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

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Messages - 5ColouredWalker

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1
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Carter's Freetraders - V 2.0 - 03/17/24
« on: March 27, 2024, 03:22:01 AM »
While I could be wrong I was assuming that 5ColouredWalker meant that the ships would by default have built-in fighters that can't normally be swapped out for other fighters unless the ship/ships are fitted with a hullmod specifically for those ships that would unlock the built-in fighters and allow them to be replaced by fighters of your choice.
So if I have a ship with built in wings, this theoretical hull mod would unlock them and allow them to be open wing slots? I guess I'll wait until 5ColouredWalker sheds some light on that but I certainly appreciate the quick response.

Shogouki has the right of it.
As for taking code,.I don't think either mod has something that does that so no help there.


And Synergy mounts can't take Hybrid weapons, so the Danube can't take Mining lasers. I think. I'll check come morning.

That said, Mellenia and Mechabellum have been eating my time. Not done much Starsector lately.

2
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Carter's Freetraders - V 2.0 - 03/17/24
« on: March 25, 2024, 05:59:35 AM »
I haven't been playing recently but I've had a thought I need to share to get out of my head.

For (some) carriers, what about stealing an Idea from VIC/imperium and adding a hull mod that unlocks dronebfighter carriers wings, either generally or to just other drones, effecting the miner ship line and/or Griffon.

Deals with the issue of Bawley/Danube being super carriers by leaving them limited without a mod. Wouldn't suggest it for all ships (I.e. the ones previously without PD), but something I had to get out of my head. Something that both allows you to say 'I have a specific vision for these ships' and 'You have the freedom to build them differently'.

Also something that randomly popped into my head while I'm tired energy posting. It's amusing Danube's only have synergy mounts but mining weapons are normally Hybrid (mining laser/hammer+other mod added)

But then again being able to add EM guns to Danube's would be ludicrously strong, able to act as PD if nodded, and  otherwise being anti shield pressure supported by anti armor fighters.

3
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Commissioned Crews 1.999999gggg
« on: March 13, 2024, 02:12:17 AM »
How do I go about downloading your mod's latest release? Please, and thank you.
Pressing the Download Here button in the original post is downloading the updated version for me.

4
Mods / Re: [0.97a-R7] Salvage Ship Expansion v0.4.5
« on: March 11, 2024, 01:37:40 PM »
Just checking, are the salvage drone LPCs that can be inserted into shops supposed to improve fleet salvaging? They don't seem to do anything but do spawn in shops.

5
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Carter's Freetraders - V 1.9.5 - 03/02/24
« on: March 03, 2024, 04:18:12 AM »
Done some testing and I'll put this here publiclly
The paixhan significantly outdamages the pulse laser (again, a good, MEDIUM, 10 OP gun

Having tested it, I have the feeling that Paixhan was actually based off the Flak Canon and then given 800 damage like the other Carter's light PD. Clearly a oversight and on testing a massive one.

As for the Culvern vs Vulcan. Vulcan is 20 flux/second for 500 dps in 25 damage bursts. Culvern is 200 Flux per second for 800 damage per second in 8 damage bursts. In theory you could use it for chewing through hull once you've gotten to it but it'd be a tiny range and flux hungry monster to it, even in comparison to the light dual machine gun which for all it's theoretical 416 dps vs shields costs 25/second. I'm pretty sure as PD the Culvern and Fog of War are closer to unusable. But I'll given them another try later.

Minor EMP damage? It's over a quarter the EMP damage of the ion beam

As for the EMP comparison with the Ion Beam, I'm not sure I've ever seen the Electromag guns ever disable something without far more fire than the Ion Beam would need to put in, at which point more damaging weapony might have disabled it anyway (because raw damage does do that). I've a feeling armor protects against emp in a similar way to small vs little shots. I'm not sure how well a 10% flux cost increase will work compared to increasing ordinance points like I previously suggested, I'll need to try using them in battle later.

But I've a feeling Dazs' a little burned out on CFT, so I'm not in a rush to test. But for abusing CFT, get the Bawley and the Paixhan while they're still broken.

