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[Histidine]

It's not worth the time to explain what you want or what your specific issues are, but it's apparently worth the time to post rants with zero actionable complaints.

okay

[CptZoom]

It's not worth the time to explain what you want or what your specific issues are, but it's apparently worth the time to post rants with zero actionable complaints.

okay

My specific issues were that it doesn't explain systems well enough, so someone new can't really understand basic ideas, such as, how much fuel do ships use, how many supplies? Why are my supplies suddenly tanking for no apparent reason? How do you transport a new ship back to base when you don't have enough crew for it? What kind of planets should you try to develop. How do you manage your planets? What is a sustainable way to make money after your fleet grows? Why do I keep running out of supplies when there doesn't seem to be any reason for it? What kind of fleet composition am I supposed to use? Why are other fleets bringing in more ships than I am? Is that a setting? Why does my computer slow down playing this game, even when I allocated 5gb of ram to it through the files? Is a Ryzen 7 5800x with 16gb of ddr4 and a nividea 3080 not good enough to run it? Memory leak? Why do I keep getting memory leaks? How do you do ground combat? Why is the tutorial just so bad at showing you what to do? Why is the only tutorial in the game so underwhelming? Why do I want to punch the wall when I play it? What type of game is this supposed to be? Should I go on?

[huhn]

that sounds like a moded nex game.
i mean there is no real "ground combat" in starsector.
and the base game doesn't really care about memory.

the game pretty much tells you everything.
each ship has the information how much supplies it uses same for fuel usages the game also tells you the distance it even calculates your reach and shows you on the map.
get to close to a sun? the game tells you...
there is no point in telling you what to do in an open sandbox you do what ever you want.

[Histidine]

how much fuel do ships use, how many supplies?

Literally written on the stat card, which appears as soon as you mouse over the [?] button in the fleet screen, or when mousing over a ship in the fleet encounter dialog and then pressing F1 when it tells you to.

Why are my supplies suddenly tanking for no apparent reason?

Post-battle supply usage is mentioned in the dialog before the campaign tutorial's first battle, in the popup tip when entering battle for the first time, and in the popup tip immediately after the battle. The other common source of sudden supply usage, hyperspace storm strikes, has its own popup and a notification of damage in the bottom-left message section.

Why do I keep running out of supplies when there doesn't seem to be any reason for it?

this is just a repeat of the previous question

How do you transport a new ship back to base when you don't have enough crew for it?

Also has its own popup a second after entering the state of being short of crew.

What is a sustainable way to make money after your fleet grows?

So the issue mentioned in the thread about open market trading being a noob trap remains a problem, but other than that and exploration missions (which require running a leaner fleet to be worthwhile), the previous methods of making money – bounties, smuggling, bar missions, commissions – continue to work.

Why does my computer slow down playing this game, even when I allocated 5gb of ram to it through the files?

Because nobody's figured out what causes the slowdown beyond the fact that Java 8 fixes it. Also this has nothing to do with the game explaining stuff.

How do you do ground combat?

If you mean Nex's ground battles (which are, well, not part of the base game), there's a tutorial mission, and a help tab in each ground battle. Not to brag, but I do think these should explain the basics reasonably clearly.
Base game's raids lack a tutorial, but clicking around a bit and mousing over stuff for tooltips should get the basics across in short order.

Why do I want to punch the wall when I play it?

I don't know, sounds like a you problem

What type of game is this supposed to be?

The first thing on the home page below the menu bar:
"Starsector (formerly “Starfarer”) is an in-development open-world single-player space-combat, roleplaying, exploration, and economic game. You take the role of a space captain seeking fortune and glory however you choose."

In short, the only issues about the game explaining stuff that I can identify from that list: not having a colony tutorial, not explaining how to trade profitably, and maybe working raids into the campaign tutorial.

Now, here's my questions: Did you turn off help popups for some reason? Did you skip reading the text during the tutorial? If the answer to either of those is yes, why are you complaining about not understanding things after not doing the things that provide understanding? How was finding out a ship's supply and fuel consumption ever a problem?

