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Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

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Author Topic: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 291505 times)

Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #555 on: January 12, 2016, 05:47:23 PM »

I forgot to mention I did most of my Guardian PD testing in 0.65, when other heavy weapons were weaker.  For a Paragon that wants more PD than nine Tactical/Burst PD lasers, two dual flak cannons will give area PD and high finisher DPS in one.  I just tried Guardian PD on a Paragon, and it was unnecessary.  Autopulse simply gives more bang for your OP buck if you already have PD covered (which two dual flak and nine small beam PD should).

Currently, Guardian PD is for the Odyssey that does not have access to enough weapons, yet has three Guardian PD laying around (which happened to me during 0.65).

What would be fun and neat for Guardian PD to do and compete with dual flak is to have the five or so beams that are part of the weapon system multi-target and zap multiple targets simultaneously.  As long as flak remains the only PD that can blast multiple shots, it will remain the PD king in the game, beating even Guardian PD.
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Adraius

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #556 on: January 12, 2016, 11:03:33 PM »

Honestly, I don't see doing that. Autofire state isn't meant to be static; it's something that you end up toggling on and off a fair bit during combat.

Uh, whoa.  That's not at all how I use autofire, nor how I see the AI using it. (except when it turns everything off, reducing its DPS to nothing and disabling its PD) I've actually been holding off making a big "the AI badly misuses weapon groups and autofire" post for awhile now, as once I start typing it up a fair bit of rage is gonna leak out. =P Maybe I'll start on that tomorrow.

But seriously, you play toggling auto-fire on and off in battle?
« Last Edit: January 12, 2016, 11:05:50 PM by Adraius »
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ANGRYABOUTELVES

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #557 on: January 13, 2016, 04:37:15 AM »

Honestly, I don't see doing that. Autofire state isn't meant to be static; it's something that you end up toggling on and off a fair bit during combat.

Uh, whoa.  That's not at all how I use autofire, nor how I see the AI using it. (except when it turns everything off, reducing its DPS to nothing and disabling its PD) I've actually been holding off making a big "the AI badly misuses weapon groups and autofire" post for awhile now, as once I start typing it up a fair bit of rage is gonna leak out. =P Maybe I'll start on that tomorrow.

But seriously, you play toggling auto-fire on and off in battle?
With some ships and weapons, yes. E.g. I've got 4 Swarmer SRMs on my Paragon that I toggle autofire depending on whether there's a bunch of frigates or fighters near me. I don't want to waste them on destroyers or cruisers, but I don't want to have to switch from the main guns every few seconds to hit the fire button when I'm surrounded by frigates. So I just turn autofire on when they're useful, and turn it off when they're not. Or with the Vindicator, a SS+ added ship, I turn the autofire guns off when I need to start spamming Fast Missile Racks so I don't flux-cap myself.
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #558 on: January 13, 2016, 10:08:49 AM »

But seriously, you play toggling auto-fire on and off in battle?

Mostly I manage it using "hold fire". But (especially from the AI's point of view, where control convenience isn't a factor) that amounts to the same thing.
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Tartiflette

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #559 on: January 13, 2016, 12:23:22 PM »

But seriously, you play toggling auto-fire on and off in battle?
Yes, I play like that all the time too.
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Taverius

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #560 on: January 13, 2016, 03:12:25 PM »

With some ships and weapons, yes. E.g. I've got 4 Swarmer SRMs on my Paragon that I toggle autofire depending on whether there's a bunch of frigates or fighters near me. I don't want to waste them on destroyers or cruisers, but I don't want to have to switch from the main guns every few seconds to hit the fire button when I'm surrounded by frigates. So I just turn autofire on when they're useful, and turn it off when they're not. Or with the Vindicator, a SS+ added ship, I turn the autofire guns off when I need to start spamming Fast Missile Racks so I don't flux-cap myself.
That's another issue for an AI thread, I guess - a missile marked anti-fighter with limited ammo shouldn't be shot at anything larger than a frigate really ...
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #561 on: January 13, 2016, 03:26:40 PM »

Quote
That's another issue for an AI thread, I guess - a missile marked anti-fighter with limited ammo shouldn't be shot at anything larger than a frigate really ...
Swarmers backed by max Missile Specialization can hurt glass cannon destroyers (i.e., Sunder and Medusa).

I can agree with the general idea provided small enemy ships are left.  If only big ships are left, unload the Swarmers anyway.  When I used to use frigate swarms, I had more than twenty frigates (Wolves and Lashers) fire Swarmers at cruisers (usually Eagle or Dominator).  Death by a thousand cuts, or at least half hull.

