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31

Suggestions / Remove player fleet cap

« on: May 17, 2021, 12:03:43 PM »

I think at this point there is no particular reason why player fleet have a cap of ship count.

Fleet-wide skills are already having diminishing effect depending on total DP.
You’re running logistic nightmare if you’re bringing too many ships.
Even if you can easily overwhelm enemy with unlimited reinforcement it’s going to be financial failure.
On top of everything officer count is still very limited, and the natural limit of battle size makes large fleet inefficient.
Everything considered the 30 ship fleet cap despite being a soft cap still doesn’t make much sense.

 I just want to play 60 kite S meme fleet and the vanilla game is not making that happen.

Edit with salt

Please also adjust enemy generated ship count according to battle size so player can’t just cheese the game by capital spam with battle size change but not changing ship count cap. If they can’t handle that they should’ve opt for easy mode.

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32

Suggestions / [UI] Flight deck indicator

« on: May 17, 2021, 08:08:08 AM »

Not all decks are created equal.
The most infamous example is Legion launching fighters backwards. It waste additional time for fighters to turn around, not to mention certain bombers struggle to even turn to target when engaged in CQC.
I think it would be nice if I can know which flight deck a wing spot corresponds to and what direction it’s launching, just like how it displays when you hover mouse over a weapon mount.

33

Suggestions / DP as consumable and regenerating resource

« on: May 10, 2021, 01:08:14 PM »

If losing any initial objective it’s likely AI would overwhelm my fleet and there is little I can do to salvage it.
Also, station battles don’t have objectives in first place. If I personally assist a fortress, I am only left with 20 available DP and is basically stuck. (Pulls out my monitor)
It’s also unfair the other way around due to nature of enemy having more DP, forced to use only 120 DP against a star fortress WITH backing defending fleet is not easy and not fun.

So how about changing DP into a consumable that regenerates over time? The regenerating rate can be based on many factors and should be exceptionally fast when it’s near 0 so both side would have a somewhat “baseline” available deployment. As more is deployed the slower regeneration it becomes so the winning side is not going to snowball all the way; The losing side will have a chance if the reinforcements can hold the ground for more. I believe this can solve most of the DP complaints. Thoughts?

34

Mods / [0.95.1a] Modern Carriers 1.9.5

« on: May 08, 2021, 07:37:32 PM »

Download Modern Carriers (Base mod)

Important note: From 1.9.5 the mod now requires CONCORD 3.5 or above version
If you wish to resurrect discontinued hullmods, you can go to CSV file and remove the hidden flag

Modern Carriers V1.9

Features v1.9.5

Automatic Landing
Your fighters will now automatically land on carrier during regroup if severely damaged!

 How does it work?

By default, fighter will only auto land when carrier is set to regroup
When in active combat, fighters below 40% HP will land for repair
When in combat but only minor enemy present, fighters below 70% HP will land for repair
When no enemy is nearby, fighters below 90% HP will land for repair
If a fighter with disposable shield has its shield disposed, it will also return to carrier when in close proximity to rearm the shield
You can change the HP level settings in settings.json

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Carrier Cores
These cores significantly changes how a carrier performs. They are mutually exclusive and have rather high OP costs: choose wisely.

Core Details

• Ace Core - Reduces fighter bay to 1 but significantly enhances wing ability. It is best suited for low deck carriers and combat carriers.
• Avatar Core - Clone carrier captain onto every single fighter and enjoy all the skill bonuses. Please note that Missile Specialization ammo bonus does not apply.
• Swarm Core - Increases fighter bay at a cost of significantly reduced fighter replacement speed and engagement range. Using this core will be all-or-nothing: you burst down the enemy with ease or struggle to replenish wings on a failed strike.
• Command Core - Significantly increases fighter engagement range and a bonus on command point regeneration. The downside is that 75% of the max speed is transferred to 0-flux bonus speed, so plan ahead before you issue the strike order.
• Skirmish Core - Skirmish focuses on run-and-gun tactics. All the fighters receive a large speed bonus that is best suited for rapid deployments. The carrier itself also is made to allow 0-flux bonus to take effect at 2% flux, allowing the carrier to pick the fight with ease.
• Support Core - Provides various fleet-wide bonuses and can heal its own fighters if they're close enough. If you don't know what to go with, this will be the safe pick.

