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[xenoargh]

can you make so that you have a smaller chance to spawn with all factions hostile with you? I've had over 8 saves with everyone hating me ( what did I do!?! D:)

Yeah, there's a simple answer to that one; don't answer "something else" on the first question; then only some of the factions will hate you   That said, it's totally random if you answer "something else" there; I'll see about writing up some code that catches that all of them hate you and make one of them guaranteed to like you in the next build.

In other news, the Glaug weapons are in, but aren't remotely polished or balanced yet.  Will get them into better shape before I put out another build

[xenoargh]

Finally sat down to revamp the Shield Efficiency systematically.  In the end, I decided to penalize / reward coverage areas and stick to current lore about frontal vs. omni coverage.

360 ANY = 1.75;
330 OMNI = 1.5;
300 OMNI = 1.4;
270 OMNI = 1.3;
240 OMNI = 1.2;
210 OMNI = 1.1;
180 OMNI = 1.0;
150 OMNI = 0.8;
120 OMNI = 0.5;
90 OMNI = 0.25;
60 OMNI = 0.1;
30 OMNI = 0.0; (pinpoint barrier field, no hard flux damage at all).

All upkeeps have been set to zero.  That doesn't mean hard flux won't build, but it does mean that there's no hidden drain on flux when you power shields up; they use different power sources.

FRONT shields have double efficiency, per SF official lore, to keep in line with Frontal Shield Generator.  Arc bonus for Frontal Shield Generator remains in place, since that's part of the OP tradeoff.

This makes ships like the Hound / Crow significantly stronger vs. frontal attacks again, which they needed (note, it also slightly buffed the Mk. II, heh) and makes the poor benighted Vigilance less of a cosmic joke, although it's still just a wee bit fragile for my liking and I'm still trying to decide what's a good fix (probably need to wait for 0.54b patch to allow some code-side rules changes I want to do).

The only bad side effect is that fighters with small-arc front shields are pretty uber vs. incoming PD, i.e. they eat Swarmers like they aren't there.  Not sure if that counts as a bug or a feature yet; it certainly makes the Broadsword and Piranha more viable, which is probably a good thing. 

Fighters in general need more work; I think I need to develop a lower-lag alternative to Swarmers for them to use in self-defense, maybe a heatseeker-type with good punch and decent maneuverability but short flight time.  That, and those poor Vendettas just aren't worth their price atm and will need to get buffed or get a price drop to make them worth using.


Still working on the Glaug weapons; they're still feeling pretty generic other than new art, but they're all functional, so I'll release a new build tomorrow with them in, most likely. 

Oh, and this guy too:


Meet the Star Tank; a small well-armored box that can carry one medium turret of choice and has some built-in light PD, but no shield.  Slow for a Frigate but it can fire that Plasma Cannon all day long.

[WKOB]

Adorable, where can I pick one up?

Also, have you made any progress with sorting out the awkward ballistic/energy fixed/rotating feature or is that still impossible?

[xenoargh]

I think it'll be a Hegemony ship; I've been thinking I'd gradually phase out some of their stuff and give them more of a conventional military feel, cut the stuff that doesn't fit and throw it to the Indie grab-bag.  Either that or I'll invent another faction when there's enough content, dunno yet.

Same stuff's coming down the pike for weapons; when I get the chance to lock out Stations that the player's hostile to, the choice of who to be aligned with at the start should get a lot more interesting.

Haven't been able to do anything with the fixed-forward issue.  Right now, there isn't any way to make a new weapon mount type, so I'm kind of stuck with that workaround, because the whole point of the fixed weapons is that they're more powerful than their turreted equivalents, but you either have limited arcs or can't change them out or both. 

I made a feature request for it, but I'm fairly certain Alex hasn't played the mod yet, so he doesn't really understand the need for it

[xenoargh]

Grey Death (original by Mr. Magpie, with a lot of rework by me):



New Gauss Cannon (and yes, it'll be affordable again, OP-wise):


It's really cool now (imo); recoils and has a base, so it looks like the MASSIVE DAMAGE machine it is.

[xenoargh]

This is the fourth (and probably last) iteration of the Vacuum mod series.  I'm planning out a new TC with a very different look and feel vs. Starfarer now that I understand what I'm doing coding-wise a bit more.

Anyhow, this version:

Adds:

1.  Frigates are now able to fly like Fighters, leading to usage as bombers and other things being possible.
2.  Non-Frigate ships now obey different laws of physics.  When at top speeds, turning rates are lower, when turning, speeds will drop.  This is a prototype for my next TC's physics stuff but it's fun in Starfarer too; it makes putting OPs into Augmented Engines dicey and anything that effects maneuverability can be really important.  It also means that AI ships camping at low velocities (lookin' at you, Onslaught) can turret themselves while your speedier capship can't. 

Changes:
1.  Lots of stuff with Hull Mods.  Basically, hard-flux drain got tested out as a theme.  I don't think it's all OP-balanced but it's certainly interesting and it makes a lot of ships work better.
2.  Revamp of all the shield balance; see notes that came with the release.
3.  Various other stuff, including the return of the Gauss Cannon, rebal of the Plasma series and other things.

Anyhow, I think this is it for Vacuum I'm now working on something else that I think will be much more interesting

[Sproginator]

This is the fourth (and probably last) iteration of the Vacuum mod series.  I'm planning out a new TC with a very different look and feel vs. Starfarer now that I understand what I'm doing coding-wise a bit more.

