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31

General Discussion / Re: Starsector on raspberry pi?

« on: May 26, 2020, 01:42:29 AM »

This is somewhat baffling to me as I've got 16gb of Ram and ss is one of the only games I worry about performance on. 

Granted i'm not great at this sort of thing but it seems that, especially modded, SS LOVES to eat ram, so running it on a pi strikes me as a pretty large ask.  Sure it's graphically simple in comparison to a AAA game, but there's a lot going on at any given moment.

It eats a lot of RAM (namely 1.5GB as default) as it preloads assets and libraries, which is how the game runs seamlessly, leaving the CPU and GPU to work its magic.

Imagine using an APU, where the integrated graphics is given upgrades using similarities with the GPU cores. That being said, AMD's drivers has disadvantages with how it handles its open libraries, and has been a common frame rate drop comment in this forum.

As for the Raspberry Pi, 4th gen is a step up, but again, the RAM is the issue unless someone developed a flash-based RAM attachment (inefficient, but a potential computer science prospect).

32

General Discussion / Re: Am I ready to establish my first colony?

« on: May 25, 2020, 08:03:48 AM »

Consider that any mod which adds items to the "rare_tech" drop tables is adding extra chances to the pool but is not adjusting the core items, and so is effectively diluting the chances of picking any given thing. This makes any given item rarer than it would be in vanilla.

I've played dozens of games to 100% exploration (this is basically default gameplay for me), both with mods and without. These numbers are consistent with the modded games I have played.

As someone who tried mods the first time, I am well aware how rare pristine nanoforges get, and getting rarer when blueprints are at stake. On the other hand, I did take advantage of a certain faction and make one of the colonies the primary ship manufacturing site, using both Orbital Works and Modular Fabricators to improve ship quality while making do with the corrupt nanoforge in the Orbital Works (Modular Fabricators halve nanoforge effectiveness when installed in exchange for higher quality bonuses). Once I have the Pristine Nanoforges, I can just drop the quality doctrine and focus on either massive fleet sizes or highly skilled officers that don't pop like Hegemony chumps.

I explore with a Luddic Path (or SO'd) Cerberus and a fast but efficient tanker. Outfly everything like Han Solo.

33

General Discussion / Re: Pirates, Pirates, Pirates

« on: May 25, 2020, 07:54:42 AM »

Yep, like I said. But OP must have done something wrong to have a strong pirate force attacking one of his bases. Likely he left a pirate base alive for a long time until it upgraded. Player-facing raids are usually very weak.

Only happens when a pirate base becomes a Star Fortress, fielding strong raider fleets with good quality.

And I tend to let that happen since I just happen to make good with pirates and just watch the raids leave a mess I can salvage.

34

Suggestions / Re: Niggles/Annoyances from a playthrough

« on: May 25, 2020, 01:09:49 AM »

Ah. If you decide to use any AI Cores (Gamma, Beta, Alpha) in your colonies, it will trigger AI inspections from the hegemony. If the Hegemony AI Inspection fleet gets defeated by either Your personal fleet, or any fleet belonging to your faction, then the Hegemony will declare war on you and your faction, and relations will go to -50 instantly (if not lower already). Essentially, the Hegemony will become your enemy in each and every game-play, unless you decide NOT to make any colonies yourself. Having low relations with Hegemony is completely normal, I end up with -100 on every play-through, unmodded and modded 

Though the alternate route unmodded is quietly raiding their military colonies into decivilization while no one catches you in the act or trying to sneak in, all while doing missions to keep up the facade. And that is to be done before you can even consider putting any AI core. You know, the Tri-Tachyon way of dealing with annoyances. 

That does mean bringing an entire fleet of troop transports with insulated engines with Sensors 2 fleet skill.

AI-less colonies are doable, as I have done that in multiple runs, just requires being prudent on choosing a system that is both economical and defensible.

One colony with one High Command and Star Fortress will repel many of the common attacks, but a fully fledged pirate raid can overwhelm that. If you want a base that is impenetrable for unmodded vanilla, get a system with 5 planets, colonize them all, build High Command and Star Fortress on all of them, put Alpha Core as Administrator for all, and put Alpha Core into all High Commands and Star Fortresses. It is usually best to keep all your colonies in one system if possible, there's not really a lot of advantage in colonizing between distant locations, because of the aforementioned pirate threats.

