This is not as long or complete as my previous feedback posts because I cannot spend as much time playing Starsector at the moment.
New starter ships
* Wayfarer: Definitely more usable than Cerberus, thanks to shields and decent, if not great, stats. Its weapon mounts are similar to Centurion, except Wayfarer's have wider arcs, making it easier to aim three weapons with Wayfarer than with Centurion. Vulcans are no-brainers for the rear mounts, it needs them to defend against missiles (flare launcher is not enough). Side mounts are best served with tactical laser, ion cannon, or more ballistics. Not the best combat frigate, but usable. Assign a Cautious officer to the Wayfarer and it will do a decent job at surviving.
* Centurion: This feels like a weird cross between a scaled-down Conquest and a Monitor. It is difficult to point three guns on one target, although it has no trouble pointing two at two. It is easier to fight with the Wayfarer than with the Centurion! The best configuration is identical to the Wayfarer, that is, two Vulcans at the back, two ballistics at the front, and ballistic, tactical laser, or ion cannon at the sides. I often mount Salamander on its sole missile mount.
Not too fond of this ship. When I wanted for another midline frigate, I hoped for something like a scaled-down Hammerhead, Falcon, or Eagle. Instead, we get another Monitor-like ship - good defense, poor firepower (too hard to aim three guns at the enemy). I suppose one thing in favor for it is a bit more common than Monitor, and if player wants more, he can buy broken shuttles to suicide in and respawn.
* Scarab: Its Temporal Shell makes it much more powerful than it appears. With altered time, Scarab can be elsewhere quickly and unleash more firepower, making it an excellent pursuit vessel. Scarab has many mounts, but come on, you know the front five will be dedicated to offense and the rest at the sides will be for PD, if not left empty. Scarab does not have the flux stats to support five IR pulse lasers or more than one or two antimatter blasters for the duration of its Temporal Shell. The default configuration probably works best, although five beams or ion cannons might work alright.
One annoying thing about Scarab - it is almost as rare as Hyperion. Combined that player cannot respawn as Scarab, the Scarab start is a no-brainer choice for me, even with the Tri-Tachyon reputation hit (which is a big deal if I want a Tri-Tachyon commission). Lashers are common as dirt. Wayfarer appears often enough in Black Markets. Centurion is accessible for Hegemony members, rare otherwise, but at least player can suicide for Centurion if desperate for it. Scarab... the starter is likely the only one you will get. (I was lucky and found another Scarab in Tibicena's Black Market.)
If I do not want Scarab, Centurion becomes the next starter choice (assuming combat-focused character) because Hegemony is the only faction that uses them often enough, and they are locked behind commission. Lasher is ubiquitous and needs no commission, only favorable relations. Not sure about Wayfarer since I only see them somewhat frequently in Black Markets.
Phase cloak and ships
In general...
Phasing is not very useful for avoiding attacks thanks to cool down. However, it is extremely useful for mobility. When I use a phase ship, I phase it until it reaches my destination.
Afflictor's Quantum Disruptor is nasty. Brings down shields, unphases other phase ships, unlocks ships out of their systems. It can even block attempts to teleport.
Fighting phase frigates are about as obnoxious as before. They dart about, trying to flank the target. If they cannot, they back off, vent, then try again. Yes, they are vulnerable after decloaking, but most ships are too slow to catch phase frigates, making the latter mostly untouchable as before. The only improvement from before is they run out of CR - and become vulnerable - much faster. In the worst case, it is a few minutes.
Doom is easier to fight though. It is not too fast even while phased.
* Harbinger: Seems powerful. Can focus-fire three medium guns to blast stuff and use two Vulcans for rear PD. Feels much like a phase Sunder, although it can be configured for missile spam, if desired. So far, my favorite configuration is three heavy blasters and two Vulcans. With skills, the Harbinger can vent spam three blasters very well. Only problem, three blasters with less than great flux capacity do not combine well with Entropy Amplifier (very similar to Diablo II's cursed status), since venting breaks the curse. What I often do is curse, fire blasters twice, phase, fire more blasters, vent.
New weapons
Not impressed with Ion Pulser. Too short-ranged, bad accuracy, and low sustained DPS. Phase ships can probably make better use of it, but I rather have a good blaster to smash something quickly, or pulse laser if nothing else.
Ion Beam seems useful, if combined with blasters or ballistics. I like how it bypasses shields. Low DPS and high flux costs probably mean I would use only one, maybe two. The only problem with Ion Beam is it is very rare. I only got one by looting it from a Vigilance. I bet Hegemony carries them, but I have yet to see Tri-Tachyon offer them.
Other
It seems AI reacts to Hyperion teleportation more quickly than before. I have seen the AI shoot at the Hyperion before it fully rematerializes, if guns already point at the destination. This means Hyperion needs to choose its destination more carefully. Hyperion should avoid teleporting ahead of the enemy's weapons, or further away from the enemy if it cannot do so. Teleporting too close to a battleship is a bad idea now.
Ill-Advised Modifications hullmod makes the ship that has it unusable for anything aside from firing one-shot missiles. I captured a Luddic-Path Lasher, configured it with dual machine guns, Vulcans, light assault gun, and Annihilators. Almost every time I send it into battle, something or three breaks and goes offline permanently within a few seconds, before I can kill my first ship in battle. This is too harsh. Normal malfunctions, sure, no problem. Critical malfunctions hurt too much. As for the Lasher I captured, I reverted to an earlier save and pretend that did not happen (sacrificed too many marines to get it).
After seeing what Ill-Advised Modifications did, I did not bother trying the Mudskipper II. What good is a flying cannon for me if it goes offline after a few seconds of fighting? Currently, Mudskipper is good only for loot and possibly adding Gauss Cannons for sale at Black Market.
That is all for now.
