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[prrrki]

Starsector 0.97 has come with some lovely new ways of traversing hyperspace, and also some new tools that facilitate moving in general. In this post I have prepared some feedback for what I think about the new mechanics, how I think they fit into the rest of the game, and where I think they could go in the future. This is my first time posting on this forum, so be prepared for bad formatting.

Hyperspace Topography
First of all, let's talk about the exploration data and how it enables travel. I like that there is progress as I go through the game, but I think some things need tweaking.

Reverse Polarity
This is probably the most powerful tool that has been added this update, simply because of how easy it makes travel throughout the entire sector. As the blog post mentioned, there's pretty much always a slipstream taking you roughly where you want to go, and that's a much welcomed change. As a result, the amount of fuel I can save going anywhere is massive. So massive, in fact, that I barely use any fuel when I travel at all. Add in player skills, and it starts to get a little out of hand. It's gotten to the point where the limiting factor in my salvage missions is no longer how much fuel I have, but rather how long my supplies can last. I simply don't spend enough fuel by the end of the game to really care about my range. On one hand, it's really nice as a player because it essentially removes something I have to worry about constantly when I am out and about at the fringes. That being said, fuel is also a core gameplay mechanic. Is it really a good thing that it isn't even an issue any more? I can't say for certain.

Slipsurge
The new Slipsurge is a pretty neat addition, but I am not sure if it has found its groove quite yet. The first issue is that it feels largely inferior to simply using a slipstream or any other method of transportation. Because I got it a long time after Reverse Polarity, I didn't really feel a pressing need to use it. When there's usually a normal slipstream heading to my destination, what's the point? Not to mention that it costs precious supplies to use. Considering none of the alternatives carry such a cost, there is little incentive to use this ability.

A more subtle problem about using this is the amount of time it takes to set up an effective Slipsurge. I need to take time to pull up the map, select a destination (If I don't have one already), and then carefully align my angle to get the desired direction. All of this combined takes time and effort to do. Add on the supply cost, and the perceived value of this ability goes down even more. Don't get me wrong, this is quite an effective way to get around if you have a good route. At the same time, though, it's pretty involved, and not in a satisfying way. It feels more like wrangling than a dance.

One more thing to consider is that this needs 700 points of progress to obtain. By the time I had this ability, I already had the Janus Device. Reverse Polarity is still viable after getting gates simply because it is so efficient. Sure, it's slower, but nothing is faster than a gate. Slipsurge is neither faster nor more efficient, so what is the driving force behind me using it? It doesn't even seem to have convenience on its side, because of what I have mentioned earlier. Also, I need to actually fly into hyperspace, meaning that there's even more cost/danger involved. At least with a slipstream, I can rest easy knowing that it's smooth sailing the whole way through (with some exceptions).

The last issue I noticed is accuracy. It can be difficult to line up a perfect shot to where I am going. Even if I get it exactly right, it's still very likely that I will overshoot or undershoot my target. This can be difficult when I want to chain jumps together. Either I spend time backtracking to my target, or I push on ahead with worse efficiency. Compare this to a slipstream, where I can control entry and exit pretty accurately.

How do we fix these issues?
Of course, it wouldn't be nice to just sit here and rail on these features without actually offering some ideas and solutions. So let's tackle some of them!

Swapping the two abilities, and streamlining Slipsurge
First of all, I think Reverse Polarity should swap places with Slipsurge on the Hyperspace Topography progress bar. One is way stronger than the other, and I don't think I need to say which. By doing this, it also puts Slipsurge in the hands of the player before the other methods are. This gives them time to get used to it, and also gives a more concrete reason to use it (that being that there are no other good options yet). I also think that removing the supply cost should be worth considering.

Now, how do we make Slipsurge actually fun to use? I spent time thinking about a couple ways, and made visualizations for them.

• "Slingshot"
  
  
  This is a less invasive rework of Slipsurge, and is distinguished mainly by detaching the surge from the center of the star. Instead, it would appear in front of your fleet in the direction you are heading. By having it act this way, it behaves more like a storm boost does (which is something the player would be familiar with by now!), and it also means that a player does not have to go out of their way to get an exact angle. It is already in the direction they are going, which is much more convenient. This is closer to how gravity assists work in real life, which is an added bonus.
  
