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

Author Topic: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now  (Read 2294 times)

Kakroom

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Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« on: March 01, 2022, 10:16:21 AM »

One of the most obvious problems in the game to me prior to .95.A1Rc6 was how boring long stretches of Space Trucking at warp speed could be. I mean sometimes you ran into an angry scavenger or a pirate gang or something like that but most of the time it was just watching your supplies and fuel tick down while you sweat like that Key and Peele meme.

Now, it's like... a lot better. Slipstreams can kind of pose a logistical challenge if one is cutting through your most immediate route; you need to emergency burn to compensate, and even then it can toss you into a cloud or whatever and you can get knocked lightyears off course. And it's creepy! The spaceship game about bullying heavily armed vtubers is frightening! I don't know what I'm going to run into every time I jump out of a hyperspace gate. Sensor blips are bullying me with interdiction pulses. They're stalking me. They're... possessing space hulks to do that sometimes? What is out there?! Why does it hate? Why is it so mean?

Hyperspace used to feel kind of empty and mundane. Now it's nothing of the sort. It's like... sentient and chaotic and angry. It's great!

/rant
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Supraluminal

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #1 on: March 01, 2022, 10:43:41 AM »

I like the sensor ghosts, but I'm still not fond of slipstreams as I find them to be an obstacle more often than a help. They may make travel less boring, but for me it's just trading boredom for annoyance. If travel through hyperspace can't be fun and engaging, I would at least like it to be reasonably quick and painless.

In fact, I don't mind some relatively "boring" stretches. Pacing is important. Having some restful periods of cruising around between fights isn't so bad, at least to my taste. I'd rather hold down shift and zone out for 45 seconds than have to negotiate slipstream crossings.

Really long trips can get tedious though. Finishing the Academy storyline almost totally mitigates that issue, but that's generally a mid-to-late game event.
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LordBlade

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2022, 09:47:52 PM »

Yeah, I'd like a way of getting past slipstreams. Right now they're basically just a pain in the butt. Trying to get through one sends you a massive distance out of your way, just for you to fly back. It would be nice if there was an option for "bracing" through them or something, which would burn more fuel and supplies, but let you get across with minimal issues.
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Delta_of_Isaire

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #3 on: April 24, 2022, 12:57:30 AM »

Yeah, I'd like a way of getting past slipstreams. Right now they're basically just a pain in the butt. Trying to get through one sends you a massive distance out of your way, just for you to fly back. It would be nice if there was an option for "bracing" through them or something, which would burn more fuel and supplies, but let you get across with minimal issues.
If you are willing to burn fuel and supplies, then you can use Emergency Burn to cross slipstreams fairly easily. Also a key thing to do when crossing slipstreams is to keep your left mouse button pressed and move your mouse pointer in the direction you want to go.

Crossing slipstreams shouldn't be that involved though. It needs to be looked at.
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intrinsic_parity

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #4 on: April 24, 2022, 08:11:57 AM »

Usually even just turning off sustained burn and crossing in a narrow region is enough to avoid going too far off course
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Daynen

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2022, 09:37:28 AM »

The trick with slipstreams is planning around them.  Note that every half cycle or so, they generally switch direction from east to west.  If you can manage to plan your trips around that, you'll find slipstreams working for you more often than against you...and boy is it awesome when you catch a ride going your way because you get all that extra speed for no additional fuel cost.  It's like a giant waterslide!  WHEEEEEEEEEEEE! ;D
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Justinkid

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2022, 09:51:04 AM »

I'm still not fond of slipstreams as I find them to be an obstacle more often than a help.

I originally thought they would be more helpful as well, but then I realized they are not there to "help" anyone anymore than hyperspace storms. They are in fact obstacles that just so happen to be helpful sometimes.

