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[Voiddweller]

This is amazing and inspiring mod, that gives starsector entirely new gameplay possibilities! I mean strikecraft, while relatively brittle, can engage ships in melee without risk being fried by explosions, can easily outmaneuver most of ships, and this enables many new tactical solutions. Plus a nice ground support bonus I can roleplay a small mercenary company without relying on capital ship support!

[Crabyphus]

Just wanted to bug report, I've been seeing Watchdog class mobile armors start with empty left arm mounts- leaving them just with a single arm to work with.

[Tigasboss]

How do you guys build the valkazard?
I cant seem to make it work, feels like it takes sooo long to kill stuff

[hydremajor]

How do you guys build the valkazard?
I cant seem to make it work, feels like it takes sooo long to kill stuff

The valkazard is what I like to call a "support flanker"

it works best in tandem with a bigger better equipped ship, forcing the opponent to pick who's going to land hit around shields, it SHOULDN'T behave on its own and should ALWAYS look to press a numbers advantage, should the enemy turn to engage you in a valkazard use your mobility to make him whiff his attempts at blowing you out the sky

[SpaceDrake]

Early on, the 'Zard can be a general bully and full-time player ship - I like the short range ballistic combo of left arm MAG47 machine gun, right arm assault chaingun, center module counter shield (the omni-ness of the shield can help a lot), and strike missiles in the missile slots (the default reapers are good at this, but you can trade down to Hammers or something if you want refitting to go faster). It absolutely can 1v1 most frigates like a monster (and it better, at 20DP!)

Once you start getting to the point of needing to fight a lot of cruisers and capitals, though, you do generally need some ships that can hold a battle line, either from assisting allied fleets or having a few of your own. The 'Zard does remain a ridiculously strong (and fun) flanker, though, and you can swap to something like LA harpoon and RA shotgun for that, along with something like a torso HE beam or energy blaster; reapers remain super good for this role, though any hard strike missile will do. The 'Zard can absolutely brutalize ships without 360 degree shield coverage or ships that have to divide the attention of their omni-shields.

[Tigasboss]

Im not sure why but sometimes when using the Einhander i take damage while phased

[tentafill]

My game crashed from Magiclib's unsupported hullmod feature when I tried to place Safety Overrides on a mobile suit of some sort (sorry, I can't remember, first time using the mod). I'll post the log if it happens again

[Discgear]

Getting a crash because of this CataphractStrikeAbility.


