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1

Suggestions / A few ideas for Pirate oriented play

« on: January 22, 2022, 02:06:39 PM »

So I did a run trying to befriend pirates.
It worked surprisingly nicely, with more trade involved than in most other runs. However, I noticed a few details which stain part of the experiences with some suggestions to fix it:
-part of the fun is doing things in the shadows without transponder. However, the way it works now prevent helping pirates fleet without unmasking itself. Pirate fleets ask you to activate your transponder to fight alongside them which don't really make senses as they don't require it between themselves. A way to fix it would be:
   -1) pirates stop asking that and recognize you by low range IR communication (or whatever way you want)
   -2)have some kind of token of recognition/commission that you transmit to pirate fleets.
-fighting between commerce fleets around your colonies. This is not a problem specific to pirate but is still worse in their cases. It's like Fedex and UPS fighting at your front door, so that at the end you don't get any package... So what about a "no-fire zone" around your colony? Doesn't need to be large but that would help a bit and prevent fighting in the staging areas of colonies. They can still fight in space between jump point and market if they want.
-Most missions provided by pirates are "go there without being noticed" and some of them are really a pain (trade fleet hunting and heavily patrolled planets) as in the end you need mostly overwhelming firepower to get through escort/patrol fleet which is kind the opposite. Maybe I didn't work enough on it and they already exist, but more combat-oriented missions would be nice:
    1)steal that component, disrupt this industry (I know some of them already exists but the pay doesn't make up for a 300 marines raid on a heavily fortified planet)
    2)attack faction Trade fleet (a big one, and not an independent one)
    3)something more political/crazy aligned. The main quest highlight quite a few interesting aspect of the pirates (Qaras political agenda, Kenta's Den genetic madness, Kaptayn Starworks information brokers). An idea would be an inspired pirate looking for AI cores or other factions blueprint for example).

But overall I'm still having much more fun than expected with pirates.

2

General Discussion / A (late) feedback post on 0.95a

« on: June 23, 2021, 07:50:16 PM »

Hello Alex,

So it's have been a few weeks I started to play Starsector again after a pause waiting for 0.95 release. Now that I have a few runs I thought it would be good to give some feedback on the most recent version. I will not go onto balancing issue because it's probably the most discussed topic on the forum right now and I'm playing too casually to have a relevant opinion.

The Good
My main comment is how alive the sector feels now in comparison with previous versions. The main quest, the contacts, the quests found in bar, they bring a lot of immersion which was missing before. Talking of secondary quest, I also appreciate the "surprises" that come with it (inspection and patrol fleet, lazy scavenger blockading system, etc...) which provide new enemy to fight (even if you're supposed to be allied to them).
I also really appreciate the new opportunities to gets ships, which was also one of the main downside previously. Ultimately, I have the feeling that there is various way to play the game. It's especially the case when there is several options to complete an objective, and I think story points greatly help from this point of view. I rarely play offensively or combat-oriented run but more exploration-driven kind of runs and it is pleasing to not be penalized for not bringing 3 Legion and 2 Paragon with you each time you are tasked to do something. And finally, the load of artifact and lostech that has been added is more than I was hoping for. I remember commenting a few years back on how this game remind me the Battletech universe, which was a strong inspiration for my mod. Now I realize it's more true than I was expecting, which is awesome IMHO.

The Bad
Well, nothing major. It's more a collection of small downsides, nearly-bugs and other little irritating things. I would especially highlight the fact that the v1.0 is very close now (based on the release), and that some small details which were easily deemed insignificant when the game was considered a WIP (v0.7 for example) will now feel like a lack of polishing as the game is closing in to release. Most are related to AI behavior in the broader sense:
   -Shrike using its manoeuvring ability to ram an enemy station, but failing to use it to easily disengage and retreat
   -Plasma cannon not firing on station at point blank range (even if no other ship is obscuring LoS)
   -Ship bumping in each other when fighting a station because they stick so close to it, even if armed with long range weaponry
   -Large ships failing to comply orders because they are too busy chasing enemy frigates
   -Fleet bumping into the sun outside of combat because they try to circle an object (research station, probe...) or because they need to get to the other side
   -Allied fleet deploying poor choice in combat. For example deploying a Venture and some crappy frigates instead of an Eagle
   -Ship sending torpedo against wing. It seems to only happen to Automated ship with Fearless AI officer, but maybe I'm wrong.

The ugly
The rest is a mix of quality of life, nitpicking and enthusiastic suggestions.

