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1

Suggestions / Heavy Burst PD 'buff'/'refactor'

« on: April 18, 2025, 11:20:36 AM »

Currently, because fighters have both small hitboxes and ship-level durability- rather than missile-level durability- killing fighters with warships is fairly difficult.  Very few things actually kill fighters- they've got to be either overwhelming area of effect things like the Devastator Cannon, or very precise and high damage like the Phase Lance.  Or, potentially, like the Heavy Burst PD Laser.

I suggest differentiating the Heavy Burst PD Laser from other weapons like the normal Burst PD Laser by making it a proper anti-fighter weapon.  This could be done by increasing it's per-shot damage and overall DPS substantially, along with increased flux costs, and making it prioritize fightercraft, then missiles, then hostile ships.  This would make the HBPD less efficient than other point defense options at intercepting missiles- at least, most missiles- especially in comparison to mixed Burst PD / PD Laser point defense grids.  At the very least it would not make it substantially better at intercepting most missiles as it'll just overkill them, and would make it substantially better against fighters and probably also ships.

Probably something like output higher than a Pulse Laser while it has ammo, less high while it does not have ammo.  Probably also an increase in OP cost.  Maybe experiment with this in combination with the S-Mod E-mags changes?

It probably shouldn't, yknow, outright kill a Broadsword like a Phase Lance does.  It probably should be quite effective against fighters in more sustained engagements.  Prioritizing fightercraft over missiles would also make it ignore flares while firing on fighters, which normal anti-ship weapons already do.

2

Blog Posts / Re: Anubis-class Cruiser

« on: December 20, 2024, 12:06:21 PM »

...I am reminded of the fact that I use Scarabs in antifighter / point defense duty for if there's a large volume of fighters. Temporal Shell + IPDAI'd Tactical Lasers does pretty well against fighters & missiles even under AI control. Can also just not build in the hullmod to force fighter targeting priority with the Tacticals. It seemed... overkill in most situations? Time-dilated beam weapons can be very effective at killing fighters.

The Anubis itself seems generally very interesting! For piloting one myself, I'd be curious about comparatively flux-efficient energy weapons eg Autopulse or HILs. I... suspect APLs would be generally decent, though I'd also be unlikely to mount more than two. Funny full strike configuration with 3 APLs, 2 Typhoon Launchers and a Longbow wing though...

Very likely to just flux out instantaneously. It'd be funny to try, though.

3

Mods / Re: [0.97a] Second-in-Command | A full-scale skill system rework

« on: December 15, 2024, 08:13:12 AM »

I personaly prefer most aptitudes being generaly useful in a variety of situation, i think it makes the choice more fun, especialy because you arent limited to just what appears the definitly perfect fit right from the beginning. Theres a bunch of specialised aptitudes & theres rather generic ones, and imo combining them is just rather fun, and thats what ive seen from general feedback on the discord so far as well. The Solution provided here kind of just dumbs down the choices you get.

I find that restrictions often increase build variety rather than decreasing it, though it definitely depends.  I guess I'd worry about forcing people into the various doctrines?
...are there people who aren't using any of Tactical / Technical / Warfare right now?

For the people not really liking those answers, id recommend just not using the mod to be honest. Its pretty shaped to what i want from the mod and im not really going to change it all that much in core structure. I do want to overhaull Logistics a little but thats another story. Ive personaly used my mod a ton so far and im having a blast with it, and im also having a blast talking to people using it on the discord, so i dont quite see a reason for me to change the large aspects anymore.

That's entirely fair and reasonable.  It's probably just not my thing.

4

Mods / Re: [0.97a] Second-in-Command | A full-scale skill system rework

« on: December 14, 2024, 12:01:20 PM »

Right now, I feel the various categories for XOs aren't very interesting, and despite the low number of XO slots, you aren't really forced to make choices due to there being... three very generically strong and useful categories- Tactical, Technical and Warfare.  Tactical has range boosts and some powerful damage boosts, Technical has speed boosts and flux boosts, and Warfare has range boosts, maneuverability and armor boosts.  These are all quite powerful and generic enough to apply to everything.  What if instead of these, there were three 'doctrines' which are, yes, generically strong, but also mutually exclusive with each other in the way which Starfaring / Piracy is, and more rooted in Vanilla's flavor.  This would hopefully open up more interesting build choices and encourage players to take the other 'more niche' skill trees.

Doctrine concepts
Decisive Battle (Hegemony's preferred doctrine / Low Tech):
Range!!, ballistic weaponry, armor, keeping opponents engaged and getting that initial engagement.  Hegemony (and to some extent Low Tech ships) *loves* doing one big, decisive engagement.  Two fleets collide, one fleet emerges.  Warfare has a lot of this in it already, but isn't it exactly, i think.  Burn Drive exemplifies this doctrine, I feel.

