Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.

46

General Discussion / Re: What type of ship do you fly?

« on: August 18, 2012, 11:22:26 PM »

The AI really sucks at letting the enemy have our hard-earned structures, and denying fleet points is a big part of not getting facerolled. Since I can't trust the AI, I have to be able to get to the points quickly, while being able to deal with whatever shows up.

You'll want to either set up Defend (instead of Control) orders to protect your most important captured points, and/or assign intercept orders when you notice enemies headed towards a far point you control. That's a better way than running all over the place trying to do everything yourself

47

General Discussion / Re: What type of ship do you fly?

« on: August 17, 2012, 11:42:08 PM »

I'd feel a whole lot better if ramming actually did something

Onslaught at full burn drive speed should be something that you have to make sure you aren't in front of

It does quite significant damage, as long as the target does not have shields up or have armor--that makes sense to me. Besides, the point of burn-driving in with the Onslaught, I think, is to suddenly bring to bear a huge number of your weapons on the enemy. Not many ships can withstand even a few seconds of pounding by all the Onslaught's weapons.

I usually pilot capital ships or at least cruisers. I am much more capable of strategically placing all that firepower than the AI is, and piloting a capital ship also gives me a bit more time to manage the rest of my fleet. I generally leave all weapons except missiles on auto-fire: the main controls I use are movement, hold fire, shields, and systems. Positioning, and knowing when to fire (and when not to) are key.

My favorite flagships are the Onslaught and Conquest, and my favorite cruiser is probably the Dominator. The Eagle is quite fun as well. My first purchased campaign flagship is usually an Enforcer.

48

Suggestions / Re: Simulator from menu / and friendlies

« on: August 14, 2012, 12:07:06 PM »

Why?  So you'd rather have Alex spend time on a feature that's already partially in the game rather than working on other, more important stuff?

I say yes to the second suggestion, but not the first one.

Because pretty much all the mechanics and graphics already exist and it would be a great feature to have in the final game without having to enter dev mode. In an exaggerated analogy, it's like saying that to enable copy-pasting, you have to use an Administrator account in Windows and disable UAC. That shouldn't be necessary.

And frankly, I think this is important. It adds replay value to the game to be able to set up sorties and "missions" of your own, which would be nice to ameliorate the waits between new campaign features

49

General Discussion / Re: Anyone else prefer missions to the campaign?

« on: August 14, 2012, 11:57:30 AM »

At least in the current state, I much prefer the missions to the campaign: wish we could see more of them, with some new and interesting situations! Being able to custom-fit your fleet for the missions as well has made it far more interesting as well.

50

General Discussion / Re: "Predator or Prey?" anyone managed to win it in 0.53a? (let alone 100% it!)

« on: August 13, 2012, 07:37:04 PM »

With default loadouts, I couldn't even beat it in 0.52a, so... 

Haven't tried it yet in this version, but with my dual-flak anti-fighter setup for the Dominator, I could routinely 100% it in 0.52a.

51

Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.53.1a (In Development) Patch Notes

« on: August 13, 2012, 05:02:12 PM »

Found a typo

A bulky energy weapon from the early epoch, the TPC is built directly into the Onslaught's hull and provides overwhelming frontal firepower.

Designed before modular energy weapons were a reality, this weapon was coded into the Onslaught's blueprint because no other ship was large enough or had reactors that could generate the requisite power.

Even though it's outperformed by some of the later epoch modular designs, the Thermal Particle Cannon remains an integral part of the Onslaught's arsenal.

Sounds great though, especially since it didn't come at an OP cost. That, and increased firing arcs? The Onslaught and Conquest seem to be jousting hard for the flagship role in my fleet.

52

Announcements / Re: Starfarer 0.53.1a (In Development) Patch Notes

« on: August 13, 2012, 02:15:39 PM »

Tempest and Onslaught updates sound very nice! Any chance the other drone-deploying ships will get the ability to slowly regenerate drones in-combat?

53

Suggestions / Re: No ship system should be finite.

