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

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Author Topic: [0.96a] ScalarTech Solutions 0.9.1  (Read 424773 times)

Ced Riggs

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I can give some limited but mayhaps still useful feedback.

The Verge & Skye cruisers are absolute workhorses. Initially, I was a bit apprehensive, but after fiddling with their loadouts and putting them through several battles, I can say with certainty that these are some of my most beloved supporting ships for capitals. The balance between DP, OP and what they can carry to the field, their standing power and their long breath really makes these reliable, if frill-less beauties. I like them because they don't do anything crazy, but they do their job extremely well. They don't offer insane alphas, or cheese, they are just, all around, grand additions to a fleet. My hat off to you for both seeing the value in an ostensible "boring" concept and leveling it out so these "boring" ships are worth their time and investment. This is a secret thank you for giving the simple fleet commander like me a worthwhile tool, and "boring" is in no way a comment on the visuals.

The Filament carrier has been another ship I was iffy on, given the drawback of her bays, and her 50 DP cost, but she also convinced with staying power, with being a durable weapons platform, and a weapon mount layout that lets me either go turtle or aggressive. She's another testament to the importance of a reliable ship that gets the job done, without any crazy teleportation flux-absorption hellgate opening tentacle system. Absolute love this one, too.

All of these ships look great, distinctive - and striking. You did well, Nia.

PS: I did not try the 'dread, or the dds/frigs yet.
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Romach

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Is it compatible with nexerelin?
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Ced Riggs

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Is it compatible with nexerelin?

Yes.
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Transuni

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holy ***,so coooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
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EniesLobby7

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Is it even legal to make ships this beautiful?
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Kaeladin

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First off, some of the ship and weapon additions from this mod have been some of my favorite out out of all the ones I've used in the modiverse. I really wanted to give you huge kudos for the work, and the product, you've created here. Scalartech hands down has some of my favorite looking/player experience ships I've played with, even though there's nothing enormously fancy about the ship systems or weapon functionality (at least from a gameplay perspective; it's just very clean and well-done).

A few random feedback points after playing with Scalartech for several mid-length playthroughs (about 12+ hours total).

1) Verge + Skye: These two cruisers are absolute dreams to fly; they represent everything I love about high-tech playstyle and are probably in the running for some of my favorite mod cruisers. They're both agile, able to project strong surgical pressure (whether through sheer volley of fire in the case of the Verge and Skye's considerable power and hit-and-run capacity), and make the player feel like a complete badass with proper application and finesse.

I put these two together because, while their ship systems are considerably different in functionality and there's some differences in ship specs (e.g. the Verge has an additional medium missile hardpoint while the Skye is notably faster), they do feel like they fit quite similar profiles; they're both high "burst phase" ships with above-average to high agility with reasonably similar flux and shield characteristics. I'm wondering if this is intentional, or if there's some thought about differentiating these two ships a bit more in terms of playstyle/role? That said, I'm a huge fan of these two cruisers.

2) Tress: This destroyer-class carrier is both objectively powerful and subjectively a joy to play compared to most other carriers. Typically carrier gameplay consists of "Press F to spawn more fighters/Win more with bombers". However, the addition of the Magmine system makes for something more interactive (with a little bit of risk involved since you are still playing a fragile destroyer-class ship) and potentially extremely powerful in the right situations at the destroyer level. This destroyer is fast, has 2 bays, has a powerful ship system (much more so in player hands), and 2 medium missile hardpoints. This little ship contains a lot of power and I think it's in the running for one of the most powerful carriers of its class in the modiverse. Which brings me to...

3) Strand: This cruiser-class carrier is by no means "bad", and again I love how it has a pretty nifty ship system. However, from a DP perspective, it's outclassed by two Tress (12DP each vs. 25DP of one Strand) in terms of what that same package brings to the table. It's a pretty reasonable ship in terms of its characteristics; it has 2 medium synergy (typically missiles; I think it's a little fragile to field two medium energies when fights get harder although it could carry a wicked PD package), decently fast, and has 3 fighter bays. Again, not bad, but then we get to...

4) Filament: This thing is no joke. It could end up being the Charybdis of the capital battlecarriers; it is a legitimate threat as a frontliner with its weapon package and shields, has an extremely strong ship system, and a respectable 4 bays to boot. Again, if we were to compare the threat provided from a DP perspective (e.g. approx 4 Tress, 2 Strands, and/or 1 Filament), there's no question in my mind that the Tresses and Filaments (in different capacities) fill strong fleet roles. The Filament is also reasonably agile for a ship of its class (which is huge in a world of 30-35 speed capitals) while projecting both considerable personal power and fighter/bomber support.