6
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Carter's Freetraders - V 1.9.5 - 03/02/24
« on: March 02, 2024, 05:01:18 PM »
Darn me falling asleep. You missed the Bawley, which if staying unlocked needs its deployment points readjusted (currently 4 points for 2 wings and 55 ordinance points). Though reserve wing does make the Naruebet the better carrier, and unlocking the Knarr does indicate you're looking to unlock wings more broadly.
If so unlocking the Danube would be interesting. 4 wings is a ton on a destroyer, but it has a lot less ordinance than other carriers so it'd be much more vulnerable using it as a dedicated carrier. A interesting trade off. I think there's one more locked I noted in my previous post patch post


Coventry changing mounts to hybrid allowing 4 mediums ballistic for autoloader then going to fast missile racks is funny, but probably better.

Electromag being more flux inefficient is a easy way to adjust without having to rebuild ship layouts and is a way to make them less autopicky. I'll need to try it before commenting further. Instead of becoming my default ballistic mount it may become '1 for suppression, 1 other kinetic for damage'.

7
Overall I'd say that the Medium is fairly balanced vs it's peer the Thumper.
my opinion
I would (And think I have) said that while damage/flux is fine, the medium has 300 range over the thumper (Meaning it's probably worth a couple more points of ordinance.). Similarly with the light one which while damage wise is fine compared to the autocanon (closest point of comparison), it similarly vastly outranges with no increase in ordinance points, and being beam-like better hit chances than dual autocanons and railguns. That one does have a Kinetic/Frag disparity.
The Large is cheap in slot at 14. Closest comparison is the Storm Needler at 28, which is far better (Not gonna rattle off the numbers) but has notably shorter range. The more comparible in OP is the Mark IX Autocanon, which has worse DPS but a much better conversion rate against anything except exposed hull, much better flux, at the trade off of slightly worse accuracy and 100 less range, which is a much smaller distance.

At a guess, I'd peg 'balanced' ordance points to be 6 for small (Longer range than railgun with marginally better accuracy, but Railgun has useful anti-armor properties), 10 for Medium (Longer effective and accurate range than the Heavy Autocanon, which becomes much better and has slight anti-armor benefits at closer range), and 16 for Large (Accuracy is much closer, range distance is smaller, and much better flux efficiency and conversion means that Large is a more questionable pick when going for the 'longest range' option, where Railgun and Carter's Heavy Railgun dual for dominance.)
[close]

Tldr, I think costs should increase to 6/10/16 for each size. However this isn't a weapon focused balance pass so this should probably be saved till later, as is anything else I'd continue on about in the topic.

8
You make really cool stuff. Thanks :)

I'm experiencing some oddities when trying to refit the large energy mount on the Knarr. This is a new game with the latest (1.9) version. I can't seem to mount any weapon but the Large Pulse Mining blaster--if I try, the new weapon just vanishes. The same thing happens with the Knarr's forward medium energy mounts. Also its drones are built-in--not sure if that's intentional as most the other ships seem to have been unlocked.

The turrets will be a bug. The fighters aren't. Multiple ships in the lineup are locked to have Tenders/Mining Drones as being mining/salvage ships.
The Tenders are pretty good. Mining Drones are PD.

9
The items say what industry they go in, the upgrades are not that industry.

10
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Ashes of The Domain
« on: February 29, 2024, 07:13:06 AM »
Yes. Soil Nantes need farming, which you start out not having. The higher theirs also don't count for some items and industries.

11
Ok, initial thoughts because I was in the process of launching a new game to try out some of the quest line mods from dinkier starts. If there's no comment than I simply approve to varying degrees.


Bawley (And similar): This change is not quite objectively bad, but now the Bawley directly competes with the Naruebet in a bad way. The Naruebet is 10 ODP, 2 hangers, 60OP, and flare launchers as a meh ability. The Bawley is 4DP, 2 hangers, 55 OP, and EMP Burst Wave as a great PD/Combat ability, and half price. It's also slightly faster, though when it comes to hull/shield it does seem flimsier despite the better shield conversion rate due to much lower flux pool and much more fragile physical stats. As I also said the Bawley/Danube/(Knar/Collier)/(Arethusa/Bolster) Line having locked Tender Fighters was Iconic and I didn't think should change.
If you stand behind the decision to unlock them that's fine, but in that case the Danube/Knar/Arethusa need reassessing, and the Bawley needs to have it's DP/costs reassessed straight away. The other's are probably fine, Bolster's more a light capital and can't go ham on the fighters as well as dedicated capitals, not without sacrificing weaponry.
Edit: To be very clear the only real problem is the Bawly and how it competes as a carrier with the Naruebet. The other's I'm lumping in together because it's the best way I could think to discuss them. I don't think the Collier and Bolster having unlocked wings is a problem on any scale other than theming.