As a whole, I find hyperspace storms, sensor ghosts, and slipstreams annoying as well, however, I value these cosmic phenomena for contributing to the immersion of the game. Therefore, I would hate to see them removed or changed in such a way that they can be ignored.
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Megas

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2022, 10:49:13 AM »

Usually even just turning off sustained burn and crossing in a narrow region is enough to avoid going too far off course
That has not been reliable in my experience.  Sometimes, it worked, but other times, I got pulled down too far before crossing the stream.  E-burning followed by manual piloting is the only way to be sure.
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intrinsic_parity

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2022, 11:45:34 AM »

Usually even just turning off sustained burn and crossing in a narrow region is enough to avoid going too far off course
That has not been reliable in my experience.  Sometimes, it worked, but other times, I got pulled down too far before crossing the stream.  E-burning followed by manual piloting is the only way to be sure.
You have to carry some momentum into the slip stream too. If you're in a hyperspace cloud with reduced burn (or just generally have lower burn) it sometimes doesn't work as well, but using a storm can have the opposite effect if you boost through the slipstream too. I think the angle you enter the stream at matters a little too.
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LordBlade

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2022, 12:40:52 PM »

As a whole, I find hyperspace storms, sensor ghosts, and slipstreams annoying as well, however, I value these cosmic phenomena for contributing to the immersion of the game. Therefore, I would hate to see them removed or changed in such a way that they can be ignored.
The slipstreams I'm not a fan of. They're mostly just a wall to get in the way.
The storms are a pain because there's FAR TOO MANY of them. Most of hyperspace is just a giant flashy cloud, with little spots around a system that are clear. I wish there was a lot less of the storms.
The ghosts I've learned to just ignore entirely.
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Daynen

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #10 on: April 25, 2022, 09:59:41 AM »

Note that the little interdiction ghosts that keep draining your drive field can be chased off with an interdiction pulse.
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Parawings

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2022, 09:01:02 AM »

My sentiments are pretty much identical to the majority's, there's definitely more going on in hyperspace but the word that comes to mind is "irritating" rather than "interesting." Hyperspace storms have long been a nuisance, but at least in the past you could genuinely just put on sustained burn and ignore them. Slipstreams, on the contrary, cannot be ignored. You get sucked into one and don't correct it you're going to be sent to the ass-end of nowhere. They were phrased as being a tool for helping you get to your destination faster, but in my experience they get in the way far, far more often than anything else. It's really quite difficult to plan a route around them because you have to find them, remember where they are, keep track of their directional shifting, not to mention that they just disappear sometimes.

Which, all in all, could actually be pretty manageable if there was some method of recording and keeping track of them in-game, but as it is my short term memory is practically swiss cheese so it ends up being periodic bursts of mild irritation. Making hyperspace engaging is a noble goal but I don't think this is it and it'll need some solid iteration to become an enjoyable system, and I don't think having hyperspace just be mundane downtime was a bad thing either.

Sensor ghosts, on the other hand, are pretty sick, at least at first. I think the interdicting ones are too common and the rest are so meaningless that once the initial spectacle wears off I end up just ignoring them, but I'd still say they're pretty great. It's nice to get something like a free hyperion occasionally, even if it is possessed by the weird hyperdimensional space creatures.
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Linnis

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2022, 03:45:18 PM »

With the sensor ghosts and everything this is starting to match warhammer 40k's lore pretty well.

Hyperspace network collapsing, AI-human war, groups of human cut off from each other. Hyperspace becoming more and more turbulent and "spooky".

All thats missing is some aliens and almost perfect match.
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wraithstalke

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Re: Hyperspace travel is much more interesting now
« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2022, 04:34:07 PM »

My sentiments are pretty much identical to the majority's, there's definitely more going on in hyperspace but the word that comes to mind is "irritating" rather than "interesting." Hyperspace storms have long been a nuisance, but at least in the past you could genuinely just put on sustained burn and ignore them. Slipstreams, on the contrary, cannot be ignored. You get sucked into one and don't correct it you're going to be sent to the ass-end of nowhere. They were phrased as being a tool for helping you get to your destination faster, but in my experience they get in the way far, far more often than anything else. It's really quite difficult to plan a route around them because you have to find them, remember where they are, keep track of their directional shifting, not to mention that they just disappear sometimes.

I can't agree enough. I've been playing since we had one system and this is in my opinion the worst.

Like I burned along, hit a storm, got punted into one slipstream that was bisected by another. I ended up having to abandon that trip/change my destination because I burnt so much fuel and supplies.

I really don't want to go to hyperspace now, I'd rather use the rings all the time when I can.
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