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)

Author Topic: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.  (Read 8549 times)

Vinya

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 379
  • Vulgar at best...
    • View Profile
    • Mykyria Scifi/Zombie writing blog (Old site)
Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« on: August 09, 2013, 10:10:29 PM »

Now, you're probably looking at this thread going 'An RTS? Yeah, there's elements, but Starsector isn't really an RTS'.

And you'd be right. Starsector's wonderful piloting mechanics are one of my favorite things about it- but when I'm not darting a Frigate around lumbering defence fleets, I'm commanding a fleet.

Flying in the fleet while trying to manage tactics does work, but you lose a lot of situational awareness you gain from taking the whole battle from the tactical map.


I've tried to play both ways, one match I fly the flagship while using the tactical map to issue orders- the other I leave my ship on autopilot and keep an eye on the whole fleet in real time.

I noticed that while playing the game like an RTS, my battles went a lot better- I took a bit more damage to some of the frigates and fighters, but I didn't lose any.

I tested this primarily while playing a Hiigran fleet against a Bushi fleet.


Any thought on this? Experiences? It might just be me being more of a tactician than a pilot, but I think if you're going to play a larger fleet, this is definitely the way to go if you want to get a one-up on the AI.
Logged
If by "good guys" you mean "elitist regime that suppresses colonial independence and thrives off of an overwhelmingly deep gap in wealth between social classes," then yes.

GUNINANRUNIN

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 719
  • Let's do it!
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #1 on: August 09, 2013, 10:27:02 PM »

Any thought on this? Experiences? It might just be me being more of a tactician than a pilot, but I think if you're going to play a larger fleet, this is definitely the way to go if you want to get a one-up on the AI.
Agreed, but I'm definitely not very good at gaming the order mechanics. They break my brain for some reason. So I usually just give one or two orders at the start and then just fly my favourite ship.
Logged
In short, if you throw a stone out of the rear window of your spaceship you will go faster.

FasterThanSleepyfish

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 727
  • Blub
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #2 on: August 09, 2013, 10:43:50 PM »

You bring up an interesting point, but part of the awesome of starsector is outfitting ships so they can survive being piloted by the ridiculous AI. It is totally possible to play it RTS style by investing your aptitude points in command and fleet points, but I feel that the player is sometimes the only determining factor between winning and losing. :/ Blackrock has the Desinova destroyer which is really good at zipping around, while also being able to pack a punch. Alternatively, you can put your flagship on autopilot (u-key) and look at the war-room screen while the AI pilots your ship in the background. Of course, you can take back control of it when your ship vents in front of a charging onslaught. :p
Logged

PCCL

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2016
  • still gunnyfreak
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2013, 11:57:34 PM »

agreed, glad others also play this more like a tactical game.

I understand alex's vision for this game, that he wants it to be primarily focused on action, but some more tactical depth would really help imo
Logged
mmm.... tartiflette

GUNINANRUNIN

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 719
  • Let's do it!
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #4 on: August 10, 2013, 12:10:44 AM »

You know what the beautiful part about the system is? It works perfectly fine either way.
Logged
In short, if you throw a stone out of the rear window of your spaceship you will go faster.

naufrago

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 511
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #5 on: August 10, 2013, 06:15:40 AM »

I tend to pause and look at the map fairly frequently to stay aware of what's happening and issue retreat orders to damaged ships if necessary. I'd never consider playing vanilla purely like an RTS since a player-controlled ship can influence the battlefield way more than the AI.

And that's my 500th post. Was trying to save it for the release of .6, but that's looking like it'll be a bit longer yet. Not willing to not post for that long. And with that, I'm an Admiral now. woo
Logged

Mattk50

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 420
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #6 on: August 10, 2013, 12:19:46 PM »

You know what the beautiful part about the system is? It works perfectly fine either way.

Yeah, its wonderful. Most people who play the game don't realize they dont need to actually ever pilot a ship though.
Logged

Coolrah

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 64
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #7 on: August 10, 2013, 12:29:57 PM »

Its the only way to really play the most cost efficient because if your piloting a single ship you lack the visual information of the map and whats happening with your other ships. With the map you can really see everything happening real time and switch views with other ships to see what the best course of action is.
Logged
Its always a good day to die

Vinya

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 379
  • Vulgar at best...
    • View Profile
    • Mykyria Scifi/Zombie writing blog (Old site)
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #8 on: August 10, 2013, 02:20:30 PM »

Any thought on this? Experiences? It might just be me being more of a tactician than a pilot, but I think if you're going to play a larger fleet, this is definitely the way to go if you want to get a one-up on the AI.
Agreed, but I'm definitely not very good at gaming the order mechanics. They break my brain for some reason. So I usually just give one or two orders at the start and then just fly my favourite ship.