Unlocked Wings: I really like the change, lets you choose what sort of fighters you want, and the ones relying on them being PD can now debate using them as such, or sacrificing weapons to PD and being carriers. And if you want mass fighters you can choose to balance fighters with how much benefit you want with the skill, or just mass them and let numbers sort things out. Also with Dromon having 'Command' in the ship type title there's effectively a Lennox/Dromon/Freebooter evolution line, though Dromon doesn't have a built in Ops Centre. It can still be installed with one manually though so it exists in my heart.

Civilian/Insulated: Yay! Also should prevent any confusing 'why +2 speed' moments.

Bourbon: I did a very simple test and threw the prebuilt against a onslaught in autopilot mode. It was no longer quite so one sided, but load out definitely fails it. I then manually controlled it and stomped the Onslaught with Default Load out, so I'll put it as a 'AI doesn't know what it's doing issue' and say it's otherwise fine as is. Especially since it was acting as a Steady Captain and the Wave Motion's outrange the Shredders.
Also, I remembered Wave Motion's being burst firing weapons, and large are just constant beams... I've definitely been overlooking those because those put in solid work.

Dhow: I'll send you a image on discord if I can find you (I think I have, if not I'm 5colouredwalker8401 if you can find me) because I feel like we've been talking past each other, but I was talking about the 3 central mining lasers feeling like there should be 2, or 4 given the budget is exactly 1 OP off and mining lasers are 1 OP.

Coventry: I see what you mean by 'Not everything you want':P

Kerberos: Staying on the overflux. Means it'll exist more as a firing platform, but that can probably work if I find some ammunition based mounts to give it time to vent. Oh, and it continues to be a SO build of course because that does work.

12
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Carter's Freetraders - V 1.8 - 02/18/24
« on: February 27, 2024, 06:46:47 AM »
And here you have me feeling bad for being too broke to donate  :P  And yes, you totally could have asked for a better layout, I can see where I've gotten tired. But thanks :)


Going to bed after having stayed up way to late retesting some cruiser ships to see if memory/napkin math matched out. (Basically the ones I was unsure of because I hadn't used as much).



Chester: Manages to feel too tight and decently balanced at the same time. Forgoing missiles I managed to put in decent fighters, weapons, Integrated targeting unit, and only be 1 off maxing capaciters/vents, however 2 EMags + Pulse Mining Blaster generate 745 Flux. A Chester Maxes at 590 Discipation before mods, and has fighters and shields to keep up. A Clipper has 620. Chester's shields are 50 flux cheaper, but a Chester is also paying 10 more ordinance points for that disapation, has worse shields (Smaller arc and worse conversion percentage, but they are omni shields) and (Currently) isn't fast enough to get out of trouble as easily as it gets into it. I kinda want to test a Foudre + Clipper Fight vs 2 Chesters to see if Chesters are really worth it, but that might just be Clipper's speed being overtuned per my previous suggestion.
Dromon: With it's speed, works more as a slowly advancing battlecarrier or a bomb carrier that punishes those that approach. With the two built in wings it's ordinance budget feels far too generous (Can easily fully kit it out as if I was using S-mods without them). That said building it as a slowly advancing carrier with more Appollos, Xyphos or Longbow's feels a bit bad given it's ship system rewarding bombers.
Kerberos: As I remember, leaving all the small slots empty and 'sacrificing' two medium slots for PD, using heavy machine guns and medium pulse blasters, this thing easily goes over it's flux budget even with safety overrides. It's very much overarmed.
Griffon: Testing it in AI hands shows that the AI doesn't know what to do with it (with a aggressive officer). Instead of working around the side and bullying frigates/destroyers it tries to back off and hide behind the front line relying on it's fighter swarms. Perhaps a ship based mod to give it's fighter's no engagement range so it tries to get stuck in? OP budget also feels tight but manageable. Feels like a side option to the Vasa given it's same deployment points, where you trade the potential reward of mines/phase for the safety of having a shield.
Coventry: Works better than I expected with a backup of Foudre or Dromon. While I suggested it was too slow I'd only speed it up to 60/65 to bring it into line with the Dromon and Bourbon. As an alternative to the suggestion to change the system to Fast Missile Racks, perhaps it could instead go 4 Physical Slots instead of 2 Kinetic/Energy. Or perhaps those slots can switch to Hybrid so there's still the option of using energy weapons?


