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Announcements / Re: Starsector 0.96.1a (In Development) Patch Notes
« on: January 01, 2024, 12:18:08 PM »
- Luddic Path cells can once again cause incidents are player colonies
typo?
Fractal Softworks Forum
- April 25, 2024, 01:09:34 PM
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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Save/Load UI, Autosave, Intel Map Markers, and More (04/10/24)
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typo?
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Discussions / Re: Diluvion
« on: November 28, 2023, 11:39:18 AM »
yeah it's a little janky. most of the jank is in UI & menu navigation, but aside from a couple of quests bugging (which IIRC were fixed a long time ago, i was able to beat the game just fine just now) they don't affect the actual gameplay much. it's just very obviously an early studio's game -- sort of thing you can tell if they had had a shot at a follow-up game would've been ironed out
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Discussions / Diluvion
« on: November 27, 2023, 04:03:42 PM »
It's on a crazy steep sale right now & I realized I didn't actually have a copy on Steam so I got it (again) plus bought the DLC that just gives you a PFD to show the devs some love
I can't play it without thinking about starsector. its so hypnotic and pretty, and i just find floating around the void to be incredibly relaxing. The game bombed & killed the studio when it came out, but while descending/ascending when your ship levels out at about a 65 degree tilt if you wiggle your nose side to side your ship will continue to angle into a full straight-up or straight-down dive making you plummet in what may or may not be movement tech and, there's just something about navigating the gameworld that to this day scratches an itch deep within my brain
Got put me on this earth to be a boat & this game has done it better than any other. I think it's one of my all-time favorites. Wish it did better.
Did anyone play this little gem?
I can't play it without thinking about starsector. its so hypnotic and pretty, and i just find floating around the void to be incredibly relaxing. The game bombed & killed the studio when it came out, but while descending/ascending when your ship levels out at about a 65 degree tilt if you wiggle your nose side to side your ship will continue to angle into a full straight-up or straight-down dive making you plummet in what may or may not be movement tech and, there's just something about navigating the gameworld that to this day scratches an itch deep within my brain
Got put me on this earth to be a boat & this game has done it better than any other. I think it's one of my all-time favorites. Wish it did better.
Did anyone play this little gem?
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Lore, Fan Media & Fiction / how converted hanger bays on a combat destroyer feels
« on: September 11, 2023, 11:24:59 AM »5
Mods / Re: [0.95a] Cooperative Multiplayer Combat v3.7 (2021-04-29)
« on: August 24, 2023, 07:53:13 AM »
potentially dumb question, sorry if ive already asked it; is there any chance you could make the AI shield control into its own mod? ive always really wished i could just relegate management of my shield to a subordinate. i know theres a QOL modpack that adds a form of this but its a bunch of highly specific implementations that are dependant on player micromanagement & adds a lot of hotkeys for swapping between them which kind of makes it more micromanagement when what im looking for is less
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General Discussion / Re: Doom can't keep getting away with it
« on: August 16, 2023, 11:05:54 PM »i beat a mothership (& its fleet) with a cerberus at lvl 1 once, please nerf the cerberusHow did you even do that? I wouldn't have thought it could even have the DPS to destroy everything within PPT even if they stood still.
and that wasnt even with redacted weapons
cerb can mount a HVD, & they did used to stand still lol or at least got dragged along by the orbiting "defend this point" command they were following in a way that made them just pokable enough to get their guns EMP'd down before closing to kill. as for the mothership itself -- it has blind spots, & the cerb is jjjjjjjjjjuuuuuuuuuuuuuuust small enough to squeeze into them after blinding the guns for a second with the HVD.
i sent it to Alex and he changed the way the big bois got defended. dunno if it can be done nowadays -- i wasn't trying to pull it off when i did it, i was triyng to get my starter fleet killed, so its never occured to me to try it again.
my fav thing about this is i mentioned it to someone on reddit at some point & they accused me of faking the footage, which is just -- funny. you get complimented by people accusing you of playing so good it's indistinguishable to cheating in MP all the time, which makes sense they're frustrated & in the heat of the moment but i've never recieved that compliment for a singleplayer game before
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General Discussion / Re: Doom can't keep getting away with it
« on: August 16, 2023, 08:28:31 PM »
i beat a mothership (& its fleet) with a cerberus at lvl 1 once, please nerf the cerberus
and that wasnt even with redacted weapons
and that wasnt even with redacted weapons
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General Discussion / for my birthday id like help brainstorming a replacement for shields
« on: August 12, 2023, 10:58:26 AM »
in an old version of the game i remember realizing that i liked ships without shields more. this got changed when the game was updated, shield AI got better, but i remember that there was a je ne sais quois to the way that the AI kind of, accepted that being deployed into battle meant they were going to die & that their job was to get as much value out of their healthbar as they could before going down, and if in the process of doing so they won & survived the battle that was a happy accident -- the bushido concept of dying before going into battle. it was fun, and it made your and the enemy ships fight more predictably (a bit more RTS, a bit less sim)
i did try out modding shield shunt onto every ship but losing the hard flux gameplay loop sapped the game of an intangible Something, so i think it'd need to put something else onto the right mouse button that generates hard flux, but isn't something you use to negate incoming damage
so, i have a hypothetical question -- really more of a request for help brainstorming something (did i mention today's my birthday?). this doesn't belong in suggestions bc im not suggesting the game have shields removed (it IS a sim with an open world campaign map, a bushido fleet would ruin every playthru), but if you had to remove shields from the game & replace it with something else what would it be?
