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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 - Sendrien

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16
General Discussion / Re: Astral feels like a waste of dp.
« on: December 23, 2023, 08:39:17 PM »
The Astral is going to suffer even more in the next patch, due to the nerfing of Squalls and Missile Specialization.

Well how do we fix poor astral then? Less DP? MORE bays (and OP)? Unnerf the system in some way? Converted hangar tracks OP used to calculate the DP increased maybe something similar can be added to it? Dunno maybe give it B-Deck? It's a massive carrier after all.

After considering this exact question for a long time, I think the most sensible adjustment for the Astral is to keep the 50DP cost, maintain the ship system nerf, but give it two built-in hullmods:

1) Peerless Fighter Bays: Increases the number of fighters in each bay by 100%.
2) Electromagnetic Launchers: Fighters launched from the Astral gain a decaying speed boost of 100% over 3 seconds.

This also makes a lot of sense lore-wise because the Astral is visibly a huge carrier with a LOT of space for fighters. And it's a high tech ship, so it would make sense that it has the capabilities to launch more fighters simultaneously.

With the introduction of the Legion, the Astral lost a lot of its uniqueness and flavour. In fact, I'd argue that most pilots would favour the Legion in their fleets over the Astral. I believe these changes would make it a more competitive decision.

17
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 11, 2023, 11:01:54 AM »
What kind of officer? Field modulation, combat endurance, energy weapons, target analysis, ???

Systems expertise and missile spec seem unnecessary on this build. And it seems that dumping AM blasters burst damage is the core of the build?

Actually, when I pilot this ship, I use the triple Ion Pulsers as the main damage in this build. I use the Sabot Pod to bring stronger opponents to a flux level where they cannot meaningfully threaten me with their weapons. And the AM Blasters are there either to pierce heavily armoured targets OR to tactically cause an overload.

Note that the key is to bring down an opponent's shields as quickly as possible, because then the EMP will prevent that opponent from ever being able to return fire.

An advanced technique is to use your Plasma Jets to push and isolate a single ship.

As for officer, you have the main ones, and I like to use either Helmsmanship or Systems Expertise. Both can be situationally very valuable.

18
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 11, 2023, 03:51:30 AM »
How are you liking the Aurora?

It's amazing.  I lug around a few of them, and when the enemy fleet isn't full of capitals I skip the Paragons and use five Auroras instead.

Yeah, they really became the workhorse of my fleet after I understood how to unlock their potential!  ;D

19
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 10, 2023, 07:35:26 PM »
I found the [HIGHLY REDACTED] ship and have been using that, two Paragons, an Aurora, and whatever I can shove into any remaining deployment points.

I can literally just walk away now.  Even against Hypershunts and [REDACTED] stations.  I think I may have to mothball that ship...

Thanks for all the help, everyone.

How are you liking the Aurora?

20
General Discussion / Re: Silly question
« on: October 09, 2023, 06:35:55 AM »
Could it be because one side of its engines flamed out while the other did not?

21
Suggestions / Re: Added Hullmod Ship Pips
« on: October 08, 2023, 07:11:22 AM »
I also support this idea. Any way to increase the amount of information to the player with minimal extra clutter is good. Especially crucial info such as this.

22
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 08, 2023, 07:06:04 AM »
Any advice on load-outs for the Auroras?

I've got my Paragons nailed down pretty well (one EMP/Shield, one Armor), and when I have my Astral deployed it does well enough, but I don't think I'm fitting the Auroras correctly.

EDIT:
I looked up some old advice and am currently running my Auroras with: Safety Overrides, Hardened Shields (S), Hardened Subsystems (S), 2 IR Pulse Lasers, 2 Ion Cannons, 3 Heavy Blasters, and 5 PD Burst Lasers.

This is what I use. It is the loadout I have painstakingly optimized so that my Aurora could handle as many different opponents and fleet compositions as I could encounter until I started needing a Capital fleet.

4 AM Blasters, 3 Ion Pulsers, 3 Burst PD Lasers, 1 Sabot SRM Pod. S-Modded: Expanded Magazines, Shield Conversion - Front, Stabilized Shields. Mods: SO, Hardened Shields

23
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 07, 2023, 07:20:54 PM »
Actually, which carriers would you use? I personally do like the Astral because of the recall system, but I understand why some people don't. Just... No Legions. They're not that good.

I like the Astral myself too. Just that they're a bit hard to justify for 50DP because other capitals that cost the same DP can get a whole lot more done than the Astral. I think a fleet of Astrals is more interesting than just a single one, but then you're basically running into monofleet territory.

I'm surprised that Furies didn't get more love in recommendations; I personally use them as a flexible backbone with supporting frigates (excluding wolf) and an anchor of your choice. I typically field four or five of them and use two or three at a time to strike the edges and ships that are out of formation, although you have to be careful with those orders. I also tend to support these strikes by driving a wedge between the target in question and the enemy fleet with my flagship. This synergy favors mobility over all else I believe, but the shields can absorb quite a bit before backing off.

