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10606

General Discussion / Re: latest versions made game worse

« on: September 30, 2015, 12:46:05 PM »

In standard game, all named bounties are against Pirates, although end-game deserter fleets are only Pirates in name and allegiance.  General bounties can include non-pirate enemies of the faction issuing the bounty.  That said, losing 100+ reputation and more for mere chump change (by say, killing Tri-Tachyon ships for Hegemony in the Valhalla system) is idiotic.

10607

General Discussion / Re: latest versions made game worse

« on: September 30, 2015, 10:25:23 AM »

@ The Soldier: I usually refrain from food runs until about level 40.  Before then, I still build up Combat and Technology before getting Leadership.  Massive food runs for me are a late-game option.  Someone like the OP might not even get that far.

I understand some of the OP's grievances.  For me, addition of CR (until ammo became unlimited) was a major killjoy.  More comments from me may come later.

10608

Suggestions / Re: Inventory Management

« on: September 30, 2015, 08:26:42 AM »

I like to see the return of ship sort by class featured in pre-0.6 versions.  Some of my storage bases have a lot of ships, and it is annoying scrolling down pages to access my frigates and fighters.

10609

General Discussion / Re: What would you thing would be a good addition to the skills?

« on: September 26, 2015, 04:22:58 PM »

Some Charisma skill (political influence, diplomacy, whatever):  Reduces tariff % in markets.  Only problem, might make it an effective +XP% gained skill if trade remains the way to powerlevel.

10610

Mods / Re: [0.65.2a] The Knights Templar v0.9.4g

« on: September 22, 2015, 05:59:20 PM »

As long as the human brain has the capacity for religious experience, religions can exist. As long as we are creatures whose view of the world can be described by Plato's Cave Allegory, there will be a time and a place for philosophy and religion to explain the universe.

Actually this may be a good time to post the short story which we used as inspiration for the Templars.

If you don't want to read it, the theme is something like "religious experience can be induced, and how!"

The afterword appears to be inspired by Karl Marx.  "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

It makes the mistake assuming people made all religion.  God made people, but sinful people who reject God make their own religion of whatever.

10611

Blog Posts / Re: Hyperspace Terrain

« on: September 20, 2015, 04:50:08 PM »

Hopefully, "a complete overhaul of the 'food shortage' event" means that food gets treated like any other hot commodity in trade disruption, or least something less silly than a reputation trap for those who do not know how to game it.

10612

General Discussion / Re: What are the things that annoy/frustrate you about Starsector?

« on: September 18, 2015, 06:05:26 AM »

I'm actually relatively fine with IRPLs, after considering I use them everywhere; however, I only really use them because the only other hard flux energy weapon option for small slots that is not an AM blaster is the Ion Cannon...  I'd like some weapon variety here, or maybe even give beams a 25% hard flux damage.

This is why I post that small energy weapons are generally bad except as PD (anti-missile, anti-fighter, anti-low tech frigate).  I pick light ballistics over all of them, except maybe some beams for anti-fighter.

I would like beams to deal hard-flux, but the AI does not know how to deal with continuous damage sources (beams, shield ramming, etc.)  With the recent range extensions to most beams, beams dealing hard flux would make kiting for many ships too easy.

Since Ion Cannon did not get any damage boost to compensate no flux supercharge, it is worthless at killing things, good only for shorting out unprotected targets.

For AM Blaster, that should not be so expensive.  It is only good because of AI's... predictable flux management.  AM Blaster also has a lot of fade (presumably to make up for 400 range), which the AI is unaware of.  Also, ammo.  It should lose the ammo or some OP cost.

10613

General Discussion / Re: Starsector Ship Tiers

« on: September 17, 2015, 07:23:43 AM »

Same reason why I do not play Knights Templar or Neutrio Corp. despite being quality mods (and different in case of Templars), unless I really want to be drunk on power.  Once I get their weapons, they turn some of my ships into godships, and I reach a level of power not possible in unmodded Starsector.

10614

Suggestions / Re: Reduce Harpoon Pod Salvo Size

« on: September 16, 2015, 08:02:41 PM »

I almost never used missiles before 0.65.  Rare exceptions were Annihilators for low-tech ships, Cyclone Reaper on Aurora, MIRVs on Conquest, and free one-shots on everything else.

Now, I use any missile that regenerates, plus Reapers, Annihilators, and free one-shots.

Old Sabots were dangerous not because of damage they did to shields, but because damage they did to hull and thinly-armored frigates.  Before 0.65, Sabots were a more effective Harpoon than the Harpoon (mostly because PD cannot touch stage 2 Sabot).  It did not matter if AI lowered shields because they take a big fat 750 damage to hull.  Even 375 damage to armor is a big deal to weaker ships.

10615

General Discussion / Re: Starsector Ship Tiers

« on: September 16, 2015, 01:36:42 PM »

Tempest almost needs Extended Shields in big battles.  I use Extended Shields on Tempests unless they use a double blaster configuration (which is not AI friendly).

10616

Suggestions / Re: Reduce Harpoon Pod Salvo Size

« on: September 16, 2015, 01:32:19 PM »

For small mounts, I do not see why I need to pay 4 OP more for two additional Harpoons (or Sabots), when I can pay 0 or 1 OP for one or two missiles.  Anything not named Atropos is a better and/or more efficient alternative than a measly three shots on racks.  Harpoons are not that fearsome without Missile Specialization, especially against frigates where Harpoons can simply miss a totally still frigate due to sidewinding.  Currently, sabots are almost hopeless.