This is precisely my point. 'Not ever having to pilot a ship' is not. When you have a huge fleet I just find it more feasible to organize it like a fleet rather than just a bunch of other ships that happen to follow you around.

When you're starting off, flying your little Hound around in the tactical screen is suicide.
Logged
If by "good guys" you mean "elitist regime that suppresses colonial independence and thrives off of an overwhelmingly deep gap in wealth between social classes," then yes.

Wyvern

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3784
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #9 on: August 10, 2013, 07:34:07 PM »

Huh; I take a totally different tactic when playing a larger fleet: I design every AI controlled ship variant so they focus on defense and survival.  They're not there to kill things (though when they do - and they will - it's a nice bonus); they're there to keep me from having to face the enemy fleet all at once.  And so I set some capture orders and then fly around in my flagship killing things.
Logged
Wyvern is 100% correct about the math.

Knight4d7

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 13
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2013, 08:11:41 AM »

i agree i works both ways,which makes this game fun. some times i don't even deploy my flagship and i just issue orders to my fleet, and watch them and see how they do.
Logged

Doom101

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 641
  • Doom will always find you.
    • View Profile
    • Youtube channel
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #11 on: August 21, 2013, 02:22:40 PM »

I absolutely love that you can do it both ways, and playing like an rts can also give you another advantage in that you can pause to think about things, playing in the action, or another RTS you can't do that. And being able to pause the game and think about the action can let you figure things out, "oh my lasher over here is in trouble it seems an enemy fighter wing broke it's assault on my venture and is kicking the crap out of it, well i'll have to retreat that, *being paused you take another moment to look around first* oh well wait i have a wolf nearby that i can send to assist it and make absolutely sure my lasher doesn't die"  This exact scenario played out the other day for me, and im pretty sure without that wolf's support the Lasher would have died, granted a lasher isn't that important in the grand scheme but i'd rather have it's 5 guns and harpoon racks at my side than not have them.

Also i'm partial to playing in both ways, in that i pilot our large kick-ass flagship ( usually a venture or onslaught) and pause roughly every 30 seconds, or if i see something going on, just to check on the fleet, and i also issue orders to fix situations like the one above or to do other important things.
Logged
When you can't go on, just accept your doom. It comes to all, it is inevitable.

Also I totally had the name BEFORE the cruiser.

Vinya

  • Captain
  • ****
  • Posts: 379
  • Vulgar at best...
    • View Profile
    • Mykyria Scifi/Zombie writing blog (Old site)
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #12 on: August 21, 2013, 04:46:37 PM »

Yeah, with my Hiigran fleet I've been playing completely in the map view. I haven't lost a ship yet.

Logged
If by "good guys" you mean "elitist regime that suppresses colonial independence and thrives off of an overwhelmingly deep gap in wealth between social classes," then yes.

Ascent

  • Ensign
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #13 on: September 11, 2013, 08:24:15 PM »

I design every AI controlled ship variant so they focus on defense and survival.  They're not there to kill things (though when they do - and they will - it's a nice bonus); they're there to keep me from having to face the enemy fleet all at once.

Exactly. My fleet is an anvil -- a bunch of big, sturdy, survivable ships, and I'm the hammer warping around in a Hyperion punching everyone in the nose one at a time. I never choose the biggest ship in my fleet as my flagship, I much prefer something small and mobile so I can quickly respond where needed.
« Last Edit: September 11, 2013, 08:26:14 PM by Ascent »
Logged

Magician

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 156
    • View Profile
Re: Starsector as an RTS, and why it's really awesome.
« Reply #14 on: September 12, 2013, 01:36:09 AM »

 Yesterday I had one hellish battle against "Rising Sun" mod's fleet. I spent few hours trying to beat Destroyer fleet from this mod with vanilla-like factions. Because of slight overpoweredness of Rising Sun fleet any strategic approach failed. In the end I won relying on the kiting technique. I used Paragon with maximized survivability and kited enemy across the map, allowing for my Stormcrows to kill enemy 1 by 1. In any other scenario any of my ships gets blown in seconds. Without using inertia for kiting, hiding behind dead ships, spining enemies with my own shield to mess with their weapon angles, blocking my cruisers from enemy fire and other dirty tricks beating Rising Sun fleet seems difficult.

 So yeah, sometimes strategic approach is nice. But in some battles you can't win with strategy alone. Numbers are against you. The only way is to create miracles on the battlefield by directly commanding your flagship.
Logged