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News:

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

Poll

What next?

Capital carrier
- 5 (27.8%)
Cruiser carrier
- 3 (16.7%)
Assault cruiser
- 3 (16.7%)
Civilian ships
- 0 (0%)
Some weird frigate
- 2 (11.1%)
Weapons
- 5 (27.8%)

Total Members Voted: 18


Pages: 1 ... 5 6 [7] 8 9

Author Topic: [0.7.2a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.6 (update 2016-08-27)  (Read 93779 times)

grinningsphinx

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.3 (update 2015-12-15)
« Reply #90 on: February 05, 2016, 08:56:50 PM »

yep:)....you could get around it by causing the stasis beam to draw 1 flux per second.
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celestis

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.3 (update 2015-12-15)
« Reply #91 on: February 05, 2016, 11:03:15 PM »

That is weird, because stasis/heavy stasis beams have 220/430 energy/second drain already, which is definitely bigger than zero. But weapon stats show NaN for flux/second for some reason. And the flux is definitely subtracted correctly in battle, so this seems like a pure UI bug.

edit: found the problem. Seems that zero DPS messed the stats up. Changed it to 1 and now stats are shown fine.
« Last Edit: February 05, 2016, 11:07:28 PM by celestis »
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celestis

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #92 on: February 06, 2016, 05:17:23 AM »

1.4 update is out!
- New capital carrier: Erebus
- New ship system: projected shield
- Aidos system has a better chance hacking a missile (0.75->0.85)
- EMP MIRV is now significantly faster
- Increased smart charges damage, they now also deal some EMP
- Reduced Moros $ price a bit
- Flux destabilizer now costs much less flux to fire
- Slightly wider arcs for Moros rear large mounts
- New weapon: Thrasos fast torpedo (S)
- New weapon: Artemis autoblaster (M)
- New weapon: Supercharged blaster (S)
- Bugfix: Multi EMP no longer affects phased ships
- Bugfix: stasis beams now deal 1 DPS so that flux/second stat is displayed correctly
- Bugfix: created custom ionized shield AI, since fortress shield AI didn't work
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Gezzaman

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #93 on: February 07, 2016, 12:18:17 AM »

ermagerddddddd keep up the great work mate!
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HELMUT

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #94 on: February 18, 2016, 10:48:09 AM »

I just finished a PBC campaign, finally reaching late game. I can give proper feedback on their ships, especially the big ones that i didn't do last time. Before i start, something strange i noticed, PBC is neutral with the lunatics of the Luddic Path, not sure it's intended.


The recent buff to the Orion drones made the ship quite a bit better. It's still not the ideal starter ship with its slowness, but at least it can fight on equal ground now that the drones can catch their target. Later on, it's an interesting addition in your fleet as it can lock-down faster crafts for your allies to catch them. However they are still fragile, and will explode a lot in larger battles.

The Scylla is a defensive Lasher. The reasonable weapon layout, impressive speed and surprising toughness makes it perfect for early game. It doesn't kill stuffs as fast as the Lasher though, and is a tiny bit more expensive.

The Pallas is still on the weak side. While its flux stats are some of the best in the frigate category, it's still slow, and lacks the firepower of its main competitors, the Wolf and Tempest (with its drone). The Graviton burst is still a very interesting PD system (and getting a few AI Pallas escorts works surprisingly well to repulse swarm of missiles). Still, extremely expensive, especially problematic during late game when you have to field as many ships as possible on the battlefield. Also, as Network Pesci said, the Graviton burst needs a beefier sound, the current one feel really weak (the same as a weapon shutting down i think?).

The Aura is more or less a carbon copy of the Omen. It got a bit more guns, but in return lose the High resolution sensor. Also, is there a difference between the Aura LR EMP and the Omen EMP emitter?

For the destroyers. The new Theseus is a mid-tech Enforcer that rely a bit more on its shield than its armor. A tiny bit more expensive, but otherwise identical. Also, the AI can even makes "safe" uses of the Nanite Paste system (that temporary disable all the systems on the ships, so very risky), which surprised me. It also makes for a very good SO ship, the Theseus was my flagship for quite a long time in my campaign.

The Aidos is a defensive carrier, it lacks the long range support ability of the Gemini and Condor, but instead can tank quite a bit more, and even have the flux to dish it out reasonably. One of the rare destroyer carriers you can bring to the frontline, at least against things of its size.

The Tethys isn't quite a combat freighter like the Mule, but more like a slightly better Tarsus, except in the cargo department. It's also surprisingly fast, making it trickier to catch in pursuit scenarios.

The Leto is a troop transport, and a pretty tough one. It definitely far much better than the Valkyrie in battle, thanks to its additional medium missile launcher. And at only for 3 supplies per deployment, it's the cheapest (and toughest) Pilum launcher platform in the game, might be a bit too cheap.

