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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Topics - Reshy

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 6
1
Suggestions / Going to war over transponders
« on: December 04, 2022, 11:25:39 PM »
This is something I've noticed the game does this, but especially for long duration games where you become the dominant power smaller factions are more than willing to go to war over your transponders, even if it gets them nuked off the face of the sector.  To me, that seems a bit silly that a faction will risk complete annihilation over something akin to not having a license plate.  Note that the AI also only cares about transponders when the player does it, and not when any other fleet from any other faction does it.  It's really weird and jarring, doubly so when you have commission and it still happens with the commissioned faction.  There needs to be some exceptions to when fleets won't bother with the transponders:  You've Diplomatic Immunity (established faction with X many colonies/pop), You're working for that faction (Undercover FBI now *** off), you have good reputation with them so they'll look the other way, and of course "Ask me about my transponders and die" for pickets threatening much larger and well equipped fleets they're not able to escape from much less fight rather than doing something sensible like maintaining contact for other better equipped fleets to deal with.  I guess the option to also pay off officials to look the other way for transponders would be appreciated. 

2
Suggestions / SQUIRREL AI and other pathfinding issues
« on: December 02, 2022, 06:59:25 PM »
So, a major issue I have noticed with the game's default AI behavior is the prioritizing of chasing around itty bitty frigates to the far corners of the map instead of focusing on engaging the main body of the enemy forces, giving the AI ships what I call "SQUIRREL" moments where it's distracted by some sort of minor feature that's not really a threat over a main body that is a threat.  The other issue is that the AI tends to stack on top of itself rather than spreading itself out more strategically.  The ships first try to get into engagement range for the shortest path, even if there's a larger ship in front rather than pathfinding to the nearest open "spot" for a firing line.  Another observation I have made but when equipped with long range weapons exclusively a ship will remain far away, but if equipped with any point defenses the ship will try to get the point defenses into the range of the targeted ship even if they're on the rear arc and cannot possibly hit the targeted ship.

3
General Discussion / Old Versions of Starfarer/Starsector
« on: December 31, 2018, 08:17:26 PM »
The blog only catalogues correctly down to version 0.53a, as the older links redirect to a broken link that no longer exists, so I decided to upload the older versions I still had on my computer.  So I decided to upload them so they could still be accessed, maybe Alex can eventually get the archive on the website working again:

Windows:
.33a
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ygUcWcdStwNvN5byZ2gruDB0l32k_luw/view?usp=sharing

.34a
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a22an14HQM33znJNVUxA2yXHgtCxmibk/view?usp=sharing

.35a
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yNF1vSg6NHxPsrnz4surK6s3A9VAjRaQ/view?usp=sharing

.5a
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OBlm0sx8tPxj1Q19xpeKX5cwVkQybVlD/view?usp=sharing


I wonder if anyone else managed to catalogue the older versions besides just me.

4
General Discussion / Anyone have .5a RC3?
« on: January 17, 2017, 11:21:38 AM »
Hello, I wanted to know if anyone still had the installer for the early edition of starfarer.  The fractalsoftworks forum doesn't have that old version anymore, so I want to know if anyone else backed it up manually.

http://fractalsoftworks.com/2012/02/

5
Suggestions / Strategic AI
« on: January 31, 2014, 12:01:18 AM »
Just wondering but the game doesn't really seem to feature any real coordination between different ships, it's all sort of a free for all.  Ships always taking the shortest path to the target which isn't good for combat for many reasons.  My thought however is that the AI really should have more coordination between ships. Ie if three ships are heading to the same target they'll try to maintain distance from each other and approach at different angles even if it gets them there slightly slower.


For example say you're going against a cruiser, you have a destroyer and two frigates.  Right now if you attack they all end up going straight to the unit, often bumping into each other and getting in their personal space and creating bottlenecks and friendly fire incidents.  When giving multiple units orders (or the AI does) they each should create a strategy.  For example faster ships will move to flank while the slower ships will go straight towards the target so they all arrive at about the same time.  The more ships attacking a target the more the ships should spread out to attack from as many different angles as possible.  Omni shields are really good against enemies attacking from one direction and most of the time that's what they do, with the exception of fighters and frigates.  Even then those ones don't time it well so they tend to come at you one at a time giving a ship enough time to angle it around for the next fight.


Quote
          V


        ^^^

Quote
>          V          <

            ^


While each ship alone seems pretty smart, as a group they feel pretty dumb and uncoordinated.  Some strafing into another strafing ship in the opposite direction.  Instead of all going clockwise or counter clock wise they go whichever way and end up bumping into each other.