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Modern Carrier Hullmods
Want to spice up some more? We got you covered!

Hullmod Details

• Advanced Fighter Command - The replacement rate of a fighter bay is increased when the wing loses fighters. However, launching the fighter with such system will cost additional replacement rates. Overall it will be able to recover fighter losses much faster at additional costs of replacement rates.
• Autopilot Interface - Allow drone carriers to use regular fighters
• Bomber External Hardpoint - Overload ammunition on bombers by 100%. While bomber is over ammo capacity, it will suffer reduced performance.
• Disposable Fighter Shield Emitter - Fighters ditch shield when overload to stop overloading. Fighters without shield get a 90 degree front shield.
• Fighter Armor Removal - Who needs armor anyways? Remove it to get flux and speed bonus!
• Fighter Bay Standardization - remove built in wing and make them standard fighter bays
• Fighter Command Overclock - Essentially carrier's safety override. Large bonuses with huge penalties, play simulation to get a feel of it.
• Gunship Heavy Ordnance - More DPS for non-bombers, but less maneuverability
• Manufactory Load Balance - A hullmod that mostly benefits mixed wings, as fighter bays are often less damaged than bombers, this hullmod would be able to move the replacement rate from fighter to bomber and increases overall recovery speed.
• PD Drone Deployment - Deploy a wasp wing as body guard
• Steady Bombing Protocol - Slow bomber down to ensure depleting bomb bay in one pass.
• Targeting Data Link - Fighters improve carrier weapon range when carrier doesn't have targeting unit, or improve fighter's weapon range when carrier has a targeting unit. Can serve as alternative ITU but have much greater restrictions.

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missions

Operation Tango (Contains campaign spoiler)

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About S Addition

S Addition is a utility mod in folder Modern Carrier +

• Prometheus Mk2 now has Fighter Command Overclock as built in, making it significantly more dangerous
• Spark Interceptor now has 2 burst PD laser (high delay) instead of 1
• All vanilla remnants and Astrals get Advanced Carrier as built in
• All vanilla station hangar modules receives a Carrier Core and a Modern Carrier hullmod that fits the tech theme
• Remnant station has 5 fighter related hullmods installed including Targeting Data Link and Advanced Carrier so be aware

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FAQ

Can this mod be installed mid-game?
Yes!

I can't find the hullmods after learning them!

Make sure you have the design filter turned on:

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What does Load Balancer actually do?

It's a less known fact that all fighter bays have their individual replacement rate, but vanilla always sync them across the board.
With Load Balancer, if you have multiple wings and one is heavily damaged while the other is not, it will suck all the replacement rate from the undamaged decks and move it to the one that needs replacement.
It also will show a combat UI to inform you all the decks' current active replacement rate.

For example, you have a wing at 1/3 and another at 3/3. Your replacement rate shows 80%, it means the replacement clock for the first wing is ticking at only 80% speed.
However if you install the Load Balancer, it shifts the rate from the second wing, the new replacement rate distribution will be 99% / 61%. Your damaged wing will be replacing at a much better speed but it cannot surpass the full speed (game limit).

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How does the Command Overclock work?

You will notice your replacement rate completely sucked dry upon entering battle because all replacement rates have been converted to reserved deployments - which gets deployed as soon as fighter loss or bomber done with bombing run.
Do note that increased reserved deployment will increase the cost of deployment rate for the next reserve. The current implementation ratio is every 100% wing size of reserve adds 100% of reserve cost. The costs quickly adds up so be aware.
For balance consideration, the cost DOES scale with the carrier's replacement time multiplier, so swarm core + overclock is not always a good idea. (Emergency Launch is currently NOT taking such multiplier into consideration)
This mod does not allow S-modding for obvious reasons.

