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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: [0.9.1a] 'Junk Pirates' 3.5.3 (including ASP & P.A.C.K.)  (Read 597031 times)

Alex

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #30 on: December 18, 2011, 06:53:29 PM »

Holy crap, just looked at the DPS for the scatter laser. No wonder I liked it so much - it's got the firepower of, like, 3 HILs :) With some pretty severe tradeoffs, but man can it rip things up.

Edit: Played a lot more. I like the feel of the ships - how the frigates are fast, but have really sluggish maneuvering characteristics, requiring a lot more care to fly. The Boxer and Boxenstein have a high armor-to-hull ratio, really emphasizing taking hits on undamaged armor. So much fun, really nicely done!
« Last Edit: December 18, 2011, 07:50:27 PM by Alex »
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #31 on: December 18, 2011, 11:23:45 PM »

I know, right? Thing is, I balanced it by making it spray like that whilst hopefully taking out a missile (maybe it destroys an incoming missile about 60% ?) This had the unintended consequence of making it really quite strong when it does hit, which at short range against big targets is alot. I kind of like it, and figure that if you actually care about your fleet, it will be less useful, because it's not normally good being near big ships.

Glad you enjoy playing it, i'm having fun making it :)

Tweaked and updated to .70a.
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Thana

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #32 on: December 19, 2011, 12:07:28 AM »

... crap, I just realized that I'm playing in the dev version, which has flux capacity values for all the core ships increased by >50% :) That explains a lot!

How will that interact with the decision to decrease the number of larger weapons? I hope ships don't end up too durable.
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Alex

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #33 on: December 19, 2011, 09:41:16 AM »

Not to hijack this thread too much (sorry!)... ships will be a good bit more durable. There's another reason for it, aside from the weapon size decrease - since weapons can be disabled, the firepower exchanged in a slugging match slows down as it goes on and weapons are knocked out.

The question is, will they be too durable? It's true that fights will take a bit longer, but they will also be a lot more eventful - with weapons going offline and engines flaming out. Those all are tactical considerations (Crap, need to turn my ship so that more active weapons can fire! Need to strafe to keep in the enemies newly-blind spot where their guns got knocked out! Try a flanking maneuver to get some shots at the engines! etc). Slowing the fights down was actually necessary to give those new features some room to play out, and I think overall they're a lot more engaging now.

It's not *that* drastic of a change - an incoming bomber wing or torpedo can still ruin your day, and there are lots more ways to end up a sitting duck if you screw up. For example, losing some critical PD turrets - or your engines - can contribute to a speedy demise.

I know, right? Thing is, I balanced it by making it spray like that whilst hopefully taking out a missile (maybe it destroys an incoming missile about 60% ?) This had the unintended consequence of making it really quite strong when it does hit, which at short range against big targets is alot. I kind of like it, and figure that if you actually care about your fleet, it will be less useful, because it's not normally good being near big ships.

Glad you enjoy playing it, i'm having fun making it :)

Tweaked and updated to .70a.

Excellent, I'll check it out soon - when I need a break from coding up sundry tooltips :)

Yeah, the Boxenstein shreds anything up close, but sure pays a price. I shudder to think of the crew casualties this will induce in the campaign.
« Last Edit: December 19, 2011, 09:46:34 AM by Alex »
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Zarcon

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #34 on: December 19, 2011, 12:53:37 PM »

The question is, will they be too durable? It's true that fights will take a bit longer, but they will also be a lot more eventful - with weapons going offline and engines flaming out. Those all are tactical considerations (Crap, need to turn my ship so that more active weapons can fire! Need to strafe to keep in the enemies newly-blind spot where their guns got knocked out! Try a flanking maneuver to get some shots at the engines! etc). Slowing the fights down was actually necessary to give those new features some room to play out, and I think overall they're a lot more engaging now.

I'm inclined to enjoy slightly longer fights with more tactical possibilities myself.  Only time and lots of play testing will truly tell what the best balance will be, but this sounds very promising and rotating ships due to weapon/engine damage sounds like a fun layer to add to the already sound combat.
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #35 on: December 20, 2011, 06:26:25 AM »

It will be fascinating to get to play with the new systems, and the new levels of durability.

