Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

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

Pages: [1] 2 3

Author Topic: What unusual strategies have you found success with?  (Read 13535 times)

Torch

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 64
  • Long-time lurker and space RPG fan, neutral good
    • View Profile
What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« on: January 07, 2019, 06:22:34 AM »

I've recently found that I default to the same boring playstyle every time, so I'm looking to change it up - what (non-meta) tricks are up your sleeves?
Logged

From a Faster Time

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 146
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #1 on: January 07, 2019, 11:00:19 AM »

I've recently found that I default to the same boring playstyle every time, so I'm looking to change it up - what (non-meta) tricks are up your sleeves?
Please elaborate on that. What is the "default" playstyle. What do you find "boring" about it.
Logged

Cosmitz

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 758
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #2 on: January 07, 2019, 11:03:10 AM »

I guess full phase ship fleets are fun and somewhat uncommon to run.
Logged

Goumindong

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1886
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #3 on: January 07, 2019, 11:27:33 AM »

I always want to run full phase fleets but thryre so hard to acquire.

I had decent success with a high and low build. 5 Apogees fit for tank and support and 20 LP brawlers each fit with 2 Dual Autocannons and 2 Heavy Mortars. The officers in the Apogees can eat a LOT of firepower while the brawlers chew ships up really really fast
Logged

Torch

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 64
  • Long-time lurker and space RPG fan, neutral good
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #4 on: January 07, 2019, 11:58:50 AM »

I've recently found that I default to the same boring playstyle every time, so I'm looking to change it up - what (non-meta) tricks are up your sleeves?
Please elaborate on that. What is the "default" playstyle. What do you find "boring" about it.

More of an invitation for open discussion than a request for help. I always take the same ships, take the same skills, and generally just don't change things up, so I wanted to hear what others do. I would like to try a fleet focused on high overall speed, but I don't know enough about fleet burn and retreat mechanics to bother with it yet.
Logged

ErrantSingularity

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 17
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #5 on: January 07, 2019, 01:09:02 PM »

I've mad a whole fleet of just pirate falcons for their epic speed. Worked pretty well, we had two meant to disable shields with sabot, four DPS with annihilators, and two full of reapers and atropos for killing things. Problem is, in long extended battles our only option was to run, given the great speed though we could escape anything. Found myself basically doing hit and run again and again against larger fleets until we'd killed them off bit by bit.
Logged

From a Faster Time

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 146
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #6 on: January 07, 2019, 01:15:55 PM »

More of an invitation for open discussion than a request for help. I always take the same ships, take the same skills, and generally just don't change things up, so I wanted to hear what others do. I would like to try a fleet focused on high overall speed, but I don't know enough about fleet burn and retreat mechanics to bother with it yet.
There is many ideas, so rather than list all of them. I rather give more specific recommendations for certain desires.
"I would like to try a fleet focused on high overall speed"
Easy, if you like missiles try getting a fleet of Pirate Falcons and go heavy on the missiles. They are all fast both in terms of burn and in terms of combat speed.
If you like phase ships, then a phase fleet could work.
If you don't like either, you could focus on a fleet with burndrive/plasmajets/plasma burn/manuvering jets(Manuvering jets being the easiest for AI to use) and having either a mix of those or a single doctrine.

I've mad a whole fleet of just pirate falcons for their epic speed. Worked pretty well, we had two meant to disable shields with sabot, four DPS with annihilators, and two full of reapers and atropos for killing things. Problem is, in long extended battles our only option was to run, given the great speed though we could escape anything. Found myself basically doing hit and run again and again against larger fleets until we'd killed them off bit by bit.
Oh look, I wonder where I heard this before. *looks up* Guess it's a natural choice.
Logged

HELMUT

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1363
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #7 on: January 07, 2019, 01:32:23 PM »

For me, a "true" full phase fleet wasn't a fun experience. You'll bleed supplies at an alarming rate, and only the Shade is really useful when fielded in higher number (the Doom too, technically, but it's not like you'll be able to afford it for several battle in a row). Worst, you'll end up stuck piloting a Typhoon Harbinger, forever and ever. It's just too good compared to everything else.

As for other unusual strategies, it's something i like to do from time to time, so here's what i did and what i found fun.

- Hardcore salvaging : recover every single ships you come across, with the ship limit removed (to keep it fun for late game). Throwing a swarm of barely functional, under-equipped junk ships into the meatgrinder is unexpectedly joyful.

- Autopilot only : you'll have to rely only on orders to influence the battle. I wrote a little bit about it. Extremely difficult early on though, it's probably better to start normal then go for this mode after acquiring a few ships.

- Shieldless run : Require the Ship and Weapon Pack mod. The mod add a "Shield Bypass" hullmod that removes shields but improved the flux dissipation depending on the original shield upkeep (i think?). Obviously a bit tricky to play, for me it did encourage a more agressive playstyle as a shieldless fleet cannot win an endurance battle.