bonus points if it keeps the same gameplay loop of managing hard flux, venting & overloading, and if the idea would have a hard binary "go/no-go" facet to its logic that an AI would have an easy time using
just for the record, "everybody gets damper fields or temporal shell" have been considered & while they're valid, since they're basically just reduced versions of what most ships already do i am filing them in the "not quite there yet" folder.
i do have two ideas thus far; one that ticks all the boxes would be to give phase ships a reduced version of the hyperion's teleport or an increased version of the wolf's phase skimmer as those both are both easy for the AI to judge while still having all shots that hit do permanent damage, and one where all guns/engines that get knocked out are permanent & you have to activate damage control parties that generates hard flux & ticks down your combat readiness while active to restore disabled systems to operation but that doesn't quite fit because an AI would have a hard time making judgment calls on it
I'd love to hear your ideas, even if it isn't Quite There Yet (these can often be workshopped into fitting, & even if not they still make good ideas for ship systems!)
i did try out modding shield shunt onto every ship but losing the hard flux gameplay loop sapped the game of an intangible Something, so i think it'd need to put something else onto the right mouse button that generates hard flux, but isn't something you use to negate incoming damage
so, i have a hypothetical question -- really more of a request for help brainstorming something (did i mention today's my birthday?). this doesn't belong in suggestions bc im not suggesting the game have shields removed (it IS a sim with an open world campaign map, a bushido fleet would ruin every playthru), but if you had to remove shields from the game & replace it with something else what would it be?
bonus points if it keeps the same gameplay loop of managing hard flux, venting & overloading, and if the idea would have a hard binary "go/no-go" facet to its logic that an AI would have an easy time using
just for the record, "everybody gets damper fields or temporal shell" have been considered & while they're valid, since they're basically just reduced versions of what most ships already do i am filing them in the "not quite there yet" folder.
i do have two ideas thus far; one that ticks all the boxes would be to give phase ships a reduced version of the hyperion's teleport or an increased version of the wolf's phase skimmer as those both are both easy for the AI to judge while still having all shots that hit do permanent damage, and one where all guns/engines that get knocked out are permanent & you have to activate damage control parties that generates hard flux & ticks down your combat readiness while active to restore disabled systems to operation but that doesn't quite fit because an AI would have a hard time making judgment calls on it
I'd love to hear your ideas, even if it isn't Quite There Yet (these can often be workshopped into fitting, & even if not they still make good ideas for ship systems!)
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Discussions / Re: Plans to post game updates alongside Twitter?
« on: August 11, 2023, 05:55:28 PM »
that's how it starts.
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Discussions / Re: Plans to post game updates alongside Twitter?
« on: August 09, 2023, 04:20:49 PM »Speaking for myself, I think I stopped posting on Twitter back in April. The trajectory of the site does indeed look like it's heading rapidly toward dead-due-to-incompetence.
I did like having a place to post Starsector art teasers, but I'm not sure where to do that anymore. Will have to talk to Alex about "marketing strategy".
Maybe posting and engaging in many places would be a good idea; with a little automation, you could even have a full-court-press in just a few clicks.
theres an interesting game that covers why that might be a bad idea down the line, it's called starsector you should play it some time lol
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Discussions / does anyone know where my pfp comes from?
« on: July 25, 2023, 02:13:36 PM »
i know its the battlecruiser from sc but i have no clue where i found it. its really good tho
edit: wait im dumb, if i click-drag the pfp to my browser tab line i can find out from the URL, it's Raynor's ult in HOTS. now im sad that i cant use HOTS to get an up-res of the WC3 death and decay icon since they went with a different blue design, that old icon was a classic https://www.heroesfire.com/images/wikibase/icon/abilities/hyperion.png
edit edit: ALTHOUGHH, i CAN use the fandom dot com page for HOTS kelthuzad to get his in-game unlockable portrait that IS a remake of his wc3 ult. score! https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/allstars_gamepedia/images/9/90/Death_and_Decay_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20170927161330
also, while we're here; fun fact you can tell the person who made the hyperion ult has astigmatism (& which kind), the horizontal flash of light from the gun is an artifact of the artist's eyeshape that he may or may not be aware other people dont see. mine are vertical!