478857 [Thread-3] INFO  exerelin.campaign.fleets.InvasionFleetManager  - Spawning invasion fleet for pirates; source Melancholia; target Khthon HQ
478860 [Thread-3] INFO  exerelin.campaign.intel.invasion.InvasionIntel  - Creating invasion intel
478865 [Thread-3] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\SS-armaa-2.24 (data/config/exerelin/groundBattleDefs.json)]
478866 [Thread-3] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\Nexerelin (data/config/exerelin/groundBattleDefs.json)]
478866 [Thread-3] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\StarsectorPolaris-master (data/config/exerelin/groundBattleDefs.json)]
478867 [Thread-3] INFO  com.fs.starfarer.loading.LoadingUtils  - Loading JSON from [DIRECTORY: C:\Program Files (x86)\Fractal Softworks\Starsector\starsector-core\..\mods\UAF (data/config/exerelin/groundBattleDefs.json)]
478881 [Thread-7] INFO  sound.oo0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  - Cleaning up music with id [miscallenous_corvus_campaign_music.ogg]
479008 [Thread-3] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.VerifyError: Bad type on operand stack
Exception Details:
  Location:
    exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin.dialogAddVisualPanel(Lcom/fs/starfarer/api/campaign/InteractionDialogAPI;)V @539: invokevirtual
  Reason:
    Type 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin$1' (current frame, stack[1]) is not assignable to 'exerelin/campaign/ui/InteractionDialogCustomPanelPlugin$ButtonEntry'
  Current Frame:
    bci: @539
    flags: { }
    locals: { 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/campaign/InteractionDialogAPI', float, float, 'java/awt/Color', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/campaign/FactionAPI', 'java/awt/Color', 'java/awt/Color', 'java/awt/Color', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/CustomPanelAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/TooltipMakerAPI', 'exerelin/campaign/ui/InteractionDialogCustomPanelPlugin', 'java/util/List', 'java/util/List', 'java/util/Iterator', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/fleet/FleetMemberAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/CustomPanelAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/TooltipMakerAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/TooltipMakerAPI', 'java/lang/String', float, 'java/lang/String', integer, 'java/lang/String', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/LabelAPI', float, 'java/lang/String', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/ButtonAPI', 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin$1' }
    stack: { 'exerelin/campaign/ui/InteractionDialogCustomPanelPlugin', 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin$1' }
  Bytecode:
    0x0000000: 0b45 1270 46b8 0047 3a04 b800 713a 0519
    0x0000010: 05b9 0072 0100 3a06 1905 b900 7301 003a
    0x0000020: 0719 05b9 0074 0100 3a08 2b04 b800 75b8
    0x0000030: 0076 3a09 b800 773a 0ab8 0078 3a0b 2ab8
    0x0000040: 0079 b900 7a01 00b6 007b 3a0c bb00 3459
    0x0000050: b700 623a 0d19 0cb9 0028 0100 3a0e 190e
    0x0000060: b900 2901 0099 01e5 190e b900 2a01 00c0
    0x0000070: 007c 3a0f 1909 2512 7d01 b900 7e04 003a
    0x0000080: 1019 1019 0f12 7d12 7db8 007f 3a11 1910
    0x0000090: 1911 b900 8002 0012 810b b900 8203 0057
    0x00000a0: 1910 25b2 0083 6612 8166 127d 03b9 0084
    0x00000b0: 0400 3a12 190f b900 5301 003a 1319 1219
    0x00000c0: 130b 1904 04bd 004b 5903 190f b900 5301
    0x00000d0: 0053 b900 8505 0057 190f b900 5801 00b9
    0x00000e0: 0086 0100 3814 bb00 4c59 b700 4d19 0fb9
    0x00000f0: 005e 0100 b900 8701 0012 146a b600 8812
    0x0000100: 4fb6 0050 b600 513a 152a 190f b600 8936
    0x0000110: 1617 14b8 008a 3a17 1912 bb00 4c59 b700
    0x0000120: 4d19 17b6 0050 128b b600 5012 8cb6 0050
    0x0000130: 128d b600 5019 15b6 0050 1254 b600 50b6
    0x0000140: 0051 24b9 008e 0300 3a18 1918 05bd 004b
    0x0000150: 5903 1917 5359 0419 1553 b900 8f02 0019
    0x0000160: 1815 1699 0008 1904 a700 06b8 0090 b900
    0x0000170: 9102 002a 190f b600 1e38 19bb 004c 59b7
    0x0000180: 004d 1719 b600 8812 4fb6 0050 b600 513a
    0x0000190: 1a19 12bb 004c 59b7 004d 1292 b600 5019
    0x00001a0: 1ab6 0050 b600 510b 1904 04bd 004b 5903
    0x00001b0: 191a 53b9 0085 0500 5715 1699 006d 1912
    0x00001c0: 1293 04b8 0094 190f 1906 1907 1908 1295
    0x00001d0: 1296 24b9 0097 0900 3a1b 191b 2ab4 001d
    0x00001e0: 190f a600 0704 a700 0403 b900 9802 00bb
    0x00001f0: 0099 592a 191b bb00 4c59 b700 4d12 9ab6
    0x0000200: 0050 190f b900 9b01 00b6 0050 b600 5119
    0x0000210: 0f2b b700 9c3a 1c19 0b19 1cb6 009d 190d
    0x0000220: 191c b900 6602 0057 1910 1912 b900 8002
    0x0000230: 0019 1112 9eb9 009f 0300 5719 0a19 1012
    0x0000240: 9eb9 00a0 0300 57a7 fe17 190d b900 2801
    0x0000250: 003a 0e19 0eb9 0029 0100 9900 1919 0eb9
    0x0000260: 002a 0100 c000 a13a 0f19 0f19 0db5 00a2
    0x0000270: a7ff e3b8 00a3 b1                     
  Stackmap Table:
    full_frame(@94,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299]},{})
    full_frame(@363,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360]},{Object[#360]})
    full_frame(@366,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360]},{Object[#360],Object[#353]})
    full_frame(@489,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360],Float,Object[#359],Object[#361]},{Object[#361]})
    full_frame(@490,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360],Float,Object[#359],Object[#361]},{Object[#361],Integer})
    chop_frame(@552,1)
    full_frame(@586,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307]},{})
    append_frame(@595,Object[#299])
    chop_frame(@627,1)