[Brainwright]

Even better, get the missions from the plot station, and take any survey missions which pop up in the area.

If you do the repeatable core missions first it will frequently add more exploration missions without a time limit, and they tend to group up.  You can easily get three to five repeatable plot missions and a couple of time limited faction exploration missions all in the same area.

It rapidly makes a lot of money.  It can fund an early colony if you keep at it and do not attract much attention as well, although it is easier to wait a bit on the colony until you have the cash.

Hmm?  The Galatia missions are massively overpaid compared to everything else.

Try taking exploration missions sometime.  You will just barely break even at best after fuel, supplies, and crew costs.  Mostly, you will operate at a loss.  You will only remain viable via bounties, commissions, and smuggling.

Exploration missions can very much be worth it. They're basically the bread and butter of my playthroughs.

You're going to have to be more specific, because I can only imagine this works if you're only moving from objective to objective, not actually exploring the systems you stop in, which can take months by itself.  If you're able to survey a gas giant, you've likely got 10k in expenses, which will add about 30k to a modest trip outside the core.

[Hiruma Kai]

You're going to have to be more specific, because I can only imagine this works if you're only moving from objective to objective, not actually exploring the systems you stop in, which can take months by itself.  If you're able to survey a gas giant, you've likely got 10k in expenses, which will add about 30k to a modest trip outside the core.

Both styles can be profitable, but different styles of exploration are done optimally with different fleet configurations.  And if you're playing with an eye to economics, then exploring every last corner of every system just in case there's something far off is probably not worth it.  Flip on neutrino detector briefly if you have it, but otherwise probably not worth flying off in random directions.  Hit the star, hit the planets, maybe make a loop of the ring, and then move on.  Also, I don't recommend taking missions where the objective is an unknown location far from the star.

Also, if the gas giant is the target of survey mission, it's presumably paying out 30-80k or for that specific action?  So it is worth it in that case.  Otherwise, unless it has ruins (i.e. small satellites can be seen in orbit) or it is the last planet in a system you've already decided to settle so you can access the volatiles, there is no economic reason to survey a gas giant.  Although a surveying fleet typically has 50-100 supply/machinery reduction, which reduces the costs a fair bit even when you do it, it's still generally not worth the 1,000 credit class I survey data.  So again, if you're approaching exploration from an economic perspective, survey the planets that actually do turn a profit.

So for maximum profitability for the objective to objective style (no survey or salvage): Solo Dram (5 crew, 2 supplies/month, 1 fuel/ly)
A 6 month run and 150 fuel burned trip distance: 10*5*6 = 300 credits in salaries, 12 supplies and 100 fuel costs 5,250 credits.

Grab three 30,000-80,000 credit exploration missions on one half of the map and you're profiting 85,000-235,000 credits and getting a peak into systems along the way which lets you do more targeted survey/salvage missions later.  Also isn't likely going to actually take 6 months to do that loop.  More like 2-3 months depending on mission spread.

Example mid-game salvage and survey everything focus with Bulk Transport skill:
3 Apogees (or Ventures), Salvage Rig, 4 Shepherds, Phaeton
~2340 fuel capacity, ~2610 capacity, over 50% bonus to salvage, 80 reduction in supplies for surveying
73 supplies per month, 14 fuel/ly (167 light year round trip), 540 crew minimum

6 month run, 150 light years, ~128,700 credits running cost over 6 months time

A 50k and an 80k mission to the edge will pay for that which means you break even on the running costs, and then all the supplies and other loot you find along the way (since you're salvaging at a 50% quantity bonus, or 100% if you're going all in and got the salvaging skill), should be pure profit. 2500 units of stuff worth at least 100 credits and above should be at least 250k or so (often vastly more so), plus non-gas giant surveys only cost 5 supplies.  Occasionally you luck out and find a drug or weapon stash and come back and sell to a planet in deficit for a million credits.

The Apogees (or Ventures) can handle a fair number of probe defenders without too much worry, so you can use probe country to gather net supplies, fuel, and the occasional gamma core for awhile.