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version log

WIP
AI Overhaul
Bastion Core AI (suspended)

2022/3/1 v1.9.1a
Targeting Data Link is back with new effects
Moved auto fighter auto conversion to configuration
Fixed an exploit of mod fighters using deprecated assault fighter category not doubling ace core cost
Nerfed support core ECM bonus to 0.2% (was 0.25%)
Changed Swarm core penalty from additional supply per month to -25% engagement range
Improved Advanced Fighter Command description
Improved Bomber External Hardpoint description
Slightly buffed Bomber External Hardpoint's bay bomber ROF bonus

2022/2/20 v1.9.0a
Retired Flux Quantum Entanglement
Retired Targeting Datalink
Retired Burnout Reactor
Added [Disposable Fighter Shield Emitter]
Greatly re-balanced Ace core
Gunship Heavy Ordnance no longer gives flux capacity
Reduced bonus for armor removal

2022/2/17 v1.8.5a
New hullmod [Autopilot Interface]: Allows drone fighters to host regular fighters, cannot be built in

2022/2/13 v1.8.3d
Update to be fully compatible with CONCORD 1.3.0 (No real change, is backward compatible with any old version CONCORD)

2022/2/6 v1.8.3c
Finer description for Avatar core
Advanced fighter command now alternate between SAF and RDY when attempt to launch but has insufficient replacement rate
Added more fail safe on advanced fighter command (after venting or overloading, add 1 second delay for recovery)

2022/2/5 v1.8.3b
Removed attempt to revoke landing during auto land as it simply doesn't work

2022/2/5 v1.8.3a
Fixed bonus calculation on Ace core (Sorry! I've mistaken multiplier bonus with flat and added 1 at places!)
Fighter damage bonus modifier nerfed to 0.8 (was: 1.0)
Fixed an issue with auto landing script causing concurrent access on fighter collection

2022/2/5 v1.8.2a
Removed DP penalty on Swarm core
Removed replacement rate drop penalty on Swarm core
Added 5 monthly maintenance / month and 20 crew requirement per deck on Swarm core
Added Avatar core
Changed Targeting Data Link bonus calculation to be directly from hullmods
Changed Bomber External Hardpoint description to be more accurate
Bomber External Hardpoint over-capacity damage penalty increased to 60% (was: 50%)
Bomber External Hardpoint over-capacity speed penalty reduced to 20% (was: 30%)

2022/2/1 v1.8.0a
Added auto landing

2022/2/1 v1.7.1a
Buffed Ace core by reducing 2 DP per removed deck
Nerfed Swarm core by increasing 5 DP per added deck
Improved Ace core bonus display logic

2022/1/30 v1.7.0a
Greatly improved Advanced Fighter Command handling landing(LND), relaunching(ARM) and overload (no longer skips cycle).
Added two new hullmods
Added CONCORD dependency

2022/1/24 v1.6.2b
Removed converted hangar exploit
Fixed NPE for Ace core
Ace core now attempt to auto move wing to first slot
Nerfed Flux Quantum Entanglement, taxing 20% additional hard flux on the carrier

2021/6/21 v1.6.1a
Re-adjusted Ace core again: prevent excessive multiplier for capitals
Removed fighter bay bonus completely

2021/6/21 v1.6.0a
Re-adjusted Ace wing
Updated all related variants

2021/6/10 v1.5.2a
Added a new dominator variant
Nerfed Ace core (specifically for low OP wings)

• Base bonus cost increased to 4 (was: 3)
• The base bonus cost now takes OP cost modifier into account

Added additional check on Ace core to prevent weird behavior

2021/6/8 v1.5.1b
Modified External Hardpoint to be more accessible
Modified some variants so Cores are more evenly distributed
Separated download repository for Modern Carrier (vanilla) and S Addition utility

2021/6/5 v1.5.0b
Fixed an unintended message

2021/6/5 v1.5.0a
Overhaul of object structure and UI elements. Should be cleaner than before.

Added another cursed Astrals variant.

2021/5/31 v1.4.2a
Revamped Emergency Launch Sequence:
It's now "Advanced Fighter Command", with a brand new graphic (copyright attached) and otherwise generic buff effect.

Buffed Skirmish Core to have lower range penalty, it's missing too much.

