Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => General Discussion => Topic started by: Lawrence Master-blaster on February 10, 2025, 11:40:30 PM
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I was watching GrumpyThumper's series about estabilishing a colony and in one of the videos he blew up a Remnant Nexus to get an Alpha AI core he wanted.
Which surprised me bceause I didn't even know that was a thing. When I want Alpha cores I just blow up regular Ordos until they drop. I don't have any specific numbers but my gut feeling tells me a full sized Ordo has an Alpha AI Core drop rate of at least 50%. So they really don't take that much effort to get. This is further compounded by the fact you just don't need that many Alpha cores in the first place; one for every planet(if you even want to use AI Cores for planets) and maybe one for the Radiant, but again only if you bother with Automated Ships at all. I guess you could put Alphas in Glimmers but that's just showing off.
(Compare this with how much XP you'd have to farm to S-mod all your industries)
So it got me thinking, did Alex intend Alpha cores to actually be much more rare than they are? I'm reminded of the unique bar mission where a "scientist" tells you where to find one and it seems like a big deal - but I never batted an eye sending the core back to him. And realistically, how many of these super-cores could Tri-Tachyon actually manufacture?
Anyway, tl;dr, my proposal is this: limit Alpha AI cores to Remnant capital ships only, and while we're at it limit Beta cores to Remnant destroyers/cruisers only, weighed towards the cruisers. This will make the rare commodity actually rare and the choices related to it actual choices.
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I don't think there is much evidence that AI cores are meant to be rare, except for perhaps in the case of Alpha cores. Even though every significant event seems to have an alpha core involved...
It's assumed everyone used AI cores before the first AI War, and we've never been shown the actual reasoning behind the ban, or how it was implemented. Every major faction could conceivably have a warehouse full of them.
Even the player's use of AI cores has never been strongly curtailed, and there has been a lot of development work to make their use a costly choice within the game world rather than a rare resource for the player.
Should they be more inconvenient? Maybe, but no, I don't think they should be more rare.
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If you're farming AI cores by killing ordos or remnant nexus you're fighting the hardest repeatable content the game offers right now. Boosting colonies with them is nice. 2-5 colonies without them already fund a full power fleet.
I don't think they're out of place as a reward, since they're mostly a late game vanity project right now.
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If anything, I could make a case for them to be more common drops than they are. A Gamma core is 10k credits, Beta core is 30k credits, and an Alpha core is 150k credits. Triple if sold to TriTach. Also, TriTach isn't paying top credits for recovered cores from some merc fly-jockey: we can guarantee that the value per is at least 2x what you get for selling 'em.
The Domain seemed to use them in many combat ships as well, see those fleets of flying bricks around survey/motherships. The guardian around the cryosleepers. And the you-know-what's around the coronal hypershunts.
Even when it comes to the [REDACTED], during the AI wars TT put them into most of their automated defenses and automated builds. Loads of floating AI cores, all over the show. While we don't know the details nor difficulty of how they are made, TT wouldn't be kicking them around like footballs.
Which opens a path for some lore/roleplaying:
"We got a new shipment of Alpha Cores from Tri-Tach. Remember that each one is worth a thousand times our combined yearly incomes, so give 'em good shielding and EMP-hardening for recovery after combat. Triple-check the safeties are on too, we don't need another officer with his legs blown off when one of 'em goes rogue."
- TSgt "Murphy" Moran, unofficial pre-Collapse training tape [REDACTED]
"Of course they're suicidal. Take something capable of running a planet and strap it into a frigate hull. You'd be suicidal too, at the thought of doing that for a thousand years. What're we gonna do though, crush it?"
- TSgt "Murphy" Moran, unofficial pre-Collapse training tape [REDACTED]
"Top Brass can treat these things like ordering pencils if they want. We ain't crushing it. Shaddup and strap it into a different hull."
- TSgt "Murphy" Moran, unofficial pre-Collapse training tape [REDACTED]
"New testing regime. When we complete final power-up and turn-on the entire team parades around it for thirty minutes, to test the safety-interlocks. Survivors of any 'accidents' will be cashiered and blacklisted without medical or pension."
- TSgt "Murphy" Moran, unofficial pre-Collapse training tape [REDACTED]
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If we were to take mechanics as intended, AI cores can be made by the Remnants and in fairly large numbers. Enough that if one were foolhardy enough, one could make an AI Core farm.
Keep in mind, though, that your AI Core farm would be facing a ton of Ordos and should you be up to the task...
