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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: General Thoughts from a new player  (Read 3920 times)

Goumindong

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Re: General Thoughts from a new player
« Reply #30 on: November 25, 2020, 09:56:56 AM »

Personally, if there are no laws, there are no outlaws.  I know we probably won't get this in game, but a "regulation of economy" slider would be interesting, with no regulations you'd get no pirates, but maybe other outliers, with highest regulations you'd get more pirates, because more things would be outlawed so more people are breaking laws because of just how many laws there are.   Just an idea, maybe impractical, maybe doesn't belong in this game.

This is true but only in a facile sense. The activities that denote piracy would increase with less regulation (in general) and not decrease. You would just cease to call them pirates.

Anyway. Piracy in Starsector probably isn’t worth discussing as a concept as it’s presented. Because as it’s presented isn’t coherent and consistent with starsectors lore. This is currently and will likely persist to be a mechanical issue.

So, pirates in Starsector are more in line with historical pirates than they are with the myth of pirates. Private vessels were given leeway to engage in activities of war and then when that war ended found that they were no longer all that good at the old way of doing things and so expanded their targets past their letter of marque.

Similar in Starsector the difference between a pirate and an independent isn’t any sort of political affiliation but what flag they’re running that day. This works for the player (turn off your transponder) but it doesn’t work as well for interacting with independents because defending from pirates should not be a negative action to independents but attacking independents should. Without a separate faction for pirates constructing this relationship effect doesn’t work all that well.

So pirate bases aren’t really pirates that go make a base in the middle of nowhere. They’re an independent colony of no note that devolved to the point where the only export was piracy. And people down on their luck go there for the little opportunity they have left.


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Agalyon

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Re: General Thoughts from a new player
« Reply #31 on: November 25, 2020, 02:19:59 PM »

I don't mind pirates and Heg basically creating asymmetrical gameplay, because at the end of the day I assume it would be much too hard for everyone to all have the same logistics troubles as you do at a technical level. That being said, it is kind of a constant reminder that everyone has unlimited resources to throw at you 24/7, and it never matters how devastating the losses you dole out to them are. I wouldn't mind playing wack a mole for a bit if Heg got a taste of true fear after being wiped out 5 times in a row, and either changed their plan or retreated for a while, you know, like a player might.

On that note (and I know there are some bugs regarding this that will be fixed) fighting in coronas or black holes doing essentially nothing to enemies feels really bad. If you have solar shielding and the supplies to last, chasing a guy through a star for a week not mattering because you have to deal with supplies and he doesn't really sucks. I know that's vaguely off topic, but it feels relevant given whats already been discussed.

A big part of me has just accepted the asymmetrical gameplay, and maybe I'm wrong for that, but I don't think it can be totally escaped. I do wish you could have some kind of meaningful damage done to factions without just glassing them. No one in their right mind would just keep feeding millions worth of ships into a grinder.

My token response to autosave: absolutely terrible idea, and not just because SS runs/saves poorly, which IMO it does. That being said, I'm a firm believer that having an option for something means everyone wins, which is always good. I would never use it but having it as a toggle is a good idea.
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