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[Megas]

I generally do not use Expanded Magazines with burst lasers unless the ship also uses other charge weapons like autopulse.

[SonnaBanana]

Has the combat AI gotten better at engaging stations?

[Gothars]

Allright people, this has become a very long thread indeed, and we have gone quite offtopic from discussing the actual patch notes. I'll lock this thread for now.

Good thing is - when it reopens, you can be pretty sure that new patch notes have arrived!

[Alex]

Unlocked and OP updated with another batch of notes!

[Timid]

Very cool! I expect there will be modder's changelog so we know what new toys to immediately use?

[Zelnik]

...Yes but -when-

[pairedeciseaux]

Nice set of refinements.

...Yes but -when-

I guess it should be pretty close. 

[AcaMetis]

Cargo scans by patrols:

    Will more often result in the "suspicious" outcome when smuggling suspicion is high
    Will demand you allow a boarding party to examine your ships
        This will cause some disruption to several of your ships' combat readiness
    More likely to find contraband

How much CR loss are we talking here? I assume less than if you get harried, but I'd still like to know if beyond a certain point I'm going to have to do all of my shopping somewhere where I can run dark.

Delivery missions: offers will now occasionally exceed player's cargo capacity

Meaning the player fleet's maximum cargo capacity? If so I'm not sure what the idea behind this change is. Exceeding cargo limits is not viable in any circumstances (unless the hideous supplies/day penalty got changed I suppose) and periodically/occasionally swapping out hullmods to make more room to take delivery missions sounds like busywork.

Increased time until first pirate raid on player colony

Is that the scripted pirate raid, or does that also include an existing pirate base randomly changing targets to the player's colonies before even the scripted one has shown up?

Reduced frequency of pirate raids targeting the core worlds by roughly a factor of 3

Wait, does that mean pirates raids are 3 times more likely to target the player's colonies, if there are any? Obviously would be a problem combined with the above detail, but I'm not sure if I'm reading that correctly.

Increased minimum interval between punitive expeditions to 1-3 cycles

Just checking, but AI inspections are separate from punitive expedition at least for this minimal interval, correct?

Maximum number of weapon groups increased to 7 (was: 5)

[Cyan Leader]

- Music will no longer stop playing when interacting with a jump-point
- Added music for scavenge/salvage/survey screens

Literally music to my ears, thank you so much for this. Especially when running the game with custom campaign music, the constant stop and play when interacting with salvages and other things was really jarring. I guess it will still happen if salvage/etc has their own songs but it's a much welcome change.

[Alex]

Very cool! I expect there will be modder's changelog so we know what new toys to immediately use?

Hmm - the notes have a "Modding" section, so I'm not sure what you mean.

How much CR loss are we talking here? I assume less than if you get harried, but I'd still like to know if beyond a certain point I'm going to have to do all of my shopping somewhere where I can run dark.

It'd usually be less than getting harried, and doesn't affect *all* the ships. Also, not an 100% chance of it happening.

Meaning the player fleet's maximum cargo capacity? If so I'm not sure what the idea behind this change is. Exceeding cargo limits is not viable in any circumstances (unless the hideous supplies/day penalty got changed I suppose) and periodically/occasionally swapping out hullmods to make more room to take delivery missions sounds like busywork.

Right. The player might pick up another freighter, or as you said add some hullmods, etc. Just in general I think that happening a bit will make it both feel like a bigger opportunity and less like it's all tailored to the player.

Is that the scripted pirate raid, or does that also include an existing pirate base randomly changing targets to the player's colonies before even the scripted one has shown up?

The first scripted raid.

Wait, does that mean pirates raids are 3 times more likely to target the player's colonies, if there are any? Obviously would be a problem combined with the above detail, but I'm not sure if I'm reading that correctly.

Just roughly 3x less raids overall.

Just checking, but AI inspections are separate from punitive expedition at least for this minimal interval, correct?

They're separate, yeah.

I guess it will still happen if salvage/etc has their own songs but it's a much welcome change.

To clarify: right, yeah, those have new music.

[Zelnik]

@Alex

I -really- appreciate the list addition! Next version looks great....


but why not release it now? Tons of these fixes are -really- needed.

[SCC]

>Black markets no longer sell combat capital ships (can still be acquired from arms dealer contact)
On one hand, it will make getting capitals harder, but on the other, it makes gaining independent rep even better, which unfortunately leaves you with only Conquests.

>Tri-Tachyon: adjusted fleet composition to be more evenly split between warships/carriers/phase ships
Yes, yeees! I want more Medusas and Auroras! Though, myself, I'd probably make it so that it's biased towards phase ships still (to differentiate it to Persean League).

>Tarsus: increased cargo capacity to 350
I consider Tarsus to be the better dedicated destroyer freighter of the two, though Buffalo's variants are better still (and that's probably why it won't be buffed).

>Maximum number of weapon groups increased to 7 (was: 5)
I don't know if I expressed my approval the first time you showed that, so I do so now. Nice!

