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Mods / Re: [0.96a] The Xhan Empire, version 2.51 Gramada
« on: August 20, 2023, 11:25:49 AM »
With the Starsector update, i feel it was a good occasion to dip my toes once more into the sector. After some fooling around with vanilla, i craved some mods and Xhan has caught my attention for a while. I played the faction for a fairly long campaign and i feel it's time for some write up.

I began this campaign with a fairly limited knowledge of Xhan, mainly from occasional encounters during previous playthroughs. I expected to fly some big, brawny brutes with more armor plates than good sense. Lining them up in neat, quasi static, battle lines. Space Napoleonic wars you could say. And while I did get that to some extent, there was more to it than just that.

Xhan is a weird faction with more than meet the eye, it took me a while to properly get it. You get the very pedestrian first generation vessels that lives by the doctrine "front toward enemy, and hope the armor holds". However, as you progress to the second and third generations, the combat philosophy starts to muddle and you're left with puzzle pieces that don't quite fit together.

So today i'll write about how i tried to solve that puzzle.

I began my campaign as the captain of a small Xhan patrol force. A pair of frigates and a destroyer. I tried to only make use of the faction's ships and weapons, with a few exceptions. Also i didn't felt like using SO for this game.


Among these frigates was the Boulo support class. I only had a few of these for this whole campaign and i never could find them a proper role in my fleet. It's the cheapest way to field something with a medium missile mount. Unfortunately, i can't say i fell in love with Xhan's missile weaponry. Things like the Bloz and Syr lacked impact from my experience. Sharik torpedoes did have impact but lacked sufficient ammo. The Luzna heatseeker is the only missile from the faction that i really used in this campaign. It's an expensive but reliable Salamander, an easy way to pin down an agile opponent. My Boulos ended up as Luzna launching platforms to support my heavier ships. Granted, the Boulo can be outfitted with ballistic weaponry as well if you don't like missiles. In hindsight, it could made for a neat shtir platform. But then, it's suddenly competing with another Xhan frigate, one i ended up liked quite a bit more.


The Oiehou-M1 heavy frigate. Or what if the Centurion was actually good. A cheap, sturdy little ship with a damper field, top of the line peak performance duration, a 360° hybrid medium turret. The ideal choice for a scout, fast enough for capturing combat objectives and tough enough to contest said objectives against another frigate. Makes for a pretty solid escort ship to boot.

The Oiehou is however quite starved for OPs, especially if you want premium weaponry. My first few of these were armed with Ugol plasma spitters, which were... Alright i suppose. Later on, all my Oiehou were outfitted with Ion Beams instead, providing valuable support at a safe range for my bigger ships. Even during late game when facing the really mean things lying in the outer rim, the Oiehou still had a firm place in my fleet.


The destroyer i started with was an Olkzan(C) carrier. I did not enjoyed Xhan carriers all that much. Not that the carriers are bad – they're alright, I guess. The Olkzan(C) for exemple is cheap to deploy, reasonably well armored and isn't as OP starved as the Condor.

No, my issue with Xhan's carrier doctrine comes from the limited fighter crafts available to them. They don't have interceptors, which is something i really wish i had when I faced the Persean League. Their fighters tends to be quite pricy and underwhelming. I did occasionally use the Palka attacker for its good speed and long range when i needed reinforcement that could immediately participate to the battle. The Zahkhan is... I don't know, I have no idea what i'm supposed to do with that thing. The Schnerk bomber was a good surprise though, and helped me get through early game. Unlike other bombers that often necessitate escorts to deliver their payload, the Schnerk is very capable of doing the job by itself. Thanks to its heavy armor, only mass point defense fire can bring it down, and once its Gorel plasma projector fires, the projectile cannot be intercepted. All of this makes the Shnerck a very reliable way to deliver heavy ordnance against tougher opponents. Don't expect it to catch a frigate though.

Now that i look back on it though, i noticed the Palka do have some really damn high HE DPS. Maybe i was missing on something not using them more.

All in all, i did not ended up using carriers all that much. I still had a few Olkzan(C) in reserve for emergency deployment just in case, but they rarely saw action.


Speaking of carrier, i managed to salvage a Velloun very early in my campaign. While technically not Xhan tech, it still comes with the mod, so I used it for some time. I don't have much to say on it, i used this carrier as a drone factory to spit out Hassak phase frigates, which in turn i used as distraction/frigate hunters. Nonetheless i ended up mothballing the plastic ships in favor of more Xhan stuff. I only faced those as derelicts to be recovered, but i think it would be neat if there were enemy fleet of those the player could encounter during exploration.

Speaking of the Hassak, there's a typo in the description "Able 'to' bring significant energy firepower".


My first purchase was the classic Olkzan heavy destroyer from which the Olkzan(C) is derived. As its designation implies, the Olkzan is an armored brute geared for frontline duty. I have a conflicted opinion for this one. On one hand, it's tough as nail and comes with a large hybrid turret, the ideal candidate for an artillery piece or a brawler. On the other hand, it's fairly expensive to field at 13 DP, and is really starved for OPs. You have to sacrifice either firepower, point defense, hullmods or flux stats to make it work. It doesn't help that Xhan's armory tends to be on the pricier side when it comes to OPs. In theory I wanted to use them like pseudo Enforcers, in practice, they felt more like slow Sunders. Good at long range slugfest, but faltered surprisingly fast in a messy brawl.

I did use the few Olkzan i bought for as long as they survived, but did not bother salvaging their derelict when they fell in battle. In hindsight, i probably would have better success with cheap vanilla weapons like hellbores and autocannons.

While i'm talking about this ship, i have to mention its other variants, the (E)xport model in particular. It seems strictly to be an inferior version of the original or am i missing something? The pirate variant at least bring something different, but the (E) model is just... Dare i say bloat content? That critique does also applies to the Ennik(E).


In the same category, i also got the Cheborog-Z1 heavy cruiser. A ship that seems to follow a similar doctrine to the Olkzan, but bigger. This also ended up being my biggest disappointment for this campaign.

The Cheborog is a magnified evolution of its Domain counterpart, the Dominator. Further focusing its design with heavier armor and frontal firepower. It also come with obvious weaknesses, like terrible mobility and a distressingly narrow shield that fails to cover its elongated profile. If there's one ship that screams "flank me!" it's the Cheborog. Just like the Olkzan, the heavy cruiser performs fairly well in a long range artillery battle, but anything that can come closer will be able to outmaneuver and tear it apart, heavy armor or not.

While i could have put some more effort in properly escorting my cruisers, i couldn't look past the expensive 28 DP deployment cost. At such price, i needed something reliable that could perform on its own.


Completely different yet similar, the Cheborog(C), the carrier conversion of the heavy cruiser, also ended up in my fleet. Pretty well armed for a carrier, although it lacks the flux dissipation to make use of those 3 ballistic turrets. Which doesn't matter because it rarely reaches the front line in time. It's a frustratingly slow ship that takes an eternity and a half to get where you want it. Once (if) it gets there though, it can unleash quite a bit of damage if you combine its Targeting feed system with Schnerk bombers. While the Cheborog(C) performed admirably in its time in my fleet, i had to strategize everything around it so it could use its bombers. That would severily limits my options in battle.


The final nail for my Cheborog(C) came when the Xhan emperor decided to p*ss off its neighbor, the Persean League. The League, with its tendency to favor stand off engagements and missile spam, made my life miserable. Pegasii and other missile boats preferring to stay out of range of my heavy weapons, they would slowly grind me down at a safe distance while i had no mean to intercept those laser missiles with conventional point defense. Bombers neither had the speed nor the range to get there in due time either. I needed a solution.


The Panrelka battlecruiser became that solution. It's an unusual Xhan ship. Despite its robust appearance, the Panrelka is very fragile, with low hull, armor and flux capacity. On the other hand, it is absurdly fast, even more so than most cruisers. Its weapon layout is a bit on the light side, although it's compensated by its very generous arcs, meaning it can bring to bear most of its guns regardless from where you're trying to approach it. On top of that, it's fairly inexpensive for a capital ship at only 35 DPs, so it's fairly easy to deploy a handful of these. It's finally what i wanted, a reliable front line ship that unexpectedly relies on kitting rather than tanking. With auxiliary thrusters and the appropriate officer skills, it can backpedal at full speed in a blink.

But how is it gonna help me against the Persean league? Well, the Panrelka does have some exceptional EMP flare system that can home in on targets, a bit like the Ziggurat's motes. Even distant beam missiles favored by the League will get intercepted by these. Stand off tactics won't work very well either, especially against a ship that can close the gap as quickly as the Panrelka can. I relied heavily on hardened shields and high capacity to buy them the time to retreat from a disadvantageous engagement. They don't really have good shield and flux capacity to begin with, but i felt it was better than trying to tank with their meager armor. Of course, they could still get surrounded and immobilized, but that's what my Oiehous were here to prevent.

This battlecruiser became the workhorse of my fleet, carrying me to victory until the very end of this campaign. Here's what my Panrelkas looked like by the end of it.

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With 3 S-mods, you can even get some pretty decent flux dissipation. Also, yes, HVDs, i did not like the medium Shtir autocannon. It's a more expensive yet worse alternative. Better turning speed and slightly higher DPS are not worth the inconvenience of lower damage per shot, lower accuracy and no EMP. As for the rear Luzna, i wasn't sure about it, but it does mess with enemy movement so why not.


The Ennik cruiser was the forgotten ship of this playthrough, being overshadowed by the Panrelka. I only had two or three of these in total, and i mostly kept them in reserve. As such, i don't know much about this ship. Now that i look at it though, i guess it makes sense i wasn't very interested. At 20 DPs, its stats are extremely underwhelming, especially if you compare to something similarly priced like the Eagle. Yes, it does have Xhan EMP flares, a pretty good system, but that's it. So yeah, i'm not impressed by the egg.


I acquired a few Kassarek frigates to escort my fleet, but I didn't retain them for long. The Kassarek is a Monitor that relies on special armor rather than fortress shield. It's also covered in PD beams. It's a very good escort ship as it refuses to die. It's also a terrible escort ship as it costs as much as a destroyer to deploy. The Oiehou in my fleet could perform the same role well enough for a fraction of the DP. Sure, there are some things in the sector that an Oiehou won't tank but a Kassarek will, but these things are rarely fast enough to catch my battlecruisers anyway. To the storage it goes !


I attempted some experimental fire support tactics with the Doskan missile destroyer. It's a frigate masquerading as a bigger vessel. It's cheap and overall very unimpressive, but it does come with a large missile hardpoint. Again, i did not experiment a whole lot with this one as i did not liked Xhan missiles. Both the Bloz and Syr felt anemic and too short ranged for the very vulnerable Doskan. I thought about using some vanilla missiles like the Squall or Hurricane, but i couldn't find them in sufficient numbers. Moreover, i was getting toward the endgame at this point and i had to be picky on what i decide to deploy in battle.


At this stage of the game, I was still without a suitable flagship. I was piloting a Cheborog(C) with Operation Center, taking a hands-off approach to direct combat and instead overseeing the battlefield from afar. It was getting a bit stale though, and i wanted to get some action. I did choose the Occuklop for my next flagship.

The Xhan battleship is quite peculiar; no other ship in my fleet underwent as frequent mothballing and recommissioning due to my fluctuating opinions on it, shifting between appreciation and frustration. On one hand i now have a battleship with exceptional armor and heavy firepower (despite the unusual weapon layout). On the other hand, i wasn't sure how this slow and expensive thing would fit in my current combat strategy. In the end, i opted for something similar to the "Decimator" variant, albeit with fewer missiles and relying only on the built-in Decimator cannon and Stolbs for HE damage. As i did not had many combat skills yet, i opted for a long range build rather than getting into the thick of it and risk losing my flagship. That's one reason why i used Stolbs instead of more classic HE weaponry.

Let's talk about the Stolb, shall we? It's a capricious weapon to use. The projectiles's explosion is set on a timer instead of collision. That makes it utterly worthless, even dangerous, to use it at close range. When fired at long range however, there's fewer risk of the canister bouncing uncontrollably. And even if it does, the incredibly large AOE still ensues damage will be done. I found the Stolb to be most effective when fired at targets just a little bit beyond its effective range. Obviously, it's much more reliable when used by the player but i still managed to make it work with the AI. For a time, my fleet rocked a pair of Occuklops, the only ship i somehow managed to make the Stolb function with. Placing the Stolb in the same weapon group as a longer range weapon, say, a shtir autocannon, i found that the Occuklop would prematurely fire with the Stolb so that its ordnance would reach the target at the very end of the timer. According to the detailed combat results mod, Stolbs ended up dealing the most damage of any weapons for my AI battleship. One thing i found funny : the Stolb canister is not destroyed when colliding with a missile, the two merely bounce against each others. The League's Dragonfire torpedoes spinning uncontrollably after bumping on a Stolb bomb ended up being an unexpected practical point defense tool.

Alas, i couldn't make it work well on other ships. Which is sad because at the time i entertained the idea of a combat doctrine with the goal of achieving  "maximum Stolb" and saturate the battlefield with explosive. Oh well. Maybe one day i'll try that coupled with the SCY singularity torpedo.



After spending a little while flying the Occuklop, i decided to try something a bit bigger. The Gramada dreadnought became my new flagship for a time. The Xhan dreadnought is fairly similar to the Invictus in its function. It's a giant brute of a ship combining extraordinary endurance with excessive firepower at the cost of mobility and maintenance. There's a few differences between those two. Unlike its domain counterpart, the Gramada lacks the distributed fire control hullmod that protects the Invictus from EMP spam. Automated repair unit tends to be very useful if you lack the required officer skills or are fighting something with excessive EMP. I once had the misfortune to encounter a Tesseract with a reality disruptor, that was not a pleasant day. On the other hand, with a whopping 420 OPs, the Xhan dread can attempt some pretty creative build that the Invictus can only dream of. An asymmetrical outfit is the most obvious choice. With a whole side left empty or almost, you still have a pletora of OPs to toy with. I like my Gramada to be relatively flux neutral, so they can keep the pressure on whatever is on their side at all time.

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As you can see, it's very kinetic heavy. I consider the two built-in Gromm batteries to be sufficient for cracking armor, those things makes the hellbore feel like a peashooter by comparison. There's a few hullmods that i consider essential for the dreadnought. Advanced turret gyro allows the Gromm to turn quick enough when re-targeting. ITU because, well, of course you'd need more range. Armored weapon mounts in case you get hit by something that shouldn't have and you need to fight back now. As for the rest, i found these hullmods to be nice but not absolutely necessary. Yes, you can see dual ACs here. The Xhan Shtir is also a very good choice thanks to its monstrous range, but it comes with some pretty noticeable drawback : more expensive, less DPS, more flux... And most importantly i did no had enough of those in storage... Also flak cannons. As much as i love Igols PDs, it's hard to beat the 8 OPs price tag of single flaks.

Strangely, the Gramada do have three composite turrets that can make use of missiles, unfortunately i can't think of a viable reason to use some on a decidedly ballistic oriented vessel. Perhaps legitimizing some missile build for further loadout diversity could be considered in a future update? I think that could be interesting.

As proud as i was of my new flagship, i couldn't really find a good role for it in my fleet. I wasn't hunting many space stations at the moment, something the Gramada excels at. It's also very good with static, defensive tactics, but again that was at odd with the rest of my very mobile fleet. For a while, i used it as an area denial platform, sitting somewhere in the middle next to a combat objective and daring anything to get in range. It worked well at splitting the enemy fleet in two, leaving isolated groups vulnerable to my agile battlecruisers. Still, i wished to do more, so i bought two more Gramadas. My newer strategy revolved around careful positioning, creating crossfire zones between the three dreadnoughts. Herding the enemy fleet into the death field wasn't always easy, but when it succeeded, there's not much that can handle 210 DP worth of dreadnought fire to tell the tale. It doesn't make for very intense piloting though, and after a while I got tired of flying space metallic whales.




At the other end of the spaceship spectrum, i found myself a new toy : the Pharrek-class Vivisector (now that's a pretty metal title). Obscenely expensive to deploy for frigate, but damn, what a little demon that thing is. The Pharrek's main attribute is its exceptional mobility thanks to the Divine Jaunt teleporter. That thing can pop up anywhere on the battlefield in a blink and unleash its full firepower on whatever got its attention. A bit like the old Hyperion, but better. As for my personal experience, i went with a dual typhoon build (yes, i dropped all pretense on only using Xhan weapons now) and went hunting for front-shielded targets. With expanded missile racks and missile specialization, that gives you a lot of reapers to deliver, you can vaporise several capital ships before they can even reach the front line with it. Even if you somehow run out of torpedoes before the enemy run out of ships, you can still rely on its built-in weaponry. The Agmad pulse lasers and their stupid burst DPS in particular will tear things apart, although be careful not to overload yourself with those. Oh, and you somehow have destroyer level of peak performance time as well ! Xhan tends to be a bit lacking when it comes to flagship material, the Pharrek definitely compensate for that. It's not even a difficult super frigate to pilot. While i used mine mainly for hunting heavier ships, it can take down pretty much anything thanks to its various built-in weapons.


Somewhat less exciting, i managed to get a few Ubellop phase frigates. After shelving my dreadnoughts and brought back the Panrelkas, i was looking for some "deployment padding" ships and phase ships seemed like an interesting option. The Ubellop is tough, thanks to its damper field, and also come with an uncommon medium hybrid hardpoint. At this point in the late game, a bunch of phase frigates won't have much influence on the battlefield, so i couldn't really say if my Ubellop did well or not, especially since piloting my new flagship demanded all my attention. However i rarely had to salvage their derelicts after a battle, so i suppose they were sufficiently survivable and provided some distraction for the opposing fleet.


While we're speaking about phase ships, i decided to mothball my Pharrek for a bit and instead spend some time with my new object of my affection :  the Ouggom phase cruiser . I overlooked this one for a long, long time. Always hovering the cursor above its crooked form while shopping but never proceeding to click the 'buy' button. And why would I? That malformed lump of metal probably wouldn't fit in my fleet anyway. And what does the Magnetic Impulse system does anyway? That description of it doesn't explain much, nor does testing it in the simulator. Only after encountering a renegade Xhan fleet with one of these, I finally understood, and bought my next flagship.

The most glaring aspect I initially overlooked about the phase cruiser is its large synergy hardpoint. It's a phase ship that can mount a Cyclone launcher. Plus a Typhoon. Plus two reapers. While the Pharrek definitely had some punch, the Ouggom is on a whole new level of high explosive delivery. I outfitted it as a reaper boat with two Ion Pulsers for EMP/Shield cracking. Just for its ability to burst down critical targets, the Ouggom is worth it. But there's more ! That vaguely explained Magnetic Impulse system ? The magnetized target attracts ships and wrecks toward it, violently.  And what happens when ships clumped together gets on the receiving end of a few antimatter-catalyzed nuclear warheads?

Beyond the opportunity to kill two birds (or more) with one atomic stone. The Magnetic Impulse is also quite invaluable for disrupting with enemy formations or messing with their targeting. I managed to save quite a few of my Panrelkas as i zapped an aggressor out of position.  It's also a potent tool to disable a dangerous enemy movement and firing line with allied ships or derelicts . That tactic saved my fleet from a certain demonic frigate in the outer reach of the sector. By the way, i feel the Magnetic Impulse is somehow capable of doing damage through shields, or am i imagining it?