I'll add some other thoughts when I put more time into into them. Overall, very well done!
« Last Edit: July 26, 2020, 09:18:37 AM by Kaeladin »
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Mondaymonkey

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Plaid drone wing for 69 OP?  ???

That is not the point. Audacious gown variant have issue in weapon groups: first contains 2*mirv and 2*lace pulse. I suspect lace pulses shouldn't be there and moved to 4th group.

It really goes weird when outfluxed AI Gown stop fairing his MIRVs because they are in a same group with weapon he choose not to fire to save flux...

BTW are Gowns available to player other than via CC? (Did not play an actual game with this mod yet) They are sweet.

Other thing: Ruffle projectiles rarely hits an enemy because they can be effectively stopped with even smallest of the missiles and fighters. Even being FRAG 800 damage is overkill for most of the missiles. I suggest it should fire through missiles and flares similar to plasma. And possibly through fighters too.
 
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Mondaymonkey

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Also, Stitch is tagged as "Strike", but it is not strike-capable. When AI tries to use it as strike - it makes worse to itself, than enemy. In current state it rather "suppression".

I suspect Stitch is designed to be an alternative to Tach (suppression tag, BTW). In current state it something like "more EMP, better flux, less armor cracking" Tach. It is pretty good in it's niche (if in players hands) but generally less effective than Tach, so it should be either some kind buffed, or OP reduced to be lower than Tach. I suggest to decrease refire delay to 0.4 or even 0.3 so it can be more bursty, will not change sustain DPS as recharge time is fine. That will make it in par with Tach.

Lace Pulse Repeater has no flavor! It is basically Pulse laser with buffed fire rate. (and some range) However I would say it worse, actually. Increased DPS is not a big thing, if you wish to use it on smaller ships, because flux effectiveness and lesser OP makes Pulse laser preferable on smaller ships. Larger ships are no better with LPR, as being 100 penetration it useless vs armored units, and having recoil (Pulse laser does not) it is inefficient vs fast small targets. Have no direct suggestions, but something should be changed. Same thing to Lacette.

Tousle is great idea, but currently it's underpowered. Compared to HVD it cost more OP, have slower fire rate (really matter as shield flickering), lesser penetration and no EMP. Better turn rate and "huge" 0.07 flux efficiency advantage does not help really. I suggest to increase it's DPS to at least 200 and set flux efficiency of 1 or so. Just to be in par with HVD.

String is interesting as an energy frag PD. However I didn't find it effective again anything than smaller missiles. No, it's fine, it probably shouldn't oneshot heavy fighters or stop Locust barrage. But it's too OP costly for modest frag PD. Suggest to decrease OP to 4. Or make it better in flux stats.

Skirt class frigate does not have description.

And again to Ruffle: It is simply ineffective against something larger than a destroyer. I guess, it suppose to be. But if so, why 26 OP? It is almost Plasma OP cost. It is compared to plasma Flux per second. And it's completely inferior to plasma in damage. Yeah, I mean it. Raw fragmentation DPS is no more than a paper stat, real damage dealt even to exposed hull isn't big due to minimal armor. BTW I tested it vs heavy blaster (middle energy, 12 OP) and find heavy blaster to be superior in most cases. I understand it is wrong to compare Ruffle with such monsters as Plasma and HB, but what else should I compare?  Autopulse? Autopulse is almost equal armor penetration and superior anti-shield efficiency + it bursty + it OP cheaper...
« Last Edit: July 26, 2020, 03:04:17 AM by Mondaymonkey »
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Nia Tahl

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@Kaeladin:

Verge and Skye are getting some changes to make them more distinctive in their roles as battleline cruiser and skirmisher respectively.

The carrier thing is a vanilla issue, really. The Drover sets a ridiculous baseline for destroyer carriers where even in vanilla spamming Drovers will beat cruiser carriers in terms of sheer DP efficiency. I'm adjusting the DP values of Tress and Strand a bit for now which should improve things a bit.

@Mondaymonkey:

Plaid is built-in only.

The Gown variant is fixed in the next patch.

Stitch is a strike weapon, really, but I'll remove the AI tag for strike from it so the AI uses it better. If used right it can cripple targets better than a tachyon and is fine the way it is.

Lace is fine as it is. It's a more effective heavy blaster alternative for when you want a weapon that is mount-efficient for damage output and can get your armor breaking from something else. On smaller ships they allow burst comparable to a heavy blaster without the flux overhead of one. The only change these are getting if at all, is a bit more flux efficiency. If you don't like them, though, don't use them, problem solved.

Tousle might get some slight stat bumps, but it doesn't need much. It's still an efficient 1k range kinetic.

