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Author Topic: [0.8.1a] The Silent Armada (DISCONTINUED) v0.14 - Patching Things Up!  (Read 100652 times)

AxleMC131

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #30 on: April 08, 2017, 12:55:07 AM »

... Testing is happening. Things are looking grim for the Cascade. Although I'm exceedingly tempted now to make it a continuous-fire autocannon with a spin-up time, like the Thumper and Storm Needler. If only to make it something a little different to a four-barreled Heavy Autocannon.  :-\
« Last Edit: April 08, 2017, 12:59:26 AM by AxleMC131 »
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Anysy

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #31 on: April 08, 2017, 10:42:02 AM »

One of the big points of TSA ships is that they have unusually low vents but fairly high capacitance, which is done deliberately so players can get better use out of the Flux Sink systems.

I feel like this doesnt end up playing out as well as youd like, because of one silly thing: "at 100% capacity ballistic RoF and flux dissipation are both increased by up to 250% of their normal rate!"

This is to say, at 100% flux (assuming you can shoot your guns at 100% flux without dropping to 99% flux first), the ship can fire one gun continuously. If you turn on the ship mod, the ship can fire one gun continuously.. It just shoots 3 times as fast. Sure, this is more dps, but it doesnt feel super great. It sorta works right now, but only because the cascade autocannons have a fixed fire rate governed by their reload speed, letting the extra flux recharge be used for other guns.
Also, this means that the ships are much better with a higher amount of vents, not a higher amount of capacity. A higher capacity just lets them lose less 'power bar' over time, but given the absurd levels of flux expenditure (read: cascade autofluxmaxers) they dont really hvae problems getting to high flux when they need it.

Consider maybe a couple of things - The active could stand to reduce flux by a measure of current flux, or possibly max flux over the duration. Thatd make the ability use let you get a short duration massive flux sink to let you cycle guns faster. Disconnecting it from flux recharge means it can be much stronger than suggesting people put more vents on the ships.

Possibly though, the active could massively reduce flux cost to shoot guns (while still increasing flux dissipation?). The idea of either of these is that you probably dont need the ship to be able to shoot its guns faster, but instead be able to do their top dps for a time regardless of flux.

Im not sure what the precise intent is with the power bar analogy, but some combination of the above could mean that after the ability runs out, the ship is in a much lesser power state (due to massive flux dissipation zeroing its flux) than it started.


As a note, most of these ideas are over breakfast thoughts, I havent had the time to go play with anything yet. I will say though I am not a fan of spin up cascade autocannon, because it only manages to further increase the problem hades cannons face.. (or I mean I could get better at hold fire options.. Actually, I should play with my keybinds. I should set up the 'toggle autofire <weapon group>' to be easier to press, that might help).

As for the other things - Yeah, I wasnt thinking about it, but a small mount there fits much better than a medium mount due to the way stock starfarer has missiles. It feels a bit awkward to have two of them, but probably fine. Im not really sure what you want the electra to do then, it could probably stand to be like an actual mortar type weapon, but itd have to lose the proximity detonation before id consider it balanced I think. And when did they remove the flux to energy damage? Ill hvae to go see what happened there, I miss my antimatter blasters already.
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Takion Kasukedo

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #32 on: April 08, 2017, 11:48:26 AM »

Tune the capacity rating to 75 / 80% and you'd be fine with the system.

If the system's too low for you, then it should be at 90% but no higher, that gets the guns firing for a bit longer of a period of time, I guess.
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NightKev

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #33 on: April 08, 2017, 02:45:29 PM »

Im pretty excited for this group of ships, particularly going into .8, as since ironclads has been discontinued there arent any real broadside centric ships around.
I think Tartiflette and his ORA faction would like to have a word... :P
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AxleMC131

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #34 on: April 08, 2017, 04:26:30 PM »

Im pretty excited for this group of ships, particularly going into .8, as since ironclads has been discontinued there arent any real broadside centric ships around.
I think Tartiflette and his ORA faction would like to have a word... :P

Yeah, I certainly don't have the monopoly on broadside ships. Also, just a disclaimer, I've never played Project Ironclads, so I have no idea what its "complete overhaul of the game" actually entails.
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AxleMC131

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #35 on: April 08, 2017, 05:12:18 PM »

Had a thought that could be worth following up for an upgrade to TSA combat mechanics:

Built-in Hullmod (Passive): Lowers flux generated by ballistic weapons relative to your current flux level, ie. at high flux levels firing weapons generates hardly any flux at all.

Ship System (Active): Uses flux rapidly to buff another area of the ship's capabilities (damage absorption, rate of fire, damage, top speed, etc.).


Worth a shot I reckon.

(NOTE: I realised that what I really wanted for TSA ships is basically what the Excelsior from SWP does. That level of abilities, but on a low-tech-ish ballistic weapons level)
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Anysy

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #36 on: April 08, 2017, 07:31:42 PM »

Im pretty excited for this group of ships, particularly going into .8, as since ironclads has been discontinued there arent any real broadside centric ships around.
I think Tartiflette and his ORA faction would like to have a word... :P

Yeah, I certainly don't have the monopoly on broadside ships. Also, just a disclaimer, I've never played Project Ironclads, so I have no idea what its "complete overhaul of the game" actually entails.


