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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: Starsector 0.95a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 595756 times)

Dal

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2020, 03:12:05 PM »

Exciting changes! Truthfully, I'm apprehensive about the new skill system because I find archetypal characters boring, but I trust there will be mods to address that. The content additions sound very enticing.  ;D
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SonnaBanana

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2020, 03:12:16 PM »

Sounds lovely already.
Glad you added the two phase support ships.And the bit about pirate bases no longer spawning in neutron/pulsar systems.
And the industry softcap, too!

Alex, you fixed the fleet composition so pirate fleets wouldn't have too much Atlas MKII, right? And the bounty fleets?
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I'm not going to check but you should feel bad :( - Alex

Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #17 on: October 16, 2020, 03:15:31 PM »

Exciting changes! Truthfully, I'm apprehensive about the new skill system because I find archetypal characters boring, but I trust there will be mods to address that. The content additions sound very enticing.  ;D

Hmm - I'm not sure how the new skill system is different from the old in that regard, really. The aptitudes are what make characters "archetypal", no?

Alex, you fixed the fleet composition so pirate fleets wouldn't have too much Atlas MKII, right? And the bounty fleets?

There's less capital ships in high end fleets, if that's what you mean (and more officers instead, to power them up some). This is mentioned in the 700+ lines of patch notes, how could you miss it?!?
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Dal

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #18 on: October 16, 2020, 03:18:52 PM »

I modded the old system too, so as long as I can mod this one I'll be happy.  ;D
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #19 on: October 16, 2020, 03:21:51 PM »

I modded the old system too, so as long as I can mod this one I'll be happy.  ;D

Fair enough, and you sure can!
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braciszek

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #20 on: October 16, 2020, 03:30:19 PM »

Important question...

Will there be a Champion (XIV)?

On a more serious note, will there be an improvement to the Codex such as search functions literally anytime in the future? After a couple mods, the Codex is not enough and it leaves a bit to be desired. Of course, the ability to see fighter weapon stats and compare between weapons in refit is great.
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Wolfyharvell

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #21 on: October 16, 2020, 03:31:11 PM »

"Moving Slowly" -- How about Tactical Speed, Cruising Speed, or Thrusters Only for a name?
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Goumindong

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #22 on: October 16, 2020, 03:40:29 PM »

Love most of the changes. I see a few things that could be expanded (maybe a story option to steal extra loot when you don't join in the pursuit :P) Few questions

Quote
Brawler:

    Changed ship system to Maneuvering Jets (was: Damper Field)
    Increased shield arc to 270 (was: 150)
    Increased supply cost to 6 (was: 4)
    Increased flux dissipation and capacity (200 -> 250, 2500 -> 3000)

That is a pretty big supply cost increase. How does this work for the Brawler Variants?

Quote
Onslaught:

    Reduced arc of side-facing large turrets
    Added built-in Heavy Ballistics Integration

How much is this? Can you still overlap one of the side facing larger turrets with the front?

Quote
Light Needler: reduced OP cost to 7 (was: 9)

That is a pretty big buff. The LN was already one of the better small ballistics due to its burst and accuracy. It had the same DPS/OP as the HN (though -100 range) and the HN was one of the better medium ballistics. Do the OP changes to light AC really make up for it?

Quote
IR Pulse Laser: reduced flux cost per shot to 40 (was: 50)

Those are some pretty big changes to small ballistic weapons. -1 OP for a light AC can be translated pretty cleanly to another capacitor or distributor. Does 25% less flux on IR pulse compensate?


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Beinsezii

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #23 on: October 16, 2020, 03:44:50 PM »

Added "personal contacts" mechanics .....
Really looking forwards to this. The NPCs on planets always felt sorta faceless, as I never really was able to build the relation meter. Quests from the bar and similar always have you running everywhere instead of working with your one bro in your favorite command station.

Added unique capital-class ship that can be acquired by the player. Good luck.
Good luck? Good luck?

Added skill that allows recovery of REDACTED ships
Yes. Yes. Yes.

