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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: Starsector 0.96a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 319099 times)

Dadada

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #30 on: February 01, 2023, 02:45:53 PM »

The Fury got mega bonked by the nerf hammer last patch, could the DP nerf 15->20 be partly reversed since 20DP for a Fury feels really bad, what about 18?
Hmm, does it feel bad? I'll keep an eye on that during playtesting; right now I'm thinking that it's in an ok place. Further feedback welcome, though!
Imo: The firepower for 20DP feels lacking, the ship just feels very inefficient for 20DP. Sure, it is fast, can engage, disengage, pounce, punch down and possibly take punishment with the good shields but the firepower is just kinda meh for 20 dp. Maybe I am doing it wrong but if I focus on the 3 medium slots I get like 2 heavy blasters and medium missles for 20 dp, that ain't much I fear.

The Aurora on the other hand is a beast, sure, the different mobility system helps but so do more medium slots. One of my favourite ships. :D
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Buggie

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #31 on: February 01, 2023, 02:50:37 PM »


  • Added "no_autofit_unless_player" tag to hulls and variants


Does this go directly into the variant file? Like is it possible to easily make variants with s-mods now?
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blueberry

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #32 on: February 01, 2023, 02:52:32 PM »

can we get a sample of the new exploration music please?
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Zaizai

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #33 on: February 01, 2023, 03:00:11 PM »

As someone that doesn't use missiles if they are not infinite, I'm so happy to finally have something to mount on a large mount! 
Now I can have my salamander/medium pilum/large pilum ships! 
Especially liked the venture(P) change with the large missile slot on the back! perfect for a large pilum!...I only wish the 2 medium mounts were changed to composite(the one that can mount missiles and balistics, sorry If I remember it wrong, maybe hybrid?) so I could put more pilums in there and turn it into the perfect pilum boat, however I can see how problematic it would be to have that many missile mounts when you are not using pilums but actual strong missiles
« Last Edit: February 01, 2023, 03:09:02 PM by Zaizai »
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Shogouki

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #34 on: February 01, 2023, 03:07:38 PM »

Awesome!  Thanks so much for your work Alex!

Two questions though, does this fix the slowdown associated with battles when you have modded ships installed and if not is the process for upgrading this new version to Java 8 the same process?
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intrinsic_parity

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #35 on: February 01, 2023, 03:16:00 PM »

I don't think the squall change really does anything. The power of the weapon is 2500 range zero flux kinetic pressure (that can fire over allies and is high volume with decent missile HP so moderate PD is not super effective). None of the things that make it strong are reduced at all. Honestly, even the EMP damage is more significant than the damage to hull/armor.
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bananana

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #36 on: February 01, 2023, 03:25:53 PM »

i'm kinda curious about WeaponSlotAPI createWeaponSlot(
what is it for?
could it be for spawning weapon without an existing ship? cause i notice it doesn't have any ShipAPI input
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #37 on: February 01, 2023, 03:44:23 PM »

Imo: The firepower for 20DP feels lacking, the ship just feels very inefficient for 20DP. Sure, it is fast, can engage, disengage, pounce, punch down and possibly take punishment with the good shields but the firepower is just kinda meh for 20 dp. Maybe I am doing it wrong but if I focus on the 3 medium slots I get like 2 heavy blasters and medium missles for 20 dp, that ain't much I fear.

Hmm - possible counter point, if it could do all that *and* had heavy firepower, that'd be a bit much, wouldn't it? Also worth keeping in mind that the buffs to some energy weapons are possible indirect buffs to the Fury, too. Still, I'll definitely have another look at it.


  • Added "no_autofit_unless_player" tag to hulls and variants

Does this go directly into the variant file? Like is it possible to easily make variants with s-mods now?

It can, yes. Or via variant.addTag(). I'm not sure what the connection is about variants with s-mods - you can already do that, yes? With an "sMods" JSON array. (Unless this is new in 0.96a...)


can we get a sample of the new exploration music please?

Ah, sorry - that'll have to wait for the release!


however I can see how problematic it would be to have that many missile mounts when you are not using pilums but actual strong missiles

Hahah yes, exactly!


Two questions though, does this fix the slowdown associated with battles when you have modded ships installed

I'm not sure exactly what you mean. There's a campaign after-battle slowdown with heavily modded games? I'm not actually 100% on what causes that, though.

and if not is the process for upgrading this new version to Java 8 the same process?

Yes.


I don't think the squall change really does anything. The power of the weapon is 2500 range zero flux kinetic pressure (that can fire over allies and is high volume with decent missile HP so moderate PD is not super effective). None of the things that make it strong are reduced at all. Honestly, even the EMP damage is more significant than the damage to hull/armor.

I get what you're saying, but from actual testing, there's more to it. Multiple Squalls hitting the same target are capable of doing far too much actual non-shield damage. An easy example in the dev build is the Pegasus, since it has 4 large missile slots - and with the old Squall, it was capable of absolutely dismantling a Paragon mostly just through Squall damage. This shows up with massed Squalls on separate ships as well, of course.

The point here is to reduce the impact of Squall saturation, so that there's such a thing as overkill, and there's more room for other missiles - without significantly nerfing the Squall when it's used in smaller numbers.

(I'm going to go ahead and remove the EMP damage, though; forgot it was there and its anti-shield role is clearer without it.)


i'm kinda curious about WeaponSlotAPI createWeaponSlot(
what is it for?
could it be for spawning weapon without an existing ship? cause i notice it doesn't have any ShipAPI input

... you know, I don't remember. This was probably a modding request from someone; vanilla doesn't use it.
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AcaMetis

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #38 on: February 01, 2023, 03:45:17 PM »

Looking forward to all of these new toys to play with ;D.

