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General Discussion / Re: What are your hillarious but ultimately inneffective builds?
« on: November 03, 2024, 01:21:27 PM »
Revenant/Doom Improvised Stealth Carrier Fleet. Quiet but... not actually deadly. Was fun to implement, tho
Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); In-development patch notes for Starsector 0.98a (2/8/25)
That being said, the independents are basically defined by being so tiny nobody really cares enough to do anything about them. I'd say it'd make sense for them to make heavy use of civilian 'conversions' due to not really having proper warships around.
This means that, while players looking to fly a single flagship and do bounty missions above their weight class will still want high-tech, explorers or traders will have a reason to prefer low-tech ships. There's a tradeoff, instead of a situation where high-tech is outright better right up until money stops being a factor.
For example, you're locked at size 3, making a small income that's well outweighed by missions and trading until you permanently resolve the first event (probably pirates, either by fighting them off or paying off Kanta), at which point colonists will feel confident enough in you to show up at meaningful scale, letting you get to size 4. Once you make a name for yourself by permanently resolving a second event (permanently deterring the League or Church through force of arms, knocking out a Pather armada, or establishing yourself as a legitimate competitor to Sindia or Tri-Tach), enough people with a shared vision exist to let you get to size 5. A third crisis after that demonstrates that you're not going anywhere, and the silent majority of fence-sitters who want a better life as long as the risk is low will start sending applications, making size 6 a possibility.
Hey! I've attached an image showing how I'd approach implementing this via Rules.