* Joining an ongoing battle, winning, and then your allies pursue: leaving (instead of joining the pursuit) will now give you salvage
* Laying in a course for a star in the hyperspace map will now lay in course for the closest jump-point into the system rather than the star's gravity well
* Added support for 4k resolutions
Lots of excellent QoL this patch! I'm a big fan of 'smoothness of operation', and I think it's worth being excited over.
\[also if 4k and/or X11 support is borked you'll definitely hear from me.\]

Added a new, very rare and powerful enemy
13 new special weapons specific to this enemy
wtf is that monstrosity. sounds like some kind of dreadnought/mobile station horror.


officially hyped. I've been looking at another Star Sector campaign after other unnamed nerdy space games have disappointed.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 03:46:22 PM by Beinsezii »
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sinistrem

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #24 on: October 16, 2020, 03:48:20 PM »


Maximum post-Collapse colony growth limited to a maximum of colony size 6


Kinda sad about it. I agree, it felt silly to get such big colonies so quickly, but with this limit you will get to the max level even faster. Also, having all colonies limited to the same size feels a bit, i don't know, immersion breaking? You'd expect some planets to be population centers with high cap, while others to be limited to lower cap due to conditions and infrastructure (or lack thereof).

In example - planet doesn't automatically upgrade to the next level, and you have to "upgrade" infrastructure, rising the cap. Maybe make first X upgrades cost progressive amount of credits, and after a certain point require special items (similar to nanoforge), AI cores and story points. That would make colonies more diverse and defined by player choice, instead of every single colony having same population and industry limit.

Anyway, thanks for great work!
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AcaMetis

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #25 on: October 16, 2020, 03:57:07 PM »

Sick of all those systems filled with size 10s within a decade, huh? :P

Are there any plans for a story mission to break this?
Well, you have to admit it's a bit... unreasonable. But you get as many industries on a size 6, so mainly it's about taking the scale down a notch while keeping the options about the same.

As far as breaking the limit - no, nothing I'd call plans. I wouldn't rule it out if a story element called for it, but I don't particularly feel the need to have extra-large colonies in the game. Just that by itself doesn't feel like it adds anything and isn't a "goal", if that makes sense.

(Also, consider that there's a variety of nanoforge-like items that buff various aspects of colonies, which wasn't possible before.)
Is there an ingame reason for why new colonies can't grow past size 6? Because I feel like it'd be just as unreasonable if your colonies slowly but steadily grow to size 6 and then just...stop. Even after you keep playing for multiple decades.
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SaberCherry

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #26 on: October 16, 2020, 04:01:28 PM »

Goodbye, Drover, I hardly knew ye.  Let's welcome our new star, Heron!  (kidding, I'll have to try it out.)

I'm really excited about almost all of the changes - lots and lots of irritants removed (like hunting down tiny evasive fleets).  Not sure about Needler/Railguns, though.  And I suspect that without a reduction in OP the nerf to Deck Crews might be a bit harsh, and just lead to dropping it altogether (which is fine with me).

Piloting REDACTED ships sounds like fun, too.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2020, 04:08:43 PM by SaberCherry »
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Goumindong

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #27 on: October 16, 2020, 04:02:00 PM »

Sure. Size is logarithmic and at some point the ability of immigration to produce new colonists is exhausted in favor of natural growth. Which is much slower. Size 6 is 1 million to 10 million and size 7 is 10 million to 100million.

Maybe you could make growth slow down to like 2% per year(or lower) but this effectively caps growth at size 7 since it would take 35 years to grow from 6 to 7 and 7 to 8.
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #28 on: October 16, 2020, 04:16:53 PM »

Important question...

Will there be a Champion (XIV)?

Hmm. I don't know! There isn't one right now, at least.

On a more serious note, will there be an improvement to the Codex such as search functions literally anytime in the future? After a couple mods, the Codex is not enough and it leaves a bit to be desired. Of course, the ability to see fighter weapon stats and compare between weapons in refit is great.

The Codex is super old and needs a going-over; exactly what that'll entail, I can't say, but, yeah, it just needs work.


"Moving Slowly" -- How about Tactical Speed, Cruising Speed, or Thrusters Only for a name?

Hmm - it's currently just presented as "slow-moving" in tooltip descriptions etc. I guess I could see changing it to something "cool", but, well, we'll see.

Quote
Brawler:

    Changed ship system to Maneuvering Jets (was: Damper Field)
    Increased shield arc to 270 (was: 150)
    Increased supply cost to 6 (was: 4)
    Increased flux dissipation and capacity (200 -> 250, 2500 -> 3000)

That is a pretty big supply cost increase. How does this work for the Brawler Variants?

I'm not sure what you mean. Ahh - do you mean the Pather variants? They're just, well, more expensive. I don't think this really changes much, and they're frankly quite scary at times, so it might not be unwarranted.

Quote
Onslaught:
    Reduced arc of side-facing large turrets
    Added built-in Heavy Ballistics Integration
How much is this? Can you still overlap one of the side facing larger turrets with the front?

They overlap a lot. The reduction is small, just enough so they don't try (and fail) to fire at stuff in front of the ship.

