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1

General Discussion / Re: Unloved and Forgotten - Dominator

« on: May 06, 2025, 08:56:21 AM »

I've had success using Dominators in my current run (mostly XIV except 2 manticores and 5 high-tech frigates). I think they really need the support of a frigate, otherwise they get flanked too easily by enemy frigates. And an officer with elite impact mitigation is really good on it too, of course. When I use doms, I usually go for a setup with two hellbores, two flak cannons, 3 railguns, vulcans in the other small slots and lately 3 sabot pods. Ballistic rangefinder and ITU. I've heard omni shields are really good for fixing a lot of nose-wiggling behaviour, which is by far the thing that hurts the dominator the most, but I haven't tried it yet myself. I'd attach a picture, but I don't have Starsector on my phone 

Well yeah, your Dominator build has issues with being flanked; you've built it to have issues with being flanked. Add light assault guns and light autocannons to the sides leaving just a pair of vulcans in the rear slots and suddenly it'll be a lot less vulnerable to frigates - or fighters, for that matter; LAGs are great at anti-fighter too. (It can still get swarmed if things go wrong and you're up against Pathers or the like, but if you actually give it the guns to deal with flankers, it'll deal with normal levels of flankers, no problem.)

2

General Discussion / Re: Unloved and Forgotten - Dominator

« on: May 04, 2025, 05:56:35 PM »

Yeah, people swear by their Onslaughts and sleep on the Dominator and I really don't understand why; in most cases I'd rather take the Dominator.

I think it may be partly due to the Cult of the Vulcan? I've seen people post Dominator builds that are just 100% vulcans in the smalls, and then they wonder why it fares poorly without heavy support and a line of battle so things can't flank it at all ever.

You do need at least one maneuverability boost, yes. But there are three available boosts, and ideally you want Impact Mitigation for a Dominator anyway so Elite Impact Mitigation isn't generally a high opportunity cost.

My preferred setup is:
2x flak (or dual flak, either works): You use the medium slots for PD because medium ballistic PD is really exceptionally good compared to every other PD option out there.
3x premium light kinetic gun, in the front three small turrets: Small ballistic kinetics are high efficiency and decent DPS. Putting primary armor-crackers in small slots doesn't work; putting primary kinetics in small slots does, so these go here. I'll generally go with 2x light needler and 1x railgun or light mass driver, but really any of the premium kinetic options work fine.
2x hellbore: You do need armor cracking, and the hellbore is cheap and flux-efficient armor cracking.
2x light assault gun, in the left-and-right side-facing turrets. These do really good work against destroyers, frigates, and fighters, and are key to having a Dominator build that is less vulnerable to flanking.
2x light autocannon, rear-left and rear-right: cheap anti-shield for dealing with flanking ships. Gets the job done at minimal cost.
2x vulcan, rearmost two turrets: Vulcans are kinda trash at actually shooting down missiles, but your choices are vulcans or mining lasers and mining lasers are worse at handling more than one missile at a time. It's still a good idea to invest in an omni shield emitter or insulated engines, though.
3x whatever medium missile floats your boat. I do tend to like gorgons, as they perform well at hitting smaller flanking ships, further buffering the Dominator's usual weakness, but you can make solid arguments for literally any of the options.

Ballistic Rangefinder is surprisingly not mandatory; I used this sort of build to good effect before that hullmod even existed, and it works fine without it even now. What is mandatory is some form of improved defense against EMP - hullmods like resistant flux conduits, armored weapon mounts, automated repair unit, and/or officer skills like impact mitigation or damage control. You don't need all of those for normal opponents, but you definitely need at least something. (Oh, and you also need ITU, of course.)

3

Blog Posts / Re: Writing False Idols

« on: April 30, 2025, 10:00:38 AM »

In hindsight, yeah the trusted operator and her character make sense, but I just want to mention I did expect the flowchart with options laid out in the blog post when actually playing the mission.

