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General Discussion / Re: My Impressions as a Newbie to StarSector
« on: January 21, 2016, 10:59:44 AM »A small area around their rifts in Hyperspace is actually considered their territory - sorta like how countries that border the ocean consider a certain amount distance out to sea as still their territory.
As for the running out of fuel... you just gotta get a feel for it - the game tells you how much fuel you use per LY and how much its going to cost you to jump. Bear in mind that using Emergency Burn uses up your fuel too. I have a pretty large fleet and I suck up something like 55 fuel per LY and I don't go to any of the distant systems without at least 1800 fuel.
Yeah, I remember that about Hyperspace bordering Systems. Personally I feel it doesnt fit so well with Hyperspaces scale as it is, because I wasnt really that close to their Jumppoints. I couldnt even see them, yet.
If Scale is to remain as-is I would prefer if Faction would maybe still fend off hostiles around the entry-point, but not enforce actual law about Transponders and whatnot. At the least I would like to know when I enter certain areas. Border-patrol seems to know where their turf begins or ends, so why cant I?
Regarding getting the feel ... well, youre right that it is possible to 'get a hang of it', but I think thats not how a well-polished game should work. Roguelikes sometimes go that way but they also offer quick'n'easy restarts at the press of a button, if they are any good. Starsector is not a roguelike.
You know - I said it before that I feel Starsectors more complex, strategic Aim doesnt mix very well with the way we move about in-system and this is one of the reasons why: I am never truly aware of my fuel-consumption. I know where I would have to look and I see my current amount of fuel every now and then, but I am certainly not conscious about it. Its easy to dismiss it as my own fault, now, but shouldnt Fuel, consumption and my consecutive Range-capabilities more prominent? Its kind of like you had a car and the fuel-meter is in your glove-box: You can get a feel of how far you can get with one tank and you can check it by pulling all the junk from your glovebox to look at the meter - but that is not an elegant solution, no?
Maybe it'd be nice to have a sort of "Navigation Assistant." Like having a GPS but in space. Clicking at a destination would show a waypoint indicating the time of travel, fuel requirements and so on. Heck there could even be an option to automatically create a waypoint to a known destination that uses hyperspace routes that are safe (you know, those places without nebulas in them), and it'd alert you for any hostile or unidentified fleet that comes within x distance from you.
If you so wish, you could still soldier on through nebulas in deep space, but then you would have to take control of the helm yourself. Kinda makes sense to have some sort of navigational device in Starsector, because IT'S THE FUTURE.
Waypoints are actually a very good thougt! You know, we already move by pointing and clicking with the mouse, but it does actually make a lot of sense to 'plot courses' against wiggling your mouse all over the mousepad while keeping the Left Mousebutton pressed!
Most important about this - while plotting your course (in pause-mode, one can presume) you also get the time necessary to ponder over your Supplies and Fuel - the game gets an opportunity to present those informations to you on-screen (Im not counting the miniscule display at the bottom left).
I was thinking about this as I couldnt figure it out how both could come together: Starsector is said to go for a more complex and strategic way, and yet moving about in system-view feels very much arcadey. You keep your mousebutton pressed and wiggle your mouse round about your fleets circle. While that might work for a small band of Corvettes, it doesnt really feel like commanding an all-mighty fleet with one or several Capships, or does it? Turn-based would fit more in this case, but I knew this would never be a viable suggestion.
Plotting courses in Pause-mode versus 'direct control' or 'direct steering', though, could be a good solution. Once again I am reminded of how you would control your Uboat in Silent Hunter-games. Controll is less direct. Your most immediate option of steering is ordering the rudder to certain degrees star- or portside for a continuous turning or a definite heading (heading north is 0° - heading South is 180° etc.) ... the most comfortable option I used the most, though, is simply plotting a course on the map. You are basically giving up control to your helmsman, whom you order where to go.
By plotting courses on map youre always given time-to-arrival. I dont remember how the amount of fuel was displayed, but it could just be shown next to these waypoints as well, no?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2T4SCjBUAM
Edit: Id like to add something - while this may all in all sound like I was possibly not satisfied with Starsector - that is not the case! I like the game as it is and I am having fun with it none the less. I also welcome opinions different of my own. Just to get that out.