« on: August 13, 2012, 10:20:15 AM »

I do agree that having a (very slowly) regenerating stock of drones would be very useful. If for balance's sake that means cutting the total number of deployable drones for the Gemini/Astral/Apogee, that would be fine, I think.

As for flares, I think it should continue to be limited. Missiles are highly limited, and given how effective flares are as a counter to missiles, they should be limited as well.

54

General Discussion / Re: Usefull Buffalo MK-II builds!

« on: August 06, 2012, 03:32:47 PM »

And on another note, thanks to the AI that is much more liberal with missiles when near death, a stock Buffalo Mk2 can be quite a danger if you slowly whittle down its hull. When it reaches a certain point, it launches a barrage of missiles that can be deadly to a frigate without PD. Lost my Wolf to a pair of Buffalo Mk2s yesterday, sadly enough.

55

Discussions / Re: So, i was considering creating my own game...

« on: August 01, 2012, 03:36:49 PM »

If you've never really studied programming before, I'd advise you to start with Java. It's far more accessible and polished than C/C++ (and to a degree, C# as well), has good multi-platform support, and does its best to "protect" you from memory leaks, mucking with machine details, etc.

In addition, you'll want to start small and move up. Create a small game first that implements basic physics, or one that has a rudimentary AI, or one that tests out collision detection. Then, from what you learn, craft a basic game engine. Etc, etc, etc.

56

General Discussion / Re: Medusa: OP or do other destroyers need a buff

« on: August 01, 2012, 01:44:44 PM »

Five mediums actually

Thanks for the correction; it's been a while

I usually go with 2x HVD, 1x Heavy Mauler, 2x Flak/Dual Flak

57

General Discussion / Re: Medusa: OP or do other destroyers need a buff

« on: August 01, 2012, 01:39:53 PM »

Personally, I feel the Enforcer is even more powerful than the Medusa. The 4 medium ballistic turrets are extremely flexible, allowing for 2x HVD or Heavy Mauler + 2x Flak. Then, 4x Annihilators can quickly overwhelm PD or cripple an overloaded ship in one strike.

58

General Discussion / Re: Underpowered Ships

« on: July 31, 2012, 04:07:44 PM »

The Conquest is an interesting ship, but its weak armor and inefficient shields mean that you have to get it just right--and then it'll pack a huge punch--but if not, you could wind up losing half your hull integrity.

The Last Hurrah is a good testament to that. Oftentimes, I lose that mission after a single mistake takes me too close to a pair of Dominators, or to the Onslaught. Other times, I can utterly crush the enemy while taking minimal damage to the hull.

I think the Conquest's main flaws are
1.- Incompetent AI, as of 0.52.1
2.- Insufficient passive flux venting (requiring heavy investment in vents)
3.- Reliance on large battery of energy PD (coupled with #2, that's not good)

Of course, there's the inherent relatively weak hull, but that goes with being a battlecruiser. To remedy this, I usually pilot Conquests myself. I use a custom loadout that is usually big-gun only, with no PD. For The Last Hurrah, I use a loadout with 2x Gauss Cannon, 2x HVD on each side, with no missiles.

The rest of the points go to hull mods and vents to boost maneuverability, increase range, increase ammo, and boost flux venting. A very effective fleet capital ship, as long as it has some PD support and explosive-damage companions.

With my custom Dominator, I can take down a stock AI Conquest while taking no hull or armor damage whatsoever. But that doesn't mean all too much.

59

General Discussion / Re: Stagnant Development

« on: July 28, 2012, 03:25:26 PM »

These are all minor additions of new content similar to the existing stuff or straight tweaks to existing content, none of it is actual major stuff. I seem to remember the number after the 0. is supposed to be the percent complete (could be wrong here) in which case it's moved 3% in... 5 months.

No, the version number has nothing to do with the percent completed whatsoever...

60

General Discussion / Re: Stagnant Development

« on: July 28, 2012, 12:44:45 PM »

If you read the forum threads, you'll notice that development is continuing at a steady pace, and that Alex has mentioned that ship systems (including phase ships) is the last major combat-related addition before the campaign is developed further. Patience is a virtue.