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211

General Discussion / Re: How do you guys fly the High tech ships ? like the wolf

« on: February 07, 2015, 05:20:24 PM »

This game is amazing,  but out of all the kinds of ships i find the high tech ships like the wolf, apogee and others like them very strange to fly. I die repeatedly trying to figure them out, and usually end up allying with the Hegemony, buying a falcon and cramming my fleet with whatever else is lying around.
I've heard of people soloing cruisers in a wolf... and i have problems fighting a lasher in a wolf. anyone got any good tips? i like the ships the Tri-Tachyons fly but i cant use em fer nothin   

Its good to see someone not using high tech ships actually, I think most people use them exclusively. I tend to. Funily enough, I actually don't care for cruiser sized and up high tech ships. The small ones are all great though. I also passionately despise the wolf, even though I will acknowledge its quite good. Theres plenty of good tips in this thread, but I guess if I had to say anything:
1> Play defensively. You're a soft, shield monster. One missile could ruin your day. Don't get surrounded.
2> Vents. Lots and lots of vents. If your vents and pool are maxed and you've got whatever else you want, shields. Don't be afraid to use frontal shields on anything that doesn't broadside.
3> Fighters are bad. Smaller high tech ships don't deal with fighters very well if there's more than one or two wings. Find the carrier and nuke it.
4> Don't overreach your ship. IE, don't use mining blasters and other huge high flux weapons on ships that can't handle it. Use whatever you can use efficiently. High DPS, high efficiency is the goal. Phase beams are great, if quite rare.
5> Defense before offense. This is more for starting off, but don't do anything you can't do safely until you're better with whatever ship you're in. No risks. Don't override your weapons and fill up your flux in a bad spot.

Again, these are personal tips. If someone already said something similar to these, I apologize. I'm sure someone way better than me could tell you something better, but this should at least keep you alive.

212

General Discussion / Re: Help with new update

« on: February 07, 2015, 04:58:23 PM »

You know, while I never thought to do that, I'm not exactly sure how effective that would really be.

It is extremely effective with high-to-max Combat and Technology (and if you have decent twitch skills).  You can take out almost anything with only one or two small ships and loot more than you consume.  0.65 is stingy with loot, but you can still profit from loot alone if you can solo fleets with a frigate.  Its only weaknesses is it does not smash the fleets the fastest, and not well suited for powerleveling.

I have soloed 0.62 to death with one Medusa against stock defense fleets and oversized Exerelin command fleets of various mod factions.  (I had to when the rest of my fleet was nothing but Atlas, Oxen, and Valkyrie ships.)  It is not that hard if you build your character right.  0.65 made it harder if you fight bounty fleets.  You need something to take out the enemy flagship, and Hyperion is the smallest option available.

If you can solo fleets with frigates only, you can use only frigates in your fleet (most of the time) and, if you have high Navigation, you can travel across the sector very quickly, which is important for participating in as many events as possible.

From my experience, you either can or can't handle a fight with one ship, and having lives wouldn't really mean much.

For those who chain flagships, the extra ships are mainly for the following:

• Extra lives when your flagship dies or is forced to retreat due to low CR (frigate) or running out of ammo (low-tech ship).
• Replacement flagships for follow-up battles, before your first flagship recovers CR.
• Extra capacity.  You will need ships to haul loot, one lone ship usually cannot carry enough.
• Boarding, enough said.

I also haven't tried Missile Spec 10, I don't really care for speccing missiles on account of the limited ammo, but I definitely see what you mean about saving time, I'll start working towards that.

Before 0.65, missiles were generally bad and often (but not always) a waste of OP.  In 0.65, most missiles were improved, and the strongest threat migrated from three unskilled Onslaughts to one overpowered random cruiser or capital with all Combat skills at 10.  A capital with Combat 10 is extremely durable (thanks to hard flux dissipation, hull regeneration, and damage reduction) and fast (Helmsmanship bonuses), and can alpha strike your ships to oblivion if it has Harpoons or other deadly missiles (Missile Specialization), and the fastest way to eliminate such an overpowered enemy flagship is to alpha strike it with missiles.

