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General Discussion / Re: why discarding crew members may be the logical thing to do
« on: March 28, 2015, 01:13:45 PM »
If this isn't a case of The Cold Equations I don't know what is.
Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)
the only difference with the flux is that it doesn't stack with Soft CR but overlap it.It probably should stack with Soft CR - simplifies the mechanic across the game to reduce confusion, and easily balance-able. As for an excuse: your crew is super tired, so maybe they miss the small energy imbalance in the pulse laser cooling circuits and it malfunctions sooner than in should.
Removed energy weapon bonus damage from high flux levelSad to see a skill-cap / player technique cap mechanic disappear. I understand the AI did not use the mechanic effectively. Neither do brand new players. As the player is supposed to become godly with leveling up bonuses, why would the player also not become godly with hours spent understanding the mechanics of the game? Is the problem that either a) game is balanced for the player's choice of ships and thus AI high tech ships were underwhelming because not using weapons effectively, or b) game is balanced for AI ships and thus high tech ships are overwhelming for the player? As for players "abusing" the mechanic by firing at nothing to keep their flux high remember they are also keeping their ship speed low, their defensive capabilities low, their total damage/ROF low, etc. It's a skill decision for perhaps optimal play, not necessarily abuse.
Increased damage values for non-beam energy weapons by roughly 25% to compensate
Beam weapons:I'm sad beams won't pass through (over/under) friendly ships but I'll get over it. In my experience running large fleets with mostly beams in SS+ mod the longer range and standardized range really helps the AI roam as a pack and focus fire ships with beams. Mixed ranges means ships get in the way of one another's firing arcs as short range ships close to engage. This probably needs a second balancing pass on damage, because now HIL is really underwhelming for a large mount vs 4 tac lasers. If tac laser is used with PDAI, will it engage missiles or hold fire if a friendly ship is further downrange?
Standardized range to 1000 for most non-PD, from Tactical Laser to HIL
Increased range for PD Laser and LR PD Laser
Slightly reduced OP cost for all beam weapons
Tactical Laser, Graviton Beam, and Phase Beam are no longer interrupted by missiles
Greatly reduced fade in/out time for most beams
Still not sure why other missiles/rockets wouldn't regenerate even with ridiculously long timers if this is the way you're going. (1 min, 4 min, etc). With salamander, why can't the AI just treat it as a short range weapon such as Sabots even if range is medium (special rule)? Tried it and it still doesn't work?
Missiles:
Salamander: both versions have unlimited ammo and require 20 seconds to reload
Hurricane MIRV: regenerates 1 ammo every 20 seconds
Pilum LRM: regenerates 1 ammo every 10 seconds
I tend to agree with previous comments on implementing some form of magazine reloading. Another option might be a steep sliding curve of ammo loaded (like missiles loaded/not loaded) vs CR, so that at high CR there is plenty of ammo, medium CR there is roughly equivalent to current ammo levels, and low CR not much at all. It links into CR, uses the same mechanic as missiles loaded, and differentiates ballistic vs energy by CR...hm, not great but a low tech 'you need your crew to fight' solution? Maybe energy mounts are more likely to malfunction at low CR/EMP to balance?
Ballistic weapons:
Now have unlimited ammo, except for Bomb Bay
Reduced OP cost of Light Dual MG
ShipsOk with balancing pass, not convinced on timers but probably will be a non-issue. I'd probably prefer the CR degrades slowly when in combat but less/no drop just to deploy. Why do frigates need to be so fast now if nearly everything is on a timer?
Destroyers and cruisers now have a peak effectiveness timer like frigates
Roughly 5-7 minutes for destroyers and 7-9 for cruisers
High-tech/faster ships have shorter timers
Sunder: increased top speed, acceleration, and flux capacity. Reduced shield efficiency.
Brawler/Shepherd: increased burn level by 1 (to 6)
Condor: reduced supplies/day by 1 (to 4)
the worst (and usually the stupidest) situation is, if a freighter (from a trade fleet you outnumber 3:1) comes "back alive" and the marines fail and it gets away... he gets away with his cargo WTF from a military force they just kicked the *** out of his fleet.
2905891 [Thread-5] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull variant [tick_Hull] not found!
java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull variant [tick_Hull] not found!
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.L.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.fleet.FleetMember.õÖÖ000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.fleet.FleetMember.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.fleet.FleetMember.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.createFleetMember(Unknown Source)
at data.scripts.world.corvus.TriTachyonSupplyFleetSpawnPoint.addRandomShips$(TriTachyonSupplyFleetSpawnPoint.java:125)
at data.scripts.world.corvus.TriTachyonSupplyFleetSpawnPoint.spawnFleet(TriTachyonSupplyFleetSpawnPoint.java:82)
at data.scripts.world.BaseSpawnPoint.advance(BaseSpawnPoint.java:61)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.BaseLocation.advance(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.advance(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.A.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.B.ØÓÒ000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.oOOO.A.Ò00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
2069510 [Thread-5] DEBUG com.fs.graphics.TextureLoader - Loading image graphics/backgrounds/background5.jpg into existing tex id 327
2069933 [Thread-5] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO - java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
java.lang.OutOfMemoryError
at sun.misc.Unsafe.allocateMemory(Native Method)
at java.nio.DirectByteBuffer.<init>(Unknown Source)
at java.nio.ByteBuffer.allocateDirect(Unknown Source)
at org.lwjgl.BufferUtils.createByteBuffer(BufferUtils.java:60)
at com.fs.graphics.TextureLoader.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.graphics.TextureLoader.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.graphics.TextureLoader.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.util.ReplaceableSprite.class.int(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.BackgroundAndStars.ØO0000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.BaseLocation.renderBG(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.renderBG(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.A.ØØ0000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.B.ØÓÒ000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.oOOO.A.Ò00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.O0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$2.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
. Personally, I'd rather see the ships follow orders and die rather than trying (and usually failing) to remain alive when a point is highly contested, they have engagement opportunities and heavy friendlies aren't anywhere near.
I agree with this - I feel like tightly obeying commands puts the responsibility on the commander. That said, this could be something that captains influence once they are implemented, so it may be a good idea to make this a tweakable parameter.