Added more detailed tooltip for several hullmods

Additional guardrail against Swarm core autofit by AI fleet: if a target variant doesn't contain swarm core initially it will never be fitted (because autofit doesn't auto fill fighter bays)

Reduced Load Balance OP cost

2021/5/31 v1.4.1a
Version checker compatible

2021/5/31 v1.4.0c
Fixed the bug retiring wrong hullmod, ooooops 

2021/5/30 v1.4.0b
Reduced "Operation Tango" enemy difficulty (Test play was done during no officer and Alpha core is pretty OP)

2021/5/30 v1.4.0a
Retired Electronic Superiority (If you have installed it already you may keep it)

Allowed carrier with built-in wing to utilize Swarm core
Added Support Core (functionally replaces Electronic Superiority)
Added a very defensive Paragon variant and added to simulation. Perfect for testing out your carrier offense ability.

Added a new mission "Operation Tango"

2021/5/30 v1.3.7c
Fixed some variants
Added simulation opponents

2021/5/29 v1.3.7b
Fixed the exploit of s-mod. Attempting to S-mod then remove the requirement hullmod will result in fighters immediately die upon take-off.
Allowed Ace core to be installed on ships using Converted Hangar
Added several variants that may be spawned by vanilla factions, including converted-ace hangars (low chance)
Lowered FCO carrier spawn chance

2021/5/27 v1.3.6a
Ace Core bonus balance
Ace Core visual effect
Swarm Core removal guardrail
Further nerfed Fighter Command Overclock. Range penalty is now 60% (was 50%)
Added several new variants that have rather low chance to spawn, including a cursed variant.
Updated Modern Carrier + (Prometheus mk2 removed swarm core - it simply doesn't have the OP to do it)

2021/5/26 v1.3.5b
Fixed SO nerf (did not properly apply cost multiplier)

2021/5/26 v1.3.5a
Drastically changed Ace Core bonuses
Re-balanced hullmod prices, tier and OP cost
Removed ECCM sync for Targeting Data Link
Fixed a NPE and some similar potential exceptions
Nerfed Command Overclock: now cost scales double as fast

2021/5/25 v1.3.1a
All hullmods are now acquired via market or exploration
Moved some vanilla conversion to a separate utility mod
Slightly changed bonus for Ace Core

2021/5/24 v1.3.0a
Deactivation
Bastion Carrier Core: awaiting new AI library mod
If you have installed it prior to this version you can keep it, but since the vanilla AI is glitchy it's not recommended to keep using.

New Content
Ace Carrier Core: Reduce deck to 1 but significantly enhanced ability
Flux Quantum Entanglement: Fighter channel flux to carrier
Targeting Data Link: Fighter receives carrier targeting unit bonus

Update
Fighter Command Overclock graphics
Stations except for high tech all got updated Modern built in modules
Remnant carriers and stations are now much more deadly due to previous change

Fixes
Emergency Launch Sequence using wrong parameter
Fighter Armor Removal not removing armor properly

2021/5/16 v1.2.5a
Buffed bomber external hard points:
If a bomber is determined utilizing bomb bay, half the agility penalty and 1.5x rof to ensure finishing bombing run in one pass

Fixed an issue for Load Balancer not correctly determining lost fighter
Enhanced Load Balancer logic:
Only show one message. (Used to be 2 if empty deck reserve is available: pointless to show all other decks since they're all working at 99% capacity)
Enabled reaching 100% replacement rate if reserved rate is full / not having empty deck.

Added description for Swarm core for exact penalty information

2021/5/14 v1.2.0a
Changed bomber external hard points again:
Now all bombing runs lasts at least 2.5 seconds including rocket bombers and bomb bay bombers
(the latter should not get any actual impact)
If a weapon has 0 refire delay the effect does not apply; If the weapon regenerates it does not apply.

Nerfed Fighter Command Overclock:
Now uses a complicated mechanism that prevent infinite fighter spam. Basically it’s Emergency launch sequence but always active. The base cost is the same but for every additional reserved deployment the cost increases, so the reserve can not simply pile infinitely. The cost increase is proportional to reserve/(fighter wing size). Expect to see your replacement rate stuck below 50%: you’ll be solely relying on deploying the reserved fighters.
To prevent replacement rate stagger: removed replacement rate drop from lost fighter completely. You drain your replacement rate mainly by pumping out fighter reserves.

Added fighter ECM package.