In the later stages of the game, after a battle against a fanatical Xhanite,  I successfully salvaged the wreckage of a distinctive phase ship: the Goggergeck battleship.. Stat wise, that thing is pretty fantastic. It is ungodly tanky, surprisingly fast and with some impressive flux stats. It might seems a bit undergunned at first glance, that is, if you ignore the built-in Uogek gun. That gun deals torpedo level of energy damage, plenty of EMP, and as a bonus an effect similar to the Ouggom magnetizing ability on impact. However the strange layout make this big boy an un-intuitive ship to outfit. For a while, i went for a basic yet practical burst damage loadout, with antimatter blasters and phase lances. The Xhan Yazer beam is also a very good choice thanks to its monstrous burst damage, but i felt too constricted by the very limited ammo count. That weapon is pretty much a non-missile torpedo equivalent.

That build however, wouldn't take full advantage of the Goggergeck system : Temporal Lock, which forces the target (it works on allies too ! ) in P-space and immobilize them. It's an incredibly crowd control tool. Someone is acting a bit too aggressive for you liking? Time lock ! Trying to run away? Time lock ! Ally in danger? Time lock ! Juicy target with a heavy escort? Time lock ! I found it especially useful for stunning extremely dangerous targets, like Tesseracts. While this is all nice and good for supporting my fleet, i found an interesting way to use this system in a more aggressive way. The time locked ship is intangible for the duration, just like a phase ship, before emerging again in normal space.  It would be a damn shame if said ship would rematerialize just as a torpedo would fly right through its hull, isn't it? It also may or may not be pure coincidence that the Goggergeck can mount up to 5 Typhoon launchers, and that the built-in Uogek's projectile suspiciously moves at roughly the same speed as a reaper.

Getting the right timing is easier said than done, but it's still a bullsh*t valid tactic against enemies that can be hard to pin down. By the way, don't give your Goggergeck to the AI, it's reckless use of Temporal Lock will occasionally screw you over.


So far, i was swapping between the Ouggom, Goggergeck and Pharrek for my flagship, depending on my mood. I've got to say i had a preference for the teleporting frigate, and yet i was still hoping for a bit more from the ship. So, what's better than a Pharrek? Well, two Pharreks of course !

I don't have much experience with the Neural Link skill, it doesn't help that the damn thing is locked so far away in the skill tree. I wish there was a version of Neural Interface available for early game, so it could be enjoyed with normal ships instead of it being the "fly a Radiant" late game hullmod. But i digress. So as i was saying, getting used to Neural Link takes a little bit, between the itching of having jumper cables connected to your brain and the disorientation of instant ship transfer, it took me a few attempts before getting it right.

And boy, when you get it right, it feels wonderful. I suspect the Pharrek was specifically designed for it. Incredible mobility function very well when you're flying two ships at the same time and need to compensate the sudden perception shift. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the Pharrek itself is shaped similarly to the Neural Link combat icon. The ship system buff from the hullmod is also a very nice bonus if you want to go fast. And damn you can go very, very fast.

While a single Pharrek is a dangerous ship, it still needs a pause to vent. Two Pharreks, however, result in an unending whirlwind of destruction. While one vents, the other fires, ensuring there is no downtime for either you or your adversary. I liked to use mines with dual Ion pulsers, very easy to use, and effective. S-modding expanded magazines is also invaluable for quick reloading. One thing to keep in mind that the missile specialization skill ammo bonus does only benefit the original flagship but not the linked one. I suspect there are many possible builds with Neural Link, i'll definitely experiment further in the future.


Finally, after a lengthy campaign, I discovered the fitting flagship to conclude the game: the .

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is also the of my campaign, being roughly the equivalent of the fight. Although it can be easier or harder depending on what kind of fleet you bring to kill it.
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You see, itself isn't that impressive of a ship. It's very good, but a it is not. The true threat posed by the ship is , compelling them to .
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If that thing manage to , the enemy got a pretty big problem. Once you defeat the thing, you can . Honestly, there's no point in playing the game any longer at this point.
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Nothing can possibly resist you any more. So that's with this monstrosity in my hands that i decided to end this long campaign.
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---

Well, that was quite a long post ! Still, there's more untouched content from the mod : a whole different faction, some more exploration content... Xhan is a big mod and there's no way i can test it all in just a single campaign. As for the faction itself, i'd say i liked it although it took me a while to get used to some stuff.

There are some ships for exemple that clearly show their age, both in appearance and overall design, they don't work quite as well as i feel they should have. Although it could have been a skill issue from my part, there's a definitely some clunkiness still present. Xhan ships are ugly, but most of them are the right kind of ugly. As for those that don't, I really wish for the older content to be facelifted to the same level as the new. There's probably a few balance adjustments needed as well, i feel the Ennik badly need some love. Same for the Zahkhan.

Overall, i had a good time. Plus this was the mod that eventually made me properly experiment with Neural Link, so i'm grateful for that.


Edit : As a bonus, some neural linked Pharrek action :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQG1RS5NAzQ&ab_channel=HELMUT


2
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: August 08, 2021, 04:31:52 AM »
Volkov Industrial Conglomerate 1.3.2

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=19603.0


Quote
I just finished playing a pretty long VIC campaign. Nothing fancy, standard bounty hunting campaign, with plenty of fighting. This gave me opportunities to experiment with the ships and see what they're capable of. I managed to reach the very end-game and take on the Coronal Hypershunt's defenders.

From what i've seen, VIC is a glass cannon faction. They move fast, they hit hard, but they can't take a punch. Getting into position without being intercepted and avoiding a head on brawl is paramount with their ships. Thanks to the mobility of most of their crafts, they can quickly exploit openings and disengage before retaliation is coming. At least in theory, in practice it requires some forethought in how each ship should be built, what support do they have, when and how to engage, etc. Many times i got wrecked because of some ill-advised battlefield decision. It's easy to get caught, and a VIC ship rarely have a second chance when that happens.

It's especially true during early and mid-game, when you're stuck with their vulnerable frigates, destroyers and even cruisers. However the game becomes much easier later on once you get access to capital ships, but i'll come back on this later.



I started this campaign with a small combat fleet. The Pruflas frigate was my first flagship, one i really enjoyed playing with. It isn't especially strong, but it's agile, the mini mine-layer system is very handy against missiles and fighters, and the built-in phase lance gives it some unexpected bite. While it was a fun experience to directly fly it, its ability to influence the course of the battle is limited. Still, because it's fast and (relatively) cheap, i kept a bunch of Pruflas in my fleet throughout the campaign, for quick objective capping and harassing isolated targets.

I had to iterate several times before finding a proper build for those. Just like most VIC ships, they flux out quickly, making them quite vulnerable. For scouting/capturing duty, i found it better to leave some hardpoints empty as to save OPs. Investing those in shields hullmods and capacity, as to increase their survivability. Even with empty mounts, a Pruflas is never completely under gunned because of the built-in phase lance anyway.



The Xaphan was also part of this starting fleet. An oddity of a frigate, with only 3 hardpoints but with a built-in hullmod that pretty much double the efficiency of the weapons. The limited weapon layout and inability to use point defenses severely limits the Xaphan's roles on the battlefield. It's a frigate hunter, or optionally, a direct fire support, but not much more.

I tried a variety of loadouts, from a long range tac laser harasser, to an anti-matter blaster bomber, to some unexpectedly performant mono-railgun build... The Xaphan works, but feels weird both on the refit screen and the battlefield. Because of the doubling OP cost from the hellstorm hullmod, and the absolute necessity of the PD arc emitter hullmod on something that can't protect itself from missiles, the customisation possibilities becomes very limited. My Xaphans fought decently during early and mid game, but i ended up preferring the more versatile Pruflas in the end.


The Kobal is another frigate i got early. The smallest sibling among the "Adaptive Assault Configuration wedges" family. I did use quite a few of those as part of my fleet, but never as a flagship. With three medium hardpoints, the Kobal seems like an easy ship to outfit, however it does share the common VIC's Ordnance Point starvation issue. Yes, you can mount those big guns on it, but you won't have the flux to fire them, nor enough room left for any hullmod either. And VIC ships really wants hullmods to function well.

The Adaptive Assault Configuration system also "forces" the player to mix energy and ballistics for a bigger damage bonus, so i often ended up with weird builds in an attempt to optimize the damage buff. I'm personally not sold on that hullmod/system. I think a variant of the Xaphan's hellstorm hullmod would make for a more straightforward system for the AAC wedges ships.

As for the Kobals of my fleets, i usually preferred to use low-end weapons like Mortars and Arbalests, or long range beam platforms, or even leaving one mount empty to economize OPs. The saved ordnance points could be invested in return in better flux stats and important hullmods, like PD arc emitter and Auxiliary thrusters.



I did not really try the Nybbas for this campaign. The only one i got, i gave to the AI. It struggled to do anything, constantly on the brink of overloading, probably due to the extremely high cloak upkeep, before eventually falling to CR degradation. I lost it after maybe two or three battle. The new Nybbas seems like a far cry from the monster it used to be, but i have to admit i haven't used it enough to give an informed assumption.



The Moloch destroyer was part of my fleet from the beginning, but it's only a bit later that i used it as my flagship. At that point in the campaign, i needed some high impact ship that could turn the tide of the battle. As much as i enjoyed the Pruflas, it wasn't that ship, and i hoped the Moloch would fix that. While it wasn't the silver bullet i wished, it did well enough to handle early game pirates.

I experimented a bit with the Schturm Overhaul, however the lower shield efficiency and flux capacity made my ship waaaay too fragile. It could have worked for a flanker build that avoid direct confrontation, but i had nothing yet that could form a decent fire line to keep the enemy's busy. I was forced to brawl against my opponents one by one, that's not what the Schturm hullmod is for. I fell back on a standard SO build with a trio of Ion Pulsers. Not the best armor breaking loadout, but good enough against pirate rust buckets.

It was also at that moment i noticed my extreme vulnerability to fighters, which made the next few battles much more difficult than anticipated. I'll segue the discussion to the PD arc emitter hullmod for a moment. For early game, this hullmod is godly, it's a cheap and extremely efficient PD system that pretty much nullify missiles. It can intercept with ease a few salamanders or harpoons, which is the most you'll encounter in an early game skirmish. It's a good idea to remove Point defense weapons to instead invest in PD arc emitter. Back then, i told myself it's overpowered, and it was in some way.

Unfortunately, it does nothing against fighters, and i learned that the hard way. I constantly had to interrupt my duel with another ship to defend myself from buzzing interceptors, trying to manually hit them with my main weaponry (the two small turrets at the front of my Moloch were rarely sufficient to deal with more than a few Talons). Later on, PD arc emitter can easily be overwhelmed by saturation missiles and flares. Funny how it went from "must have" to "very situational" depending on the number of enemies on the field.

Later on, when i switched flagship. I gave my Moloch a more conservative build. Since it basically function as a mid-tech Medusa with the opportunity to mount ballistics, you can turn it into some extremely nasty kiting bastard. It's hard to beat a Mauler/HVD combo. Alas, i had no easy access to those weapons then. So i did stick to VIC weaponry for a long time. I did like the Gagana Smartdart Launcher for its exceptional reliability, thanks to its homing projectile. Even fighters had a hard time dodging those.


I only bought a single Samael destroyer during this campaign. It began its career fighting early game pirates and somehow survived long enough to fight end-game remnant Ordos. I was looking for a solution to my fighter problem, as well as a way to pressure enemies at long range to cover my Moloch flagship. I couldn't afford a carrier yet, so i settled for a long range beam Samael. Not exactly flashy, but hey, it worked well enough. An exceptional annoyance to enemies, and the decent fire support i needed. One description mistake i noted, it still mentions the presence of a built-in Shabriri drone.

Just like the Kobal, the Samael can a very weird ship to equip because of AAC, but it can be pretty good when outfitted properly. It's also afflicted by what i call "the curse of the rear defense turret with an extremely narrow arc". The arc is too narrow for a point defense weapon to properly function unless it's something very bursty like burst PD. I personally always left it empty.

I admittedly didn't looked at it that much during this campaign. I wanted to focus on a very fast and agressive strategy, therefore i couldn't really find a place for the "AAC wedges" during this campaign. Maybe it's possible to create a proper VIC deathball with those, but i don't have enough experience of it to say for sure.



The Jezebeth support destroyer quickly became the fleet workhorse in this campaign. The VIC Sunder is not as well armed as its vanilla counterpart, but much more versatile. With a large hybrid, a single launch bay, the weird custom Enthropy Amplifier and a good shield emitter, it always have a place in any fleet. Unlike most VIC ships that can sometimes be tricky to outfit, the Jeze is very easy to build. Focus on the big gun, now make sure the big gun keeps firing, and voila ! Your Jezebeth is ready for battle !

This ship also taught me how to love the Capacitron Discharger. Monstrous burst KE DPS, hitscan "projectile" and ability to fire over allies, the Capacitron Discharger makes for an exceptional support weapon. A weapon i eventually added to all my support Jezebeth for shield bursting duty during late game. Even without that specific weapon, the Jezebeth is a compliant ship that'll function without trouble whether you give it a Hellbore or a Tachyon lance.

Since i had some issues dealing with fighters so far, the Uvall interceptor seemed like an obvious choice for the launch bay. It's a bit expensive at 12 OPs, but that's a price i was willing to pay for a premium interceptor. And boy, did it worked ! Not only the Uvall is very good at wrecking other fighters (i noted they have a tendency to fire their Strigoy flak at point blank range against other fighters, that's 300 burst frag, and they got two of those). It's also a very competent heavy fighter, thanks to its Rarog atomic emitter. Even destroyers can't ignore a group of Uvalls for very long, lest they end up with their armor stripped clean.



The first cruiser i got was the Cresil carrier. A box filled with 4 launch bays, and a few point defenses. Flying a Cresil is almost as fun as reading the phone book, it's strictly made for the AI only. Despite being a boring design, it does its job at flooding the battlefield with fighters. I used mine with a mix of fighters, bombers and- Just kidding, i used 4 Uvalls. I wanted space superiority to cover my fleet, and the heavy interceptors already proved their worth on my Jezebeths. It worked, i no longer had to worry about missiles and fighters.

What more can i say about this ship? It's a fighter vomit platform, and that's really all about it. There's nothing wrong with keeping things simple, but compared to the rest of the faction, the Cresil almost feel like it comes from another mod by its simplicity.



At this point in the campaign, i started to encounter my first few enemy capital ships, as well as plenty of cruisers. I was in a dire need of firepower to deal with those. The Thamuz cruiser seemed like an obvious choice for that role. An oversized pile of guns, with the grace of a masonry wall. A distant cousin of the Dominator that forgot to wear its armor. It shoots hard, but also dies hard. The mix of atrocious mobility and fragility makes the Thamuz a choice prey for agile skirmishers. Un-escorted, my cruiser can't bring to bear its excessive firepower to defend itself and fall apart quickly. It's much more survivable as part of a squad of sturdy front liners that'll protect it from flankers. Alas, i did not had sturdy frontliners at the moment, and with few ships i could delegate to escort duty, my first Thamuz got close to death many times.

Being an AAC wedge, I never managed to find a real place in my fleet for my Thamuz, even during late game. I suspect they would shine against low mobility opponents, like space stations and the Hegemony. Unfortunately, my enemies tended to be very mobile and agressive, like PRV fleets and VIC deserters. I was also quickly reaching the point where i couldn't deploy everything in battle, and more often than not, the Thamuz stayed in reserve.



Completely different from the Thamuz, the Valafar was the next addition to my fleet, as well as my new flagship. Long story short, the Valafar is an upsized Moloch and follows the same "Schturm" design theories. It's fast, fragile and hit hard. However due to its bigger size and higher stats, it's also the closest thing to a line ship VIC have. Not that it means it's a good line ship. It's more of a cheap, fast flanker. Like an overgunned Falcon. It's certainly not adequate for a frontal assault against ships of the same size.

Like the Moloch, the Valafar tends to run hot on flux, especially if you give it VIC weaponry which is notoriously flux expensive to fire. Fortunately, it can quickly get out of a tricky situation with its Omni-Lunge, at least as long it doesn't get overloaded. That's one reason i also skipped the Schturm Upgrade on this ship. Yes, it noticeably increases its flux dissipation, but drastically reduces its survivability through lower flux capacity and shield efficiency. I managed to make it work much later in the game, by micromanaging a squad of Schturm Valafars doing hit and run on vulnerable targets. Not the most practical and efficient tactic though.



In the capital ship category, the Oriax fills the role of support battlecruiser. The "support" part is from my experience at least. Technically you can use it as a direct frontliner, but given its fragility (almost as bad as an Atlas MK.II), the Oriax doesn't want to be exposed to the front line. Granted, it got a pretty solid shield emitter and decent flux stats to back it up, but once the shield burst, it's game over.

Because i often had experiences of VIC ships overfluxing themselves with their own weapons, i was very averse about mounting big guns on my Oriax, despite me needing badly those big guns at the moment. Instead i went for the missile boat route. Missiles don't generate flux, the OPs usually invested in flux dissipation were now free to use on capacity instead, to ensure my precious shield wouldn't overload. Plus, missiles can usually be fired indirectly at a longer range, allowing my battlecruiser to participate to the battle at a safe distance. The missile boat idea worked exceptionally well. Combining an officer with missile specialization and expanded missile racks, my dual Hurricane Oriax had sufficient ammo to last even for longer battle, and the MIRVs gave me the raw killing power my fleet needed. Oh also, the Fervor hullmod works on missiles, +30% damage makes for really nasty long range bombardment. And because i used my battlecruisers as second line ships, the increased damage taken from Fervor didn't mattered that much.

I was not convinced by the Flux Rapture system. The ship system itself with its giant ring, the electric arcs and all are noticeable in combat, but it feels like it's just for show, as if it had no real impact on the battle. My AI ship is using it? Ok. It's not? Whatever. Some adjustments to make the system more impactful would be beneficial i think. The Oriax is already a pretty strong ship though, so it'll need to be done carefully as to overly buff it.

I'm also mitigated on the Power Redistributor hullmod. The ability to re-route power to the needed systems à la FTL is cool. Doing it through the targeting system is janky as hell though. I tried doing it when i used the Oriax as a flagship but it gets messy real fast. Fortunately the stats modification from mis-using the system is relatively low, as not to penalize the AI using it. It's a good idea, but the execution isn't quite there.


Finally, we're coming to the central piece of every VIC fleet : the Apollyon.

To say it bluntly, the main objective when playing VIC is to get an Apollyon as quickly as possible (which i did not do). Once you get one, the dynamic of the battle changes drastically. As a Schturmcapital, the design philosophy is the same. It's a highly mobile glass cannon. However, while the Apollyon is built upon the same rules as the Valafar, Moloch and Xaphan, it doesn't play the same game as its smaller siblings.