As for how I reviewed them, I took them into a colony crises. Not quite running them into multiple remnant ordos as a meat grinder, but grinding through a couple of League Blockade Amada and a Hegemony Inspection Fleet back to back should work since Carter's does better against high tech (Tri-tach) and Pirates/Luddites are themselves. A Church fleet could be a problem with the Invictus, but the system I'm colonising is entirely wrong for that.

13
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Iron Shell 1.1813aj
« on: February 26, 2024, 06:46:43 PM »
With the indominable, every fight i get the low CR warning noise, and i randomly lose engines.  Am I missing something here?
To check the obvious, what's it's combat readyness when that happens?

14
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Carter's Freetraders - V 1.8 - 02/18/24
« on: February 25, 2024, 07:15:14 PM »
Honestly, early salvage plus the initial large storage space which comboed into a pair of 'concerned traders' with large valuable shipments (Both supplies I think). I breached 1 million before leaving the core.
OK so more of a playstyle effect then. The are a trading(smuggling) and exploration based faction so that tracks using two of their capital explorers.
Definately. Also held off on settling/expanding the fleet too much until I explored most places and ignored money when it got high enough. It's not actually optimising, but gotta remember to not optimise the fun out for myself by trading in the core until I have more money than god and then realising I have nothing to do with said money.

I'd argue the Odam very much fills that role (It kinda has to, doesn't have the speed or armament to do anything else, fortuneately it does it well, even without heavy hull mod use). But yes, the Fortress Shield capital isn't as tanky as it feels like it should be if we're just talking about capitals. Other ships can be finangled into the roll with the right modifications though.
I did try and give them all specific roles though some of the larger ones are just scaled up analogs of the smaller ones. I may revisit the Bourbon in the next update by giving it more defense but I think it serves a role as is and would not want to tip the scales too much. Any thoughts on that would be appreciated.
You asked for ship opinions. Now I'm going to do so. By Size Category. Not just the Bourbon because I've had thoughts, though I will say starting on the Bourbon became a heavily edited rant and gave me the energy to go through them all.

Capitals!
The Arethusa - You have them. Effectively a Cruiser combat wise, with a mixed cruiser logistics mixed in, and triggers abilities like a capital. A good 'light' capital that's I feel is balanced well. I wish the side slots allowed coverage of the front/rear (Say, 200 Degrees at a guess), but they work well enough. The ship could arguably be 30 DP and would definitely need to be if you did so. Also I've been reminded how good Ops centre is these past few runs.
(Speaking of which, final build, 1 Large Mining Pulse (Built in), 4 Electromag Guns (Kinetic Pressure), the PD Beams from JYD in everything else with PD Prep hullmod. If overfluxing turn off everything but PD, and the PD still consists of dangerous long range weaponry that screws with facing and applies EMP so you can't turn your shields off)

The Freebooter - Surprisingly fast capital with a ops center built in. That's all it has going for it though, feels like a 'light' capital, but that can be very useful as the Arestia shows, and the lower weapon load gives more ordanence points for mods allowing it to be whatever you'd like, within the confines of Large Kinetics. That said it's 50 ordinance points to deploy, and it's stats are remarkable close to a Prometheus Mark 2 at 30 Deployment points compared to 50. Much better shields and a better ordinance budget is nice though, not 10 more than a line capital nice except as a player flag ship, which isn't fair because then it's player controlled. The Appolo Wings feel bad though, as they contribute to the problem of Carter's not working well with the Fighter Fleet Bonus skills.
I feel deployment points Should trend back towards 40. Adding ship DP together isn't a perfect measure but I feel 40ish is Ok as I feel Arestia plus a Clipper/Cutter would be a tough fight, while 35 being a Arestia plus Danube or the frigate I like sounds too much like the Frigate being popped and the Arestia being ground down... Maybe not the Danube though. Maybe 45 to represent the Operations Centre and how helpful that can be.

