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[Dark.Revenant]

Two things I've noticed.

Burn speeds.
Large ships in SS+ are double gimped with respect to burn speed, as in order to get the very nescessary +2 speed one must install both Aug. Engines and an Overdrive unit.
This takes up 66% more OP to get the speed boost than normal.
As burn speed is so critical to making larger ships enjoyable to play I feel that splitting the burn bonus between these two mods and making them take up more room is a major step back from vanilla, which already struggles in this area.

I know this was likely done to give larger ships more of a boost compared to small ships as frigates can't fit overdrives, but all it does is make large ships either slow or weak.
A better solution would be to either consolidate all the bonii into Aug. Engines mod, keep it the same size but just restrict it from frigates. (They don't need it anyway.)
Or reduce the OP cost of both mods so they both take up the same amount of space as vanilla Aug. Engines when installed together.

Music.
The soundtrack for SS+ is beyond amazing. One tiny problem though, in that after some length of time it just.... Stops.
Sometimes it takes half an hour, sometimes longer. Other sound continues as normal, but once it has stopped attampting to adjust the volume levels in settings produces a CTD with the following appended to the log:

Spoiler

Code

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at sound.O.super(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ooOO.void.Object(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ooOO.E.Ô00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.title.super.G.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.I.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.G.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.do.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.ooOO.super(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.new.Òôo000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.oOOO.oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.Ò00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.D.o00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

[close]

Augmented Engines granting +2 has the same problem: you want to maximize bonuses, so you use all the speed boosts available to you.  If I added four hullmods to boost burn, I would be told that capital ships are useless because they have no room for guns.  Overdrive shunt is mainly intended as a relatively cheap speed boost for non-frigates, especially destroyers and cruisers.  It even boosts speed.  It's meant as an optional benefit from picking Combat.

Augmented Engines is +1 because a full +2 made it too much of a no-brainer.  It was so good that a ship with that hullmod was objectively and subjectively superior in a major way to a ship without it, no matter what you spent those extra OP on.

Lastly, that error is a problem with vanilla, exacerbated by the higher music variety.  Each music track is another thread, and it adds up quickly when there are dozens of tracks.

[MesoTroniK]

Music.
The soundtrack for SS+ is beyond amazing. One tiny problem though, in that after some length of time it just.... Stops.
Sometimes it takes half an hour, sometimes longer. Other sound continues as normal, but once it has stopped attampting to adjust the volume levels in settings produces a CTD with the following appended to the log:

Spoiler

Code

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at sound.O.super(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ooOO.void.Object(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ooOO.E.Ô00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.title.super.G.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.I.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.G.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.do.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.ooOO.super(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.new.Òôo000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.oOOO.oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.Ò00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.D.o00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

[close]

I am curious what sound card you have, is it a proper add in device, or integral, and specifically what model it is? I would find that information interesting as some folks seem to get this music issue and some do not. And the people I have spoke to that do not get it have real sound cards.

[Serenitis]

I am curious what sound card you have, is it a proper add in device, or integral, and specifically what model it is? I would find that information interesting as some folks seem to get this music issue and some do not. And the people I have spoke to that do not get it have real sound cards.

It's an integral. Specifically: Realtek HD Audio 6.0.1.7071
Yay for imaginary hardware!

Augmented Engines granting +2 has the same problem: you want to maximize bonuses, so you use all the speed boosts available to you....

Which is a problem in vanilla. It's an artifical choice (as you mentioned) between making your ships better at fighting and making the game actually enjoyable. There is no choice here, you're going to pick enjoyment/ease of use every time.
Making this ease of use cost more (it should cost nothing, even in vanilla) just further skews the game towards frigates even moreso.

Slow ships are just not fun. The player is already punished with fuel and supply costs from tugs for large ships plus their already prohibitive costs themselves, along with having to fit silly engine mods to make them even playable at all. They don't need any more dis-incentives.

There's those preference things again....

[Dark.Revenant]

Giving every ship a free +2 speed is the same as giving no ships any speed bonus.  The difference is still going to be there regardless.  To avoid that issue, all speed hullmods would need to be removed and all ships would need to have the same burn speed.  This isn't something that I will be fixing.

[Nanao-kun]

If you really want that so much, just use the Console Commands mod and use the Add Ordnance Points command to give your ship like 1000 OP. Then you can attach whatever to it.

[DatonKallandor]

The problem with the Burn Speed system is that it's backwards in terms of what it should do in terms of gameplay. Compare it to the equivalent in Mount and Blade:

Being fast is the expensive high tech choice that severely limits tactical options and is harder to get to - it's a pure Cavalry army.
Their slow-burn-speed fleet equivalent is an infantry army - which is cheap, easy to get and flexible.

