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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: Starfarer 0.53a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 368071 times)

Jonlissla

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #30 on: June 12, 2012, 02:24:23 AM »

I suspect that with a bit of creativity, the could be used to create hulls that transform into a somewhat different shape :) You can also make it alter ship stats in any way you want while drones are deployed (as the Apogee's Sensor Drones do).

Siege Mode = ACTIVATED

Overall, the changes looks great. Now every ship has something unique to them, which is problably going to make those lesser ships being used more, especially the Buffalo MK2. Jesus Christ, it's about time it got a buff. Mind telling us how much more speed and manueverability it recieved?
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Hopelessnoob

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #31 on: June 12, 2012, 02:31:05 AM »

ohhh even more things to make combat even more fun and exciting...just need a character to progress and i'll never turn the game off....
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Faiter119

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #32 on: June 12, 2012, 02:38:03 AM »

Wow this all sounds awesome! Im hoping the midline drones are not OP, can they target shields? Or just missiles?

Example:

1: Run Gemini into another ship with shields up.
2: Activate mg drones.
3: Enemy shields get instantly overloaded.
4: ???
5: Profit!

EDIT: Single mgs not dual.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 02:43:37 AM by Faiter119 »
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Mattk50

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #33 on: June 12, 2012, 02:48:30 AM »

If the enemy ship is already overloading in front of 1.5 odyssey broadsides (funny angles on its turrets eh) he is doomed whether or not i get a 50% damage bonus. To top it off, its rare your only fighting one ship at a time in the campaign, and even then i wouldnt want to make myself vulnerable by both taking down by primary means of defense and getting a 50% incoming damage penalty to my soft armor as its all too often stray pilums or a frigate can zoom in and ruin your day.

Maybe if that bonus instead did something like make you extra vulnerable to an overload that would last far longer than normal or something and instead of increasing damage reduced flux output, but on a high tech ship you might as well press the self destruct button in a battlefield scenerio otherwise.
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Faiter119

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #34 on: June 12, 2012, 03:01:49 AM »

Any estimated release date yet? Except the commonly known one?

Spoiler
Soontm
[close]
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Tarran

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #35 on: June 12, 2012, 03:07:22 AM »

Quote
Burn Drive - temporarily engages the drive used for system travel. Massive speed boost for a fixed time, can't turn or use shields (but can fire), risk of full engine flameout on significant collision...

...Tarsus, Enforcer, Dominator, Onslaught...
Hmm, isn't this ability is a little useless in a way? Sure, you can get to battle faster, but there's still the major disadvantage to the Dominator and Onslaught of not being able to turn very good and having fixed shields, so getting into battle faster may not actually be a good thing since you have less flank support. And using it in battle would only make it easier for your enemies to flank you because you just zoom past them.

Please enlighten me on what advantage this gives. Does it allow them to ram their enemy or something? Run away faster?

Quote
Maneuvering Jets - activates extra thrusters to greatly improve ship maneuverability...
...Falcon, Eagle...
Huh, personally I thought their maneuverability was already top of the line for cruisers and didn't need to be any higher.

Quote
Phase Teleporter - teleports anywhere (to cursor location) within a significant range (~1500 pixels)...
...Hyperion...
Oh dear god. That is scary. What is the cooldown? Because it sounds like it could make the Hyperion ridiculously dangerous since it's a great strike ship. Potentially too dangerous.

Quote
Accelerated Ammo Feeder - doubles ballistic weapon rate of fire for a fixed duration
...Hammerhead...
Oh god, the mental image of two Heavy Maulers running with the firepower of 4. Beautiful. :)

Quote
Increased Pilum missile hitpoints
By how much?

Quote
Improved Buffalo Mk.2 speed and maneuverability significantly
Hey, now it's no longer an easy target that thinks it's better than a frigate but is actually horrifically worse!

How fast does it go and turn now?