(Yeah, I sat down and started thinking about how to implement this, like: get a list of possibly multiple player colonies with nanoforges - do they have to be pristine? or maybe just allow corrupted if no pristine exist? - and assembling them into a list alongside with good-relations faction-forges - or maybe just commercial contacts on worlds with forges? - and thinking about how to make sure it wouldn't overflow the options, or feel like it was arbitrarily cut down, and then... I concluded with "I ain't doing all that."

It happens from time to time that I propose some ridiculously complex thing and Alex is like "let's just do X" and it'll avoid 10 hours of dev time. Or, more realistically, several frustrating hours that make me decide to simplify it anyway. I've gotten much better at recognizing these situations over the years!)

So, thinking over this some more...
• This felt bad to me because the missions right before it acknowledged the player colonies existing, and then this one just... didn't. Much like Aerolfos, I headed over to my colony first just to see if something would trigger even if the mission said "go to place X".
• On further consideration, all the pieces are there to explain why it has to be that specific site, they just aren't brought up at the right times or in the right contexts.
 1: Discretion is required. This means player colonies or the Luddic Church site; can't go to other factions even if the player has a commission.
 2: A library of forge signatures is required. This is something that needs to be built up over years or decades, and means that the required site must be one that's been in continual operation for a very long time - i.e., you have to do this at an established faction, not the player's colonies.

My suggestion for a quick fix: Add a "visit a forge technician" option to any player-owned colony with any quality of nanoforge installed. When selected, you get a quick dialog with the tech explaining that, sorry, they can't actually do that here: they simply don't have the library of forge signatures needed. "It hasn't been a priority. We've been making things, not taking them apart." Once it's been selected once at one player colony, the option disappears, never to resurface.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed Ayo Tanaica's character. I wish there was an option to offer her a job on one of your colonies, perhaps by dangling the opportunity of working with a pristine nanoforge in front of her. It just feels like something my captain would do given she seems competent and clearly doesn't quite enjoy her current position. It wouldn't even need any tangible benefits, but it would be a cool flavor event.

This would be cool. Honestly, in the moment, I just wanted a "Here, take 20,000 credits, and put some work into expanding your forge signature library", since she'd just been complaining about that being a low priority for the Church. But actually hiring her would be neat, too.

4

Blog Posts / Re: Writing False Idols

« on: April 29, 2025, 01:38:04 PM »

Random impressions while playing through...
* Feels weird to get sent to Asher for nanoforge technicians when I have my own colony right there on Crocodile with a pristine nanoforge that's been there for cycles. (I get that you can't cover every possibility... but the mission -does- already acknowledge it if you mention that you administer your own colony, which makes it then not acknowledging that colony later feel a bit off. Maybe if there was some reason that required the Church's nanoforge specialist?)

And then reading through the actual blog post...
* Huh, there's commentary on the options for a nanoforge technician... oh. "As you can see, many details were cut or changed." Okay.

Yeah, story-wise, I see why you went the way you did there; give us a character to interact with rather than having to be generic about where/who they are... but on the other hand, there wasn't anything in that interaction that made it feel like yes, we really needed to be talking to this specific technician. Maybe play up secrecy/security a bit more or something? I dunno.

Edit: Oh, hm. That's a bunch of words complaining about a relatively minor thing in what was, overall, a good set of missions. And I do appreciate getting to see some of the progress that went into this; will have to replay and see what other ways things can play out.

5

Blog Posts / Re: Writing False Idols

« on: April 29, 2025, 12:00:04 PM »

Hm. Guess I have some missions to go track down and run through.

...Um. Hm. I did deliver Jethro back to Jaspis. I have Jaspis in my comm listings for Gilead. Jaspis has nothing to say to me and I have no idea where to go / what to do to actually start False Idols.

Edit: Lol, nevermind, literally started up automagically when I decided to just do a tour of every Church-held world and got to Asher.
Edit2: Further lol, because hey, Kumari Kandam system? Oh, yes, that's where my home base is. Crocodile makes for an excellent industrial base.