While most VIC ships rely on mobility to get close and hit the target when they're not looking, the Apollyon is more of a gunslinger that shoots first to win. Because of its higher stats and range (through ITU or Schturm Overhaul), it can reach a critical mass of firepower that nullify the usual weakness of its smaller cousins. Schturmships can't brawl well, because they can't take a hit. However you don't need to take a hit when the enemy is dead, and few things can handle the full striking power of an Apollyon. That's why i built my Apollyon as a burst damage monster that can vaporize the heaviest cruisers in a single alpha strike. With that ship, you're no longer performing hit-and-runs, you're steamrolling, and nothing you short of a Paragon or a Radiant can stop. In the event you might encounter one of those two, the Quantum Lunge allows the Apollyon to outmaneuver your opponent and hit from a better angle.

It's a very expensive ship to deploy in battle, but that's a price worth paying given the massive influence on battle an Apollyon can have. Mind you, it's not a great AI ship, it will often Quantum Lunge in a dangerous spot, and is ill equipped to deal with being surrounded. Unless your fleet have ways to quickly support an isolated ship, the whole "flank the whole enemy fleet" Quantum Lunge maneuver is often a losing gambit. Especially since it can tear through most opponents in a slugfest anyway.

If i have to make a complain about the Apollyon, it's its tendency to turn most ships irrelevant by comparison. Why use something else when you're already flying one of the most impactul ship in the game? Granted, the same can be said about ships like the Ziggurat or IBBs. However those are unique ships, and are time and effort consuming to acquire. The Apollyon is a common sight in VIC markets and deserter fleets. Yes, i did eventually swap it for a flagship Oriax later on, but it was more for experimenting with some OPcenter shenanigans than trying to win the game. Apollyon is clearly the superior VIC flagship in all conditions.


That's it for the ships ! I did not do some in depth testing about the fighters and weapons, so i won't talk too much about those. I will talk about hullmods though, because i think this is where lies the weakest point of the mod.

VIC hullmods tends to do many things, and simultaneously do nothing at all. The most egregious exemple is the Laidlaw Tech. While the shield changing arc depending on where it's facing can be an interesting gimmick on some ships, like the Oriax, the other modifiers are not. A little bit +10% this, a little bit of minus 10% that, it feels like some RPG skill tree that gives you +1% damage or some other boring stuff. This is a completely subjective complaint, but for me, if something doesn't do anything noticeable in game, it might as well not exist. At no point i did take in account all those little stats modifiers stacked upon each others in my campaign. The Apollyon Adaptive Warfare suffers from this, the Convoy Drive hullmod, as well as some weapons like the Zyldzen. For me, VIC really need to do some cleaning among the messy and the irrelevant. I may have a few suggestions for those if you want, ping me on the discord if needed.


Overall, i enjoyed this campaign, i played it longer than i usually do. It's a good mod, although one that still requires refining in some aspects. You can totally tell how its evolving by comparing the old from the new content, and it's going in a good direction i think. Still, for me it's a faction that deserves a permanent place in the mod folder for a Starsector playthrough. Unless you're not into space catgirls i suppose.

3
Mods / Re: [0.95a] Volkov Industrial Conglomerate 1.3.3
« on: August 08, 2021, 04:29:06 AM »
I just finished playing a pretty long VIC campaign. Nothing fancy, standard bounty hunting campaign, with plenty of fighting. This gave me opportunities to experiment with the ships and see what they're capable of. I managed to reach the very end-game and take on the Coronal Hypershunt's defenders.

From what i've seen, VIC is a glass cannon faction. They move fast, they hit hard, but they can't take a punch. Getting into position without being intercepted and avoiding a head on brawl is paramount with their ships. Thanks to the mobility of most of their crafts, they can quickly exploit openings and disengage before retaliation is coming. At least in theory, in practice it requires some forethought in how each ship should be built, what support do they have, when and how to engage, etc. Many times i got wrecked because of some ill-advised battlefield decision. It's easy to get caught, and a VIC ship rarely have a second chance when that happens.

It's especially true during early and mid-game, when you're stuck with their vulnerable frigates, destroyers and even cruisers. However the game becomes much easier later on once you get access to capital ships, but i'll come back on this later.



I started this campaign with a small combat fleet. The Pruflas frigate was my first flagship, one i really enjoyed playing with. It isn't especially strong, but it's agile, the mini mine-layer system is very handy against missiles and fighters, and the built-in phase lance gives it some unexpected bite. While it was a fun experience to directly fly it, its ability to influence the course of the battle is limited. Still, because it's fast and (relatively) cheap, i kept a bunch of Pruflas in my fleet throughout the campaign, for quick objective capping and harassing isolated targets.

I had to iterate several times before finding a proper build for those. Just like most VIC ships, they flux out quickly, making them quite vulnerable. For scouting/capturing duty, i found it better to leave some hardpoints empty as to save OPs. Investing those in shields hullmods and capacity, as to increase their survivability. Even with empty mounts, a Pruflas is never completely under gunned because of the built-in phase lance anyway.



The Xaphan was also part of this starting fleet. An oddity of a frigate, with only 3 hardpoints but with a built-in hullmod that pretty much double the efficiency of the weapons. The limited weapon layout and inability to use point defenses severely limits the Xaphan's roles on the battlefield. It's a frigate hunter, or optionally, a direct fire support, but not much more.

I tried a variety of loadouts, from a long range tac laser harasser, to an anti-matter blaster bomber, to some unexpectedly performant mono-railgun build... The Xaphan works, but feels weird both on the refit screen and the battlefield. Because of the doubling OP cost from the hellstorm hullmod, and the absolute necessity of the PD arc emitter hullmod on something that can't protect itself from missiles, the customisation possibilities becomes very limited. My Xaphans fought decently during early and mid game, but i ended up preferring the more versatile Pruflas in the end.


The Kobal is another frigate i got early. The smallest sibling among the "Adaptive Assault Configuration wedges" family. I did use quite a few of those as part of my fleet, but never as a flagship. With three medium hardpoints, the Kobal seems like an easy ship to outfit, however it does share the common VIC's Ordnance Point starvation issue. Yes, you can mount those big guns on it, but you won't have the flux to fire them, nor enough room left for any hullmod either. And VIC ships really wants hullmods to function well.

The Adaptive Assault Configuration system also "forces" the player to mix energy and ballistics for a bigger damage bonus, so i often ended up with weird builds in an attempt to optimize the damage buff. I'm personally not sold on that hullmod/system. I think a variant of the Xaphan's hellstorm hullmod would make for a more straightforward system for the AAC wedges ships.

As for the Kobals of my fleets, i usually preferred to use low-end weapons like Mortars and Arbalests, or long range beam platforms, or even leaving one mount empty to economize OPs. The saved ordnance points could be invested in return in better flux stats and important hullmods, like PD arc emitter and Auxiliary thrusters.



I did not really try the Nybbas for this campaign. The only one i got, i gave to the AI. It struggled to do anything, constantly on the brink of overloading, probably due to the extremely high cloak upkeep, before eventually falling to CR degradation. I lost it after maybe two or three battle. The new Nybbas seems like a far cry from the monster it used to be, but i have to admit i haven't used it enough to give an informed assumption.



The Moloch destroyer was part of my fleet from the beginning, but it's only a bit later that i used it as my flagship. At that point in the campaign, i needed some high impact ship that could turn the tide of the battle. As much as i enjoyed the Pruflas, it wasn't that ship, and i hoped the Moloch would fix that. While it wasn't the silver bullet i wished, it did well enough to handle early game pirates.

I experimented a bit with the Schturm Overhaul, however the lower shield efficiency and flux capacity made my ship waaaay too fragile. It could have worked for a flanker build that avoid direct confrontation, but i had nothing yet that could form a decent fire line to keep the enemy's busy. I was forced to brawl against my opponents one by one, that's not what the Schturm hullmod is for. I fell back on a standard SO build with a trio of Ion Pulsers. Not the best armor breaking loadout, but good enough against pirate rust buckets.

It was also at that moment i noticed my extreme vulnerability to fighters, which made the next few battles much more difficult than anticipated. I'll segue the discussion to the PD arc emitter hullmod for a moment. For early game, this hullmod is godly, it's a cheap and extremely efficient PD system that pretty much nullify missiles. It can intercept with ease a few salamanders or harpoons, which is the most you'll encounter in an early game skirmish. It's a good idea to remove Point defense weapons to instead invest in PD arc emitter. Back then, i told myself it's overpowered, and it was in some way.

Unfortunately, it does nothing against fighters, and i learned that the hard way. I constantly had to interrupt my duel with another ship to defend myself from buzzing interceptors, trying to manually hit them with my main weaponry (the two small turrets at the front of my Moloch were rarely sufficient to deal with more than a few Talons). Later on, PD arc emitter can easily be overwhelmed by saturation missiles and flares. Funny how it went from "must have" to "very situational" depending on the number of enemies on the field.

Later on, when i switched flagship. I gave my Moloch a more conservative build. Since it basically function as a mid-tech Medusa with the opportunity to mount ballistics, you can turn it into some extremely nasty kiting bastard. It's hard to beat a Mauler/HVD combo. Alas, i had no easy access to those weapons then. So i did stick to VIC weaponry for a long time. I did like the Gagana Smartdart Launcher for its exceptional reliability, thanks to its homing projectile. Even fighters had a hard time dodging those.


I only bought a single Samael destroyer during this campaign. It began its career fighting early game pirates and somehow survived long enough to fight end-game remnant Ordos. I was looking for a solution to my fighter problem, as well as a way to pressure enemies at long range to cover my Moloch flagship. I couldn't afford a carrier yet, so i settled for a long range beam Samael. Not exactly flashy, but hey, it worked well enough. An exceptional annoyance to enemies, and the decent fire support i needed. One description mistake i noted, it still mentions the presence of a built-in Shabriri drone.

Just like the Kobal, the Samael can a very weird ship to equip because of AAC, but it can be pretty good when outfitted properly. It's also afflicted by what i call "the curse of the rear defense turret with an extremely narrow arc". The arc is too narrow for a point defense weapon to properly function unless it's something very bursty like burst PD. I personally always left it empty.

I admittedly didn't looked at it that much during this campaign. I wanted to focus on a very fast and agressive strategy, therefore i couldn't really find a place for the "AAC wedges" during this campaign. Maybe it's possible to create a proper VIC deathball with those, but i don't have enough experience of it to say for sure.



The Jezebeth support destroyer quickly became the fleet workhorse in this campaign. The VIC Sunder is not as well armed as its vanilla counterpart, but much more versatile. With a large hybrid, a single launch bay, the weird custom Enthropy Amplifier and a good shield emitter, it always have a place in any fleet. Unlike most VIC ships that can sometimes be tricky to outfit, the Jeze is very easy to build. Focus on the big gun, now make sure the big gun keeps firing, and voila ! Your Jezebeth is ready for battle !

This ship also taught me how to love the Capacitron Discharger. Monstrous burst KE DPS, hitscan "projectile" and ability to fire over allies, the Capacitron Discharger makes for an exceptional support weapon. A weapon i eventually added to all my support Jezebeth for shield bursting duty during late game. Even without that specific weapon, the Jezebeth is a compliant ship that'll function without trouble whether you give it a Hellbore or a Tachyon lance.

Since i had some issues dealing with fighters so far, the Uvall interceptor seemed like an obvious choice for the launch bay. It's a bit expensive at 12 OPs, but that's a price i was willing to pay for a premium interceptor. And boy, did it worked ! Not only the Uvall is very good at wrecking other fighters (i noted they have a tendency to fire their Strigoy flak at point blank range against other fighters, that's 300 burst frag, and they got two of those). It's also a very competent heavy fighter, thanks to its Rarog atomic emitter. Even destroyers can't ignore a group of Uvalls for very long, lest they end up with their armor stripped clean.



The first cruiser i got was the Cresil carrier. A box filled with 4 launch bays, and a few point defenses. Flying a Cresil is almost as fun as reading the phone book, it's strictly made for the AI only. Despite being a boring design, it does its job at flooding the battlefield with fighters. I used mine with a mix of fighters, bombers and- Just kidding, i used 4 Uvalls. I wanted space superiority to cover my fleet, and the heavy interceptors already proved their worth on my Jezebeths. It worked, i no longer had to worry about missiles and fighters.

What more can i say about this ship? It's a fighter vomit platform, and that's really all about it. There's nothing wrong with keeping things simple, but compared to the rest of the faction, the Cresil almost feel like it comes from another mod by its simplicity.



At this point in the campaign, i started to encounter my first few enemy capital ships, as well as plenty of cruisers. I was in a dire need of firepower to deal with those. The Thamuz cruiser seemed like an obvious choice for that role. An oversized pile of guns, with the grace of a masonry wall. A distant cousin of the Dominator that forgot to wear its armor. It shoots hard, but also dies hard. The mix of atrocious mobility and fragility makes the Thamuz a choice prey for agile skirmishers. Un-escorted, my cruiser can't bring to bear its excessive firepower to defend itself and fall apart quickly. It's much more survivable as part of a squad of sturdy front liners that'll protect it from flankers. Alas, i did not had sturdy frontliners at the moment, and with few ships i could delegate to escort duty, my first Thamuz got close to death many times.

Being an AAC wedge, I never managed to find a real place in my fleet for my Thamuz, even during late game. I suspect they would shine against low mobility opponents, like space stations and the Hegemony. Unfortunately, my enemies tended to be very mobile and agressive, like PRV fleets and VIC deserters. I was also quickly reaching the point where i couldn't deploy everything in battle, and more often than not, the Thamuz stayed in reserve.



Completely different from the Thamuz, the Valafar was the next addition to my fleet, as well as my new flagship. Long story short, the Valafar is an upsized Moloch and follows the same "Schturm" design theories. It's fast, fragile and hit hard. However due to its bigger size and higher stats, it's also the closest thing to a line ship VIC have. Not that it means it's a good line ship. It's more of a cheap, fast flanker. Like an overgunned Falcon. It's certainly not adequate for a frontal assault against ships of the same size.

Like the Moloch, the Valafar tends to run hot on flux, especially if you give it VIC weaponry which is notoriously flux expensive to fire. Fortunately, it can quickly get out of a tricky situation with its Omni-Lunge, at least as long it doesn't get overloaded. That's one reason i also skipped the Schturm Upgrade on this ship. Yes, it noticeably increases its flux dissipation, but drastically reduces its survivability through lower flux capacity and shield efficiency. I managed to make it work much later in the game, by micromanaging a squad of Schturm Valafars doing hit and run on vulnerable targets. Not the most practical and efficient tactic though.



In the capital ship category, the Oriax fills the role of support battlecruiser. The "support" part is from my experience at least. Technically you can use it as a direct frontliner, but given its fragility (almost as bad as an Atlas MK.II), the Oriax doesn't want to be exposed to the front line. Granted, it got a pretty solid shield emitter and decent flux stats to back it up, but once the shield burst, it's game over.

Because i often had experiences of VIC ships overfluxing themselves with their own weapons, i was very averse about mounting big guns on my Oriax, despite me needing badly those big guns at the moment. Instead i went for the missile boat route. Missiles don't generate flux, the OPs usually invested in flux dissipation were now free to use on capacity instead, to ensure my precious shield wouldn't overload. Plus, missiles can usually be fired indirectly at a longer range, allowing my battlecruiser to participate to the battle at a safe distance. The missile boat idea worked exceptionally well. Combining an officer with missile specialization and expanded missile racks, my dual Hurricane Oriax had sufficient ammo to last even for longer battle, and the MIRVs gave me the raw killing power my fleet needed. Oh also, the Fervor hullmod works on missiles, +30% damage makes for really nasty long range bombardment. And because i used my battlecruisers as second line ships, the increased damage taken from Fervor didn't mattered that much.

I was not convinced by the Flux Rapture system. The ship system itself with its giant ring, the electric arcs and all are noticeable in combat, but it feels like it's just for show, as if it had no real impact on the battle. My AI ship is using it? Ok. It's not? Whatever. Some adjustments to make the system more impactful would be beneficial i think. The Oriax is already a pretty strong ship though, so it'll need to be done carefully as to overly buff it.

I'm also mitigated on the Power Redistributor hullmod. The ability to re-route power to the needed systems à la FTL is cool. Doing it through the targeting system is janky as hell though. I tried doing it when i used the Oriax as a flagship but it gets messy real fast. Fortunately the stats modification from mis-using the system is relatively low, as not to penalize the AI using it. It's a good idea, but the execution isn't quite there.


Finally, we're coming to the central piece of every VIC fleet : the Apollyon.

To say it bluntly, the main objective when playing VIC is to get an Apollyon as quickly as possible (which i did not do). Once you get one, the dynamic of the battle changes drastically. As a Schturmcapital, the design philosophy is the same. It's a highly mobile glass cannon. However, while the Apollyon is built upon the same rules as the Valafar, Moloch and Xaphan, it doesn't play the same game as its smaller siblings.

While most VIC ships rely on mobility to get close and hit the target when they're not looking, the Apollyon is more of a gunslinger that shoots first to win. Because of its higher stats and range (through ITU or Schturm Overhaul), it can reach a critical mass of firepower that nullify the usual weakness of its smaller cousins. Shturmships can't brawl well, because they can't take a hit. However you don't need to take a hit when the enemy is dead, and few things can handle the full striking power of an Apollyon. That's why i built my Apollyon as a burst damage monster that can vaporize the heaviest cruisers in a single alpha strike. With that ship, you're no longer performing hit-and-runs, you're steamrolling, and nothing short of a Paragon or a Radiant can stop you. In the event you might encounter one of those two, the Quantum Lunge allows the Apollyon to outmaneuver your opponent and hit from a better angle.

It's a very expensive ship to deploy in battle, but that's a price worth paying given the massive influence on battle an Apollyon can have. Mind you, it's not a great AI ship, it will often Quantum Lunge in a dangerous spot, and is ill equipped to deal with being surrounded. Unless your fleet have ways to quickly support an isolated ship, the whole "flank the whole enemy fleet" Quantum Lunge maneuver is often a losing gambit. Especially since it can tear through most opponents in a slugfest anyway.

If i have to make a complain about the Apollyon, it's its tendency to turn most ships irrelevant by comparison. Why use something else when you're already flying one of the most impactul ship in the game? Granted, the same can be said about ships like the Ziggurat or IBBs. However those are unique ships, and are time and effort consuming to acquire. The Apollyon is a common sight in VIC markets and deserter fleets. Yes, i did eventually swap it for a flagship Oriax later on, but it was more for experimenting with some OPcenter shenanigans than trying to win the game. Apollyon is clearly the superior VIC flagship in all conditions.


That's it for the ships ! I did not do some in depth testing about the fighters and weapons, so i won't talk too much about those. I will talk about hullmods though, because i think this is where lies the weakest point of the mod.

VIC hullmods tends to do many things, and simultaneously do nothing at all. The most egregious exemple is the Laidlaw Tech. While the shield changing arc depending on where it's facing can be an interesting gimmick on some ships, like the Oriax, the other modifiers are not. A little bit +10% this, a little bit of minus 10% that, it feels like some RPG skill tree that gives you +1% damage or some other boring stuff. This is a completely subjective complaint, but for me, if something doesn't do anything noticeable in game, it might as well not exist. At no point i did take in account all those little stats modifiers stacked upon each others in my campaign. The Apollyon Adaptive Warfare suffers from this, the Convoy Drive hullmod, as well as some weapons like the Zyldzen. For me, VIC really need to do some cleaning among the messy and the irrelevant. I may have a few suggestions for those if you want, ping me on the discord if needed.