For medium mounts, alternatives provide more bang for the buck than Harpoons.

I do think the Harpoon/Sabot rack of three is so expensive and unreliable enough that I do think that no missiles is usually a better idea, if I had to choose between rack of three and no missiles.

10617

General Discussion / Re: Starsector Ship Tiers

« on: September 16, 2015, 11:04:36 AM »

Wolf is solid, but hurt by poor range and somewhat limited firepower (when compared to more elite frigates).  It does not excel at any one task.  Tier 3 seems about right.  Its ship system is very good and saves it from mediocrity; without it, Wolf would be tier 4.

Tempest is a very good ship.  It ties with the Hound as the fastest ship in the game, has good firepower for its class, and has an excellent ship system.  AI uses it very well.  Player needs good twitch skills to use Tempest to its potential.  It outperforms all other standard frigates except player controlled Hyperion.  Before 0.65, player could solo defense fleets with a Tempest.  Its only weakness is poor shot range, which its speed can mitigate.  Thanks to terminator drone and high speed, PD is not that important for Tempest.

Hyperion is a class of its own when used by player.  With the right skills and configuration, Hyperion can solo all but the largest bounty fleets on its own.  Without Hyperion, you need at least a cruiser to solo fleets with an Combat 10 enemy flagship capital.  In AI hands, it can capture points on the map much faster than any other ship, and it is competent enough to fight and not die if you configure it right (which may require skill unlocks).  AI plays the Hyperion a bit too conservatively.  You cannot rely on AI piloted Hyperion to dominate and destroy fleets.  You rely on AI Hyperion to capture points immediately and not die while in combat, which it usually does.

Hound... without a shield, it is almost hard-countered by long-range beams and missiles.  If the enemy does not have beams or if the player patched the weaknesses with the best weapons and hullmods, Hound is usable but still weak when compared to other frigates, despite being one of the fastest.

10618

General Discussion / Re: What are the things that annoy/frustrate you about Starsector?

« on: September 16, 2015, 07:39:31 AM »

I feel that if IRPL had +100 range, it would be superior to other small weapons of its style (LAG and Dual Autocannons) making it almost a no brainer choice.

Not if it costs one more OP than light dual AC and ballistics.  Even if IRPL had +100 range, I would still use LAG and maybe light dual AC over IRPL because OP is scarce enough on many smaller ships, even with +30% OP and Optimized Assembly.  Also, the windup can be annoying for some ships, and for those where windup is not a problem, I would spend one more OP over IRPL for the superior railgun (assuming universal mount).

10619

General Discussion / Re: Starsector Ship Tiers

« on: September 15, 2015, 03:21:24 PM »

Dominator does not need both heavy guns to hit frigates to kill them, especially if its medium mounts are assault weapons (and/or front three light mounts are needlers).  One heavy plus two mediums plus possible missiles are plenty for small ships.

Yes, it turns slowly unaided.  That is part of what makes it hard for Dominator to run away or to deal with flankers when it cannot.  Auxiliary Thrusters is very good for it.  It makes it easier for the player to turn to the side and burn drive away.  For the player (and enemy flagship with Combat 5+) with the perk that adds +75% to turning speed, Dominator turns not so slow.

10620

General Discussion / Re: What are the things that annoy/frustrate you about Starsector?

« on: September 15, 2015, 03:04:54 PM »

IR Pulse Laser is bad at PD (after adding IPDAI), so it leaves it for killing things.  For ships with universals, ballistics are always a better choice.  For those that are stuck with small energy, they are usually better served by beams (cheaper, and better at PD), AM blaster (exploit AI flux habits to overload shields), or ion cannon (EMP).  The only ship I can justify IRPL on is either Hyperion (for anti-fighter) and maybe Odyssey (if forced to use Guardian PD).  For me, combination of 500 range and 6 OP kills IRPL for most ships.  It would be nice if IR Pulse Laser was a viable option among ballistics for those with universals, just as some energy weapons are for medium mounts.

Light Needler has better range than railgun, at least for the AI.  Yes, the total range (listed plus fade) of railgun and light needler is the same (for the playership), but once the next version comes out, railgun will be hitting for soft flux past its 700 range.  The worst thing about light needler is it is among the rarest weapons in the game.  There are so many ships I would like to put them on, but I save them for the ships that really need it, namely Medusa with phase lance and Shade with tactical lasers.

Light Machine Gun is fine.  Not as good at anti-missile as Vulcan, but it is cheaper and can be used as anti-shield in a pinch.  LMG is also available in open market.  The dual version is not worth using if you have better.  Costs as much as light dual AC (used to cost as much as IR Pulse Laser until 0.65) for a puny DPR increase over LMG.

Atropos is just bad.  The missiles themselves sidewind too much, enough that it misses destroyers!  Even when made viable with high Missile Specialization, it is outclassed by Reapers.  The Atropos rack is no better than Reaper.  My idea of a quick fix is increase damage to about 3000 and lose the sidewinding.  The two-shot rack should also cost less OP; I mount one Reaper over that any day.

Thumper seems to have been made as a villain weapon to give something to pirates.  If there was a (D) weapon, Thumper would be it.  It is usable, but I prefer almost anything else.  At least it is cheap, but even then, I prefer Flak Cannon, Arbalest, or the best rare light ballistics over it.