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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 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes  (Read 574280 times)

SafariJohn

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #765 on: November 19, 2015, 04:48:06 PM »

Hmm... you need to be stationary to take advantage of planetary rings, but if you stay still they just slide out from underneath you after a few seconds. That's very awkward. Maybe stopping on top of them should "anchor" you to them and keep you immobile relative to them.

Hmm, yeah. Note: you can move slowly without losing the bonus. One-two second bursts to somewhere very close by are ok.

I would really like a way to station-keep like the AIs do orbiting planets/stations. Maybe holding the mouse button down for a couple seconds or ctrl-click? Have it work in the map-view, too, so you can drift in an asteroid belt or ring system.
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Aeson

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #766 on: November 19, 2015, 05:11:16 PM »

Is there no experience gained from completing missions? Not even normal trade experience (assuming that's still in; thus far, the only 'trading' I've done are the courier contracts)? Just wondering, because I've completed several missions and turned a profit on each, and have gained a grand total of 0 experience towards the next level.

Also, some missions feel like they have extremely tight time limits; I'm getting the feeling that it's usually not worth bothering with 10-day missions if the delivery point isn't in the same system, at least not early on.
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #767 on: November 19, 2015, 05:14:53 PM »

Here's how I see it:
In 0.65 you got thrown alone in the water, but if you kept your eyes open your only threat was to engage a fleet too strong. And once you got the hang of it, you could get a sizable fleet of cruisers in under 2 hours.

Now? Well you can get caught of guard early one with little chance to prevent it. Pirates fleets tend to happily gang on you. Loot has little to no values with the economy so filled with huge stacks. Shortages take much longer to reach and are often less profitable.

So yeah the games is much more interesting, and it's smoother in the sense that you don't gain a lot of power too easily, I feel it is harder overall.

(I don't know about the loot having no value; while there's a lot more stuff all around, the prices are still where they ought to be. There's more disruptions, but that just means more opportunities to exploit.)

I do see what you mean, though - I think what I was trying to get at is the difficulty curve for "figure out how to work with sensors" isn't super high.

You're definitely right about expanded battles, though - they're not a reliable way to make the early game easier; ends up being more an opportunity to take advantage of.


Show sensor range, the fourth one.

Ah - that shouldn't be there. There was a hud overlay at one point but it was totally not useful at all and got junked, except apparently for the control option.

That I did, but SO is very costly before a few levels in tech. (but it so great in a Lasher!!!!)

Yeah, it's costly. Still, putting it on right away *definitely* can work - I'm not sure whether it's outright better than non-SO, though. It's great for pursuits or making sure you nab the kills in joint battles, but can get more expensive and there's a lot less room for error, even if "error" just means missing on an opportunity to deal damage.


Another reason why the game felt so hard at the beginning is probably because of the Wolf. It's quite a glass cannon and the front shield coupled to its long profile make it so vulnerable to flanking. I personally switched to a Lasher with safety override and unstable injector. Strapped two annihilators, a truckload of machine guns and yelled "RAMMING SPEED!" at every targets. It's brutally efficient, even destroyers are food for a dakka-lasher.

Oh, nice! So SO is there just for speed, right? Seems like flux-wise it'd be fine without it. I love strapping annihilators onto just about any ship, though.


I haven't fully understood all the sensor mechanics yet, but the cat and mouse games are already a blast. A pirate fleet tried to jump me and I dodged into a patrol which chased them over the horizon and left me laughing :) I thought it might be helpful if hovering the cursor over the TRIPAD sensor range indicator would show a circle of the same? The pure numbers seem very abstract.

Yeah, maybe. The numbers are mostly there to be compared to each other. I mean, they represent those ranges given an "average" other fleet, which you're unlikely to encounter at any given time. In practice, the actual ranges will be higher or lower. For judging exact ranges, the "sensor pings" have that job. The numbers in the tooltip are more to let you know that hey, you're in terrain and it's working correctly, etc.

e/ Oh and I forgot to mention, my girlfriend told me to tell you that the star coronas are really beautiful, Alex ;D

To be honest, I'm pretty partial to how those turned out, myself :)

The first couple times I got bushwhacked but I'm learning quickly. One odd thing is the fighter (torpedo bomber) ai when joining in a fight. They tend to linger and not do much and not move as they get shot unless they can actively shoot something. Two of three Tridents had already expended ammo but there was a carrier on the field. Will turn into a bug report if I can document more, just thought I'd bring it up for you/others to be aware of.