Bourbon - Ok, this turned into a rant, sorry. I rewrote it a couple of times trying to be better, but I had to stop somewhere.
The closest comparison to the Bourbon is the Bastard child of the Onslaught and Paragon. That said, the only thing it inherits from the Pagon is energy large mounts and Fortress shields.
Flux/Armor Wise, it's the Onslaught, but instead of 5 Large mounts and having to juggle flux and taking hits on your armor, you get 2 Large Energy Mounts, and the flux pool is plenty enough that you're unlikely to want to switch to Fortress Shields as a way of safely venting.
Now, you are much faster at 65 base speed. But in a fight with a Onslaught the Burn Drive allows it to control the distance. And like the onslaught your shield is a front 200 degree Shield leaving you vulnerable to flanking and your shield cannot be closed unlike the Moniter.
And then, you keep the Deployment point of 50 from the crossbreed. The Onslaught is 40 and arguably better.
I'm also not a fan of missile mounts, but that's a me thing, but it having 4 medium missiles supporting 2 Large Energy helps contribute to the 'having enough flux to not need the Fortress Shields' problem, since unless you grab modded missiles from say VIC, those slots wont contribute to generating flux. The rest are mixed PD slots which from memory and a glance at the sprite are truly dedicated PD unlike the Arestia where you can mix them into weapons.

I previously didn't look closely enough over the surface problems to see how much this one needs a touch up. But there you go. My Snap judgements would be to drop DP to 40 and swap the 4 missile mounts to Synergy/Hybrid but that's probably my missile hate popping up, but it would help with allowing it to overflux thus use fortress shields. That said, I wouldn't rely on my snap judgements.
Other possible changes to improve include giving it Omni-shields of same coverage (Or even drop to 180 to leave it vulnerable to flanking unless you switch to Forward Shields, in which case Paragon shields are still better for full coverage), Giving it a .6 (Or, lower than .9) Shield Conversion Rate (The Executor as a mid-line somehow manages it, and looking at it actually has fairly similar stats.) There's also the posibility of dropping the Deployment Points.

If I were to wish upon a star I'd say leave it at 50 DP, give it 180 Omnishields, .6 Conversion, and Synergy/Hybrid medium mounts. But you're not making the mod for me  :P

Exetor - Superfreightor. I'm sure I'll use it late game and have thoughts. Otherwise my only one is 'why is this in the combat section'? Like Freebooter, has wings it doesn't need clogging up skills. Worse, it's a logistics mod to get rid of them, and those are capped in number.
Triton - Looks Good. However due to Danubes and using a Potato I haven't been playing much with other fighters. I may try later as my current fleet has been low on fighters, but I'm busy doing colony stuff.
Galleon - Has the problem of me not liking missiles, and that if I use modded missiles how much is your mod vs missile mod? Not sure how to judge it, beyond 'I'm sure it won't last 800 seconds in combat unless you're using reloading missiles', since it lacks any sort of ammo resupply. Also hiding in the carrier section for some reason which is weird since it's wings are support wings like the Freebooter, and likewise can be done withou.
Bolster - Mixed Logistics ship! Technically a carrier. Needs it's DP tanked as previously discussed. I think I said something like 30?
Retourschip - Supertanker! Same comment regarding wings as the Exeter.
[close]

Cruisers
Schooner - Cruiser Sized Mule! Does not want to be in combat but technically can be. Deserves to exist. Kinda weird it doesn't have a medium missile slot to take advantage of medium Salamanders but eh.