You have an effectively infinite (in gameplay terms) supply of AI Cores. At least until some idiot merc blows up the Remant Nexus, that is.
(Please do not do this unless you can outfight three Radiants and their attendants. Preferably without the High-Tech Battlestation and it's absurdly useful Fortress Shields.)
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If anything, I could make a case for them to be more common drops than they are.
Well, they will be more common next patch, for those who were using automated ships anyway.
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If anything, I could make a case for them to be more common drops than they are. A Gamma core is 10k credits, Beta core is 30k credits, and an Alpha core is 150k credits. Triple if sold to TriTach. Also, TriTach isn't paying top credits for recovered cores from some merc fly-jockey: we can guarantee that the value per is at least 2x what you get for selling 'em.
I think that is doubtful. I was under the impression that TT pay way more than the cores are "worth" because they want to make sure they end up with them. The base cost of an Alpha is comparable to a an average combat cruiser, but TT will pay you almost Paragon levels of credits to get the core. It's one of those rare times in videogames where the item markup is actually in your favor.
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Tritach DO use AI cores a lot. Enough cores to have a
graveyard of self-deleted cores it seems to deal with the ziggy project so i guess it makes sense they value them that high.
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If anything, I could make a case for them to be more common drops than they are. A Gamma core is 10k credits, Beta core is 30k credits, and an Alpha core is 150k credits. Triple if sold to TriTach. Also, TriTach isn't paying top credits for recovered cores from some merc fly-jockey: we can guarantee that the value per is at least 2x what you get for selling 'em.
I think that is doubtful. I was under the impression that TT pay way more than the cores are "worth" because they want to make sure they end up with them. The base cost of an Alpha is comparable to a an average combat cruiser, but TT will pay you almost Paragon levels of credits to get the core. It's one of those rare times in videogames where the item markup is actually in your favor.
(My emphasis.) You make a good point there, particularly in the case of Alpha cores. /thinking
According to the wiki:
| LC/LP | 10% |
| Hegemony | 100% |
| Persean League | 150% |
| TriTach | 300% |
| All Others | 200% |
Recovering cores from [REDACTED] fleets on the regular is unlikely (essentially player-only) how would that factor into the equation? What about ideology/faction vs big credits/early retirement, for the very lucky captain who recovers them?
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I do think Alpha Cores should be significantly rarer. The Domain was terrified of them, but with how common they are in the Sector as "Remants" there must've been armies of them during the first AI War, and they were defeated by a diminished backwater Legion of the Domain. Now perhaps future story beats will explain why Alpha AIs seem so common yet so complacent in the Sector, but as it is they just seem far too pedestrian and I'd rather they be a lot rarer and more "mysterious". Yes I know SUPER-ALABASTER has kind of taken the "mysterious" theme, but still.
Betas and Gammas can be common. Alphas should be very rare.
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and they were defeated by a diminished backwater Legion of the Domain.
I'm not so sure that's the case. If you open comms with a Remnant fleet, it starts off with a Tri-Tachyon opening before being interrupted with queries about Omega. I think that whatever got them obsessed with Omega also caused Tri-Tachyon to lose its control over them. The Hegemony and Luddic Church may very well have been losing before that.
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I think it's fine if they're not incredibly RARE, as long as they require a fairly worthy challenge to acquire. Being able to farm Ordos is no beginner's feat so if you're raking in Alphas then you're pretty much a made man and odds are you've kinda earned it.
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I was watching GrumpyThumper's series about estabilishing a colony and in one of the videos he blew up a Remnant Nexus to get an Alpha AI core he wanted.
This issue is very much with the Damaged Battlestations being too vulnerable. Alex should give them their shields so they can actually defend themselves.
I get that they are supposed to be DAMAGED. But as you can see it creates a very cheesy gameplay loop
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That is a factor to consider with people farming alpha cores; you do have to be slightly good at the game. In the pursuit of balance, you should be careful to not punish people for being skilled, especially in a single-player game
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No, they should not be more rare. I do not get very many cores until I start farming Ordos, which is the end of the game. The cores I do find before the Ordos farming part of the game, which or mostly some gamma and beta plus few alphas, may or may not be enough to use for Automated Ships I use. Once it is Ordos farming time, it is either time to quit (in which case, core glut is not seen) or go all the way for total sector colonization (in which case, cores do not drop enough fast enough).
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Once it is Ordos farming time, it is either time to quit (in which case, core glut is not seen) or go all the way for total sector colonization (in which case, cores do not drop enough fast enough).
I love total sector colonization. :3