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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 - smithney

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1
Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.96a (Released) Patch Notes
« on: November 10, 2023, 10:45:52 PM »
Having the luxury of engaging with Dune related media recently, I have no fear saying David's depiction of religion is on par with Frank Herbert's. Obviously on a much smaler scale. Except David's take is actually rather sympathetic, where Herbert gets pretty critical. What I mean is that so far, David has made a good job showing us the whole spectrum of religious characters. To an areligious theist like me who used to work in a Christian organisation, the experience has actually been rather realistic.

2
General Discussion / Re: Ramming Speed!
« on: November 04, 2023, 12:35:08 AM »
How big of a chance do you think we have at Alex adding a destroyer-size low-tech ram? Say a sligtly larger Vanguard with slightly less firepower and an Orion device?

3
Suggestions / Re: Amazing game - here are my immersion breaks.
« on: September 11, 2023, 09:49:59 AM »
So, what then? All I can think of is to make colonies into semi-mobile stations, have them sit on a spot 'til resources are mined out then move to a new one, maybe. Then this would require a whole swath of new art, UI, scripting, and narrative changes; not a trivial fix by any means. And it'd introduce the new problem of having to babysit and optimize mobile stations. It's basically adding another whole small game into Starsector, which is ... problematic.

As a game design exercise, I would challenge one to come up with a proposal that balances development cost with maintaining as much continuity with the current design as possible (which is almost, but not quite the same thing) with player optimization-behaviour traps.

I wonder, why don't you let resources in colonies diminish over time? If they did, players could be encouraged to A) move their high-risk mining outposts around and not feel like having to commit to developing such a colony; or B ) develop their colonies into industrial hubs as resources deplete. The latter could be paired with an option to let it be governed by a permanent administrator (one that wouldn't count towards the limit) upon reaching a certain checkpoint, meaning that A) again, players wouldn't be discouraged from an early colonization (especially since having a high-accessibility manufacture should be profitable); and B) it would be synergistic with further expansion, as resources from fresh colonies would feed into the industries of the developed ones.

As I'm brainstorming, I'm thinking that perhaps accessibilty could impact different resources on a different scale. The idea is that remote mining colonies shouldn't have trouble making money selling basic resources, while making money off manufactured resources should require some setup - in favor of resource-poor low hazard colonies close to the Core.

4
General Discussion / Re: On SO Eradicators
« on: September 09, 2023, 11:35:35 PM »
I just wanted to chime in that in terms of foe variety, Eradicators are a godsend. How they improve the PL encounters has already been mentioned by Thaago, but before that they made midgame Pirates actually threatening again as punch-down bullies. And the vanilla ones are the Church cruiser to look out for!

5
Blog Posts / Re: Wormholes and Sundry - Getting Around the Sector
« on: September 09, 2023, 11:23:40 PM »
The latest hyperspace travel improvements were an unexpected highlight for me, so I expect these additions to round it off to the ideal. Custom wormhole will definitely be welcome, I can see gateless systems get back on par with "gateful" ones again. As the outer sector becomes more navigable, I hope to see more threats and attractions in it as well. The slipstream stalkers are a great example.

Speaking of the unspeakable, it's easy to have high expectations of, but I don't get the vibe that the abysses will necessarily be a major content hub. Rather a neat and spooky borderline that we might be dared to peek into during a storyline. A large liminal empty space with x1/4 movement limit sounds water-level magnitudes of mundane. So I hope that when we're sent into the damn darkness, it's going to be memorable.

All in all, seeing the gameplay polish being applied makes me wonder if we're heading into the last half-patch before the release with this one.

6
Blog Posts / Re: Narrative in 0.96 aka Movie Night With David
« on: July 09, 2023, 05:16:06 AM »
On the topic of ludonarrative, I'd argue the team is doing a great job keeping it resonant. Alex just did a brilliant job making the combat fleets represent their factions. I honestly have a hard time remembering a situation where my actions would run counter to my intentions, perhaps only when my technophile character was forced to fight a [REDACTED] patrol despite only ever interacting in a non-hostile manner with them before.

Which reminds me that I hope [REDACTED] won't be left in dust with the future expansion of narrative. It would be a shame if there was no flipside to the overt "AI is a crapshot" trope.

7
Suggestions / Re: Neutrino Detector Revamp
« on: July 09, 2023, 02:43:18 AM »
As it is, the Neutrino Detector seems to be offering the detection of otherwise hard to find loot, but as others have said, it's hardly useful in practice once you figure out how loots's being distributed. Not much of a reliable scavenging tool.

I suppose Neutrino Detector should enable you to find loot otherwise invisible to regular sensors and Sensor Burst. Especially since it increases your sensor profile and provides false readings, it already feels like an ersatz tool to uncover rare stuff. Using it in [REDACTED] systems should be an "at your own risk" kind of activity that comes with an unusual reward for those who brave it.