-Record and list location of stations and derelict
-Add some short-term and mid-term relics and artifacts? Right know the Industry related items are very-end-game: you need big fleets to get them, and big, well-developed planets to use them. By the time I reach this stage in the game, it's start to be repetitive and often I start a new game. Maybe adding less-powerful items could flesh out a bit the beginning of the game? For example, something that increase a commodity production by one or two but only as long as population doesn't reach a certain cap? Or a small production core build on light industry allowing to build only frigates and destroyers?
-Incorporate ships with specialist non-combat road in some way (through fleet management). So far there is some ships not really useful combat-wise, but with a strong "character". My best example is the Venture. I just like this ship, its design, its lore. But it's one of the less interesting ship past the 1st cycle of play. A suggestion would be increasing by only a few % an industry income as long as some ships are integrated in your faction fleets: some would increase Mining (Venture), other Techmining (ship with Salvage gantry), or slightly reduce ship building cost (Construction Rig). Just something to make this ships more "alive" or interesting, but without breaking the game?
-The Ability to build space stations. Some mods already implemented this aspect, but since they are so pivotal in the combat and exploration aspect, for me it seems that under special circonstances they could be build. Maybe in specific location. Or maybe by "recovering" derelict ones (in a similar way to recovering ships)?
-Colonization by other factions. That's one of the last thing the major factions can't do and that the player can. Once again it's more about "immersion" than "gameplay". It just feel strange than most of major factions are happy to sit in the crowded central cluster. But we don't want it to happen too often. Instead it should be a great endeavour and maybe pivotal in the story of a game run.
-And the least useful one: the Buffalo MK2 should have a Shield shunt and Militarized subsystems hull mods. This ship is the embodiment of the stat of the sector. I would really like to use it more often, but its not really worth it at the moment...

Anyway, thank you very much, I just love the game (and its special community) more and more. It was worth the wait.

3

General Discussion / Destabilizing core world in 0.95

« on: May 17, 2021, 11:42:24 AM »

Hello every one,

It seems there has been a few modifications raiding which have an impact on how you can provoke a world to become decivilized in the current (0.95) version.
In 0.91, disrupting the spaceport and raiding then and there the planet was sufficient to make it decivilized in several months. Now it's seems... not harder, but more boring. Here is my exemple: I'm trying to "colonize" Yma and "convince" Salamanca and Qaras to move on another place. Disrupting the spaceport reduced the access but didn't seemed to lower import capacity of the market. Shutting down food convoys is quite efficient (-4 to stability), but if you miss one convoy, stability comes back to standard value.

So, is there a (new) way to decivilized a planet without waiting one year in the system chasing food convoy?

4

Suggestions / IA made bad choice in deploying ships

« on: June 11, 2019, 02:33:19 PM »

I guess it's a bug, since it's very silly: I was helping a heavy patrol or security fleet from Tri-Tachyon (with a Paragon, a Doom, some light carrier and a few frigates) chasing a pirate armada. They engage first, then I join them. The Tri-tachyon fleet choose to deploy everything except the Doom and the Paragon! Why on earth it should do that? Even after trying to not deploy too many ship on my side to get enough point so it can deploy one of these big ship, IA refuse to send any new ships until all the others one were destroy.

It's not the first time I see this problem. Each time I help an ally fleet, it will first deploy its small and useless ships instead of any usefull cruiser or capital.

5

Bug Reports & Support / Core world decivilized, ruins and orbital station

« on: May 07, 2019, 02:01:12 PM »

Today, my fleet was "cruising" in Eos Exodus in order to "pacify" Tartessus. Three pirate fleets assaulted its oribtal station and a neutral fleet, but at this moment, Tartessus became decivilized, the station despawned, but when I did try to engage the pirate to help the neutral, I was unable to join the battle because the pirates were still battling with the station (which was in fact despawned).

Just after, I scavenged Tartessus, and was able to recover a blueprint from my own mod with hightech weapons and ships. It's not really a bug in this case but it feel weird to find that in ruins which were part of Luddic Church one day before.

6

Suggestions / Alternative for getting ships for player faction

« on: February 25, 2019, 08:38:30 PM »

So far the game is heavily hinted toward the threshold where you not just want a colony, but a colony with heavy industry, to produce your own weapons and ships. Once it's done, you are definitely falling in the later part of the game, cause once it's happened, you have a lot more stuff to consider and deal with in a big way, even if you don't want to (luddic path sabotage, expeditions, pirate activities). For my part, I think the game needs a less binary approach to ships building than "prior/after" having a colony with heavy industries. Here is a couple of suggestions to help "smooth" the transition between early and late game:
-Split weapons and ship production. Everything is about Heavy Industry. What about making another upgrade producing weapons? This would allow player to get some interesting weapons, but still having to get their ships from "third parties". Light industry with a "militaro industrial complex" upgrade for example.
-Introduce "tiers" for building ships. As a comparison, you don't expected European colonists building ships of the line or galleons just after they set up an outpost of a few thousands peoples. The size of available ships can be related to the size of the colony: Frigate with size 4 colony, destroyer with size 5, etc...
-Getting ships from other factions. If you have a commission, they could sell you ships depending of your relationships (one degree less than your current status). That means that Hegemony could provide you destroyer-size ships if you are friendly with them, but they would never ever give you an Onslaught on a large-scale even if cooperative.
That jsut some thoughts I got when playing my 20th game with the v0.9. I noticed that even when I don't want to play a colony game, sooner or latter I set up a colony to get a specific weapon or ship.

