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

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Messages - SurplusDOS

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1
General Discussion / Transponders, pirates and independents
« on: June 09, 2023, 10:16:25 PM »
TLDR: The transponder policies (at least for pirates and independents) do not make sense lorewise as criminals and independent entities would also be very interested in who enters their planets/stations for a variety of reasons.

The current implementation of transponder policies for pirates and independents are relatively strange. Why would they not care about who enters their planets/stations? There are very real concerns such as foreign agents trying to conduct unfavorable operations on your soil, smugglers providing dissidents with heavy weapons or simply a large amount of drugs being released to the populace at large. I would argue that every faction in starsector would care about who you are given that having completely open 'borders' or so to speak, would leave them vulnerable to infiltration - which is a self solving problem, their successors will not make the same mistake.

This issue also ties in to another oddity - black markets. Take for instance, Kanta's Den. The infamous pirate warlord that other pirates respect and fear. For those of you who have done a certain questline, the implications of her power are clear to see - the other pirates do not risk confrontation. And yet, you as the player, can easily waltz into Kanta's home turf with your transponder off and offload as much as you wish without paying any tariffs to the sector's most feared mob boss. In addition to the loss in revenue, Kanta would undoubtedly see it as a challenge to her authority warranting a strong response. But nothing happens, and it is indeed profitable to trade on these black markets who apparently have pirates (without combat capable ships, I might add) that are willing to risk Kanta's wrath. I have no doubt that perhaps some independent worlds may look the other way when it comes to black market trade, but I do think it's a stretch that all of them do. Even tiny entities have a vested interesting in safeguarding their autonomy, lest they lose it to someone else. To give a real world example, look a Singapore - a country notorious for its strict drug laws. If we were to transfer a government with this stance over to an independent world in starsector, would it make sense that they would allow you to go in with your transponder off and offload your atlas filled with drugs? Independents are supposed to represent a variety of polities with different outlooks but as it stands, they are absolutely unified in their policies (please do come in with your transponder off) and will happily roll over and let you trade anything you want on the black market with no consequence. You might argue that there is certainly a reputation hit that comes with trading on the black market with your transponder on. However, independent fleets or their planets/stations don't bat an eye if you turn your transponder off right in front of them before docking to trade - such a 'punishment' mechanic has no deterrence effect.

I'm not sure how to fix this without it being overly complicated or cumbersome for the player. Perhaps doing away with the transponder off as something that is acceptable anywhere other than deep hyperspace might be a step in the right direction. Black markets could also have limited capacities (measured in credits or units bought) to represent the difficulty of avoiding tariffs from an entity that is no doubt trying to crack down on tariff avoidance. Either way, I think the current implementation feels 'gamey' and doesn't represent the lore / concerns of the polities in question.

2
Suggestions / Re: Hostile Factions Allowing Refits
« on: May 30, 2023, 08:49:49 PM »
Thank you for the reply! While I haven't managed to play the latest version yet (still on 0.95.1a-RC6), I am able to refit hullmods that required being docked (e.g. Auxiliary Fuel Tanks) with my transponder off. I tested this on a new save without any mods. Flying with my starter fleet right up to Garnir with my transponder off still allows me to make any refit I please. Unless something has changed in 0.96 with regards to this (the patch notes don't seem to detail anything relating to refits so I am uncertain), this may still be the case in 0.96 as well. Nothing too major but thought you might like to know. Once again, thanks for all the work you do and I'm looking forward to playing 0.96 once I'm done with this campaign. Cheers!

3
Modding / Re: [0.96a] Barbershop 0.2.1 - Portrait switcher
« on: May 30, 2023, 08:14:14 PM »
This will save me a lot of time manually fiddling around in the save files. Thank you!

4
Modding / Re: [0.96a] Hyper diving
« on: May 30, 2023, 08:12:28 PM »
Many thanks for this excellent mod! Just to clarify, can colony items and blueprints can spawn in these generated sectors? If so, are they spawned at the usual suspects (planetary ruins / stations), or upon defeating the fleets present there?

5
Suggestions / Hostile Factions Allowing Refits
« on: May 30, 2023, 08:06:34 PM »
It appears that hostile factions allow you to refit your ships at their stations but you are unable to use their repair facilities. It seems weird that one is allowed but not the other, the facilities required for both would probably be similar - although it should be noted that you while you can repair in space given time, you cannot refit certain hull mods like militarized subsystems as you can currently with hostile stations. As such, I would argue that being able to refit is the more important of the two functions but this option is currently permissible while docked while full repairs are not. Given this, I was wondering if being able to refit at hostile stations is intended behavior.

6
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.96a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: May 05, 2023, 09:28:38 AM »
Your timing is impeccable Alex! Thank you!

