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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 - Oathseeker

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46
Modding / Re: Modding pirate spawn rate
« on: October 27, 2014, 04:18:29 AM »
Thanks Alex, I'll try that.
Though that might actually make the game easier, more weaker fleets to farm. Rather then more fleets to run away from ;)
I think I'll just leave the modding to the modders, the developing to the developers, and in the mean time go do a pirate playthrough with only smuggling alowed :D

47
Modding / Re: Modding pirate spawn rate
« on: October 26, 2014, 07:52:30 AM »
I was afraid of that. Was hoping perhaps there was just a single line I could edit in notepad++ or something. One can always hope right?
Thanks for the reply, and I'm vary much looking forward to all the awesome stuff you guys are going to (eventually) do with this new update! So much potential there :D

48
Modding / Modding pirate spawn rate
« on: October 26, 2014, 05:17:48 AM »
Hey modders,

In my experience modding communities usually have no patience for people who know nothing about modding, but I'm going to try my luck anyway: Is it possible for me, someone who knows little more about java then its name, to increase pirate spawn rates?
Either by simply increasing the amount of pirate fleets spawned, or possibly better for balance purposes and dynamic conflict, by making pirates spawn better fleets as their fleets die?
Because currently the only way to keep the game challanging after earning your first few million is by going to war with a bunch of factions. But that pretty much turns the game back into the old build where you just run around fighting *** with nothing else to do.

And before someone spends half an hour typing up a tutorial that involves a whole bunch of coding, know that a simple "No" is a perfectly acceptable answer ;)

Regards,
Oathseeker

49
General Discussion / Re: Befriending pirates
« on: October 26, 2014, 05:08:16 AM »
Actually you can also get pirate rep from trading in black markets.
I don't have much experience with black markets since they almost instanly destroy any reputation you've built up, but I've gained pirate rep from trading at black markets in faction stations and pirate stations.

50
General Discussion / Re: Economics glitch (and tariffs are OP)
« on: October 25, 2014, 01:17:37 PM »
After just a hour of playing as a trader, I was rolling in so much money (500k-ish) I really didn't care about the tariff. I can make $60-100K per trip off just 3 mid size freighters so a while a 30% hair cut might sound harsh, that just means you need to maximize each trip. Trading food gives you a 400% profit margin consistently! Why are we worried about a measly 30% tax?

If you think starsector's trading is tough, that DOS game Gazillionaire's AI trader would make you curl into a thumb-sucking ball.  ;D

I believe the point is that the tariff, combined with the low fluctuation in price besides events, makes regular trade routes useless. No-one is saying exploiting food isn't profitable.

51
General Discussion / Re: Endgame?
« on: October 25, 2014, 01:12:10 PM »
There's actually more than just Alex involved, as I know David does the art, and there are at least two more people involved somewhere in production. Or at least it says something along those lines somewhere around here.

Ah well, my apologies to them then! Still, this game already has more depth then many games that are backed by a full studio and many millions of dollers, so my point remains valid ;)

52
General Discussion / Re: Endgame?
« on: October 25, 2014, 12:57:27 PM »
Thanks for your feedback, I appreciate it! Trying to stay on top of everything as best I can :) Definitely aware that things aren't perfect, but happy that this release has been well-received nonetheless.

Good to hear, to be honest I was vary pleasantly surprised with the amount of depth the economy system adds, being able to run planets into starvation and then finding out they actually noticed how badly I screwed them. Vary awesome details, which I honestly did not expect in a one man indy game, let alone one still in early development.
The main problem to me right now seems to be the lack destabilizing factors, such as strong pirates and inter faction wars. But like I said, after this patch I'm confident this game is going to be amazing. Keep up the good work!

53
General Discussion / Re: Endgame?
« on: October 25, 2014, 12:44:12 PM »
Oh, I think you may have misread what I wrote

I may have....  ::)

PS: Thanks for the amazingly quick feedback btw, from the developer himself no less. I am deeply honored!

54
General Discussion / Re: Endgame?
« on: October 25, 2014, 12:36:24 PM »
If trade fleets and smugglers get taken out, yes. Otherwise, no.

