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Author Topic: [0.96-RC8] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.9.12 [5/12/23]  (Read 581882 times)

Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3 [03/15/19]
« Reply #105 on: March 15, 2019, 06:48:37 PM »

LEGACY OF ARKGNEISIS 1.3 IS YES

After the last Starsector fleetbuilding tournament I conglomerated a bunch of feedback and observations into a fairly comprehensive balance and mechanics pass over the entire fleet. Some things got buffed, some things were completely re-worked into new roles, some things were nerfed...i think? But in general, the Anarakis Reparations Society *should* be able to stand on their own in the line of battle much better now... I hope

As always, one can never test enough so its always possible that things have escaped my gaze, if any of you find something broken, or perhaps a bit over-tuned, let me know! Pollish is an ongoing process, and perfection can never be achieved, but chasing it anyway is how we end up with nice things!

Full Changelog...probably:

Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3 changelog.

- Fleetwide adjustment of hull and armor stats, Armor is now below average for most ships, while hull points are absolutely *STACKED* Shields remain garbage as ever.

- A change to the Faction Hullmod, Magnetodynamic Hardpoints, has now been changed to: Electromagnetic Mastery
   
   - With this change, a new effect has been added, zero-flux speed boost for all ships has been increased by 10/20/25/30, with larger ships getting bigger bonuses. This effect does not apply if Safety overrides is installed.

- Due to the change above, some ships have had their base speed stats adjusted.

- Variants have been completely re-made from scratch for all ships.

- the MOE array has been re-named to the Omni Loader, and has been redesigned entirely. It is now on a toggle, instead of a timer, when active, hardflux dissipation is disabled and hardflux will build up slowly. In exchange: all weapons gain doubled fire rate, except for beams which gain doubled damage. No flux modulation except for beams, which cost twice as much flux to fire when the system is active.

- The Monogram series of weapons has been changed to fire in 3 second bursts, followed by 3 second cooldown periods, to compensate, their damage has been doubled, and flux stats adjusted accordingly.

- The Rupture Cannon has been re-worked to fire from a rapid-reload ammo system, rather than a typical burst system, which allows its output to be upgraded (at the cost of OP and flux) by the installation of Extended Magazines.

- Gregory has lost its EMP disc and has gained Electromagnetic Overload, its maintenence and deployment has been raised to 4/4

- Sherman has lost its Siege Cannon and has had its system changed to Magnetic Plating, along with an increase in armor, this now makes it a very defensive ship focused on holding battle lines with its sheer immovability.

- The Walsh has lost a small gun turret and gained the Sherman's Siege cannon, and the new Omni Loader system.

- The Thatcher has had its mounts moved around, and has lost Maneuvering Jets in favor of the new Omni Loader system.

- The Hawke now uses unique, upgraded Monodrones in signifigantly fewer numbers than before, and has lost its EMP discs. This was done to prevent such easy clogging of the battlefield by the Hawke, which was a fairly un-balanceable trait.

- The King has lost 4 small mounts in favor of two Medium mounts, in addition to now using the new Omni Loader system.

- The Champion's shield arc has been increased to 90 degrees, up from 45.

Let me know how it works out.
« Last Edit: March 15, 2019, 06:54:12 PM by Gwyvern »
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angrytigerp

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3 [03/15/19]
« Reply #106 on: March 15, 2019, 06:50:20 PM »

Will 1.3 break saves? Just had to reload my game (damn memory leaks) and got the notification that LoA was updated.
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Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3 [03/15/19]
« Reply #107 on: March 15, 2019, 06:56:10 PM »

Will 1.3 break saves? Just had to reload my game (damn memory leaks) and got the notification that LoA was updated.

Yes, this update will do disgusting things to your saves. Things that make death look merciful.
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angrytigerp

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3 [03/15/19]
« Reply #108 on: March 15, 2019, 07:21:36 PM »

Will 1.3 break saves? Just had to reload my game (damn memory leaks) and got the notification that LoA was updated.

Yes, this update will do disgusting things to your saves. Things that make death look merciful.

How lewd.
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Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3 [03/15/19]
« Reply #109 on: March 16, 2019, 02:56:06 AM »

LEGACY OF ARKGNEISIS v1.3.1 SNEAKS IN QUIETLY THROUGH THE BACK DOOR

I uh, forgot about the description for the Caswell's new system.

Oh by the way the Caswell's a mine layer now... its got a flak mine, so enjoy that.

If you are already on v1.3, then this should not break your save.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2019, 02:57:40 AM by Gwyvern »
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Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3.1 [03/16/19]
« Reply #110 on: March 17, 2019, 03:18:30 AM »

I was asked for more information about the reasoning and goals behind LoA update 1.3, and decided it would be a good idea to post them here in case anybody else wants that information... So here it is...

