Starsector - RT 2D indie space goodness

[Haba]

Of course they are not balanced. But it doesn't really matter. Finding new ways to break the game is all that the end game has to offer. Just embrace it.

 

[Damned Registrations]

They add some crazy stuff, but the base game has some crazy stuff too. More options to mix and match things will make you a bit stronger, but as I've said before, none of the mods I've used so far have been as OP as the shit Tri-Tach has in the base game anyways. The only one I'd say is 'unbalanced' is the Borken, and that's not that they're OP in combat, they're just too easy to make a good trade fleet with.

 

[AgentFransis]

Mostly balanced. The modders also balance them over time. Mostly it's just different flavor of things, new options, new styles of ships, cool new weapons that often fill gaps in the vanilla lineup or a just different. Most importantly they add life to the sector. It's a lot livelier with half a dozen faction mods than the default, has more interactions, more bounties, more wars.

Also Nexelerin is pretty standard. It allows factions (and you) to conquer other planets and the factions actually will go to war and conquer each other. They can also be conquered entirely (but you can resurrect them if you want). Also adds alliances and agents to affect diplomacy or sabotage. Don't see a reason to play without it, it mainly adds layers when you reach the end game and can start warring with other factions. Also makes games more different where some faction can be eliminated early and you don't get their stuff.

 

[hello friend]

Chaotic_Heretic Vayra's Ship Pack doesn't seem to work with Nexerelin at this point, just so you know.

 

[Chaotic_Heretic]

This is my final mod list. All the mods in my previous list except Faction mods and Nexerelin.

{"enabledMods": [
"$$$_lightshow",
"$$$_trailermoments",
"ai_flag_tool",
"active_gates",
"anotherportraitpack",
"lw_autosave",
"sd_boardable_unboardables_vanilla",
"CAS",
"CombatAnalytics",
"chatter",
"lw_radar",
"lw_console",
"DisassembleReassemble",
"fixallemptyplanets",
"fleetTester",
"sun_fuel_siphoning",
"gs",
"HA",
"lw_lazylib",
"leadingPip",
"luddenhance",
"MagicLib",
"dk_mis_09",
"sun_new_beginnings",
"wyv_planetaryShieldAccessControl",
"portrait",
"TAR",
"$$rebalanced_pilums",
"sun_ruthless_sector",
"swp",
"bonomel_skilledup",
"speedUp",
"sun_starship_legends",
"StopGapMeasures",
"tahlan",
"transponder-reminders",
"US",
"URW",
"vayrasector",
"vayrashippack",
"lw_version_checker",
"WEAPONARCS",
"toggleWeapons",
"audio_plus",
"shaderLib",
"Safety Override mod"
]}

 

[Dayyālu]

I'd love suggestions in how to deal with the [REDACTED] Battle Station. The thing is eating my capital ships for breakfast, and I already baited and defeated all his cover fleets.

I mean, I felt two Battleships, three Battlecruisers and two Battlecarriers (plus support) wer enuff, but the fucking thing has murderous salvoes.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Longbows. Longbows fuck over any large targets. If you can't/won't field carriers, sabots themselves work too, but you're going to need a lot to take down the baddest stations in the game. If you can sneak some other high yield torpedos in while the shields are down that's great too, but you're not doing jack shit without taking down the shields, and you're not pulling that off without sabots.

 

[Arrowgrab]

Is there a good 2D (Well might be 3D too I guess) game like Star Sector but with focus on flying one ship and with some story and quests added? I know about Space Zombies and Pirates but was looking for something more focused on exploration not combat? Was checking Beyond Gaya too but its Tittle and being made by Germans and has this danger hair wombyn/Degenerates/Junkies art style everywhere which makes me to suspect it might be SJW themed given that all Germans except Jarl and Jasede went fully SJW.

I've had this:
on my backlog for ages. No idea if it even has a story.

Also looks cool will DL free part and then think about sponsoring devs by buying the payed DLCs if its suits me.

Be aware that Transcendence is very much a "roguelite", rather than a "do whatever you want" simulation. It has a definite end goal and a linear progresion of star systems (though typically with a dose of backtracking due to logistical/economical reasons). It does offer a significant amount of ship customisation with a rather large number of weapon, armour, shield and miscellaneous systems and different starting (and later buyable) ship types.