  In terms of accuracy, I can use the autopilot to move in the direction I need to go when I set a course, so I can be pretty much spot on in terms of direction. Even though distance would still be an issue, I think the "slingshot" would be a step up from how the game currently handles Slipsurge.
  
  
• "Catapult"
  
  
  This concept trades smoothness for accuracy, and would essentially pull you into a menu. It would show you the radius of the boost the star can provide, and then you can select a location to go to. If you had a destination, it would also display just like the gate UI. After clicking and confirming, a surge would automatically form with the correct amount of power to take the player to the selected location. A smaller jump would ideally cost less fuel.
  
  Of course, menus aren't fun to get in the middle of a voyage. So what if the game simply zoomed out a dramatic amount to provide the same thing? Things like the music getting muffled and whatnot would really make this quite an experience. Of course, I have no idea if the game can even handle this, so take that as you will.

What's next?
I really like the direction that the new abilities give, and still have more to talk about. However, I don't want to cram it all into one post. Originally, I was going to go over fuel use and the "Lay in course" functions in their own sections. However, I think having them be separate would be easier, so I will leave it at that for now. If anyone else had similar experiences to mine, feel free to chip in. Thanks for reading.

[FooF]

Good write up, though I disagree on switching the two abilities. Reverse Polarity is a godsend, yes, but slipstreams are not always on demand, nor can you control where they go. Slip Surge is crude, but definitely gives the player initiative. Using a black hole, you can easily traverse a quarter of the sector instantly. That said, I agree it could come earlier.

Regarding the re-work, I haven’t had a lot of problems aiming it but at the same time, I don’t believe it’s is intended to be precise.If I were to put forward any room for improvement, I would have a 360 degree dial appear on the gravity well with an arrow of intended travel and let the player rotate it to the desired angle. Pause the game if necessary but a little finer control would be good.

[BigBrainEnergy]

Reverse Polarity
This is probably the most powerful tool that has been added this update, simply because of how easy it makes travel throughout the entire sector. As the blog post mentioned, there's pretty much always a slipstream taking you roughly where you want to go, and that's a much welcomed change. As a result, the amount of fuel I can save going anywhere is massive. So massive, in fact, that I barely use any fuel when I travel at all. Add in player skills, and it starts to get a little out of hand. It's gotten to the point where the limiting factor in my salvage missions is no longer how much fuel I have, but rather how long my supplies can last. I simply don't spend enough fuel by the end of the game to really care about my range. On one hand, it's really nice as a player because it essentially removes something I have to worry about constantly when I am out and about at the fringes. That being said, fuel is also a core gameplay mechanic. Is it really a good thing that it isn't even an issue any more? I can't say for certain.

Fuel still is a concern in the early game, when it's harder to afford and you don't have any of these abilities yet. By the time we get mid to late game I don't want to spending tons of money lugging around multiple prometheus tankers. The current system keeps us worrying about fuel early on when it's the most interesting, but then enables us to move on to bigger and better things as the game progresses. I like that a lot.

[Goumindong]

Slipsurge is great and I think that it’s entirely fine for navigation. Like… do you normally fly through deep hyperspace without a destination reference. I don’t. Making you press S in order to hit your target is good and making it inaccurate due to placement is great. Plus it means that precise navigation cannot be done while avoiding ships.

[prrrki]

Good write up, though I disagree on switching the two abilities. Reverse Polarity is a godsend, yes, but slipstreams are not always on demand, nor can you control where they go. Slip Surge is crude, but definitely gives the player initiative. Using a black hole, you can easily traverse a quarter of the sector instantly. That said, I agree it could come earlier.

