Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

10531

General Discussion / Re: Civilian Liner

« on: October 26, 2015, 06:37:35 AM »

The flames have either low-tech or midline color.  High-tech ships have blue flames.  The blue on the hull is probably a Tri-Tachyon or default paint job, like on the Buffalo.

EDIT:  Shield has low-tech color, like the Venture.  It is a low-tech ship.

10532

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 26, 2015, 06:31:04 AM »

I doubt I will use frigate swarms in the next version, when Navigation 10 will (seem to) raise burn speed of big ships to match frigates.  The primary reason for me using frigates is burn speed, although fast CR recovery and low supply usage are good too.  Hyperion without Augmented Engines has burn 12, and other frigates with Augmented Engines have burn 13+.  The fastest destroyer, Medusa, tops at 10, and the rest at 9.  Burn speed is critical for participating in as many events as possible.

I probably see myself going for destroyer or cruiser swarms (plus two or three Hyperion - they do things no other ship can do) in the next version.  Capitals, if they keep their current supply and fuel consumption, will be mostly eschewed.  Battleships eat as much as three or four cruisers, but perform about as well as two cruisers.  Capitals are also clumsy.

Before 0.6, two Hyperion (to capture points immediately) and the rest either capitals or carrier-and-fighters, were the most effective fleets.

10533

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 25, 2015, 02:46:39 PM »

A handicap I did not choose willingly.  If I count more than 25 ships in a single fleet, and I cannot do that myself (without resorting to cheating via altering a hidden settings file), it is still cheating!  I do not care if there is a good reason - it... is... still... CHEATING!

Memory lane...

Spoiler

I remember AI cheating in Mortal Kombat (and Street Fighter II and other games).  Always throwing even while incapacitated since MK2, and when that was not enough (because anyone's low sweep or Sonya's standing low kick always caught the AI), AI skipped frames to outspeed the player starting with MK4.  Also AI ignoring charge requirements of moves in Street Fighter II, and have nonsense like Guile rapid-firing sonic booms, among other impossible-for-human silliness.  Other games feature cheating AI, and when it becomes blatant, I tend to stop playing those games.  Even when I beat the cheating AI, I still feel robbed for some reason.

P.S. As for Midway, they made some fun games back in the day from the early '80s to the late '90s.

[close]

10534

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 25, 2015, 07:39:29 AM »

Yes, 25 slots may not be enough for Astral, too.  Astral is only worth it when you have lots of fighters and use them.  Otherwise, other carriers are more efficient (or more powerful in case of Odyssey).

10535

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 25, 2015, 06:22:38 AM »

If there is a time limit, I prefer one long enough that your character should be dead by old age when it happens; somewhere between fifty to hundred years.

I'm still not sure I like the 25-ship limit idea; I feel like there are more organic ways to make fleets above X size unattractive that aren't so much of an obvious fiat, but I'm sure Alex had a good reason for that change and I rarely ever have played with a fleet bigger than that, outside of Vacuum, so it's somewhat moot

I have done this frequently in the endgame due to frigates being the best ship class to use due to a combination of high burn speed from Navigation 10, cheap to maintain due to supply efficiency, and fast CR recovery times.  When not hauling commodities, my fleet has nothing but frigates - more than forty of them!

Admittedly, 25 ship limit will stop them, and with Navigation bonuses reversed, bigger ships look more attractive.  I might end up going for a mostly destroyer and/or cruiser fleet, with a few frigates for special tasks (e.g., Hyperion for space superiority, shuttles or Hound for boarding).

On the other hand, at least Logistics is gone, and I do not need to invest in Leadership/Fleet Logistics to run a big fleet.  Given how much fun Combat and Technology are, I do not have the Logistics to use more than a few small ships until about level 50+, when I transition from chain-flagships to a fleet rush.  (This is one reason why I consider endgame to be when the game truly begins; levels 1-50 feel like tutorial mode/grind-fest for me.)

I will not like the 25 ship limit if the AI can use more ships.  This easily falls into 'AI is a cheater' trope.

10536

Suggestions / Re: Stricter defend/rally command

« on: October 24, 2015, 05:11:47 AM »

The one that really annoys me is when you have five ships with the same Defend order, four of them are sitting on the point and one is 1500 su in front trying to solo all the enemies.

Better than what often happens to me - all of my ships leave the point trying to kill that one ship.  Meanwhile another enemy captures and steals the undefended point.

10537

Suggestions / Re: Stricter defend/rally command

« on: October 23, 2015, 03:07:24 PM »

I, too, like to see ships follow orders better than getting distracted so easily.  Not just Defend, but commands like Rally or Retreat too.  It is annoying that the most reliable way to rally ships to a point is to give an Escort order to the ships you want to rally to escort a ship already at the point.  No use if you have no ship at said point.