Admittedly, if you are transitioning from a combat fleet to exploration and are already full up on officers, probably will want a commission to help balance out the cost of officers you're not using.  Otherwise, skip officers with that fleet setup.

Using my end game combat fleet tends to be inefficient for making a profit exploring, but typically is still enough to profit while doing a circle of bounties and dropping into systems opportunistically to take a quick look around and grab some easy to find exploration loot.

[cerberusti]

Even better, get the missions from the plot station, and take any survey missions which pop up in the area.

If you do the repeatable core missions first it will frequently add more exploration missions without a time limit, and they tend to group up.  You can easily get three to five repeatable plot missions and a couple of time limited faction exploration missions all in the same area.

It rapidly makes a lot of money.  It can fund an early colony if you keep at it and do not attract much attention as well, although it is easier to wait a bit on the colony until you have the cash.

Hmm?  The Galatia missions are massively overpaid compared to everything else.

Try taking exploration missions sometime.  You will just barely break even at best after fuel, supplies, and crew costs.  Mostly, you will operate at a loss.  You will only remain viable via bounties, commissions, and smuggling.

Exploration missions can very much be worth it. They're basically the bread and butter of my playthroughs.

You're going to have to be more specific, because I can only imagine this works if you're only moving from objective to objective, not actually exploring the systems you stop in, which can take months by itself.  If you're able to survey a gas giant, you've likely got 10k in expenses, which will add about 30k to a modest trip outside the core.

Not only do they pay a lot, you can get several in one area.  They seem to try to assign them nearby, but you can get more than just a few by doing the pirate ransom, artifact buy, and vip missions then going back and getting more.  Eventually you have a stack of those missions far from the core but near each other, plus whatever you pick up out of the normal exploration on the way as you decide to go.

I like the lack of a time limit especially as it allows you to explore systems and pick up more missions, with the one or two normal exploration missions being the first targets on the way out.

You come back with a chunk of the map explored, many blueprints, and a bunch of cash from stack of missions you turn in.

[Yunru]

Even better, get the missions from the plot station, and take any survey missions which pop up in the area.

If you do the repeatable core missions first it will frequently add more exploration missions without a time limit, and they tend to group up.  You can easily get three to five repeatable plot missions and a couple of time limited faction exploration missions all in the same area.

It rapidly makes a lot of money.  It can fund an early colony if you keep at it and do not attract much attention as well, although it is easier to wait a bit on the colony until you have the cash.

Hmm?  The Galatia missions are massively overpaid compared to everything else.

Try taking exploration missions sometime.  You will just barely break even at best after fuel, supplies, and crew costs.  Mostly, you will operate at a loss.  You will only remain viable via bounties, commissions, and smuggling.

Exploration missions can very much be worth it. They're basically the bread and butter of my playthroughs.

You're going to have to be more specific, because I can only imagine this works if you're only moving from objective to objective, not actually exploring the systems you stop in, which can take months by itself.  If you're able to survey a gas giant, you've likely got 10k in expenses, which will add about 30k to a modest trip outside the core.

Why would you survey a gas giant if you're not getting paid for it, if it lacks ruins at least? (Colonisation, of course, but other than that too.)

Any time an orbital, research, or arsenal (although that one's modded) station scan pops up, I fly off, get a whole bunch of goodies basically handed to me, do a quick visual survey of the system, build a comm relay, and then it's off to the next thing.

[BCS]

Why would you survey a gas giant if you're not getting paid for it, if it lacks ruins at least? (Colonisation, of course, but other than that too.)

Completionism, gotta [X] the entire map.

[Acro]

I'm no expert in Starsector, in fact this is my first post and I have only just dipped into modding but from what I saw from the game it gives many implications on what or why something is happening. The game tells you how much fuel and supplies each ships use by just looking at the statistics. Supplies have just tanked because I fought a 30 min battle that should've lasted 10 minutes and took a reaper to the jaw. Crew are cheap, you should be able to buy hundreds with only a few credits.