Quote
Toned down ship explosion whiteout, fixed case where it would stay washed out for too long
Aww, the effect of a battleship completely whiting out the screen was vaguely hilarious when it wasn't happening to you. :P

Quote
Removed key binding for raising flux on purpose
Aww, that was a slightly useful ability in very rare cases, to raise flux and thus damage without firing at nothing. Oh well, it wasn't that important.

Is the function still in, though? Can I still bind it to a key if I really want it for some strange reason?
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mendonca

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #36 on: June 12, 2012, 03:17:53 AM »

Quote
Burn Drive - temporarily engages the drive used for system travel. Massive speed boost for a fixed time, can't turn or use shields (but can fire), risk of full engine flameout on significant collision...

...Tarsus, Enforcer, Dominator, Onslaught...
Hmm, isn't this ability is a little useless in a way? Sure, you can get to battle faster, but there's still the major disadvantage to the Dominator and Onslaught of not being able to turn very good and having fixed shields, so getting into battle faster may not actually be a good thing since you have less flank support. And using it in battle would only make it easier for your enemies to flank you because you just zoom past them.

Please enlighten me on what advantage this gives. Does it allow them to ram their enemy or something? Run away faster?
I suppose the main advantages are either defensively getting out of the way of big ships that have taken your rear by surprise, or probably more usefully allowing your slow ships to be deployed in the second and subsequent waves of reinforcements, and getting to the front line that much quicker.

Tarsus is presumably simply a case of getting as fast as possible to the other side of the map to escape. Will make 'The Wolf Pack' mission very interesting indeed ...

Also I'm sure there will be further, more tactically subtle uses of this, but those immediately spring to mind.
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Tarran

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #37 on: June 12, 2012, 03:28:30 AM »

I suppose the main advantages are either defensively getting out of the way of big ships that have taken your rear by surprise,
But... shouldn't you be keeping yourself aimed at the big ships at all times with those last two ships? I mean, to me that seems like the logical thing to with ships that turn slowly which also have fixed weapon slots and fixed shields.

Quote
or probably more usefully allowing your slow ships to be deployed in the second and subsequent waves of reinforcements, and getting to the front line that much quicker.
Yes, that is an advantage, but the advantage is only in getting places. Once battle starts, I personally see myself only rarely using it if at all, which is what I'm uncertain about, because it seems like the only Ship System in the game that I wouldn't use in battle itself out of all the other Ship Systems, for ships that seem to get less use out of it than they could get with, say, Maneuvering Jets.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 03:30:56 AM by Tarran »
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Temjin

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #38 on: June 12, 2012, 03:45:10 AM »

I suppose the main advantages are either defensively getting out of the way of big ships that have taken your rear by surprise,
But... shouldn't you be keeping yourself aimed at the big ships at all times with those last two ships? I mean, to me that seems like the logical thing to with ships that turn slowly which also have fixed weapon slots and fixed shields.

Quote
or probably more usefully allowing your slow ships to be deployed in the second and subsequent waves of reinforcements, and getting to the front line that much quicker.
Yes, that is an advantage, but the advantage is only in getting places. Once battle starts, I personally see myself only rarely using it if at all, which is what I'm uncertain about, because it seems like the only Ship System in the game that I wouldn't use in battle itself out of all the other Ship Systems, for ships that seem to get less use out of it than they could get with, say, Maneuvering Jets.

Honestly, the worst part about piloting an Onslaught or Dominator is the long time it takes to get the damn things to battle, as well as enabling pursuit of faster ships or cutting off of retreat routes. I'd get a lot of use out of the subsystem... and it makes the Enforcer crazy good at getting to that all-important central capture point quickly and warding Hounds and other cappers away from it.
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Tarran

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #39 on: June 12, 2012, 04:02:48 AM »

Yes, the speed is nice to getting into battle. But as I mentioned, it seems like the only thing I wouldn't use in battle. Which is important, because while every other ship is getting serious buffs to their fighting ability, those four ships are only getting bonuses to getting to or getting away from the fight. Thus, to me it appears that those ships are getting left behind compared to the others in plain combat ability.