Quote
Light Needler: reduced OP cost to 7 (was: 9)

That is a pretty big buff. The LN was already one of the better small ballistics due to its burst and accuracy. It had the same DPS/OP as the HN (though -100 range) and the HN was one of the better medium ballistics. Do the OP changes to light AC really make up for it?

It's more about balancing the LN with the railgun.

Quote
IR Pulse Laser: reduced flux cost per shot to 40 (was: 50)

Those are some pretty big changes to small ballistic weapons. -1 OP for a light AC can be translated pretty cleanly to another capacitor or distributor. Does 25% less flux on IR pulse compensate?

Hmm - those are not related; both changes compensate for the weapons being sub-par, but the changes aren't related to each other. The IR pulse laser change may be more impactful than 1 OP, though, since it's, what - 30 flux/second less after the change?


Added unique capital-class ship that can be acquired by the player. Good luck.
Good luck? Good luck?

I mean, you will need it


Kinda sad about it. I agree, it felt silly to get such big colonies so quickly, but with this limit you will get to the max level even faster. Also, having all colonies limited to the same size feels a bit, i don't know, immersion breaking? You'd expect some planets to be population centers with high cap, while others to be limited to lower cap due to conditions and infrastructure (or lack thereof).

In example - planet doesn't automatically upgrade to the next level, and you have to "upgrade" infrastructure, rising the cap. Maybe make first X upgrades cost progressive amount of credits, and after a certain point require special items (similar to nanoforge), AI cores and story points. That would make colonies more diverse and defined by player choice, instead of every single colony having same population and industry limit.

Anyway, thanks for great work!

The way it works out IIRC is a colony has a natural size limit based on its hazard rating; I forget the details right now but it's something like more of a growth penalty from hazard at higher sizes. And then you can overcome it by paying a monthly premium (i.e. toggling on "Hazard Pay"), which is roughly analogous to what you're saying. And while you technically could go to 6 in ever case, you might not necessarily want to, if, say, your mining colony is already providing enough thanks to improvements, special items, and so on - the extra +1 from size might not be worth the investment.

Also, IIRC getting to level 6 will be slower than getting to level 6 is now, especially with growth incentives being replaced by hazard pay.


And I suspect that without a reduction in OP the nerf to Deck Crews might be a bit harsh, and just lead to dropping it altogether (which is fine with me).

You may well be right; this is definitely a case where it's better to err on the side of over-nerfing, though. I suspect/hope it may be situationally useful, still, but we'll see.

Piloting REDACTED ships sounds like fun, too.

(Just to be clear, you can't pilot them yourself!)


Sure. Size is logarithmic and at some point the ability of immigration to produce new colonists is exhausted in favor of natural growth. Which is much slower. Size 6 is 1 million to 10 million and size 7 is 10 million to 100million.

Maybe you could make growth slow down to like 2% per year(or lower) but this effectively caps growth at size 7 since it would take 35 years to grow from 6 to 7 and 7 to 8.

Hmm - yeah, but then you know someone will feel forced to do it, and I don't want to have that on my conscience :)
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Eji1700

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Re: Starsector 0.95a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #29 on: October 16, 2020, 04:21:27 PM »

Thank you all!


"Pirate bases should no longer spawn in systems with neutron stars/pulsars"


Have to say i'm kinda sad to see this.  I was hoping for a more creative solution, such as making it kinda rare/special and with some wonky effects.  Something like having a few results where either they're totally unprepared so their fleets are just a mess, or they have some special feature/items that you normally wouldn't find at a pirate base so it's worth visiting, or even them being some sort of super high tech pirates so the base is actually a high tech with high tech ships sort of thing.

This mostly has to do with fleet AI just not being able to handle pulsars. If I ever have the time (ha) to dedicated to making it handle them, that might be reconsidered, but the likelihood of this seems low. It's just a complicated problem to solve. (And now that I'm talking about it, I kind of want to try. Must. Resist.)


Well to be fair that's why i was shooting for the age old developer solution of "Feature! Not a bug".

In lore reason either being they're just falling apart because they don't know how to handle living next to a pulsar, or they're all equipped with solar shielding in and the like and thus immune/special.

Either way doesn't require an AI rework, just a gameplay tweak (super weak, or high tech and unusually strong.  Both ways you could tell from the fleet that you should be dealing with pulsar systems).  Then make it rare because it's odd enough you don't want it happening all the time.

Anyways just spit balling here. Ripping it out/waiting until you feel like tackling the AI side are both legit too.
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