Planets usually give good hints at want you want or don't want. The whole point is to keep exploring and finding planets that you believe are suitable for colonisation, the only deceiving part is maybe the hazard ratings for new players. Of course you probably won't be able to colonise a planet in the beginning but even then in my first play-through, I had built up over a million credits by trading and slowly climbing my way up the chain and colonised a nice planet. You can manage your planets through the command menu.

There are many ways to make money, you can scavenge derelict ships and stations from an age long gone, trade with planets, do bar missions, hunt bounties, get commissioned and/or colonise good planets to turn a profit for the long term. You need to explore to do things in this game.

You can see what is running your supplies down just by hovering over the hud's consumption, there are skills such as 'containment procedures' or 'makeshift equipment' that reduce how much fuel and supplies are used. Of course there will be fleets that are stronger than you, some you just can't beat and that's the point. You're no protagonist, you're a spacer that has dreams and ambitions like anyone else. The game isn't afraid of beating you into a pulp, but not because it hates you (most of the time at least ), the developers want you to learn, with your small fleet you won't be able to take most enemies. Fortunately your fleet is fast and relatively stealthy. The tutorial is short and teaches you only the basics, feeling somewhat underwhelming which I agree with, but it allows you experiment and learn from your mistakes. The closest thing Starsector has to the story is the Galatian academy missions, but the main focus isn't on story yet.

There is no true fleet composition. All you need is a suitable tanker for fuel, freighter for cargo. Combat can be anything you want, use phase ships for hit and run tactics, capitals to tear your opponent apart, send waves of fighters, hurl missiles till things stop moving.

Ground combat is a feature from Nexerelin by Histidine (he's even replied). Nexerelin is most definitely the largest mod in Starsector, it adds features like diplomacy; allowing factions to make alliances or go to war with each other, request fleets from your planets or a faction you have been commissioned/allied to, join other factions. Nexerelin is so huge I can't list them all. Nex might as well be in the base game. I won't talk anymore since we're talking about the base game but I'll pop the current version below.

As for memory leaks, it usually has something to do with mods. Other than allocating more RAM or exiting Starsector occasionally, I do believe there are some some solutions you can find in the discussions page.

Yes, I agree that a lot of the gameplay is best with mods but don't forget Starsector isn't even fully finished, they are still implementing more features. But for literally what? $15? $20? Starsector surpasses some full AAA games that cost $60+

Sorry for the 10 minute rant, I don't mean to insult you, it's just that without the right mindset you instead complain on the forums instead of just searching up stuff. Many of the problems mentioned can be solved by just looking closer, looking at the forums or downloading a mod. As I mentioned before there really isn't an over-arching story quest yet, because that's for you to decide. Wanna unite/destroy some (or all) of the factions, go ahead. Want to colonise planets across the world, go ahead. There are no restrictions, the only thing stopping your character from succeeding is what the player aims to do. Of course they may add a story at any point in time.

Nexerelin (0.95.1a): https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=9175.0

It's not worth the time to explain what you want or what your specific issues are, but it's apparently worth the time to post rants with zero actionable complaints.

okay

My specific issues were that it doesn't explain systems well enough, so someone new can't really understand basic ideas, such as, how much fuel do ships use, how many supplies? Why are my supplies suddenly tanking for no apparent reason? How do you transport a new ship back to base when you don't have enough crew for it? What kind of planets should you try to develop. How do you manage your planets? What is a sustainable way to make money after your fleet grows? Why do I keep running out of supplies when there doesn't seem to be any reason for it? What kind of fleet composition am I supposed to use? Why are other fleets bringing in more ships than I am? Is that a setting? Why does my computer slow down playing this game, even when I allocated 5gb of ram to it through the files? Is a Ryzen 7 5800x with 16gb of ddr4 and a nividea 3080 not good enough to run it? Memory leak? Why do I keep getting memory leaks? How do you do ground combat? Why is the tutorial just so bad at showing you what to do? Why is the only tutorial in the game so underwhelming? Why do I want to punch the wall when I play it? What type of game is this supposed to be? Should I go on?