Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

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

Pages: 1 [2] 3

Author Topic: Raids are not legal grey areas  (Read 8276 times)

Megas

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 12118
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #15 on: November 25, 2018, 05:22:06 AM »

I reached the point where factions send at least three huge endgame fleets at my colony.  This is not a legal gray area, this is an act of war.  Doubly so if one of them steals my relays (which my fleets do not reclaim due to not being hostile with the attacking faction at large).  If I personally get involved in the fighting (which I should to safeguard my star fortress), I bleed rep like crazy, so I need to let the patrols auto-resolve as much as possible to avoid rep loss.
Logged

Megas

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 12118
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #16 on: November 25, 2018, 06:34:54 AM »

Come to think of it, if my fleet needs to have transponder off to raid without the defending faction becoming hostile at me, their fleets should have their transponders off when they decide to raid my planet too (provided attacking faction is not hostile; if it is, no point then).  I guess that makes them harder to spot, but if you plan to fight them, you know you will camp on your battlestation until they come to you where not seeing them early enough is not a problem.

P.S.  And if transponders are off, and my market does not have free port, it would be nice if I can tell my patrols to harass them for no transponder.  (I probably would keep relaxed transponder rules so I do not need it on myself.)
« Last Edit: November 25, 2018, 06:38:34 AM by Megas »
Logged

nomadic_leader

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 725
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #17 on: November 25, 2018, 11:57:52 AM »

The faction wants loot and they are attacking you to get it. They are making a war... you should be happy to lose -3 rather than going straight to -100. How would more rep hit help you? Invaders behave this way all the time in the real world.

The player shouldn't get to setup a bunch of colonies and extract profit from them unless you really have the power to hold them, or the money/political clout. What the game needs are more diplomatic mechanics. if you're tired of fighting off invasions and getting rep dings, you should be able to  become a vassal state or protectorate of a faction by paying them each month to leave you alone, give you positive rep, and/or help protect you from raids by other factions. (At least until they start demanding even more)

As for the UN's effectiveness... Krim, Aleppo, Kigali, Vukovar, etc. It's a forum to make sure the big factions don't accidentally have a nuclear war; not to help the little guys.
Logged

Megas

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 12118
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #18 on: November 25, 2018, 01:03:15 PM »

I should not lose rep if I fight because I do not lose rep if my patrols autoresolve those fights for me.  Star Fortress is only worth it if you can join the fight and watch the carnage (and you lose rep doing so).  Otherwise, the extra drain on upkeep makes it impractical compared to simple battlestation.  I read that enemies can destroy battlestation/star fortress so relying on its stability/defense bonuses may not be the best idea.
Logged

Gothars

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4403
  • Eschewing obfuscatory verbosity.
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #19 on: November 25, 2018, 01:13:31 PM »

Some ideas and comments:

- To archive plausible deniability, factions only send mercenaries/hired pirates on expeditions, as long as your are not hostile (or vengeful) with them. Nothing you do to these fleets has any impact on relationships. If you are hostile, they send their own (stronger) fleets.

- Pirates don't usually attack a well defended colony, they focus on raiding transport fleets. If pirates attack a planet, they were usually paid by someone to do it.

- You might find hints on their employer in the wreckage of a defeated pirate/mercenary fleet, or at a bar at their place of origin. You can use that evidence to pressure the faction and gain reputation/monetary compensation.

- The frequency of expeditions scales with your relationship to a faction.

- In general, the frequency of expeditions is much reduced. A reduced market impact of (fledgling) player colonies should be a main reason for that.

- The player raiding a market with their identity known (transponder on) greatly reduces relationship status, it's an act of war. You have to sneak/battle your way in with transponders off, or hire mercenaries/pirates yourself.




Logged
The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

Grievous69

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2980
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #20 on: November 25, 2018, 01:17:36 PM »

Wait you can hire pirates to do the dirty work? Is this from a mod or I forgot what was in all those blog posts? Never saw an option for that in the game, at least not yet.
Logged
Please don't take me too seriously.