One question: Does the Hostile Activity event change/get different modifiers/something when you accept a commission and start a small mining colony (most likely) in an existing core system, rather than out in the middle of space? I feel like it's something that should have some kind of impact, even if it ultimately isn't major. Maybe pirates are less willing to target a system with established major factions than an isolated one (unless said major factions are busy/distracted with hostile activities with other factions/there's a pirate market in the system?), or maybe said factional hostilities should have a positive/negative impact (depending on what the player does) which doesn't manifest (as much?) in isolated colonies. Something along those lines, I'm not sure if it's really appropriate/possible/worthwhile to implement. Just an idea to maybe make a strategy you wouldn't immediately think is possible a bit more unique.
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Achi Cirno

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #39 on: February 01, 2023, 03:49:52 PM »

In the light of new update I would like to talk about some changes and some suggestion.

here's a guide I've translated in hope to improve everyone's overall understanding of starsector's vanilla weapons, and for reference of things the team has concluded in version 0.95.

https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=25973.15

While heph got some improvement on its recoil, there's still too few ships that can wheel it due to its high flux requirement. 120 is not enough to penetrate heavy armor well, and won't be dramatic if we talk about its hull burning capability. While yes hellbore cannot work alone on hull burning and require other meaning to finish off heavy targets, heph is not enough to be installed on a large ballistic and sacrifice hellbore's anti-armor. It needs more than just improving its recoil.

I believe every 100 range has a price tag, but spending 1 more OP than light autocannon just for dual autocannon isn't worth it. Range is very precious, since you can shot the enemy before they shot them(and raise their flux level). Lower accuracy pushes it further into the grave.

I'm looking forward for the new update.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2023, 03:52:40 PM by Achi Cirno »
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Zaizai

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #40 on: February 01, 2023, 03:53:30 PM »

the Pegasus, since it has 4 large missile slots
You mean I can fire 24 pilums at once!?
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Wyvern

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #41 on: February 01, 2023, 03:58:15 PM »

... and hephaestus gets a completely inconsequential buff

I'm just going to say it: the Hephaestus is underrated.
The Hephaestus is really really good at punching down; it'll maul destroyers and frigates no problem.

...The problem is that 'punching down' is generally not what I want out of my large slot ballistics; combined with the HAG's high flux cost, it's a weapon that, in a vacuum, seems decent... but just doesn't have any ships where it shines. Now, if there were, say, a pirate Champion variant that boasted a large ballistic in place of the usual large energy? That might be a pretty good ship to put a HAG on. But for capital ships, I want guns that can deal with capital-grade armor, and for a Dominator, I don't want my hardpoints specialized as small-ship-killers, and for a Manticore... well, okay, it actually works decently on a Manticore; not great - a single HAG is over its dissipation limit (with max vents) on its own - but it's functional.
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Üstad

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #42 on: February 01, 2023, 04:04:00 PM »

Will anything be done about Doom mines? AI deems it as harmless so friendly ships get hurt even if it's easy to avoid them.
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #43 on: February 01, 2023, 04:23:46 PM »

One question: Does the Hostile Activity event change/get different modifiers/something when you accept a commission and start a small mining colony (most likely) in an existing core system, rather than out in the middle of space? I feel like it's something that should have some kind of impact, even if it ultimately isn't major.

I think it'll have a little impact just based on various pirate-base-proximity etc related factors.


the Pegasus, since it has 4 large missile slots
You mean I can fire 24 pilums at once!?

It has Fast Missile Racks, so you can do that 4 times in a row!


Will anything be done about Doom mines? AI deems it as harmless so friendly ships get hurt even if it's easy to avoid them.

See the Ship AI section of the patch notes! In brief: a bunch of different improvements there.


Regarding the Hephaestus and high armor: just did a quick test vs a simulation Onslaught (so, no Heavy Armor, but otherwise, that's still on the high end of armor you'll encounter) with its AI turned off, the measurements are all approximate, but anyway:
The Hephaestus takes around 12 seconds before it starts dealing hull damage.
The Hellbore takes around 8 seconds.

So, even on the high end, the difference - I mean, it's significant, but the Hellbore is a dedicated anti-armor gun while the Hephaestus is much more versatile. I don't think the difference is big enough that you can say it can't deal with high armor. The flux cost is a factor here - it's around 2x the DPS for proportionally more flux - so yeah, one might argue that it costs too much flux to deal with high armor, but deal with it it *can*. (Another "soft" factor is that if the Hellbore somehow misses, that really hurts it, while the Hephaestus is both less likely to miss and can afford to have a shot go stray since there are so many.)

I think any direct anti-armor improvement to the Hephaestus risks sidelining the Hellbore, except as a budget option. (Which is not an unreasonable niche. I'm just not sold on the Hephaestus being as bad as all that. E.G. I think you can very much put one on a Dominator, especially if the officer has Ordnance Expertise...)
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braciszek

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Re: Starsector 0.96a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #44 on: February 01, 2023, 04:24:36 PM »

Would it be possible for the drover to receive a minor DP rollback? Between the dp nerf, RD getting stomped on, and fighter skill limits, paying 15 dp for the drover is just gross. I think it learned its lesson now. One wonders when reading the drover description why the Domain didn't quietly cancel the production contract for it.
« Last Edit: February 01, 2023, 04:47:18 PM by braciszek »
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