The Moira is a weaker Medusa with more armor, and is piloted the exact same way. The medium universal hardpoint allow for some originality though. Its phase skimmer system have a slightly longer range, but much longer cooldown, so you can't make a liberal uses of it like with the Medusa. However, the longer range make it much easier to pop out in the back of the enemy ship, and with your universal mounts, fire a Reaper in its engines. It was my first destroyer flagship, and i liked that ninja play-style quite a bit.

I don't remember what were the flux stats of the Kratos before the patch, but now it's (almost) identical to the Hammerhead. It's pretty much a clone of the vanilla ship, but with energy turrets. The biggest difference comes from the sideways missiles hardpoints, making rockets weapons unusable. With the new SS patch that'll remove the penalty of HEF, it'll probably be able to rival with the Hammerhead.

The biggest loser is the Nyx. It's reasonably tanky but very lightly armed, and its system is very situational. Either you're fighting Tri-Tachyons, and a Nyx might be good, either you're not, and you're better with a Theseus. On top of that, i'm not sure how the Phase Inhibitor will function with the rework of phase ships in 0.7.2.
Maybe rework so it can screw with the shield/cloak upkeep of enemies? It would makes it a more interesting support craft rather than a one trick pony. Also really expensive at 11 supplies/deployment.

For the cruisers. The Gaia is a nearly twice as cheap Apogee, but also nearly twice as fragile. Despite the large energy turret, it's still lightly armed, even including the needler drones (which lacks descriptions btw). It's an interesting support ship, however it really needs one or two escorts to survive on the frontline, and even then, its survivability isn't guaranteed.

The Phobos, despite its blocky appearance, is closer to the Eagle than the Dominator. For a very similar cost, the Phobos act as a weapon platform with roughly the same amount of firepower and toughness as the Eagle, but not its mobility. On the other hand, the Magnetic accelerator system, coupled with an officer with ordnance expertise, can hit even the fastest frigates. The effect is unfortunately quite short, and the cooldown pretty long.

The Aether didn't convinced me. It's very expensive at 28 supplies per deployment, extremely fragile and with only destroyer level firepower. The Multi-EMP emitter is pretty strong, but the long cooldown hurt it a lot. Also, unlike other PBC ships, i found the Aether to be starved on Ordnance Points, with barely anything left after mounting the weapons. Needless to say, it quickly lost its place in my fleet.

Now for the big ones. I got quite a shock when i read the stats of the Erebus. When you said in an earlier post that it had less launch bays than the Astral, i expected 4, not 10! It's also twice as armored as the Astral, but with worse shields. And while its PD coverage isn't quite as good, it compensate with a large hybrid turret. And the whole package is even a bit cheaper than its vanilla competitor.

I was very confused by its ship system at first, but that's because i used the PBC fighters that already have a shield. The projected shield system gives a shield system on the whole map to unshielded fighters, so Wasps, Talons, Broadswords, etc. Which is pretty incredible. The description said its temporary, but so far i haven't noticed it running out. Also, i don't know how strong is the shield it gives, or if it depends on the fighters.

The Moros was a bit of a deception, even with its recent turret arc buff. It's an hybrid between the Paragon and the Onslaught, with less armor but impressive flux dissipation. It works reasonably well as a mobile weapon platform, with a fleet built around it to provide fire-support. But it otherwise can't brawl against other battleships, despite its built in Flux Destabilizer (does that thing really works by the way?). Still, it's the best (only) option for a late game PBC fleet, it's reasonably tough, and bring a decent amount of firepower. I'm actually surprised it get the Ionized shield while the Thanatos have the interdiction drones, which would fit the Moros better in my opinion. Another thing, it always displays 0 flux per second for the weapons in the refit screen, probably due the built in weapon.

Speaking of the Thanatos, it's a battlecruiser, very similar to the Conquest in the way that it's fragile, with a crappy shield but very good flux dissipation. A better flagship and brawler than the Moros due to its improved mobility and frontal armament. It's the Hammer that break the enemy against the Moros Anvil. It still can't stand against Paragons and Onslaught by itself though, but at only 37 supplies, it's not supposed to anyway. This was my final flagship, i orbited my main deathball fleet, catching the ships that strayed too close, and brought some fire-support when a battleship tried to break my formation.

And that's all. Just another thing, for some reason i couldn't find a single Hypnos fighter, ever, might need to lower its rarity.