Anyhow, this version:

Adds:

1.  Frigates are now able to fly like Fighters, leading to usage as bombers and other things being possible.
2.  Non-Frigate ships now obey different laws of physics.  When at top speeds, turning rates are lower, when turning, speeds will drop.  This is a prototype for my next TC's physics stuff but it's fun in Starfarer too; it makes putting OPs into Augmented Engines dicey and anything that effects maneuverability can be really important.  It also means that AI ships camping at low velocities (lookin' at you, Onslaught) can turret themselves while your speedier capship can't. 

Changes:
1.  Lots of stuff with Hull Mods.  Basically, hard-flux drain got tested out as a theme.  I don't think it's all OP-balanced but it's certainly interesting and it makes a lot of ships work better.
2.  Revamp of all the shield balance; see notes that came with the release.
3.  Various other stuff, including the return of the Gauss Cannon, rebal of the Plasma series and other things.

Anyhow, I think this is it for Vacuum I'm now working on something else that I think will be much more interesting

Please don't stop work on this, This is extremely unique and innovative :/

[hairrorist]

Errr... so there is no .json file in the current download.  How do you activate this mod?

[xenoargh]

Please don't stop work on this, This is extremely unique and innovative :/

Yeah, but it's not really attracting a lot of comments, which means it's probably not unique and innovative enough  

In all seriousness, the thing I'm working on now is quite a bit more interesting and innovative; I think that doing all this serious gameplay stuff with this engine probably means taking the content in a new direction and developing a different setting, which may take a little bit but should enhance the experience.

Errr... so there is no .json file in the current download.  How do you activate this mod?

It's possible I didn't update it properly when I uploaded the latest build.  I've double-checked everything and uploaded a brand-new build, 0.4b, which should work properly.  Sorry for any inconvenience

[hairrorist]

Hurrah!

Easy detail to overlook when rolling out new versions

[Kurzak]

Spoiler Alert:: Don't read this if you're having a bad day.

  Had some good fights. The swarms of pirates blocking all egress to stations is annoying. The swarms of missiles that never run out of fuel is also annoying. 1 missile happens to strike your engine and you're a spinning duck which = dead. When there's 40 missiles floating around never running out of fuel its a bit laughable. There's a list of positives as well. At the end of the day the cons outweigh the pros. I'm trying to remain positive and not be needlessly critical but there are a few major things you should seriously reconsider if you want a larger following for this mod. 1) Your early game pacing, challenging isn't the right word. It's annoying and strange how many pirates are hovering over your home station. At the very least, cut them in half, there are several different factions there too. = 20-30 fleets hovering on your station. 2) missiles should run out of fuel and the damage on each microscopic missile honestly should not be enough to knock out engines when you're being blanketed by them. 3) Two quick vessels fighting with forward shields that never really gain flux is odd and leads to a VERY boring fight or retreat out of boredom. Overall I think my initial excitement of seeing something new was overshadowed by the early game element presented in this mod.
**frustration off**

  Once I muster up the patience to dodge countless pirate fleets and equip all my ships with missiles that block out the sun.. I really look forward to seeing what you did with your questing/diplomacy. That's what I was curious about but never got to try.

  I know how it is to make something and want everyone to share your vision and love it. I'm just trying to provide some honest feedback. At the end of the day I can see the scope of how much effort and time went into this and it is pretty amazing to be honest. I am very impressed. And even if you think my opinion is bunk, I encourage you to keep up the great work you're doing anyway. Innovation is great.

[xenoargh]

You do know that the game's different each time, procedurally? 

So, er, having pirates float over your "home base" is just, well, bad luck?

Anyhow, since I've essentially quit working on this mod, it is what it is- personally, I think it's lots of fun, but I wanted a pretty serious challenge from SF :-)

[xenoargh]

OK, this build is finally, finally ready.  

Rebooting this thing.  Have fun folks  

[EDIT]Sigh, last-second bug got in.  Fixed, re-uploaded.  Sorry, early adopters.  Also the crew pay system is working correctly in the latest build.[/EDIT]

[ciago92]

does this require lazylib or anything? otherwise looks awesome, can't wait to try it out!

[xenoargh]

LazyLib is built-in.  No extra downloads or specific config are required


Also, updated for bug-fixes.  This is what I get for doing all the last features in a real hurry after getting the main economic stuff working

Changes:

1.  Crew-pay system is working.  Gets fairly pricey to run a big fleet, but maybe not enough, will wait to see how it feels in playtesting.  Please let me know if this needs bump / nerf, it's literally gotten done at the last minute.

2.  Germanium economy has an initial crutch built in now, to make sure that the early game doesn't take too long to get moving.  Playing pirate with the enemy's mining fleets is still a very good idea, though, and can be really lucrative

3.  Fixed the boarding-shuttle bug.  I had them set up as a <cough> test item but left a typo in.  They're available from the faction that most enjoys capturing vessels (as opposed to eating their crew, oppressing them, taking them apart to look for tech or selling them to the highest bidder).  I have no idea whether they're remotely balanced or not

OK, gotta go, hope that squished 'em all.


...Oh, and... if you're wondering "how do I play this?". 

Best advice for early game is to get the Mining Pods from your Storage Facility (once it spawns) and grab them to mine either asteroids or gas from a Gaseous world.  Unlike mining asteroids in Exerelin, you get Germanium this way, which is both good loot and helps your Faction build things faster.  Build up your cash to as high as you can, because you'll need it later.

Crew costs are pretty high (but maybe not high enough, we'll see); Elite crew cost 100 per week.  This is probably not high enough, but I'll re-balance it when I've gotten some feedback about what to buff / nerf / change / fix.