6

Suggestions / Re: Abyss campgin suggestions

« on: April 28, 2025, 09:56:42 PM »

It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Frotz grue.

Threat and Dwellers are pretty different but I'm not finding fleet compositions that work well for one not working well against the other.)

I actually have; tested a missile-heavy neural-linked Radiant build, and it works well enough against Threat - go in, assassinate the constructors, call for a full retreat, then fight any surviving secondary ships - but the Dwellers have so much more PD that it's not very effective there. (Still functionalish with 'just' 2x autopulse and a plasma cannon, but... not great.)

7

Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.98a (Released) Patch Notes

« on: April 28, 2025, 11:29:43 AM »

I'd go for the low tech station for dragonfires; it's got a good supply of medium missile mounts, and, for dragonfires on a station, the large version is a strict downgrade - lower fire rate and the ammo doesn't matter. Mid-tech star fortress has... lessee, four medium missile and four large missile mounts. By contrast, a low-tech station (of any grade) has eight medium missile mounts (and four composite mounts, though good luck getting it to actually put missiles in those.)

(Theoretically the high tech station ought to be decent too, due to having a lot of medium synergy slots... but the fittings I've seen tend to put energy weapons into those, even if you have a medium missile prioritized.)

8

Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.98a (Released) Patch Notes

« on: April 28, 2025, 08:26:25 AM »

In any event, it was a rare opportunity to unleash a battlestation on an enemy.  What was disappointing was even though I had Dragonfire DEMs prioritized and no other missiles, my Star Fortress used Squalls and MIRVs instead.  I felt let down.  I wanted to see a red light show.  With high-tech battlestations, whatever energy weapons I want prioritized they get used, but not the missiles for the midline battlestation.

Your high tech stations actually use the energy weapons you prioritize? I wish mine would, but they don't; they're all too happy to downsize the large weapons (even when I have large weapons prioritized) and install graviton or IR-auto beams even when the only mediums I have prioritized are pulse lasers.

9

General Discussion / Re: How to build tempests so they don't die instantly

« on: April 27, 2025, 06:05:34 PM »

- 360 degree shield arcs if you can get it in any way. One s-mod is necessary for that, but its 100% worth it, even if you're not swimming in story points. In your case where they already have 3 s-mods, just get regular extended shields and front conversion.

I've tested* some 360 shield versions of Tempests, and in my experience, they die more often than ones with just s-modded extended shields. It comes down to reaction speed; they'll often turn their shields off when they shouldn't, and with an omni emitter they can more quickly get shields back up in the direction it's needed, while a front-emitter Tempest can just die when its shields haven't extended far enough yet.

* This was the result I got from deploying them in actual battles; this is not based off simulator testing.

10

General Discussion / Re: How to build tempests so they don't die instantly

« on: April 26, 2025, 10:09:24 AM »

No officers - they're all shacked up in cruisers and destroyers.

With no officers, you probably want a build with Advanced Optics and either 2x phase lance or phase lance + heavy burst laser; they'll be a lot more fragile without an officer, and the extra range will help. Gorgons, swarmers, and breach missiles are the ones I've found to be best on tempests, though gazers can be amusing too for the 'more beams!' feel. (Probably don't want to go everything-in-one-group-with-a-PD-gun-included for gorgons or gazers, though; that's a maximize-fire-rate thing to do with high-ammo missiles like swarmers or breach where you just don't care about wasting missile ammo.)

I just kindof assumed officered Tempests on the basis that you were trying to get them not to die. (Edit: Well, that, and my fleet compositions always have officers in every ship I'm actually putting on the field; seeing someone run out of officers is weird.)

11

General Discussion / Re: How to build tempests so they don't die instantly

« on: April 26, 2025, 09:38:55 AM »

The first and most important thing to get a Tempest to not die is to s-mod extended shields. The second requirement is to have a good number of flux capacitors; seven is the minimum I'd field, but more is better. (Non-s-modded extended shields is still better than no extended shields if your s-mod slots are already occupied.)

