Hey HM, as promised here's my small write up. I've put in close to ~200 hours, 4 full long runs and like 10ish quick restarts to check some random faction stuff and starter ships. I've tried to use at most 2-3 extra faction mods at a time so I've mostly mixed up DME, MP, Tahlan, prv all with Nex and mostly QOL mods (total ~15), but I already feel like I should apologize for calling them just "faction mods" since it's absolutely crazy to me how much content they add. The TL;DR is that my experience was fantastic, BB fights felt amazing, vector graphics spoiled me and I don't think I could play this game without DME anymore. Well done!
For playstyle reference I would consider myself a min/max-y player that has just climbed over the huge knowledge wall and landed in the ball pit that is the modding scene. Most of the runs ended up with Automated Ships for 10ish Glimmers, escorting mostly cruisers and capitals that were piloted by 10 level 5 officers with 3 elite skills. Outside of providing ECM and nav rating, the Glimmers were a fantastic PD "wall" erected to survive the alpha strike of the new modded threats. With that out of the way I can only talk about the things that stood out to me, since even in 200 hours there's no possible way for me to try it all, much as I'd like to.
DME as a faction felt complete, with options for ship roles and weapons alike. They seemed balanced at a point just above TT level when it comes to fleets but did not buckle like them when it comes to Nex. I'm not that much into carriers personally, but if I was then this would be the faction of choice. I also have to mention the vector graphics and design - they have legit spoiled this game for me so... all I can say is
bravo! As an enemy DME actually prepares you well for what you're gonna face later when you dare venture to Lenze. Having enough PD to deal with the fighters and comfortably position against the elongated ship hulls and possibly flank their vulnerable backsides with fast frigates or the like is about as tactical as this game has gotten for me. It was only after I ventured to Sigma space that I knew it was all a teaching exercise and my first experience would be best described like this:
Now when it comes to DME weapons I finally started to see this game's "triangle" of power - range - utility (EMP) and it only came to pass with mods like yours and Tahlan filling the missing gaps. My one caveat here was how hard it was to stock up on the stuff, even if allied with them in some cases. I don't know if that's by design yet or if I just hit a bad rng spree, but for half of the runs I was way past early/mid game when I finally found the needed weapons merchant in some random bar. Here's a short list of my stand-outs:
S: Capacitor Microlaser, Hybrid Pulser, Snub Hybrid Blaster
All of these are amazing when combined with IPDAI and the elite portion of Point Defence skill and Target Analysis for boosting the EMP damage. SHB compared to AMB with the same setup is a trade off between armor cracking and EMP so in the case of your officer not having elite TA the choice is pretty obvious. If he does have it then you have to take into account if the ship has other (better) sources of EMP and weigh them out. This effectively is why these weapons are a stand out to me - not because they're OP but because they give you options and choices and I love that. Just want to throw a special shoutout at the end for the S-mine discharger, which is just so satisfying of a concept and visuals.
M: Hybrid Blaster, Hellrider XRM, Smart Plasmid Mortar
For Hybrid Blaster see above. For Hellrider - absolutely worth the extra 2 OP over the Harpoons, it has become my new favorite missile and I never leave home without it. It is surgical, specialized and again visually satisfying. I would maybe slightly lower the volume of the sound it makes since it's a pretty specific pitch. Finally SPM - it's pretty obvious why it's a stand-out but I feel it's a worthy reward for battling the Breakers. The one busted thing about it is that you can put it on back/side mounds but it still comes with the caveats of being pretty expensive OP wise, adding extra flux and ultimately - the AI being stupid and shooting at its allies with it, which is also the reason why you can't just mass equip it on everything. But I love the concept more than the weapon itself - it's unique and it's a "chase" item.
H: Auto Hybrid Blaster, Twinjack Heavy Slicer
Same reasons as the above paragraphs. To quickly talk about the slicer weapons - aside from the fantastic sound they make, they also fill the chase unique role but they feel far more specialized when it comes to ships that want them. I think the accuracy of the blades is the difference maker which is also why I see much better results with the Heavy Slicer than the mediums - when the carrying ship gets into position to use them it has to make it count and have enough of an impact so launching 12 blades guarantees better odds.
Ships: Ifrit and Sparrowhawk
We talked about Ifrit briefly on Discord, but combined with the Assault spec it becomes basically immortal*. Glad to hear you're fixing it. Sparrowhawk seems like the definition of a chase ship and I only wish it was harder to get, maybe from a BB introductory Lenze bounty or some static one-off patrol fleet. If there was a ship to compare it to it would be the Izanami from Tahlan since they both use S-dash and it's pretty obvious who wins that fight, but between the fighter bays and the BB special mods it just has too many options going for it. That being said it is one of a kind so I don't think it deserves nerfs, just a more flavorful way of acquiring it.
Finally the BB fights - they're simply fantastic. They're hard, fast, punishing and when a certain devil's spawn comes out to play - scary af. The Ifrits' immortality has an
* next to it because of your Devil Rays and I sometimes hear the sound their system makes in my nightmares, an absolutely stellar enemy. The one problem I have with it is that it seems like it's scripted when it comes into the fights and it maybe should be somewhat random since it makes so much more space for the other ships around it, coming in and instantly becoming public enemy #1. The other problem with it being static can best be described by an example - I got cocky, started taking 2-3 small/mid BB fleets at a time and didn't bother checking their ships. This obviously led to a fight where
6 of those things popped out at once... I haven't yet found the inspiration to make a meme about that encounter but let's just say it was brutal. There are numerous other experiences around these fights, like trying to peel off a bunch of Lancers focused in on your capital or desperately chasing after a Warlock close to death that are inevitably the reason we're here - I am addicted. I don't think I could play Starsector without these fights anymore and without your mod. I couldn't read over the entire thread since it's massive but I saw you were interested in how much Sigma matter is reasonably farmable by players so I am going to take some screenshots of my inventory later and try to estimate them against the run's playtime. Can't wait to see what mechanic you make out of that and if you're interested I have a few lore-friendly ideas for it:
Spoiler
Just kidding
Thank you for your work <3
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Topic: [0.95.1a] Dassault-Mikoyan Engineering v.1.6a - Update for 0.95.1 (Read 936531 times)