java.lang.VerifyError: Bad type on operand stack
Exception Details:
  Location:
    exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin.dialogAddVisualPanel(Lcom/fs/starfarer/api/campaign/InteractionDialogAPI;)V @539: invokevirtual
  Reason:
    Type 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin$1' (current frame, stack[1]) is not assignable to 'exerelin/campaign/ui/InteractionDialogCustomPanelPlugin$ButtonEntry'
  Current Frame:
    bci: @539
    flags: { }
    locals: { 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/campaign/InteractionDialogAPI', float, float, 'java/awt/Color', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/campaign/FactionAPI', 'java/awt/Color', 'java/awt/Color', 'java/awt/Color', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/CustomPanelAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/TooltipMakerAPI', 'exerelin/campaign/ui/InteractionDialogCustomPanelPlugin', 'java/util/List', 'java/util/List', 'java/util/Iterator', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/fleet/FleetMemberAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/CustomPanelAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/TooltipMakerAPI', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/TooltipMakerAPI', 'java/lang/String', float, 'java/lang/String', integer, 'java/lang/String', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/LabelAPI', float, 'java/lang/String', 'com/fs/starfarer/api/ui/ButtonAPI', 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin$1' }
    stack: { 'exerelin/campaign/ui/InteractionDialogCustomPanelPlugin', 'exerelin/campaign/intel/groundbattle/plugins/CataphractStrikeAbilityPlugin$1' }
  Bytecode:
    0x0000000: 0b45 1270 46b8 0047 3a04 b800 713a 0519
    0x0000010: 05b9 0072 0100 3a06 1905 b900 7301 003a
    0x0000020: 0719 05b9 0074 0100 3a08 2b04 b800 75b8
    0x0000030: 0076 3a09 b800 773a 0ab8 0078 3a0b 2ab8
    0x0000040: 0079 b900 7a01 00b6 007b 3a0c bb00 3459
    0x0000050: b700 623a 0d19 0cb9 0028 0100 3a0e 190e
    0x0000060: b900 2901 0099 01e5 190e b900 2a01 00c0
    0x0000070: 007c 3a0f 1909 2512 7d01 b900 7e04 003a
    0x0000080: 1019 1019 0f12 7d12 7db8 007f 3a11 1910
    0x0000090: 1911 b900 8002 0012 810b b900 8203 0057
    0x00000a0: 1910 25b2 0083 6612 8166 127d 03b9 0084
    0x00000b0: 0400 3a12 190f b900 5301 003a 1319 1219
    0x00000c0: 130b 1904 04bd 004b 5903 190f b900 5301
    0x00000d0: 0053 b900 8505 0057 190f b900 5801 00b9
    0x00000e0: 0086 0100 3814 bb00 4c59 b700 4d19 0fb9
    0x00000f0: 005e 0100 b900 8701 0012 146a b600 8812
    0x0000100: 4fb6 0050 b600 513a 152a 190f b600 8936
    0x0000110: 1617 14b8 008a 3a17 1912 bb00 4c59 b700
    0x0000120: 4d19 17b6 0050 128b b600 5012 8cb6 0050
    0x0000130: 128d b600 5019 15b6 0050 1254 b600 50b6
    0x0000140: 0051 24b9 008e 0300 3a18 1918 05bd 004b
    0x0000150: 5903 1917 5359 0419 1553 b900 8f02 0019
    0x0000160: 1815 1699 0008 1904 a700 06b8 0090 b900
    0x0000170: 9102 002a 190f b600 1e38 19bb 004c 59b7
    0x0000180: 004d 1719 b600 8812 4fb6 0050 b600 513a
    0x0000190: 1a19 12bb 004c 59b7 004d 1292 b600 5019
    0x00001a0: 1ab6 0050 b600 510b 1904 04bd 004b 5903
    0x00001b0: 191a 53b9 0085 0500 5715 1699 006d 1912
    0x00001c0: 1293 04b8 0094 190f 1906 1907 1908 1295
    0x00001d0: 1296 24b9 0097 0900 3a1b 191b 2ab4 001d
    0x00001e0: 190f a600 0704 a700 0403 b900 9802 00bb
    0x00001f0: 0099 592a 191b bb00 4c59 b700 4d12 9ab6
    0x0000200: 0050 190f b900 9b01 00b6 0050 b600 5119
    0x0000210: 0f2b b700 9c3a 1c19 0b19 1cb6 009d 190d
    0x0000220: 191c b900 6602 0057 1910 1912 b900 8002
    0x0000230: 0019 1112 9eb9 009f 0300 5719 0a19 1012
    0x0000240: 9eb9 00a0 0300 57a7 fe17 190d b900 2801
    0x0000250: 003a 0e19 0eb9 0029 0100 9900 1919 0eb9
    0x0000260: 002a 0100 c000 a13a 0f19 0f19 0db5 00a2
    0x0000270: a7ff e3b8 00a3 b1                     
  Stackmap Table:
    full_frame(@94,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299]},{})
    full_frame(@363,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360]},{Object[#360]})
    full_frame(@366,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360]},{Object[#360],Object[#353]})
    full_frame(@489,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360],Float,Object[#359],Object[#361]},{Object[#361]})
    full_frame(@490,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307],Object[#299],Object[#358],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#356],Object[#359],Float,Object[#359],Integer,Object[#359],Object[#360],Float,Object[#359],Object[#361]},{Object[#361],Integer})
    chop_frame(@552,1)
    full_frame(@586,{Object[#294],Object[#295],Float,Float,Object[#353],Object[#354],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#353],Object[#355],Object[#356],Object[#357],Object[#307],Object[#307]},{})
    append_frame(@595,Object[#299])
    chop_frame(@627,1)

