Starsector - RT 2D indie space goodness

[oasis789]

So is this kind of like "Sid Meier's Pirates" in space? Because that's the vibe I'm getting.

like blaine said, the fleet battles are what its all about

 

[Commissar Draco]

How to get onto the new story line quest? I got to to Jangala but was told to do some bounties and perhaps later take the Domain Commission... Is there any new content to other factions? Always wanted to do Church run but they are kind of meh in vanilla, don't want to start when they game is perhaps just two years away from being completed.

 

[Togukawa]

The controls are also questionable. You can strafe with Shift but only orthogonal to where you mouse points, but guess what else points where my mouse is? My goddamn turrets... So if I strafe, I aint hitting shit with weaps that are not front and center.

You can strafe that way, but you can also just use the strafe keys. You can also put the turrets on autofire and let the AI aim and fire them. Split your different weapons over different groups.

 

[Togukawa]

How to get onto the new story line quest? I got to to Jangala but was told to do some bounties and perhaps later take the Domain Commission... Is there any new content to other factions? Always wanted to do Church run but they are kind of meh in vanilla, don't want to start when they game is perhaps just two years away from being completed.

Main story starts at Galatia academy. There is no additional faction specific content, to my knowledge.

 

[Commissar Draco]

How to get onto the new story line quest? I got to to Jangala but was told to do some bounties and perhaps later take the Domain Commission... Is there any new content to other factions? Always wanted to do Church run but they are kind of meh in vanilla, don't want to start when they game is perhaps just two years away from being completed.

Main story starts at Galatia academy. There is no additional faction specific content, to my knowledge.

What? the Governor of Galatia system tells you specifically to get your ass to Jangala not Academy.

 

[Togukawa]

What? the Governor of Galatia system tells you specifically to get your ass to Jangala not Academy.

Could be, still, main story is entirely linked to the academy.

 

[Rewrite]

When I have reasonable criticisms to air about a game, I post my thoughts once

Messages:
1,872,905

 

[Black]

There are a lot of games out there, man.

 

[Sarissofoi]

After being disappointed with Endless Sky, I found this thing to dick around with.
And I already dont like how you start in a combat freighter with 6 gun ports and a second ship with drones and 3 gunports...
I'd wish you start in a 2-seater and a pack of cigarettes.
In Endless Sky you can start in the shitties fighter available and deep in debt, not that it is a tough start or game but its flavor...
Great thing about SS is that you can set the combat speed to any value you want, but only at game start in settings.json

You can unlock Spacer Start(only unarmed space shuttle and increasing debt payments) and disable Galatia subsidy. You just need modify setting file.

 

[Fenix]

Is it fleet only journey? I prefer single ship, character etc.

 

[oasis789]

Is it fleet only journey? I prefer single ship, character etc.

you can play however you like, its a sandbox.

 

[Trithne]

Is it fleet only journey? I prefer single ship, character etc.

you can play however you like, its a sandbox.

That said, limiting yourself to a single ship is going to be quite a challenge run. It's definitely based around the idea of you being in charge of a flotilla. Most recently I was playing it focused entirely on smuggling and doing pirate jobs with the smallest fleet signature I could manage (not counting phase ships) and it was a fleet of 5 ships - Starting Wayfarer, Shepherd, and 3 Cerberuses.

In other news: https://fractalsoftworks.com/2021/05/28/a-tale-of-two-tech-levels/

2 new low-tech ships, changes to Tempest incoming.

 

[Black]

changes to Tempest incoming.

NO, I DO NOT CONSENT, SHE'S PERFECT

Spoiler

 

[Rewrite]

Spacer Start

Blind Spacer start was great, thx. Unarmed shuttle and 2000 creds lol.
I am also larping no-ships-or-weapon-buying. Ships are not sold in my mind. Also, no green story points for ship recovery.

