Fractal Softworks Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Starsector 0.97a is out! (02/02/24); New blog post: Simulator Enhancements (03/13/24)

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4

Author Topic: This game is too hard.  (Read 22493 times)

AdmiralMaelstrom

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 81
  • When death approaches, fire another volley.
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2012, 09:06:44 AM »

I've beaten all the missions so I can tell you it is entirely possible. Try focusing your forces more. Also the Dire Straits (one of the hardest imo) create a ditraction then retreat your huge freighters ASAP. Oh and also this (see below).

Please no.
Edit: Also, to add something useful, you were talking about coral nebula. As you see, you are flying a large carrier, have lots of fighter craft, and fight a mostly capital fleet. Thus, you goals should be quite obvious. Take out all of the enemy fighters and bombers by deploying your interceptors first, and take some battlefield targets, preferably the nav buoys. The, just stay away from the enemy capital ships with the carrier, while your torpedo bombers, which you deploy next, do their magic. As long as the group returns to your carrier, it does not matter how many ships it has lost, it will rearm and reattack at full strengths. Their capitals will never be able to shoot down whole wings of your bombers, and will be destroyed very fast.

Note that this mission is marked as hard, and as such should be expected to be hard. Otherwise, why would it say so?

And fighters are very much not a joke. Bombers and Torpedo Bombers are a very dangerous threat to any capital or medium-sized ship. Very, very dangerous. If i am not mistaken, those dagger wings sport reaper launchers. Those things hurt like hell. If you ever want to blow a capital ship up in three hits, use a reaper launcher. Also, shooting them down with point defense weapons is hard when they have carrier support, and thus interceptors wings like Wasps are useful to kill them off. I am not quite sure what to think about the heavy fighters and support fighters, i think they are mostly there to combat frigates and medium-sized ships. I am not really a fan of those, i find wasps and bombers both far more useful.

Like anything it takes time a practice to get used to the game mechanics. You'll get there, I have no doubt.
Logged
Whatever it takes, no matter the cost.

hairrorist

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 192
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2012, 10:38:55 AM »

Game is quite balanced when the mechanics click.  When I first started playing I couldn't beat many of the missions, but now I've done them all with over 80% and quite easily.  It may take a week but once you 'get' how the game works the difficulty just kind of melts.
If your fighters are consistently losing against their fighters, you're doing something wrong.  And if your bomber/fighter squads are dying to caps you're doing something really wrong.  They chew up and spit out capships.  This game is heavily built around using smart tactics and a good dose of player combat skill.  If your tactics are getting you killed consistently, they're bad tactics and you need to rethink them, because in this game proper tactical deployment will let you beat a force many times your size.
Logged

SeaBee

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 142
  • The stars are ... alive and breathing
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2012, 01:38:11 PM »

I hate to be That Guy, but some of you guys need to cut the OP some slack. The difficulty of the missions, especially to new players, is pretty high. I play some "hard" games now and then, and I certainly couldn't win every mission the first (or even fifth) time through. Some people probably can, and that's great! But not everyone can do that.

Let's try keeping this community civil. If you don't agree with the OP, fine. Offer a few suggestions. Point him/her to some useful threads offering tips. Suggest a mod or player-built mission that's not as difficult so he/she can get used to the game at a friendlier pace. Or, if you really don't want to bother offering some help, consider leaving the thread.

Sorry for derailing the topic any further.

The sandbox portion of the game (not too far from release, now!) will give you some control over how difficult the fights are going to be. You can take your time building up a comfortably powerful force, then prey on weaker targets until you get some experience with handling your fleet.

The way I learned to beat the missions was, honestly, a lot of trial and error. A few can be beaten with pure piloting skill, but the others will need careful fleet management. Since the enemy force is often numerically superior, you'll want to deny them objectives as soon as the mission starts. If they get control of too many points, they'll start to steamroll you with sheer numbers. (This is a fun challenge later.)