Bastion Core is under bandage fix, updated the fighter operating range to 600.

All vanilla stations now host at least one carrier core and one modern modification.

Fixed several descriptions.

2021/5/12 v1.12a
Replaced bomber external hardpoint graphic (copyright attached)
Fixed a bug where agility modifier after dropping bomb over-tuned
Added a minimum re-fire delay for torpedo bomber (does not affect bomb bay bombers)
Modified vanilla hull built-in modern(TM) hullmod:

• Midline station now uses Skirmish core
• Low tech station now uses Command core and Gunship Heavy Ordnance

Changed tags for several hullmods to be more in-line with vanilla tag usage

2021/5/11 v1.1a
Fixed a bug where Load Balancer is not using empty fighter bays
Modified Skirmish Core: reduced complexity
Split Heavy Ordnance into bomber and non-bomber variants
Reduced performance impact for advanceInCombat methods

2021/5/11 v1.0a
Added Command Core
Added 4 new hullmods

2021/5/9 v095b
Revamped Skirmish core
Clarified some descriptions

2021/5/8 v095a
initial release

[close]

Special Thanks:

The Soldier:	Balance / play testing
Peach Patrol:	Sharing knowledge about vanilla integration
maidlover (Chinese forum):	Balance / play testing

35

Suggestions / System Expertise Balance

« on: May 06, 2021, 11:19:40 AM »

System expertise is currently a weird skill that the effectiveness varies widely between target hull.
Some hull that benefit from all four attributes essentially becomes demigod by taking this skill alone.
I’m proposing a new implementation in hope of equalizing the power increment by a single skill while keeping the skill interesting and powerful.

If system has non-regenerating charges: +100% max charges
If system has regenerating charges: +50% regenerating rate
If system doesn’t have charges and have fixed active duration: active duration+50%
If system doesn’t benefit from any of the above: -50% flux generated from using ship system

Elite effect:
If ship system has range: +50% range
Otherwise: -33% ship system cooldown time

36

General Discussion / Simple poll: Do you like the old skill system or new skill system more

« on: May 03, 2021, 10:12:39 PM »

No funny business, no confusing wall of options, just choose one from the two.
You can leave a comment to describe why or why not you like/dislike one over the other but I think it has been discussed too much/all over the place.
I am here for a simple result.

Sorry for anyone that has only played one version but not the other, this poll is not for you.

37

General Discussion / Derelict Contingent: how would you like to change it

« on: April 27, 2021, 08:50:12 AM »

Every player that was here prior to .95 release probably would think the skill is unholy. It’s essentially three times effective HP just by 75% chance of meh-ing hull damage, not to mention other useful perks. It dwarfs field repair easily and is the only skill in industry tree that is actually useful in late game.


So how would you like to “fix” it? I know it costs three points of skill tax to get it but that’s the topic for another day. Assume you can get this skill on the get-go.

A popular proposal is to make it similar to old d-mod related skills, for example, half the d-mod effects and reduce the upkeep cost.
My personal proposal would like to add another perk to the above proposal. I think it can be interesting to cut the deployment point by 10% per d-mod, up to halving the dp. They’re not as effective as a pristine ship after all so giving them a deployment discount should be reasonable. This of course applies to enemy, making pirate and pather fights more intense in late game.

38

Modding / [0.9.5a-RC15] Energy Weapon Remastered

« on: April 23, 2021, 09:24:07 PM »

download:https://mega.nz/file/wA5SGAzQ#3OOdymuU5OfB5EuPx3MCSPv5Cy-Rt0XvhIgy-o1rMfc

Instead of linear scaling, used square root of flux.
This makes ship at 9% flux (0.09) receive 30% (sqrt(0.09) = 0.3) of EWM max bonus (still sad:0.3x30% = 9%), making the skill more relevant to the rest.

Damage bonus change curve: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vSw2k_ckhRNd-aiOOGDxytDhWBEmEf9B9dayOxAfLN7v74hFyjL-a_xOYniWIalZLilEO75D4K53l1s/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true

39

General Discussion / Overnerfing Energy Weapon Mastery

« on: April 21, 2021, 11:43:39 AM »

In terms of damage, an energy frigate with a good build vs destroyers has went from doing +50% (Target Analysis, Weapon Drills, Wolfpack, 100% CR) + EWM up to 50%, to +50% to EWM up to 30%. At half flux, which seems to be a reasonable comparison points, frigates have gone from 1.75 damage to 1.65 damage... a whopping 5.7% reduction in total damage output.