Ah awesome, so the economy is really interacting with the trade fleets. I was curious if it wasn't just faking it by just randomly creating events.

You mean if two factions fight, will it ramp up? Yes, it will.

That wasn't actually what I meant, but it was the third question I was going to ask :p
I meant do faction fleets also get stronger if you kill them. I assume so, since pirates are probably just considered another faction.

When the Sector starts opening up, I'd like to see military fleets scale up more. I mean, if a bounty hunter can sustain 20+ ships in his fleet, why can't a developed planet with millions of people support hundreds of ships to defend itself.

Just think fighting a System Defense Fleet composed of about 300 ships. It would basically be a wave encounter. 20-30 ships at a time attacking your fleet. Every time you kill one another takes its place. You would probably end up destroying wrecks just to clear up firing lanes.

Oh I am in no way worried about the future of this game. I was for a while, thinking it might go the way of Mount & Blade, in being an awesome concept but lacking the depth to be fun for more then a few days. But after this update i know everything is going to be fine. This game is eventually going to be one of my favorite games of all time. I was just talking about the current build.
But as it turns out I was just playing the game wrong ;)

::Edit:: Merged my double post

55
General Discussion / Re: Endgame?
« on: October 25, 2014, 12:30:11 PM »
And just spawning some more and stronger pirate and faction fleets would already go a vary long way to doing that.

Just a quick note on this, since it's rather non-obvious: if you keep attacking the same (non-pirate) faction in the same star system, their patrol fleets will ramp up in power a *lot*. That's probably the best way to get into large battles consistently.

Ah that's vary good to know. Thanks! Two follow up questions: Does this increased pirate activity have an effect on the sector's economy (aka, more traderoutes getting plundered etc.?
And does this also go for factions?
 

56
General Discussion / Re: Overall Market Page?
« on: October 25, 2014, 12:26:00 PM »
First to answer faceless' question: no, there really isn't. The most information you can get is the price tab of the event map.

If only there's a food-providing port that is also a free port, where the black market does not have as much adverse effects... and not aligned to pirates.

I'm assuming this is meant to mock him? But he brings up a valid point. Trading right now is just running around, trying to find out if people are in need of food and then unloading it on them. It's really not trading at all. In the blog post about the economy update I remember reading something about striking a balance in the amount of information the player is provided. Not too overwhelming but not to leave them in the dark. But right now trading really isn't trading. It's stocking up random goods that are cheap, and hoping there will at some point be an event that lets you sell them.
I personally think there is no such thing as too much information when it comes to trading. I get that this way you trading doesn't turn into a grind. But what's the point of having an economy when you can get rich instantly by buying and selling a bunch of food? And trade route grinding isn't a bad thing per se. It could at least be a valid alternative. Optimizing traderoutes is fun to me, call me crazy. But right now it's not even a possibility.

57
General Discussion / Endgame?
« on: October 25, 2014, 12:17:00 PM »
Hey everyone,

I just found out 0.65a came out and spent my entire day playing it. And I really love the direction it's going in.
There are however a few things that really keep this game from being fun for a long time. The early game seems way too easy for me, it took me about an hour to get my first million through selling food to starving planets. And after that money becomes irrelivant. I just keep a stock of food in every sector and make a few more millions as soon as someone has a need for my food. This also means I'm about lvl 40 in the space of two hours. The exp gain from trading should probably get some sort of deminishing return.
But there are already a few topics about this so I won't bother going in to it much further. I don't actually have a problem with being rich and high level fast, that just means I can get to the endgame faster!
Unfortunaly there is really no such thing as endgame. As the economy is right now, in all my playthroughs it seems to reach an equilibrium after a few months, meaning there is almost no more trading to be done unless you actively disrupt the market by buying all the food everywhere. There are almost no pirates, so they don't do enough damage to disrupt the market and offer no challange to the player. All pirate fleets can be beaten with just one or two ships, and even the biggest faction fleets are no match for my 2 falcons and a few fighter wings.
Ofcourse there will be many mods coming to 0.65a soon to remedy these, and many other, problems. However I feel like it's a pitty I have to rely on mods to actually make this game enjoyable for more then a few hours. And just spawning some more and stronger pirate and faction fleets would already go a vary long way to doing that.