It's a difficult balance, and some of the missions are very puzzle-like in their solutions. If you want, there are some threads that offer help for specific missions. Sometimes it just takes a change in your initial order of battle.
Logged

hairrorist

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 192
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2012, 01:41:40 PM »

Hmm, I didn't mean to come off as condemning the OP.  Just that it took me a while to figure out the game and I couldn't beat any of the missions.  Then I rethought what I was doing, adjusted, and things clicked.
Logged

xanderh

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 136
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2012, 01:49:32 PM »

The reason I'm being so offensive towards him is because he is putting all the blame on the game. I've succeeded a few of the missions, but some are a bit over my skill level. And that is fine with me, I actually quite like it. But I'm not complaining about the game being too hard, I'm just trying again and again with different strategies, and it is a lot of fun for me. Though, one mission that I find a bit easy, but at the same time a lot of fun the first few times, is "sinking the bis'mar". The enemy is a lot bigger than you, but you have the advantage of being nimble. And the missiles are quite easy to dodge, if you know what you're doing.

So, I recommend that he should try that one, and keep trying to complete the levels he's playing.
Logged

Icelom

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 121
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #20 on: February 11, 2012, 02:50:11 PM »

This op, deserves to be treated hard..

For me when i first trime the game
the easy missions were very easy
the mediums i won the first time out but it was not as straight forward (for the most part maybe lost 1 cant remember)
the hard missions took me a while but finaly i have beaten all of them (prededator or prey took me forever)
And i have not beaten any of the imposibles yet.

To complain that the game is at fault, and that the ai has some kind of magical advantage is just wrong... the game actaully takes a ton of strategy and tactics at this level as well as good piloting on your part... the OP is saying that the game is broken and is all luck how can some people consistatly win (i can now on all the hard and below missions).

It was so refreshing to play a game that actually took practice and planning to defeat some of hte missions, most RTS type games i have played recently are just win,win,win,win,win SC2 for example on normal i did not loose a single mission... and on the hardest setting i think i lost 1 once or something... To me the game is more fun because its not to easy... the only thing that would make the game to hard was if i could never ever consistantly beat a mission, i cant beat the impossible ones but i accept that because they are labled impossible...

To me what it sounds like is the op is just deploying ships and hten the ocasional capture order without any other strategy or planning.. His descripton of what happened to him on corel nebula is a fine example that he clearly let his fighters go after hte capitals before he took out there fighters and bomers... you have to turtle in that mission pretty hard with all your fleet. (once i figured out a strategy for that mission it was actaully pretty easy).



Logged

tinsoldier

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 144
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #21 on: February 11, 2012, 02:55:47 PM »

My the OP can record a video of his attempt at one of the missions and we can provide some constructive criticism.

One thing the OP may be struggling with is that the difficult hump is pretty pointy, if you know what I mean :)  It can hard, hard, hard and a change in strategy takes you from being murdered outright to outright murdering.
Logged

hairrorist

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 192
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #22 on: February 11, 2012, 03:02:13 PM »

To save this thread we could turn it into "tips for beginners" thing.

One little tip that -really- helps is to ALWAYS deploy something with flight decks (a carrier) and as many fighters as you can.  Order your "Carrier Group" to rally somewhere safe but not too far from the fight.
« Last Edit: February 11, 2012, 03:08:29 PM by hairrorist »
Logged

MidnightSun

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 203
    • View Profile
    • About Me
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #23 on: February 11, 2012, 03:14:44 PM »

Another tip is to watch the order that the AI deploys ships in, and counter that. Usually, the AI sends out fighters and frigates at the very beginning. So, to counter that, do not send your flagship out at the very beginning (unless your flagship is a carrier, or if you can deploy your entire fleet): send anti-fighter craft like the Wasp to make short work of the AI's Talons and Hounds.

Then, when you've captured 2 buoys (or a Comm buoy), deploy your flagship and some lighter craft to counter the destroyers that the AI will then deploy. Finally, after capturing another buoy (or losing some of your initial fleet...), deploy heavier destroyers or torpedo bombers to deal with the AI's flagship that is probably just then entering the field.