Not-completely related suggestion: in my last play I got numerous duplicate of ships blueprints. Would it make sense to make blueprints "stack" and improve the quality of this specific blue print? For example, my crappy colony is unable to produce better than 3 D-mods ships except for the Eagle cruiser that I got 3 blueprints and thus improving the knowledge of how to build it.

7

Bug Reports & Support / Alliy deploying low-CR ships

« on: February 25, 2019, 08:17:38 PM »

This probably have been noticed before, but better to say it twice than none.
When I help an ally, seems to prefer to deploy smaller ships (even if it has points to deploy bigger one), even if they have a low or very low CR. That means than instead of deploying a cruiser, IA will deploy 3 Kites and 2 Buffallo MKII whose 3 of them are badly damaged and/or with low CR.
This seems to happen even more with orbital station (where both sides are stupidly deploying non-combat ready ships).

8

Modding / Blueprint sharing from several mods - a (small) community project

« on: February 23, 2019, 09:51:42 AM »

Hello everyone,

With the V0.9, mods are able to add new blueprints including their ships. However, each new mod added to a play add new blueprints which are "diluted" in the overall mass of place where you can find them (derelict stations and caches notably), whose number is mostly a function of the size of your map. Several mods are adding blueprints packages which share a common theme, for example, prospecting stuff. This is especially true for mod vanilla-oriented like Disassemble Reassemble (for example, as it is one of the most popular mod of this kind).

So I wanted to propose some kind of agreement to combine similar blueprints package by using a standardized format. If I'm correct, it involves 2 thing:
-having the same exact line for the blueprint package in "special_items.csv"
-having the same icon available in graphics/.../icons
So that when playing with several mods, ships will be added to a single blueprint package shared by several mod, thus reducing the overall number of blueprint packages.

At a first glance, blueprints package that could be combine are the non-faction oriented:
-Prospecting/scavenging
-Jurry-rigged/overclocked/ill-advised

Mods that could benefit from it (based on my play-style) are Disassemble Reassemble, Kadur Remnant, Stop Gap Measure, Hazard Mining Incorporated and Metelson Industries (if both the later are updated by their owner to V0.9). But I guess that many faction-oriented mod that introduce this kind of ships can also add things to these package.

9

Bug Reports & Support / IA behavior against spacestation

« on: December 26, 2018, 05:33:20 PM »

I don't know if its a real bug or a WIP on a to-do list:
When assaulting space station and mostly battle stations, I found the most important (and frustrating) thing is to coordinate the attack and make sure every ship is doing its job. So far I figured this is not the case:
-Frigates and small ship try to hug the station with obvious results,
-Heavy hitters like cruisers are keeping their distance and are inefficients,
-Carrier are in range of ennemy fire even if they should not. I've tried with Gemini and other non-direct combat carrier, and even with a timid officer those ships still manage to get destroy.
The only way I've found to make cruisers attack is to make then escort my flagship

10

General Discussion / Some (hopefully) constructive thoughts and comments on V0.9

« on: December 16, 2018, 06:58:05 AM »

Greeting everyone,

This post is mostly some thoughts about the new release of Starsector. I've tried several ways to play (neutral, PL-, Tri-Tachyon- and Luddic Church aligned, and currently a troubleshooter-smugglers-LP mercenary) with different set of skills and was thinking it was time to put on paper (or online) comments about the new game.
As a disclaimer, remember this is only impressions based on the way I play, and second I hope you will not find my writing agressive, sometime I fear that the way I write in english is harsh because it’s my second language :S. And maybe there is some things listed there that are in fact avoidable during play.

The Good

-The new panel of the game mixing colonization and exploration. I love Starsector for the lore (post-apoc decay) and the exploration aspect. The game has made immense progress in the way it convey the decaying in the sector, the filling of "it was better before" and that you may have insane amount of money but still have to find that blueprint for your lovely cruiser you always wanted. The immersion is really good with me, with always much more details added (the bar, the payroll of your staff)

-I've tried several style of play based on skill. Compared to the last version I found that there is much more viable combo: zombie fleet, lord commander, administrator, explorator, Captain Albator... And with everyone of them I rarely feel "I should have spent this character point elsewhere".