But in Starsector everybody starts as fast as they're going to get and the better and bigger your ships get - and the more tactical options you want - the slower you are. That way it's a constant fight against the decrease in burn speed as you progress through the game instead of high speed being a choice you work towards, which is pretty damn unsatisfying (and makes the progression a lot more shallow than the MnB equivalent).

Could that be fixed? Maybe, but it'd probably require a significant rework in how burn speeds and ship progression works.

[OOZ662]

Mount and Blade also has a different kind of balance to it. Other than a high-level player character there isn't a "capital ship" unit where you can use one of them to wipe out an entire army. Even bandits will swarm out a lone Swadian Knight. A Starsector battleship can shoot death at frigates in two if not three directions, and tank a swarm of them while it's at it.

[DatonKallandor]

Mount and Blade also has a different kind of balance to it. Other than a high-level player character there isn't a "capital ship" unit where you can use one of them to wipe out an entire army. Even bandits will swarm out a lone Swadian Knight. A Starsector battleship can shoot death at frigates in two if not three directions, and tank a swarm of them while it's at it.

Now apart from the obvious (you can't directly compare SS and MnBs combat mechanics) I'd argue that "Bandits" is exactly what Starsector doesn't have. An ultra cheap, extremely low tech, extremely slow option. Even the cheapest frigates are extremely fast and not actually that cheap. Now I'm not saying having that option would solve things, but it's certainly something that doesn't exist.

Oh and also, let's not pretend the Burn Speed mechanic is there for verisimilitude before that gets thrown into the ring - it's nonsense both from a Spaceship and a Naval Warship perspective. Modern Naval Capital ships are not significantly slower at cruising speed than smaller ones and spaceships obviously would not have a fixed travel speed. It is actually far more similar to MnB's Infantry/Cavalry split. It's already a gamey mechanic, modifying it if it turns out to have flaws is just sensible.

[Silver Silence]

Music.
The soundtrack for SS+ is beyond amazing. One tiny problem though, in that after some length of time it just.... Stops.
Sometimes it takes half an hour, sometimes longer. Other sound continues as normal, but once it has stopped attampting to adjust the volume levels in settings produces a CTD with the following appended to the log:

Spoiler

Code

java.lang.NullPointerException
	at sound.O.super(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ooOO.void.Object(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ooOO.E.Ô00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.title.super.G.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.I.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.G.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.do.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.O0o0.advanceImpl(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.ui.o00O.advance(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.ooOO.super(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.new.Òôo000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.oOOO.oOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.Ò00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.combat.D.o00000(Unknown Source)
	at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
	at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

[close]

I am curious what sound card you have, is it a proper add in device, or integral, and specifically what model it is? I would find that information interesting as some folks seem to get this music issue and some do not. And the people I have spoke to that do not get it have real sound cards.

Ah, so this is just an issue that one will have to put up with? I had it happen earlier but I was pretty much wrapping up playing for the time anyway and just wondered why the music wasn't playing. Also, I have no idea what mods introduced all the new music, but that combat music that sounds like it has a piece straight out of XCOM2012's combat music is so much yes.

[Unfolder]

Economy seems to be broken, siege penalties last forever, smuggling activities echo on for months after you smuggled, even long after you've been banned from trading with a planet.

[MesoTroniK]

Ah, so this is just an issue that one will have to put up with? I had it happen earlier but I was pretty much wrapping up playing for the time anyway and just wondered why the music wasn't playing. Also, I have no idea what mods introduced all the new music, but that combat music that sounds like it has a piece straight out of XCOM2012's combat music is so much yes.

Put up with it, for now unfortunately yes but Alex fixed it for the next Starsector update. At least it only is a problem on certain hardware / software configurations

SS+ adds the music from all the supported factions that have a custom sound track to the included MusicLib mod, those are Blackrock Drive Yards, Exigency Incorporated, and The Mayorate.

[Dark.Revenant]

Economy seems to be broken, siege penalties last forever, smuggling activities echo on for months after you smuggled, even long after you've been banned from trading with a planet.

Broken in what ways?

Siege penalties can last up to an entire year if the siege is completely successful.  I'll be making them a bit weaker so that they have a better chance of being stopped naturally.

That smuggling problem is a vanilla bug.

[Unfolder]

Oh okay, Jangala has been at stability 0-1 for six months now I assumed it was a bug. Yes I would recommend a hard cap on siege penalties of perhaps around three months

[Dark.Revenant]

Three months is too short for a full successful siege, but I did reduce it to about 5-7 months.

[Schwartz]

Does the 'Expanded Flight Decks' percentage bonus also apply to wings being rebuilt, or is it just for re-arming?