   at java.lang.Class.getDeclaredConstructors0(Native Method)
   at java.lang.Class.privateGetDeclaredConstructors(Class.java:2671)
   at java.lang.Class.getConstructor0(Class.java:3075)
   at java.lang.Class.newInstance(Class.java:412)
   at exerelin.campaign.intel.groundbattle.plugins.AbilityPlugin.loadPlugin(AbilityPlugin.java:358)
   at exerelin.campaign.intel.groundbattle.GroundBattleSide.<init>(GroundBattleSide.java:62)
   at exerelin.campaign.intel.groundbattle.GroundBattleIntel.<init>(GroundBattleIntel.java:151)
   at exerelin.campaign.intel.groundbattle.GBUtils.estimateTotalDefenderStrength(GBUtils.java:114)
   at exerelin.campaign.intel.invasion.InvasionIntel.setMarineCount(InvasionIntel.java:203)
   at exerelin.campaign.intel.invasion.InvasionIntel.init(InvasionIntel.java:122)
   at exerelin.campaign.fleets.InvasionFleetManager.generateInvasionOrRaidFleet(InvasionFleetManager.java:836)
   at exerelin.campaign.fleets.InvasionFleetManager.generateInvasionOrRaidFleet(InvasionFleetManager.java:788)
   at exerelin.campaign.fleets.InvasionFleetManager.generateInvasionOrRaidFleet(InvasionFleetManager.java:517)
   at exerelin.campaign.fleets.InvasionFleetManager.processInvasionPoints(InvasionFleetManager.java:1060)
   at exerelin.campaign.fleets.InvasionFleetManager.advance(InvasionFleetManager.java:1466)
   at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.advance(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignState.advance(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.BaseGameState.traverse(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
479081 [Thread-9] INFO  sound.oo0OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  - Creating streaming player for music with id [miscallenous_corvus_campaign_music.ogg]
479081 [Thread-9] INFO  sound.H  - Playing music with id [miscallenous_corvus_campaign_music.ogg]