-The "surprises" took from MoO which gave me the same filling of "Oh my god my fleet is dead" the first time you encounter it

-Mechanics of colonization are relatively easy to understand, if not in the details and math, at least in the general aspect.

-The way that bounties now work. In 0.8 bounties were scaled to the player and immersion-breaking. Now you always have bounties you don't want to hunt because you will be crushed or you will never be able to catch them.

The Bad (mostly balance-related)

-The worst of all: so far, there is only one way to play colony: find low hazard rating planet, find core(s) or max the relevant skills to make the colony economically viable, get bored killing pirate station every month, get frustrated by LP insanity, start a new game. (the previous sentence has absolutly nothing to do with a rage-quit last night...). Don't get me wrong, all of these features are absolutly relevant to the game and interesting, but they are a little bit out of control and boring/frustrating so far. I guess with next version balance will be reviewed.

-In the same vein, obvious heavy industry (leading to obvious LP frustration) is not really interesting. There is no alternative: choose between Heavy industry or keep your poor fleet of junk. Considering you can import ships from other factions it would make sense to get ships from these factions. So all these aspect make all play feel the same. I would like to be able to get ships from other way than Heavy industry, but still with drawback, just to give several ways to play. Maybe light industries, allow producing only frigates, wings and small-medium weapons?

-A small feature in the continuity: I understand Starsector focus on combat and other features are sometime simplified when they are not related to combat, but available structures are too general for now. Several structures (mining, heavy industries) produce too much variety of good, once again leading to obvious choices. I like the small upgrade you can make on structures to focus their production. Maybe it can be extended to several other ones: deep mining for common and rare ore, processing plant for organics and volatiles, milirato-industrial complex for grounds weapons and heavy machinery... I could probably help make the colonies less similar and less blend.

-The passivity of factions. Really kill the immersion for me. Factions should be able to do what you can do in the game, at least in principle, but probably not in mechanics. An example: player can colonize, factions should do so too. But as Alex said somewhere, he doesn’t want a 4X game, which is okay. But maybe in rare moment, a faction could decide to colonize a small outpost somewhere, or build a big industry on another planet. To involve the player, others factions may want to disrupt this endeavour, and may want to hire the player to attack a specific convoy, or the player can help by protecting the new construction site, or providing supplies. So, something exceptional, story-driven, involving the player. Similarly, the terrible LP and pirate base can be the target of vengeance fleet once in a while, provided you tell them the location or provide assistance. I find weird that factions are stuck on the core worlds and that minor factions (the player, LP and pirates) have a magic wand to make appear colonies and station everywhere...

The Ugly (some details ticking me)

-Mining stations asking for ore, Volturn asking for Volturnian lobsters, etc...

-Goods: what to do with good once you have hundreds and thousands stockpiled in your colony? Most of the time, deficit in other colonies are only circa 200-500. Others ways to get ride of them could be nice: put them for sale to provide a little amount of money each month until depleted, “sacrifice” them to give a temporary market share bonus, or to build a structure a little bit quicker.

-IA. Nothing big, but I hate that carriers (like Gemini) want to it a battlestation at point blank range, and that my 3 dominator are afraid to come close (even with “eliminate order”), but not coward enough to take some distance, take a deep breath, vent flux, then attack again.

Okay, sorry for the wall of text. I hope there will be some usefull thoughts and suggestion in there. In the end, I think most of the details are somewhere on a to-do list of Alex, mostly regarding balancing. And probably that, as human, we see more what we wish than what we started with. V0.9 is beyond my expectation at the moment I bought the game and even during v0.8, and this is not tomorrow I will stop playing Starsector.

11

Modding / Adding new star system

« on: February 04, 2018, 12:14:46 PM »

Greetings,

I finally got some time to work on Stop Gap Measures.
I want to implement two star systems to add some new markets for Luddic and Neutral factions. I first want to add only uninhabited system before adding complication with market and tags.
So far there is two files which are ok:
-starmap.json
-the file describing orbital features located in data\scripts\world\systems
and there is no more error popping when starting the game. However the system does not appear when I create a new game. From what I understand, I need to add several other files to make the game generate the system, and this is were I've trouble:

The first file is "mod_info.json" which need to call for another file "FilgapModPlugin". So far so good...

Spoiler

{
   "id":"StopGapMeasures",
   "name":"Stop Gap Measures",
   "author":"MajorTheRed",
   "version":"v 0.1",
   "description":"Pack of ships to flesh in vanilla campaign",
   "gameVersion":"0.8.1a",
   "modPlugin":"data.scripts.FilgapModPlugin",

}

[close]

... but this file is more difficult. I don't know if the two last sentences are OK...

