Newb here. I've played through the combat tutorials and the campaign tutorial, and I pretty much suck at combat. Specifically, I'm piloting only the Hammerhead and trying to strafe using the shift key. I find it very awkward to manage the shift key, WASD, shields and alternating weapons all at the same time. I have not been pausing in combat but maybe I should.Hammerhead is not a very newbie friendly ship. It's relatively slow, it has very narrow arcs of fire and massive turret blind spots. Start with a mobile ship. The Wolf is probably one of the best for that. It's got speed, it's got generous weapon choices. At destroyer level, get Medusa for the same reasons.
I'm an old guy, and reflexes are gone anyway, but I would like to know if there are things I could do that might make combat less awkward, particularly for my left hand on the keyboard. Or maybe I just need to practice. Or put it on autopilot ;).
Thanks for any tips. Other than that, I'm loving the game.
Newb here. I've played through the combat tutorials and the campaign tutorial, and I pretty much suck at combat. Specifically, I'm piloting only the Hammerhead and trying to strafe using the shift key. I find it very awkward to manage the shift key, WASD, shields and alternating weapons all at the same time. I have not been pausing in combat but maybe I should.Hammerhead is not a very newbie friendly ship. It's relatively slow, it has very narrow arcs of fire and massive turret blind spots. Start with a mobile ship. The Wolf is probably one of the best for that. It's got speed, it's got generous weapon choices. At destroyer level, get Medusa for the same reasons.
I'm an old guy, and reflexes are gone anyway, but I would like to know if there are things I could do that might make combat less awkward, particularly for my left hand on the keyboard. Or maybe I just need to practice. Or put it on autopilot ;).
Thanks for any tips. Other than that, I'm loving the game.
Or just take it easy on the piloting and sit back in a carrier like the Drover or Heron behind friendly ships.
With a Hammerhead, you might find it easiest to set your front hardpoints and turrets to autofire, and only manually control your missiles. That way, all you need to concentrate on is firing missiles at vulnerable enemies, movement, shields and Accelerated Ammo Feeder (just press F when you're ready to unload on an enemy - it recharges quite quick so use it often). It sounds like a lot but with a bit of practice you should be able to get the hand of it.^
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the is an option in the settings that inverts shift. this will let you have strafe on by default and shift will then turn it off (opposite action).I usually just hold down shift because I'm stuck in my ways, but changing it to the inverted mode where you don't need to is a good idea.
Technically I'm wasting flux by keeping the HE guns firing at shields but... most of the time its not that important.I do this too even if I fire weapons manually. One, even HE puts some hard flux on shield (if not much) and two, either AI sometimes drops shields and eats HE anyway, or keeps shields up and not try to armor-tank kinetic shots. Enemy may try to flicker shields if you only have kinetics, but not if you mix HE with kinetics.
Hammerhead is not a very newbie friendly ship. It's relatively slow, it has very narrow arcs of fire and massive turret blind spots.
QuoteTechnically I'm wasting flux by keeping the HE guns firing at shields but... most of the time its not that important.I do this too even if I fire weapons manually. One, even HE puts some hard flux on shield (if not much) and two, either AI sometimes drops shields and eats HE anyway, or keeps shields up and not try to armor-tank kinetic shots. Enemy may try to flicker shields if you only have kinetics, but not if you mix HE with kinetics.
Ditto when I use fragmentation weapons like Vulcan, Flak, or Thumper.
I'm just going off my experience. Playing Hammerhead early on, nearly made me drop the game due to constant frustration. The Hammerhead is very prone to getting flanked and the bulk of its firepower if forward fixed. It's completely fine when you already know what you are doing, but when you are a beginner who is still getting to grips with manoeuvering, the ship is a nightmare.Hammerhead is not a very newbie friendly ship. It's relatively slow, it has very narrow arcs of fire and massive turret blind spots.
I wholly disagree with this. The Hammerhead is, after the Wolf, THE definitive beginner ship. It has one spot in the rear where turret coverage is limited, yes, but otherwise I don't agree with your points at all.
the is an option in the settings that inverts shift. this will let you have strafe on by default and shift will then turn it off (opposite action).
In essence, try simulator to practice some ship control, was very helpful to learn any engagement I felt was difficult.
Also — it's less that the game expects the player to pilot one of the ships manually, it's that it expects player agency. If you don't think you can pilot your ship well, you can leave it on autopilot and spend most of the time on the map, ordering ships around to make them more aggressive. Both grouping ships and issuing eliminate orders are useful for this.
On the loadout screen.
If you don't think you can pilot your ship well, you can leave it on autopilot and spend most of the time on the map, ordering ships around to make them more aggressive. Both grouping ships and issuing eliminate orders are useful for this.
Yeah that's basically how I've been playing all of this time. It's a little different way of playing and managing the AI, but overall it is very rewarding when a plan all comes together.But doing that and piloting a ship gives the more benefit to your combat success.Unless you are doing a challenge run of "commander only", then I get it.
That sounds like it is worth a try also, if I continue to fail in the actual combat. Onward!Only as a last resort, PLEASE. The player has a far bigger potential than the AI and the only way you will unlock that potential in yourself if you get experience from piloting ships.
I don't understand....why would you use Flux Distributor, instead of slapping on 20 additional vents?Spoiler(https://i.imgur.com/JtedOXB.png)[close]
Yeah that's basically how I've been playing all of this time. It's a little different way of playing and managing the AI, but overall it is very rewarding when a plan all comes together.But doing that and piloting a ship gives the more benefit to your combat success.Unless you are doing a challenge run of "commander only", then I get it.