Odam - The Premier Tank, also serves as a explorer. Slow in a fight, actually uses it's wings usefully! (PD freeing up weapon slots, and beind slow the AI knows how to donate it's PD). Lightly armed, but that gives it more room for tanking. The Flares coming out the rear means it's ship system is only really useful if it's missiled from the rear while it's shields are down, which occasionally happens in AI hands but less often than being attacked from the front/sides. Perhaps side exiting flares?

Kerberos - I haven't used it in a while so my previous thoughts stand, but I'll repeat 'Random Mizzen ruins fighter fleet skill'. I suppose it can use them the same as the Odam being the same speed, but from memory I only found it useable as a platform for Safety Overrides because it can't handle the flux of 12 Medium Weapons, which is more firepower than the Capitals have. Thinking on it this one could actually use Fortress Shields as a way to manage flux.

Coventry: Feels like it should be a line cruiser. Slow enough to be a light capitals with a cruiser armament, except it has 7 small missile slots! Who does it think it's fooling with Accelerated ammo feeder, it needs the accelerated missile reload ship system and then to be loaded down with missiles! And they're all small which means it can benefit from the base game mod that gives them all a limited reload pool! But ignoring mods it's hillarious watching the AI panic as 7 Salamanders launch to say 'I know I have speed 55, but you don't get to run'. That said being so slow compared to everything kinda gives it the feel it should be supporting capital ships rather than being something you can use before then.

Bombadier: I haven't played with it much. Missile Autoforge from memory is limited use, but it looks like a good missile ship to act as a Griffon Alternative. Also, Random Appollo wing ruins fighter skills.

Vasa: Eagle and Doom had a baby. And I love it! Please don't touch it!

Ironclad: Needs other mods to be usable. I've tried playing around with it, it can die in a fire.

Dhow: For all your phase smuggling needs! Should be either 10 or 12 hybrid slots though, the second row of weapons currently has a issue where a slot is either missing or added extra and the arcs are weird. [Also, I think it's HMI introduces a mod where hybrid (mining) lasers do hard flux, so I suddenly want to try that though I know that'll go poorly and not be your fault. But those lasers are long range and this has so many slots.]

Griffon: Surprisingly fast battlecarrier. You get what you're given carrier wise. Interesting, not for me, the Deployment points look a bit high for what it can do. I feel like I said that before though. Given the Appolo's status as a 'I poke you' drone I feel like 1 should be changed to Brig or Cutter. Honestly I could go them all being Brigs (Fast Harassment needing to be done in bursts) or Cutters (Surprisingly tough drones to help the Griffon stay in the fight when harassing. Also more PD.)

Foudre: Heron upgrade, trading the medium slot for more speed, 1 more fighter slot, and 15 BP. Being closer to the Heron it's points are tighter on mods unless you leave a bay open. Should probably cost more DP than a Heron than the same (A Easy test to do would be 4 Heron vs 3 Foudre as that's the same fighter bays. If they regularly draw, then 80 points of Heron should be roughly equal to 3 Foudre. What Foudre lack in the ability to spread out they gain in speed and concentration of firepower. This suggests 26 DP.)

Dromon: Interseting. Feels like a cross between a Heron and Mora. Feels like it should be a Battlecarrier near the top of the Cruiser line up/bottom of the Capital line up. 2 Fighter slots are locked to Appollo unfortunately for long range 'I poke you I poke you' that feels really eh.

Cog: Surprisingly fast PD platform that Dazs already said exits 'Because I made it and left it there in case anyone wants it'. With the base game ship mod for Detroyers to work better near cruisers/capitals might be worth retesting as it's only 8 DP, but I haven't recently. Given it's speed it really doesn't need the mizzen wing clogging up the fighter count.

Chester: Acceptable battlecarrier.