I would also recommend alpha cores on defensive structures on the rare occasion the star fortress is out for repairs, and have all of the defensive structures possible. That will stack defenses to the point that pirates can't send marines to operate any ground raids, with a waystation to maintain most of the defenses when pirates blockade the colony by taking down the convoys.

That does mean being friends with no one except the Independent and Luddic Church (the ones who aren't jealous of your goods or hates you for flaunting AI laws like toilet paper).

35

Suggestions / Re: Fix AI suicide by Fortress Shield

« on: May 25, 2020, 12:57:00 AM »

For example, 2 fully flux optimized soft flux (3 Grav, 7 Tacs) Auroras vs single flux/shield optimized Paragon (any weapons).
Auroras can't really get through shield, but AI will activate fortress shield anyway, eventually dying.

The fact that it's unnecessary suicide can be easily proven by disabling autopilot/weapons on Paragon and just going afk with shields up.

Can Paragon AI check whether soft flux buildup is actually dangerous before activating Fortress shield? Imo it's worth activating only if:
- incoming soft buildup > dissipation AND there is enough soft flux built up that it hampers weapon fire. Should be aware of more than just immediate rates (not count a TL/PL at it's burst rate unless overload is imminent). If only combined incoming soft buildup + own weapons/shield soft buildup > dissipation, it needs to intermittently hold fire instead.
- incoming hard buildup (including projectiles in flight) > fortress shield buildup for period sufficient to block the projectiles. This rule should also take into account how ready to fire is Paragon itself (not worth sitting on fully recharged weapons with low soft flux for minor hard flux gain).

AI judgement to use Fortress Shield in a High Tech Station is one thing, but a Paragon misjudging Fortress Shield against beam ships is something that will require tweaks.

One factor into the decision is the presence of Kinetics. Since the Graviton Beam is a kinetic beam weapon, the shield AI mistakes the beam as a projectile, being a kinetic and all.

But as I don't look deep into the code itself, that is as far as I can surmise. Others would have a better input as to what is up.

36

Mods / Re: [0.9.1a] Blackrock Drive Yards v0.9.5a (10.06.2019) - Hotfix released

« on: May 24, 2020, 10:08:21 PM »

Spoiler

Hi, this is my favourite faction mod by a very long way. Everything about Blackrock is fantastic, and I commend you for your work on it.

I have, however, found something you should be aware of. Someone else noticed the same thing, on the previous page, and it appears to have gone unnoticed, so let me reiterate it here.

The Vespa is completely overpowered. It offers the most powerful unguided payload available outside of the Cobra Bomber, and it does so at several times the speed of its Reaper-class rival. The result is a torpedo dealing 2500 damage (plus 1500 EMP damage) travelling at speeds high enough to catch destroyers.

This alone is very strong, though not enough to be overpowered. In fact, the Vespa bombers are balanced in most cases through the following drawback:

Their flight path takes them directly into danger, so you are more likely to lose them than you are most other bombers. Even if they don’t die, their flight path leads them far away from your carrier, making them take a lot longer than most bombers to return to the ship. As a result of Vespas dying and taking a long time to return, your fighter reinforcement takes a beating. If you field Vespas, you spend a long time waiting for them to be ready again.

Unless you use the Vespas on the Astral.

Now you have 12 Vespas travelling faster than any other bomber, launching torpedoes faster than any other torpedo, each torpedo doing more damage than any other weapon save the Reaper, each torpedo almost impossible to evade and which PD systems can’t kill in time, fielded on a ship that can teleport the bombers straight back after they have finished their bombing run, completely negating the only weakness that renders them balanced.

12 Vespas. Dealing 30,000 damage.

Two six-wing Vespa runs can kill an Onslaught from full shield and full health, and an officer-controlled Astral can land that 30,000 damage nuke over and over and over again.

This wasn’t playtested. It can’t have been.