Overall, i enjoyed this campaign, i played it longer than i usually do. It's a good mod, although one that still requires refining in some aspects. You can totally tell how its evolving by comparing the old from the new content, and it's going in a good direction i think. Still, for me it's a faction that deserves a permanent place in the mod folder for a Starsector playthrough. Unless you're not into space catgirls i suppose.

4
Blog Posts / Re: Skill Changes, Part 1
« on: July 03, 2021, 03:24:37 AM »
I really like what i'm seeing so far. The derelict contingent/operations got reworked into exactly what i hoped for.

Neural link i clearly the really big one. It's something i wished to see in a mod for a while, but i did not expect it to happen in vanilla. The opportunity to fly two ships "at the same time" is incredible, it radically change the way the game can be played, both in the way one can outfit a ship and how it is used on the battlefield. First thing i'll try is a pair of Neural Linked Harbinger to see if a chain-stun strat is viable. Depending on how the mercurial scythe of balance fall in the next blog post.

5
Mods / Re: [0.95a] Arma Armatura 1.4.8RC3 (5/28/2021)
« on: June 14, 2021, 03:15:09 AM »
You can look at fighter's weapons stats now by hitting F1 while you have the fighter's tooltip up.

I guess i learned something new today. Thanks!

6
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: June 13, 2021, 11:45:25 AM »
Arma Armatura 1.4.8RC3

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=18751.0


After playing a (tiny) bit of 0.95a. I rapidly felt like spicing things up a little bit with mods, but not too much so i could still try the newest vanilla additions. On top of the standard QOL mods, i wanted to add ArmaA on top of it. Because big robots.

I didn't played very far into the campaign, but still enough for me to get a feel of the faction. My fleet started off as a mix of vanilla/ArmaA ships, until i translated into a full mecha warband. That's when i realized ArmaA isn't meant to be played as faction like Diable or Shadowyard. They have too many holes in their roster to fullfill every required roles. ArmaA offers a mix of support and striker mechs, but they have to rely on ships from other factions to perform optimally. Early and mid game proved easy enough, but late game was painful.


During this campaign, the Garegga was the first ArmaA craft i used. It proved to be a top of the line frigate/mech. A close range brawler that can even go toe to toe against destroyers.

By itself, it would be a pretty decent frigate, but what makes the Garegga really good is its SILVERSWORD system that further boost it's rate of fire, mobility and accuracy. It's a Safety Override switch an command. And just like SO, it comes at the cost of ripping through its peak performance when used. Hardened subsystems is pretty much mandatory for the Garegga once there's more than a few enemy ships to deal with.

Still, it was my fleet workhorse for the whole campaign. The built-in Mutilators's monstrous DPS allows the Garegga to be a threat to nearly anything, even during late game. The SILVERSWORD's speed buff also makes it to easily engage and disengage a specific target, making it very difficult to pin down. On top of it, the build-in SILVERSWORD hullmod (yes, it's named like the ship system) is pretty much an Integrated Point Defense AI, as such the Garegga is more than capable of defending itself against fighters and missile swarms.

On the other hand, it's as expensive to deploy as most destroyers, and like any ArmaA craft, it have virtually no cargo space whatsoever. It's made purely for fighting. And while it's an impressive combat tool, it won't win the battle by itself and will need support to crack open the strongest shields and armors.

There's also the Tri-Tachyon high-tech variant, the Trihänder. It does come with built-in Flux Coil Adjunct and custom, more efficient pulse lasers. I don't like it as much as its original version though. The pulser lasers have worse tracking and rate of fire than the mutilators, making them less useful at shooting down fighters and missiles. And i prefer the composite turrets over the synergy ones. Still, it works, but not as well in my opinion.


I also got my hands on an Aleste. The frigate mech, not the fighter one (yeah, ArmaA tends to call multiple things with the same name). It's a small glass cannon of a ship. It can dish out quite a lot of damage, but is absolutely not qualified for a frontal assault, even on a frigate. The tiny flux capacity means the Aleste can easily overload under pressure, and because of its low hull and flimsy armor, it rarely gets a second chance in battle.

Instead of rushing in, the Aleste prefers to flank or go for an already pressured targets. I like the use my Alestes as quick objectives cappers, then ordering them to escort frontliners like Gareggas. When they're not the focused by an enemy, the Aleste can make use of its variety of built-in weapons to do its job. Flamers, grenade launcher, laser blades... It got quite a few options. The loadout won't change its role much, but it adds some variety at how it'll poke holes through the enemy's hull. While it can be used by the AI with respectable results, it's clearly intended to be used as a flagship, where the player can push the craft in a way the AI wouldn't. It's no Hyperion, it won't win the battle by itself, far from it. But it's fun, it's really fun to fly. One annoying thing i spotted when used by the AI, it tends to waste its Heavy Rifle shots on fighters. Come on, that's a 700 energy shot! Keep that for the big ships! It should have the "strike" tag to avoid that.

One thing to note, the Aleste appears as a frigate but is technically a strike craft. It needs carriers on the battlefield to repair and resupply. Having an aggressive carrier, or a ship with converted hangar close to the frontline is an easy way for a quick pit stop in the middle of the battle.


Similar to the Aleste is the Einhänder strike craft/frigate. Faster, tougher but also much more expensive. Unlike the Aleste, the Einhänder can survive a direct confrontation with bigger opponents. Not really with tanking, but more with dodging. Thanks to its time dilatation enhanced maneuverability, it can juke through projectiles with surprising ease. I used my Einhänders as oversized Thunders interceptors. Their incredible mobility allows them to even circumvent omni-shields, and deliver massive EMP damage with their Juno MK.I.

Add some homing lasers to handle fighters, the Glaive cannon to punch through armor and the dreaded Pilas drones, the Einhänder can do a little bit of everything. Juggling through all the guns can get confusing in battle, so i prefer to let the AI use this ship instead, especially since it can pilot it reliably. The Pilas drone can also be customized with their synergy hardpoint. Ion cannons seemed to be the safe loadout in my experience, everything that can hamper the enemy's ability to fight back is extremely useful for ArmaA crafts. But for more aggressive variants, a Needler or a Rift Lance are very strong options, especially since the Pilas do share the same time-dilatation effect as their parent ship.

Unfortunately, its small size and limited weaponry limits its influence on the battlefield. Just like the Aleste, it's here to help, but it won't win the battle for you.


In the heavyweight category comes the Altagrave. A very expensive destroyer mech with decent stats for its price. But you don't get one of those for its raw stats, you get it for the utility it provides to your fleet. The Altagrave shine in a support role, covering allied ships with its K.A.R.M.A system that can redirect missiles and absorb projectiles only to spit them back as its own missiles. It's an extremely powerful defensive system particularly useful against the hardest hitters. The missile blowback effect can be quite impressive against swarms of Piranhas bombers.

Alas, the Altagrave is a capricious beast in battle. Making it behave the way you want often require extensive testing in the simulator before being combat ready. The few weapon mounts limit the customisation possibilities, even more so if you take in account range-matching with the built-in Vajra cannon. From my experience, it tends to behave with extreme aggressiveness, with little regard for its own safety. Which works very well when your fleet is steamrolling the enemy, but not so much against opponents that can hold their own.

I found that tethering my Altagraves to other ships with an escort order, like the Garegga, rein in their aggressivity to more manageable levels. On the other hand, their limited weaponry hampers their capabilities at medium to long range. Finding the right balance between longer range survivability and close range efficiency can be a difficult thing. Altagraves tends to either overperform for a short period of time before prematurely exploding, or survive with little contribution to the battle. I was ready to retire my unreliable big mechs until i got my hands on a command variant that changed everything.


That variant, the the Altagrave(C) is a bit different from the standard version in that it's a purely support build. It trades the direct fire Vajra for the Syrinx MRM launcher. Its K.A.R.M.A variant still do absorbs projectiles, but instead of spitting back missiles, it instead create a time dilation AOE for friendlies around it. It's only a 1000 range bubble though, so it doesn't want to sit too far from the frontline so its allies can benefit from it. What really changed the (C) variant for me though is the built-in Operation Center.

ArmaA crafts tends to be offensive based with very little in the way of defense, and often need to be closely managed. With OPcenter, you can now micro your fleet to vastly improve their effectiveness. ArmaA mechs are fairly limited in peak performance, and don't want to be mired in an endurance battle. With regenerating command points, timing eliminate/avoid/rally orders to quickly take down specific targets becomes a huge advantage. Those reckless Altagraves you carefully set to escort duty? You can now remove the leash and let them go wild just long enough to burst down that capital ship. Frigate capturing your objective? Ask that Einhänder to quickly take care of it. Altagrave trying to suplex an Onslaught in the middle of the enemy's fleet? Come back here buddy. The back and forth ordering ensue your mechs are performing to their best capacities while limiting the risks. In that way, the Altragave(C) was the biggest game changer in my campaign. My fleet could now properly take on end-game fleets without catastrophic losses. This new way of playing also allowed me to build my standard Altagraves the way they are supposed to be (at least to me) by focusing on close range builds with high flux capacity and dissipation.

The (C) variant isn't just a mobile command center though. The Syrinx launcher is a nasty weapon, and downright brutal with missile specialization. Because most of the weapons i used on it didn't generated flux, i used my mech as a front line shield tank/torpedo boat. To keep the enemy busy and finishing off those in difficulty.


The third variant is the Altagrave(G), (G) standing for grenadier. Unlike the other two, this one lacks the K.A.R.M.A system, instead relying on plasma jets and a slightly upsized weapon layout.  It's fast, and better armed. Its role is clearly being a hunter killer, the one you give an eliminate order to and watch the firework. The Exceliza grenade launcher is unfortunately quite unreliable, my ship will often flail around with its gun, relying on spray and pray rather than proper aiming. Properly setting the launcher to be linked with a more reliable gun in the weapon groups makes it a bit better. Still, a lot of grenades bouncing around, fired in inexplicably wide arcs, is a common sight with the Altagrave(G). It's probably the least useful of its siblings. It works, but at 18 deployment points, i expected a bit more from it. I wish it had customizable Pila drones instead of its standard hunter-killer ones.


There's also a fourth variant, the (EX) version, but it's a boss ship and i haven't tried it in this campaign.


I also did use the fighters, although i didn't looked into them as deeply as i did with the ships. From my experience they were... Okay. I guess? I think it's because ArmaA fighters do not work very well as part of an ArmaA exclusive fleet. Most couldn't fill the roles i needed at the moment, and those that could, could only in theory but not really in practice. The R9 Gallant is a prime exemple. A long range kinetic beam bomber. Pretty useful in theory. On the battlefield however, they tend to miss a lot. By comparison, its immediate competitor, the Longbow, is cheaper, more reliable, deal hard flux and is even armed with PD.

It's possible that my brain haven't yet moved on from Starsector 0.8.1 when the carriers were all powerful. So take my opinion on the fighters with a grain of salt. It's possible i expected more of them than i should have.


My campaign ended relatively early. A pure ArmaA fleet only got me so far. I struggled against Remnants, and got thoroughly trounced by Omega. A mixed fleet would have worked much better i think. Their limited roster prevent them from filling every roles they need. In this version, it's easy to make them work, but difficult to make them excel.  ArmaA mechs require to be carefully managed if they want to win a battle in late game.

It was still very fun to play, although i couldn't shake off that feeling of jankiness when using the mod. Strange AI behavior and some other oddity happening here and there. Nothing game breaking, aside perhaps from a recurring issue where the battle wouldn't finish without using the EndCombat command. I did played with Secrets of the Frontier though, so maybe it comes from there?

There's also some little things to iron out. A few missing descriptions here and there : the Syrinx launcher, the AMWS-G. The sword slash particles looks weird, and can glitch pretty hard when there's numerous Valken-X on the battlefield. The overload sound also do repeat itself on the Aleste and Einhänder, which can get pretty grating.

One thing i really wish to see in a future version is the fighter's weapon stats being shown in the stats card. Diable Avionics did that if i remember correctly, and it would greatly benefit ArmaA too since their fighters mostly use custom weapons.

7
Mods / Re: [0.95a] Arma Armatura 1.4.8RC3 (5/28/2021)
« on: June 13, 2021, 11:42:20 AM »
After playing a (tiny) bit of 0.95a. I rapidly felt like spicing things up a little bit with mods, but not too much so i could still try the newest vanilla additions. On top of the standard QOL mods, i wanted to add ArmaA on top of it. Because big robots.

I didn't played very far into the campaign, but still enough for me to get a feel of the faction. My fleet started off as a mix of vanilla/ArmaA ships, until i translated into a full mecha warband. That's when i realized ArmaA isn't meant to be played as faction like Diable or Shadowyard. They have too many holes in their roster to fullfill every required roles. ArmaA offers a mix of support and striker mechs, but they have to rely on ships from other factions to perform optimally. Early and mid game proved easy enough, but late game was painful.


During this campaign, the Garegga was the first ArmaA craft i used. It proved to be a top of the line frigate/mech. A close range brawler that can even go toe to toe against destroyers.

By itself, it would be a pretty decent frigate, but what makes the Garegga really good is its SILVERSWORD system that further boost it's rate of fire, mobility and accuracy. It's a Safety Override switch an command. And just like SO, it comes at the cost of ripping through its peak performance when used. Hardened subsystems is pretty much mandatory for the Garegga once there's more than a few enemy ships to deal with.

Still, it was my fleet workhorse for the whole campaign. The built-in Mutilators's monstrous DPS allows the Garegga to be a threat to nearly anything, even during late game. The SILVERSWORD's speed buff also makes it to easily engage and disengage a specific target, making it very difficult to pin down. On top of it, the build-in SILVERSWORD hullmod (yes, it's named like the ship system) is pretty much an Integrated Point Defense AI, as such the Garegga is more than capable of defending itself against fighters and missile swarms.

On the other hand, it's as expensive to deploy as most destroyers, and like any ArmaA craft, it have virtually no cargo space whatsoever. It's made purely for fighting. And while it's an impressive combat tool, it won't win the battle by itself and will need support to crack open the strongest shields and armors.

There's also the Tri-Tachyon high-tech variant, the Trihänder. It does come with built-in Flux Coil Adjunct and custom, more efficient pulse lasers. I don't like it as much as its original version though. The pulser lasers have worse tracking and rate of fire than the mutilators, making them less useful at shooting down fighters and missiles. And i prefer the composite turrets over the synergy ones. Still, it works, but not as well in my opinion.


I also got my hands on an Aleste. The frigate mech, not the fighter one (yeah, ArmaA tends to call multiple things with the same name). It's a small glass cannon of a ship. It can dish out quite a lot of damage, but is absolutely not qualified for a frontal assault, even on a frigate. The tiny flux capacity means the Aleste can easily overload under pressure, and because of its low hull and flimsy armor, it rarely gets a second chance in battle.

Instead of rushing in, the Aleste prefers to flank or go for an already pressured targets. I like the use my Alestes as quick objectives cappers, then ordering them to escort frontliners like Gareggas. When they're not the focused by an enemy, the Aleste can make use of its variety of built-in weapons to do its job. Flamers, grenade launcher, laser blades... It got quite a few options. The loadout won't change its role much, but it adds some variety at how it'll poke holes through the enemy's hull. While it can be used by the AI with respectable results, it's clearly intended to be used as a flagship, where the player can push the craft in a way the AI wouldn't. It's no Hyperion, it won't win the battle by itself, far from it. But it's fun, it's really fun to fly. One annoying thing i spotted when used by the AI, it tends to waste its Heavy Rifle shots on fighters. Come on, that's a 700 energy shot! Keep that for the big ships! It should have the "strike" tag to avoid that.

One thing to note, the Aleste appears as a frigate but is technically a strike craft. It needs carriers on the battlefield to repair and resupply. Having an aggressive carrier, or a ship with converted hangar close to the frontline is an easy way for a quick pit stop in the middle of the battle.


Similar to the Aleste is the Einhänder strike craft/frigate. Faster, tougher but also much more expensive. Unlike the Aleste, the Einhänder can survive a direct confrontation with bigger opponents. Not really with tanking, but more with dodging. Thanks to its time dilatation enhanced maneuverability, it can juke through projectiles with surprising ease. I used my Einhänders as oversized Thunders interceptors. Their incredible mobility allows them to even circumvent omni-shields, and deliver massive EMP damage with their Juno MK.I.

Add some homing lasers to handle fighters, the Glaive cannon to punch through armor and the dreaded Pilas drones, the Einhänder can do a little bit of everything. Juggling through all the guns can get confusing in battle, so i prefer to let the AI use this ship instead, especially since it can pilot it reliably. The Pilas drone can also be customized with their synergy hardpoint. Ion cannons seemed to be the safe loadout in my experience, everything that can hamper the enemy's ability to fight back is extremely useful for ArmaA crafts. But for more aggressive variants, a Needler or a Rift Lance are very strong options, especially since the Pilas do share the same time-dilatation effect as their parent ship.

Unfortunately, its small size and limited weaponry limits its influence on the battlefield. Just like the Aleste, it's here to help, but it won't win the battle for you.


In the heavyweight category comes the Altagrave. A very expensive destroyer mech with decent stats for its price. But you don't get one of those for its raw stats, you get it for the utility it provides to your fleet. The Altagrave shine in a support role, covering allied ships with its K.A.R.M.A system that can redirect missiles and absorb projectiles only to spit them back as its own missiles. It's an extremely powerful defensive system particularly useful against the hardest hitters. The missile blowback effect can be quite impressive against swarms of Piranhas bombers.

Alas, the Altagrave is a capricious beast in battle. Making it behave the way you want often require extensive testing in the simulator before being combat ready. The few weapon mounts limit the customisation possibilities, even more so if you take in account range-matching with the built-in Vajra cannon. From my experience, it tends to behave with extreme aggressiveness, with little regard for its own safety. Which works very well when your fleet is steamrolling the enemy, but not so much against opponents that can hold their own.

I found that tethering my Altagraves to other ships with an escort order, like the Garegga, rein in their aggressivity to more manageable levels. On the other hand, their limited weaponry hampers their capabilities at medium to long range. Finding the right balance between longer range survivability and close range efficiency can be a difficult thing. Altagraves tends to either overperform for a short period of time before prematurely exploding, or survive with little contribution to the battle. I was ready to retire my unreliable big mechs until i got my hands on a command variant that changed everything.


That variant, the the Altagrave(C) is a bit different from the standard version in that it's a purely support build. It trades the direct fire Vajra for the Syrinx MRM launcher. Its K.A.R.M.A variant still do absorbs projectiles, but instead of spitting back missiles, it instead create a time dilation AOE for friendlies around it. It's only a 1000 range bubble though, so it doesn't want to sit too far from the frontline so its allies can benefit from it. What really changed the (C) variant for me though is the built-in Operation Center.

