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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: Why do fighters in the setting still use pilots?  (Read 1917 times)

Aethelric

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Re: Why do fighters in the setting still use pilots?
« Reply #15 on: November 30, 2022, 10:52:52 AM »


I dunno, I've found some pretty nice places whilst exploring across my various games - a lot of them once even having been inhabited, just abandoned or decivilized. But the Powers of the Sector are too busy squabbling to send colony expeditions of their own it seems - perhaps they fear that launching and supporting such an operation would require enough resources to weaken them and leave them vulnerable to an attack from their neighbours?

I think that the big factions are, generally, also afraid of running afoul of REDACTED (who, not being the player, the factions have every reason to treat as an impossibly powerful foe). The tech you find on these abandoned or decivilized places could also be deeply destabilizing to the power structures that be, reducing the desire to wholesale invest in recolonizing.

Factions, even friendly ones, can and do send expeditions to try to knock your colony down a peg. Player characters generally have the ability to defeat this expeditions, but I imagine down the road that the Event system will make it more of a challenge to maintain prosperous colonies that eat up other factions' precious market share. Part of the other thing is that, as you get at, the player is a special mover and shaker in this universe, seemingly uniquely positioned and capable to affect the gamestate of a Sector that seems very stagnant.

As for the "rule of cool" explanation: well, yeah, they're there because it's cool. I just think that they can also work thematically as part of the setting, as well, by emphasizing how callously and/or cavalierly the Sector's factions treat human life even when there's not all that much life to go around.
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Igncom1

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Re: Why do fighters in the setting still use pilots?
« Reply #16 on: November 30, 2022, 11:08:52 AM »

One thing with fighter drones, is why not frigate drones?

Well for one thing automation seems to be on a ship per ship basis. Some have very little, some might not actually need the crews they state and have them merely as a cover for systems that pretend to follow your commands...

Personally I like a little skin in the game, even if that skin is wrapped in adamantium and my mind is more of an electronic cloud dancing through hyperspace. I'm still there dammit!
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Hatter

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Re: Why do fighters in the setting still use pilots?
« Reply #17 on: November 30, 2022, 08:09:34 PM »

One thing with fighter drones, is why not frigate drones?
We have those though. Also destroyer drones, cruiser drones, and capital drones. And drone stations that spawn all of those drones.
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Igncom1

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Re: Why do fighters in the setting still use pilots?
« Reply #18 on: November 30, 2022, 10:53:03 PM »

Oh yea? What about DRONE DRONES? Ever think of that?!
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