[Zumberge]

How do you guys build the valkazard?
I cant seem to make it work, feels like it takes sooo long to kill stuff

Sorry for the long response, here; things got a bit out of hand.  A lot of this might be redundant information (or maybe incorrect - I've no doubt people are willing to point out what I got wrong or assumed incorrectly about, thankfully) and a bit disorganized besides, but I'm going to try.  Just remember that the most important thing about piloting a one-of-a-kind high performance war machine that uses combat stimulants and direct neural interfaces to push the pilot beyond human limitations is having fun and being yourself.

Spoiler

• As stated, the Valkazard isn't a brawler - none of the strike craft are, but this one especially.  You can fight toe-to-toe early on and just overwhelm frigates and lighter destroyers, but once battles get large enough it's easier and safer to be an opportunist who picks away at easy targets or blows chunks out of the hulls of distracted ships ("Hold my beer, I'm going to shoot out that Onslaught's engines.").  The combat stimulants make getting behind targets way easier, provided you get good at grazing shots.  If you're not, my advice is to start playing shmups.  There's a lot of skill crossover between them and Starsector.

• Until you get good at piloting it, keep a Fenris-class carrier around.  Hell, keep it around even after you get good at it; if/when you get into trouble it'll teleport you to it, where you can dock and repair at an accelerated rate compared to other carriers.  It's saved my life more times than I can count, and you can use the refit time to reflect on what went wrong.

• Considering how many weapons have ammo in one form or another, the Valk gets a good amount of mileage out of S-modded Expanded Magazines - with that, you can fire the Shotgun basically non-stop as long as your flux holds out, and can sustain fire with the Machine Gun for an impressively long time.  Hardened Subsystems is nice too because oh man are you gonna be running down your PPT with the Silversword system.  Hardened Flux Conduits for EMP resistance and faster venting; the latter to keep up pressure better and the former because oh boy do Ion Beams screw you over.  Personally I also go with Reinforced Bulkheads because it's a little bit more of a safety net, but that's just me.

• Skill-wise, Combat Endurance is useful for the same reasons as Hardened Subsystems (I mean yeah, you can dock at a carrier, but this minimizes down time).  Systems Expertise is also good, because it means your "kill stuff more gooder" system recharges faster.  Gunnery Implants lets you squeeze out a bit more range, Polarized Armor is good for the same reasons Hardened Flux Conduits is good... Ordnance Expertise is not ideal, since none of the built-in weapons count for the bonus, so it's just going to go off of what's in the missile mounts.

• Speaking of missiles!  I... actually don't use them.  I tend to forget that I have them, use the OP for hull mods, or otherwise succumb to the "what if I use them but REALLY need them later on???" problem.  Generally speaking though, you can just keep the Reapers on when you need to solve a problem or make a hole in something so damage gets through, or use Breach SRMs for making more holes in more things during longer engagements.  Considering the engagement ranges you're going to be fighting at, shorter-ranged missile weapons are perfectly acceptable.  The Dorito small missile weapons work well, natch, if you can find one.

• Loadouts!  Machine Gun, Chaingun, HE Beam is a solid go-to: Pressure shields with the MG, hit armor with the Chaingun, use the HE Beam to peel off armor against larger targets.  Or to help out your allies by sweeping it across incoming bomber wings.  If you've ever used a Safety Overrides build on smaller ships then you generally know what to expect.  Barring access to a big laser, of course.

• Harpoon and Shotgun is something of a high-risk big ship hunter, where you flank the ship, shoot the Harpoon into its engines and then pound away with the shotgun as the EMP fries everything.  Strong disabler, but a little bit lighter on conventional offense since the Harpoon is a utility weapon first and foremost, and you're going to want something else to distract the target if it's got an omni shield.  For this you're definitely going to want some way to punch through heavy armor better for the Shotgun's sake.  Reapers work, of course, but they've got an arming time and there's the whole "being a fragile ship that's very close to the Sector's strongest torpedo when it goes off" thing to consider.