Although, I find enough ways to end up being a sitting duck within the current game, so I'm not sure if I'm going to enjoy* the changes too much.

*to clarify I enjoy the game alot. I'm just not very good at it. Surely that's got to be a sign of a great game, one which you lose 75% of the time and still keep coming back to?

For those interested in the mod  ;) I've updated the OP to now showcase the Junk Pirates fleet (including some graphical tweaks not yet implemented in the downloadable mod)
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Lopunny Zen

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #36 on: December 23, 2011, 01:55:43 PM »

hey...how come some of the ships say error...cant play the missions or the new ships...
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Alex

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #37 on: December 23, 2011, 05:05:54 PM »

Did you get the latest version of the mod? I just tried it out with the release version of the game and all the missions work fine.

If you did and still have a problem, it would help if you posted the actual error message.
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #38 on: December 31, 2011, 02:18:17 PM »

Updated the link in the OP to now point to 0.75, now with a new heavy frigate - the Clam.

Also includes another new mission, similar in vein to 'The Wolf Pack' (frigate heavy, cut off escaping fleet).

As always, feedback welcome!

Happy New Year Starfarer Fans! (and Devs! - Ivaylo has probably already seen it in!?)
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Alex

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #39 on: December 31, 2011, 07:51:05 PM »

That was fun, though I'm having a tough time actually beating the last mission. Not that that has much bearing on enjoyment.

I must, however, lodge an official complaint about the Clam's (lack of) firepower... ;D

Happy New Year Starfarer Fans! (and Devs! - Ivaylo has probably already seen it in!?)

Happy New Year!
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #40 on: January 01, 2012, 11:24:08 AM »

The King notes your concern. His official response is "I told you so".

I'm working on another one:



He needs a few more guns, and they need to work better in groups together, but I'm *generally* happy with the layout. It's an armed carrier, kind of a small capital ship, provisionally dubbed 'orca' even though it looks like a snail  ???
« Last Edit: January 01, 2012, 12:13:26 PM by mendonca »
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Alex

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #41 on: January 01, 2012, 02:58:03 PM »

Nice, I like it! Especially the haphazard placement of the engine nozzles, very cool.

Where are the flight decks, though? Ohh, I think I see them - on inner part of the left ring? They don't stand out quite enough imo.
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #42 on: January 01, 2012, 03:21:28 PM »

Thanks! And thanks for the feedback. Yeah, I agree with you, its clear that it needs bringing out a bit more, now you mention it.

I think I need to revisit the sprite quite a bit anyway (thinking about adding/changing weapon mounts having played a bit with it) so I'll deffo add that to the list ...
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #43 on: January 02, 2012, 01:36:57 PM »



Update to 0.80! Now play with the Orca (not shown actual size)

Try the randomised junk battle to control as flagship, or play against the Junk Pirates fleet in an all new random battle.

(see OP for download link)
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mendonca

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Re: 'Junk Pirates' - New Ships and Missions mod for 0.35a
« Reply #44 on: January 03, 2012, 01:14:29 PM »

Sorry everybody about the constant and bitty updates, but I keep finding things I need to change, playtesting etc. and can't help but update it.

Also I start back at work tomorrow for the New Year, so this will probably be the last one for at least a short while.

v0.81 changelist, generally:

- Realised many of my ships were cheating by equipping Heavy Machine Guns in light ballistic slots. Changed universally to light dual MGs.
- Strike sickle has been given a pair of AM Blasters, sickle has been given more flux generally, making the energy weapons slightly more effective in conjunction with the shield up.
- Added assault variant of the Orca. More offensive generally. Cyclone swapped out for a hurricane MIRV between standard and assault variants (standard is more of a defensive / fire support carrier role). Assault variant used as flagship for Randomised Junk level. Also added description for Orca hull.
- New Mission "Hold Fast!" As much as I enjoy picking on the lumbering Hegemony slagheaps in the other missions, I thought it was time that the Tri-Tachyon boys came visiting in numbers to see how the ships cope:

The answer was: Not very well. At least not without rethinking my tactics, and I did finally beat this mission with 34%, but the Tri-Tachyon fleet are, notably, much more dangerous.
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