Played another Sylphon RnD campaign.
General notes:
- Was a random sector. Defense station on the size 7 home planet was a RBS. Didn't notice that while playing previous campaigns.
- Thinking about your ship designs as a whole, it looks like many of those where designed mainly to be player controlled. What I mean by that: the player with good tactical judgement and piloting skills will perform much much better than the AI with many Sylphon ships. More about this below.
Ships:
- Furika frigate : started with this lone ship, equiped with two Charity. Impressive bust and sustained firepower, but you got to be careful not to overload! Better keep that shield down.
- Catora frigate : still love it after the hugue speed nerf. Has the appearance of a "baby Equilibrium". I used an Antimater Blaster again, because I couldn't find the Sylphon bursty small energy weapon.
- Silverhead destroyer : still a good ship after the nerf. The best (only one?) general purpose destroyer from Sylphon - other destroyers are IMO much specialized/exotic. And now it feels better balanced relative to Vanilla - enemy ships may now catch it.
- Tarima destroyer : did fine in my fleet, but some micro management was required to keep it alive. AI was not too smart about ... 1. mix of long-range builtin-weapons and medium-range medium-energy-weapons ... 2. general flux management. I'm still not sure I've used and outfitted the ship properly ... or even understood its purpose. Should it be considered as a player-only ship? Long range support?
- Etrika destroyer : I'm not a fan of the rear medium energy turret mounts coverage, IIRC I just put small energy PD on those. It is strange because the ship has one front facing large hard point and two front facing medium turrets with a wide angles. So what is the point of those rear medium turrets? Protect unshielded sides? Also can the AI use the ship system effectively? For me this destroyer is interesting/different because it can bring long range weapons.
- Dread Eagle cruiser : still a fantastic ship after the nerf, very pleasant and effective as a player-controlled ship. I did not let the AI control it much this time - but I suspect it would happily jump into an Onslaught face and quickly be destroyed - this is what many ships with similar mobility system do. The fact that it has a low cost to buy makes you upgrade to it very quickly if available in store, so as a player I don't focus too much on Sylphon destroyers. I have not done number comparison, but isn't the price too low ?
- Seresvalla capital : still an almost-invincible-player-ship. The thing is, it's ship system and other perks would let you think it was designed as a fleet support ship. It is. In addition, depending on its loadout, it can also be a capital-sized-quick-as-a-fast-cruiser hunter killer. Scary. I like it's elegant profile and reduced weapon mount number. I was afraid about the Flux Exchanger being overpowered, it's effect actually seems subtle/reasonable, but I haven't looked really close at it. From the designer standpoint, what is the Seresvalla role inside a fleet ?
- Replekia capital : still a beast.
Weapons:
- Clemency Pulse medium energy : ouch, this has to be one of the most effective missile swarm cleaning PD in the sector, too effective? Also very effective against hulls. Very nice animation.
- Charity medium energy : not sure how I missed/skipped it in previous campaigns, it sure is an effective weapon for all ships from frigate to capital. Hmm, best Sylphon weapon overall? I have no real adjustement suggestion, just a feeling: burst maybe slightly too long, burst probably overpowered with Expended Magazine hull mod (which is quite OP cheap).
- Dignity medium energy : uh, I seem to remember its base damage being lower than a Pulse Laser in the past, now it is the same (100). Feels like your default sustained fire medium energy weapon. Good for shield pressure and small targets. Looks and sounds good when it fires, especially when the secondary fire kicks in.
- Adloquium large energy : on a Dread Eagle I prefered this weapon in the previous version - the rate of fire was lowish but OK, now the rate of fire is too low, so I replaced it with a good old Tachyon Lance. Personal preference here. Now I would still use this weapon on, say, the front hard points of an Equilibrium, if sustained fire weapons are on the ship.
Again, thanks to the team for this awesome mod!