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[H4zardZ1]

Download: http://store.steampowered.com/app/449140/

OR play at your browser, without downloading: http://www.istrolid.com/game.html

Discord link for this game: https://discord.gg/yXWbjXu

Istrolid is a game where you design your own spaceships and then use it on your fleet. Currently free, this game has hooked me up with it's multiplayer; However, you can also play the singleplayer Campaign(and i recommend newer players to do so, since the multiplayer could be difficult for new players).

-Despite there is a paid DLC for this game, it is just for comestics.

Spoiler: Desc. of this game in Steam: (click to show/hide)

In Istrolid you design your own unique spaceships from a large number of parts to fit your strategy and play style. With no set units or factions you are free to create a fleet where each ship has its own balanced strengths and weaknesses, from basic fighters and bombers to hulking battleships and speedy destroyers.

Challenge your strategies and stretch your creativity, perfecting your spaceships' designs before taking them onto the proving grounds of battle. Jump straight into tense fights for territorial control where you maneuver your ships to best use their energy, ranges, firing arcs, turn rates and firepower.

Conquer an entire galaxy in the single player campaign, where you collect the parts you need to build bigger and meaner ships. Use them to defeat increasingly tougher and more complex opponents. Test the strength of your designs in multiplayer combat, fighting solo or with allies. Face custom AIs with their own fleet lineups or even design your own AI that fights by your side."

Details will be added when someone asks me to, and/or as time passes on.

Spoiler: Pinned messages. (click to show/hide)

Recruiting faction servers(discord).

[Frumple]

Ah... thread title. You missed an L. Istrolid.

... also, there's apparently a bunch of junk using istroid in one way or another, heh. Was terribly confused for a moment of three :V

[H4zardZ1]

I did a simple but a very bad mistake.

Added link.

[Coffeespoons]

So this is quite fun.  Nearly finished the campaign and considering diving into the multi-player.  It seems that the MP is very meta-centric though for understandable reasons.

[Saktoth]

It seems that the MP is very meta-centric though for understandable reasons.

In a game with such a huge design space there are obviously many more ways to make a bad ship than there are to make a good one, but there are still a huge number of possible designs and variations, people are still innovating and coming up with totally new fleets all of the time.

[H4zardZ1]

Added Discord Link. This post also serves as a bump.

[H4zardZ1]

Bump.

[H4zardZ1]

It might be against the rules to post bumps thrice, but i can't make people post here.

Spoiler: Discussion in the Design and Balance of the Discord chat. (click to show/hide)

While this game is a fun game to play, this game had a bad difficulty curve. Newer people seem to be unable to understand how stuff works in this game, and it might take several weeks to learn how stuff works in this game. This is a problem since most people on steam are casual players who mostly quit when they are faced with a hard difficulty curve right off the beginning.

The reason of this difficulty curve is the game mechanics themselves.

-Energy. There is a bar with a lightning symbol on the stat table(right) that shows how much energy capacity(empty large bar), energy re/generation(blue bar) and energy usage on thrust(green) / weapon(red) a ship has. Without it, a ship ceases to function(but doesn't cease to exist). Batteries start fully charged.

-Thrust types. People use afterburners(inefficient but huge thrust) due to their size implying it's the most powerful thruster with reactors(heavy e generator)when they should use a more efficient solution(bulk, etc.). Afterburners also doesn't belong on ships with heavyweight armor.

-Armor types. It doesn't protect the ship from a certain side, but it gives ships HP. People use heavyweight armor because of how much HP it gives, despite the fact that it slows ships down. See above for why this is a problem. Volumetric is underrated.

-Weapons. Artillery is used by people early on because of it's range and damage. Yet people didn't see that the projectile is slow(which can be removed by adding speed coils) can be destroyed by PD, only hits at an small AOE and cannot fire at low ranges. Missile is better than Torpedo in nearly every way but energy efficiency and range, and both can be destroyed by PD. Heavy beam is also used by people early on because of "beams are cool", but is extremely energy inefficient for it's damage.

-Shields. These regenerate on it's own, but is more expensive against armor on similar HP, slightly more heavier than armor and cost energy to run. The problem is using these at ships that are meant to die while taking out as many ships as possible(melee ships).

-Nukes. These are meant not to take out heavily armored ships, but to take out groups of weak ships. The damage on a splashing nuke is less of a single shot of flak(25 v 30). Most of early player nukes are not fitted with a cloaking module, which also allows the nuke to avoid non-AOE shots just by passing under it. Shaped warhead deals more damage and prevents it from overkilling weak ships, but doesn't splash.

[MCreeper]

My love for incredibly gimmicky things and way too big ships will kill me killed me many times already.
Is it at least semi-viable tactic vs bot, to make one 1000 $ ship, which is just line of reactors and ship generators(probably moving slightly), and one 1000$ ship that is nothing but weapons and point-defence cannons(also moving slightly), then make swarms of cheap fighters?