Now consider a shrike and a tempest, both at 8 DP, against an enemy destroyer.
Assume both at 60% flux.
Prior to the nerf, a shrike can have up to 160% energy weapon efficiency, comparing to 180% of tempest it's 11.2% less effective.
After the nerf, a shrike now only have 148%, comparing to 168% of tempest, it's 11.9% less effective
That is said, the disparity of power is INCREASED by 0.7%, effectively encourages frigate meta.
The conclusion we can draw from this is we should buff EWM, not nerf it.

"a tiny revenge"

I feel like these threads are always knee jerk overreactions.

[close]

By removing safety override cheese EWM is now obsolete as well.

50% bonus was only at 100% flux - which is virtually impossible.
Most of the time it’s around 35% or below, and it’s only full bonus below 600 range, means it’s big risk big reward.
It was too good solely due to built in SO giving huge edge in speed and flux to do insane BnZ maneuver. It’s no longer possible to do that anymore.
Nerfing it by an additional 40% puts it in near obsolete skill as ships die like flies in 600 range without help of SO and the bonus doesn’t apply to ranged energy weapons. Even if you put a SO it’s more costly, losing 3000 equivalent max flux for a frigate and up to 9000 flux on Aurora. The bonus becomes pathetic that I’d rather has ranged mastery using conquest instead, at least I can have full 30% bonus with no risk whatsoever.

RIP EWM.

40

Suggestions / Transfer command for officers

« on: April 14, 2021, 07:05:19 AM »

I’m addicted to SO Hyperion, help.


So seriously, why isn’t this a thing?
I wouldn’t mind if there are restrictions, for example, the officer must be in reserve or have retreated from encounter

So I don’t feel obligated to put all officers in hardened subsystem frigates just so they all stick around forever.

41

General Discussion / What’s your favorite initial deploy fleet composition

« on: April 13, 2021, 05:33:47 PM »

Assuming non-boss fight (120DP) no mod.

I would bring
Flagship: harbinger + support afflictor
2 officered Scarab+ 2 support tempest
3 officered Hyperion
1 officered SO Hyperion (with 2 officered SO Hyperion as back ups)
(All support vessels are without officers and expandable)

High tech best tech

42

General Discussion / Is the phase ship AI dumber?

« on: April 13, 2021, 07:06:04 AM »

I’m finding my afflictors constantly suicide;
My harbingers decloak while all weapons are on cool down and doesn’t use F when firing;
My doom place mines in its own face and blow itself up.

Doesn’t quite bother try shade, would rather use omen or scarab.

43

General Discussion / Officer exploits: this is MY ship

« on: April 12, 2021, 10:31:57 PM »

Just noticed that I can potentially make a personal piloted ship works miracles: take over an officered ship

• Missile specialization: obvious one, additional 100% missile with no cost on my own skill points
• System Specialization:  base ability is very specific for additional charge on Gryphon, but the elite +30 sec PPT applies universally and works with hardened subsystems
• Reliable Engineering: I don't need to explain this one

So theoretically you can reap about 1.5 skills worth of combat skills from an officer
Taking over a Reliable Engineering officer ship means you can save the two points in Industry tree and invest elsewhere, highly recommended.

44

Suggestions / Remake skill system - Again

« on: April 10, 2021, 10:20:42 PM »

So, what are the goals of the skill overhaul? First and foremost, the skill system should increase the replay value of the game – that is, depending on what skills are picked, the player should be able to explore new ways to play the game.

Previously, I’d thought of it in terms of offering the player choices – and we still want that – but it makes sense to look at why we’re offering these choices so that they can be crafted with that goal in mind.

The second goal is to make the system more approachable. Currently, you can pick any skill you want – imagine, as a new player, being presented with some 30-odd choices of what skill to get, while you’re still figuring out how to play the game. This isn’t just a new-player-oriented feature, however. I think reducing the number of options at any given point will also make for more impactful and considered choices for players of any skill level.

