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[creodor]

I can't wait for full campaign mode, this game is already extremely fun. And already so many mods. Really, very awesome.

[Paul]

I can't wait for full campaign mode, this game is already extremely fun. And already so many mods. Really, very awesome.

I have to agree. The changes in the latest version are great. Better AI, more intuitive interface. And some of the simple things make the game a lot more playable - like the storage station.

I went ahead and put version 1.05 of my GR mod, although all I changed was moving the station to planet IV. Update if you want it moved, don't update if you'd prefer it stay on planet I

It hardly seems worthwhile to release an update that does nothing but add five V's to one file, but that's all it took. I feel like I should have added something else. Simplest update ever.

[SeaBee]

Thanks, Paul, GR is one of my favorite mods.

The mods are quickly becoming one of my top three favorite features of Starfarer. Alex did a wonderful thing in building support for them into the game from the beginning. The payoff for the players is already tremendous.

[Paul]

Yea, the modding community is already pretty nice. I look forward to extra modding support in the future. We can already add ships and stations and guns and such, and even with the early API we can do stuff like my faction relation resets. Who knows what people will come up with when the API is more powerful. I could see this game getting some nice total conversions done on it once we have the ability to create campaigns with a bunch of systems and missions and story and such.

As soon as we have the ability to run scripts after combat I plan on making a bounty type deal with cash rewarded for hunting certain ships. Buy a bounty hunter license from suchandsuch faction, kill their enemies for bounty. 

With that and the current system you could make makeshift missions even without a real mission system. Could have "jobs" that you buy at a special station for 0 credits to accept and then have it spawn the target and reward you when you kill them.

[Flying Dice]

Glad to see that turret autofire bug fixed.


ed: I finally figured out what was bugging me. THE FUCKING HOUNDS. Ever since the buffs to them, the AI apparently can handle them like fighters and outrun damn near everything, turn on a dime, and strafe like it's Quake all over again. Not to mention the really obnoxiously obvious AI running them that runs away whenever your weapons are pointed their direction and darts back in when you're looking away. Heck, that's usually the only way to catch the buggers when they're the last thing left and refuse to retreat, despite being up against a battlecruiser or whatever. Just slew all your turrets away, accelerate towards them, and the moment they enter your firing arc turn your turrets back and blast them. It would be okay if they were just annoying harrassment, but with that chaingun, they can actually do major armor damage, so if you don't have a 360 degree shield, you're practically forced to just eat their fire while you deal with other threats, because trying to chase them will just get you stuck in an endless dance trying to catch them while everything else shoot up your tailpipe.

So yes. Hounds are fucking annoying because they fly like harrassment ships but have big enough guns to threaten destroyers and the occasional cruiser.

[Dohon]

That's why I like a Wolf frigate with a Pulse Laser and 3 Tactical lasers, combined with Point Defense Integration and Optics. The lasers can hurt him while he hurts you and if he so much dares to turn, your weapons get a good chance at disabling an engine. Once that happens, game over for the hounds.

Then again, flying a destroyer and not having any fast / long-ranged weapons will make hunting those nasty little critters an exercise in futility.

[Tarran]

I'm with you there, FD. The AI using the hounds running away again and again if you aim at it even if you and it are the only ships on the map is really irritating. It's like, dude, I'm not going to turn away from you. Either come over here and face your fate or get the hell off of the map, you're just drawing this on uselessly.

[mendonca]

The Hounds are annoying, but I guess that's what you would do if you were flying one.

If you are carrying a few Salamanders, you can really ruin a hound pilots day. Get an engine out, and then just close in for an easy kill.

Annihilators can be okay, if not just for direct attacks but also area denial, allowing you to hopefully get close enough to hit the cheeky little bugger.

Basically, you should be ready for frustration if you are taking on a Hound unprepared, and in that case why shouldn't it be you that is trying to retreat??

[Nelia Hawk]

if you dont want to chase 1 hound around in a cruiser you can also just auto resolve that last enemy if its the last thing left (esc).

[Tarran]

The Hounds are annoying, but I guess that's what you would do if you were flying one.

Minus the inability to realize when they cannot flank the enemy and either charge or leave the battle like a reasonable person.