To make the most of this broken combo, pair your Astral with a couple of lesser carriers using fighters and interceptors. These keep your Astral safe from enemy fighter wings, and they help by overloading the weapon and PD systems of your target enemy.

Well, at least you no longer have to Drover spam?

Anyway. Still, best mod ever. Sick work all around.

[close]

Astral's egregiously overpowered, any mod bomber can do the equivalent (seriously, just throw some other good bomber on to compare). The fury torpedo's ENERGY damage type confuses your impressions of it - it's effective enough against shields to force overloads and has enough per-hit damage to chew through the armor damage reduction calculation and expose bare hull - as is intended for it's all around nature.

Using mod weaponry outside of its faction is a silly comparison, it's simple to pair things together such that you remove weaknesses or enhance factional strengths to the point of something being broken.

Fighters are simply broken and shouldn't be used in balance discussions till the next version's changes are seen and mods update as needed.

Even more hilarious is the intimation that an entirely unscreened capital ship *should* be able to survive 12 wings of combined bombing damage output of *any* bomber that isn't a joke (piranha).

And just so we're clear about how broken fighters are - that astral's DP cost is *still* less effective than it's equivalent DP of drovers & sparks. Fighter Recall is bad, reserve deployment is broken.

Either way, I cannot help but watch the resulting carnage my faction fleet fields when I make the Vespa one of the bombers my faction uses after getting my hands on their blueprints. My flagship didn't get in on the early action in time, and they were just using cruiser carriers.

37

Mods / Re: [0.9.1a] Coherent Watermelon's Ship Pack (CWSP) - 1.0

« on: May 24, 2020, 09:57:44 PM »

Is it bad that I'm looking at those watermelon skins and thinking, "Those are so cool."

I feel inclined to bring a big boomstick to crack open those melons, but they have a bite to them.

38

Mods / Re: [0.9.1a] Sylphon RnD 0.9.8 - Tournament and More Edition

« on: May 24, 2020, 09:55:19 PM »

Update 0.9.8

This one includes the update for Nexerelin diplomacy traits and also adds support for Commissioned Crews.

But wait! There's more! Also includes a new weapon, some updated weapon sprites and a new system for the Seresvalla since the AI just wouldn't work with the old one.

Finis Astra update? not yet. It's hard to find a good way of making that meme of a ship actually good.

Download can as always be found in the opening post. I've also made a tipjar patreon which seems more convenient for donations than paypal and will mirror my downloads there now for those days when bitbucket is being rubbish with downloads.


Full changelog:

Spoiler

0.9.8
Additions:
- Commissioned Crew Support
- Innocentis Swarmpulse

Changes:
- Updated Nex integration
- Demiurge built-in on 'Balance Unto All' HVB reworked
- Zealot Rail-repeater
   - Improved sprite
   - Changed firing pattern
- Dignity Pulse Repeater
   - Improved sprite
   - Lowered time to reach full secondary RoF
- Mariana variant blueprints now come in a single package
- Seresvalla
   - System changed to "Conduit Overdrive"

[close]

Oh my, Nexelerin diplomacy profiles, as a fellow AI degenerate, I would love to update, but I am so far up in my current run that it might be risky to update without breaking something. Sylphon in my save already lost a few of its core worlds, but not to the Luddic Church (thankfully).

Did not really use the capitals when I didn't have their blueprints quite yet when the Hegemony has been kicking butts of other factions and taking planets, and I just happen to have the time and resources to deliver some FREEDOM. So I can't make feedback on the faction when I have not really handled them all yet.

Either way, Imperium, Sylphon, and Galaxy Tigers might get along with their generous AI use. Might.

39

General Discussion / Re: Am I ready to establish my first colony?

« on: May 24, 2020, 09:39:03 PM »

*spit take* I see another man of culture with Industrial.Evolution and those VPCs. Combine that with SkilledUp, and you can call yourself The Senate with variable assemblers with marine/heavy arms chips as your Stormtroopers.

I'd say a compact star system with all of the resources in one spot, and another system with a cryosleeper as a "AI" super growth system, and not even the Hegemony would stand up to you (if going Darth Sidious path and raise a strong military in secret right under their noses before using AIs).