Hit & Run (Tritachyon's preferred doctrine / High Tech)
Shields, speed, flux capacity & Active Venting.  Also phase ships, though Phase Ships should probably get their own XO.  Tritachyon (and to some extent High Tech ships) loves to be able to engage and disengage at will.  Technical has a lot of this in it already, but, again, isn't exactly it.  The Aurora is obviously the thing which exemplifies this doctrine.

Close Support (Persean League's preferred doctrine / Midline)
This one is a little trickier.  The Persean League likes to have ships which support other ships, either via missiles or via long ranged weaponry(Vigilance, Gryphon), and other ships to keep hostile ships occupied(Falcon, Eagle).  I'd advocate for Zero-Flux boost, missiles, and maybe some weapon output stuff(Sunder & Hammerhead).  Tactics is... vaguely this?  Probably also some defeat-in-detail stuff- the Conquest is, yes, good at Close Support and has a lot of missiles, but is also *the* flagship for defeat-in-detail tactics.  Conquest is probably also the poster for this doctrine.  Oh, if any of these should get that 'beam weapons deal hard flux damage', it should be Close Support, not Hit & Run.


...part of this is just making Speed and Range mutually exclusive instead of allowing players to take both.  But I do pretty strongly feel that Smallcraft, Strikecraft etcetera aren't really competitive options compared to Tactics, Technical and Warfare.  Starfaring is good, Piracy is interesting, I think those two are fine.

oh, it's also notable that the player can't get Industrial Planning with this mod.

5

Mods / Re: [0.97a] Second-in-Command | A full-scale skill system rework

« on: December 13, 2024, 11:17:09 AM »

2nd-in-command's bar event works differently from every vanilla bar event; it goes away when you say no.  This is very awkward as it's, uh, not the expected behavior.  It's especially unfortunate if you want to check something in your fleet or similar before making a decision on which XO to take.

I... guesss it's flagged as a story event maybe, which can be one-time things...?  It doesn't exactly feel like it is one, or should go away, though.

6

Mods / Re: [0.97a] Phillip Andrada Gas Station Manager v1.14.1 - The Mech Update

« on: October 03, 2024, 02:12:25 AM »

It is impressive that Dolos Macario can flick his eyes to indicate a corpse with those sunglasses on.

7

Suggestions / Re: Add 'no-fly zone' which ships project in front of themselves.

« on: September 24, 2024, 07:03:16 PM »

Smaller ships already do try to stay out of line of fire/out of the way of bigger ships. They just aren't always that good at it depending on the circumstances; like aggressiveness, position of enemies, status of target, and probably more.
From 95.1a notes:

Ships will now try to avoid getting in the firing line of ships that are at least as big as they are

This makes sense.  Having flown a Conquest, I'm no longer sure that 'no fly in front of ships' is a good idea.  It's good that ships try to avoid getting in firing line, at least.  It'd be nice if it were a bit stronger?  Unsure exactly.  Ships hugging stations is awkward, and a lot of where this comes up.

8

Mods / Re: [0.97a] Ashes of The Domain

« on: September 23, 2024, 12:18:12 AM »

small thing: Archipelago worlds from Unknown Skies I believe have Farmland rather than Water Covered Surface, but Ashes of the Domain: Vaults of Knowledge has them using Fisheries rather than Farming.

9

Mods / Re: [0.97a] The Knights of Ludd

« on: September 20, 2024, 08:01:53 PM »

...I truly dislike that the Nightdemon fight is just 'bring a Harbinger'.  Fighting it out without a harbinger just feels really bad, and if you do bring a harbinger it just falls over and instantaneously dies.

10

Suggestions / Re: Let us See PPT in the tactical screen

« on: September 20, 2024, 11:35:39 AM »

Being able to see PPT of ships would be nice!

11

Suggestions / Re: make an industry skill reduce refit costs in travel

« on: September 20, 2024, 11:34:09 AM »

This should probably be in addition to an existing skill effect rather than replacing an existing skill or whatever.  Field Repairs or, yeah, Makeshift Equipment would be fitting spots for it.  I think that those're both pretty good already... but I don't think this effect is strong enough to cause concern or whatever.

12

Suggestions / Add 'no-fly zone' which ships project in front of themselves.

« on: September 20, 2024, 11:31:46 AM »

So, ships make some attempt at moving around obstacles etcetera, right?  It'd be nice if they used this or something like it to avoid getting in eachother's way.

It'd be nice if ships either had something to tell other ships not to fly in front of them, or had something to tell other ships not to enter line of fire.  This could be like, an extension of a ship's 'detection box' more forwards but only for movement / ship positioning, so that all ships interpret eachother and themselves as being 'taller' than they actually are.  This one would have the happy side effect of causing ships to facehug things less as well, I think.  Or it could be a line a ship draws to it's 'targeted' ship which discourages allied ships from moving into that space, in order to prevent ships from obstructing eachother's line of fire.  Or it could be something else entirely- or even a combination of things!