ArmaA crafts tends to be offensive based with very little in the way of defense, and often need to be closely managed. With OPcenter, you can now micro your fleet to vastly improve their effectiveness. ArmaA mechs are fairly limited in peak performance, and don't want to be mired in an endurance battle. With regenerating command points, timing eliminate/avoid/rally orders to quickly take down specific targets becomes a huge advantage. Those reckless Altagraves you carefully set to escort duty? You can now remove the leash and let them go wild just long enough to burst down that capital ship. Frigate capturing your objective? Ask that Einhänder to quickly take care of it. Altagrave trying to suplex an Onslaught in the middle of the enemy's fleet? Come back here buddy. The back and forth ordering ensue your mechs are performing to their best capacities while limiting the risks. In that way, the Altragave(C) was the biggest game changer in my campaign. My fleet could now properly take on end-game fleets without catastrophic losses. This new way of playing also allowed me to build my standard Altagraves the way they are supposed to be (at least to me) by focusing on close range builds with high flux capacity and dissipation.

The (C) variant isn't just a mobile command center though. The Syrinx launcher is a nasty weapon, and downright brutal with missile specialization. Because most of the weapons i used on it didn't generated flux, i used my mech as a front line shield tank/torpedo boat. To keep the enemy busy and finishing off those in difficulty.


The third variant is the Altagrave(G), (G) standing for grenadier. Unlike the other two, this one lacks the K.A.R.M.A system, instead relying on plasma jets and a slightly upsized weapon layout.  It's fast, and better armed. Its role is clearly being a hunter killer, the one you give an eliminate order to and watch the firework. The Exceliza grenade launcher is unfortunately quite unreliable, my ship will often flail around with its gun, relying on spray and pray rather than proper aiming. Properly setting the launcher to be linked with a more reliable gun in the weapon groups makes it a bit better. Still, a lot of grenades bouncing around, fired in inexplicably wide arcs, is a common sight with the Altagrave(G). It's probably the least useful of its siblings. It works, but at 18 deployment points, i expected a bit more from it. I wish it had customizable Pila drones instead of its standard hunter-killer ones.


There's also a fourth variant, the (EX) version, but it's a boss ship and i haven't tried it in this campaign.


I also did use the fighters, although i didn't looked into them as deeply as i did with the ships. From my experience they were... Okay. I guess? I think it's because ArmaA fighters do not work very well as part of an ArmaA exclusive fleet. Most couldn't fill the roles i needed at the moment, and those that could, could only in theory but not really in practice. The R9 Gallant is a prime exemple. A long range kinetic beam bomber. Pretty useful in theory. On the battlefield however, they tend to miss a lot. By comparison, its immediate competitor, the Longbow, is cheaper, more reliable, deal hard flux and is even armed with PD.

It's possible that my brain haven't yet moved on from Starsector 0.8.1 when the carriers were all powerful. So take my opinion on the fighters with a grain of salt. It's possible i expected more of them than i should have.


My campaign ended relatively early. A pure ArmaA fleet only got me so far. I struggled against Remnants, and got thoroughly trounced by Omega. A mixed fleet would have worked much better i think. Their limited roster prevent them from filling every roles they need. In this version, it's easy to make them work, but difficult to make them excel.  ArmaA mechs require to be carefully managed if they want to win a battle in late game.

It was still very fun to play, although i couldn't shake off that feeling of jankiness when using the mod. Strange AI behavior and some other oddity happening here and there. Nothing game breaking, aside perhaps from a recurring issue where the battle wouldn't finish without using the EndCombat command. I did played with Secrets of the Frontier though, so maybe it comes from there?

There's also some little things to iron out. A few missing descriptions here and there : the Syrinx launcher, the AMWS-G. The sword slash particles looks weird, and can glitch pretty hard when there's numerous Valken-X on the battlefield. The overload sound also do repeat itself on the Aleste and Einhänder, which can get pretty grating.

One thing i really wish to see in a future version is the fighter's weapon stats being shown in the stats card. Diable Avionics did that if i remember correctly, and it would greatly benefit ArmaA too since their fighters mostly use custom weapons.

8
Blog Posts / Re: A Tale of Two Tech Levels
« on: May 28, 2021, 01:27:17 PM »
Hey, new blogpost! A little bit of premature theorycrafting wouldn't hurt to accompany this. The burn drive cancel was removed years ago but is now back, and without the need to vent now! That's a pretty huge buff to all burn drive ships. Moving that Onslaught precisely where it needs to be without accidentally ramming its target is a huge deal. Will it be enough to revive the Onslaught vs Paragon threads of old?

As for the ships, first the Vanguard :

Quote
It’s worth noting that the Vanguard isn’t especially great against other frigates.

Vanguard seems like a top low-tech pick for frigates, for early and possibly mid game. Late game however? Eh... Maybe as combat objective capping cannon fodder. It seems to be similarly armed to the Lasher, although with AAF, so not as bursty. Unlike the Lasher however, stopping a charging Vanguard is going to be hard as hell. No shield to overload, and very resilient to EMP thanks to damper field. I just hope the pirates or pathers won't field many of those loaded with harpoons/sabots combos.


The Eradicator seems like a cruiser sized Lasher. And like the Lasher, a Safety Override bait. Or for the more subtle, a nasty HVD/Mauler platform for suppression, with 5 small harpoons for taking down vulnerable targets. It seems like a very basic, but efficient vessel. I expect it to be a top tier ship both for player use as for the AI throughout the campaign.


And the Tempest... Well. I'm not sure about that one. On one hand it did lost HEF. On the other hand, it gained a tachyon lance torpedo. Alright, not quite tachyon lance, but still beefy as hell. I feel this won't change much for most early/mid game combat scenarios. But can you imagine a pack of those for a late game fleet? Handling one or two kamikaze drones is manageable, but dealing with a ceaseless swarm from an entire Tempest fleet seems... Impossible. I guess it'll all depends on the system's cooldown, the drone's range, or its maneuverability if it's affected. But from what i'm seeing, it seems like a moderate early game nerf/side grade and a terrifying late game buff for the Tempest, or at least, for a pack of Tempests.


9
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 12:04:59 PM »
Ruthless Sector 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=15279.0


Among the "Sundog modding compilation" mods, i think Ruthless Sector is probably the one i care about the most.  The mod does adds quite a few things, all pretty good. But one thing stands out from the rest : the addition of Remnants patrols in hyperspace.

Vanilla's hyperspace is boring. Once i reach a solid enough fleet capable of warding off the wandering pirates and pathers, i always lay course to my destination and alt-tab away, ignoring storms and whatnot. Basically, i'm waiting for time to pass. I always considered that waiting because you have to wait is not good game mechanic. On the other hand, waiting because the player wants to wait is brilliant. But maybe that's for another topic. My point is, vanilla hyperspace lacks interesting interaction, it's boring.

Adding remnants in that big emptiness is a brilliant move. First of all, alt-tabbing away is no longer possible because no matter how big your fleet is, you can't ignore the potential AI gank squad. The outer rim is now a risky place, but not just a risky place, it also became a place of opportunity.

The thing is, it wouldn't have been as interesting if it was just some pirates or pathers lurking in the darkness. In fact, those would just have been an annoyance to avoid. Unless there is a bounty on their heads, pirates tends to waste the player's time. Fighting them will cost supplies, they are rarely exiting encounters and earn very little reward. Remnants on the other hand, are much more dangerous, but the reward is also much greater. High-end weapons and those sweet, sweet AI cores. One exemple : Pirates hit-list fleets from Nexerelin offers very little reward in fighting them. Running is often the most judicious option. They're an annoyance. Fortunately they do not occur with sufficient frequency to become aggravating.

That's why i really like this mod. Hyperspace is now a place of risk AND opportunity. There's an Ordo trailing me. Do i square against that Radiant for potential good loot? But i may lose some ships in the process... It offers the player a choice in a place where not much usually happens, and that's amazing. Add on top of that the hyperwarp jump mod (that is also in my must-have modding list), things can get even more heated by allowing them to "jump" next to you. It's dangerous but not just punishing, it's fun.

That's why i consider Ruthless Sector to be part of the indispensable overhaul mods like Combat Chatter or Secrets of the Frontier. It takes something that vanilla is lacking, or not great, and refine it into something worth my time. It's something i hope Alex will take inspiration from in the development of Starsector.

I wish others mods would add their own content into hyperspace for variety. But again, just adding enemies isn't enough, there must be a good reason/reward to fight theses enemies. Encountering Blade Breaker raiders or some Seeker anomalous ship in the middle of nowhere would keep things interesting throughout a campaign.

One thing i noticed, not related to this feature. I think the danger rating from ruthless sector favors D mods too much. Sometimes i purposely wrecked my own ships to gain D mods just to get better ratings and perks from Starship legends. Factions like the HMI Junkers that cumulate an excessive amount of D mods tends to get favorable ratings at the end of the battle, even with 90% fleet loss. Although the Junkers are a special case, i still feel one or two D mods is very beneficial to "grind" those good traits even for a normal ship.

In the same vein, danger rating for boss fleets (looking at you Seeker) tends to be very low, despite being some of the most dangerous encounters in the game. Perhaps because it contains fewer ships that a normal fleet? Even if i win such battle, i can end up with negative traits on most of my ships.


Not yet updated for 0.9.5. No change either.

10
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 12:03:01 PM »
Seeker - Unidentified contact 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=19414.0



I recently did a free start campaign. I think it was a good way to try a little bit of everything and have fun in the process. I was especially eager to try some of the Seeker stuff in this game. Unrelated to the mod, i went for a "semi iron-man" playstyle, with the rule that i could only save my game at a friendly dock. It made the game quite a bit tense and forced me to play safer than usual, although not as cowardly as a normal iron-man would. It stopped worked toward the end though, since everyone was friendly to me through regular bounty-hunting/contract/trading. If i do something of that style again, i would set the rule as only saving at a singular homebase to keep things interesting.

Anyway, i had the chance to try a few ships during this campaign, and i decided to write a bit about those.



The Adze destroyer was my starter ship, and i have to admit it didn't took long to fall in love with it. Not only it makes for a pretty good destroyer, It is also very satisfying to fly.

Stat wise, it looks very akin to a Hammerhead at first glance. Similar weapon layout, similar stats. Although the Adze is more expensive and better armored than its mid-tech cousin. With that in mind, one could think it would flies in a more brutish and straightforward fashion. But it doesn't. The low-tech Adze is noticeably more subtle, almost like a high-tech destroyer. Even a safety overide build feels different to what i expected.

The heavier emphasize on missiles might have a hand in that. One medium composite, two small missiles and built-in expanded missile racks nudges the player to make use of those. The relatively limited OPs also makes an all gun loadout a bit too constrained for my liking, but still possible.

My starter Adze was outfitted from the standard variant with the newly added miniguns at the prow. Fairly competent against the early pirates rustbuckets in my testing, although i quickly swapped the typhoon for a much more reliable harpoon pod. The Adze prefers to soften the target at range with its dual miniguns before pouncing in with its burst jets to land the killing blow. Few things can handle a ship that can swap from long range pressure to close range missile burst early in the game. Later on, the loadout doesn't even need to change even for a more support oriented role.

For a Safety Override build, i went for something a bit more unconventional. Again, the Adze low amount of OPs limites the viability of a "traditional" SO build. Instead, i used a Sabot heavy loadout with dual chainguns. Short lived on the battlefield, even with expanded missile racks. But by the time it's out of ammo, the battle is usually won.

I unfortunately lost my Adze relatively early in my campaign and couldn't find a replacement. So i don't really knows how well it would perform in larger battles.


My second flasgship was the Marksman, if only for a short time. A cheap, fast gun platform with serviceable armor and a precariously narrow front-shield. Not a frontliner by any mean, it feels like an oversized Vigilance in some way. Often i got bumrushed by some overzealous pirate and i rarely could shake it off by myself. It really needs allied support to hide behind when things gets too hot.

At longer range, the built-in Executioner have decent range and punch, although it needs to be manually reloaded with the ship system. The "Blazing flamingo" special reload is a really nice touch, it turns a fairly boring ship into something much funnier to fly. Although it makes it easier to screw up the reload and miss an opportunity. Enemy ship is disengaging just out of range? Blazing flamingo ! Now you're in range ! Aaaand i missed.

Despite this, i don't feel the Marksman sufficiently pulls its weight as a flagship compared to other destroyers. It's a bit of a shame to see that cool reload system idea being wasted on something that isn't quite good enough to fly by the player. I quickly discarded it as some cheap missile boat for the AI to use, a role it did perform pretty well. A flying pair of Sabot/Harpoon pods is never a bad thing to have throughout the game.


I replaced the Marksman with a Butterfly. Now we're talking! While the Marksman doesn't entirely rely on its built-in gun, the Butterfly absolutely does. The twin Revolver pulse beams can unload quite a lot of damage during early game.

It shines brighter when used as a flanker to assist an ally or to catch a careless frigate, a bit like the Shrike. Although it will eventually overwhelm opponents of its size in duel through sheer DPS. It's the ideal tool for mid-game, when the player have more than few ships to distract the enemy, letting the Butterfly swoop in to unleash its huge burst damage. It does struggle a bit against heavier armor though, so it only get limited use later in the game.

I think expanded magazines should be a built-in hullmod for that ship. As the Butterfly relies entirely on the revolver pulses. Unfortunately for me, i found the expanded magazines hullmod fairly late in my campaign. I felt quite limited without it. Sure, the ship worked, but it couldn't quite reach its full potential without that hullmod.


Later on, i got my hands on a Trailblazer, which i promptly used as a flagship. Despite its sleek and agressive appearance, the Trailblazer is pure support ship. A mobile artillery, but not the usual kind. For those that don't know about the built-in reality drill, it's a slow "phased" projectile that projected an area of effect damage wherever it passes through. Because its is "phased", it cannot collide, and will fly "over" the target.

This is what makes the reality drill be an incredible weapon. Enemies with a elongated shape will stays longer in the projectile's AOE. Ships with a limited shield arc won't be able to cover the whole damage field. Ships that can retreat backward quickly (hello phase shifting bastards) will accidentally back into the projectile's field. And the reality drill does a LOT of damage. It sounds quite good for the player, although i expect it to become a prime target when the enemy is fielding one. Fortunately, it seems extremely rare, i never encountered one in the wild.

But as said above, it's a support ship, it needs backup. Even with its attitude jets, the Trailblazer will get surrounded, and punished. I fortunately had a fleet quite capable of covering my mistakes, and i made many mistakes. The flux cost of the main weapon is high, and spamming the attitude jets is an enticing though, it's a perfect recipe for overextending.

Alas, the joy of firing a large exotic distortion bullet wears off fairly quickly.  While the Trailblazer makes for a really good, if expensive, AI support, it doesn't make for the most interesting flagship. Its limited armament beyond the reality drill doesn't allow for much customisation : point defense, long range guns. It doesn't want to fight close, and it wants all the capacity and dissipation to fuel its main weapon.


The Halligan was one of my next mid/late game flagship. Sadly, i got a pirate version, with a noticeably shrunken OP pool and burn drive instead of burst jets. It lies somewhere between the Dominator and the Eagle in term of firepower and endurance. With a touch of Gryphon for the non pirate version with its numerous missiles.

Because of its fewer OPs, the pirate Halligan never feels quite comfortable with most builds. You usually have to choose between hullmods and additional dissipation. I personally made a basic Safety Overide build to make use of the numerous medium turrets. But even with letting the missiles hardpoints empty, i could only make it okay-ish. Not much in-combat experience to talk about though, since i lost it in my first battle.

Also, i am extremely sadened that a broadside build is even't remotely viable. Composite side hardpoints pls.



I also had some scuffle with the plagueships. Rampage and Safeguard. Although it was at a point in the game where i could handle those two quite easily. Rampage will rip apart anything that stays in front of it, but i managed to distract it from the rest of my fleet with a phase ship. Safeguard's mass driver is hard countered by interceptors, and i had plenty of those at the time. I don't think i ever seen the bomb explode once in that battle. No encounters with the other two plagueships so far.

By the way, i think a non corrupted (and nerfed) Safeguard would make for a pretty cool derelict ship. On the other hand, i guess that would cheapen the "unique boss" thing it currently have.


Updated for 0.9.5. No change otherwise.

11
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 12:00:36 PM »
Idoneus Citadel Exiles 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=18598.0


6 Years since my last ICE playthrough, how quickly time passes... I always have a soft spot for ICE, and i'm very glad you decided to update and release this mod once again ! I thought this was a good occasion to start a campaign with them. I'll write a bit about how things went, what i liked, what i disliked, some suggestion for the future too.

I still have some memories left of the how the faction worked, so i didn't went in completely blind, which did help me quite a bit during early game. I knew the Citadel ships were glass cannons, with decent armor but terrible hull, leaving them extremely vulnerable to high HE damage. Fortunately, being phase ships, they could dance around the battlefield without being caught, but when they get caught, there rarely is a second chance for them.


---


I began this campaign with a Nexerelin as part of the Idoneus garrison with a "small combat fleet" start, at the command of a Flashghast, a Seraph and a Shiekwraith. The Flashgast looked like a promising flagship to start with, so it's with this one that i did lead in battle.

The Flashghast is an extremely mobile missile boat. Arguably a better, more agressive, phase version of the Vigilance. Its heavy missile loadout makes it pretty deadly during early game, although the limited ammo limits its usefulness during prolonged engagements. Or at least, that's the theory when you look at the Flashghast just by itself. In practice, i was accompanied in battle by a Seraph tug, and that changed everything.


The Seraph is a fairly expensive, harmless little frigate with no defense system whatsoever. It's also the most important part of any Idoneus fleet thanks to its maintenance drone system. The drones have long (unlimited?) range, can phase, will repair armor, will reload ammo (missiles included) and prevent peak performance/CR degradation.

And they stacks.

But even with just one Seraph on the battlefield, the maintenance drones turned my Flashghast, a pretty good frigate by itself, into an unstoppable war demon. When a fast, missile boat, severely limited by its low peak performance suddenly no longer have to worry about ammo and CR, things get a bit ridiculous. Loaded with Sabots and Harpoons, it could kill fast, and the resupplying drones ensured it kept killing. Yes, the missile regeneration took time, but eh, no CR degradation, i had all eternity to defeat my enemies. With my Seraph chilling in the safety of the battlefield's corner, my lone Flashghast could take on a theoretically infinite amount of opponents. It wasn't rare for me to take on overwhelmingly larger fleets with just those two ships.

Later on, i experimented a bit further with stacking several Seraphs on the battlefield, vastly increasing the missile regeneration. At this point i could keep them on autofire and they would dump missiles all the time. The maintenance drone effect is lessened on non Idoneus ships, but still good enough to be overpowered.

So yeah, if there's one nerf that need to be taken on the whole faction, it's on the maintenance drones. Repairing armor is fine, especially for Idoneus ships that really needs it during mid/late game. Ammo regeneration however, is way too strong, and preventing CR degradation even more so. Moreover, i noticed later that with missile boats like the Eidolon and Apocrypha would monopolise the drones to regen their ammo, depriving the frontline ships from the much needed armor repair bonus. Removing the ammo regen effect would at least negate this issue.