Knar and Collier:
Addressing together as they form a midpoint/divergence of the Bawley/Danube/(Knar/Collier)/(Arethusa/Bolster) evolution line.
First, these need there weapon restrictions loosened like the rest.
Second , the Knar having Civilian Grade hull is extrememely weird how the other ships in the line up don't have it.
Third, every ship except the Arethusa having EMP burst wave makes the Arethusa not having it look odd. I originally redacted a comment about swapping the Bolster and Arethusa system but perhaps the Arethusa should just have EMP wave. It would help with flux management as weapons aren't generating flux while the EMP wave is active. And the Arethusa has really good all around weapon coverage and omni shields so doesn't really need manuevering jets except as a speed boost.
It's also the Collier and Danube have Surveying Gear. The Bolster doesn't but presumably the rest of the fleet is doing that. The Knar is a expedition leader but has long range sensors which like the Arethusa makes using Surveying Equipment odd. The Collier also stands out in having unusually few fighters (Just two wings) compared to the rest of the evolutionary line.
Also while interseting, it might be worth considering consolidating the Knar/Collier into one ship, and the Arethusa/Bolster into one ship.

And no, this evolution line doesn't get the comment on 'random fighters'. This evolution line either uses them in combat and massed tenders are fun, and if you're massing them so hard the skill doesn't work at least they're good drones. On the other, if used as logistics vessels it's annoying using converted cargo holds taking up a slot, but they can be unconverted quickly if your combat section gets destroyed and you don't savescum out of it.

Carrack: Oddly overarmed freighter, tempting you to use it wrongly. Also random mizzen wings causing the fighter skill problem.

Astera: Oddly overarmed tanker, tempting you to use it wrongly... I keep wanting to make it work but I know it's just too fragile.
[close]

destroyers
Raven: Consider a sidegrade to the Manticore, and you're only source of large weapons that isn't a capital! Interesting and can be fun, but fallen out of favour in my fleets since EM Guns give me plenty of long range firepower already.

Lenox: Utility ship I never use. Could work to assist a fighting/bounty hunting start but I'm not feeling it. Perhaps if the fighter slots were unlocked with OP added to make use of slots? No actual problems from memory.

Cutty: I love it! Sure, it's all small weapons but even in a Freetraders/+Unmodded environment it works, being surprisingly tanky for it's speed, and fast enough to hunt down wolves and medusae. 'Heavy' should not be in it's name, it's just a destroyer. Looking at other ships I considered saying it should be light,but no, just destroyer is good.

Clipper: Too Fast. The Clipper has a speed of 100, this is much bigger and has a speed of 110. Also comparing to Vanilla this is a Hammerhead but different subsystems, a third medium, and better armor/flux stats, which is probably why this has been feeling so good. It does cost 4 more to deploy. I'd suggest dropping it's speed to 80-90ish, that way it's still good, but not fast, feels a little more 'heavy'.

Brigantine: Mule, trading half shield arc for better everything else. I remember that reduced shield arc sucking in battle, but I'm not sure the deployment points/maintenance should be the same. Maybe 8?

Barque: A ship that exists. In line fighting the Cutty/A Medusa trounces it. Looking at base ships and recalling my experience, this is probably the closest to a Shrike which feels right. Shrike is 8DP, the Barque is 11. The Barque has some utility and better stats except shield disipation, but only has 1 medium slot instead. Though it's Light slots are better situated...
All in all I'd suggest dropping to a 9 Deployment point wise.

Shallop: Another 'ship that exists'. Phase ships are awkward in that their either Good, OK or Trash. I'm sure someone can do amazing things with the Shallop and it looks like a interesting sidegrade to the Harbinger, but it's not for me.

Danube: Great. 10/10 ship. Either mod it into a Logistics alternate or use it a a combat/logistics combo.

Berkentine: Great Bomber Carrier. However given they layout of it's small slots it really doesn't need a Mizzen Wing clogging up the fighter count.

Verguld: It has too much OP for a reason, and that's fine. What's not fine is that I've noticed it gets +2 Burn Speed from Bulk Transport. I've not checked the other civilian ships that lack the civilian hull mod, but this and the other ships need a review for that bug. Either they need to be Civilian with Insulated Engines based on Lore so it makes sense, or they need to be tagged as military/have built in militirized so you don't get extra speed you shouldn't have.