>Heavy Needler: reduced range to 750 (was: 800)
Why though? It's already the most expensive medium ballistic. While it's good, I don't think it's overly good, even with its burst. Its main competitor is Heavy Autocannon, and they both were range tied.

>Degraded Drive Field:
>Can only be generated for non-combat ships
This is an incredible buff. Bad engines in certain circumstances auto-disqualified ships for me not because of decreased mobility (which I mostly forgot was even there), but because those ships would slow me down. At least all freighters and tankers do the same thing, so instead of missing out on filling some role in my fleet, it will just grow slower instead.

>Added "ship_unique_signature" ship *variant* tag
>If any ship with this tag is present in player's fleet, opposing fleets always know who they're facing regardless of transponder status
This one sounds good. I wonder what plans do you have for this.

Changed Hyperion I might possibly use. It certainly looks more appealing to me, though whether I'll use it will still depend on the combination of power, PPT and maintenance.

[Wyvern]

• Intel screen will remember "show fuel" toggle state when re-opened
• Surveying Equipment: now shows fleetwide totals in tooltip
• Planet tooltip - both in campaign and on the map - will show when the planet has unexplored ruins
• Added indication when post-battle ship recovery includes disabled ships from your fleet
• Maximum number of weapon groups increased to 7 (was: 5)
• Ships will no longer keep targeting a recently-destroyed ship for a second or two before switching targets

These are all greatly appreciated; that last one in particular - it's always been a bit of an immersion-breaking thing for me to see when the AI does that.

Hullmods:

• Degraded Engines: effect separated into two hullmods, "Degraded Engines" and "Degraded Drive Field"
  • Degraded Engines:
    • Has combat portion of the effect (lower speed/maneuverability)
    • Can only be generated for combat ships
  • Degraded Drive Field:
    • Has non-combat portion of the effect (reduced burn level, increased sensor profile)
    • Can only be generated for non-combat ships
• Added new D-mods:
  • Degraded Life Support - reduces max crew (but not min)
  • Damaged Weapon Mounts - slower weapon turn speed, increased recoil
  • Faulty Automated Systems - larger min crew required
  • Degraded Shields - increases shield damage taken

Huh, interesting. Isn't Faulty Automated Systems just a sub-set of Increased Maintenance, though?
I'm curious about the reasoning behind the Degraded Engines vs Degraded Drive Field split; I can see some situations where it helps the player (Dominator with Degraded Engines being able to keep up with the fleet)... But with the way cargo ship scaling works (i.e. you generally want the largest cargo vessels that fit your fleet's burn level) I suspect that Degraded Drive Field is going to just become another 'nope not worth using' flag...

[AcaMetis]

It'd usually be less than getting harried, and doesn't affect *all* the ships. Also, not an 100% chance of it happening.

Hmm...we'll have to see how it plays out. I can see this being more annoyance than anything else, but it might also lead to clever solutions being discovered as well. Worst case IIRC ixnaying a patrol check is something one can spend a Story Point on, too.

Right. The player might pick up another freighter, or as you said add some hullmods, etc. Just in general I think that happening a bit will make it both feel like a bigger opportunity and less like it's all tailored to the player.

Changing hullmods and back just for a single delivery would be tedious though, and I'm not sure how picking up temporary ships would really work out in practice. If the delivery is for just a little bit more it's not really worth putting down four or five digits for a temporary ship (which will also cost supplies/fuel and potentially crew), and if the delivery is for a ton more you'd have to luck out with being there being a decent freighter available for purchase. Which you'd have to either sell at a massive loss or dump in a storage somewhere afterwards.

The first scripted raid.

Can existing pirate bases still randomly change targets to your colonies less than a week after putting them down, incidentally? IIRC the first scripted base will be changed to a T2 base (or at least what would be considered a T2 base in the current patch), but even so that would still make early colonies more viable (consistent?) for me.

Just roughly 3x less raids overall.

Ah, okay, gotcha. Going to miss the steady stream of system bounties, though .

They're separate, yeah.

[Golde]

>Light Needler: now costs 8 OP

 

>Heavy Needler: reduced range to 750 (was: 800)

 

>Mark IX: reduced flux/shot to 200 (was: 230)

Now the mark 9 is the official default assault rifle of large ballistics.

>Thumper: reduced OP cost to 6 (was: 9)

The thumper should get a statistical buff rather than an OP decrease. It was underused because it's a fairly *** weapon; now it's *** and cheap. It will continue to be underused regardless of OP cost because it has no specialty or niche. The OP decrease will only serve as an indirect buff to the one or two Cerberui in some arbitrary pirate fleet now that they have 3 whole OPs to spend elsewhere.

For a one of a kind archetype with a unique firing mechanic it deserves a bit more love, and the concept of a ghettoblaster popping cheap caps should be reimagined elsewhere.


That being said, the storm needler could definitely use 800 range, to even things out a bit.