Another thing i would like to see is a nerfed range for the drones, as to prevent cheesing tactics like stacking Seraphs on the bottom of the map. With less range, they would need to be closer to the frontline and put themselves in danger. Yes, they're extremely vulnerable, but such massive buff like armor regeneration deserves a high risk that goes with it.

Also, i think something needs to be done to prevent drone stacking. While Idoneus ships are by nature quite fragile, drones stacking can still make some ships like the Abraxas obnoxiously hard to take down, and it's probably possible to cheese it even further with a non Idoneus ship. Maybe this would require a rework of the drone system itself to work though.


Beyond the broken Flashghaste/Seraph combo, i also had a Shiekwraith in my fleet. I won't tip toe around it, i found the Shiekwraith wanting. I really tried to make it work in one way or another but never could get anything worthwhile out of it. It's definitely supposed to be a support destroyer, unfortunately it's FoF Inverter ECM isn't the most reliable missile defense system, it doesn't work for very long and needs quite a while to recharge. Its falx beam array have too little range to be safely used, and when it used, it's with debatable usefulness in most fights. It felt out of place during most early/mid game battles, too fragile, not enough impact on the fight. Later on i used those as PD platforms with converted hangar to escort my larger ships, but even then i wasn't very convinced.

During my campaign, i had quite a few scuffle with the Idoneus Citadel Exiles, and the Shiekwraith was a common sight in their fleets. While relatively harmless, this ship is however very tedious to fight. Its Shallow Phase is more or less the same as the old Starsector phase cloak that could be turned on and off without cooldown. While Starsector evolved with time and got rid of its frustrating old cloak system, the Shiekwraith version is still present, and still as obnoxious as ever. It's not just for the Shiekwraith by the way, the Kelpie, Eidolon, Palantir and Apocrypha shares the same phase system. I really wish Shallow phase would either be reworked in something similar to the current Starsector phase cloak (something with a cooldown between phasing) or replaced with the infinitely more satisfying Phase warp that cloak in short bursts.

I hope the Shiek will get some love in some future update, to make it more useful to use, both during early and late game, and less frustrating as an opponent.


The Specter was among the few first ships i bought. An unassuming, but competent mainstay frigate that i used throughout the game. It's pretty mobile, decently armed, and cheap. They are easy to catch in between two phase warp, and their fragility rarely gave them a second chance in battle. Still, when i needed something to capture an objective or support a ship, the Specter wasn't a bad choice, at least for early/mid game, later on they just wouldn't survive. Not incredible, but it works.
I also noted some kind of bug with variants. When you choose a variant, say Assault variant with the heavy machine gun in the hidden medium hardpoint, then switch to a strike variant with the Flamebolt cannon, it will change all weapons except the hidden one. The player have to manually remove the hidden gun first. This bug seems to happens with the Soulbane as well. Maybe it's linked to hidden weapons?


The Palantir sensor ship don't have much going for it. It's not even armed! But it is as cheap as it's possible to get, and fast. Perfect for capturing objectives at the start of battle. The enhanced sensor system is a nice gimmick that allows the player to know where the enemy is going a bit earlier than usual.

The Pentagram(S) is more of a joke than a proper combat ship, but at least it's a funny joke. It will die a lot, and sadly doesn't kill all that much. Even as cheap as it is, i didn't found it worth keeping it in my fleet. Despite this, everyone should at least try once the space shuriken.

The standard variant of the Pentagram however... It's not quite as fun. Unfortunately, it's not very good as well. Its strange weapon layout indicate a point defense ship, however its ability to cloak itself, as well as the Enthropic Inversion Matrix interrupting its weapons makes the Pentagram pretty bad at its job. On top of that, the narrow weapon arcs on the energy turrets and ability to turn very fast means the PD weapons will struggle to keep track of their targets. I somehow managed to make it decent with a burst PD build, but then, it was merely decent compared to something cheaper and reliable like the Centurion. For some reason, it's also incredibly fast, 200 top speed, faster than a Hound !

The Athame drill frigate is almost in the same category as the Pentagram(S). It's a joke ship, but an extremely deadly one. Its fission drill allows it fly through the target, dealing horrific damage. Unfortunately the Athame will also damage itself in the process. In between the enemy's ordnance and the self-damage, Athames rarely survive their first assault. Even at 2 DP to deploy, they felt far too unreliable for my taste. Extremely terrifying when the AI is fielding them though.

I feel it's the kind of ship that would work better as a fighter instead of a frigate. With adjusted stats and sprite size, it could be an interesting, and actually usable, alternative take for a bomber.


I got the Nightseer quite late during my campaign. The Citadel super frigate proved a bit tricky to use at first, but overall quite useful, if very fragile. The large hybrid hardpoint allows for incredible firepower for a frigate, and the mobility offered by the light phase jaunt ensure it can bring that firepower right where it's needed. One powerful trick i learned while flying this ship is the ability to fire while "jaunting" despite being intangible. This allows the ship to jaunt over the target and unload right when it's on top of it. It requires a bit of practice, but it works wonderfully when combined with high burst weapons.

But even without that fancy piloting trick, the Nightseer can still be useful. The Ether Warp cloak creates a mini black-hole when used, swallowing and removing nearby ordnance, in a somewhat similar way to the Blackrock Imaginos. The main drawback of the Ether Warp is that it eats all projectiles, including yours and your allies, so it requires some trigger discipline with the cloak not to screw up.


The Soulbane is how i remember it. Reliable, powerful, surprisingly resilient, always useful. From the beginning to the end of the campaign, it made the backbone of my fleet. It's a curious mix of a Sunder and a Medusa, all blended together with a phase cloak. It's mobile enough to catch most targets, its large energy hardpoint can drill through most opponents, and the good armor coupled with the Phase Warp makes it a tricky ship to pin down.


Early to mid-game with just a pack of Soulbanes is doable, but i eventually reached a point where i needed fighter support. I was very reticent about buying an Eidolon carrier. Not that it is a bad ship, but it got maintenance drones as its system, and i wanted to avoid using those as much as i could, as not to be tempted to cheese my way through this campaign. Resisting the urge to turn it into a sabot/harpoon monstrosity, i did outfit my Eidolon as a long range fire-support. I was very lucky to get my hand on the Gandiva large missile launcher, which is basically a reaper LRM. For some reason, i struggled to find Idoneusian (is that the word?) weapons during my game. Most of the time, i was forced to salvage them from the wreckage of the Exiles fleets i preyed upon.

To get back on the Eidolon, it makes for a decent carrier and also a very good missile boat. Sadly, it can't do both at the same time, or at least not very well. It's OP starved, and while it can mount both missiles and fighters, it doesn't leaves much place for hullmods, and the Eidolon really wants hullmods. Building that ships require compromise. Do i really want those expensive bombers? Or should i get ECCM package instead? I ended up favoring fighters over missiles on my Eidolons. One reason is because ICE do have some pretty good fighters, the other reason is as said earlier in this post, as a missile boat, the Eidolon tends to hoard all the fleet maintenance drones to resupply its missiles, something i wanted to avoid. Just like the Shiekwraith, it got shallow phase, making it impossible for the enemy to quickly burst it down. Unfortunately, it also applies when it's on the enemy's side which can be a headache. Unlike the Shiekwraith however, you can't really ignore an Eidolon loaded with missiles.


I also got myself a pair of Kelpie cruisers. A normal version, and the (S) version. The Kelpie(S), just like the Pentagram(S), is a "blade" ship that fight in melee. Unlike the Pentagram however, this cruiser is extremely powerful in the hands of the player. The tractor beam can easily disrupt enemy formations, bringing the hapless target to the Kelpie's maw, letting the fission blades grinding it to dust. Those blades bites hard, hard enough that even the biggest capital ships learn to fear the Kelpie(S). Thanks to its Enthropic Inversion Matrix, the damage it receives from a struggling prey turns into armor regeneration. That system is also what prevent the Kelpie from being disabled by the target's death explosion.

The AI is extremely bad at using it, but as flagship it's arguably overpowered. Even more so when you consider that it only cost 15 DP to deploy. Nerfing the beast combat abilities would be a shame, that's what makes it fun to use. On the other hand, a more severe logistic cost could be a good first step to bring the ship to a more balanced level.

Compared to the (S) variant, the bladeless Kelpie is much less impressive, yet noticeably more expensive to field. Its fission blades have been replaced with 12 small energy hardpoints, and the tractor beam by a medium universal turret. It's... Very awkward to use. Vanilla and ICE lacks the small energy weapons to turns the Kelpie into something worth fielding. Maybe some other mods do, and with some safety override build it could work. Probably not, at least not for the AI. Because of its shallow phase (again) and the EIM system, the Kelpie is extremely AI unfriendly. I did try something easy like a tactical laser boat, but alas, without much success. The only way i managed to make it work was as a flagship, with a very unsubtle loadout.

Spoiler

0.7.2 Aurora flashback
[close]

It's as stupid as it looks, but 14.000 energy alpha strike plus 4000 HE will still get results in battle. However, it's not because it works with some weird cheesy build means it's a good overall ship. There's just too many issues. I feel the Kelpie needs an entire rework to justify its existence.


Much more reliable than those two, the Voidreaver is the elite Idoneus cruiser. At 35 DP, it's in the same weight category as the other "super" cruisers like the Doom. It's equipped with a unique Ether Warp cloak that spawn weak EMP arcs when phased. Not strong enough to shake off frigates but good enough to deal with missiles and unshielded fighters. On top of it, the Graviton Deflector hullmod can deflect incoming projectiles, making it extremely potent in a slugging match as long as it stays at low flux.

On top of that, the Voidreaver is quite overgunned. It's hard to miss the huge and powerful built-in Hypermass driver, although i used it less and less as i played the campaign. Extremely high-flux cost, forced overload on firing, and knockback effect on the target, usually accidentally saving it from a follow up. I wasn't very fan of the Hypermass driver. It works, but feels very clunky to use.
Just like the Eidolon, the Void feels constantly starved for OPs. It wants many guns, many hullmods and many vents points but lacks the OPs for everything. It's the kind of ship that works extremely well when all goes according to plan, but rapidly fall apart when caught in a tricky situation. Fortunately for me, i eventually found a foolproof safety net for my Voidreavers, or any other ships in my fleet for that matter.


The Apocrypha command ship is that safety net. Stat wise, it's a very unimpressive ship. Slow, fragile, limited armament, only 3 flight decks, as expensive as a Paragon... Its one big advantage over other ships (beyond the overpowered maintenance drones that is) is its Recall Teleporter hullmod. This hullmod will teleport any allied ship to its destination at the condition that it brings the targeted ship closer to the Apocrypha. Demonstration :

Spoiler
[close]

Ship being stranded on the edge of the map, surrounding by enemies? Recall teleport. Reinforcements can't cross the map fast enough to reach the front line? Recall teleport. Apocrypha being harassed by enemy frigates? Recall teleport a combat ship to deal with those. There are quite a few tricks possible with this system. It also works with the player flagship, although you must engage auto-pilot to "allow" the teleportation to happen. That's why the Apocrypha is extremely powerful, it can reliably save allies wherever they are in an instant. This is also the main reason an opposing Apocrypha is a priority target in battle, as it will deny any coup de grâce you were about to deal to an enemy target.

But that's not all! Built-in in the ship is the Tactical Ansible hullmod, the predecessor to Operation Center. Unlike its vanilla counterpart, the tactical ansible doesn't require the player to directly helm the ship for it to work. The regenerating command points make sure you can exploit the Recall Teleporter whenever you need it.

Speaking of the tactical ansible, i feel it's too strong. As a built-in hullmod in the Apocrypha, it's absolutely fine. Unfortunately, it's modular, and can easily be strapped on a Dram chilling on the bottom of the map with the Seraphs and still bring the command point regen bonus. I think it shouldn't be a modulable hullmod, only the Apocrypha should have it.


And finally, we got the faction's big boy, the Abraxas battlecruiser. Just like the Apocrypha, it doesn't look very impressive at first glance. Not very fast, low armor, even lower hull, and it's the only non-phase Idoneus ships with the Seraph. On the other hand, it does have pretty good firepower with its converging turrets, and very good flux stats to back those guns. But beyond that, the Abraxas got two main strengths that makes the difference.
First : its ship system, heavy flash jaunt. Yes, like the Nightseer's, although with a cooldown between uses. It can do the same "fire while jaunting" trick as its smaller cousin, but it's harder to pull of due to its limited mobility. Not like it needs it though, the Abraxas can jaunt to the target flank and unload its firepower in all impunity, with enough firepower to rip through shield and armor. When retribution is coming from the enemy or flux is too high, it can reset the jaunt to its original position. In practical terms, it can reach a target much farther than what should normally be possible. No ship is safe from an Abraxas even when it appears out of range. The jaunt is also an extremely good tool to juke dangerous projectiles like torpedoes.

On top of its incredible mobility, the second Abraxas strength is its Nova reactor. It's a hullmod with the ability to auto-repair the ship's armor, except for the core. Combined with the appropriate combat skills, hullmods and maintenance drones support, an Abraxas can be one of the hardest thing to destroy in the entire sector. It still fears very high HE damage like reapers, but will shrug off anything else like it's nothing. Both of those advantages allows for the battlecruiser to jaunt into the most dangerous situation and get out relatively unscathed. And in the eventually it get surrounded, i still got an Apocrypha to save its butt.

By the way, extending shield is incompatible with the Abraxas. There's no hullmod conflict message, it just refuse to install itself. It's fair that this hullmod is incompatible on this ship, but it should be signaled in one way or another.


Lastly, by the end of this campaign, i managed the capture the Exiles colony ship, the Shalom. I admit i half-expected capturing that ship would give me a mobile colony at disposition just like the Exiles. But eh, i guess it would require some advanced scripting wizardry to pull off. That would still be a cool feature, as the current Shalom doesn't do a whole lot.


Beyond the ships, i have a few observations to make regarding the ICE hullmods. For exemple : Munition AutoFac works... Very randomly? I can't get it to work reliably in the simulator, sometimes it does reload things, sometimes it does partially, sometimes it doesn't. Either i'm missing something about this hullmod or it's bugged.

Reverberation Dampener is a no brainer. It's a cheap way to reduce HE damage, the biggest threat to Idoneus ships. As a built-in hullmod on blade ships it makes sense, but as a modular hullmod it's just too good.

Shunt coating is very niche. Given Citadel ships never have enough OPs for everything they want, i'm not sure i would ever spend 12 OPs on something so unreliable. Perhaps this one could get a buff.

Tactical Ansible, as i already said it, don't think should be modular. Mounting it on some cheap frigate, letting it sleep on the edge of the map and still getting the bonus is just too easy.

Phase bypass. Decent hullmod for forcing a missile boat to stay out of phase so it can keep firing all the time. It's currently good thanks to maintenance drones resupplying missiles. With nerfed drones however... I'm not sure.


---


Finally, the end of this post ! So, my opinion on this mod... Well, a originally made by Sundog is bound to be memorable. It's fun, it's pretty, it's original, it just works, i like it. However there are a few things that i think really needs adjustments. Some ships, some hullmods and the maintenance drones, especially the maintenance drones.

While i did enjoy this campaign, i'm not sure i would keep the mod activated for future playthrough. It's good, but needs polishing in my opinion. Quality-wise, it's not quite up there with the other "big faction mods". At least, not yet. I really hope this mod will keep being updated and improved in the future. It's just too unique and cool to be left abandoned. For those that are curious but skeptical, i think it definitely deserves a try.

Oh, and one last thing. Shouldn't this thread moved to the mods section of the forum? It's largely functional enough to deserve a place there.


Not yet updated for 0.9.5. Last update supposedly addressed balance issues among other things. The last changelog was not translated though, so i have no idea how much it really changed.


12
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 11:56:23 AM »
Legacy of Arkgneisis 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13667.0


I was curious what those cool blue ships could do, so i went for an ARS campaign and see for myself. My first attempt went pretty bad, the large fleet size start with Nexerelin put me in charge of a King cruiser and a few escort frigates. The king isn't a very good starter ship, and from my experience with this campaign, not a very good ship at all. I didn't knew what to expect from ARS ships, but i got unceremoniously trounced right off the bat.

Let's start again, from the beginning this time.

Nexerelin start with a single ship, a Reid this time. Now things went muuuuch better. The Reid is a fast skirmisher very similar to the Lasher. Its system "Electromagnetic Overload" give a speed boost as well as spawning some nearby EMP electric arcs, targeting missiles, fighters and other ships. A very powerful system coupled with a strong frigate make the Reid an ideal starter for this campaign.

And just like the Lasher, Safety Override turn it into a little devil of death and destruction. It doesn't quite have the damage potential of the Lasher, but EO (Electromagnetic Overload) adds much needed EMP and mobility to compensate for that. For a very long while, i kept the Reid as my flagship, it was perfect to hunt down other frigates and even some destroyers. One thing i liked to do with the Reid : ramming opponents. Not much for damage, but to isolate them from the rest of the fleet. Jump in, machines guns blazing to force the target to lower its shield, Electro Overload disabling its engine, it can then be pushed away from its allies to be safely finished.

It's strong, very strong, but at the same time, with nearly the same cost a Tempest, i expect something pretty damn good. For a good part of early game, my fleet was mainly build around a pack of Reid, roaming around the battlefield, hunting for anything left alone.

To that pack of predator was added a few Welsh class frigates. Their medium hybrid and built-in siege cannons made them a good choice for long-range fire support. It's not like they could do anything else, the Walsh (and pretty much any other ARS ship for that matter) is made of paper. Weak hull, weak armor, weak shield, weak flux stats, an ARS ship caught with its pants down is a dead ARS ship. And at 130 speed, it isn't even that fast either. The Walsh's system Omni Loader drastically increase its firepower, but also build hard-flux over time, and with its tiny flux capacity... Yeah, the Walsh is as safe to fly as a Talon, and my Walshes died in drove despite their long range loadouts.

My early game fleet also included a few Foxes frigates. Tiny, cheap, harmless, fragile (more so than a Kite!), the Fox was not very... Useful? With EO, it could increase its speed sufficiently to run away from nearly anything, but that's all. A slight frown of an enemy ship could instantly destroy it, and its reduced weapon package limited its use. For a wingman, the kite is cheaper and more useful thanks to its pair of missile mounts. Still, i managed to somewhat find a use for the Fox a bit later on in my campaign. I'm also playing the  Secrets of the Frontier mod that add new combat objectives to capture during battle (it's also a pretty good mod, you should try it), this is where the Fox can shine. At only 3 DP, the Fox is an ideal candidate to quickly capture those new useful strategic points, i would then order then to sit on the edges of the map, ready to re-capture the objective if needed.

With my Reid pack doing a good job for early bounty hunting, i earned enough money to afford a few destroyers. My first one was a Thatcher, it didn't last long. The Thatcher is a light-destroyer, cheap, exceedingly fragile. On its own, even frigates will rip it apart, so don't even think about sending it against a Hammerhead. In theory, its Omni Loader give it decent firepower, in practice, it will overload itself in no time because of its inadequate flux stats. Okay, alright, i need something else.