- Pather run : mandatory Safety Override for everything, force you to play aggressive and smart, as you'll need to set the proper elimination orders to finish quickly a battle. Combine it with the Hardcore Salvaging strat if you're looking for absolute chaos (and shieldless run if you're that kind of sicko).

- Stampede : Buffalo MK.II only. You can add the Mongrel and Amalgam with SWP Edit : the Underworld mod (thanks Retry) if you want (Underworld isn't updated yet, but a new version shouldn't take too long to come out now). It is exactly as you would expect it.

- Excelsior run : Also require SWP. Turn Starsector into an arcade game at the cost of your sanity.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2019, 03:16:15 AM by HELMUT »
Logged

Retry

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 420
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #8 on: January 07, 2019, 04:17:01 PM »

- Stampede : Buffalo MK.II only. You can add the Mongrel and Amalgam with SWP if you want. It is exactly as you would expect it.
Mongrel/Amalgam are Underworld, I think.
Logged

Null Ganymede

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 274
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #9 on: January 07, 2019, 08:00:46 PM »

I like focusing on fleet composition. It leads to very distinctive runs.

- Special forces. Only deploy ships with officers. You'll always be outnumbered, but if your fleet is small enough you can do cool ambush-retreats, targeted bounty assassinations, and ridiculous sensor shenanigans. It teaches you to abuse environmental and CR effects to even out the playing field. Having high burn and low sensor signature helps you pick fights correctly, as does the industry skill removing burn drive's CR penalty. Also helps to have a commission to get a small but elite fleet up quickly via military markets.

- Max ECM. Weapons range seems like one of the more important factors affecting AI behavior. Building a fleet that maintains 25% ECM superiority at all times makes your ships more aggressive and has good synergy with missiles/fighters/assault weapons.

- Logistics powerhouse. Efficiency Overhaul, Salvage Gantries, and the various efficiency skills let you break even on supply usage even while out-deploying the enemy by a ton.

- Roguelike! Start by salvaging ruins in populated systems, then immediately colonize something. Build a fleet from whatever blueprints dropped. This will usually be a couple of elite purchased/salvaged flagships with officers, and then a giant death ball of D-modded frigates or destroyers with the best weapons your colony can churn out. Effectiveness varies by available blueprints.

Modded runs give additional options. It depends on what hull mods drop early on - you can build entire fleet concepts around things like Anti-Ship Mine Bays or Extreme Modifications.

It's also fun to ignore fleet composition and just focus all skill points on your flagship. A properly fitted Onslaught or Legion can solo entire fleets by burning around their edges, killing one ship at a time.
« Last Edit: January 07, 2019, 08:03:43 PM by Null Ganymede »
Logged

RawCode

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 511
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #10 on: January 07, 2019, 08:10:17 PM »

Visit nearby tritach systems and get 300k loan
Instantly settle random free world inside askonia system
Survive saturation raids, make money
Colonize more planets
Aggo dictat, using patrols spawned from you colonies deal with all patrols
Overraid them to -26
Wait for decivilization
Take all planets for your own use
« Last Edit: January 07, 2019, 08:12:15 PM by RawCode »
Logged

Euphytose

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 464
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #11 on: January 08, 2019, 05:50:05 AM »

I like focusing on fleet composition. It leads to very distinctive runs.

- Special forces. Only deploy ships with officers.

Honestly, due to how big the bonuses are, I almost never deploy ships without officers now. In my opinion, the armour skill, as well as the shield skill, are way too good, and ships without them seem like wet noodles in comparison.
Logged

Megas

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 12117
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #12 on: January 08, 2019, 06:46:16 AM »

With my current fleet, six officers would be enough even at max battle size, due to how much DP capitals (and Doom) eat up.  If I use default of 200, four officers are already too many.
Logged

Tartiflette

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3529
  • MagicLab discord: https://discord.gg/EVQZaD3naU
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #13 on: January 08, 2019, 07:05:13 AM »

Not really an "unusual strategy" per se, but I had quite some fun doing a campaign mostly using Fragmentation weapons. They are surprisingly effective once massed and they also are less used compared to other damage type so the game felt fresh for once.
Logged
 

Null Ganymede

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 274
    • View Profile
Re: What unusual strategies have you found success with?
« Reply #14 on: January 08, 2019, 07:07:48 AM »

With my current fleet, six officers would be enough even at max battle size, due to how much DP capitals (and Doom) eat up.  If I use default of 200, four officers are already too many.

A frigate/destroyer hammer to a capital anvil is *really* good, though. In terms of theoretical damage output per deployment point, they're way more efficient than capitals.

Trick is finding the mobility/shield tank/flux pressure sweet spot to ensure they're firing.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2 3