Gotta quote all of this, amazing tips. Ive put quite a few more hours into the game now, and Ive got 10 combat 10 tech on my current game. I don't have SS+ because of some issues he has with the venting AI currently, but ill switch to it when it gets fixed. Im not sure If I could do the same thing with frigates that I can with a Medusa, but Ill try that strategy when I switch to SS+. Speaking of boarding, whats the best way to cherry pick what you want to take?

213

General Discussion / Re: How many of you only use one ship?

« on: February 05, 2015, 04:33:57 PM »

"avoid this unit" command

This is an absolutely fantastic idea. A command like that could be used actively as well as passively, and would really make it easier. The AI's biggest problem is figuring out where to be, and at the very least, that would help it decide where NOT to be. Every fleet has something you really don't want most ships engaging, and that would really help deal with it.

214

Mods / Re: [0.65.1a] Starsector+ Vanilla Enhancement Mod 2.5

« on: February 04, 2015, 02:42:23 PM »

Turns out a recent change to the Vent AI actually broke it, causing it to ignore the threat rating of nearby ships/weapons, except for projectiles already in motion.

Obviously, this has caused problems.  It's been resolved for 2.6.

Hey, good stuff. Thanks for looking into it, I appreciate it. Eagerly awaiting the update.

215

Mods / Re: [0.65.1a] Starsector+ Vanilla Enhancement Mod 2.5

« on: February 02, 2015, 05:06:30 PM »

I don't see how I could possibly fix that.  Yes, the AI vents more often in SS+.  However, in vanilla, the AI would just let itself overload in the same situation, which is even worse.

Well, in my experience the vanilla AI only does that when its very close to death, and yours does too. Is there some way I could remove the AI from the mod, and use the vanilla one? Or could you make it toggle-able in the settings file?

216

Mods / Re: [0.65.1a] Starsector+ Vanilla Enhancement Mod 2.5

« on: February 01, 2015, 09:56:58 AM »

Here it is:

Spoiler

[close]

Holy crap, my old tempest build. You have good taste sir

I really really really wish this mod was modular in some way, or had a better settings file. I like it, but probably won't be using it because of some of the things I don't like.

Like what?

Without any more testing and right off the top of my head, the AI seems really really iffy currently. It feels like a lot of the fights are way too easy, simply because instead of managing its flux, the AI dumps everything it has on you then vents while you're still shooting it. Like I'm talking about cruisers going down to wolves with beam weapons because the cruiser vents right in front of the wolf, with full missile racks. Its kinda ruining the experience for me.

I like what this mod adds, as well as most of the balance changes, especially the character specs, but everything feels too fast and too easy. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the mod is bad, its objectively very good. I just don't like a lot of the changes, but others I like very much. If I could pick and choose with a settings file, that would make me very happy.

217

Mods / Re: [0.65.1a] Save Transfer Mod 1.3.2 (Salvage obsolete save files!)

« on: January 31, 2015, 09:29:04 PM »

Is this supposed to dump your entire storage across all containers into your fleet/inventory when you transfer? I don't think it actually had any negative side effects, but it was... interesting to see. Good thing I like to buy small transports for no reason.

EDIT: It also doesn't seem to save your bounty progression, which also doesn't really matter, but I figured I'd say it in case you didn't know.

218

Mods / Re: [0.65.1a] Starsector+ Vanilla Enhancement Mod 2.5

« on: January 31, 2015, 09:09:40 PM »

I really really really wish this mod was modular in some way, or had a better settings file. I like it, but probably won't be using it because of some of the things I don't like.

219

General Discussion / Re: Starsector Ship Tiers

« on: January 31, 2015, 01:36:04 PM »

You know, I'm surprised to see the Enforcer in tier 2, but come to think of it, it does have a lot of potential huh?

220

General Discussion / Re: Help with new update

« on: January 31, 2015, 01:32:08 PM »

When soloing a fleet with one or few ships, the player will "chain-flagships", that is, send in only the flagship, and when the flagship dies, retreats, or otherwise leaves the field, he sends in another ship and transfer to it.  There is only one ship on your side active at a time, always, and the AI never controls it beyond burning it into play.