Spoiler

package data.scripts;

import com.fs.starfarer.api.BaseModPlugin;
import com.fs.starfarer.api.Global;

import data.scripts.world.FilgapGen;


public class FilgapModPlugin extends BaseModPlugin
{
    private static void initFilgap()
        {
            new FilgapGen().generate(Global.getSector());
        }

}

[close]

and finally FilgapGen.java in data\scripts\world:

Spoiler

package data.scripts.world;


import com.fs.starfarer.api.campaign.SectorAPI;

import data.scripts.world.systems.Byzas;


public class FilgapGen {

   public void generate(SectorAPI sector) {
            (new Byzas()).generate(sector);
                                               
        }

}

[close]

I think I'm doing something wrong in the last two files, but I don't know what... Any ideas?

In any case, many thanks for the support from the community, this is really great to be able to ask for so much help on this forum.

12

Modding / Need help on some weapon effects

« on: November 28, 2017, 08:12:58 AM »

Hello everyone,

I'm trying to make some kind of ion AoE torpedo for my mod (Stop Gap Measure). So far I've manage to integrate the weapon in the game (sprite, .proj and .wpn files) but I fail to introduce two effects :

-Ion effect on all the ship : so far, each team I hit a ship with it, only one system is ionized. I don't think it is a problem of EMP damage to low (1000 dmg in the .csv file), but rather an understanding of how ion damage work. I don't need fancy effect like arcing, but at least several systems/weapons need to be tested by the ion effect.

-Proximity fuze : I want the torpedo to explode with a large detection radius. I took the specs in the flak cannon .proj, but I think I've miss something.

Here is the .proj file, it is based on the reaper torpedo if it can help.

Spoiler

{
   "id":"ion_torp",
   "specClass":"missile",
   "missileType":"ROCKET",
   #"sprite":"graphics/missiles/missile_torpedo.png",
   #"size":[16,28],   
   #"center":[8,14],
   "sprite":"graphics/filgap/missiles/Ion_torpedo.png",
   "size":[10,30],   
   "center":[5,15],
   "collisionRadius":20,
   "collisionClass":"MISSILE_FF",
   "explosionColor":[100,170,255,255],  # purely visual, will get a white additively blended core on top of this color
   "explosionRadius":350, # purely visual
   "behaviorSpec":{"behavior":"PROXIMITY_FUSE",
               "range":100,
               "explosionSpec":{"duration":0.1f, # not visual
                "radius":300,
                "coreRadius":100, # full damage within core radius
                "collisionClass":HITS_SHIPS_AND_ASTEROIDS,
                "collisionClassByFighter":HITS_SHIPS_AND_ASTEROIDS,
                "particleSizeMin":5.0,
                "particleSizeRange":3.0,
                "particleDuration":1,
                "particleCount":200,
                "particleColor":[155,220,255,255]},
   },
   "flameoutTime":5, # total time from flameout to full fadeout
   "armingTime":0.5,
   "noEngineGlowTime":0.5, # time spent without the engine glow being rendered
   "fadeTime":0.5, # fadeout duration               
   "engineSpec":{"turnAcc":0,
              "turnRate":0,
              #"acc":35,
              "acc":500,
              "dec":0},
   "engineSlots":[{"id":"ES1",
               "loc":[-11, 0],
               #"loc":[-14, 0],
                #"style":"TORPEDO",
                "style":"CUSTOM",
               "styleSpec":{
                  "mode":"QUAD_STRIP", # PARTICLES or QUAD_STRIP, determines which params are used
                  "engineColor":[155,220,255,255],
                  "contrailDuration":2,
                  "contrailWidthMult":1.5,
                  "contrailWidthAddedFractionAtEnd":1,  # can be negative. makes trail spread out/narrow at the end
                  "contrailMinSeg":5, # min segment length, in pixels
                  "contrailMaxSpeedMult":0f,
                  "contrailAngularVelocityMult":0.5f,
                  "contrailSpawnDistMult":0f, # how far away from engine it starts
                  "contrailColor":[100,200,255,50],
                  "glowSizeMult":2.5,
                  "glowAlternateColor":[0,115,255,255],
                  "type":"GLOW" # GLOW or SMOKE; additive or regular blend mode
               },
                "width":10.0,
                "length":80.0,
                "angle":180.0}]
}

         

[close]

Please understand I'm modding mostly by iteration, I've some basic knowledge of how to type these file, but java programmation is largley unavailable for me to do.

Many thanks,

13

Mods / [0.97a] Stop Gap Measure - Ships for Vanilla - v1.2.5 Big toys

« on: October 23, 2017, 03:36:08 PM »

Hello guys,

This mod is based on personal needs for specific ships to fill in gaps I experienced when playing Starsector. Initially it was a personal project, but since I receive much precious help on the forum, I figure it would be nice to publish it.