Hmm - noted, I'll have to take a look. More info (and a bug report) would indeed help.

Two "watercooler" moments already: one was joining my first big battle in my little lonely wolf and just seeing a ton of ships already in the middle of combat. Great experience, even if I barely got anything for helping out. (Newbie trap: joining battles and spending more on supplies than you earned for helping)

Second was new mechanics, decided to plant a comm sniffer. Lingered out of range of anything, killed transponder, went dark and crawled in, planted the sniffer, eyeing up every ship as it slowly crawled past, sensor range just not quite hitting me. Finally finish up, just as a patrol swings my way. Moving in the opposite direction from him so he loses me, then he does an active sensor burst. I panic and hit the emergency burn, he does the same, I just outrace him and turn away and hit go dark as he flies by, not noticing me. Slowly crawl back to the station, barely remembering to turn my transponder on before I get there. Great experience, loved every second, and entirely from new mechanics.

GREAT JOB ALEX!!

Thank you for sharing that! It's really neat to see one of the core goals of a lot of these mechanics - making purely campaign-level gameplay actually fun by itself - coming to fruition.



They seem to be guided for the 1st few ms?

That's news to me :)


I feel that a patrol's reaction to transponder off should strongly depend on where it happens. Right next to a market - proabably a smuggler, definitely needs to be pursued. Somewhere in the system - will probably investigate, but will give up if it can't catch up quickly. Somewhere in hyperspace outside of faction's space - will probably be ignored unless there's a reason to do otherwise.

Also, it should depend on the fleet's size. A couple unidentified frigates is no huge deal. An unidentified large fleet could be an invasion force trying to sneak in for a surprise attack and should be vigorously investigated by patrols.

Good points; made a note to take a look for the .7.1a release.


I would really like a way to station-keep like the AIs do orbiting planets/stations. Maybe holding the mouse button down for a couple seconds or ctrl-click? Have it work in the map-view, too, so you can drift in an asteroid belt or ring system.

Made a note; will take a look.


Is there no experience gained from completing missions? Not even normal trade experience (assuming that's still in; thus far, the only 'trading' I've done are the courier contracts)? Just wondering, because I've completed several missions and turned a profit on each, and have gained a grand total of 0 experience towards the next level.

Also, some missions feel like they have extremely tight time limits; I'm getting the feeling that it's usually not worth bothering with 10-day missions if the delivery point isn't in the same system, at least not early on.

They don't. Haven't considered this, actually - I'll give it a bit of thought. Seems like a good idea on the surface.

As far as tight time limits: those missions tend to have higher rewards. For example, you might make upwards of 40k for a delivery of 10 units of harvested organs; well worth any emergency burns you have to do to make it on time.
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LazyWizard

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #768 on: November 19, 2015, 05:18:12 PM »

  • SettingsAPI
    • List<String> getAllVariantIds();
It looks like this was removed between the WIP API and the final release. Was this accidental, or were there unexpected problems with this method?
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Gothars

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #769 on: November 19, 2015, 05:18:17 PM »

Just had an idea about the sensor range sudden pirate newbie trap. How about if there are orbital installations which increase the sensor profile of enemy ships in a radius around them? So not a sensor phalanx proper, more like an echo beacon. Place some in the starting area and pirates/pathers nearby wont surprise the player.

Later on they could be sabotaged by pirates or even the player himself.
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The game was completed 8 years ago and we get a free expansion every year.

Arranging holidays in an embrace with the Starsector is priceless.