I would like to see fighters' unlimited dual Swarmer as an (more expensive) alternative to the limited quad Swarmers other ships use.
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ahrenjb

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #562 on: January 15, 2016, 09:22:07 AM »

Now that I've had some time to really dig into and play 0.7.1a, I feel like I'm ready to provide some feedback. Honestly, I don't have a whole lot. It comes down to feeling like everything is just a little "better". Quality of life improvements across the board, better balance, and the beginnings of a game universe that feels "alive". It's getting there. All the new features just serve to help fill out the world, and I think Alex's artistic vision (though I'm sure it has evolved much since he started this project) seems like it's coming together now.

AI officers make fleet ships much more useful, and there is less incentive now than there was before in my opinion to just optimize a flagship and do all the heavy lifting yourself. It's now pretty rewarding to get an actual coordinated fleet in. You can train officers for various roles or to pilot certain archetypes of ships effectively, and that's a great mechanic. The mission and communication board present now at ports seems like a pretty good implementation of something the game was going to need at some point, and it's perfectly effective. Very similar to  the way it's handled in the "X" series. The modding community is already doing a great job with it too (notably SS+ unique bounties), and that's a good sign of what the vanilla game will have to offer. I would, however, like to see a feature on the campaign layer that allows me to target and hail fleets that I'm not actually "touching". The new graphic features (coronas, fleet trails, etc) are all excellent.

New hyperspace terrain adds a little bit of old world "high seas navigation" appeal to traveling between systems, and I think it's a good start. I'd like to see hyperspace storms have some minor visual indication that they're about to start, but that might just be my laziness talking. A little more variety in terrain and I think its there.

Criticisms / complaints are minor. Notably, with some of the changes to missile weapons, it's a little hard to tell now which ones are "endless" and which are ammo limited from the stats. You've got weapons like the Salamander which do not utilize an ammo "magazine", they work more like a regular ballistic weapon, and there is no "Reloaded / minute" stat, just the regular RoF stat "4.8 shots / minute" or what have you. On the other hand, you have missile weapons that have the "Reloaded / minute" stat, giving an indication of sustained fire. I recognize that's down to the distinction of whether a weapon has a magazine or not, but I've been playing the game long enough that I have a pretty good idea what weapons perform in what ways. To a newer player it may not be extremely clear what's what.

The only other thing that I feel still needs some attention is the intel screen. Particularly the map, but I recognize this is a known issue. Additionally, I have a "feeling" that there is a better way to handle filters for the log screen, though I don't have any useful suggestions on how so that's not terribly useful.

This was all pretty much stream of consciousness, so pardon any rambling. I'm sure I forgot some things, but I'll update as I continue to play.
« Last Edit: January 15, 2016, 09:25:01 AM by ahrenjb »
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Serenitis

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #563 on: January 17, 2016, 06:36:05 AM »

New hyperspace terrain adds a little bit of old world "high seas navigation" appeal to traveling between systems, and I think it's a good start. I'd like to see hyperspace storms have some minor visual indication that they're about to start, but that might just be my laziness talking.
They flash briefly before starting. Although it seems pretty sketchy as to how briefly, as I frequently get caught in storms which are still in thier "warning" state and get hit for -50 (or more) maint. for not avoiding something that shouldn't even be there yet.
Storms really need a bit of attention. As it stands they are too easy to get stuck in, and far far too harsh when you do end up in one.

Fun fact: I have never toggled autofire on a weapon in battle, or even cared about it at all. :P
« Last Edit: January 17, 2016, 06:38:06 AM by Serenitis »
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Megas

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #564 on: January 17, 2016, 07:05:05 AM »

There were times when I get stuck in storms just by being near or grazing them with my circle.  Collision detection with storms is very unforgiving.
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ChaseBears

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #565 on: January 17, 2016, 05:23:37 PM »

IMO: I like that storms are tough to reliably evade when traveling in Deep Hyperspace. This gives players the choice of taking the safe route or the faster but more dangerous deep route.


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If I were creating the world I wouldn’t mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o’clock, Day One!

JohnDoe

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #566 on: January 17, 2016, 07:48:34 PM »

They are fairly predictable; just watch the color. Brighter = about to erupt.
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ChaseBears

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #567 on: January 17, 2016, 11:31:44 PM »

'Better warning time on storms' might make a good player skill~

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If I were creating the world I wouldn’t mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o’clock, Day One!

TJJ

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #568 on: January 18, 2016, 03:06:02 AM »

They are fairly predictable; just watch the color. Brighter = about to erupt.

The boundaries are fuzzy, the effect is binary; that's where the problem arises.

If the effect was gradated, there wouldn't be an issue.
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Schwartz

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Re: Starsector 0.7.1a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #569 on: January 18, 2016, 05:06:03 AM »

This is mostly something the player learns while playing the game. You end up being trapped in storms much less often, but for a newbie the speed reduction coupled with the 'black hole of supplies' make these brutal.

Suggestion:

Nerf hyperspace storms to 1/2 of their current speed penalty. Rework navigation skill so that at level 10, *all* terrain penalties are reduced to (or much closer to) 0.
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