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[puke]

The Combat Officers blog entry sounds pretty cool.  Worth reading.

And the 0.7a patch notes are amazeballs.  not released yet, but the feature list has me drooling. 

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Changes as of April 05, 2015

Campaign:
Added 5 new star systems
Added "Hydroponics Complex" market condition
Added market conditions for a variety of new planet types
Added alternate shortcuts to interaction menu options, in addition to number keys (i.e. Esc = Leave, etc)
Price list in commodity tooltip will now compress multiple entries for the same commodity into one, provide the prices are the same/very similar
"Move in to engage" will show a confirmation dialog when vs non-hostile target
Fixed autoresolve issue that incorrectly penalized ships with good shields and benefited ships with poor shields
Greatly increased CR penalty from refitting in flight, especially for hullmods
Locally-produced goods now available on the black market even if they're not available on the open market due to being mostly exported
Added support for campaign missions (e.g. quests)
Added "market procurement" mission - acquire and deliver X commodity to a contact at market
Added browseable comm directory and mission board to markets
Can be used when docking with hostile markets
Can improve relationships with specific people
Generally, people with a positive relationship will offer missions even if the faction is hostile
Other effects TBD
Person info panel updated to show relationship, faction affiliation, player relationship with faction, person rank, and current post
Added new music for Luddic Church faction
Added combat officers
Can hire by talking to "mercenaries" via market comm directory
Can be assigned to any ship (not fighter wings)
Have the following pool of skills: all combat skills, Gunnery Implants, and the effect of the combat aptitude as a "skill"
Start with one level 1 skill
Have one of four personalities affecting in-combat behavior:
Timid, cautious, steady, and aggressive
Player can choose one of two (randomly picked) skills to learn or improve at each level-up
Not limited by aptitude level when increasing skills
Only grant the combat portion of their skills
Current maximum level is 20, learning a skill learns it at level 1, improving gains 3 levels
Gives exactly 5 maxed-out skills at level 20, or some combination of lower-level skills
Numbers may change
Gain experience based on time spent in combat, experience split among all officers deployed
Player can have a maximum of 10; can be dismissed

Combat balance:
Autopulse Laser: increased damage by 20% and flux generation by 25%
Proximity Charge Launcher: now has the PD tag
Lasher: increased flux dissipation, armor, and shield arc

Ship AI/orders:
Found and fixed an issue that could cause occasional suicidal behavior (would attempt to pursue an enemy perceived as trying to kite it, into a very bad situation)
Added "Avoid" order, can be set on enemy ships to make all your ships try to avoid getting near them
Ships can be explicitly assigned to the "avoid" target, in which case it'll work as an "engage" order
Improved order-following
Ships assigned to capture/control/assault/defend will do a better job of both avoiding enemy contact and moving towards the objective
Improved conservation of HE missiles (i.e. Harpoons) vs unshielded frigates. Test case of Wolf (CS) vs 2x Hound (D), 2x Cerberus (D), and 1x Lasher (D) -> Wolf saves enough missiles to effectively take out the Lasher
Improved conservation of kinetic missiles (i.e. Sabots) - less likely to fire off when high on flux and unable to follow up
Improved behavior with regard to re-engaging a target while having higher flux than target
Improved map-border-avoiding behavior
Improved maneuvering to facilitate the use of Reapers and other rocket-type weapons
Improved spreading out by multiple ships facing a single target
Reduced propensity to get very close to a vulnerable target and stay there
Autofire AI will now consider whether an enemy is blocking a friendly from being shot at, for purposes of friendly fire danger detection
Improved broadside AI:
Will now turn more into a broadside if its frontal firepower is significantly lacking
Will pursue (by turning towards enemy) less

Miscellaneous:
Apogee's Sensor Drones can no longer be set to free roam
PD weapons with charges will now conserve up to 10 ammo vs non-PD targets
Thumper and Storm Needler no longer show "x9999" burst size on tooltip
Clarified "High Maintenance" hullmod description
Fixed occasional unnecessary background texture reloading when starting battles/simulations in the campaign