I solo early bounty fleets with two to three Wolves.  Later, I upgrade to a Medusa, then a Hyperion or two.  Occasionally, I may use an Onslaught or Paragon if I have one in storage nearby.

Missile Specialization 10 is extremely powerful in 0.65.  It can kill even capital flagships very quickly, saving minutes of (peak performance) time.

You know, while I never thought to do that, I'm not exactly sure how effective that would really be. It seems like it would only truly make a game changing changing difference if you needed to run a line to take out a carrier. From my experience, you either can or can't handle a fight with one ship, and having lives wouldn't really mean much. Of course with that I'm referring to destroyers on account of the peak performance time, but even that won't matter in 2a, so when that drops I'll probably be using that strategy at the very least to buy more time. Thanks for the tip in any case.

I wish the AI was better at taking care of itself, or maybe had some kind of operating modes on a slider of offense and defense like some games have. It's perfectly good and flanking, and is pretty okay at taking advantage of opportunities, but seems to be completely incapable of keeping itself intact, which is what I care about the most. But, I know AI is extremely hard to code, so I can't really complain about that.

I also haven't tried Missile Spec 10, I don't really care for speccing missiles on account of the limited ammo, but I definitely see what you mean about saving time, I'll start working towards that.

I don't want to sound condescending or stuck up when I say I don't think cycling flag ships would make much of a difference. I don't consider myself an expert on this game at all, but I feel like if I've had my practice, I'm pretty solid combat wise, and about picking fights I can actually win. Using a Medusa, I can typically take out fleets with several destroyers (plus whatever else, like fighters and frigates) with ease, as long as they don't have a carrier. My point is is that sometimes you really need a second body (ship) just to apply more pressure or split up enemies. Theoretically, as long as you had the damage to do it, I bet one destroyer could handle almost anything in the game as long as it was fast enough to avoid being overwhelmed. Tri-Tacheon shield monsters seem to be the most applicable here, on both sides of the equation. It takes so much effort to break through their defenses, you can't generally get through to their hull if they have proper support, especially if they are a ship tier higher than you.

Anyway, as always thanks for the advice. I love hearing from the community.

221

General Discussion / Re: Economics glitch (and tariffs are OP)

« on: January 31, 2015, 12:04:43 PM »

http://fractalsoftworks.com/2014/03/02/on-trade-design/

Can't say I agree with that sentiment.

Sure, having safe, highly profitable trade routes is a huge flaw. (The classic Sol<=>Barnards Star, Luxury Goods/Robots)

However if safe trade routes are made to only reap a marginal gross profit (such that only the most efficient mega carriers can turn an operating profit), the player would instead be forced to attempt the riskier(but more exciting!) profitable routes.

For this to work however, you need two things that we don't have ATM.

1) risky routes. Everywhere is safe at the moment, and even if there were far far more pirates, they'd be easily outmanoeuvred due to the mechanics of travel.
2) a greater correlation between transport size, transport efficiency, and necessary capital investment. Big ships need to cost much much more, and small ships need to be far far less efficient.

I agree with pretty much all of this. Just because the grind (and thats what it is) is based on events, doesn't mean you're not just sitting and doing the same thing. With enough variables to change the game up, like pirates, enemy factions, price variance, etc etc, trading would be fine. As it is, its just bounty hunting for shortages instead of pirates.

222

General Discussion / Re: Help with new update

« on: January 31, 2015, 11:40:12 AM »

The more you kill the stronger they get supposedly

Ahh, I see. Alright. Still kinda wish that scaling went down a little bit over time, so if kept killing them you wouldn't really notice but if you left the business alone for a while it would even out some. Maybe it already does, I dont know. In that "how many of you only use one ship" thread a guy said he basically lived using only one destroyer and two frigates. I don't really think the AI is smart enough to keep a frigate alive vs the kind of numbers you deal with later on, so maybe the cap doesn't go up to extreme levels or something. I wish there was a tad bit more transparency with these things, but then again I haven't been reading the dev blogs, so I may just be an idiot.
EDIT:Fixed the quote

223

General Discussion / Re: Help with new update

« on: January 30, 2015, 09:39:26 PM »

So does anyone know how exactly these bounties scale? Is it with your level maybe, or with your current fleet? I thought at first they would be harder if they offered more money, but that doesn't seem to be the case. These are rapidly getting pretty hairy, I sometimes have to let other factions pick at them for a bit before finishing them off. I hope its not entirely linear, that wouldn't really allow for much experimentation until you've gotten leagues ahead of the curve. I've read all about how people seem to get millions of credits in a few hours, and I guess I'm not to that point yet, lol. But, I haven't played in a long time.