7
Mods / Re: [0.95.1a] ScalarTech Solutions 0.8.5
« on: October 23, 2022, 05:27:15 AM »
Yes, ScalarTech supplements its lineup with "standard" High Tech ships.
Thank you! ScalarTech ships have very striking visual designs so when I saw some vanilla ships in there I was wondering if I had some mod conflict somewhere. Good to know that isn't the case!

8
Mods / Re: [0.95.1a] ScalarTech Solutions 0.8.5
« on: October 23, 2022, 03:43:23 AM »
Are ScalarTech trade convoys supposed to have vanilla ships like wolves in them?

9
Mods / Re: [0.95.1a] Volkov Industrial Conglomerate 1.4.3
« on: October 05, 2022, 07:03:39 AM »
How does the portrait selection (from the VIC Revitalization Centres) work? It doesn't seem to be able to pull the portraits from some mods and even from those it does pull from, the entire list is unavailable.

10
Mods / Re: [0.95a] Capture Officers and Crew
« on: July 16, 2022, 08:41:36 AM »
Working on my own reimplementation of the officer capture mechanic - would like to credit Kensington for doing it first. Best wishes on his future work.
Looking forward to it!

11
I like the mod.  My biggest problem has been it broadens the gameplay so much I start doing less-than-optimal things because it looks fun.

My second biggest problem has been intense slowdown after extended play of the game.  It seems to happen mostly after playing around a lot of moving fleets.  There is a modest slowdown in generalm play, but saving can take four times as long as usual, and entering a new system can extend up to a minute of just frozen game.

It seems to happen particularly after playing with lots of moving fleets.  I'd almost think it has more to do with determining faction rank than any graphical issue, as it often happens after pursuing a fleet over several engagements.
How many factions do you have installed? I run with about 6 (excluding vanilla) and while there are slowdowns, it's not to the extent you've described.

12
Mods / Re: [0.95a] Adjusted Sector
« on: June 12, 2022, 08:40:20 PM »
If I only intend to increase the "sectorConstellationRuins" and set everything else to vanilla values, would I encounter any problems? I ask because "AdjustedSectorConstellationSize" has a warning about adjusting its value but the value is already different from the vanilla value and I'm not sure which I should keep.

13
Mods / Re: [0.95.1a] Legacy of Arkgneisis 1.9.11 [12/20/21]
« on: May 24, 2022, 09:58:53 AM »
So, the Hegemony commissioned me to invade Anargaia. Was like, what the heck, lets give this a try.

Brought my MVS fleet in, ) and needed to engage defenders before invading, there was 4 fleets plus Anargaia.

Used 3 ships (Cainhurst class BS, Dragonhunter class BC, and Excalliber class carrier in a very tough fight, managed to pop Anargaia as it engaged first, though the Dragonhunter was down to 5% hull. Then had to fight off a veritable HORDE of ARS ships that entered afterward.

Still, managed to fight them off, popping em till they dwindled and finally retreated. 13+Mil xp later (whut!?), i scoop the loot and get ready to invade. I get attacked by yet another ARS fleet... finish them off too. Scoop loot again.

I'm hurting, but alive... ready to invade now...

(warp bubble collapsing) wait what?

I re-spawn back in a nearby system in a shuttle. No fleet, no cargo, no fuel, no officers (i assume they died, didn't check). Well snap

So is there no way to capture Anargaia, because you have to engage it to invade it, but destroy it in the process? GAH!
That's insane, the AI just destroyed the Anargaia in my game but I had no idea destroying it would be a death sentence. I wonder if you can jump out before the bubble collapses.

14
General Discussion / Re: Best Skill Tree 0.95
« on: May 15, 2021, 07:14:09 AM »
L1L only gives me +3% or +4% more damage late in the game - a joke;

How did you get the 3%/4% figure? I always went for L1L because I thought it would be a decent improvement to the overall fleet.

15
General Discussion / Re: Bounty Balance
« on: May 15, 2021, 05:16:11 AM »
[snip]

The bounty payout SHOULD start on the assumption you WILL lose ships. When two equal fleets face off and you suffer 25% casualties, but rout the enemy, that is considered a MAJOR victory. Large scale ship combat without loses on your side, is realistically, rare as hell. Almost a miracle in Real Life.

Yes, this please. I really enjoy starsector but some of the bounties are pretty ridiculous. I can complete them but I either have to save scum or take casualties that are expensive to replace. It can be punishing to cycle through multiple contacts to try and find a mission that doesn't require me to fight multiple capitals at the same time (without any capitals myself). I have fought the smaller multi capital fleets before and won but not without taking losses. I'd like if the default option for MEDIUM level contacts to have me fight similar fleets, perhaps only offering fleets with capitals as a challenge and not the default option. I would love to try and go down industry and leadership but the constant necessity for me to personally intervene to win the capital heavy fights I am given leaves me with no choice but to choose combat every time.


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