That battle order's worked well for me.

As for Coral Nebula, I now consistently get 90-100% (-0-2 fighter wings), so I don't think luck should play a significant role in that mission.
Logged

Alex

  • Administrator
  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 23988
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #24 on: February 11, 2012, 03:20:44 PM »

To save this thread we could turn it into "tips for beginners" thing.

Good idea :) As someone mentioned earlier - always have at least one "Assault" or "Defend" order active, to make sure that all your ships have something to do and don't go off on their own.
Logged

hairrorist

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 192
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #25 on: February 11, 2012, 03:24:09 PM »

Yeah, its important to get the fighter advantage in the beginning.  Overwhelming air superiority is crucial.  Capture a few nodes, then hit their fighters HARD with heavy fighters, interceptors, and support fighters in the beginning   Sic multiple wings onto a single AI wing to make sure you destroy it before it gets back to its carrier to regenerate.  I usually deploy only fighters and my carrier in the beginning so I can rush and scoop up more nodes and gain the fighter advantage.  Then some smaller ships and flagship, and then bombers.  I hate commanding capital ships so I usually let the AI handle them while I zip and zoop around at *** speed in a tempest or punch things in the *** with a hammerhead.
Logged

MidnightSun

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 203
    • View Profile
    • About Me
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #26 on: February 11, 2012, 03:27:25 PM »

... I hate commanding capital ships so I usually let the AI handle them ...
What! I love my capital ships ;)

I find that I'm better than the AI at simultaneously guarding against bomber/torpedo runs and actually doing significant damage with flagships.
Logged

AdmiralMaelstrom

  • Lieutenant
  • **
  • Posts: 81
  • When death approaches, fire another volley.
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #27 on: February 11, 2012, 04:27:07 PM »

I find using a couple of Carl von Clauswitz's principles of war to be helpful. Such as "mass"-meaning to amass your forces in a single area and do not let them wander around aimlessly and objective- meaning you should always have a clearly defined goal that you are trying to attain, weigh this objective against other potential objective and be sure you can answer "is this the most beneficial objective" with a yes.

To apply this in game you could look at this scenario. Nav buoy vs. Comm relay, first you can look at your fleet, if it is large, you should focus more of your attention and resources on acquiring the Comm relay as it will let you field your forces more quickly and thus give you the principle of "mass". But if your forces are small, perhaps focus on getting a Nav buoy to make your already small force more effective and slowly take points one by one.

Another helpful one is "conservation"- meaning if you know an objective (i.e. Nav buoy) will be easy to aquire don't send your ENTIRE force just to secure it. Use just enough force to aquire it with minimal losses.

In all honesty I never look at what the computer puts out, perhaps I should, but I generally just think of the strategies listed above, and as Ive said before it takes practice, God know I was terribad for the longest time (some things never change  ;) ).
Logged
Whatever it takes, no matter the cost.

Flare

  • Admiral
  • *****
  • Posts: 906
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #28 on: February 11, 2012, 05:18:55 PM »

Maybe OP has a valid point, perhaps there should be one or two more missions where they're much more forgiving of mistakes to ease you in, this way people might have a testing ground for tactics and strategy while the really hard missions stay as they are.
Logged
Quote from: Thana
Quote from: Alex

The battle station is not completely operational, shall we say.

"Now witness the firepower of this thoroughly buggy and unoperational batt... Oh, hell, you know what? Just ignore the battle station, okay?"

SeaBee

  • Commander
  • ***
  • Posts: 142
  • The stars are ... alive and breathing
    • View Profile
Re: This game is too hard.
« Reply #29 on: February 11, 2012, 06:27:30 PM »

Maybe OP has a valid point, perhaps there should be one or two more missions where they're much more forgiving of mistakes to ease you in, this way people might have a testing ground for tactics and strategy while the really hard missions stay as they are.
I like this idea.
Logged
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4