer to core) and more blueprints.  Finally, the system has a fourth planet that is okay for colonization (+125% arid, but no resources aside from normal ore, which my +75% terran produces plenty of).  I probably will leave #4 alone so I can colonize elsewhere.  Two good planets almost on top of each other is nice for defense, although they still get through the orbital station sometimes.

Also, there is a 100% hazard tundra in the system next to that super fringe system, and I am think about colonizing that one to erect another heavy industry (to bloat my production per month for fast battleship building).  I almost do not want to spend all of my colony slots at that one location (I like plopping down temporary waystations elsewhere).

I have up to seven colony slots from max colony skills, and I am hesitant to spend most of them at two good systems in one area at the eastern fringe.

There is also another +75% terran at the northwestern part of the fringe (but the system is not as good as the one at the east), but I will probably leave it because I do not want to go from one end of the sector to another defending everything from threats.
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DrakonST

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Re: Starsector 0.9a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #1184 on: December 07, 2018, 12:04:44 PM »

It is received from my familiar person. He just attacked the station. Appeared second, ally station.
Spoiler


[close]
After battle the new station remained on campaign map.
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I a Russian. And i communicate with the help of Promt Translate. And I am a color-blind person.
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