edit: wait im dumb, if i click-drag the pfp to my browser tab line i can find out from the URL, it's Raynor's ult in HOTS. now im sad that i cant use HOTS to get an up-res of the WC3 death and decay icon since they went with a different blue design, that old icon was a classic https://www.heroesfire.com/images/wikibase/icon/abilities/hyperion.png
edit edit: ALTHOUGHH, i CAN use the fandom dot com page for HOTS kelthuzad to get his in-game unlockable portrait that IS a remake of his wc3 ult. score! https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/allstars_gamepedia/images/9/90/Death_and_Decay_Portrait.png/revision/latest?cb=20170927161330
also, while we're here; fun fact you can tell the person who made the hyperion ult has astigmatism (& which kind), the horizontal flash of light from the gun is an artifact of the artist's eyeshape that he may or may not be aware other people dont see. mine are vertical!
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Discussions / Re: Dwarf Fortress sold 300k units in 6 days on steam
« on: July 25, 2023, 02:11:46 PM »
i think if SS waits until the right time (after a similar-ish AAA open world game flops?) to launch on steam it could do insane numbers. a couple years ago i wouldnt have believed it but this game has become a cult classic over time, i hear ppl bring it up out of nowhere at least once a month
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Suggestions / Re: Installing items away from colony
« on: May 11, 2023, 11:42:48 PM »
the disco elysium method: hey gas station clerk i gotta talk to you but first let me change my pants
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Suggestions / transport contract type for free, gives XP & faction relation
« on: May 11, 2023, 12:59:31 PM »
theres transport contracts where ppl ask you to take them somewhere but your only options are accept for money or decline. since using spare crew capacity doesn't cost anything it'd be fun to just fill your fleet with people going random places & drop them off when my path aligns with theirs, & get XP and faction relations when you do
a floating pilgrim fleet
a floating pilgrim fleet
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General Discussion / Re: Colony Threat event
« on: May 09, 2023, 09:48:44 PM »SpoilerJust wanted to add some feedback from a rather casual player. (Play every couple of years or so, never gotten too in depth with mechanics)
For me this is a bit of a disappointment and overall makes the gameplay somewhat inorganic - instead of being able to have an intuitive understanding of systems I've found myself having to look up solutions to problems that aren't making a whole lot of sense.
I decided to set up a colony at midgame after finding a good system to do so. Eventually the hostile activity ratcheted up due to me not having the fleet power to take out hostile stations - I didn't pay it much mind as I assumed it would be something I could divert my attention to down the line once my fleet power grew and crush with a bit of effort. Unfortunately this was not the case - after building up some cash and putting together a decent fleet (a massive investment while constantly being hit with negative income from a fledgling colony) I went and tackled the pirate stations and found myself extremely surprised that it had barely any impact on the event progress, only slowing future development instead of wiping some accumulated progress.
At this point I looked up a bit of info and went the route of building a patrol HQ and started exploring the sector for a cryo to boost it, hoping that it would prove my savior. After finally getting one imagine my surprise when instead of helping the situation it actively hinders it by giving me path interest. I was also going to go the route of aiming for an orbital con yard and nanoforge with similar aims but reading this thread I see the path will also lead to negative results. I also tried to create extra patrol stations only to find that they did absolutely nothing, again a decision that is not clearly signposted.
My next idea was to try manually hunting down pirate fleets, but the gains were just irrelevant- 1 or 2 points for fleet defeated meant I'd have to spend an entire day hunting fleets to have any impact at all, which just doesn't feel like satisfying gameplay. I get your reasoning with the fleet sizes Alex but it feels to me like you must need an endgame level fleet to deal any significant progress reduction, which doesn't solve my issue of starting a colony midgame and having it be a complete death spiral.
So yeah. I think it's a great step towards improving the colony/piracy experience but it needs to have steps make more sense and be more clearly signposted to retain organic gameplay where I don't have to look up guidance to have a clue how to get out of the spiral.[close]
Hi, and welcome to the forum! Just wanted to say thank you for your feedback; a lot of what you're saying really clicks and I really appreciate getting your perspective.
i think... the split here is that Alex is designing these with the understanding that the colony mechanic should introduce more oppertunities for combat, whereas some players are coming into it feeling like the colony is supposed to reduce the need for combat
im.... not sure what could be done about that. is that.. a common feeling? im suddenly recalling that a lot of players get annoyed by the big fights (investigation congos) that a colony brings, & also the small fights (pirates/path) that a colony brings. is this an instance where the fantasy of being a colony leader is that it gives the player a reprieve from the combat loop & gives them an oppertunity to engage in the boring non-combat parts of the game (the good kind of boring) as a break? but then you circle back around to people going "well why is it there if people aren't attacking it constantly". are players hoping that a colony will be a market that is always on their side, which inherently means it's without the hassle that a market not being on their side brings (being harassed)?
if those are the cases, what would be the solution? strip out the combat consequences of colonies & make it a relaxing, peaceful way for a midgame player to catapult themselves to the endgame?