To be concise, the primary, penultimate, omega limit break goal of this update was to rework the faction into something that could stand on its own in the line of battle without help from vanilla ships, or other mod factions, and to do so without adding any new ships.

If you want more details... here's a wall of text for you.

While the reason it has been over 4 months since a major update is prettymuch exclusively related to my work on Interstellar Imperium, this has allowed a good bit of feedback to pile up over time.

While some was more useful than others, one of the most common sentiments I got was that, in general things felt "A bit underpowered" which is...sufficiently vague if nothing else. But even the worst of feedback can serve as an indicator of the existence of something that needs a light shed on it. So I filed it away for later, luckily, at some point, a fleetbuilding tournament happened, of which Arkgneisis Midtech (the internal name for the ships flown by the ARS) was sortied by two different participants. Getting to see them in action over such a large scale, by people who did not possess my own experiences and biases was fantastic for providing insight to the workings of my own ships.

While plenty of small stuff came to light, the one thing that stood out above all else was that the faction really had no means for standing on its own. The way to beat them was to get in their face, which isn't so difficult, at which point very few of the ships in the lineup could really fight back. The only way around this it seemed, was to bring in ships from other factions to form a backbone, as showcased during the final round of the underdog league, when my ships showcased excellent capacity to serve in support roles, and almost exclusively support roles.

Having a total four ships in each size class at current, (minus capital) this really isn't an acceptable situation. That should be plenty to form a robust and adaptable fleet.

So I took a closer look at the lineup, and determined what ships weren't serving any particularly useful roles, and what roles were missing from each size class (except for capital) And drew up a plan for re-working things. For one, the fleet as a whole only had one effective anvil in the Lyons class cruiser, and had practically no ships that could serve in an assault role without getting minced. I also looked at the general balance of all the ships, and adjusted things accordingly, this was over a month or two so I wont get into details. While I was at it I also resolved to remove vanilla ship systems from the faction entirely... for uh...reasons. All except the Hawke...because I really couldn't think of an alternative for it thematically or mechanically.

Other, smaller ideas crept in along the way, such as the change to the faction hull mod, which is the result of an epiphany. Many people have complained about the ships being too slow, despite their base speed stats actually being very high compared to vanilla. With their built-in range and accuracy bonuses, increasing such stats much higher would undoubtedly result in uncountable kiting tactics across the board, so why not give them a flat buff to their Zero Flux speed bonus, let them go crazy fast, but only when they aren't doing anything particularly important.

Why give larger ships a bigger bonus then? Well that's simple, a frigate getting an extra 25 to its ZFSB doesn't really change much about it, its just a slightly better frigate. But give a capital a bonus of 30? and now that capital can somewhat keep up with the other ships in its fleet, forming a battle line at roughly the same time as the other ships, rather than bringing up the rear. This plays into the notion that the ARS is a faction combatively based on mutual support and teamwork, and since their ships were already considered largely under-tuned, the potential for being a tad strong in chase scenarios and what not didn't really seem to problematic.

Another change is the further increase to their hull points on average, as many may have noticed, Ark-Mid shields are pretty terrible, and *most* of their armor is mediocre or flat out sucks. I'll admit, this fact slipped through the cracks because most of my previous testing was done with ideal, long-ranged loadouts against the basic simulator fits which...are neither of those things. So the faction needed some sort of defensive strong point, where before most of them had none.

In a decision that might seem a bit strange, I raised most of their armor so that all of the non-anvil ships are merely "below average" instead of outright terrible, and then made their true defensive strongpoint their hull, giving them hull stats that are pretty good at worst, and stretch the definition of weight class at best.

This was done primarily for thematic reasons. Starsector is the type of game that lends itself well to the Dark Souls school of storytelling, and so I always try to leave scraps of information, or convey certain feelings through gameplay and descriptions. and with that in mind, Arkgneisis Midtech is supposed to be a design paradigm trying to juggle an impossible set of requirements.

We need ships that are cheap and easy to maintain, we need ships that don't require big crews, we need ships that can travel far and fast. And most importantly, we need ships that can win, and not only win, but win -without- a numbers advantage.

Obviously somewhere here something has got to give, both in real life, and in game, no engineer could possibly satisfy all of these requirements adequately. And this heavily plays into why Hull is going to be where the Society can tank the most damage. Despite their outward appearance, the inside of an Arkgneisis Midtech ship is very much constructed from equal parts engineering genius, and ductape/prayer. As a result they aren't particularly good at stopping damage from occurring in the first place, but they should be very good at ignoring that it happened, soaking up blow after blow until they are ragged frameworks pockmarked with holes, but still coming back for more.