The theme:
Starsector has some inspiration in Battletech universe, which is a dystopic sci fi setting where there is plenty of technology but nobody understand it or is able to emulate it. This inspired me as I was thinking that there was lacks of ships filling several role in faction. I was also inspired by the many blog posts about the history of the sector.
I wanted to create ships based on needs of each faction, but which are limited by their actual ability to design new ships. This means that most of them don't have fancy ship system or they have a specific role and are not always able to cop with vanilla ships.

Recap
•   43 new ships
•   5 skins
•   18 new weapons
•   3 new stellar systems with 7 new markets
•   Luddic faction expanded

Aim of the mod
•   Add several ships for more variety in specific role currently lacking in vanilla (scout, science vessel, high tech light carrier…)
•   Give more flavor to Persean League and Luddic Church fleets by adding ships specific to these factions.
•   Balance number of ships designs according to tech level (i.e. more low tech frigate and mid tech capital), as well as some new weapons
•   Forgotten weapons and ships found in lost space or sometime used by salvage company

Disclaimer
•   I never done spriting before, some of the ships are kitbashed and other are build from scratch. While I understand there is always room for improvement, my interests ar shifting after more than 4 years of modding and more of playing Starsector
•   I did the best to balance ships with vanilla, but if someone think a ship should be nerfed or bousted, he is more than welcome.
•   English is not my first language, I did my best but there will probably (certainly…) remains typos in texts. Many thanks to all the forum users who provided help at some point to correct descriptions in this mod.
•   Many ships have a similar role to ones you can found in Disassemble Reassemble mod by AxleMC131 (most notably the Revenant and the Hoplite). It was not intended, as I’ve already draw prototype of ships before knowing this mod. In fact I suspect that AxleMC131 created his mod with the same premise than me : filling in gap in available ships in vanilla. I suggest playing this mod with Disassemble – Assemble as they both share similar aims : news ships to fill in vanilla gaps.

Acknowledgment :
•   To AxleMC131, for giving advice for spriting and giving motivations by its mod DisassembleReassemble (that you should try!)
•   To King Alfonzo, for giving a nice tuto on « greebling »
•   To Sarissofoi, for refusing to play anything without a description
•   To DiM, Plantissue and BladedQueen for screening every descriptions for spelling and syntax errors
•   To Sundog, for pointing the way and giving courage to dive in the realm of Java compilation

Version 1.2.5

Download it there :https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/r03ou8tb0pi1u2xqwxfhi/Stop-Gap-Measure-1.2.5.zip?rlkey=8cv6o18cjm2mxinjs2ijglqgz&dl=0

Ships

Low-tech

Spoiler

Asp:
Last-resort bomber


Maringuin:
Kinetic support bomber


Pyrphoros :
Pirate frigate


Huntsman :
Luddic Church and Hegemony Support gunship (upgraded sprite)


Ballista :
Missile Destoyer


Wardlaw:
Q-Ship


Cossack:
Escort carrier


Adjudicator:
Hegemony and Luddic Church Patrol/escort cruiser


Opportunity :
Pirate (and shadowy neutral) converted heavy cruiser


Starblazer :
Converted carrier



Bahamut :
Armored freighter

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Luddic Church

Spoiler

Fulk:
Knights of Ludd defense frigate (upgraded sprite)
         

Templar :
Knights of Ludd missile destroyer   


Bogomil:
Knights of Ludd artillery destroyer   


Hammerhead (CGR)
Knights of Ludd destroyer   


Era (LC)
Converted carrier


Cathar :
Knights of Ludd heavy cruiser

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Middle-tech

Spoiler

Ethon :
Interceptor

   
Velite:
Mass produced PL frigate (and pirate version)


Herder:
Light carrier


Nitassinan:
Patrol destroyer (converted tug)

   
Wagner :
Neutral line (or light) cruiser and pirate version

   
Charon:
Dropship and pirate carrier


Trajan:
Midline battlecarrier

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High-tech

Spoiler

Rosatom:
Combat auxiliary frigate


Pyrrhocorax :
Try-Tachyon support destroyer/light carrier


Minos :
High-tech defence destroyer

   
Formica :
Assault drone carrier and its suspicious-looking wings


Apex:
Combat carrier

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Civilian

Spoiler

Dove :
Courrier and scout


Traverse :
Civilian freighter


Chondrite:
Tri-Tachyon freighter

   
Copernic :
Science vessel (support ship) and Hegemony auxiliary vessel

   
Foundation :
Salvage cruiser and its helping hands


Era :
Factory ship


Babel :
Mobile dock


Pharos :
Frontier waystation


Kuunlan :
Capital mining ship

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New weapons

Spoiler

Makeshift weapons


Common archeotech weapons

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Log

Spoiler

v1.2.5
-Three new ships
-Formica and Copernic have been adjusted
-Auspicious got its TPC back
-Cathar got a Individual Fire Control system
-Some balance changes for multiples weapons