Basically, you should be ready for frustration if you are taking on a Hound unprepared, and in that case why shouldn't it be you that is trying to retreat??

Because then you do not get the loot. If you leave a battle, you get nothing from the ships destroyed last time I checked.

if you dont want to chase 1 hound around in a cruiser you can also just auto resolve that last enemy if its the last thing left (esc).

Yes, you could, but I don't trust the autobattle. Sometimes it gives weird results, and usually it comes out with more damage than if you did it yourself. Plus, I've noticed enemies have a much higher chance of (successfully) retreating on autobattles.

[Flying Dice]

Agreed. Autoresolve is a load of crap, in that it treats you as if you're the most incompetent pilot in the system. That was basically the point I was getting at with the Hounds as well: even if they expend every round of ammunition, they won't kill you, and the refusal to either charge or retreat means that simple battles take far longer than they should because it seems like half the time autoresolve will end up letting it do something absurd like 80% damage to you when it has 50 hull left and you haven't even taken armor damage. Yeah, the "whole fleets retreat and surrender because of a single frigate" thing was absurd, but it is equally absurd for a ship which has zero chance of winning continuing to do laps of the tactical map because it can outrun you, rather than retreating.

What I've found to be fairly effective is a Medusa with a pair of pulse lasers and a pair of ion cannons in the universal mounts; you only need to bracket a Hound once with the ion cannons and you'll usually have enough time to pound it into scrap. But therein lies another issue I have: it is far easier to get through the early-mid game by just mounting a high DPS weapon or two and ramming every enemy that isn't several classes larger than you while holding down M1, both because the AI apparently doesn't know how to handle it and because it finishes fights much faster and more safely than autoresolve.

[alexm]

I agree that the Hounds can be a bit annoying - their behavior is more suited to when they're not the only opponent left. Still, Salamanders (or just a few fighter wings) eliminate them as a problem. Having played from the start quite a few times recently (playtesting for the recent releases), it's really not *that* bad once you get the hang of it.

But therein lies another issue I have: it is far easier to get through the early-mid game by just mounting a high DPS weapon or two and ramming every enemy that isn't several classes larger than you while holding down M1, both because the AI apparently doesn't know how to handle it and because it finishes fights much faster and more safely than autoresolve.

I have to ask - are you playing on half or full damage? On full, I can perhaps see this working in a 1-1, but it's definitely not optimal. You'll take lots of damage in the process, and may well get killed by a desperation missile salvo.


As far as autoresolve, btw: you can now safely do it when an enemy ship starts retreating, i.e., you don't have to wait for them to get off the map. It'll just mark that ship as "retreated" automatically (with the standard chance to be captured), instead of having it fight you.

[SeaBee]

Now that's a great tip, Alex ... I'll autoresolve a lot more knowing that.

Hounds are basically the honeybadgers of Starfarer now.

[Paul]

I love the new hounds. They used to be completely useless - now they're actually useful to keep around, and can be a real thorn in your side fighting against them. I especially like when several hounds will go around the sides and flank while their main force attacks from the front. That chaingun can do some damage when they sneak around to the unshielded sides of ships. If you're not careful you can get caught between a pair of hounds on your left and right flanks with LRMs coming in from ahead - unless you have a very wide shield coverage you're going to take some armor or hull damage.

I saw my Medusa pilot get itself into that situation - it blocked the LRMs but the hounds nailed it with some heavy armor damage while it was moving its shields around and it wound up taking the next set of LRMs in the side while trying to block the hounds. They kept on both sides of it and kept nailing it. The Medusa was hurting them, but if I hadn't sent in fighters after the hounds they might have taken down the Medusa before it killed them.

[SeaBee]

Oh, definitely. The new AI makes Hounds an honest threat -- you have to address them or they'll cause a lot of havoc. I like it. They act like a pack of dogs (which is fitting), constantly nipping and biting at your heels unless you answer with something they can't handle (fighters are my go-to tool for 'em).

Of course, if you don't have an answer to them ... prepare for a lot of irritation. They just refuse to suicide into your main guns, and are always looking for a soft flank instead.

I love this version.