Fury is good, but when you start encountering stronger fleets and larger capital battles, they can easily get wasted by a poorly timed engage. The Aurora has both forward and backward mobility, especially with SO, and thus has far better survivability for 50% more DP. I also think the Aurora is the only high tech cruiser that can realistically take on a capital 1v1.

24
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 07, 2023, 04:31:13 PM »
Atlas isn't mentioned because support ships are support ships.

I'm an idiot, and meant the Astral...

Well, the Astral isn't at all what I would call a Best in Class addition to your fleet (unlike the Aurora), but I assumed you were looking only in the High Tech selection pool. If that's not the case, you should definitely look at the other carriers, as they offer a lot of value for their DP.

I also forgot to mention the Odyssey. If you are a competent pilot, you should build one and use it as your flagship, while giving the Paragons to your officers.

25
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 07, 2023, 02:31:24 PM »
Thanks everyone.

I'll make the changes I can right now and work toward some of the others, and let you know how it goes.

I did notice almost no one says to take more than one Paragon, and the Atlas is never mentioned at all.  Why is that?

More than one Paragon is absolutely the way to go if you are planning on high-tech only. But if you're not such a purist, you might consider the other capitals from the other factions. They can all be made to function extremely well.

26
General Discussion / Re: Requesting High-Tech Fleet Advice
« on: October 07, 2023, 09:39:35 AM »
I've been running 1 Paragon, 3 Fury, 4 Shrike, and a buttload of Omens/Wolfs/Tempests for awhile, and it's not working anymore.  I've reached the point where the enemy fleets are rocking 2-4 capitals and/or heavy cruisers and I'm getting destroyed.

What is a recommended high-tech fleet composition once capitals become a regular thing?

I really want to stick with high-tech unless it's absolutely not possible; I've spent like 50 hours grinding rep, finding blueprints, and grinding the cash to get my fleet going ... the idea of starting over with another fleet doctrine is really depressing.

Assuming you're keeping with the High Tech theme, at this stage in the game, you need to ditch the following ships:

Fury
Shrike
Wolf
Tempest

And replace with some of the following:

Aurora
Paragon
Ziggurat
Astral
TT Brawler
Harbinger
Radiant

My favourite is the Aurora, because it can solo both a fleet of many small frigates, but also take out some capitals. Built properly, it's a great all-purpose vessel to have in your high tech fleet. I run around with 3 Auroras.

27
General Discussion / Re: Considering buying this
« on: October 04, 2023, 12:05:22 PM »
Thank you for the responses everyone! I appreciate the information, comparisons and contrasts. From the facts and opinions I've read here I'll definitely be picking this up soon :) thanks again and take care all!

I bought this what feels like over a decade ago, and I've never regretted it. It feels like a new game every time Alex releases a new patch! I still can't get over how this game is made by such a tiny team.

I played Escape Velocity, and I can tell you, all the things you felt were "untapped potential" when you played EV? That's been fulfilled in spades in Starsector, and it's not even done!

28
General Discussion / Re: HEF interaction with weapons
« on: October 03, 2023, 07:30:30 AM »
Oh, what an interesting question! I hope Alex might chime in on this.

29
General Discussion / Re: List of mechanics questions from a new player
« on: September 26, 2023, 05:49:10 PM »
First off, I have seen many references to SO Aurora. In my first playthrough I found the Aurora to be a very capable ship compared to other cruisers, to the point I was using two of them. What is it exactly that makes the Aurora so good and worth 50% more DP than a normal cruiser? Why is SO really good on an Aurora but not a typical 20 DP cruiser?

Aurora is worth 50% more DP than a normal cruiser because if it were worth any less, SO Aurora would be completely gamebreaking, to the point that the optimal strategy might be to run a monofleet of them. SO is extremely good on Aurora for the simple reason that the weapon configurations that make the Aurora shine are short range and bursty. Without SO, the Aurora can't maximize its potential as a hit and run cruiser (yes, you read that right ;D ).

If you want to experiment with a very strong SO Aurora build, try this one: 4 AM Blasters, 3 Ion Pulsers, 3 Burst PD Lasers, 1 Sabot SRM Pod. S-Modded: Expanded Magazines, Shield Conversion - Front, Stabilized Shields. Mods: SO, Hardened Shields. If you pilot this with your main character, you can get a Shield Efficiency rating of 0.35! Which is more than enough to solo most capitals.


I see s-modded Expanded Magazines recommended on the Onslaught, but I think it only helps the built-in TPC on that ship. Is it worth spending an S-mod to help only one weapon?

I recently discovered that adding even 1 Thumper to an Onslaught to take advantage of S-EM is quite lethal!

I saw in Gryphon discussion that this ship is only good when you link the missiles to a single firing group. Are there other ships where there are unintuitive linking groups that make the ship perform better? There was a post on one of the Executor threads referring to linking a flak cannon to some of the weapons to make them fire better. What is going on mechanically when you do that?

What Vanshilar said.  ;D

Besides LP Brawler, what are other good SO ships?

SO TT Brawler and SO Scarab are AMAZING.