6
General Discussion / Fighters
« on: January 27, 2014, 11:12:09 PM »
Just a short thought but would fighters be more effective if they split up and each fighter flanked a ship from a different direction?  Right not they all cluster together making them vulnerable to things like flak and are easily protected against since all the damage is coming from a small angle.

7
Discussions / Harvard invents.... the lightsaber?
« on: October 19, 2013, 02:21:26 AM »
http://www.geek.com/science/new-form-of-photon-based-matter-is-essentially-a-lightsaber-1571956/





Quote
Modern physics has taught us quite a lot about light and how it behaves, but some of what we thought we knew might not be entirely accurate. A team of scientists from MIT and Harvard have been herding photons through a cloud of super-cold atoms in an attempt to get them to do something that was once considered impossible — bind together. According to a new paper, they may have succeeded in creating a new form of matter entirely from photons, which is basically a lightsaber.

Conventional wisdom holds that photons are massless particles that don’t interact with each other, so how can they form molecules? The key was to create a special medium in which photons can interact strongly enough that they attract one another as if they have mass. This so-called “photonic matter” has been theorized for some time in scientific circles, but only in the abstract.

The team used a vacuum chamber filled with rubidium atoms to facilitate the formation of photonic matter. The cloud of gas was cooled to within a few degrees of absolute zero using (fittingly) lasers. Short laser pulses were then used to send individual photons into the cloud where the chilled gas sapped energy away from them, causing the photons to slow down considerably by the time they exited the cloud. If more than one photon was sent in at the same time, the researchers found the particles would lose so much energy that they emerged together as a single molecule.

The Harvard and MIT scientists believe this newly observed interaction between photons could be of great importance in the field of quantum computing. Photons have been studied as a medium for doing quantum calculations, but one of the principal challenges has always been that they don’t interact with each other. Well, now there might be a way to make that happen in the context of a quantum computer. The process still needs to be refined, but it’s an exciting proof-of-concept.

A few photons sticking together is a long way from a lightsaber, but we can still dream, can’t we?


Well well well...

8
Suggestions / Larger Fleets and Improved Logistics
« on: September 19, 2013, 07:09:18 AM »
Okay so I'm trying to sit here and understand why CR was implemented in the first place.  I mean it sounds good but it seems like for the most part your fleet is simply too small for it to be safe to deploy less than every single ship in the fleet.  I don't know but I'm thinking that maybe with the implementation of CR that logistics can be phased out entirely.  Logistics is simply an artificial limit to compensate for other issues, if we're able to keep our fleets paid for and well supplied we should by rights be able to have as large of a fleet as we want.  The computers certainly can at any rate.


Enemy fleets also don't seem to conscious about logistics and that needs to change, none of the fleets carry around the amount of supply ships that Alex said they should and that the player certainly would need to have.  I believe I heard Alex saying you'd likely need a small swarm of freighters just to field a single capital ship.  So where the hell are all the freighters?!





It might also be worth dropping the logistics cost of ships by 50% and reducing the frigate supply cost by another half.  Adding a skill that reduces logistics cost by like 3% per level would be good.

9
Suggestions / CR Mechanics and Frigates (Rant)
« on: September 16, 2013, 01:51:45 AM »
I don't understand why this system was put into place, why make frigates glorified wind-up toys that expire quickly in battle?  They're already pretty much useless by the time you get a cruiser or a capital ship (Anyone here that's played forlorn hope knows what I mean).  So why do they need to be out gunned, out ranged, out less efficient, less durable and just to put the cherry on top they can be easily outlasted.  Why do frigates need to be outclassed in every possible way?  Five Lashers will lose every time to one paragon, they have to get far into the instant death area of larger ships just to get in a few measly shots.  And to top it all off they start to malfunction.  It's absurd to make already weak ships weaker.  Previously I rarely used frigates except as fast better-than-fighter ships.  Now wings are upgraded and frigates get hit with the nerf hammer for no real reason other than they can kite enemies.  Really? Kiting with small weapons that are out ranged by anything bigger than you?  Are we playing the same game here?  Because I'm pretty sure 9/10 a frigate gets smashed by anything larger than it that is a combat ship.