• Two Recoilless Rifles and the Kinetic Cannon for the core work weirdly well for an ersatz sniper build.  A bit light on kinetic damage, sure, but if you're flanking stuff then that's not as much of a problem and at least you have it, just in case you need to keep up shield pressure while one of the larger ships vents or something.  Plus the Cannon's got an EMP component to it's still got some use.  800 range on everything means that you can outrange a lot of point defense systems easily; it's probably one of the safer setups you can use.  Think of it like what Leon said in The Professional, where you start with a rifle, then work your way towards shorter-ranged weapons as your skills improve.

• If you absolutely, positively cannot wrap your head around loadouts, two Pulse Lasers on the same weapon slot works.  You point, you shoot, things explode.  Same for two Shotguns, if you build in Expanded Magazines or don't mind not shooting for a little bit.

• Even if you don't use the core module's weapon much, it's still got passive bonuses applied to it.  No shame in using one just for that if you're relying on your main weapons; just remember that it's there should the situation demand either it, or a better one.

[close]

[SpaceDrake]

Getting a crash because of this CataphractStrikeAbility.

Check the Nexelerin thread, specifically the opening post.

[lustfull]

leynos (temporal shell) has wrong AIM or gun sights with the left arm , a few degrees to correct. shots go left  ( when piloted)
And also watchdog missing an arm to.

[Tigasboss]

How do you guys build the valkazard?
I cant seem to make it work, feels like it takes sooo long to kill stuff

Sorry for the long response, here; things got a bit out of hand.  A lot of this might be redundant information (or maybe incorrect - I've no doubt people are willing to point out what I got wrong or assumed incorrectly about, thankfully) and a bit disorganized besides, but I'm going to try.  Just remember that the most important thing about piloting a one-of-a-kind high performance war machine that uses combat stimulants and direct neural interfaces to push the pilot beyond human limitations is having fun and being yourself.

Spoiler

• As stated, the Valkazard isn't a brawler - none of the strike craft are, but this one especially.  You can fight toe-to-toe early on and just overwhelm frigates and lighter destroyers, but once battles get large enough it's easier and safer to be an opportunist who picks away at easy targets or blows chunks out of the hulls of distracted ships ("Hold my beer, I'm going to shoot out that Onslaught's engines.").  The combat stimulants make getting behind targets way easier, provided you get good at grazing shots.  If you're not, my advice is to start playing shmups.  There's a lot of skill crossover between them and Starsector.

• Until you get good at piloting it, keep a Fenris-class carrier around.  Hell, keep it around even after you get good at it; if/when you get into trouble it'll teleport you to it, where you can dock and repair at an accelerated rate compared to other carriers.  It's saved my life more times than I can count, and you can use the refit time to reflect on what went wrong.

• Considering how many weapons have ammo in one form or another, the Valk gets a good amount of mileage out of S-modded Expanded Magazines - with that, you can fire the Shotgun basically non-stop as long as your flux holds out, and can sustain fire with the Machine Gun for an impressively long time.  Hardened Subsystems is nice too because oh man are you gonna be running down your PPT with the Silversword system.  Hardened Flux Conduits for EMP resistance and faster venting; the latter to keep up pressure better and the former because oh boy do Ion Beams screw you over.  Personally I also go with Reinforced Bulkheads because it's a little bit more of a safety net, but that's just me.

• Skill-wise, Combat Endurance is useful for the same reasons as Hardened Subsystems (I mean yeah, you can dock at a carrier, but this minimizes down time).  Systems Expertise is also good, because it means your "kill stuff more gooder" system recharges faster.  Gunnery Implants lets you squeeze out a bit more range, Polarized Armor is good for the same reasons Hardened Flux Conduits is good... Ordnance Expertise is not ideal, since none of the built-in weapons count for the bonus, so it's just going to go off of what's in the missile mounts.

• Speaking of missiles!  I... actually don't use them.  I tend to forget that I have them, use the OP for hull mods, or otherwise succumb to the "what if I use them but REALLY need them later on???" problem.  Generally speaking though, you can just keep the Reapers on when you need to solve a problem or make a hole in something so damage gets through, or use Breach SRMs for making more holes in more things during longer engagements.  Considering the engagement ranges you're going to be fighting at, shorter-ranged missile weapons are perfectly acceptable.  The Dorito small missile weapons work well, natch, if you can find one.