Something along the lines of a defend order that is less "it would be nice if you tried to stay in this star system" and more "I'll personally set your nutsack on fire if you go more than 1000 units away from this point" would be very handy.

More like Darth Vader menacingly speaking "You have failed me for the last time!" as he force-chokes some incompetent officer.

10538

Suggestions / Re: More Love for the Crew

« on: October 23, 2015, 11:16:47 AM »

I like crew best as disposable commodities.  I miss spacing them.  Poster children of Disposable Heroes.

10539

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 23, 2015, 06:49:50 AM »

All I care about Starsector's campaign is to fight as many epic battles in the endgame as I want, until I force a win condition when I get bored powering-up.  I got the game for arcade-like action, not a story.

A decaying sector that cannot be stopped hurts sustainable epic combat.  Inevitable sector delay is a big clock, and the goal becomes outlasting everyone until the clock runs out.  The optimum strategy would be to stockpile lots of commodities, keep a very lean fleet to blast interlopers, and hunker-down until everyone is dead.

10540

General Discussion / Re: Share your fleet setup

« on: October 22, 2015, 12:25:17 PM »

Gameplay changes in the next version will probably encourage different fleet composition.  Twenty-five ship limit will certainly stop ridiculous frigate hordes.

Currently, commodities are the most profitable way to gain credits and XP, and nothing can profit faster than a fleet of Atlases that can haul 25,000+ cargo.  Sometimes, I need to smash an enemy fleet or two along the way, and that is where my core fleet of five frigates come in.

When I do not need to haul cargo at the moment, I cram as many frigates as I can because burn 12+ is so much faster than everything else.  As long as my Hyperion flagship can destroy the enemy Combat 10 monster immediately, forty frigates will overwhelm and demolish everything else (and usually not die because firepower is so overwhelming), and then they recover quickly (and efficiently) shortly after because frigates have the fastest CR recovery rates.

10541

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 22, 2015, 06:52:55 AM »

If supported, these would be my steps:

• Survive - Kill pirates until I earn enough assets to do stuff.
• Find/build home - Base of operations where I can stash stuff.
• Stabilize sector (enough) - I cannot build an empire if the entire sector is burning down and I have no market to get what I want.
• Expansion - Once I get what I need, I build more assets to prepare for a great war; maybe pick off isolated targets if necessary.
• Conquest! - Crush factions one by one, like in Nexerelin.  Win condition fulfilled after I destroy the last faction.

10542

General Discussion / Re: Share your fleet setup

« on: October 22, 2015, 06:38:57 AM »

My core endgame fleet is two Hyperion and three Tempests.  Additional ships vary on the current mission.  If commodity runs, up to twenty Atlases (or Prometheus if hauling fuel).  For everything else, up to forty additional frigates of various types (often Wolves, Lashers, and Cerberus, rarely replaced by Vigilance for Pilum spam).

10543

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 21, 2015, 04:18:55 PM »

I would not like the only endgame condition to be the equivalent of Kohr-Ah reaching Earth, everyone dies, game over!

I would like sector decay lore to be exactly that - background fluff that does not impact gameplay so much that I have a harsh time limit.  If I want to prolong the clock, it should be easy (maybe like eating food so your character in a roguelike does not starve), or at least no harder than killing bosses.  The ultimate clock should be my character's lifespan, if the game clock can go for decades.  (The game of my level 74 character is over ten in-game years old.)

If I want the sector to decay, I prefer to do it by killing all the factions and have my captain turned dark lord do it after winning the game by conquest, not let some clock do it for me by default.

Sector burnout is the ultimate lose condition.

10544

Suggestions / Re: Difficulty Ramp

« on: October 21, 2015, 02:55:29 PM »

I do not want the game to become harder because everyone, including player, is getting weaker - that is lame!  It should escalate a bit (but not a lot) like a silly shonen franchise.

10545

General Discussion / Re: Fitting the Wolf

« on: October 21, 2015, 10:55:16 AM »

Some fun old configurations of mine usable by no-skilled Wolf, reposted.  (No quotes to leave dead topics safely anonymous.)

Wolf ("Red")
Weapons:  Mining Blaster, PD Laser x3, Reaper x2
Hullmods:  Unstable Injector
Capacitors:  3
Vents:  10

The one thing all weapons have in common is they are colored red, short-ranged, and they are reasonably effective.  Mining laser would give it a mining theme, but they are too underpowered to use.  Due to short range, Wolf needs more speed from Unstable Injector to approach, fire, then retreat.  Wolf has enough power to fire the blaster twice before needing to vent.

Wolf ("Blue")
Weapons:  Heavy Blaster, Burst PD Laser x3, Harpoon MRM (Single) x2
Hullmods:  None
Capacitors:  2
Vents:  10

Just a basic, no-frills assault configuration usable without skills.  Single Harpoons for the sake of filling in the missile slot, and Harpoons have blue exhaust.  Blaster and beams are blue too.