Wait, I thought the CR decay from storms was removed? But by the (b)log here, it says that they did lose CR?
Ouch... Has the slowly at least been removed? Those two, combined with fast ship recoveries and how "fuzzy" the hyperstorm's edges are, really hurts...Wait, I thought the CR decay from storms was removed? But by the (b)log here, it says that they did lose CR?
Definitely hasn't been removed.
Wow, I'm assuming Zeta Tar is a procedurally generated system? It's a surprisingly large, populated, and just overall dense system. Too bad it's completely barren, as will be the fate of a lot of interesting systems, I think.
Also, does sustained burn start out at +10 or +5? (IE does that skill make it +10 or +15)?
Edit: Is there a max burn speed of 20?
I did of course eventually stumble into some very nice and valuable stuff, just ... you know. REDACTED.
I was actually a bit shocked at how barren it was (and worried "oh god this is going to be the most boring blog post ever"). My experience in testing to this point has yielded a lot more junk floating around, on the whole. I did of course eventually stumble into some very nice and valuable stuff, just ... you know. REDACTED.At least comparing it to Nexerelin, it's fairly interesting just to look at the map. Lots of planets, asteroid belts, nebulae, and debris fields around planets (also; noticed that asteroid belts now have a nice dotted line to tell you they're an asteroid belt). If the system was colonized, it might very well become more interesting. Can't wait to see more of this exploration in action!
Too bad Salvage Dave didn't make it back. I wonder if that means anything for the future of how player death is handled...
Speaking of asteroid belts: Have they been improved so that they don't lag the system all to hell and back? I know from mods that high levels of them can REALLY drag down a game
OK I was just making sureSpeaking of asteroid belts: Have they been improved so that they don't lag the system all to hell and back? I know from mods that high levels of them can REALLY drag down a game
Hmm - I'd say it's a mod issue. It's pretty easy to add an irresponsibly large number of asteroid-entities to a belt in an effort to make it look denser. Their performance is pretty good for what they are, but if there's a metric ton of them, then that's a problem. I would suggest providing feedback to mod authors if you run into this.
Naturally, I could be wrong, and if it turns out to be an issue in vanilla as well, I'll take a look. But I haven't noticed it being a problem in any of the procgen systems so far.
Defender-class and Picket-class. I suspect that they're automated AI defense ships.
I also like that skills can use special resources (volatiles in case of the tachyon detector), gives both more weight somehow.
One issue I have with the neutrino detector is that it looks the same as the magnetic storms around some planets.Eh, I think it looks distinct enough as not to screw with the player. Although I wouldn't mind a redesign if it fits the theme of a neutrino detector.
Hey Alex, are you gunning for all 4 aptitudes to have a full set of 10 skills like Combat currently has? I'm gonna guess that the answer is probably not, but Tech and Industry are still looking a mite sparse at least.
A question: Are we able to pick and choose or at least repair only some D mods? Or is it an all or nothing thing?
I mean, what is the point of having an early access community that has basically paid to be beta testers if you're not going to use them to beta test things?
I can see why one might think that, but I think it's easy to underestimate just how much of the game being playable/enjoyable comes together in the last weeks before the release.Just so you know, I've been through a lot of games that are still in development, yet have a small group of community members who test the next update to make sure everything checks out. More often than not, they test everything from stuff as basic as simple balance changes to new content and then entirely changed mechanics. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if such a group secretly exists for Starsector out of view of our eyes. Also; news ticker.
Just so you know, I've been through a lot of games that are still in development, yet have a small group of community members who test the next update to make sure everything checks out. More often than not, they test everything from stuff as basic as simple balance changes to new content and then entirely changed mechanics. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if such a group secretly exists for Starsector out of view of our eyes.
Also; news ticker.
I was actually a bit shocked at how barren it was (and worried "oh god this is going to be the most boring blog post ever").It was a wonderful blog post David! You got to show off a lot of stuff we hadn't seen yet, especially some of the system generation and exploration from the player's perspective. Even if the trip turned out to be boring, we would have gotten to see a lot of awesome stuff we haven't seen before. Luckily, it wasn't a boring trip, and we all got to see some extra-juicy stuff. :)
That is indeed one of the few mods I use! A few of the lines are a bit goofy but at the very least it totally helps you keep track of what's what!
I recommend it.