TJJ

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #770 on: November 19, 2015, 05:22:23 PM »

Was probably present in the previous version, but only just noticed it:

Why do mothballed fighter wings have a blue background to their CR bar, yet other ships when mothballed have a red CR bar background?
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Unfolder

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #771 on: November 19, 2015, 05:30:10 PM »

I just played through Undertale and I was like, I can't play video games anymore they're too intense, seriously i can't invest any more emotion or energy in video games, the only exception might be Starsector thank god it's never gonna be releasFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-
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Alex

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #772 on: November 19, 2015, 05:35:48 PM »

  • SettingsAPI
    • List<String> getAllVariantIds();
It looks like this was removed between the WIP API and the final release. Was this accidental, or were there unexpected problems with this method?

I still see it both in my code and in the javadoc. Wonder what's going on?

Just had an idea about the sensor range sudden pirate newbie trap. How about if there are orbital installations which increase the sensor profile of enemy ships in a radius around them? So not a sensor phalanx proper, more like an echo beacon. Place some in the starting area and pirates/pathers nearby wont surprise the player.

Later on they could be sabotaged by pirates or even the player himself.

Hmm. It's a neat concept (somewhat related, been thinking about nav buoys/sensor arrays in campaign) but is getting caught by pirates right next to Corvus really the problem? It seems to happen more when you're going somewhere, i.e. from Corvus to Barad, or Corvus to the jumppoint, etc.


Why do mothballed fighter wings have a blue background to their CR bar, yet other ships when mothballed have a red CR bar background?

IIRC because they don't suffer malfunctions so low CR isn't the same kind of critical issue.

I just played through Undertale and I was like, I can't play video games anymore they're too intense, seriously i can't invest any more emotion or energy in video games, the only exception might be Starsector thank god it's never gonna be releasFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

Please accept my insincere apologies :)
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Cik

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #773 on: November 19, 2015, 05:43:17 PM »

i think droppable sensor beacons you could load on tugs or other similar ships might be neat; you could for instance put one out near barad or something, then hide in the belt and still receive a reasonable sensor picture while being relatively difficult to detect, with the downside of them being relatively immobile, you'd have to defend them against anyone who can see them, and of course the cost.

in fact, a wide variety of stratmap-deployable structures might be very cool, but sensor/nav buoys seem like a good place to start.

the sky is the limit with the sensor system, all kinds of new hullmods, new shiptypes can tie into it.
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LazyWizard

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #774 on: November 19, 2015, 05:43:34 PM »

  • SettingsAPI
    • List<String> getAllVariantIds();

It looks like this was removed between the WIP API and the final release. Was this accidental, or were there unexpected problems with this method?

I still see it both in my code and in the javadoc. Wonder what's going on?

Never mind, I see what I did wrong. Standard PEBKAC error.
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Tartiflette

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #775 on: November 19, 2015, 05:44:52 PM »

(I don't know about the loot having no value; while there's a lot more stuff all around, the prices are still where they ought to be. There's more disruptions, but that just means more opportunities to exploit.)
Well I definitively see a huge difference compared to 0.65: Stacks in the hundred of thousands of Rations, Metal or Organics, even remote markets have 25K of food available...

Anyway, enough raining on your parade: the game's way better than before and I can't wait to put those new toys to use with Seeker and Scy ^__^
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MShadowy

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #776 on: November 19, 2015, 05:47:40 PM »

I don't really have much to add.  It's so good.  Just so good.
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Aklyon

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #777 on: November 19, 2015, 05:56:17 PM »

Do bigger sizes of ships add more sensor strength, or do you just want more ships?
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TJJ

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #778 on: November 19, 2015, 05:58:26 PM »

Wow, the goods procurement missions can give serious money!

50 Harvested Organs for 250k +160k bonus for delivery within 30 days.

As they only cost ~900/unit, that's ~800% markup!
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orost

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Re: Starsector 0.7a (Released) Patch Notes
« Reply #779 on: November 19, 2015, 06:08:20 PM »

Often they make no sense too. Why is somebody paying me to deliver 50 fuel at 300 credits each when there is 800 fuel available for 50 each on the open market where they are? Just go on space amazon and order some.
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