I ofcourse realize that this is simply an alpha build and the developer is focussing all his time on creating actual gameplay mechanics rather then content. But I just wanted to have said it, since I couldn't find any posts about the (lack of) endgame. So am I the only one who feels this way? Am I just unlucky with my playthroughs? Or do people just not bother mentioning it?

Let me know what you think.

58
Suggestions / Re: Randomized ship parameters
« on: July 02, 2014, 01:04:07 PM »
Because randomized ship stats makes no sense and can only hurt game balance. Making ships randomly overpowered or worthless is a monumentally stupid design move.

Yeah, any idiot can see that the loot system almost every rpg uses is completely rediculous!
It clearly doesn't give players a sense of purpose and accomplishment in an otherwise boring endgame. It doesn't make people log in to their favorite rpgs every night so they can farm for the best equipment! And most importantly, it doesn't extend time people put into a game through sheer addiction at all!

59
Suggestions / Re: Configurable AI
« on: July 01, 2014, 05:37:30 AM »
To be honest, since I'm fairly late to the starsector party I expected these obvious flaws in the AI to be known. And as the only thing I know about code is roughly what it looks like, I really can't give any insights into improving it ;)
To be fair to you though Xenoargh, the way vacuum plays is amazing, Though I found it quite hard to get into because the customization options where a bit overwhelming, that's also the reason I stuck with it. Because I saw the potential that was there, if only I understood how to use it ;)
Unfortunately my computer can't handle it and it slows down to a crawl as soon as there are more then 5 ships in a battle. But that's hardly your fault ;)

I just always thought the "if/or/and - then" system seemed like a great idea to configure an AI in a meaningfull way so you didn't have to bother micromanaging in combat. Someone brought up a great point earlier about the limited battle command system being a good thing. And I completely agree, not having to micromanage your entire fleet is a good thing. It means you can focus on your own ship and increase your personal impact on the battle.

The first Dragonage did something like this. Though in a fairly limited way (the command options were fine, you just couldn't give vary many of them to each of your character)

But that's hardly a fair comparison. Dragon age is a game with a huge budget and even though its a vary deep rpg, each of the characters are fairly limited in the different roles they can play. Mages cast spells, warriors tank and rogues kick ass. And if they need to reposition they can just instantly walk there.
An ideal AI in starsector would have to plan their positioning based on incoming ships, missing ships, turret arcs etc. Something most humans will struggle with. Positioning is what it's all about in most games. But it's also what computers are worst at. So I can imagine making a really good AI will be near impossible.

That being said, there are still many things that could be configured. One thing that comes to mind is for instance: shield priorities. When a ship is about to explode in your face, focus on shielding that off instead of some random anti fighter missile coming in from the back. And when a huge torpedo is making its way to the engines, better focus on shielding that off instead of the PD lasers those pesky fighters are firing at you.

Other expamles could be:
Missile timing and targeting
fighter and bomber target selection
when to use phase cloak
Frontal shield management (The AI tends to use the shields the same way it would an omni shield and turn it off all the time, even if it's a 360 degree coverage)


Now again, I don't know if these are feasable at all, just throwing ideas around :)

60
Suggestions / Re: Randomized ship parameters
« on: July 01, 2014, 05:10:14 AM »
Good thing I wasn't whining then. My point is that shooting down an idea immediately because you don't like it (in its current form) is counter productive. If you don't like an idea, either don't bother getting involved in the discussion, or explain why you don't like it.

Personally I wouldn't really like the universe getting randomized once, after which you're stuck with a possibly unbalanced universe. But instead more of a dungeon crawler loot fest (aka, diablo, torchlight, path of exile, borderlands etc) system. Where you can find more (or less) powerful versions of the base ship. This would keep you tweaking your fleet even after you got the composition you want. It would also encourage capping ships, as right now capping any ship is usually a bad investment. The crew lost in the capture and supplies needed for repairs cost more then the ship eventually brings in. And you are usually not fighting the faction you want ships from.

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