Also for another inexplicable reason they gave the Buffalo Mark II a timer, why do all the *** ships need to be extra worthless as if to point out the fact that they're useless and you shouldn't ever touch then even with a ten foot pole?  Thankfully the Brawler is not affected by the wind-up toy mechanic and can still be used long term if you need it to.  But in general frigates cost too much, do too little, die too quickly, and now just to top it all they also break down after a few minutes as if they've become bored of life.

10
Suggestions / Sector Events
« on: August 03, 2013, 02:07:23 PM »
In the sector Events may spawn at certain points on the map, Events are categorized into two sections:  Special and Random.


Special events are static events that are manually made by developers (or modders) and as such they have predictable variables and outcomes.  They are always the same and never change and spawn when certain conditions are met (EG Time, Relations, Fleet Size, Character Level, Location, etc.).  For these they either are static in space or move along a pre-determined route.  Typically these missions are for story use (what story there is that is).  Special Events are marked with an exclamation mark.


Random events are a lot more chaotic, you may not know what you're getting into.  Unlike Static Events they are "leveled" with the player, as to always be the right amount of challenge.  They appear randomly every so often while within a sector.  It could be ranging from being attacked by bounty hunters after you *** off a certain faction or recovering a lost ship all the way to dealing with crazy events like a ship graveyard that isn't as dead as it appears, or being attacked by unidentified alien space craft and other sci-fi non-sense that happens in space.  Random Events are marked with a question mark to show that they're randomly generated.


When you put your cursor over an event it shows some basic data, recommended level/fleet size, type of hazards, rewards for completion, etc. 

11
Suggestions / Maximum Range and Effective Range
« on: July 07, 2013, 02:02:28 AM »
Maximum range would be the maximum range before a projectile starts to fade out, beams end, and rockets fizzle out. 


Then you have the new Effective Range, Effective range is the range that the AI will prefer to be in before it starts to fire a particular weapon.  This is intended to curb issues such as slow weapons being fired at extreme (kiting) ranges and allow weapons that can hit much further away due to speed of projectile to be able to be recognized by the AI as such.  At it's most basic it's an idea to prevent ships from firing when they're not likely to hit and to allow them to fire even outside of their maximum range.

12
Suggestions / Impoving Armor
« on: June 12, 2013, 03:54:24 PM »
From what I've seen in Starfarer ships that have high armor and weak shields are almost always at a massive disadvantage against ships with high shields and weak armor.  I personally believe this is because of how armor works, so here's the problems I think are in it.



First is that armor doesn't prevent turrets from failing, because of this effect trying to take something on your armor will result in weapons falling offline even if your ship is plated with indestructium.  I think this should be changed so that only EMP and Hull damage can disable weapon systems.  This has the effect of indirectly buffing EMP weapons as well.


Second is that armor is finite while shielding lasts until you ship explodes.  So one thought of mine is having armor slowly (and I mean slowly) repair over time as unlike hull it's simply fortified metal places and don't require as much finesse to repair as a hull breach.  The rate could be something like .5% armor restored to armor sectors per second, doubled with the Automated Repair Unit.  This helps make 'squishy' armor a lot less squishy.


If one or even both of those changes were to be implemented I could see low-tech ships being more valuable compared to their higher tech counterparts.

13
Suggestions / Modifying Missile Avoidance.
« on: June 08, 2013, 10:17:11 PM »
Right now there are a few problems with how ships handle missiles.  First is that they will aim their shields at them regardless of the missile's strength or the unguided projectile flying towards them.  Second even after a missile is no longer tracking the ship will still act like it's tracking them and raise shield even if it's floating harmlessly.  Third, this also applies to missiles without tracking of any description.  So to fix that I have a few suggestions.



The AI treats missiles based on their damage type.  Fragmentation being the weakest gets little to no preference when compared to other damage types.  (Eg. Salamander VS Pilum)  Specifically it calculates damage based on their damage to the hull.  A 50 explosive damage missile vs a 500 damage fragmentation missile would preference the fragmentation.

AI will prefer to take Kinetic Missiles on it's hull if it's armor is in reasonable shape and the missile's damage would cause a significant amount of hard flux (Eg. Sabot shot at Enforcer)  In this case it'd calculate the damage that would be taken on the shield vs the hull and whatever would be in better shape takes the hit.  This is important for low-tech ships as they have weak shields and bulky armor, they need to utilize it better.

The AI will treat unguided and expended missiles as projectiles based on their current velocity.  So even if the missile is facing the ship it'll be ignored because it's flying away from it.