 

[Damned Registrations]

There is (or was, haven't played in a while, probably still around) a mod for Transcendence that generates a less linear map layout. The way the base game works is honestly pretty good though- there's nothing stopping you from leaving a system as soon as you find the warp gate out, so it still feels pretty free form. You can make a fuckton of money and skip a system or two, or run into some shit you can't handle and backtrack later with the right kind of equipment to handle it.

But yeah it's leaning towards a roguelike, it's got a lot of side jobs in it like smuggling or guarding freighters or fighting in an arena, but it all feeds back into getting stronger and going further towards your goal.

 

[hello friend]

Nice thing about Transcendence is that you can always hang around other fleets duking it out in lower levels and take your chances and potshots and take what you can from the wrecks before you gtfo of dodge. In Starsector you always seem to be just dodging fleets for a long time until you even get into the combat portion of the game. Rarely are there isolated ships or 2-3 ship fleets, and most fights you spend most of the time just waiting for your ships to get into range as they keep dancing away, unless you go very heavy on the fast frigates. I love the customisation in Starsector, and the AI is great, but honestly the combat in Transcendence is a lot more fun.

 

[Beastro]

So visited http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=177.0
and ended up with this list:

• [0.9.1a] Vayra's Sector by Vayra

• [0.9.1a] Arsenal Expansion by InventorRaccoon
• [0.9.1a] Disassemble Reassemble by AxleMC131
• [0.9.1a] High Tech Armada by Snrasha, YuiTheModder
• [0.9.1a] Luddic Enhancement Mod by King Alfonzo
• [0.9.1a] Ship/Weapon Pack by Dark.Revenant
• [0.9.1a] Starship Legends by Sundog
• [0.9a] Stop Gap Measure by MajorTheRed
• [0.9.1a] Tahlan Shipworks by Nia Tahl
• [0.9.1a] Vayra's Ship Pack by Vayra

• [0.9.1a] Blackrock Drive Yards by Cycerin
• [0.9.1a] Diable Avionics by FlashFrozen, Tartiflette
• [0.9.1a] Grytpype and Moriarty Defence Authority by King Alfonzo
• [0.9.1a] Junk Pirates by mendonca
• [0.9.1a] Sanguinary Anarchistic Defectors by Snrasha
• [0.9.1a] Scy by Tartiflette
• [0.9.1a] Shadowyards Reconstruction Authority by MShadowy
• [0.9.1a] Sylphon RnD by Nia Tahl and Nicke
• [0.9a] Vesperon Combine by Straticus

• [0.9.1a] GraphicsLib by Dark.Revenant
• [0.9.1a] LazyLib by LazyWizard
• [0.9.1a] MagicLib by Tartiflette

• [0.9a] Active Gates by toast
• [0.9a] Automatic Orders by Blothorn
• [0.9.1a] Boardable Unboardables by ShadowDragon8685
• [0.9.1a] Gladiator Society by Snrasha
• [0.9.1a] Planetary Shield: Access Controlby Wyvern
• [0.9.1a] Unknown Skies by Tartiflette

• [0.9.1a] Another Portrait Pack by atreg
• [0.9a] Portrait Pack by HELMUT

• [0.9.1a] AI Flag Tool by Blothorn
• [0.9.1a] Audio Plus by Dark.Revenant
• [0.9.1a] Autosave by LazyWizard
• [0.9a] Combat Alarm Sounds by jamplier
• [0.9.1a] Combat Analytics by Nick XR
• [0.9.1a] Combat Chatter by Histidine
• [0.9.1a] Common Radar by LazyWizard
• [0.9.1a] Console Commands by LazyWizard
• [0.9a] Fix Empty Planets by Carabus
• [0.9a] Fleet Tester by Tartiflette
• [0.9.1a] Fuel Siphoning by Sundog
• [0.9.1a] Leading Pip by Dark.Revenant
• [0.9a] Lightshow by Tartiflette
• [0.9.1a] Missiles and Sundry by DatonKallandor
• [0.9.1a] New Beginnings by Sundog
• [0.9a] Rebalanced Pilums by SafariJohn
• [0.9.1a] Ruthless Sector by Sundog
• [0.9a] Safety Override for capital shipsby HELMUT
• [0.9.1a] SkilledUp by bonomel
• [0.9.1a] SpeedUp by Dark.Revenant
• [0.9a] Target Practice by Tartiflette
• [0.9.1a] Trailer Moments by Nia Tahl
• [0.9a] Transponder Reminders by Blothorn
• [0.9.1a] Upgraded Rotary Weapons by Tartiflette
• [0.9.1a] Version Checker by LazyWizard
• [0.9a] Weapon Arcs by Archigo
• [0.9.1a] Weapons Group Controls by stormbringer951

I am a bit on the fence about [0.9.1a] Nexerelin by Histidine, Zaphide as not sure how large the 4x parts of it will change the formula for Starsector

This is why I freeze considering replaying these kinds of games...