Jacht: A... Noticeably Better Valkyrie.... It should probably cost more ordinance points just like the Verguld costs more due to being a boosted Buffalo/Tarsus.
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frigates
Vestale: A boosted Kite with fighter PD! For Carter specific 0 to hero runs I presume. I can't particularly comment on it beyond 'it feels wrong that it exists'.
Scow: Wayfarer Sidegrade and early access to medium weapons. I keep trying and failing to use it as a combat vessel early because the medium mounts call to me. It keeps dying as a Wayfarer because of it. 10/10.
Jackdaw: Recently discussed. The only actual combat Frigate, and a pretty good one. When I said '6-7' I really meant 'I feel 6', but having taken a look at one holding of a Shrike, it think it earns it's 7.
Fusta: A Boosted Mudskipper which costs more appropriately. Which is incorrectly filed as a warship despite being one of the two ships that actually has civilian armor and insulated engines (which more ships feel like they should have).
Pinnacle: I've said before this feels more like a fighter in a Frigate slot. Nothing has changed. Name still feels funny. Nothing needs to change. This is one of those Phase Ships that are good but I actually use them, if just for point capture and harassment expecting to need to recover them.
Naruebet: A better Condor in a Frigate Slot. This one I feel is there for the options, and at least costs 10 like a Condor. Could probably cost more.
Bawley: Currently happy with it but I normally skip to the destroyer part of the game so not super familiar with it, beyond that it's a source of Tenders.
Sloop: Continues to be a better Dram that exists for useful reasons.
Derek: A Ox cross Fusta only costing 6.5? I presume this is you being nice to late game fleets, but I haven't played around much there. Also, random fighters that don't need to be there.

You will notice I comment on the built in fighters a few times. If you're amassing a Tender swarm than I think Carter's is fine. If not then the Fighters being built in instead of options means there's no point picking up the skill to boost fighters in the fleet because it'll be drowned under everything else.
I haven't done a dedicated JYD playthrough, but I imagine if you want to speck into fighters, I imagine that the fact their all drones makes up for that. Carter's doesn't have that luxury.

Now, my morning just disappeared and I'm supposed to do things today, so I'm going to stop here.

Edit: The edits is because I couldn't stop because I noticed typos. Now I'm getting up and stopping, any other typos can remain.
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15
Mods / Re: [0.97a] Hiver Swarm - V1.11 - 02/03/24
« on: February 25, 2024, 04:13:42 PM »
*Unlurks*
   Beyond that is the biggest problem: The invasions. I have no problem with the Hive threatening the core sector or being difficult to fight, that's part of their appeal to me, but with the default Nexerelin settings they start a full-scale invasion of the core sector 90 days after game start, which really doesn't seem to fit with their lore. I'm not sure if it's their fleet doctrine, their insane markets giving them more invasion strength, bad luck, or some combination of these, but I have not actually seen them lose an invasion. I've seen these exact planets fend off [REDACTED] attacks in previous playthroughs, which doesn't fit with the strength level you imply/intend. Part of the problem is definitely Nexerelin's AI, as even though every single faction has lost planets to the Hive they are still coalition warring themselves (mount-and-blade-level tactics). As it is, every single planet that can be invaded (no story protection) looks to be doomed with the default NEX/Hive settings. It's very difficult to balance around a variety of play styles and skill levels, but it feels like the player has to speedrun a large fleet and spearhead the defense on every front to prevent the sector from becoming the universe's largest ant infestation. It holds the entire experience back significantly. {EDIT: I've seen your past comment that the Hive shouldn't be something the player can choose when to fight, and I completely agree. However as it is, it feels like a "game ender" event gets plopped down from game start, which doesn't fit with the Hive being a scaling midgame threat that will eventually be a problem, but not for a while.}

 I really don't know how to fix this, as I said my modding experience is very limited, but I have a few loose concepts that could help if added. The Hive could have a timer before beginning attacks/expansion to allow the player to get established.
Well there is an option when you use NEX at the start of the game when you are making your character to delay invasions until your first colony is built. This option turns off the invasion mechanic and I recommend that setting to give the player some breathing room to build up a solid fleet and enough credits to jumpstart their first colony.

I'll add that you can also adjust the Day limit, if instead of being limited to when you feel built up enough to start a colony, you can have a timer to work against, and give you breathing room to have the colony set up if you don't lolygag like me.
In the off chance you don't know how to access the in-game mod menu, it's F2 (Assuming you have that mod installed too, but I think it's a dependency now.), and settings can be tweaked on the fly.

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