13

Modding / Re: [0.97][WIP] United Aurora Federation 0.75c ( Hotfix 3 )

« on: September 17, 2024, 09:01:00 PM »

Auroran fightercraft seem to be preventing combat from ending upon declaring a full retreat.  This is very bad as it softlocks the game.

It is very likely the kinetic torpedo heavy strikecraft gunship thing which is causing this.  Perhaps all gunships?  I suspect you have put something on them which makes combat not end until they are dead.  This can be worked around via Console Command's endcombat command.

14

Mods / Re: [0.97a] Ashes of The Domain

« on: September 08, 2024, 03:03:20 PM »

Coronal Network Center stuff
You have to pay to have Storage there.  Given how normal colonies just let you store stuff, this seems weird / wrong.
You cannot cancel upgrades.  This is, uh, problematic, given that starting an upgrade can increase the upkeep dramatically.  So if you push the wrong button you have to load a save, essentially.

15

Modding / Re: [0.97][WIP] United Aurora Federation 0.75c ( Hotfix 3 )

« on: September 05, 2024, 08:09:02 PM »

Some Feedback^TM or something.

Gatchapull is really not my thing.  I'd much rather just have a regular marine raid or whatever personally.  I think this is with the Shady Informant, or something?  One of the missions which says 'you should bring at least 300 marines'

Various 'breve missiles claim to be nuclear warheads.  This is a little weird when we have an established missile system with a nuclear warhead in Starsector.  The Reaper Torpedo has an 'enriched AM-catalyzed nuclear warhead'.  Why am I picky about this in specific?  Not sure!  I think it's probably because the Reaper is quite iconic.

All the missiles reload.  This... is vaguely alright, I guess?  It's... very much not how the game normally plays.  Auroran missiles are strange in general, though.  Those kinetic torpedoes, though.  Those are... you're probably aware of the whole Sabot issue and the reasons behind Sabots being changed from single big damage shots to the shotguns they are now.  Very large kinetic damage values are fairly good into armour.  They're... maybe fine, since they're perhaps sufficiently unwieldy, unlike old Sabots which just hit you.  I've not experimented with the other missiles very much.  'breves appear to deal more damage than their description says?  And appear to be capable of killing things through shields due to multiple damage instances?  It'd be nice if auxiliary damage could be included in their description somewhere if these things are actually true.  Outside of these things, I have not used the missiles enough to give substantial feedback.

The energy weapons!  They all seem, uh, very bad?  I'm not sure why I would want to use them.  Maybe the Edge-type stuff is good, but I can't really say because it doesn't tell me what they actually do.  Auroran energy weapons seem to be universally both inefficient and low-output though.  I look at, say, Edge Type 2 MPC, the medium Edge weapon, and then I look at the Heavy Blaster.  The Heavy Blaster costs the same amount, has higher output, is more efficient and has higher per-shot damage, and is thus better at punching through armour.  A lot of the energy weapons are also claiming to be good versus armour and exposed hull while doing just energy damage.  This seems incorrect?  They should be effective versus both armour and shields.  Or, perhaps, bad versus armour due to low per-hit strength- though that large anti-shield energy weapon, Cyrexa II 452 SXC, has a hit strength of 370 vs armour which is pretty substantial actually.  The inefficiency of Auroran energy weapons makes me worry that their ships are perhaps too strong when used with vanilla energy weapons.

The ballistic weapons are... strange.  The perfect mirror ends up with some odd relationships in comparison to vanilla weapons- notably the... wait, it's not even a perfect mirror.  The Contata and Claris 50 Cannons probably shouldn't claim to be identical to the other except for damage type when they are very clearly not.  Also, their range is slightly short- the Light Assault Gun, Light Autocannon and Railgun are all 700SU range.  The Light Dual Autocannon is 600SU, which I guess the Claris is the most comparable to.  Contata feels fairly weak compared to the LAG though?  They are, again, the same OP cost, but the LAG has higher output and longer range.

HE weapon systems should probably also not claim to be more effective versus hull?  It's... sort of vaguely true given how minimum armour works, I guess...?

Fighters!  I like that the heavier fighters are actually fairly large.  One thing which annoys me significantly about vanilla fighter balance is fighters are often very durable, to the point where you want to shoot them with ship weapons rather than point defense weapons, but have tiny hitboxes which make them very hard to hit with ship weapons.  Vanilla's solution to this is the IR Autolance, I think?  Outside of this thing I noticed, I've not interacted with the fighters enough to give any substantial feedback.

overall, it'd be nice if the tooltips told you more about what they do / were more complete.

oh, the colony items also all seem really strong.  This is probably fine?