8
Suggestions / Re: A new combat role for civilian ships
« on: June 25, 2023, 12:15:29 AM »
Fielding civ ships sounds like a playstyle niche akin to Derelict Ops to me. I do like the cargo-based combat bonus idea, but I don't think it should be encouraged as a general playstyle.

The idea that pure logistics ships could act like moving objectives has its merit. Something to make combat interesting for trader playstyles. At the same time, smuggler and pirate playstyles expecting combat to happen could invest into combat freighters, more reliable in combat if not as effective logistically.

There is still a design space opportunity to make logistics ships matter in lategame fights. Basic Prometheus has hints of this with its design, so perhaps actual dedicated high-end military logistics hulls could be introduced to ingrain these concepts into the game. As another example, I truly loved my exploration base Invictus build in my last run, and hulls like Apogee, Venture, Odyssey or the capital Mk.IIs do come with a hint of this flavor, too.

The more I think of it, perhaps some capital-sized ships should take up the logistical burden in military fleets. If logistics ships became "moving objectives", then it makes sense for combat anchors to double up on their role. For trade fleets, "moving objectives" would represent a unique combat challenge. Meanwhile, "cornerstone capitals" would rid military fleets of the mundane dead weight pure logistical ships represent, if at a premium. Exploration fleets are already taking the middle road with ships like Venture and Odyssey. I think there is quite some free design space if Alex ever picks up a similar approach.

9
Suggestions / Re: Luddites and Pirates feel really over powered
« on: June 24, 2023, 11:32:13 PM »
Imagine being a rich butthole that doesn't play by the rules, but declaring war on them would net someone a diplomatic and perhaps a military loss. What do old powers do? Fund terrorists so you make the guy's life as miserable as possible by proxy. In that way I don't find the Hostile Activity immersion breaking at all.

What I would note is that the whack-a-mole approach feels like a trap. If I'm as greedy of a player as to not understand a signal, I should get punished memorably and singularly instead of making my pastime a slog. Better to have a catharsis imho than getting a creeping need to quit the run.

10
General Discussion / Re: PSA: Distress Calls
« on: June 24, 2023, 12:41:53 AM »
[misclicked the edit button, disregard]

11
General Discussion / Re: PSA: Distress Calls
« on: June 24, 2023, 12:41:23 AM »
I wish there was some sort of a reward for answering a distress call, getting ambushed, then actually handing the Pirates' butts over to them, hehe ^^

12
I gotta echo Grievous69's post from earlier this thread, the vanilla ship lineup is pretty much decked out. I can see some free design space in potential variants of existing ships, but the archetypes pretty much check themselves out.

If anything, I would like to encounter more different fleet types. I hope Alex eventually does add more microfactions with unique fleet setups. Mid-high carriers, phase-less high, midline with phase, those are all archetypes I can imagine facing in the game. Heck, since there are unused assets for KoC, EU and MG in the game files, I have my hopes up these won't stay in the realm of modded content.

13
General Discussion / Re: Worth colonizing or better keep looking?
« on: June 12, 2023, 04:53:16 AM »
@OP
Even a single world may make it worth colonizing a system this patch, especially with Domain-era objectives present. There's a good chance it won't be affected by Hostile Activity if you eventually find more profitable systems elsewhere. The question is whether you can make the colony self-sufficient in the long run, which shouldn't be a problem with a 100% habitability world (as in you might not even want to colonize more worlds in the system).

EDIT: A volcanic world with rich ores/TPs and extreme heat is a prime spot for a military colony with mining thanks to the Cryo Engine. The only trouble is the 250% hazard, but you should be making enough money with your other colonies to offset the investment.

14
Blog Posts / Re: Narrative in 0.96 aka Movie Night With David
« on: June 09, 2023, 03:22:12 AM »
The idea of the ethos system is interesting, but I don't think it fits in the current narrative.  It might be better if the ethos determined a set of canned phrases the character gave to any situation and the player simply picks which one best applied to the current situation.  Critical thinking like that is good, and you can add ethos options that let the player move themselves into a different ethos if they don't like the current one they're in.
I don't think David meant an overt ethos system like in Mass Effect. I also believe this ethos system isn't supposed to affect gameplay much, mainly just the narrative. Am I wrong? If so, I'll be happy for elaboration ^^

15
General Discussion / Re: Expectations for 1.0
« on: June 07, 2023, 11:00:20 PM »
What do I expect from the release? Sure, an actually good intro experience and th overdue QoL changes Histidine mentioned are a no-brainer. Besides that, many more stories, perhaps a couple new microfactions, more developed endgame. Overall I think the game is basically fleshed out!

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