I play Starsector mostly for its exploration, with combat being something I do
not do without a very good reason. I've noticed over several runs that my
interest and enjoyment tends to dry out the further into the game I progress,
followed by either a restart or an extended break from the game. This is an
analysis of sorts why this happens. There is a small "suggestions" block at the
end, but it's more of a brain dump than anything serious.
It should be noted that the following applies mostly to "sufficiently vanilla"
runs with stipend disabled and no commission, or with "Ruthless Sector".
Early game: the bliss
Early game is the part I enjoy the most. It has a very simple, clear goal of
not dying - physically and financially - and a variety of well-balanced ways to
achieve it. Whichever way to make money I choose, be it trading, exploration
missions or bounty hunting, potential gains are about the same. Risks are not,
and there are some hints of risk-reward imbalance already. Exploration's and
trading's risks are low-probability, high-impact - cargo loss, fleet wipes,
getting stranded - and limited resources make the impact a lot more painful,
which helps keeping me on my toes. Combat's risks are less binary, but much
more probable. Higher expected losses, comparable gains and my exploration bias
mean that I just don't see the point of doing combat in early game. "Ruthless
Sector" helps by evening out the field a bit.
Because all of the ways to progress at this stage involve a possibility of
things going horribly wrong, I need to think and to work towards minimizing the
risks while still making a profit. Do I want to go through with an exploration
mission in a system with yellow danger level? Is this delivery contract worth
dodging the pirates? Is exploring this system worth a chunk of very limited
supplies still left? It's a lot of decisions, and it's very fun.
Middle game: temptations
This is where the hamster wheel starts wobbling a bit. At this point, I have a
decently combat-capable fleet with good cargo capacity, as well as a solid
reserve of money. I am also most likely to have befriended pirates and pathers,
leaving me with no enemies except derelicts and [REDACTED]. Rewards and risks
change. Trading becomes the optimal strategy, because it no longer carries any
risks at all, and rewards scale with cargo capacity, which is trivial to
increase. Combat risks are still relevant, but rewards - as many have brought
up before - are not well calibrated against them. Why would I fight anything if
the reward is less money than a good deal provides and some XP? This only
applies to bounties though - piracy becomes extremely lucrative at this point,
especially considering its relatively low risk. This is where I go all out on
exploration with some bursts of trading and piracy in-between. The exploration
is different though: quests are no longer the main source of money, I take them
to essentially pick a direction at random and to compensate fuel costs in case
I find nothing of value. I'm after loot bombs, blueprints and colony items.
Blueprints and colony items I acquire in the process begin to tempt me to set
up a colony. This is a big gripe of mine with exploration in Starsector. Unlike
trading and combat, its game loop becomes self-destructive at some point. If
you trade, you make money to make more money. If you fight, you make XP (and
SP) to make more XP (and if you are good enough - make money to fight more). If
you explore, you gather things which are not useful for exploration and push
you towards settling down, disrupting your exploration until the colony is
finally able to fend for itself.
End game: why would I do that?
This is where the hamster wheel breaks and I quit. I have a fleet that can
crush most fleets in the core. My money printer is on the way. I can go and
explore more or less freely... but why would I do that? There's no spice to it
anymore, unless I go into red systems. But why would I do that? Another colony
item is not worth the hassle. I can give bounties a shot (no pun intended), but
what's the point? Fighting for fighting's sake is not my jam. [REDACTED] and
Omega? Same, what do I have to gain except bragging rights? Trading is still
kind of fun - who doesn't love a fat profit from a killer deal - but do I
really need another million? A megaproject might keep me running for a short
while, but they tend to be grindy and not particularly fun.
Nexerelin helps massively at this stage, by providing great challenges and
risks worth taking.
Suggestions I guess?
The main problems which lead to the breakdown is, I believe, the ease of
removing risks and lacking rewards.
The lacking rewards is probably a mostly numeric issue (seriously, 40k for
taking out a station?), although there's also the problem of money becoming
irrelevant and being able to obtain nearly anything. The game could use some
more unique rewards only obtainable through a couple of very specific channels.
Risks should neither be opt-in nor fully removable. Risk removal can be
done in a way that doesn't completely trivialize the game by transferring the
risk elsewhere. Befriending a faction could get you targeted by its' enemies'
special forces. Or the faction could demand a display of loyalty every now and
then, either straining your relationships with its enemies or being generally
risky ("scan us a Nexus or we revoke your docking privileges"). A well-known
wealthy trader should be targeted by pirates and privateers. Competing
scavengers and explorers could be more aggressive and have a chance of
attacking you regardless of your faction standing (like some story fleets do).