AI will prioritize what to protect from based on the potential damage to the hull.  A Helbore VS an Annihilator Missile will prefer to block the Helbore first because despite them both having explosive damage Helbore rounds deal 750 versus annihilator's 200.

Against large unguided missiles like Reapers the AI will try to strafe around it rather than retreat in a near straight line from it.


The reason why I think using damage calculations would be best is that with mods weapons can have all sorts of weird effects so having it be based on an algorithm rather than black and white typing would be best.

14
Modding / Constantly firing weapons
« on: June 02, 2013, 11:40:26 AM »
Is there any way to mod a weapon or system for a weapon that prevents it from turning off while it's firing so it fires endlessly? 

15
Suggestions / Mercenaries
« on: June 01, 2013, 01:34:32 PM »
Quote
You know all those "Independant Mercenaries" that you see floating around, ever wonder how you could own a ship as badass as they do?  Don't have the money to buy a ship outright or don't have the time to pirate it from some sorry bloke's fleet?  Well now you can rent out the ship for a temporary amount of time to bolster your fleet and make it as impressive as those sweet mercenary fleets you see around the sector doing badass things.



How it works:

When you go to a station there's a tab that brings up a selection of mercenary ships, along with their crew loadout, weapon systems, hull mods, and special abilities (Read Character Level), in addition to their equally badass sounding name.  When you find a team that you really want to hire you're given a set of options that determine how long the contract will last between one month, three months, six months, and one year contracts.  As an added bonus longer contracts cost less overall than renewing the contract on a monthly basis. Allowing you to save money while still kicking ass.


Ships that you've hired out on contract have a few restrictions on what their captain will allow you to do with them however:

  • You aren't allowed to modify the ship's loadout in any way, the crew have a specific load out and they take pride in their baby.  
    Spoiler
    You cannot modify OP and your 'fleet' wide character bonuses do not apply
    [close]
  • You aren't allowed to use their ship as a lodging suite or storage container unless otherwise specified.  
    Spoiler
    (No increased crew capacity unless the ship is a transport or freighter)
    [close]
  • You aren't allowed to order the ship's crew around while in the battle.  The captain has made a career out of being a soldier of fortune, he/she doesn't need every two bit trader with enough credits to hire them to steer them into danger.  
    Spoiler
    Ships are registered as 'Blue' and cannot be given orders or directed in any way, however they are controlled by a friendly admiral AI.
    [close]


However it ISN'T all bad news and red tape, there are several advantages of hiring out mercenaries:

  • Mercenaries are well adept at handling their own logistics, so they don't cost FP to have in your fleet.  Furthermore when deploying in combat they don't cost and FP either to deploy!  
    Spoiler
    They instead use their own separate supply of FP.
    [close]
     As an added bonus they will pay for their own supplies and fuel at no additional cost!  Better yet they will never run out of CR!
  • Mercenaries you hire will begin to respect you the longer they're employed by you, giving all kinds of interesting benefits such as reduced contract cost, extra contract time, and even being 'On Call' specifically for you from any station!  Fighting along size a mercenary you've known since they were mere greens might nab you a tremendous discount of their green cost applying to you instead of their Ace cost simply by knowing them for so long!
  • Mercenaries can be given assignments on what they're expected to accomplish in your fleet.  Assignments they'll accept range from Seeker (Hunts down and attacks enemies before your fleet arrives), Convoy (Stays near and draws fire away from Freighter and Civilian ships), Booster (Seeks out and defends objectives for their bonuses), and a generalized 'Protector' order that has the mercenaries try to protect any ships in your fleet.



Now you might be thinking "Well I'm a wealthy trader and I can simply purchase my own ships, just what use are mercenaries to me?"  Well I'll answer that question by saying that there's more than meets the eye to mercenaries.  Mercenary ships have several bonuses that regular ships wouldn't get due to the team's specific modifications.  The upgrades that are regularly installed in a flagship are also installed in each mercenary ship, increasing with the crew's level!  Furthermore the mercenaries may have modified their ship so far that it's capable of equipping otherwise incompatible weapons onto it's chassis!



Mercenaries are ranked based on their crew's level:

Level 1-10:  GREEN

Level 11-20:  REGULAR

Level 21-30:  VETERAN

Level 31-40:  ELITE

Level 41+:  ACE


The higher the crew's level and the larger the ship is the larger the contract cost will be.  However your reputation with mercenaries in general as well as the team specifically greatly influences the overall cost of the contract!




HIRE TODAY!

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