Oh I know, I've just never really got around to learning and so I never have.Exactly it's a viscous circle, which is why I suggest letting the AI handle it as the absolute last resort.
Pick and choose your battles, become antiquated with how the AI operates, and it's easy enough to play the whole game without personally firing a single shot.You are missing out on part of the game, a very fun part.
There's an option that allows you to use arcade controls instead of tank controls.I dunno, I always used the default controls and hold shift whenever it is needed. Really you mix the two things mid combat a lot depending on how you want the ship to move/shoot.
Alex should really make this default because it's basically mandatory. Piloting a frigate is impossible unless you use this, or have your finger on shift all the time.
Same here.There's an option that allows you to use arcade controls instead of tank controls.I dunno, I always used the default controls and hold shift whenever it is needed. Really you mix the two things mid combat a lot depending on how you want the ship to move/shoot.
Alex should really make this default because it's basically mandatory. Piloting a frigate is impossible unless you use this, or have your finger on shift all the time.
- Piloting Conquest or Shrike(=broadside) takes more keys (need both turn and strafe keys simultaneously) than normal turn-to-cursor ships. Having to hold shift in process wouldn't help.
There's an option that allows you to use arcade controls instead of tank controls.
There's an option that allows you to use arcade controls instead of tank controls.
Where do I find this option? Or is this just a reference to the shift key default option?
OK, thanks, those sound like good suggestions. I'll give both a try.Feel free to post some video recordings of your gameplay of ship vs ship battles. I am sure people can give you more advise on what you could improve further.
~Do the tutorial until you are comfortable~Amen. While we are on that, it really irks me when people skip tutorials in general. I do tutorials in every game because that is the developer reaching out to the player to give some of the most important notes on how the game plays, be it strategy, controls or whatever. To skip that you either imply the game has no depth, or is so similar to something you have played that it presents zero deviance in terms of controls/strategy/gameplay elements.
Also: in data/config/settings.json, there's a "combatSpeedMult" setting. Setting it to something lower than 1 might be something to try to see if a slower pace feels more manageable.Neat, didn't know this existed, might try bumping it up to 1.3 and see what life is like in the fast lane.
Neat, didn't know this existed, might try bumping it up to 1.3 and see what life is like in the fast lane.I set mine to 2f, and it still plays slower than other games like Transcendence or Endless Sky. Normal 1f is unbearably slow. I would set it to 2.5f or 3f, except Starsector starts to lose gameplay fidelity at speeds higher than 2f. Sounds may not play at the proper times, and hit detection may be (subtly) different.
Post a vid with 2f.Neat, didn't know this existed, might try bumping it up to 1.3 and see what life is like in the fast lane.I set mine to 2f, and it still plays slower than other games like Transcendence or Endless Sky. Normal 1f is unbearably slow. I would set it to 2.5f or 3f, except Starsector starts to lose gameplay fidelity at speeds higher than 2f. Sounds may not play at the proper times, and hit detection may be (subtly) different.
That is the only setting I am willing to change (reluctantly) in the settings.json, and only because I probably would drop Starsector due to agonizingly slow gameplay at normal speed. If I touch other settings, I probably change enough to make my character extremely overpowered.
I do not post vids. (Not creating an account to do so.)Post a webm? No accounts needed for that.
Feel free to post some video recordings of your gameplay of ship vs ship battles. I am sure people can give you more advise on what you could improve further.
Thanks for the offer. I'll probably be too embarrassed to record my suckage ;D but lemme think about it.Sure, just saying if you have troubles, and don't know where to improve, I am sure people could give you plenty of advise on what to work on that is tailored specific to you and thus, one would assume, the fastest way to improve.
Post a vid with 2f.
Not the same. Point is - it's impossible to control with same fidelity (for most people, including me, anyway).Post a vid with 2f.Find any video of Starsector combat running at standard speed, change the video speed to 2x.
To be ultra fair, i don't think the game has any visual indicators for the direction you're drifting in. Low-key idle/active engine FX just acting as 'trails' may help with that visual indication.
To be ultra fair, i don't think the game has any visual indicators for the direction you're drifting in. Low-key idle/active engine FX just acting as 'trails' may help with that visual indication.
(There's a starfield or "dust" motes that move relative to your ship's velocity; it's there precisely for this purpose. It's fairly subtle, though - kind of has to or it'd be annoying.)What starfield? The only thing that looks remotely like a starfield (to me) is the wallpaper background, which is cloudy.
Thanks everyone for the great tips! I had no idea you could invert the shift function so it's always on; I will definitely try that. I will stick with the Hammerhead for now (and possibly think about a carrier later) and will set front hardpoints and turrets to autofire as suggested. Those two changes alone, along with a lot of practice, should help. Onward!
What starfield? The only thing that looks remotely like a starfield (to me) is the wallpaper background, which is cloudy.
*Cosmo just exiting the game* Oh wow, you're right. The things players take for granted i guess. :) Still, the dust (just the 'mid/top' layer?) does 'spiral' around your ship when you change heading, disorientating while you do that since the 'drift' helper mostly disappears in that case or just gets lost in the jumble.
For what it's worth, I've noticed this things long ago and while now I have to remind myself they are there, I rarely ever have issues locating my current vector. I might be using them unconsciously for that purpose.