String is fine as it is. It's an energy projectile PD. It's supposed to be worse than ballistic projectile PDs. I'll tweak the projectile velocity, though.

Skirt will be fixed next patch.

Ruffle is fine as it is. It completely melts hull once armor is broken. Making it any stronger than it already is would be completely broken. It also doesn't need piercing as it puts out more than enough shots that some getting stopped by fighters or missiles is a non-issue. There should never be that many missiles between you and a target unless you're fighting something that's covered in Annihilator pods.
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Mondaymonkey

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Making it any stronger than it already is would be completely broken.

Nah, not making them stronger, that would be broken indeed. Decrease OP to match it's performance.

Besides, "when armor broken" means broken with what? Missiles and bombers? If you have them - why would Ruffle be needed? BTW energy armor cracker, similar to plasma or HB, is not a bad idea for this mod.

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If used right it can cripple targets better than a tachyon and is fine the way it is.

Can confirm that. In my hands it devastating, as expanded magazines volley (6 shots) are almost 100% flameout and half of enemy weapon systems dead. However AI are not good with it. Still disagree it is better than tach.

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Plaid is built-in only.

I know, but they are 69 OP if not. ;D
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Not without CC, off course
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There should never be that many missiles between you and a target unless you're fighting something that's covered in Annihilator pods.

Yes, that exactly what I observe: annihilator pods (standard Onslaught from simulator) effectively stops most of the Ruffle projectiles, same thing to Locust.
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Nia Tahl

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Simulator Onslaught is a balance edge case. The Ruffle is good as it is. I'm not changing it. If you don't like it, use something else. Same goes for the Stitch.
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Mondaymonkey

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At least it's sincere. Thank you for that.

And for the mod. Graphical part is amazing.
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Kaeladin

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@Kaeladin:

Verge and Skye are getting some changes to make them more distinctive in their roles as battleline cruiser and skirmisher respectively.

The carrier thing is a vanilla issue, really. The Drover sets a ridiculous baseline for destroyer carriers where even in vanilla spamming Drovers will beat cruiser carriers in terms of sheer DP efficiency. I'm adjusting the DP values of Tress and Strand a bit for now which should improve things a bit.

That makes sense about the Drover piece; really looking forward to seeing your upcoming changes, and particularly the ones for differentiating the Verge and Skye!

I didn't comment about the weapons yet, but as far as the current discussion about large energies are concerned...I honestly think STS has some of the better (especially in player hands) large energies in the mainline (i.e. not a boss faction such as KT) modiverse in the Stitch and Ruffle. My only wish is that I could find them more often; they're so rare! I utilized the Stitch and Ruffle in a ton of Verge (pewpewpew!) + Skye builds, and in other cruisers, and was never disappointed. The Ruffle, in particular, is monstrously powerful at deleting ships when you have a skirmisher with the mobility of the Skye to get around shield arcs or to choose where to apply your enormous pewpew. I actively seek these two weapons out in every playthrough because I know they'll typically be in the running for what I put into my large energy slots; they occupy very different niches but do their respective jobs quite well.

I do think the Lace could use a little something. Its DPS is outstanding for its slot, but the low damage-per-hit + moderate range + how hot the gun runs means, to me, that in the times that I consider when I'd want to use it, a lot of ships would struggle to have the flux capacity to support the weapon if it's below cruiser class, while heavier ships will typically outfit for longer range engagements or PD with the exception of hunter-killer/skirmisher cruisers (which STS specializes in!). The heavy blaster also runs into this issue since it has even worse flux efficiency, but its relatively better armor-cracking ability means that the gun has a little more versatility. Ironically, the Lace has done excellent for me in a ship with energy-equivalent AAF (like the Brim or Verge) as it outputs monstrous DPS for those medium slots. But outside of those ship systems, I've had a bit of difficulty finding opportune times to put Laces in.

A quick clarification question about the Tousle; am I correct in thinking that it's really doing 5x100 (for the total 500 damage) per shot because the main round splits into 5? It's been a pretty fun weapon to use and I think it's definitely a solid 1k range KE, but assuming that's how the damage calculation works then I do wonder if it could use a slight boost given its 14OP cost.

Thanks so much!
« Last Edit: July 26, 2020, 10:04:00 AM by Kaeladin »
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Yubbin

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I have found a bug with the filament, should I post it here, or somewhere else?
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ant989

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Love the ships so far.Only minor problem i have found is the Filament even with an aggressive officer wont directly engage and tries to stay out of cqb and only use fighters.Havent noticed that with other battlecarriers playing nex,they usualy charge right in with cruisers etc.Even when i give them a direct attack order they hang back and wont move up to use main weapons.
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