My next destroyer addition was the Victoria. More expensive to field, but better in nearly every aspects compared to the Thatcher. Sadly, it share the same fragility common to most ARS ship, that made the Victoria a recurring causality during engagements. At least, it doesn't choke on its own flux so i got that going for me. The Victoria feels like an upsized Walsh, and as such feels more at home being a long range fire-support. Its weapon package is not very impressive, but its Structural Analyzer, identical to the Afflictor Entropy Amplifier, allow the rest of the fleet to deal 50% more damage, cementing further its status of support ship. Still, the Structural Analyser require the Victoria to get dangerously close to its target, and an ARS ship that gets into weapon range of the enemy rarely live long enough to tell the tale.

This is when i decided to get myself a bunch of Sherman frigates to keep my destroyers in one piece. Long story short, the Sherman is a blue Centurion and perform identically. It tanks hits with Damper Field and annoy the enemy by refusing to die. There's not much more to say about it, its doing its job.

At this point, i was entering mid-game and the pirates i was encountering started to field big guys. My Reids were still doing the heavy lifting, but their small mounts started to struggle against armoured destroyers and cruisers. Proper amount of dakka was required, and the Burke class destroyer eyed me with its large turret mount. I expected an ARS Sunder, i got a Mudskipper MK.III.

Spoiler
[close]

Alright, i'm exaggerating a bit, but only a little bit. Granted, the Burke is a cheaper weapon platform than the Sunder, and its built-in Gravimetric Targeting Mast increase range by 40% compared to 20% for destroyers with ITU, and it got actually pretty good armor for an ARS ship. But it is slow, and its pitiful flux stats ensure it will overload at the slightest nudge on its shield. My Shermans were trying really hard to protect it, but slow as it is, it couldn't keep up with the rest of my fleet. ARS being a kitting faction, not being able to keep up with the rest of the pack is a death sentence. Still, i sorta managed to make the Burke work, armed with a Gauss cannon and a Converted Hangar, the Burke could sit sufficiently far from the frontline and do its work. Still, many Burkes were harmed in the making of this campaign.

One thing i did to help increase the survival rate of my Burke and the rest of the fleet was the addition of an Edith AWACS frigate. The sole purpose of the Edith is to boost the range of the fleet with its AWACS system, any ships in range can now shoot farther, and an ARS ship with a range advantage is one that survive. My Edith was outfitted with reinforced bulkhead, heavy armor, blastdoors... Anything to make it survive the engagement. Weapons? Nah, here's your AWACS thing, that's the only gun i'll allow you to have, and stay away from the frontline. There's no reason not to have at least one Edith, a fleet without one of those will fight on the same terms as the enemy, and the ARS can't do that. The built-in ECM Package and Nav Relay? Cool bonus too. It is a very expensive frigate to field though, 10 DP, as much as a Hammerhead, but the power multiplier is vastly greater than just one more destroyer in my opinion. I don't know by how much the AWACS does boost range though, is it a flat range bonus? Or a percentage?

One thing i was lacking so far was a proper carrier. The illusive Caswell was still out of stock, so i went for a Hawke drone carrier, a cruiser. I wasn't overly impressed by the Hawke, it did lack the firepower i desperately needed and its built-in drones weren't all that impressive either, although i haven't tested it for very long, so perhaps i missed something. Still, for 15 DP, i can't complain much, the Hawke is dirt cheap, surprisingly mobile, and its stats, while still inferiors to vanilla ships had to offer, weren't that inferiors. I mean, that thing, as unremarkable as it is, somehow managed to survive the entire campaign without exploding and i'm not sure why. Maybe it got an experimental stealth field that hide from both its enemies and its commander? Go figure. Still, the quest for more dakka continue.

Not much later, i finally got my hands on a Caswell carrier. I already had an idea of what it could do, and i was pretty happy to find one. The Caswell by itself is a fairly unremarkable destroyer sized carrier. What makes it interesting? Its mine launcher. Just like the Doom can spawn mines, the Caswell can deploy Flak mines on the battlefield. The flak mines aren't as powerful, but their large radius still make them a threat to anything with stripped armour. With my Reid, i loved to ram my enemy and push them into mines. A very good support addition to my fleet, one that i carefully guarded with Shermans as it appeared to be quite a rare ship in this campaign. I had hoped to find some much needed bombers to got with it, alas, there's no such a thing in the ARS roster. The Earl strike fighter somewhat fits the bill, but it wasn't even close to what i needed to breach heavy armour.

At this point i pushed my luck a bit too far, and committed the risky endeavour of engaging a pirate bounty with a capital ship. The enemy flagship was a Renegade battlecruiser from SWP. Not that much of a threat by itself, but given my cruel lack of firepower, engaging that thing was a reckless move. After a long and gruesome battle, i managed to bring the beast down and retreat the rest of my CR starved fleet. Assassinating the enemy's flagship then retreating became a recurring thing in my mid-game campaign, since i had no way of taking on several heavily armoured vessels. In the case of the Renegade, i was lucky to have a few Hyperwave Transmitter objectives on the battlefield thanks to Secrets of the Frontier. Hyperwave Transmitter, when captured, can call in allied derelicts or remnant ships to help. A derelict craft isn't much, but when everything is suffering from low CR malfunctions, a triple chaingun Berseker suddenly become much more terrifying. That battlecruiser, EMP'd by my Reids, didn't saw it coming.

After this long and exhausting battle, i Hyperwarp jumped straight into an Hegemony invasion fleet. Oops.

Alright, back to (almost) scratch.

Fortunately for me, the RNG blessed me with plenty good ships. One of the those is the Osmond. An expensive, but powerful heavy destroyer, one with a large turret, i needed that. The Osmond is not only a pretty decent frontliner, it's also a formidable support ship. What really distinguish the Osmond is that it's also a minelayer, it can deploy EMP mines to spread chaos. Because the RNG was very generous this time around, i got several Osmonds available, meaning a lot of mines, meaning a lot of chaos.

Spoiler

No engine is safe.
[close]

Sadly, it also mean a lot of friendly fire, especially for my Reids that were operating behind the enemy. Still, with the Osmond, my campaign strategy for ARS started to form. I'm going to make a deathball. A compact formation of destroyers shielding my carriers and my Edith, shelling the enemy from afar, and punishing any aggression with a barrage of mines. In some aspect, ARS is very similar to old school Interstellar Imperium, but without the armour. Stay in formation, punish anything that comes too close, and slowly grind the enemy to pulp. I was also playing with the commissioned crew mod. It does adds bonus depending on the faction the player is affiliated to, in this case, Society Riggers for ARS ships, which reduce the amount of low CR malfunction, and repair them faster. Given the endurance, defensive playstyle i'm planning to do, CR is going to be an issue, and this will thankfully reduce the effect.

With those new ships, i also got myself a King cruiser. I saw the large turret and thought "yeah, that's gonna be useful". Unfortunately for me, it also got Omni Loader, which is very good to increase the firepower, but very bad for survival. Every time i looked at it in battle, the King was perpetually overflowing with flux, unable to do anything. I though that maybe the weapons i gave it were too flux intensive for it? Nope, Hellbore, autocannons, point defenses... And just like every ships cursed with Omni Loader, it died, a lot. Perhaps with further testing i could have made it work, but at this point i didn't bothered, and did set my sights on something new and shinier.

No long after forming my new fleet, i had the chance to get myself a Macnamara heavy cruiser. My quest for dakka is finally being rewarded! Take a Reid, give it enough sun, water it regularly, and one day, it will grow into a Macnamara, the highlight of the ARS fleet. Its little cousin, the Reid, eat frigates for breakfast. The Mac prefer instead a cruiser and destroyer based diet, and sometimes an occasional capital ship with some proper flanking manoeuvres. Its large array of medium turrets allows it many potential builds, but really, the Macnamara shines when its build as a Skirmisher just like the Reid. Chainguns and Safety Override turns it into a fast brute that can rampage through the enemy's rear line, or frontline, or anywhere really. Well, maybe not in front of that Onslaught then. Also, be careful of those Salamanders, as the Mac's engines are extremely vulnerable to flameout. Every times i got caught, it was because of a sudden flameout.

I haven't tested the Lyon a lot. Its unimpressive weapon package and Magnetized Plating (damper field) didn't quite fit in my new combat doctrine. Still, i got one of those out of curiosity. It is certainly pretty difficult to take down, but at this point, if the enemy was on me, it meant i was doing something very wrong. Perhaps i'm judging wrongly the Lyon, and probably should see it primarily as a carrier than can somewhat fight rather than a proper combat cruiser. Unfortunately, it eventually died, and i didn't bothered to replace it and test it further.

Finally, as i was now well into late game, i got my hands on the big boy, the Alastair battlecruiser. The Alastair isn't a bruiser like the Onslaught, nor an artillery powerhouse like the Conquest, neither an oversized skirmisher like the Odyssey, it's not quite like the Legion as well. Let's call it a souped up Osmond, a decent frontliner and a very good support ship. Like the Osmond, it can spawn EMP mines, disrupting the enemy's fleet. Its weapon package is also notably upgraded, and it got some fighters too. All in all, the Alastaire would become the ideal anchor for my deathball. By the way, did i mentioned i fell in love the Heavy Plasma Driver? It fits so well on the Alastair, on the Osmond too. Its armor penetration isn't all that great, but the long range, hitscan rapid ROF with pinpoint accuracy make it perfect for taking potshots at anything that lower its shield. A single Plasma driver won't do much, but a whole fleet with those? The punishment for getting in range is immediate and merciless. Perfect for a deathball.

Spoiler

Pew pew
[close]

Plasma drivers won't go through some of the heavily protected brutes i was encountering though. But for those, i had an answer too. Those two flight decks on the Alastair i didn't knew how to use? Let's put some Cobras in those, and unleash them when the enemy is helplessly paralysed by the EMP mine spam. I could get surprisingly far into the game with this tactic. Only the super long range monsters (Siegfrieds, Paragons...) were giving me trouble, the deathball does not work when the enemy can shoot farther than me!

In the end, that was a pretty fun campaign. Early game is extremely rough without a Reid, and from my experience, it's better to stick with a bunch of fast frigates (Only Reids, really) for early game with the ARS. Unlike vanilla or other mod factions, upgrading to destroyers as quickly as possible is a mistake here, as the bigger ships only begin to show their qualities when part of a large fleet. It's pretty contre-intuitive, and further add to the difficulty of playing the faction. Yeah, it's a difficult faction to play with, a bit like ORA or SCY, where early game is extremely unforgiving. Perhaps the thread's OP should have written in big red letters "Glass cannons, handle with care".

There's just a few outliers like the Thatcher and Burke that feels off, i couldn't make them work properly. Also Omni Loader that felt like a death trap in battle. Haven't looked in depth into the fighters. The Jack drones were what i used the most, since they were plentiful and i liked their ability to spam rockets. The Duke gunboats too were pretty good as long range fire support. Others like the Monodrone however, could have been deprived of weapons and they would still be as useful as they currently are. I guess they do cost 0 OPs to mount though.

Oh also, i "accidentally" scrapped the Champion. I feel i shouldn't have done that.


Updated for 0.9.5. Many balance changes happened. Mainly buff i think?

13
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 11:53:14 AM »
The Star Federation 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=19115.0


I have been writing some feedback in the Seeker thread after my campaign. Since i also used some Federation ships, it's natural that i write about those as well. I haven't tried as many ships as in my other post, however i do have quite a bit to say about those i used.


During this campaign, i had a few Centa carriers to back me up. They did their jobs very well, for a good reason, they are clearly too strong right now. Cheap, tiny skeleton crew, large cargo and fuel capacity. Logistic wise, the Centa is noticeably superior to its vanilla competitors. Combat wise, it got two flight decks plus a third one with a built-in pulse laser drone. Also good flux stats, top of the line shield efficiency and a very comfortable amount of OPs to fit expensive fighters, plus the required hullmods. Add on top of that some cruiser-level peak-performance time and very decent speed, the Centa is overpowered.

It's also quite heavily armed. While a Centa doesn't want to brawl, it's three missiles hardpoints allows it to support the rest of the fleet at a safe distance. The front energy turret makes for a good range-finder, while the two side ones tends to be fitted with point defense. There's only the rear turret with a strangely narrow arc that i can't really make good use of, so i always leave it empty.

While we're still talking about armament, i used the Leto SRM for my Centas. The Leto is a dirt cheap, ammoless weapon launching two missiles dealing 700 frag and EMP each. Slightly higher reload time than the Salamander (30 seconds vs 25), which isn't a problem given the Leto's Fast missile racks system. The tracking isn't that great, but again, the Centa have enough OPs for ECCM package to compensate this issue. This is not a weapon designed to take on large opponents, not enough damage to crack open shields and armor. Frigates and destroyer however, have much to fear from those. Hell, even bigger ships aren't completely immune due to the noticeable EMP effect.

The built-in Omnidrone is also pretty nasty. It's overall stats are fairly good without being outrageous, but it does have a very low base replacement time, as much as a Broadsword. A single drone with a pulse laser almost feels irrelevant in the late game. But early on, it's a terrifying fighter to face against. 300 DPS (not quite because of its limited flux) is no joke for a frigate or even a destroyer.

I expect the nerf bat to fall hard on this one. It's too good in every possible aspects. One suggestion : change the rear energy turret into a synergy, and one or two missiles into energy. That would somewhat nerf its overall missile spam capacity, as well as giving purpose to that weird rear turret. Although it would need more than that to fall in line with its vanilla counterparts.


Later on, i used a Kestral as my flagship. Comparatively, it seems fairly close to the Eagle both in stats and combat role. However, the Kestral is cheaper, faster, tougher, more endurant, and arguably better armed thanks to its built-in wing of two omnidrones. It's not completely better though, its shield arc is narrow, and can shrink further with hard flux. Its flux stats are also a bit weaker, and it requires a lot more CR to deploy. Regardless, i still think the Kestral is overtuned.

For some reason, it also got a built-in advanced turret gyro. Does it really needs it? It got more than enough OPs to afford it the normal way.

For my flagship, i went for a safety override build, with great results. With SO, Unstable injector and using the Divert Weapon Power system, the Kestral can do short dash around the map at ludcrious speed (faster than a Hound !). On top of that, the increased shield durability gained from using the system makes this ship extremely hard to pin down. The narrow shield emitter is one important thing to keep in mind when dealing with EMP though. As getting your engines flamed out in the middle of a brawl can get ugly really fast.


The last fed ship i got was the Nesasio phase cruiser. And oh boy. It was the flashiest and most efficient thing in my fleet. Its Starship legends rating after battle was always above 200%, and it would tear apart the majority of the enemy's fleet by itself. I remember during one battle, it was cornered against the side of the map by two VIC cruisers and three destroyers. Those got trounced, hard. No, i was not piloting it when it did so, the AI was. It is by far the most capable AI phase ship i used in Starsector. By the end of the campaign, i had assembled a squad of 4 Nesasios, and the game was pretty much done at this point. With a loadout of high-burst damage, it could drill through the heaviest armor and shielding in two or three volleys.

I had the feeling the Nesasio was a bit too strong. After looking more closely at the stats, it's for a good reason. The Nesasio is probably the fastest cruiser in the game, even more so with the Antimatter Injector that can be charged before cloaking. There's not much that cannot be flanked by a Nesasio, or chase it when it's disengaging. Mobility wise, it's on a whole new level compared to normal phase ships.

Not just its speed. It's also blessed with gigantic flux capacity, 17.000, as much as an Onslaught ! No wonder my Nesasios could wreck things so quickly, they had the capacity to sustain fire with even the most flux expensive weapons. Of course, a massive amount of ordnance points to mount these guns, max out flux capacity and vent, as well as an entire array of hullmods does help.

And it's a relatively cheap cruiser as well at 24 DPs only, a tiny bit less than a Dominator, yet vastly more deadly. Burn 9 too, because why not. The Nesasio is really in need of a severe nerf in my opinion. Another thing i noted : the description makes mention of a quicker cycling phase cloak. From my testing however, the cloak cooldown seems slower than vanilla ships. Around 4 seconds cooldown for the Nesasio, and 3 for standard phase ships. Is that a bug? Or am i interpreting "quick cycling cloak" wrong?



That's all for now. From what i experienced, Star Federation ships have a tendency to be overtuned, or at least those three. Despite this, i quite enjoyed having the faction in my game, and i think i'll keep the mod on for futures campaigns. I'm also eager to see what you have in store for us with the next update.


Updated for 0.9.5. Got a new battleship since then, plus some balance tweaks, mainly nerfs.

14
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 11:50:28 AM »
Interstellar Imperium 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=8007.0


Confinement being a thing these days, i do have plenty of time for playing Starsector. I thought it was the right moment to invest some time in trying the "new" version of Interstellar Imperium.

It's a pretty daunting mod now, there's a lot of content to try, even more so when considering the hullmods packages that pretty much turn the imperial fleet into three, or even four factions instead of one. It's easy to feel overwhelmed facing all the possibilities the mod offers. Feeling a bit rusty with my Starsector knowledge, i decided to stick to something i knew about II : good old death ball. Although instead of going with the classic "Great Wall of Dictators" fleet, i was in the mood for some carrier action. Let's see how it went.



I choose the Maximus as my starter ship. I never really gave it a proper chance before the great rework, so it was the occasion to try something a bit different. After fiddling for a bit, trying to understand how the damn thing worked, i settled for this build :

Spoiler
[close]

I would be outnumbered by a bunch of rustbuckets for the duration of early game, being able to fight alone was the most important criteria. The armor package allowed me to get close to the target, face tank whatever it could threw at me while i charged the Celerity Drive, then slip around its shield to deliver damage. With some early game combat skills like Impact Mitigation and Advanced Countermeasures, the Maximus can be really difficult to take down. I ignored kinetic weapons since i found the Patella Breaker to be a good enough shield breaker against low-tech omni-shields.

It worked very well for the first few skirmishes. As my fleet grew, and my opponents also grew better armed. I switched for a targeting build with light phases lances in a typical glass cannon fashion. No need to tank hits when you have teammates to do it for you.

(By the way, i had no access to elite package for quite a while during this campaign, which explain why i won't write about it much in this post.)

As for the rest of my fleet, the RNG didn't blessed me with much variety for this early game period. I did found a Decurion and an Invictus, only one of each, both performed reasonably well against low-level pirates. Nothing groundbreaking with the builds either, a reasonable mix of low-flux kinetic and HE with the armor package. I was more concerned about keeping them alive than killing the enemy the standard way. Because every time i visited Byzantium, Minerva insisted that i would kill my enemies with missiles, and missiles only.

Spoiler
[close]

Those plump little fellas were the only things on sale for an unexpectedly long amount of time, and they weren't exactly what i was looking for. But as they said, lemon, lemonade, etc. I had to make do with a bunch of Basileus. During skirmishes, keeping them alive proved tricky, so as shown in the picture above, i went for the "You can't kill me if i kill you first" doctrine. With a little fiddling with the weapons groups to ensure they have as little trigger discipline as possible, i managed to turn those chubby, harmless-looking guys into proper killing machines. Few things are as terrifying during early game as something that only cost 5 FP turn an Enforcer into scrap metal in less than 5 seconds.

So yeah, i was pretty satisfied with the Basileus.