Overall, PBC is a pretty well balanced faction, asides from a few like the Erebus and Aether. PBC is definitely not part of the powerhouse factions like Blackrock, II or Shadowyard, but they still get the job done, and are quite fun to use, which is the main point. If i have to say one thing i disliked about PBC, it would be the lack of risks in the design of certain ships, like the Kratos, Aura or even Phobos, which are almost identical to their vanilla equivalent despite being so different in appearance. It's not a huge deal, but given the unique style of the faction, i have to say i expected something a bit more exotic. Still, i think you did a really good job with this mod.

tl;dr : Pretty, polished, balanced and blend well in the Starsector universe. Don't expect many surprises (good or bad) as it doesn't stray very far from vanilla ships despite their appearance.
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Jonlissla

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #95 on: March 04, 2016, 06:06:32 AM »

Any plans to update for the latest version? I have to admit I enjoy this mod incredibly much. The designs feels unique and I like the sprites.
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celestis

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #96 on: March 07, 2016, 07:27:50 AM »

Sorry, I've been away for quite a while. Too busy, even haven't played 0.7.2 yet, but as soon as I have time I will definitely update PBC (and probably add something new).
@Helmut, thanks for such deep coverage! I will try to think of some way to make new stuff more unconventional)
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SierraTangoDelta

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #97 on: March 07, 2016, 10:15:52 AM »

I hope you get on it soon, PBC is one of my favorite factions. Your battlecruiser and battleships remind me of SHMUP bosses, which is awesome.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #98 on: March 08, 2016, 12:35:03 AM »

So I took a peek at your scripts and I found a couple of things.

Your beam scripts interact with hull impact, but you aren't checking for Twig parts, that means they are useless against Scyan armored ships and some future Seeker ones. There is a getRoot() method in the lib to detect that easily.

You probably will also need to add checks against Templars or Exigency hulls when they get updated because they are shield-less factions and that could make those weapons god-tier against them.

Finally you left your whole project in the src, for now it's okay but after a while it will seriously bloat your download.
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celestis

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #99 on: March 12, 2016, 11:54:02 PM »

Thanks for advice about Twig - I rarely play PBC agsinst Scy and Templars, so I just forgot about that.
You probably will also need to add checks against Templars or Exigency hulls when they get updated because they are shield-less factions and that could make those weapons god-tier against them.
What weapons exactly are you talking about? Stasis beams just lower speed, neutrino beam applies additional effect only if target is shielded, flux destabilizer raises flux cost for firing. I don't quite see possible issues with shield-less ships here.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #100 on: March 13, 2016, 12:59:23 AM »

What weapons exactly are you talking about? Stasis beams just lower speed, neutrino beam applies additional effect only if target is shielded, flux destabilizer raises flux cost for firing. I don't quite see possible issues with shield-less ships here.
Being able to apply those effect automatically seems unfair and could throw of the balance when use in combination of other weapons. A Hellbore+Stasis combo would be devastating against an un-shielded faction. Especially since those ships often rely on maneuverability to avoid the brunt of the incoming fire.
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celestis

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #101 on: March 13, 2016, 05:11:29 AM »

As well as fast ships can easily outmanuever most PBC ships and avoid fire. It won't be "fair" to disable stasis effect for, say, Exigency ships, and keep it enabled for Hound too. And making effect apply only to shielded targets will create an easy counter.
Each faction has its strenths and weaknesses, and PBC was intended to be able to power down many of the common advantages like speed and phase cloak. I'd rather watch how it turns out before making adjustments to these effects.
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Tartiflette

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #102 on: March 13, 2016, 05:22:04 AM »

As well as fast ships can easily outmanuever most PBC ships and avoid fire. It won't be "fair" to disable stasis effect for, say, Exigency ships, and keep it enabled for Hound too. And making effect apply only to shielded targets will create an easy counter.
Each faction has its strenths and weaknesses, and PBC was intended to be able to power down many of the common advantages like speed and phase cloak. I'd rather watch how it turns out before making adjustments to these effects.
Oh I'm not suggesting removing the effect for those factions, but just maybe tone it down. I had the issue with Scy's Singularity Torpedoes that utterly wrecked Templars if you managed to land a hit. Maybe those beams will be fine, but you should probably keep an eye out for those kind of issues.
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celestis

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #103 on: March 13, 2016, 05:28:45 AM »

Oh I'm not suggesting removing the effect for those factions, but just maybe tone it down. I had the issue with Scy's Singularity Torpedoes that utterly wrecked Templars if you managed to land a hit. Maybe those beams will be fine, but you should probably keep an eye out for those kind of issues.
That is quite reasonable. I'll try to check that when I coma across new updates. It won't be a problem to adjust effect level for some hulls, if this really becomes a problem.
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Abyz

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Re: [0.7.1a] Pegasus Belt Council v1.4 (update 2016-02-06)
« Reply #104 on: March 18, 2016, 08:12:39 AM »

I need PBC!
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