Finally, updating a system is a great time to simplify it, so that’s a goal as well.

Current system only fulfilled the first goal and completely missed, or worsened the other two.
Players are now staring at 40 skills figuring out how to assign 15 to not screw their life, and deliberately wasting a few picks they don't want but required.
It's more pain than just pick 15 out of 40 without any weird progression restrictions that make no sense.

The system also became much more complex:

• Why are there elite skills - and only obtainable by story points??
• Why is there a deployment point cap on most of fleet skills - makes it much harder to plan fleet composition, not easier
• Why are there still skills that becomes permanent and force you to marry it?
• Why am I always at -20% DP disadvantage?
• Why am I always at -20% ECM disadvantage?

This list can go on, I'm just listing the ones that are the most concerning.

But I'm not here to complain. Complains make no difference if you can't give a solution.

First thing I'd like to address at minimum is the scalability.

Currently there are a few skills that has a constant capped bonus regardless of combat size.
The combat size should be set at the beginning of a save and ride along with the value, while all these limited distributed bonus (if we were to keep those eventually) be proportional to the setting.
For example, a (15% x 180DP) CR bonus should instead be (15% x total battle DP x 60%) CR bonus.
Maybe the same can go to fleet ship count cap as well. (instead of 30 be 10% x max DP)

[close]

We're done with appetizer, now we can has main course

Ideas about how skill tree can work

One thing I'd like to point out about combat: no man can run a ship alone.
Combat is essentially ship command that you boss around your crews to fulfill their duty. It's a show of leadership to be a good captain.
Following this line, we can start the tree in a bottom-to-top unlock progression.
In the beginning of the campaign, you need to take combat skills to train your leadership in a small scale: make everyone on your ship on the same page (or on the same ship?)
After knowing the drill, you can start progressing toward fleet command; After being a successful fleet command, you can start ruling a planet; And maybe rule a faction, if that is what you so desire.
This will separate the entire progression into at least three categories:

• Captain
• Fleet command
• Colony/Faction Leader

The unlock condition can be as simple as: Take 5 Captain skills to get access to Fleet Command skills; Take 3 Fleet Command skills to unlock Leader skills.

In this progression system we can throw a few ideas around.

• A "Fleet command" skill benefits a set of combat skills, making them elite automatically if picked; You otherwise need to spend story point to elite it
• Similar can go for T3 "Leader" skills giving "elite" to fleet skills
• Or a reverse approach: taking certain combat skills unlock a fleet skill much earlier than the generic unlock; similar for fleet - leader progression
• If you want to go completely RPG, throw questlines as skill unlock requirements, much like how you can unlock transverse jump for free
• Skills need not born equal: fleet command and faction leading skill may cost more as the scale of impact is different
• Another line of thought may be make all fleet skills include some personal pilot ship bonus. That way we can justify the extra skill point cost and maybe even make officers allowed to have those skills (at a reduced level cost of course)
• An ideal distribution would be: you can take all T3 (Faction leader) skills but your skill points will only be barely enough; Or take only one or two crucial colony skills and have more fleet bonus; Or go wild on fleet, personal ship bonus. These should all be viable tactics.

The reason why people used to ignore combat tree is due to fleet spam and the huge unchecked fleet-wide bonus.
This approach kind of force people into picking some combat skills but at very least you don't feel them wasted as current tech T2 and industry T2 skills. You have to fly a flagship, after all.

[close]

Opinions regarding marrying skills

Always use soft caps instead of hard caps should easily mitigate this issue.
For example, for officer count, each over capacity triples officer payroll, exponentially (and casually slap in a skill reducing penalty to double); There was no officer level limit skill in 0.9.1 iirc
For build-in mod count, additional will cause Ill-Advised Modifications (and stackable!) to be built in and not removable

[close]

45

Suggestions / Commission exploit: an easy fix

« on: April 06, 2021, 05:37:13 PM »

Automatically reduces relation by 2 per month, essentially trading relation for $$
If you actually worked for them it should be extremely easy to keep up; Otherwise they get disappointed by you and eventually drop commission.