Subset Games Forum

One issue I have is that ships with engine 1 have to accept a 2 turn double rebel boost in sector 1. It seems to me that these ships weren't intended to have to deal with that sort of harder beginning, especially the vortex, which already is a tough ship to use. Couldn't you make both the spend no fuel and spend 2 fuel options usable with 1 engine?

There is definitely room to characterize the crystal ships a little stronger, probably through blue options in rather exotic circumstances. Some of this is already there, as they crystal crew can interact with the Crystal emissaries in Rock territory and gets some pretty hidden options on other occasions. Further the Crystal ships are the only vessels that can be turned into full-out retaliation boats, for whatever that is worth. But I also find that their faction ability and their unique starting weapons set them apart pretty strong already.

Estel wrote:From a totally different barrel - now that Artillery for every ship is a thing, how Fed cruiser is characterized in-game mechanic, for things like Fed Cruiser?

A specific artillery weapon can be made a requirement in events, so these events simply check for the Vindicate beam weapon ID now. As a side effect that also excludes Fed C from this options. It could have been included easily but I decided against that cause it just fits (outlaw ship and such). I really like how ships of the same faction are set apart even stronger now, like by having access to different artillery or coming with strongly different augments.

condonzack wrote:One issue I have is that ships with engine 1 have to accept a 2 turn double rebel boost in sector 1. It seems to me that these ships weren't intended to have to deal with that sort of harder beginning, especially the vortex, which already is a tough ship to use. Couldn't you make both the spend no fuel and spend 2 fuel options usable with 1 engine?

Unfortunately that is kind of difficult to do. In any case, your CE Vortex comes with a free crew dispenser (and ultimately the ability to be run without air, aka boarders and fires, entirely) drone speed increased beyond vanilla limits and a lot of engineering options. I'm OK with that the start gets a littler harsher for that ship again.

So far I've only played on easy, but it seems to me that Slug A's pirate stuff is too powerful. By killing all but one person and then grinding down the enemies hull you can maximize your chances of a surrender reward + a crew death reward. It gives you A LOT of scrap by the end. And the targeting jammer gives you a decent chance to be in no danger at all!

Hey there,

so i just started a run with Zoltan A, and I'm running in the same problem I saw in here before.
Double jumps for the fleet after every single beacon.
Was a fix found for this problem already?
Here's a link to a piece of the recording where you can clearly see it. (In case this isn't a general issue...)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4IpbLX ... e=youtu.be
Could it have something to do with the fact that your first jump is with just basic engines causing the fleet to to a double jump straight from the start?
Anyway, means I can't play any of those 1 powered engine ships atm...

Also, little thing I just thought about regarding the trading system.
First of let me say that I like the way it is right now, so I don't want to change anything, just something that sprung to mind...
You said you couldn't have events take away augmentations, how does the broken stasis pod work then? That's an event, and it takes away the broken stasis pod out out of your inventory when you open it on a research station and get your crystal crewmember. Is it some one of kind weird type of coding stuff that only works on that particular augment and event combination?

In the previous version, mantis spotters were blue, and the event with them said as much. Now they are red and the event still calls them blue.

condonzack wrote:So far I've only played on easy, but it seems to me that Slug A's pirate stuff is too powerful. By killing all but one person and then grinding down the enemies hull you can maximize your chances of a surrender reward + a crew death reward. It gives you A LOT of scrap by the end. And the targeting jammer gives you a decent chance to be in no danger at all!

Except for the fact that many times, you won't be able to attack them again, being stuck with only sad "surrender reward". Also, try playing with vanilla loadouts, no targetting jammer from the start there
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Sleeper - re Vortex and it's engine limitations there, with vanilla loadouts, it doesn't have all the buffs of avatar generator (and last time I checked CE loadout was still a kind of "showcase", not cannon recommended - something changed here and I missed it?).

Anyway, I kind of accepted those starting limitations for Engi B and Mantis B as part of those ship's characteristic, and frankly, I don't see it changing much (two beacons visited less in 1st sector, at worst, cause many times, sector layout nullifies this penalty). I just focus on engines more, to regain lost beacons quicker in sector 2 and 3.

Re: Crystal ships - yes, crystal crew characterizes itself quite well, but I was rather talking about crystal ship (via it's augment). If one loses crystal crewmember via any reason, the things in exotic situations stop working (that people aware of crystal's existence should know, even without crystal on board - like, meeting crystal enemy in hazard sector).

Anyway, I agree that I don't have good ideas for blue events there, apart from those few exotic things. Well, maybe exotic ship could feel even more "in home" in exotic sectors, like Hazard one. (something like how Engi A feels in quarantice sector, of course to lesser extent in hazard, as it's still, well, Hazard ).