Story time how I dug myself out of the hole:
Picked low sensor proflie on chargen thinking about being stealthy, also seemed like a unique ability that cant be had elsewhere.
I didnt get the quest mechanics yet and how much they pay for no work...
So I get this unarmed (I thought that I would at least get a peashooter...) shuttle,
but at least I know that there is that cargo ship on the abandoned station in the system you start. So thats 2 ships.
I look at trading prices to try and pay for the debt but that shit is just borderline laughable. So I do what I did in my
very first run, which I dropped for the Spacer restart after I found a ship in space - I just start jumping into unknown systems.
Of course you have only 2k creds to buy fuel and supplies and you have only 15 fuel space. And need some cargospace for treasure you find.
Jumping right 4 times and checking all planets but finding 1 meager field and looting barely anything from it.
Run out of fuel. Call for help, cant pay for help. Rep drops with Hegemony by 3? I return to the Core worlds.
Sell whatever I have to pay for supps/fuel.
(Here the debt mechanic helps the player, when you are in debt you have 0 money, not negative!
So you can sell stuff for liquidity and immediately buy what you need before the next payment drives you deeper into red.)
Back I go jumping right again into the unknown.
Continue jumping right on the sector map, further away from the core worlds... As said, I didnt get that
you can just get easier quests at the bars or random exploration missions. So I continue jumping, run out of fuel.
Another rep drop with Hegemony. No loot, wtf. In my first run, I found 2 debris and a ship and a mining station in 2 jumps...
Run out fuel the third time, supps are at about 0 too. Run out of fuel and supplies jumping backward to the Core.
Call for help the 4th time. And jump into a yellow-warning system, thinking its suicide.
BAZINGA!
Debris for everyone! Derelicts everywhere!
Low profile allows possible entry even at guarded jumps and I had only 2 ships. (militarized hulls are a must for low sensors though)
Find a tanker! My thought then was "gee thats not a combat ship...and low cargo space...". I was wrong how useful it is!
So I return to the Core world on borrowed fuel yet again. Sell my stuff and buy all the fuel and enough supps before
debt payment kicks in. Then head to the bar lel. Mission is smuggling for 80 fucking kay! Holy shit. While my attempts at scavenging
were literally losing me money. Now my low profile tanker is flying dark through hyperspace for great profit.
Went from -20k debt to 80k. IM RICH! Thank you, tanker.
I didnt realize that funds get transferred mid-space, I hoped that I could spend all the 80k when I return but my debt got
deducted in hyperspace xD Modern banking amirite...
Next mission I take is easy probe analysis for another 80k in deep space.
Turns out, spacer start is trivial...

My first "investment"

aint she a beaut

 

[Rewrite]

The devs blogpost <- no wonder the game is not getting finished when he is fiddling with ships all the time...

The problem, however, is that this system very difficult for the AI to use safely. There are just too many factors to consider,

Please, I just experimented a bunch with this thing in the sim.

And the AI doesnt even know what weapon to use...
And if you give it enough speed and range to actually never be touched, it will still get fucking hit...

But it certainly can dodge nicely...
I get overloaded, heh, when I have to manage shields, arcs, strafing, other ships... and aiming.

Its a bad idea to give AI autofire to projectile weapons - the AI shoots worse than you do if it has to lead the shot too much.

 

[panda]

changes to Tempest incoming.

Nooo, why would you ruin perfection, Alex.

NO, I DO NOT CONSENT, SHE'S PERFECT

Don't worry, brother, modders will fix this blasphemy.

 

[Rewrite]

Having played a lot more I dont like how you want/have to gear your fleet weapons to what the AI can actually best use, instead of what you can use better.
For example, this thing is differently useful under AI control depending on what weapon is has frontally - it is better with a weapon that is worse in my hands...
Also, those side guns actually have a bit of overlapping arcs in front but the AI cant utilize that.

What I really liked is how the Accuracy stat on ballistic guns matters a lot (especially in human hands, eg 214 dps from low accuracy, low fire rate cannon is worse than 150 dps from perfect railgun) but that it matters less vs bigger ships. Its an extra dimension to the already variable weapon selection of:
dps
dps/flux
dmg type

What even better is that fire rate surprisingly translates into accuracy under your control... I cannot lead my shooting at a frigate that changes directions and speed constantly if my gun fires once a full moon. I cant zero in. But if it fires fast, I can.
That was the most entertaining thing to figure out.

Officers with Gunnery skill that gives Range are pointless, AI cant use it...

The AI fleet combat is starting to resemble Endless Sky in the massive importance of shields.
Its compounded with AI behavior in that it tries to retreat and vent when you bring its shields down, which is not helping it win if you out-shield it...

 

[Rewrite]

This "obligation from your past" started at 1000 credits. Wtf is it growing... Do I have a harem?

 

[Trithne]

This "obligation from your past" started at 1000 credits. Wtf is it growing... Do I have a harem?

Right, you did the classic Starfarer start. That one is designed around having to cover an increasing monthly cost as a sort of game timer / growth incentive.

 

[Rewrite]

It never stops? Geez, I didnt want to manage colonies.

 

[Black]

This "obligation from your past" started at 1000 credits. Wtf is it growing... Do I have a harem?

Child support is rough.

 

[Rewrite]

I must be one hell of a fertile/virile man when a crew of 300 costs 5 times less than some kiiiiidz. Insect race? Chinese?

 

[AgentFransis]

Well, Blackrock still not updated. DME neither. Nor are Imperium and SWP. So I'm still not touching this shit.

Gotta love it when the dev's autism is so mighty that every minor update (that still takes two years to make) breaks all the mods. You know, mods. Those things that are the reason that people still play this game years on end. Hell I pretty much only started playing this after seeing Blackrock and wanting to play with that. And bless the modders many of them do keep their mods updated from version to version (and there's nothing fun whatsoever about being forced to migrate a project to some new framework or library let me tell you) but there's only so much shit you can give. And some great mods were already lost to the mists of time like the Knight Templars in exchange for some dubious improvements in the base game.

 

[Rafidur]

I wouldn't call colonies, spoilers, story missions, etc "dubious improvements".

 

[AgentFransis]

I wouldn't call colonies, spoilers, story missions, etc "dubious improvements".

I would. They add nothing to the core of the game: fleet building and fleet combat. Well, remnants are nice.