Yeah, but those are floating rectangles. And arent red. Red things explode more, everyone knows that.
But really, his are pretty new as well and this is the first one I saw (also, something about ballistics being cooler than lasers. Im pretty sure his fighters arent literally called 'leadspitters')
But really thanks for pointing those out, ill probably look at them too

As for ironclads, its a wonderful total conversion that changes a lot of everything - Ballistics no longer cost flux being the real big one. They instead almost universally use clip reloading. Missiles are stronger, but harder to get (small slots only have single shot missiles generally). Almost every ship is long rather than fat, and a lot of the design inspiration is current water navies. I think it also had a random sector before that went vanilla, along with some other nice features. It feels much more coherent as a theme overall.

Back on topic - Im very excited to see how op this iteration of systems is :D
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SafariJohn

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #37 on: April 08, 2017, 07:49:06 PM »

Red things explode more, everyone knows that.

Da red ones go faster. Yellow makez da biggest booms. ;)
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PyroFuzz

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.4
« Reply #38 on: April 08, 2017, 07:51:17 PM »

Red things explode more, everyone knows that.

Da red ones go faster. Yellow makez da biggest booms. ;)

Really, we should just all make it yellow, with a more dull color. Instead of it bursting out so much!  ;D
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AxleMC131

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.5
« Reply #39 on: April 09, 2017, 05:32:15 PM »

Update: Version D 0.5 (Demo content expansion #3)

Missions received! We now have three - yes, THREE - easy story-based missions for you to play as well as the basic testing mission. More are to come, but for now, enjoy a little more setting of the scene!

You may also enjoy the new Sidewinder rocket-armed fighter, and some of the changes made to the Cascade Autocannon and Autoloader Flux Sink system. Also, the built-in hullmod has had a polish and is now named "Exotic Flux Core", with an improved description tooltip.

Also includes miscellaneous alterations, balancing attempts and fixes.

Check the OP for more details.

Please remember that I want to hear suggestions for balancing TSA ships' and weapons' stats against stock equipment! All recommendations welcome!
« Last Edit: April 09, 2017, 05:36:56 PM by AxleMC131 »
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RandomnessInc

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.5
« Reply #40 on: April 10, 2017, 06:19:30 AM »

Nexralin comparability soon?
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DinoZavarski

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.5
« Reply #41 on: April 10, 2017, 12:34:39 PM »

Hey, i am working on backport of TSA to latest Ironclads. The reasons:

- It nicely fits the style.
- My Intel Atom @home barely fails to handle stock SS, however Ironclads+VNS is playable.

I do it for my own sake, but can publish it when ready if you allow.
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cjuicy

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.5
« Reply #42 on: April 10, 2017, 12:43:27 PM »

The new fighters look gorgeous. Also, how much coding know-how did you need for this mod?
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AxleMC131

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.5
« Reply #43 on: April 10, 2017, 02:44:59 PM »

Nexralin comparability soon?

Oh boy, if you want this to be compatible with Nexerelin, you need a new modder. :-[

EDIT: As it is none of the ships are in the campaign, but unless Nexerelin is even more in-depth that what I've heard, all the modded weapons should spawn in markets.



Hey, i am working on backport of TSA to latest Ironclads. The reasons:

- It nicely fits the style.
- My Intel Atom @home barely fails to handle stock SS, however Ironclads+VNS is playable.

I do it for my own sake, but can publish it when ready if you allow.


Umm... I presume that means you're putting the TSA ships into the Ironclads mechanic foundation? In which case, by all means go ahead! If you want to publish your work here though, just remember to give credit where credit is due.



The new fighters look gorgeous. Also, how much coding know-how did you need for this mod?

Glad you like 'em. :)

And, basically, none. When I started properly modding Starsector (about three months ago - before which I'd made ships, weapons and missions, but very basic stuff) I knew effectively nil about Java. A lot of my work was copy-paste-and-change-some-values (actually, a fair amount still is). Now... I think I know a little more. It's something I like talking about because I'm also a Minecraft fan, and I've spent a lot of time playing with commands within the game, all of which are written in json syntax. That helped me out when I learnt Python last year at university, and it's definitely channeled through to Starsector too, which is nice. SS is a great tool for learning how both Java and json work together and differently.

As it is there's still a huuuuuuge quantity of things I cannot do, not even close, because I don't know how to properly code Java from scratch. And while I have used both Starsector's core files and various mod files as templates to give me hints, some areas of the modding world are still out of my reach for now because I can't understand the huge walls of code.  :-\ That's why you won't be seeing 1) A unique faction using TSA ships, 2) A new system or base anywhere in the sector, or 3) Nexerelin capability, any time soon. It sucks, but that's the truth of it, and I suppose what I lose out on by being an amateur.
« Last Edit: April 10, 2017, 06:34:05 PM by AxleMC131 »
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cjuicy

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Re: [0.7.2a] The Silent Armada (Demo) v0.5
« Reply #44 on: April 10, 2017, 04:28:27 PM »

Interesting. Thanks for the answer.

My idea for a mod consists of missile heavy ships with spammy missiles that avoid PD at the cost of range and/or payload.
I'm talking a Macross Missile Massacre with each ship.

Too bad I can't sprite, kitbash, or properly code. (yet)
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