Too bad Salvage Dave didn't make it back. I wonder if that means anything for the future of how player death is handled...
Or did he? Maybe he's layin' low. Maybe he's just drifting among the stars, floating in a most peculiar way; and the stars look very different today...
Very nice, but if the Wolf D derelict you find is powered down and all messed up, why are the engines glowing in this pic of it?
First line: A derelict Hammerhead (D) class destroyer is drifting through space. (Seems to make more sense to me)Not necessarily. That sentence does make sense, though usually you'd stick a comma after "destroyer".
Couple things I noticed with this (if you're looking for feedback):
The Crew & Machinery icons are fine but I think there'd be less visible "noise" if you could combine Required and Available. Something like Required (Available) so 30(46) & 10(10). It condenses the needed information so that they're side-by-side.
First line: A derelict Hammerhead (D) class destroyer is drifting through space. (Seems to make more sense to me)Not necessarily. That sentence does make sense, though usually you'd stick a comma after "destroyer".
Hmm, small question, does setting the sector size to small, reduce the "gameplay area", decrease the star density, or a mix of both?. Mostly asking because of modding implications.
Having seen the route planner in action, I can only imagine I will struggling to remember how I lived without it for so many years.
I hope we'll have more blog posts of that kind in the future, David. That was quite informative, and entertaining. By the way, some (suspiciously named) person did something like that on the rpg.net forum. Did the inspiration for this blog post came from there, or pure coincidence?
Also, i'm really glad you reworked that Hegemony flag.
I swear, this blog post was spoopy.
He's either sitting in a tin can waiting for rescue or he's very much floating as star dust after that Picket-class bested him. :)Or did he? Maybe he's layin' low. Maybe he's just drifting among the stars, floating in a most peculiar way; and the stars look very different today...
Fairly sure he is still sitting in a tin can.
I'm not sure if it was mentioned previously, but does it consume heavy machinery when salvaging?Somewhere, Alex said it doesn't directly consume crew or Heavy Machinery (that would just be evil, heh - "sacrifice 30 crew to run this Salvage Operation"), probably during a previous blog post. Just need the listed amount of Crew and Heavy Machinery to run the operation at maximum safety, although there is a chance that some crew or Heavy Machinery might get lost during the operation, as this blog post shows at one point.
It's not consumed, no. Regular salvage ops also carry no risk to crew or machinery.
Scavenging inside debris fields (i.e. using the "Scavenge" ability), being a more risky business, does not actually *require* crew or machinery - but carries a risk of losing small amounts of either. Having machinery mitigates the risk to crew.
Scavenging inside debris fields (i.e. using the "Scavenge" ability), being a more risky business, does not actually *require* crew or machinery - but carries a risk of losing small amounts of either. Having machinery mitigates the risk to crew.Speaking of that, do debris fields naturally spawn around planets? Because in the map view of the Zeta Tar system, there's four places that have what looks like a thick belt of asteroids orbiting them, but don't have the dotted asteroid belt line to indicate they are such. I can only assume they're debris fields, or maybe something else that hasn't been revealed. If those are debris fields, can we Scavenge from them?
It's not consumed, no. Regular salvage ops also carry no risk to crew or machinery.
Scavenging inside debris fields (i.e. using the "Scavenge" ability), being a more risky business, does not actually *require* crew or machinery - but carries a risk of losing small amounts of either. Having machinery mitigates the risk to crew.
Because it's hard work and the salvage crew needs to drink a lot of coffee, and sometimes those rugged orange coffeemakers break.
Hmm. We need a coffee beans commodity.Meanwhile at Jangala...
I always thought of them as sewing machines... coffee maker fits a lot better though.
(I assume heavy machinery are meant to be 3D printers but... all I can think of are industrial-scale sewing machines.)
I always thought of them as sewing machines... coffee maker fits a lot better though.
(I assume heavy machinery are meant to be 3D printers but... all I can think of are industrial-scale sewing machines.)
+1 to the sewing machine. I see the "coffee maker" now that its mentioned. In my head, despite its looks, I've always thought heavy machinery were some sort of hydraulic press.