 

[hello friend]

Installing, activating and deactivating mods in Starsector is one of the most hassle free modding experiences I've ever had. You just drop the mods into your mod folder and check the boxes in the game launcher to activate them. And surprisingly few of the available mods conflict with each other. Of all the mods I've tried that work for 0.9a and up, only 3 of them couldn't be combined with the totality of the others.

 

[rashiakas]

Do you guys swear that the mods that add ships and weapons are "balanced" and not some magic bs?

In the last PPVE tournament the vanilla low tech player won the prime league (tournaments are also used to balance the mods) - so its pretty safe to say that the main mods are fairly balanced.

 

[Commissar Draco]

There is (or was, haven't played in a while, probably still around) a mod for Transcendence that generates a less linear map layout. The way the base game works is honestly pretty good though- there's nothing stopping you from leaving a system as soon as you find the warp gate out, so it still feels pretty free form. You can make a fuckton of money and skip a system or two, or run into some shit you can't handle and backtrack later with the right kind of equipment to handle it.

But yeah it's leaning towards a roguelike, it's got a lot of side jobs in it like smuggling or guarding freighters or fighting in an arena, but it all feeds back into getting stronger and going further towards your goal.

Yes there is payed adventure which generates not linear (Or less linear universe). You can't use many mods with it though but the new ships are fun, and while i still prefer the customization of ships and the freedom Starsector offers the combat is far more satisfying in Transcendence once you change the default set up of course. Just install all those quality of life mods like mappers, automatic re-fueling and so on as vanilla game tends to be very micro-management heavy.

 

[AgentFransis]

In Starsector you always seem to be just dodging fleets for a long time until you even get into the combat portion of the game. Rarely are there isolated ships or 2-3 ship fleets, and most fights you spend most of the time just waiting for your ships to get into range as they keep dancing away, unless you go very heavy on the fast frigates.

You can actually start fighting pretty fast. The ~50k bounties are all easy and you can go to system bounties where there usually are small bands of pirates running around. And yes, buy fast frigates. Also if you play Nexelerin you can start with a bit more of a fleet than with vanilla to speed up the very early game.

 

[Commissar Draco]

Got couple more hours in Transcendence and managed to get to Solar System:

Finally get to Solar System I must say I am impressed found Apollo Memorial, some other cool historical easter eggs and of course Commissar's Eurasian breathren in Spaceh!

:russiastronk:

 

[hello friend]

 

[Commissar Draco]

Finished main story line its not very good but gives you enough motivation to visit new sectors:

Met wing-woman in bar

Joined glorious Commonwealth Militia and bought Corvette ship which looks very much like Falcon/Eagle/Star Destroyer for some reason.

Got promotion to Major and medal after blowing up the space station full of chaos pirate spaceh dwarfs. Best spend 9 euro, shame that wing woman got shot down covering Commissar-Colonel ass.

 

[Damned Registrations]

Which story was that? I've done the base one (pilgrimage to the core) and the one on steam (eternity port, with the borg) but that seemed like the other one I never touched, with the corporate stuff?

 

[Commissar Draco]

Corporate stuff is addon to the pilgrimage, I tried the eternity point the first since imagine that I am not really that fond of RP-ing a religious fanatic Comrade. Yeah it was bit let down that they did not even:

Spoiler

Asked you to lead the charge and kill the rouge AI, You can join Militia and i think Space fleet after you help them though which is nice.

Game is not even that rouge-like at this point with option to buy new ships and get insurance and fuel there is also separate story line if you play as smugler and pirate too me thinks but its bit too chaos like for me.

 

[Black]

 

[Black]

That's a neat exploit, time stamped.

 

[Damned Registrations]

He definitely lost the initial fight with that remnant based on the CR levels.

 

[The Wall]

Mount & Blade in Space, is it fair to call this game? And will devs keep on expanding it, what major new thing/feature/drug are they working on currently?

I'm more then intrigued by it . . .

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

That's a neat exploit, time stamped.

it's not like you already get free money by the faction of your choice, or by founding a free port or two...