• Loadouts!  Machine Gun, Chaingun, HE Beam is a solid go-to: Pressure shields with the MG, hit armor with the Chaingun, use the HE Beam to peel off armor against larger targets.  Or to help out your allies by sweeping it across incoming bomber wings.  If you've ever used a Safety Overrides build on smaller ships then you generally know what to expect.  Barring access to a big laser, of course.

• Harpoon and Shotgun is something of a high-risk big ship hunter, where you flank the ship, shoot the Harpoon into its engines and then pound away with the shotgun as the EMP fries everything.  Strong disabler, but a little bit lighter on conventional offense since the Harpoon is a utility weapon first and foremost, and you're going to want something else to distract the target if it's got an omni shield.  For this you're definitely going to want some way to punch through heavy armor better for the Shotgun's sake.  Reapers work, of course, but they've got an arming time and there's the whole "being a fragile ship that's very close to the Sector's strongest torpedo when it goes off" thing to consider.

• Two Recoilless Rifles and the Kinetic Cannon for the core work weirdly well for an ersatz sniper build.  A bit light on kinetic damage, sure, but if you're flanking stuff then that's not as much of a problem and at least you have it, just in case you need to keep up shield pressure while one of the larger ships vents or something.  Plus the Cannon's got an EMP component to it's still got some use.  800 range on everything means that you can outrange a lot of point defense systems easily; it's probably one of the safer setups you can use.  Think of it like what Leon said in The Professional, where you start with a rifle, then work your way towards shorter-ranged weapons as your skills improve.

• If you absolutely, positively cannot wrap your head around loadouts, two Pulse Lasers on the same weapon slot works.  You point, you shoot, things explode.  Same for two Shotguns, if you build in Expanded Magazines or don't mind not shooting for a little bit.

• Even if you don't use the core module's weapon much, it's still got passive bonuses applied to it.  No shame in using one just for that if you're relying on your main weapons; just remember that it's there should the situation demand either it, or a better one.

[close]

Thanks for the in depth response ill be sure to try expanded magazines!
Ive been using the two lazers + he lazer combo because i was having trouble with radiants and it was disheartening not being able to kill even the small ones quick because even knowing im playing a strikecraft it is still a 20 dp ship.

[Discgear]

Getting a crash because of this CataphractStrikeAbility.

Check the Nexelerin thread, specifically the opening post.

Thanks for the tip. I was able to get past the crashing point by turning on 'legacy invasion' in Luna Lib settings for Nexelerin. This is only a band-aid fix until that ability gets worked out.

[Fluffy_Fox_Loli]

not sure exactly what is happening but something is going on with the cataphracts that is crashing my game, my mod list is; Nexererelin, Gundam UC, magic lazy and graphics libs, adjustable skill thresholds, arma armatura, automated commands, CWSP, combat alarm sounds, combat radar, ED Shipyards, console commands, fleet size by DP, fuel syphoning, high tech expansion, interstellar imperium, mayasuran navy, scalartech solutions, ship/weapons pack, talahan shipworks, the star federation, torchships and deadly armament, united aurora federation, upgraded rotary weapons, version checker, and the va11 hall-a pokemon masters degenerate and another portrait packs. i grabbed the hotfix on page 81 and that didnt fix it, i mentioned it to Nexerelin's developer already and they sent me here, so im letting you know now to see what is going on. as far as i can tell it seems to not like the cataphracts going planetside? this happens even though i'm neither involved in a planet battle nor do i even have any phracts in my fleet. unfortunantly i cannot post the crash logs as i dont know how to transfer them as i cannot simply drag my cursor over it to copy and paste the logs here (as they are a pop up as oposed to just a text document) and while i have the log screenshotted i dont know how to get that here.

[Itsmexander]

For Nex-related stuff: check the Nex thread for an updated arma.jar. That fixes the issues.

it's not working for me