I rapidly transitioned to destroyers, the first addition to my fleet was the Princeps battlecarrier. I wanted to play a carrier fleet after all! I was... Not very impressed. I mean, it's a much better combattant than the Condor, Gemini or Drover, but it's also noticeably more expensive to field. Very early on, it's not a bad idea to outfit the Princeps as a high impact missile boat like i did with the Basileus. But i rapidly got to a point where i wasn't too keen on seeing my precious and vulnerable carrier get too close to the front line. I did lost many of those during this campaign.

Throughout the game, all my Princeps were eventually fitted with LRMs and long range interceptors. Even then, i deemed their performance only acceptable but wouldn't go out of my way to salvage them if they got disabled in battle. I feel early game is the best moment for the Princeps to shine, it's sufficiently well armed to brawl with low-tier frigates, and perform as a decent fighter platform. Later on though, they felt dangerously vulnerable, and i eventually found something better to replace them with.

After a time, i changed my aging Maximus for something a bit bigger. I got myself an Interrex, bypassing the imperial packages, i outfitted it with a safety override build.

Spoiler
[close]

While not an exceptional SO ship, this did a very acceptable job at intercepting key targets, breaking their shields, shutting down their engines, and killing them. I tried to experiment a bit with Pulsar weaponry on it, but remained unconvinced. When i later upgraded to a bigger ship, my Interrex got refitted with less flamboyant loadout as to survive better. It never disappointed, although it didn't really impressed me either.


From that point, i felt i fooled around enough for early game and decided to pick proper carriers. The Imperials don't have many dedicated carriers, the Ardea i bought isn't as good as the Heron when it comes to fielding fighters. It is however a pretty awesome battlecarrier that can hold its own on the frontline. My Ardea flagship was outfitted with a quad HVD, with a pair of Vicarius to do the actual killing. The AI versions that would follow me into battle had a more reasonable mix of HVD/Mauler/Ballista, also with Vicarius.

Speaking of the Vicarius, i wasn't really convinced at first by the heavy fighter. Low engagement range, extremely expensive, it was ill-fitting on my support Princeps. On the front-line Ardea however, it's low range was much less of an issue, and i could fit both wings without scarifying too much firepower from the actual ship. The Vic is over-gunned, and can overpower even cruisers with support from my carriers. Capital ships however, were something i struggled against, i needed some serious armor cracker if i wanted to keep doing my bounty hunting gig.

I traded my Ardea flagship for an Adamas, because of course i would try the Imperial's shiniest toy for this campaign, carrier fleet or not. It's a really fun ship, hit like a truck too, just what i needed.

Nothing outlandish when it comes to the builds. I fiddled a bit with Elite package, but found it too risky given my fleet doctrine. Targeting package fitted neatly though, i could blast apart my targets from a safe distance, either with the Light Spear or HVDs. Still, being a phase ship that requires to regularly face a target without blinking, i took quite a few hits, even at long range. I often finished my battles with a completely mangled flagship. A good enough outcome when i fought a few cruisers and maybe one or two battleships, but the hostile fleets i encountered fielded more and more ships. It was clear this was going to devolve into an endurance battle very soon, a kind of battle the Adamas is uncomfortable with.


Which is why i decided to pick the king of endurance battles, or rather, the queen. The Matriarch is a strange ship to build and to play. Huge, lumbering, with a weird weapon layout, it doesn't like direct action, yet can (and should) be on the frontline. Unlike the Astral that constantly require input from the player, the Matriarch is content just being around on autopilot, with occasional orders being given. And that's how i used it.

But before fielding the beast, i needed a proper loadout to take on capital ships.

Spoiler
[close]

Weapon-wise, it's a fairly mindless build, the kind of guns you keep on autofire and forget about it. As for the bombers, i went for Piranhas, which might raise some eyebrows given how unreliable Piranhas are. Thanks to the Command Center system that can buff fighter mobility, this does help my bombers to reach their target more rapidly. With a little help from Broadswords to distract point defense, and from Thunders to make sure those engines are flamed-out, this does greatly improve the reliability of my Piranhas. And when they hit, they hit hard, occasionaly disabling an enemy capital ship in a single bombing run.

I did try a loadout with Imperial Inferna bombers too. While it technically worked, i judged the damage output insufficient when it comes to capital ship killing. The Inferna is a weird one. As its description suggest, it works better in larger number. Unfortunately the Imperials are pretty limited in fighter bays until they can field a Matriarch, so they didn't felt very impactful during early and mid game. Later on, the Inferna's efficiency against relatively unarmored ships was no longer relevant against the bigger targets i faced. I mean, they do work, but in comparison to the Piranha, it couldn't compete.

My comparison is probably a bit unfair though. The Piranha is an overspecialized bomber that requires an inordinate amount of baby sitting to get the job done, and only against specific, low mobility targets, while the Inferna is less demanding and a bit more reliable against most opponents, while still being cheap.

To get back on the Matriarch, this loadout worked really well. Railguns could soften the target's shield, Ion beams would shut down weapons and engines, and the bombing run would begin. Come back to rearm, repeat the process against another target. My whole fleet survivability was also directly improved, thanks to the built-in operation center. My Ardeas, while pretty good front-liners, cannot hope to contain the advance of an Onslaught or something equivalent, and sometimes got overwhelmed in an attempt to hold the line. Thanks to OP center, i have unlimited order points that can be liberally used to shape the positioning of my fleet, forcing them to disengage, or take on a specific threat.

Not a flawless tactic mind you, interceptor heavy fleets, or anything with powerful AOE weapons (devastator, mine strike) could completely shut down my offensive capabilities. One reason i avoided ScalarTech fleets and those mine-layer cruisers like the plague. Moreover, my Matriarch was good at killing, but pretty terrible when it came to defend itself. A failed bombing run left me extremely vulnerable to a frontal assault. I also took many torpedoes to the flank because of a daring frigate i couldn't shake off. My Ardeas were too busy fighting the enemy to come to my aid, so i had to get myself a dedicated escort.


The Libritor Siege destroyer isn't what one would immediately think of when it comes to escorting duty. Probably for a good reason. Still, i was determined to get a pair of those to accompany me in battle, for better or worse. In my mind, two Libritors with the ability to push back a target, thanks to the targeting package upgrade, would protect me from an unexpected enemy charge. A pair of Flamen interceptors would serve for point defense duty against fighters. It worked in the sense that two destroyers to protect me is better than no destroyers, but this was not the right ship for the job. On top of that, their Magna Fulmen didn't fired as much as i would have liked, and when they did, they weren't the sharpshooters i hoped for. I rapidly took the decision to mothball those two.

My newest addition for an escort ship was probably not the most judicious one either. I think i got sidetracked with my objective of "protecting the flagship" at this point.

Spoiler
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You bet those missiles are all linked with that tactical laser. This Ixon proved to be a pretty terrible escort that would require my protection rather than the other way around. Still, i now had an incredible fire-support ship at my side, and while it didn't fixed my vulnerability issues, my offense had been further improved.
Combining the HE Apocalypse and Ballistas missiles with the KE versions from its Magnum Salvo system, the Ixon can hit hard and far, and because of my fiddling with weapon groups, fired pretty much non-stop. A brutal glass cannon that i deeply regret not trying sooner. So long as the enemy didn't, or couldn't focus on it, it would unleash a ceaseless barrage of missiles at anything around it.


It did nothing to alleviate the growing collection of scars my Matriarch was accumulating in battle though. I had to stop fooling around and actually try to find a solution to my problems. The escort problem wasn't the only one i had, my Ardeas were getting less and less capable of holding the line against the increasingly bigger ships i encountered. I needed a battleship.

The imperials don't have much choice in that role besides the Caesar battleship, fortunately for me it's a good choice. I wouldn't pilot it, so the AI required a simple yet efficient loadout, i went for a mix of HVD, Sledges and Ballistas. The Caesar would act as the anchor for the rest of the fleet but also as a sort of "concert master". Whatever it focus, everyone else was ordered to follows suit. Sledges and Hypervelocity drivers do not destroy targets as quickly as bombers, but they're reliable, more so than Piranhas at least.  This allowed my fleet to quickly burst down bothersome targets. Thanks to this new development, i decided to change my strategy a little bit.

I bought a second Matriarch with a slightly different loadout, something that would hopefully turn my fleet into an impregnable fortress.

Spoiler
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This Matriarch have a very different function from my flagship. Instead of bursting down targets, it will assist and protect allies. A purely support ship, and probably one of the most powerful i managed to build in all of my Starsector playtime. The mobility buff provided by the Command Center is percentage based, making it extremely powerful on an already fast fighter like the Thunder. Coupled with its massive engagement range, my Thunder squadron could intervene pretty much anywhere on the battlefield in a blink of an eye.

With a few "fighter strike" order, i could intercept and disable any target almost instantly with their ion cannons. Onslaught charging in? No more guns and engines for you. Frigate harassing my flank? Now it's molten slag. Freighter trying to run away? Not any more. Heavy point defense on your ship? Good luck getting a hit on something flying that fast. This build provided the ultimate crowd control for my fleet. Sure, it didn't dealt as much damage as my bomber variant, but every clashes between ships happened on my terms and that's worth more than all the bombers in the sector. If any ship could get the MVP aware for this campaign, it would be this Matriarch.

This did come with an inconvenient though. Two Matriarch, a Caesar, and (ideally) four Ardeas on the field was more deployment points that i could afford. I decided to mothball my older Matriarch, given its obsolescence. I could take control of the new one, but it worked well enough on its own with a few fighter strike orders. So, what flagship should i fly then? The Caesar? I didn't had the proper combat skills to use it to its full potential, and my flagship would require OPcenter so i could remote-control the Matriarch. A lone OPcenter Hound parked on the bottom of the map is what i used for a while, but eventually i reached the end game, and faced an opponent that happened to be tougher than i expected.

Spoiler
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Was this boss that hard in the past? Or is it just me getting rusty? Regardless, Gabriel Mosolov proved to be an unexpected and impassable roadblock for my fleet. Stopping a capital ship, even an extremely strong one, i can do that. Stopping the Zeus, Ares and Nike at the same time is much trickier since the three of them reach my fleet at the same time. The overwhelming alpha strike of the Zeus, the nearly indestructible Ares and the sudden missile barrage of the Nike were too much to handle for my Caesar. Once it is gone, my fleet formation shatter and it's game over. My Matriarch can immobilise one, maybe two by regularly switching target, but there's not much i can do about the third flagship. If only i had a way to prevent them from charging straight in my fleet, maybe i could force this into an endurance battle. That i could win, it's a shame the old Jupiter isn't a thing anym- Oh wait.
 

 My two Libritors were still sleeping in storage somewhere. Now is the occasion to shine gentlemen ! My new flagship role would be simple and very similar to the Matriarch in some way : control the enemy's positioning in battle. Thanks to the Magna Fulmen knockback effect, i could push away an overly daring opponent from my fleet. I did experiment with this tactic on random bounties, which worked pretty well. Let's try that against Mosolov.

Spoiler

Oh.
[close]

It turns out that the Zeus have Advanced Targeting Core, which outrange me. Welp, time to find another solution.

I did try a similar tactic with the Lynx, which can use the shock buster while phased, hopefully protecting me from harm while doing so. Alas, the knockback effect proved insufficient to stop a capital ship, so i had to find another way to win this fight.

While the Lynx isn't an ideal candidate for that kind of scenario, i did find it pretty fun to fly nonetheless. I think it would a very interesting ship during mid-game battles, where the shock buster can break apart an enemy deathball. If i had to play another Imperial campaign, i'd get one of those much earlier. Also, it can do fun stuff like this :

Spoiler
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I wasn't really sure how to tackle on the final IBB bounty. Fighting through conventional ways wasn't working, so i had to think differently, although i was unwilling to change my overall fleet doctrine. I guess i could have assembled a squad of Dictator cruisers, outfitted them with Armor Package and Safety Override, sending them on a suicide mission to burst down the enemy's flagships, leaving the rest of the fleet vulnerable to my carriers. It would have worked, although i felt that method lacked tact and subtlety, so instead i tried something else.

Spoiler

Tact and Subtlety
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You never know what expect in life, so it's never a bad idea to have a few planetkillers within arm's reach. I did try to use the Olympus a few time beforehand , with pretty terrible results. The Titan is maddeningly unreliable, exploding too early, or too late. Even with a heavy interceptor escort, it rarely reached a target, and when it did, it usually was the wrong one. Nailing a titan shot, no matter satisfying as it can be, tends to be a waste of effort, a battleship would have done the same, although not as quickly.

Except against this target. Trying to burst down the three flagships from afar was a doomed endeavor, even four Titans fired simultaneously would get intercepted before detonating. So i had to play dirty. I deployed a few "dummy" ships at the start of battle, hastily built ships without officers, a bait to attract the enemy's flagship closer to my deployment zone.  Of course, there would be causalities, but that was a sacrifice i was willing to make. Once the target reached the "bottom" of the battlefield, i would order a general retreat, freeing precious deployment points to unleash my Olympus.

At such close range, protected by the debris of the ships that couldn't retreat in time, the enemy had no hope of stopping the Titan. First explosion, the Nike explode. Second Olympus deployed, second Titan fired, both the Zeus and Ares manage to weather the storm, but not without damage. Third Olympus deployed, third Titan, direct hit on the Zeus that disable it. Fourth Olympus deploys and fire its Titan, the badly damaged Ares don't stand a chance against it. With the three flagships down, i deploy the rest of my ships. The enemy still have many capital ships in store, but nothing like the three monsters i took down. Still a brutal grind, i'm even forced to deploy my Barrus freighters in battle to fight the last few capital ships. Slowly but surely, i whittle down the enemy's fleet to a few retreating crafts.  Victory !


And with that, i concluded this Imperial campaign. I haven't had the chance to try every ships, and certainly not all the build possibilities with the Imperial packages. The Interstellar Imperium mod is a huge mod, i would need to replay it at least thrice to get a good feel of the faction in its entirety. From what i got with only one campaign, it's a really good mod (was anyone expecting something else?), the ships are fun to fly, it looks flashy without being gaudy. It just works.

As for balance, it's really hard to tell, there's so many possible combinations of ships, weapons and hullmods to tell for sure. I don't feel some of the stuff i played felt over the top. Sure, the Matriarch when properly built is incredible, although it's probably more of an issue with Thunder than the ship itself. There's also the weird outlier like the Olympus that is pretty much impossible to perfectly balance due to its weird nature. Overall, it felt balanced, but it would require an inordinate amount of testing to say for sure, so... Good enough i suppose. Would play again.

Also, i tried a little bit the Royco. Not much to say about this one, i guess it's okay.


Not yet updated for 0.9.5 .The mod got various balance adjustments since then, mainly buffs. Also two new fighters and a battle station.

15
Modding / Re: Interesting Mods Database: a mod review thread
« on: April 21, 2021, 11:46:49 AM »
Tartiflette asked me to repost some of the reviews i did in the past, so here it is. Hopefully it'll be helpful.


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Secrets of the Frontier 0.9.1

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=15820.0


In my recent campaign, i decided to include the SOTF mod. While i already knew of the bits and interesting parts the mod adds, it really require a full campaign to properly appreciate it. So, in this post i'll take about the tactical expansion provided by the new objectives types.

Long story short, i now consider Secrets of the Frontier to be part of my must have mods. The ones with a permanently checked box in the mod manager window.

Now, to understand why i think so, we have to look into vanilla first. The current objectives types in Starsector are the sensor jammer, the nav buoy and the comm relay. Sadly, both sensor jammer and nav buoy can be completely ignored if you have the proper skills and one or two ships with ECM package and Nav Relay. They tend to have no, or almost no impact whatsoever on the battle. Comm relay is more useful, as it increase the command point generation. Alas, asides of some Operation Center shenanigans, CPs aren't that useful either. Basically, a whole part of the base game doesn't even really work, and as a result, it's no fun.

The two new objectives added by the mod are much more interesting, and there are good reasons to interact with those. The defence emplacement adds either a turret, a launch bay or a mine layer that can be captured to fight by your side. Turrets do have targeting supercomputer, so they can assist from pretty far away. Getting a Gauss turret with increased range to back you up can be pretty useful up to mid-game if you can order your fleet around it. Same for the launch bay and mine layer. They unfortunately do not scale very well into late game though. Once i had capital ships, i usually ignored the points and steamrolled over those the enemy captured.

Fun fact, the defensive emplacements are not static like space stations, they can be bumped and moved around! So far i haven't tried tugging around a turret for anything else than fun, but it's possible. Unfortunately, it's also possible to "lose" it by accidentally pushing it too far from its original point.

The second combat objective, and the most useful, is the Hyperwave Transmitter. Once captured, it will call in reinforcement from either derelicts or remnants. Capturing several Hyperwave Transmitter will increase the number of ships coming to your aid.

In my campaign, i played a lot with those, but not too much that it became a "must capture at all cost". In my post in the Legacy of Arkgneisis thread , i wrote about how i took on a pirate fleet much bigger than mine, and managed to sink their flagship by capturing the appropriate objectives.

This didn't happened in just one battle. More often than not, Ludd forgive me, my battles were fought side by side with derelicts and remnants. The Hyperwave Transmitter isn't guarded? Capture it! The enemy fleet is sitting on it? Let's ignore it for now. An allied AI craft is engaging the enemy's flagship, do i help it? Or do i sacrifice it to give me time to kill that isolated carrier over there? That derelict is trying to engage an Onslaught upfront, do i get behind it and advance while using its hull as a cover?

On the other hand, there were some occasions where my fleet was on the receiving end of a constant stream of flying toasters, charging me without regard for their safety, while i'm busy trying to handle the rest of the fleet.

Paradoxically, by "improving" the other combat objectives, the vanilla Comm Relay that increase CP generation became more attractive as well. Gotta need those CPs to capture and re-capture those objectives!

To summarise, it was fun, i enjoyed myself. I think SOTF is very important to Starsector in the same way that Combat Chatter, Nexerelin or Console command adds to the game. Those mods fills a hole in the base game, they bring something that Starsector should, but do not (yet?) have. In this case, interactive and interesting combat objectives. Still, SOTF is a pre-release, work in progress and all that, and it shows. I feel it could be much more. I have said earlier than Defensive emplacements tends to fall off later in the game, Hyperwave Transmitter too, although to a lesser extent. So it might all require some tweaking to make it work from the beginning to the end.

Here's some of the things i would like to see eventually :

- Reworked vanilla objectives. Maybe Alex will do it in the next release, maybe not. In the meantime, they don't really work all that well, and SOTF could change that.
- Skills affecting the new objectives. After all, why not? Plus it could be a way to make them scale better during late game too.
- Objectives that scale depending on the overall fleet point from both fleet? That way, the effects of the objectives can be directly tweaked depending on the number of ships, as to stay relevant for late game, but not too strong for early game.
- More objectives obviously! A large shield generator to cover a wide area, an automated supply depot to slow down the peak performance/CR degradation, pilum spawn from the nearby's planet defensive platforms... There are many possibilities to spice things up.

Yeah, i'm really liking this mod, i'm looking forward for what's next.


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Updated for 0.9.5 since then, got a few balance adjustments and bugfixes in the process.




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