[H4zardZ1]

My love for incredibly gimmicky things and way too big ships will kill me killed me many times already.
Is it at least semi-viable tactic vs bot, to make one 1000 $ ship, which is just line of reactors and ship generators(probably moving slightly), and one 1000$ ship that is nothing but weapons and point-defence cannons(also moving slightly), then make swarms of cheap fighters?

This is the strategy of one of my AIs(Named Hammerhead, for the platform), except that the platform(weapon-filled ship) is well-armored, the swarms are cloaked and the generator (carrier) costs 500(but there are usually two of them). It didn't fight well on it's own(or so i think), but when pitted with my usually long-ranged AIs(Curtain-Darkcubes combo) in 3v3, suddenly the cloaked swarm becomes a huge problem.
There was also a ring cloaked ship on the AI that tries to counter anything worth more than 500, but that ship AI is unable to discern health. Sometimes it successed at killing ships that it intended to counter (kiters/cruisers), sometimes it attacks battleships instead.

[BluarianKnight]

This game has surprisingly addicted me with it's concept. It's just flexible enough that you'll spend hours tweaking a design, or a ship's AI, so that it's as optimized as possible.

[H4zardZ1]

Below is a list of factions who are recruiting people. These are all Discord links.

Spoiler: Recruiting Factions List (click to show/hide)

TKKA I don't have a description on this one.
ELYS ELYSium. This faction is filled with kiter people.
SPQR the faction that everyone hates
CNCR CaNCeR. This is the faction that i am currently in.

[Respir]

Below is a list of factions who are recruiting people. These are all Discord links.

Spoiler: Recruiting Factions List (click to show/hide)

TKKA I don't have a description on this one.
ELYS ELYSium. This faction is filled with kiter people.
SPQR the faction that everyone hates
CNCR CaNCeR. This is the faction that i am currently in.

TKKA is a normal clan, just like what other normal clans do
CNCR is where I'm also in
ELYS is a 3v3 teamwork based clan, with kiters as their specialty
SPQR this is the gay version of the roman clan


With 933 hours and counting with this game, this game has never failed me.

Some tips in the game:

It is recommended to do play campaign before playing multiplayer. Campaign will teach you the basics of the game.

If you need any help, it is best to consult the Discord.

If you're frustrated with the 1000$ ship cap, this is the main developer's article to show you why it's only up to 1000$: https://medium.com/@treeform/why-there-is-a-1000-cap-da28de02e186#.gylrsyhd8

Best not to look at too many youtubers playing istrolid. Not to offend, but they know less on the game. But there are two recommended channels to look at.

GoddeOfSpring - A veteran who has contributed much, you can learn alot of things from him.
Oscar Evans - A developer in Istrolid, his IGN is Saktoth.

Hoped these things helped you.

[Farce]

Oh God I don't know what I'm doing.

My go-to strategy has been to spam basically the huge fat heavy ship that the game gives you like 4 missions from the start and then spam the rest of my cash's worth in the fighters the game gives you like 3 missions from the start.  Every design I've come up with myself has more or less been totally worthless except for MAYBE the fighter with a minigun and a PD, which was only really ACTUALLY useful for one mission specifically in conjunction with the other standard fighters.

Now I've run into battles in the campaign that I can't just pound through with cheap, massed light beam alpha-strikes and goofy fighter micro, and basically just stopped dead in the water.  RIP.

Are there build tips anywhere?  What weapons are good.  Are shields a trap?  They seem like they might be.  How do I build things between 'expendable fighter that dies in one hit but costs 100 bucks and can kill things instantly via sheer weight of numbers' and '1000 hp armorbrick that costs $900, can sit and cap points, but moves a pixel a second'?

[BluarianKnight]

Oh God I don't know what I'm doing.

My go-to strategy has been to spam basically the huge fat heavy ship that the game gives you like 4 missions from the start and then spam the rest of my cash's worth in the fighters the game gives you like 3 missions from the start.  Every design I've come up with myself has more or less been totally worthless except for MAYBE the fighter with a minigun and a PD, which was only really ACTUALLY useful for one mission specifically in conjunction with the other standard fighters.

Now I've run into battles in the campaign that I can't just pound through with cheap, massed light beam alpha-strikes and goofy fighter micro, and basically just stopped dead in the water.  RIP.

Are there build tips anywhere?  What weapons are good.  Are shields a trap?  They seem like they might be.  How do I build things between 'expendable fighter that dies in one hit but costs 100 bucks and can kill things instantly via sheer weight of numbers' and '1000 hp armorbrick that costs $900, can sit and cap points, but moves a pixel a second'?

If you're building a fighter that costs more then 50, you're doing it wrong. Using the cheapest thruster, a 1x1 battery, and a light beam mini-turret, you should be able to have it be around 30 credits. Missiles are supposedly a good meta, but don't focus too much on it, as point defense can ruin an all-missile attack. Beam is way too energy expensive, excluding light beams, and artillery is decent, albeit don't base around it.

Shields are good, but not for anything past bigger ships. You should make a 'energy' ship that'll use energy transfer to feed your fighters, so that you don't need to power every fighter.