I hope this explains some of what I am going for here, Im not going to pretend like I'm there yet, but maybe if anything feels off to any of you, your feedback might get me just a little bit closer.
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Psycho Landlord

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3.1 [03/16/19]
« Reply #111 on: March 20, 2019, 08:31:51 PM »

That was actually incredibly cool to read and I'm definitely going to give the faction a second look now. I loved the art and engagement style but didn't mess with them too much because I agreed with the underpowered assessment. Gonna need to take another dive in.
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whatdoesthisbuttondo

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.3.1 [03/16/19]
« Reply #112 on: March 22, 2019, 08:01:58 AM »

Just gave them a try, really love the art style  ;D

I'd say they still feel quite a bit underpowered, especially early game (running Nexerelin game) where I usually go with 3-4 frigates plus a destroyer I almost feel helpless against the low tier vanilla fleets, e.g. Luddic Path and such, where with vanilla ships I have no trouble going against fleets twice my size.

Don't get me wrong, I like the comparatively low shield coverage and main HP in hull idea, but the problem is with hull tanking already being the worst tanking option to start with, and no clear edge in speed or firepower, they really have not much to go on.

Haven't played them long enough for good feedback, but my first impression would be that especially Gregory and Walsh need a speed buff to be competitive against vanilla.
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Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.0 [03/16/19]
« Reply #113 on: April 09, 2019, 07:47:44 PM »

LEGACY OF ARKGNEISIS v1.4.0 IS OUT

This is a somewhat small but content related update.

Chief among the changes is a new mission.

Other changes include a few minor balance tweaks to the Sherman and Walsh class frigates, and further adjustment to the firing cycle of the monogram series of weapons.

I am not sure if this update is save safe, so be safe and assume it will break yours.

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Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.1 [05/17/19]
« Reply #114 on: May 17, 2019, 04:41:10 PM »

LEGACY OF ARKGNEISIS v1.4.1 IS OUT

This update primiarly brings the game to current with Starsector v0.9.1a

- The base prices of ships has been adjusted to be more in line with new vanilla values.
- The refit time of the Earl strike fighter has been raised to put it back in line with the update vanilla bombers.

Additionally...

- The AI for the Phase Dive system used by the Champion class cruiser has been replaced with a custom script, it isn't perfect yet, but should now refrain from jumping into phase at every opportunity, making the ship far more deadly in AI hands.
- All ARS markets have had their industries and structures re-evaluated, redundant entries have been removed, and each station should reflect its intended scale and purpose better now. As a side effect, Exodus Initiative ships now more regularly appear on the black market for all stations.
- The values governing the rarity of Exodus Initiative blueprints have been adjusted so that said blueprints will be more common from now on.
- The Icon for the Spatial Lensing hullmod has been improved.
- The Electrostatic Autocannon has been given some moderate EMP damage. Its nowhere near the levels of dedicated EMP weapons, but it should make the weapon more appealing to use than before.
- The Warpshot Repeater has had its ballistic characteristics modified a bit, it can now more reliably hit missiles on perpendicular trajectories, like salamanders, though keep in mind it is still a 3 OP weapon, it's not going to delete swarms of sallies on its own.

I have no idea what this update will do to saves. I would err on the side of caution, due to the market industry changes.

Just to let you all know.
The majority of my time is still being spent creating sprites for DR's Interstellar Imperium, but just to show you that I still have plans for this mod...lots of plans realy, here's a small teaser for the upcoming sprite rework, featuring the re-designed Victoria class destroyer, and the re-designed Alistair class battlecruiser.



It is likely that neither are these are totally final, as I have received some decent feedback which I have yet to experiment with, but together they should give you an idea of where the ARS is heading in terms of aesthetics.
« Last Edit: May 17, 2019, 04:46:21 PM by Gwyvern »
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lethargie

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Re: [0.9.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.1 [05/17/19]
« Reply #115 on: May 17, 2019, 06:40:14 PM »

Those are incredibly beautiful. Thank you for the amazing contribution you make to the game
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eidolad

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Re: [0.9.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.1 [05/17/19]
« Reply #116 on: May 17, 2019, 08:14:52 PM »

gorgeous
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TrashMan

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Re: [0.9.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.1 [05/17/19]
« Reply #117 on: May 18, 2019, 04:26:06 PM »

Instead of completely scrapping the old Allistair, just make it a different ship or modification. Have two battlecruisers.
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Midnight Kitsune

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Re: [0.9.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.1 [05/17/19]
« Reply #118 on: May 18, 2019, 04:34:24 PM »

Instead of completely scrapping the old Allistair, just make it a different ship or modification. Have two battlecruisers.
This^ Please!
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Gwyvern

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Re: [0.9.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.4.1 [05/17/19]
« Reply #119 on: May 18, 2019, 06:38:18 PM »

Instead of completely scrapping the old Allistair, just make it a different ship or modification. Have two battlecruisers.
This^ Please!

In short:

No

In long:

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
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