224

Suggestions / Re: Combat Sector

« on: January 27, 2015, 07:19:07 PM »

I was thinking of a similar idea: A combat arena where there is a complete Free for all going on

And really, that'd be perfectly fine. IMO, looting and capturing ships is really important to the feel of it all, idk if you wanted that in or not. Getting paid would be do much, but capturing ships is expensive, especially with the new systems, so I think that'd be fine. Loot is also fairly minimal, so I think that'd be okay too. Neither is worth much money.

225

Suggestions / Re: Regarding to Combat Pass of 0.65.2a (In Development)

« on: January 27, 2015, 05:24:13 PM »

Unlimited Ballistic Ammo & Regenerating Missile Ammo
Personally, I don't like these changes one bit. And here is why. But before that, you need to understand how I play, and you'll most likely see why I don't like the changes at all. I play as a bounty hunter, at most 2D+1F fleet, rather small so to speak. I am able to take on pretty much anything in one go, except fleets with capital ships, which requires me to fight a battle of attrition.

Attrition you ask? If the enemy capital ship has a lot of ballistic/missile weapons, and just a few energy weapons, the battles sometimes drag on a lot. First thing I do is get rid of any escorts, then let the capital ship run out of ammo. When the enemy capital ship is out of ammo, most of the time it is forced to retreat, where I keep pushing on and eventually they have just a little bit of CR left, while I still have loads. Malfunctions here and there on the enemy ships, while mine are working fine. And eventually the enemy succumbs to the pressure.

And enemy missile boats. Have you seen a lot of these, and them firing at the same time? Lower your shields for a second, and you are dead. Overload, and you are dead. Keep your distance, be patient, and enemy runs out of missiles, which is an opening you've been waiting for. Also, I've run out of ammo more than a few times, which forced me to retreat or call in reinforcements. Contrary to what people thing, you can run out of ammo.

I can talk about many other examples that changes gameplay just because some weapons have limited ammo. But these examples have one common point: small fleets trying to take on bigger ones. Small ships trying to take on bigger ones. So my suggestions are: don't remove the ammo limit; don't make missiles regenerate. Instead, if you really want to adapt these, add two hull modifications instead; one for each, which would manufacture ammunition in combat. But make ammo limit still count for something, even if these modifications are present on the ship.

Flux-to-energy damage
I also don't like this change. Whenever I am using energy weapons, I often try to stay on high flux zone in order to receive a substantial damage bonus. One wild volley hitting my shields would mean overload for me, but that is the price to pay. More than 50% of the times that I am exchanging fire, I am well over 50-60% flux in order to get a bonus to keep the pressure on the enemy.

The main reason
The main reason I don't like these changes is, it takes away what makes each type of weapon unique (flux bonus for energy weapons, limited ammo for ballistics & missiles). I really think it is a mistake. We can always get a mod that "reverts" these changes, but still, please consider what you are doing.

You know, I was sorta kinda on board with the changes, until I read this thread and starting thinking about it. And you're right, really. Running out of ammo does happen, and it does make you think. Maybe if there were more things differentiating energy and ballistic, maybe if dealing with walls of missiles didn't suck so much, maybe. But as it stands, I agree with you that if you want unlimited ammo, you should have to pay for it. To much is changed by the backlash of something like that to just hand it out.

EDIT: Also, in reference to The Soldier, energy weapons are not uniformly better than everything else. Technically, kinetic weapons are, and in a perfect world, explosive weapons would be the best. But because numbers never add up perfectly, energy weapons are the easiest to use, if only on the right ships.