Modding:
Added DamagingProjectileAPI.getBaseDamageAmount();
Economy shouldn't crash if there are no markets configured
Added ShipVariantAPI SettingsAPI.getVariant(String variantId)
Very large turrets should no longer cause visual artifacts on disabled ships
Fixed bug that caused prices for markets of size >7 to be computed incorrectly
shipBuy/SellPriceMult now properly affects fighter wings
OptionPanelAPI now sets alternate shortcut that works in addition to the number key matching the option. It's always bracketed and put at the end.
CampaignEventListener.reportPlayerOpenedMarket() now called when player opens interaction dialog rather than when player actually opens the trade UI
Added CampaignEventListener.reportPlayerClosedMarket(); called when interaction dialog is closed
Added OptionPanelAPI.addOptionConfirmation
tips.json now merged on load instead of always replacing the vanilla one
Added FactionAPI.getMemoryWithoutUpdate()
Added PersonAPI.getMemory()
Added PersonAPI.getMemoryWithoutUpdate()
Added to MarketAPI:
void initCommDirectory();
CommDirectoryAPI getCommDirectory()
void addPerson(PersonAPI person);
void removePerson(PersonAPI person);
List<PersonAPI> getPeopleCopy();
Added to SectorEntityToken:
PersonAPI getActivePerson();
void setActivePerson(PersonAPI activePerson);
Added
CampaignEventManagerAPI.primeEvent(CampaignEventTarget eventTarget, String eventType, Object param)
CampaignEventManagerAPI.startEvent(CampaignEventPlugin primedEvent)
Added ReportAPI (for accessing data from reports.csv)
Added SectorAPI.getReport(String eventType, String eventStage, String channel)
Added LocationAPI.getAllEntities()
Improved performance of:
SectorAPI.getEntityById()
LocationAPI.getEntityById()
Fixed minor on-rack missile rendering issue
Highlighting in reports/tooltips/shortcuts/etc now requires a non-alpha-numeric char after a match (i.e. a space, punctuation, etc)
Added support for modding person ranks and posts (default_ranks.json, "ranks" section in .faction)
Expanded PersonAPI
Added CampaignMissionPlugin, CommDirectoryAPI, etc (as necessary to support new campaign functionality)
Added SectorAPI.getImportantPeople()
Added to ShipEngineControllerAPI:
extendFlame()
fadeToOtherColor()
Added SettingsAPI.getPlugin() to retrieve plugins defined in the "plugins" section of settings.json
Added SettingsAPI.getSortedSkillIds(), returns skill ids sorted by "order" in skill_data.csv
Added SkillSpecAPI
Fixed crash bug caused by ship name Roman numerals getting up to 4000
Added "combat officer" column to skill_data.csv; governs if skill is available to combat officers
Made CoreReputationPlugin easier to mod without replacing entirely
Added RepActions.CUSTOM
Specifics of reputation change specified via CustomRepImpact class
Usage:
CustomRepImpact impact = new CustomRepImpact();
<set fields in impact to desired values>
Global.getSector().adjustPlayerReputation(new RepActionEnvelope(RepActions.CUSTOM, impact, message, true), factionId)
Added "evenSpread" parameter to mirv spec

Bugfixing:
allowShipControlWhilePaused now set to true in settings.json, as was intended
Fixed rare crash bug caused by weapon group going away due to a critical malfunction but the AI still thinking it exists and wanting trying to fire it
System-activated engines no longer show up on ships in the campaign view
Fixed rare crash while adjusting music volume
Fixed bug where repair-at-market cost would be extremely high if ship crews were understrength
Fixed issue where leaving X cargo and then picking up exactly X cargo would lead to the listed cargo space used being incorrect
Thunder-class fighters no longer immediately go to refit after firing off their Harpoon missile
Captured enemy ships will no longer ship up in the "disabled" category in the enemy fleet in the fleet encounter dialog
Fixed bug where intel prices would occasionally not update correctly when docking at a market
Fixed issue where player-sold commodity stockpile value used for pricing would reset on a save/load for commodities not in native supply or demand
Fixed bug where market music would continue playing in the campaign after running a combat simulation in-market and then leaving
Fixed crash caused by adjusting music volume after music has erroneously stopped playing
(Probably) fixed issue with music stopping to play (seems to only be an issue with some mods?)
Fixed bug where fighter wings would not properly lose CR for taking losses in combat in some circumstances
Fixed bug where initiation a transaction at a military submarket and then cancelling would result in the items in the submarket being re-sorted incorrectly
Increased Hound shield radius so it works properly when a Front Shield Generator is installed

I hope Nexerilin is prompt in updating to support it.

[jocan2003]

Well with a major changelist like that and it keeps growing, also the new modding hooks and stuff like that i would give it maybe a week for a straight port then another 1-2 week to incoprporate the new stuff.

[Scripten]

Just got this game, and it looks like fun. I've started a game after doing the tutorials, working as a bounty hunter, but... I'm having a bit of trouble really getting into it. Is it usually a bit of a solid wall for a bit?

[puke]

Dunno.  I cheat.

Edited:  but from what I read, there is a lot of technique involved.  A good pilot that knows how to exploit ship design and AI patterns can have an easy go of it.

Check out the official forums?

[Blaze]

Bounty hunter starts with a wolf, which is probably the best you can start with for outright combat.

Do the tutorial before anything.

Your starting Graviton Beam, 3x Tactical lasers, and harpoons will probably be fine. Your starting targets for combat should be small pirate patrols. You'll see them occasionally on the map.

In combat, try to draw out faster enemies, tag them with "r", and take down their shields. Don't bother shooting your Graviton laser at unshielded ships unless their armor is down. If the shields are down, launch harpoons one at a time finish them off.

For large, slow targets get around their shield using your phase skimmer; move sideways and activate it to out-turn them. Then target their engines until they're disabled, finish with missiles.