I agree, its utility can't be denied. At the same time, though, I feel like it suffers from being a little too situational. For there to be a good time to use it, I need:

• no nearby gates to where I am going
• no nearby slipstreams to where I am going
• a powerful enough star along the route I am taking to warrant its use

This seems a little too niche for me. Given that the cost is the same no matter what star I use, I am incentivized to not bother using it on weaker ones. This means there are even less cost-effective chances to use Slipsurge. I think there should be more opportunities to use this ability if we want it to fill the gaps between the other two more effectively. What if you could slipsurge off of hyperspace storms to get a more powerful boost? Those are everywhere, aren't they?

Regarding the re-work, I haven’t had a lot of problems aiming it but at the same time, I don’t believe it’s is intended to be precise.If I were to put forward any room for improvement, I would have a 360 degree dial appear on the gravity well with an arrow of intended travel and let the player rotate it to the desired angle. Pause the game if necessary but a little finer control would be good.

This is why I personally lean more towards the slingshot concept. It's not exactly a point and click like the other one. It can still have a degree of inaccuracy if you aren't pointing perfectly. Your two stage idea is also good, since it would help get an idea of where the surge would go. Right now there's a bit of a degree of mystery.

Fuel still is a concern in the early game, when it's harder to afford and you don't have any of these abilities yet. By the time we get mid to late game I don't want to spending tons of money lugging around multiple prometheus tankers. The current system keeps us worrying about fuel early on when it's the most interesting, but then enables us to move on to bigger and better things as the game progresses. I like that a lot.

I agree. I was actually going to go over this in my next post. The answer to this newfound efficiency and speed shouldn't be nerfs, but rather a way to express it. Essentially, I think the sector should be larger. As efficiency increases, I can go further and further, and the new abyss is the perfect medium for enabling this. I wonder if the next updates will bring deeper and deeper depths for the player to explore.

Slipsurge is great and I think that it’s entirely fine for navigation. Like… do you normally fly through deep hyperspace without a destination reference. I don’t. Making you press S in order to hit your target is good and making it inaccurate due to placement is great. Plus it means that precise navigation cannot be done while avoiding ships.

When I mentioned using the map, I meant using it to gauge my jump. If there's stars along the way, then I have to lay in a course for them to be more accurate. This takes time and detracts from the ease of using the ability. The slingshot would let you use stars along your path without too much thought, and the catapult would inherently show stars in the direction you are going. Both enable faster use. I get where you're coming from, though.

In terms of using Slipsurge while evading, I think both concepts can still carry risk if we keep the activation delay from the current implementation. There would still be time for other fleets to catch you. Another way of adding risk is letting fleets use your surge to chase you. I think that would definitely be interesting!

[Wyvern]

Conversely, I've gotten some very good use out of slipsurge - in large part because of the details of the particular map I got. Gate over to a blue giant system, drop out into hyperspace, slipsurge to get where you're actually going, or in a few cases it's even been worth chaining them.

And despite the fuel and supply cost... it's still cheaper than flying the same distance normally.

(I'm also not seeing "fuel becoming a non-issue", though I am not stacking hyperspace topography on top of industry skills, and I am generally flying around with a fleet that's meant to be able to fight whatever I find to fight, rather than something that'd have to apply stealth to explore a red beacon system. Capitals eat a lot of fuel, especially low-tech ones.)

[Goumindong]

When I mentioned using the map, I meant using it to gauge my jump. If there's stars along the way, then I have to lay in a course for them to be more accurate

Yes. I think this is good. I think navigating via using the map and planning is good. The act of navigating hyperspace by way of charting a course is good and makes me feel like a starship captain.

[prrrki]

Conversely, I've gotten some very good use out of slipsurge - in large part because of the details of the particular map I got.

I'm glad that your experience has been better than mine. Ultimately, I wanted my changes to benefit people mainly by making the ability more convenient to use. So if it's already a good tool in your arsenal, then hopefully it becomes even nicer.

Yes. I think this is good. I think navigating via using the map and planning is good. The act of navigating hyperspace by way of charting a course is good and makes me feel like a starship captain.

And I wholeheartedly agree. I do the same thing. I just wanted to streamline that process so that I can go about it more efficiently. Both concepts would still require charting to be most effective.