Do debris fields usually only give a tiny handful of goods, as was shown in one of the screenies? 1-2 fuel/supply/machinery + a small stack of metal hardly seems worth the time. I'm gonna assume larger battles result in much juicer debris fields, ya?Not sure how much we know about the Salvage ability, but I think it might depend on how long you're in the Debris cloud with the Salvage ability turned on. Just going off a wild guess and I probably missed something Alex said.
Too bad Salvage Dave didn't make it back. I wonder if that means anything for the future of how player death is handled...
Or did he? Maybe he's layin' low. Maybe he's just drifting among the stars, floating in a most peculiar way; and the stars look very different today...
Do debris fields usually only give a tiny handful of goods, as was shown in one of the screenies? 1-2 fuel/supply/machinery + a small stack of metal hardly seems worth the time. I'm gonna assume larger battles result in much juicer debris fields, ya?
Do debris fields usually only give a tiny handful of goods, as was shown in one of the screenies? 1-2 fuel/supply/machinery + a small stack of metal hardly seems worth the time. I'm gonna assume larger battles result in much juicer debris fields, ya?
It entirely depends on the debris field. You can also look through the same field multiple times, which yields greatly diminishing returns. As far as battle debris fields: yeah, larger battles yield more stuff in the debris.
When is new release?
Very soontm. Wrapping things up, basically - major features are all done. Right now about halfway through adding a proper campaign tutorial, then it's a bit more playtesting and balancing/polish, and a few modding things, and it should be good. So - however long that all takes.
... David, have you been reading the SCP Foundation? It sounds like you have.
On the intel map, there are a bunch of colored nebula, vs. the Hyperspace storms that are actually in game and on the map. Is there a reason for that difference?
REDACTED must work for the REDACTED with how much of the blog was redacted! :D
Do debris fields usually only give a tiny handful of goods, as was shown in one of the screenies? 1-2 fuel/supply/machinery + a small stack of metal hardly seems worth the time. I'm gonna assume larger battles result in much juicer debris fields, ya?
It entirely depends on the debris field. You can also look through the same field multiple times, which yields greatly diminishing returns.
Is there a reason for this? I only ask for a friend who happens to be a compulsive checker who has trouble not exhausting opportunitiesI think I also have that friend.
Is there a reason for this? I only ask for a friend who happens to be a compulsive checker who has trouble not exhausting opportunitiesI think I also have that friend.
Is there a reason for this? I only ask for a friend who happens to be a compulsive checker who has trouble not exhausting opportunitiesI think I also have that friend.
Oh, right, never answered that. You can salvage debris multiple times but the amount you get is exponentially decreasing while the losses in crew and machinery are not. So it's more something you might do if you're desperate for a few more supplies right now, rather than as a matter of course.
For larger debris fields, it's going to be worth it to do a few times - but since there's a slight cooldown on the scavenge ability, it causes you to stick around for a bit, which I think also adds some nice feel.
There's been over a year since last release and still no info on when new release comes out... Just saying...
There's been over a year since last release and still no info on when new release comes out... Just saying...yeah, it's the longest release-less time yet, but it will also be the most extensive update yet. the amount of new stuff coming with 0.8a is honestly kinda crazy. ^^
Problem is not in the wait: ive waited for 10 years for Diablo 3, and i believe that its better to wait, than to get unfinished product. My problem is that im afraid that such a long "dry season" will cause major lack of interest for the game and as a result, it will do poorly once fully released. after all people are interested in product, as long as there's something to keep them interested, like new content, added on regular basis. If theres no new content added for a long period of time, people will just move on and forget about this game.
To be fair, I'm pretty sure that problem only occurs when games are advertised from an early age on big websites and providers such. Starsector is an Indie game with (I hate to say it, but it's true) not a huge amount of advertising. Compared to a lot of other games out there, Starsector is very little-known by the general public, so that issue of "people will lose interest" happens way less because the people who get into the game really get into the game. ;)Yep, this is practically one of my dream-game genres (last game I played was Reassembly, and it didn't quite hit the spot). Open world, lots of different ships with interchangeable parts, factions with different relations, modding support? Pretty much perfect. Yet, I only found out that it existed when a youtuber (who I was following for a completely different genre of game) made a video early last year and I immediately went and bought the game. Not being on Steam is probably a big reason, though Starsector is not a game that should be on Steam, because of the release cycle and alpha and such. I feel like, maybe when the game gets a couple more updates (mostly more campaign stuff and Outposts and such), it'll get more attention.