Why is the Hyperion so good? For 15 DP it seems to have really low weapon space.

I no longer find the Hyperion to be good. There are simply too many disadvantages now, for the gimmick that it offers.

It seems destroyers are pretty bad overall. Are there any destroyers that are standouts in a good way?

Harbinger. Its system allows you to deliver burst damage even when a Paragon has its shields fully raised and is in no danger of needing to vent. In my experience, there are no other destroyers in the game that a frigate or a cruiser cannot do their job better.

What weapons are high-value for early game fleets? On my new modded playthrough I find mostly low-tech ships and ballistic weapons. Are there generally useful combos of weapons I should be looking to use in the early game for low-tech fleets?

As I mentioned above, SO TT Brawler and SO Scarab are extremely strong. You only need 2 Ion Pulsers to make that TT Brawler be able to punch above its weight class, while the SO Scarab requires even less: 4 IR Pulse Lasers and an Ion Cannon.

I usually go for the yellow tree in the early game. I know missile and fighter ships do well with Derelict Operations. Are there any good ballistic ships that work well with DO? My fleet is all junkers and clunkers right now. I like the yellow tree early on because it helps with money, so if there is some way to optimize it for combat early on I would like to know.

It's funny that you ask specifically about ballistic ship synergy with DO, because in my mind, possibly the most interesting use of DO is to lower the deployment cost of really expensive High Tech ships, like the Paragon. See CapnHector's Paragon video.

Is there a good discussion of XP mechanics anywhere?

Not sure what kind of mechanics you're talking about here, but if you have specific questions about XP calculations, Alex is very transparent about answering these.

Can someone explain to me the use cases for the various large energy weapons? I know they are supposed to be the center piece of builds. I tried the dual HIL on Executor (I half figured out a useful Executor build on my own--this ship doesn't work without Ordnance Expertise) and I basically got that ship to perform OK. I understand that the HIL is an armor cutting weapon and needs to be supported with kinetic hard flux damage from other mounts. That's why the Executor uses it so well, because it is one of the few ships that has a balance of energy and ballistic mounts.

I don't understand the use cases for the remaining energy weapons:

Tachyon Lance - when and why to use this? on what ships?
Autopulse Laser - this looks like a close-range, expanded mags weapon?
Plasma Cannon - when to use this?

I gather that the Paladin and Gigacannon are bad weapons and should be avoided in most cases.

Tachyon Lance - Best in Slot on Ziggurat, great on Paragon. Think of this as a flux sniper. If you slap 4 of them on a Paragon, you can nuke most smaller vessels in 1 shot before they can even make it in range to shoot you. This is a huge advantage because you don't need to spend flux keeping your shields raised in that case.
Autopulse Laser - Think of this as the natural upgrade to Ion Pulsers, great on things like Odyssey and Paragon, or even a Champion
Plasma Cannon - You can have a lot of fun with this on a Ziggurat with Phase Anchor, because you can almost completely negate the cooldown, while losing flux in phase, so you can easily win a flux war, even against a Paragon with those Plasma Cannons
Gigacannon - Has a bad reputation, but is surprisingly good on the Executor (see CapnHector's video)


Are there other s-mods like Expanded Mags or SO that drastically change how a ship plays?

Converted Hangar, High Scatter Amplifier and Phase Anchor come to mind.

Overall what are the strongest cruisers and destroyers I should be keeping an eye out for in .96?

Cruisers - Aurora, Gryphon, Dominator, and Doom (if your name is SCC)
Destroyers - Harbinger

I want to like Venture and its variants but mine don't perform anywhere close to CapnHector's.

That's because not everyone can be CapnHector (myself included)  ;D

Which missile types are good in this update? What missiles should I be putting in which size of mounts, from all the choices? I gather the DEMs are pretty bad. I see Draba and Jang dominating with Reapers but mine always seem to miss. I see people talking about Squall, Locust, Pilum, in what situations are these missiles good? What weapons do they need to be paired with to be effective?

Squall is very strong and will be nerfed to kingdom come by Alex next patch, so you better enjoy it while it lasts! Dragonfire is considered by many to be very bad and unreliable, but in my experience, they can be very strong against High Tech ships with extremely good shield efficiency. Just make sure to pair it with consistent ballistic damage like Heavy Needlers. The idea is that the AI is extremely bad at knowing when to drop their shields, so they will tank your ballistic shots as the Dragonfire charges up, and then drop the shield just as the Dragonfire comes online. Even good against Paragons!

What missiles are worth putting in small mounts? Small mounts basically only carry 1 shot, right?

Breach SRM and Sabots are what I gravitate towards, because they both provide multi-shot high impact conditional utility. Something like a Swarmer has a lot of shots but has very negligible impact unless we're talking super early-game, or a Torpedo has only one, and if you miss the shot, you've wasted the OP investment in that slot.

30
General Discussion / Re: On SO Eradicators
« on: September 09, 2023, 03:28:56 PM »
The Ziggurat also seems to counter SO Eradicators quite well, and can be obtained quite quickly in each playthrough.

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