v1.2.4
-various re-balancing of weapons and ships according to 0.96a
-adjustment ships availability by faction
-added Capital ship availability for continuity
 
v1.2.3
-Added Rugged Construction built-in mod to Porphyros
-Validated spawning of various ships
-(Re)Added the Babel
-Apex renamed to Auspicious
-Tantive has been removed
-Automated ships should now be salvageable with proper skill
-Mining values for Nexelerin

v1.2.2
-Added the Charon (P) carrier
-Added the Formica drone carrier and Bentu drone fighter
-Added Maringuin kinetic bomber
-Added Rosatom auxiliary frigate
-Replaced Fundation sprite (roughly the same ships) and added Filum drones
-Replaced Huntsman sprite
-Replaced Traverse sprite
-Removed Merx and Salvage Corvette
-Asp got an increase in speed
-Bogomil trade Heavy ballistic integration for Range Finder and extra OP
-Apex trade Thermal Pulse Cannon for large energy mount
-Ballista got Civilian and Rugged construction hullmods
-Tantive gain Advanced ground support hullmod
-Dragoon gain Damper field system
-Added crew capacity to Copernic
-Fixed descriptions of some ships and weapons
-Fixed som game stats for David SRM, Charged laser, Aton laser, Mosychlos
-Opportunity got the flak cannister system   
-Herder got cargo aligned on Drover
-Changed industry for Lepia, removed Commerce
-Checked various spawning problems of HT and LC ships

v1.2
-Retrofit of several features (version checker and java compilation removed)
-Fixed many typos thanks to forum members Plantissue and BladedQueen
-Balance changes for the Herder, Trajan, Charon, Foundation.
-Many ships have changed names to be compliant with names used by other mods.
-Merx and salvage corvette removed
-Added/changed a few variants for the civilian ships.

v1.0
-Compatible with Version checker
-1 New weapons (Swarm medium mount)
-3 New ships (dropship, midline destroyer, salvage corvette)
-Background images for Bythinia and abandoned platform in Utic
-Remove cluster launcher
-Tweak a few details about the Zenith, Era, Contemptor and Matsar
-Luddic Church starting option a bit more relevant

v0.78
-New sprite for the Opportuniy
-Foundation gets 2 built-in borer drone wings
-Starblazer gain back the Reserve Deployement system
-New TT Corvette
-New LC carrier
-New Large Kinetic LRM
-New Large Energy Archeotech
-New Cluster missile launcher

v0.77
-New sprite for the Ballista
-Prices changed to fit with 0.91
-Little twists to mining beam array and heavy ming beam
-Impaler and Bardot are remove from the mod
-Fix error in .faction files preventing several ships to spawn.
-Thanks to DiM, most of ships descriptions have been check for english spelling and wording

v0.76
-New ship: Era factory ship
-New wing: Ethon interceptor
-Copernic get Survey and Solar shielding as default mod
-Impaler and Dove slightly modified.

v0.75
-New ship: Wardlaw Q-Ship
-Medium David launcher
-New Large Missile
-Many rare blueprints now inside blueprint package
-Twits on many weapons
-Minos re-imagined

v0.74
-New ship: Impaler fast destroyer
-2 new secrets
-Removed Carcajou frigate
-Tried to fix all variant and spawning problems related with .faction files
-Adjusted probability of variants for most ships

v0.73
-New sprite for the Copernic
-New ship: Barbot exploration ship (based on the Mule)
-2 new mining-based weapons
-Some modification on the Wagner, the Starblazer

v0.72
-Balance changes for Opportunity cruiser
-2 New weapons
-Mysteries (small ones)
-One new wing
-2 new ships

v0.71
-Updated version for 0.9a
-Minos destroyer slightly modified
-Twisted some characteristics of some ships and weapons for balance purpose

v0.61
-Added the Starblazer carrier
-Added a medium ballistic and a small missile weapon
-Added description to all weapons and ships
-Added several variants for vanilla ships
-Variants and factions files cleaned up
-Fix errors in price and descriptions
-Balanced cargo values for small freighters and OP for Arbitrator

v0.6
-Added the Pyrphoros and the Minos
-New stellar system
-Fixed some minor things on the Wagner and Ballista
-Fixed prices for ships
-Updated lore for several ships and missions
-Fixed several orbits in Utic and Byzas systems

v0.4
-Resolved several errors on Ballista, Hoplite (P) and Tantive
-Added the Triumph and the Cathar
-Huntsman gets the Fire control ship system
-3 Missions
-2 new solar systems

