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1

Modding / [0.95.1a] Harmless Slipstreams

« on: April 13, 2022, 11:08:43 AM »

With apologies to Alex.

This "mod" makes player's fleet immune to slipstreams' effects (all of them: forced movement, fuel discount, speed boost). It is safe to enable and disable mid-run. Respawning makes you susceptible to slipstream's effects until you save or reload.

There is no external download link, the mod is small enough to attach to the post.

[attachment deleted by admin]

2

General Discussion / Exploration, combat, and why I eventually stop doing either

« on: March 26, 2022, 05:05:30 AM »

I play Starsector mostly for its exploration, with combat being something I do
not do without a very good reason. I've noticed over several runs that my
interest and enjoyment tends to dry out the further into the game I progress,
followed by either a restart or an extended break from the game. This is an
analysis of sorts why this happens. There is a small "suggestions" block at the
end, but it's more of a brain dump than anything serious.

It should be noted that the following applies mostly to "sufficiently vanilla"
runs with stipend disabled and no commission, or with "Ruthless Sector".

Early game: the bliss

Early game is the part I enjoy the most. It has a very simple, clear goal of
not dying - physically and financially - and a variety of well-balanced ways to
achieve it. Whichever way to make money I choose, be it trading, exploration
missions or bounty hunting, potential gains are about the same. Risks are not,
and there are some hints of risk-reward imbalance already. Exploration's and
trading's risks are low-probability, high-impact - cargo loss, fleet wipes,
getting stranded - and limited resources make the impact a lot more painful,
which helps keeping me on my toes. Combat's risks are less binary, but much
more probable. Higher expected losses, comparable gains and my exploration bias
mean that I just don't see the point of doing combat in early game. "Ruthless
Sector" helps by evening out the field a bit.

Because all of the ways to progress at this stage involve a possibility of
things going horribly wrong, I need to think and to work towards minimizing the
risks while still making a profit. Do I want to go through with an exploration
mission in a system with yellow danger level? Is this delivery contract worth
dodging the pirates? Is exploring this system worth a chunk of very limited
supplies still left? It's a lot of decisions, and it's very fun.

Middle game: temptations

This is where the hamster wheel starts wobbling a bit. At this point, I have a
decently combat-capable fleet with good cargo capacity, as well as a solid
reserve of money. I am also most likely to have befriended pirates and pathers,
leaving me with no enemies except derelicts and [REDACTED]. Rewards and risks
change. Trading becomes the optimal strategy, because it no longer carries any
risks at all, and rewards scale with cargo capacity, which is trivial to
increase. Combat risks are still relevant, but rewards - as many have brought
up before - are not well calibrated against them. Why would I fight anything if
the reward is less money than a good deal provides and some XP? This only
applies to bounties though - piracy becomes extremely lucrative at this point,
especially considering its relatively low risk. This is where I go all out on
exploration with some bursts of trading and piracy in-between. The exploration
is different though: quests are no longer the main source of money, I take them
to essentially pick a direction at random and to compensate fuel costs in case
I find nothing of value. I'm after loot bombs, blueprints and colony items.

Blueprints and colony items I acquire in the process begin to tempt me to set
up a colony. This is a big gripe of mine with exploration in Starsector. Unlike
trading and combat, its game loop becomes self-destructive at some point. If
you trade, you make money to make more money. If you fight, you make XP (and
SP) to make more XP (and if you are good enough - make money to fight more). If
you explore, you gather things which are not useful for exploration and push
you towards settling down, disrupting your exploration until the colony is
finally able to fend for itself.

End game: why would I do that?

This is where the hamster wheel breaks and I quit. I have a fleet that can
crush most fleets in the core. My money printer is on the way. I can go and
explore more or less freely... but why would I do that? There's no spice to it
anymore, unless I go into red systems. But why would I do that? Another colony
item is not worth the hassle. I can give bounties a shot (no pun intended), but
what's the point? Fighting for fighting's sake is not my jam. [REDACTED] and
Omega? Same, what do I have to gain except bragging rights? Trading is still
kind of fun - who doesn't love a fat profit from a killer deal - but do I
really need another million? A megaproject might keep me running for a short
while, but they tend to be grindy and not particularly fun.

Nexerelin helps massively at this stage, by providing great challenges and
risks worth taking.

Suggestions I guess?

The main problems which lead to the breakdown is, I believe, the ease of
removing risks and lacking rewards.