Last patch I would also have said that a installed-on-the-Tempest PD weapon is near-mandatory, but in 0.98 you can skip that without being in too much trouble from its ship system burning off its drones.

For the specific s-mod setup you've described, I would suggest: Gorgon DEM SRM, Pulse Laser (left turret), Heavy Burst Laser or Phase Lance (right turret), extended shields, hardened shields, hardened subsystems, 8+ capacitors and the rest in flux vents.

Or, alternatively, Swarmer SRM, Phase Lance (left turret), Heavy Burst Laser (right turret), all weapons in one group to ensure auto-fire, extended shields, hardened shields, hardened subsystems, advanced optics, 9 capacitors.

Sabots are a good choice for a Tempest you're piloting yourself, but the AI won't get great use out of them.

i know this might turn out to be not true
but i always believed auxiliary thrusters helped Tempest AI

the ability to manoeuvre more quickly (btw, auxiliary thrusters increases acceleration stats by 100% not 50%, it's really strong) makes it so the ship will more easily disengage and position itself at perfect encounter range

I would strongly advise not going with aux thrusters on a Tempest. It's not worth it, and it's doubly not worth it when you should be getting maneuverability bonus from an officer with Helmsmanship.

12

Mods / Re: [0.98a-RC5] Planetary Shield: Access Control (1.7)

« on: April 23, 2025, 09:56:35 AM »

Ah, thanks; that's definitely a bug (if a minor one); I'll get it fixed soonish.

Good day Wyvern! 

Is the Planentary Shield Codex start reveal bug already fixed? 

Not yet. I've been busy with other things, and it's a really minor bug, given that codex unlocks are persistent across save-games and I don't expect anyone to be even installing this mod without already knowing what the Planetary Shield is (and thus not being spoiled by an early unlock in the codex.)

13

Suggestions / Re: Luddic Majority Buff makes habitable planets too OP

« on: April 22, 2025, 07:44:35 PM »

And because refining doesn't rely on any resources, if the player wants to get a commission they can find any airless rock right in the core for very high accessibility (and pirate protection). I got lucky in my current game and rolled elevator + catalytic core on my first mining station, so that's my plan.

Crocodile!  (Okay, that's not a commission thing, that's a "I don't mind blowing up Pather fleets" thing.)

Edit: If you want a really good Crocodile, seed MN-1011852172644534476 with a mod-free game start under 0.98-RC5 has both ore types and a hypershunt within 10 light years; I'm actually tempted to use a tap for once, since I've built up to the point where my refining cannot be disrupted. (No guarantees on what you'll get with mods or a different RC; sector generation can be very fragile.)

14

Suggestions / Re: Reasons to love irradiated and toxic planets

« on: April 22, 2025, 11:14:21 AM »

I think that would go a long way towards completely disarming the problem of rolling a new sector and then hoping you got a good one as opposed to going. Oh, this one's junk. I'm going to re-roll the new one. That we see over and over again and discussion.

Colonize Crocodile. Problem solved. :-P

15

General Discussion / Re: We need to talk about Technology capstones again

« on: April 22, 2025, 11:10:01 AM »

Maybe lock putting cores in the story-based automated ships behind AS, but not using neural link. That accomplishes two things:

* Oldslaught doesn't trivialize early game - it's a free capital, sure, but you need AS or NL to get it to put skills on it.

* AS feels special again - you can't put an AI core in a ship without it, which is a clear demarcation line and reestablishes the value-add of "your fleet, in practical terms, now has more officers than it did".

Just wanted to say, I'm *really* liking this idea! Heck, it could even be "anything above Gamma requires it" if the non-AS ships are too weak without at least something. Need to think it through a bit more, but made a note for the future.

I'd lock it down to any AI core needing the skill; if you want "at least something" on them, well that's what Support Doctrine is for, now isn't it?

The two big questions here are:
• What happens if you permanently integrate an AI core and then spec out of Automated Ships?
• Should Neural Integrator also require the Automated Ships skill? (Probably yes, but it's still a question worth thinking about.)