v0.31
-Added Pirate Wagner
-Upgraded sprites for Copernic, Martyr and Huntsman
-Add Ballista (destroyer)
-Added codex entry for 9 ships and all weapons
-Added Lopot cruise-missile

v0.3
-Added Herder (ligh carrier), Wagner (cruiser) and Chondrite (freighter)
-Added 3 weapons
-Changed some error on ship files

v0.2
-Changed conflicting class-names
-Added Dove (scout vessel) and Carcajou (sister class of the Scarab)
-Added skin for Hoplite, Opportunity and Carcajou
-Upgraded sprites for Copernic, Hoplite.

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14

Bug Reports & Support / Mnor Neutral Scavenger and Skatii bugs

« on: October 20, 2017, 11:02:11 AM »

Just reporting two small bug I experienced recently :

On a mission to scan a derelict, I was attacked by a scavenger fleet turning Pirate. I blow up most of their fleet. Then the scavenger fleet turn back to neutral, which only a handfull of civilian ships, but continued to harass me, to the point I couldn't continue this play as it was following my fleet everywhere, making contact, then fleeing, etc.... And as its was back to neutral I didn't want to finish them.

Other play, this time I was comissionned by PL and hostile to Try Tachion. When arriving in Skatii, I could not dock with the planet, as they recognized I was hostile, but if I try with the hovering spatial station, I got access to all its market (not just black market). Unless the station and the planet are both separate markets?

15

Suggestions / Information access, diplomacy and new ship classes

« on: July 27, 2017, 07:48:46 AM »

Hey everyone,

Sorry about the title, I don't want to start several topic, so this is more a list of ideas related to needs/gaps I experienced in the game.

So, first thematic is about information access from stuff already discover or which are common. I'm mostly interested in the exploration and trade aspect of the game. I have 3 items in mind:
 - Markets : maybe I've miss a tab somewhere, but there is no way to know which good a planet produce. As planets doen't produce as much as in previous version, it's harder to get te right stuff in the right place. I don't rant about the difficulty, it's more that to my mind it makes sense to go the some kind of Starsector network and ask the local trade ministry what kind of stuff they produce.
 - Existing derelict. After dozens of explored star systems it's sometime difficult to remember which ****ing one got this precious research station. Maybe add something in a panel similar to the list of known planet? With distance, difficulty rating etc...?
 - A little update about neutron star (which should benefit from a warning beacon by the way) : maybe add in the system map where the Pulsar Beam of Death is located.

Ok now about D-mod. I really like the actual system. I was wondering if adding a little bit more about "mixing" ship could be a good idea. If someone read about WWII, he will often read that sometime two deteriorated planes where disassembled to build one which work. The same could be add to Starsector. Take two identical ships (lets say a Wolf) and combine them. The new one will only keep D-mod that both initial ships where starting with. So, if Wolf 1 has a Armour and Engine D-Mod and Wolf 2 has Engine and Power Grid D-Mod, NewWolf will only have Engine D-Mod. This can allow getting functional ships has long as they are common like destroyer or frigate. You probably will not do it with for an astral carrier because it's much rarer.

Some ships class I found lacking from my playstyle:
-A utility ship. Something with poor combat abilities (including weapon mounts) but many OP dedicated to specialized equipment : survey, EW, Nav Mod...
-A scout ship. For know both ship with High Sensor a High-tech, combat-oriented ships. I was thinking about a civilian, low-mid tech frigate with enhanced sensor used as a scout for fleet or messenger.

Last theme : diplomacy
 - For now, factions are neutral or at war with eachother. Could be nice if the relationship is degrading like with player: Neutral, shoot only at  military fleets, total war. Similarly, factions with neutral relationships cannot help eachother when engaging an other ennemy.
 - Safe harbor. From the lore and in-game description, stations are littered with guns. It's strange a raider party can attack a commercial fleet on the face of the station/planet. I don't know how it can be implemented, maybe some kind of terrain effect around the planet representing mines, long-range shots. Or proximity fleets engaging the raiders? Let's take an exemple.
A Persean League civilian fleet is orbiting Luddic Church planet. A Hegemony strike fleet jump in and attack the Persean League fleet. I don't think the Persean league will be happy to know that their fleet was destroy in a Luddic Harbor because Luddic Church is not at war with Hegemony. In fact, maybe the Hegemony fleet will not attack the fleet in orbite and wait the Persean fleet leave, or they attack, but local Church patrol will engage even if they are not at war.

Sorry for the lenghty post. I should add that don't have any idea how difficult each item is to add/implement. I just wanted to give some feedback about things I found are weird or lacking in the actual state of the game.