The lacking rewards is probably a mostly numeric issue (seriously, 40k for
taking out a station?), although there's also the problem of money becoming
irrelevant and being able to obtain nearly anything. The game could use some
more unique rewards only obtainable through a couple of very specific channels.

Risks should neither be opt-in nor fully removable. Risk removal can be
done in a way that doesn't completely trivialize the game by transferring the
risk elsewhere. Befriending a faction could get you targeted by its' enemies'
special forces. Or the faction could demand a display of loyalty every now and
then, either straining your relationships with its enemies or being generally
risky ("scan us a Nexus or we revoke your docking privileges"). A well-known
wealthy trader should be targeted by pirates and privateers. Competing
scavengers and explorers could be more aggressive and have a chance of
attacking you regardless of your faction standing (like some story fleets do).

3

Bug Reports & Support (modded) / CoreAutofitPlugin.doFit might crash if requested number of s-mods is too high

« on: June 06, 2021, 10:27:25 AM »

Breaking point for a random fleet spawned in with a console command seems to be 5. Haven't had a crash with 4 (yet). The culprit is this block, starting at line 446:

Code

			if (remaining > 0) {
				List<String> mods = new ArrayList<String>();
				mods.add(HullMods.FLUX_DISTRIBUTOR);
				mods.add(HullMods.FLUX_COIL);
				if (current.getHullSize() == HullSize.FRIGATE || current.hasHullMod(HullMods.SAFETYOVERRIDES)) {
					mods.add(HullMods.HARDENED_SUBSYSTEMS);
					mods.add(HullMods.REINFORCEDHULL);
				} else {
					mods.add(HullMods.REINFORCEDHULL);
					mods.add(HullMods.HARDENED_SUBSYSTEMS);
				}
				mods.add(HullMods.BLAST_DOORS);
				while (!mods.isEmpty() && current.hasHullMod(mods.get(0))) {
					mods.remove(0);
				}
				for (int i = 0; i < remaining; i++) {
					current.setNumFluxCapacitors(0);
					current.setNumFluxVents(0);
					String modId = mods.get(Math.min(i, mods.size() - 1));
					addHullmods(current, delegate, modId);
					convertToSMods(current, 1);
//					addExtraVents(current);
//					addExtraCaps(current);
				}

The for-loop doesn't check whether the list is empty or not and calls "get" with -1 for index.

4

Modding / [0.95.1a-RC6] Trophy s-mods [0.7.2]

« on: June 05, 2021, 01:39:53 AM »

s-modding the pirate way

0.7.x is not save-compatible with 0.6.x and earlier. Not safe to disable.

Features:

• All AI fleets will be blessed with a number of s-mods. Bigger fleets will get more. Ships with officers receive a bigger share of fleet's s-mod pool depending on the officer's level.
• s-mods on enemy ships don't disappear when the ship is recovered.
• Adding s-mods with story points is no longer possible, unless you have a skill that raises the cap

There's a few knobs in the config files to turn. Please refer to README.md or README.txt in mod's directory for all the gory details. You can change relative probabilities of s-modding any given hullmod, prevent s-modding of undesirable hullmods and s-mod numbers (and distribution).

Current version, sources, release history.

Changelog:

Spoiler

0.7.2:

Spoiler

• The mod now honors "no_build_in" tag, except for Safety Overrides.
• Added "trophysmods_ignore" tag - modders who wish to make a hullmod non-s-moddable can put it on the hullmod and Trophy S-mods will skip it.

[close]

0.7.1:

Spoiler

• Compatibility settings for Apex Design Collective, preventing a crash (unless you're already screwed by 0.7.0).

[close]

0.7.0:

Spoiler

• Proper 0.95.1a support - that is, configured weights of new hullmods.
• A more stable s-mod selection for each ship

[close]

0.6.0:

Spoiler

• 0.95.1a support.
• New algorithm for selecting s-mods (every release has this line, doesn't it?). It allows customizing s-mod pool consumption down to individual hullmods.
• Much smoother probability curves of receiving N hullmods given a varying share of s-mod pool.
• Documentation (automatically generated) of all configuration files.

[close]

0.5.0:

Spoiler

• Hullmod tags and categories (which are exactly the same thing, but are defined externally by the mod) can now influence hullmod weights when selecting hullmods to s-mod. There are two sides to this. The first is global settings in the root of "randomized_picks.json" ("tag_affinities" and "category_affinities"), which apply to all hullmods that have a corresponding tag/category. The second is per-hullmod settings under keys "categories" and "tags" in the "affinities" map, which examine the tags and categories of other hullmods on the ship and modify the weight if those match.
• The mod can now merge several JSON files into its main config using about the same rules Starsector goes by when merging mod JSONs. Files providing compatibility with other mods now reside in `data/config/trophysmods/compat`. Please note that the list of files to merge is hard-coded, dropping an extra file there will not work.