If you run out of missiles and there are still armored targets, head all the way down to the bottom of the map and retreat. Make sure to retreat other ships as well.

Once you've saved up enough, buy a Hound. With the additional cargo space, you can carry more loot back. I generally repeat until I have 3 hounds. Hounds aren't really made for combat, but if you can afford to fit them with Hypervelocity drivers or Heavy Maulers, they make capable skirmishers. They're incredibly vulnerable to missiles, so throw a vulcan into its small turret.

Once you've got the cargo space, H-Space over to Eos. Buy food, it should only be around 20-40 credits. You can then fly back to Corvus to sell during a shortage. That's a major source of credits and trading experience. If there's no shortage, store it in the storage section of the market; if you make multiple trips you can sell it all at once during a shortage for massive profit.

For skill builds, it depends on your playstyle. If you want to play with large fleets, don't put too many points into combat skills; those only affect you. If you want to play small fleets where you're the big damage dealer, don't bother with leadership skills. Most will agree that technology is what your should focus on first. Applied Physics should probably come first, but feel free to sprinkle points where you want. I generally bring gunnery implants to 5 to get that extra range.

That should be enough to start out with, anything else can come with their own questions.

[Scripten]

Oh wow. Thanks Blaze! That helps out a lot. I'll have to employ those tips next time I play.

[pondicherry]

I want a demo . .. . I need to try this game   

[Flying Dice]

If you've played SPAZ, it's like that except less arcade-y. There are older examples, but that's the most apt comparison among contemporaries.

Alternatively, the game as it currently stands is already well-worth the price, and has been since early in development when there was nothing to do but fight things in a single system.

[pondicherry]

If you've played SPAZ, it's like that except less arcade-y. There are older examples, but that's the most apt comparison among contemporaries.

Alternatively, the game as it currently stands is already well-worth the price, and has been since early in development when there was nothing to do but fight things in a single system.

Thank you Flying Dice, you are always kind in your posts  ( I am the newbie in the aurora 4x thread, the one you helped)
You have another image, right?

[Aklyon]

FD has the nanoha yams picture, the girl-in-snowcoat gif, and some other pictures.

[Astral]

So I recently bought this on pre-order and was looking through some of the posts; something with 80+ pages on B12 can't be all bad, right?

The original post is severely outdated, though, as it still mentions the original name and that the estimated release is in 2011.

Do we know if it is coming to Steam or a similar platform? I only ask for the sake of convenience, as it's a bit of a hassle to keep track of the numerous pre-orders or early access type games I've eventually accrued despite promising myself I would only buy release games (which are often as buggy, if not more so, than some early accesses.)

[Flying Dice]

If you've played SPAZ, it's like that except less arcade-y. There are older examples, but that's the most apt comparison among contemporaries.

Alternatively, the game as it currently stands is already well-worth the price, and has been since early in development when there was nothing to do but fight things in a single system.

Thank you Flying Dice, you are always kind in your posts  ( I am the newbie in the aurora 4x thread, the one you helped)
You have another image, right?

Ah, I'm not really that nice, I just enjoy helping people find their way to enjoying things I enjoy. S'more a side effect of selfishness than anything else.

But yes, I have a couple of avatars. Um. Four, I think, the two Aklyon mentioned, whats-his-name spinning on his head, and the beautiful, tasteful, high-quality screaming elf guy 'art'.

[mendonca]

So I recently bought this on pre-order and was looking through some of the posts; something with 80+ pages on B12 can't be all bad, right?

The original post is severely outdated, though, as it still mentions the original name and that the estimated release is in 2011.

Do we know if it is coming to Steam or a similar platform? I only ask for the sake of convenience, as it's a bit of a hassle to keep track of the numerous pre-orders or early access type games I've eventually accrued despite promising myself I would only buy release games (which are often as buggy, if not more so, than some early accesses.)

Alex, the dev, is pretty non-committal on this (if only 'cos he hasn't tried to launch on steam yet, awaiting a more complete game)

I'm reasonably sure it will get there eventually, but I doubt it will make it in the short term, for now it will be 'as-is'.

[Majestic7]

Interesting changelog and yes, Starsector is pretty awesome. If you are on the fence regarding purchase or just plain out of money, I *might* put up a giveaway for a couple of copies when the next version comes out. Depends on if the stars are right and I happen to feel generous then. :p

[puke]

If you've played SPAZ, it's like that except less arcade-y. There are older examples, but that's the most apt comparison among contemporaries.

Someone compared it to "mount & blade in space" and this is pretty apt. 

You can overcome great odds with skilled management of your shield direction and flux levels, and this feels not so far off from m&b combat with weapon momentum and such.

RP aspects, fleet management, trade, modding.  It all comes together in a similar way.  It looks a bit like SPAZ in that it is a top down space shooter with sprites (not rendered models) and fleet aspects, but it does not play similar.  At least not to my sensibilities.