Gothars

  • Global Moderator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4403
  • Eschewing obfuscatory verbosity.
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #21 on: November 25, 2018, 01:20:56 PM »

Sorry, no, these are just suggestions ;)
Logged
The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

Grievous69

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2980
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #22 on: November 25, 2018, 01:27:48 PM »

**Notices this was posted in Suggestions** I blame Alex for my sleep deprivation  :)
Logged
Please don't take me too seriously.

SCC

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 4112
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #23 on: November 25, 2018, 01:53:03 PM »

Some ideas and comments:

- To archive plausible deniability, factions only send mercenaries/hired pirates on expeditions, as long as your are not hostile (or vengeful) with them. Nothing you do to these fleets has any impact on relationships. If you are hostile, they send their own (stronger) fleets.
In general, I'd like to have the trouble escalate in less dramatic fashion, and a part of these would be corsairs. Something like, in order
  • Pirates just go after your colony because it's easy pickings
  • Factions finance pirates attacking your colony
  • Factions send bureaucracy and other non-military annoyances, to try and disrupt your industries, destabilise your colony or tax you into improfitability
  • Privateers go after you - first semi-open hostility declaration
  • Ultimatum?
  • War - can be stopped/postponed in some ways
It would be nice if these had alternative resolutions. Can you imagine Tri-Tachyon coming in, saying that you broke their copyright/patent and they're ready to sue you for millions of credits, but, in private, perhaps they can allow you to use that copyright/patent if you go and raid a colony that's cutting into their profits.

XazoTak

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 125
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #24 on: November 25, 2018, 01:54:28 PM »

This is the exact reason I haven't even made a colony yet, despite having almost 700k from tonnes of illegal trade.
I'm trying to join the pirates and get on the good side of Luddic Path, and can't afford the rep loss from defence since it's so hard to gain rep.
Getting rep will be easier once they let me do things like trade openly and join fights on their side.
Logged

Schwartz

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 1452
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #25 on: November 25, 2018, 07:10:26 PM »

I'd like the pirate thing, if not for the fact that by endgame, I'm already tired of fighting the same old pirate ships (and Ludd ships). Please, please not more of the same. The faction ships provide more challenge and variety.
Logged

intrinsic_parity

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 3071
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #26 on: November 25, 2018, 08:20:34 PM »

Pirate bases really become an annoying chore in end game. They are not difficult or interesting, just an annoyance I have to go through to maintain my colony income. They should scale back as your defenses scale up, and let factions be the real threat.
Logged

Megas

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 12118
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #27 on: November 25, 2018, 08:26:33 PM »

Pirates are okay occasionally.  They are more annoying as gigantic 40+ ship fleets (breaking fleet cap again?!) that lurk behind distress calls.  What I loathe most are Pathers because they can disrupt and ignore your defenses.  If not for the Intel exploit, finding them can be very frustrating.  At least you can chill in a bar for pirate base locations, and major factions are kind enough to tell you were they come from.
Logged

TaLaR

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 2794
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #28 on: November 25, 2018, 08:51:20 PM »

Pirates are okay occasionally.  They are more annoying as gigantic 40+ ship fleets (breaking fleet cap again?!) that lurk behind distress calls. 

Is there any real reason to respond to distress calls? At best you get a bit indy Rep. I think it was 3 Rep for 10 fuel + whatever amount of fuel you burn getting there.
Logged

nomadic_leader

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 725
    • View Profile
Re: Raids are not legal grey areas
« Reply #29 on: November 26, 2018, 01:07:42 AM »

Diplomacy and intelligent faction decision making are the solution to the annoyance  everyone is expressing.

You should be able to sign treaties to pay off factions/pirates.

Nobody should bother attacking the colony unless they have like a 75% chance of winning. They should just harass fleets instead. Would you mount a giant attack that you're probably going to lose? No. Why should the AI? Because fun? Well, obviously it isn't fun for anyone.

The rep hits yes I get that it sucks and it's annoying, but you can't expect to amass a bunch of goodies and not expect people to try to take it away. Its dog eat dog out there. It doesn't make sense though that it depends on whether you personally participate or not.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3