[close]

0.4.2:

Spoiler

• Fixed unintentional rarity of s-modding common hullmods.

[close]

0.4.1:

Spoiler

• Automated Commands compatibility.
• Fixed detection of fighter slots.

[close]

0.4.0:

Spoiler

• s-mod pool is calculated based on fleet's DP and d-mods, and distributed based on officer levels.
• A different algorithm for s-mod selection. It should produce more varied and interesting loadouts. It is also aware of more s-moddable hullmods than the core autofit plugin.

[close]

0.3.1:

Spoiler

• Corrected version in mod_info

[close]

0.3.0:

Spoiler

• s-mods on enemy ships no longer disappear upon recovery. In other words the mod should finally somewhat work.
• Fixed a crash when adding s-mods to Mess fleets from HMI (and similar fleets).

[close]

0.2.0:

Spoiler

• Sensible s-mod combinations via piggybacking on the autofitter (thanks to Jahgaimo and BreenBB for the suggestion)
• s-mod distribution across a fleet depends on each ship's DP (suggested by Arcagnello)
• s-mod generation is a lot more aggressive. High-end fleets should have total s-mods in double digits
• Config changes on an old save should actually work now

[close]

[close]

Thoughts on mod's current state

Spoiler

I like it. The new s-mod distributing algorithm produces enough s-mods to make most fleets vaguely intersting, while also throwing in real eye-catchers every now and then. I think I'll experiment with raising the s-mod cap.

[close]

Ramblings Rationale:

Spoiler

I'm not entirely happy with s-mods costing story points. Adding them early is all right, since bonus XP helps getting them back in a reasonable time, and losses don't hurt too much. However, in the late game with each SP being worth a million XP bonus XP doesn't do much to alleviate the grind. Even worse, my playstyle late-game mostly focuses on exploration rather than combat, slowing the natural SP gain even more. I can go out of my way and fight, but I don't exactly have an incentive. It also makes me either overly cautious, never picking a fight I know I can't win without major losses, or sucker-punches me after taking a risk and being beaten (while still having a blast in-combat, mind you) by saying "now grind N million XP with a weakened fleet, mate".

This mod is not exactly a solution. It won't change the fact that losing battles sucks, and losing s-mods triples the suck. This mod is an experiment. I want to try and trigger my roguelike player's mentality of "RNG giveth and RNG taketh away" wrt s-mods by making them, essentially, loot. I also hope it'd give me an extra incentive to fight big human fleets and take risks.

(yes, I have just copied the README)

[close]

5

Lore, Fan Media & Fiction / Colonizing Hell

« on: May 31, 2021, 03:26:03 PM »

(warning: quite image-heavy)

In November of 227th cycle Carson Summerstar's fleet on its grand quest to survey every lump of rock big enough to call itself a planet approached a peculiar star system. Triple star systems are rare enough, but one with two pulsars is unheard of:

Spoiler

(as in, there's only one in the Sector I've got this time, and I don't recall seeing them before)

[close]

Summerstar, having gone quite mad by this time, immediately ordered a jump into the gravity well of a local ice giant, ignoring the protests of crew and quartermaster's warnings about astronomical repair costs and massive radiation exposure. The fleet emerged inside one of the pulsars' beams. Were it happening mere two or three days ago, they'd be in the intersection of both beams. The fleet retreated to ice giant's shadow and scanned the local volume.

Spoiler

You can smell money burning even in vacuum.

[close]

To everyone's surprise, the system actually contained a few planets that could be habitable. How could a planet keep its water and atmosphere while being blasted with monstrous doses of hard radiation every other week remained a mystery. Theories were proposed, the two dominant being Ludd's blessing and Moloch's trickery. But even if one of them would indeed prove habitable, only a fool would try to colonize it. Summerstar looked at the scans, decided that navigating here would be too much of a hassle, and ordered to jump out. But the unusual system remained in his memory and his personal notes...