And viewing it again, it also gives nasty debuffs like preventing usage of your shields and turning, so any half decent ship can just turn to the side or get out of the ark of your fixed guns, and also fire back without any objection from your shield, which makes the advantage of pursuit less appealing than you may think, especially when the ship has HE torpedoes or missiles and you are flying right at them...
« Last Edit: June 12, 2012, 04:05:47 AM by Tarran »
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Uomoz

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #40 on: June 12, 2012, 04:05:22 AM »

In my experience, getting fast into the battle at the beginning of it, is crucial to win it.
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mendonca

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #41 on: June 12, 2012, 04:10:24 AM »

I suppose the main advantages are either defensively getting out of the way of big ships that have taken your rear by surprise,
But... shouldn't you be keeping yourself aimed at the big ships at all times with those last two ships? I mean, to me that seems like the logical thing to with ships that turn slowly which also have fixed weapon slots and fixed shields.
Yeah, of course you should. But then you wouldn't have been taken by surprise ...  :P

And conversely, I think it could prove to be a big deal in deciding the effectiveness of e.g. an Onslaught as part of a larger fleet.

This frees up a whole bunch of FPs to structure a strong and quick advance force, knowing that you have the latitude to e.g. reliably capture and hold a comm relay, and get your hulking Onslaught in to the battle as part of the second wave very quickly.
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Tarran

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #42 on: June 12, 2012, 04:41:11 AM »

In my experience, getting fast into the battle at the beginning of it, is crucial to win it.
So that's why we have frigates and fighters and deploy them first.

The Dominators and Onslaughts do not fit with a faster speed. Sure, they can provide support to the smaller ships quicker, but they're quite bad at doing so and the moment the enemy's bigger ships come, they're going to find that the enemy has a much more useful ability.

And conversely, I think it could prove to be a big deal in deciding the effectiveness of e.g. an Onslaught as part of a larger fleet.

This frees up a whole bunch of FPs to structure a strong and quick advance force, knowing that you have the latitude to e.g. reliably capture and hold a comm relay, and get your hulking Onslaught in to the battle as part of the second wave very quickly.
Good point, actually. But the enemy could also send out a strong and quick advance force, and just skirmish with your Onslaught and Dominators--which are horrible at doing so with smaller ships--until your own big ships arrive, which have better systems.
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Nooblies

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #43 on: June 12, 2012, 04:44:57 AM »

Burn drive sounds like one of the most useful abilities being added, especially on the slower early epoch ships. Not only will they be able to get into the thick of it much more quickly and easily and remain there (so preventing high tech ships from safely backing off and remaining at range or venting), it also allows them to move from battle to battle much more quickly and so have a larger effect on the larger battles, where they currently often get stuck between fights due to their low speeds. For example, you are trying to capture a defended command point while also attacking their carriers. An Onslaught or Dominator will be able to rush up to the carrier group and wipe the floor with it, vent flux while orientating itself to the battle around the command point and then "jump" into the battle, possibly even flanking the enemy and trapping them between your forces.

As for having enemy ships move around the sides during a battle and flanking, it also provides an easy escape mechanism. It lets you get out of weapons range, vent flux and re-orientate yourself with the enemy ship, so will add more survivability to the lower tech ships and make them less vulnerable to getting stuck with enemy ships behind them, where their shields and guns are relatively useless.

Personally I can't wait to charge into a group of Tri-tachyon frigates and destroyers with a machine-gun-slaught and watch them all melt under a hail of bullets. Bwahahahaha!
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Hopelessnoob

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Re: Starfarer 0.53a (In Development) Patch Notes
« Reply #44 on: June 12, 2012, 04:50:20 AM »

I don't know about you guys but i can't wait to ram a ship to death with my onslaught going at full speed.
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