40

Mods / Re: [0.9.1a] Industrial.Evolution 1.6.a - Industries with non-standard effects

« on: May 24, 2020, 02:39:24 AM »

the mods pretty cool but I seem to have one tiny issue...

I cant to seem to find my edicts menu even tho I've been trying for a long time to figure out where it might be
it says in the planetary menu yet I'm still lost

idk if I'm just dumb or its bugging for me

I have used the Senate and its edicts. There are a few things to point out:

- Senate installed in a star system
- Edicts option reveals itself in the planet menu (when you "dock" into the colony).
- Edict applies to the colony you land; go to other colonies in the same system to apply other edicts
- 1 edict active per planet

41

General Discussion / Re: Low Tech ship non viablility

« on: May 22, 2020, 12:09:46 PM »

I'd still see phase ships as a significant threat if my fleet is not geared for such contingencies. Beam weapons keep them away, but well-timed burst beam weapons can deal with them nicely, especially Doom and Afflictors.

Harbingers are a different matter. While Doom drops mines that make pressure more taxing, especially with 1v1 fights, Harbingers can interrupt shields and cloaks with overload bursts, which is dangerous for shield tank ships and phase ships alike.

When there are multiple Doom cruisers out and about, solid PD is vital. Point Defense AI hullmod is especially useful for small weapons to pull double-duty.

Gremlins are, well, Gremlins. Their torpedoes and missiles are enough to give larger ships grief and just retreat.

42

Mods / Re: [0.9.1a] Concordance of Protection Syndicate (COPS) v.2.0b

« on: May 16, 2020, 04:43:25 AM »

It's rare for me to actually post on a mod forum, so I'm keeping it brief.

After a good amount of time, I have been experiencing multiple null pointer exception crashes in my testing run. While I have several mods on, I went to COPS specifically because i have reasonable suspicion that yours is the cause.

It is about the Rhodan drone carrier that seem to cause trouble when I use it as part of the faction fleet. Whenever the game tries to generate the ship either in the Command tab's Doctrine & Blueprints or as part of a deployed faction fleet, that exception occurs.

I theorize that the Rhodan's custom drone is the problem, as I have taken note of the drone's a hull sub-section, and is capable of picking up a lot of hull mods it is not supposed to accept (especially from other faction hullmods I collected) thanks to having enough OP to do so.

I narrowed it down with the Doctrine & Blueprints, apparent that the Rhodan is the cause when prioritized as a ship to spawn for the fleet.

I have a few save files and crash logs set aside upon request, but with so many mods required to run it and having personally read the logs, I have reservations of how useful either would be.

43

General Discussion / Re: Questions about Cores

« on: May 16, 2020, 03:08:01 AM »

So what you're saying is...sat bomb everything?  Got it

Wish it were that simple. I like your thinking, but I would rather be pals with Independent and Pirate factions. (And Luddic Church if you don't bother using Free Ports and profit from shady stuff). Sat Bombing makes Independent hostile, and you still need someone alive to export your goods and have a breather from Pirates hitting penalties on your colonies whenever they start partying in your systems.

In short, it's a "can't kill you, still need you" situation; Independent is just useful enough NOT to put them in the to-bomb list.

44

General Discussion / Re: Is Transverse Jump Too Good?

« on: May 16, 2020, 02:56:38 AM »

I think it's not 'too good' but definitely one of the few 'must haves'. Imho it's more of a convenience factor rather than any raw power it provides: It saves time, as there is no need to drag the fleet to a jump point to exit to hyperspace, so great for lazy admirals such as myself. It's also useful in hyperspace, sometimes jumping into a nascent gravity well can allow you to scout a system to see if there's any danger.

It can also be used to jump out of the danger zone if done early, especially when jump points are guarded.

Highly necessary in high danger systems since the fleet may not be prepared to fight its way out.

45

General Discussion / Re: FPS Drops in Large Battles

« on: May 13, 2020, 03:40:13 AM »

...I am using 10GB of memory for the game with the mods on. 

My computer has 32GB RAM, with an old-ish Skylake i7 CPU and RX480. I am not kidding when massive battles in a system with resulting derelicts can slow down the game to 10-15 FPS.