...until July of 229. Word spread across Samarra system and remote worlds: Carson Summerstar is hiring crew by thousands and bying every starliner, civil transport or troop  carrier he sees in docks. It couldn't be preparations for yet another archeological expedition. Soon, a massive colonization fleet with a completely inadequate warship escort departed to an unknown to the future colonists location via Samarra Gate. Summerstar's officers were confused when they learned the destination gate. There were some good places in Sonora constellation near it, but not anywhere near enough for the amount of people and materials the fleet brought. Everything became clear and horrible when Summerstar ordered to set course for Alpha Jeresh.

The fleet arrived to the system at 17th of July inside the shadow of the ice giant. The first batch of colonists were shoved into spacesuits and out of the airlock towards the ice giant with a promise of hazard pay. The colonists chose a name for it and were left under the meagre protection of its magnetic field. But the mad warlord wasn't done.

Spoiler

[close]

He plotted a "scenic route" course around one of the pulsars towards the nearest stable location and enjoyed the stellar fireworks while the crew was suppressing dissent among future population of Alpha Jeresh system. After installing a comm relay the fleet burned at best speed towards its next target - the nearest toxic world - and dumped another batch of colonists there. Pulsar beams made direct approach to the remaining planets difficult and another scenic route (this time around the other pulsar) was plotted. The arid world and its tundra-covered moon received their people and new less-than-flattering names in two weeks, and the remaining colonists found themselves on a barren rock nearby shortly after.

Spoiler

Scenic route. Pulsars in Starsector are as beautiful as frustrating to navigate around.

[close]

The insane project of the insane warlord was complete. The system would in time become a jewel of the Northern Rim, even if it would forever remain Hell.

Spoiler

[close]

A question to everyone who managed to suffer through my ramblings: have you seen a more horrible system? What'd have? Although this one isn't really horrible - the set of planets is quite nice: the habitables are good, toxic one has decent mining, barren is fine for fuel/military base/heavy industry. But y'know, double freaking pulsars.

6

Bug Reports & Support (modded) / Odd experience splitting between marines in storage and cargo holds

« on: May 16, 2021, 04:53:34 AM »

I'm not really sure if this is caused by one of the mods, I run quite a few of them. I have 3280 marines with 17% effectiveness bonus in storage on my colony. Taking 400 of them makes the remaining stack on the colony have 6% exp, while the extracted 400 instantly become 100% elites. Splitting the stack in half makes the remaining on the shore leave 0% and doubles the exp of the taken ones to 34%. I've tried a few more split ratios and it seems that extracting 1/nth of the stack multiplies the exp of the extracted part by n. No idea how the exp of the remaining ones behaves exactly, it gradually decreases the more marines I take, and reaches 0 when I remove 552 (interesting, the original 17% is about 552/3280).

Sadly, I couldn't figure out a way to abuse this to promote all the marines to elite. That would've been a fun exploit, but no dice. I can, I think, use it to keep the experience to myself and sell zero-percenters.

The mods used are below, can anything here cause this?

Spoiler

$$$_lightshow
pantera_ANewLevel40R
chatter
DetailedCombatResults
sun_flux_reticle
lw_lazylib
MagicLib
myconfig
QualityCaptains
ungp

"myconfig" is just spacer start, no stipend and alt-transfer.

[close]

7

Lore, Fan Media & Fiction / [Combat incident] The mythical maneuverable Onslaght.

« on: May 15, 2021, 03:47:17 PM »

I swear this is something straight from the "Armenian Radio" category of jokes. How do you get an Onslaught to turn quickly? Have a Scarab push it while it's using the burn drive.

Spoiler

The red line is roughly the trajectory I've traveled while the burn drive was active.

[close]

8

General Discussion / Completing which quest drops story protection from Coatl?

« on: May 15, 2021, 08:04:07 AM »

Coatl is the last remaining military base in the Core Worlds in my playthrough (not belonging to indies or pirates, they are chill and may stay). I want it gone so nobody can bother me with their silly expeditions. It currently has healthy -120 stability, but still will not die. I know that story-critical planets are protected in this manner. What did I miss? I've done the main storyline and the red planet. I didn't do the alpha core one, but I don't recall Coatl being somehow involved in it?

9

Bug Reports & Support / Commerce's improvement bonus applies before it's finished building

« on: May 13, 2021, 12:08:19 PM »

Not sure about the other structures, don't have spare SPs to test right now.

Spoiler

The 0.9 labelless upkeep modifier is a QC elite skill effect.

[close]

10

General Discussion / Do colonies grow past size 6?

« on: May 12, 2021, 03:44:31 AM »

I've just noticed that on the colonies tab the size of my oldest colony is listed as "6 (+18%)". Which begs the question of what happens in however many cycles it'll take to get to 100%.