/Estel

I only mentioned the slug 1 thing because the new load outs are supposed to balanced, right? Anyway I have a real issue. I've been trying really hard to unlock the fed cruiser with the quest. I finally got to a sector that started with "This sector was hit hard by the rebellion. The many alien settlements and stations located here are now watched over by almost an equal number of Rebel bases, heavy-handedly 'keeping the peace'." which the wiki says is the text for the stronghold. I was using stealth b, so I mapped the whole sector. there were only 3 non distress non ship points, which the wiki says is where the huge rebel shipyard can appear. I rejected a quest to prevent any possible overriding. And IT WASN'T AT ANY OF THOSE BEACONS!!!!

Now if the shipyard isn't guaranteed in vanilla, then just tell me. But otherwise I've been spending the last 3 days trying for this thing, and its getting frustrating.

On the issue of the crystal cruiser. I was under the impression that the race augments (Mantis pheremones, ect.) imply that YOU are one of those species.

condonzack wrote:I only mentioned the slug 1 thing because the new load outs are supposed to balanced, right?

As far as I know, no - they're supposed to be a "showcase" of new stuff added in CE, not a "cannon" way of playing CE. At least it was what Sleeper answered, when I asked about it on numerous occasions. As a die-hard player of vanilla loadouts (a little modified - I just re-introduced Requisition License to pirate-themed Fed ships, as I found it very lore-friendly and not unbalancing) I find it pretty balanced that way.

Now, I can imagine that Sleeper did what he could to make CE loadouts as balanced as it gets, but until its status change, I think that he is willing to sacrifice some "balance" factor for a "showcase" factor there.

BTW - Sleeper, maybe it would be good to put a small disclaimer next to vanilla loadouts, stating, that it's "recommended" way to play, just like with non-EL enemy loadouts and things about playing on normal? I feel that I'm total minority re playing with vanilla loadouts, and 99% of players think that CE's loadouts is "core" way of playing, with vanilla ones being not guaranteed to be "balanced"

Last but not least - CE is "balanced" for Normal diff level. Playing on Easy, you will find many things... Well, easier than intended. Playing on hard, you will find some things harder. Personally, I find Hard balanced really nicely, too (although, as expected, hard and unforgiving in case of unnecessary mistakes from player side).

condonzack wrote:I was using stealth b, so I mapped the whole sector. there were only 3 non distress non ship points, which the wiki says is where the huge rebel shipyard can appear. I rejected a quest to prevent any possible overriding. And IT WASN'T AT ANY OF THOSE BEACONS!!!!

Now if the shipyard isn't guaranteed in vanilla, then just tell me.

As far as I can tell, it is not guaranteed, also in vanilla. But, to be honest, I haven't seen a glance of this quest myself, too (I have Fed cruiser unlocked pre-AE way), despite having been in Rebel homeworlds numerous times, too. But I wasn't "hunting" for that particular quest neither, so no opinion here. Maybe it's worth checking - could something in CE accidentally overwritten it?

/Estel

condonzack wrote:I finally got to a sector that started with "This sector was hit hard by the rebellion. The many alien settlements and stations located here are now watched over by almost an equal number of Rebel bases, heavy-handedly 'keeping the peace'." which the wiki says is the text for the stronghold.

From my memory (I'm not looking at any files right now), the Rebel Stronghold uses the same starting text as Rebel-controlled Sectors, so you may have been in the wrong sector.

condonzack wrote:Now if the shipyard isn't guaranteed in vanilla, then just tell me.

I believe it is supposed to be guaranteed, as long as you don't override it with a quest, which you said you avoided. I'm pretty sure you were in the wrong sector for it.

Estel wrote:

condonzack wrote:I only mentioned the slug 1 thing because the new load outs are supposed to balanced, right?

As far as I know, no - they're supposed to be a "showcase" of new stuff added in CE, not a "cannon" way of playing CE. At least it was what Sleeper answered, when I asked about it on numerous occasions. As a die-hard player of vanilla loadouts (a little modified - I just re-introduced Requisition License to pirate-themed Fed ships, as I found it very lore-friendly and not unbalancing) I find it pretty balanced that way.

Now, I can imagine that Sleeper did what he could to make CE loadouts as balanced as it gets, but until its status change, I think that he is willing to sacrifice some "balance" factor for a "showcase" factor there.

BTW - Sleeper, maybe it would be good to put a small disclaimer next to vanilla loadouts, stating, that it's "recommended" way to play, just like with non-EL enemy loadouts and things about playing on normal? I feel that I'm total minority re playing with vanilla loadouts, and 99% of players think that CE's loadouts is "core" way of playing, with vanilla ones being not guaranteed to be "balanced"

Last but not least - CE is "balanced" for Normal diff level. Playing on Easy, you will find many things... Well, easier than intended. Playing on hard, you will find some things harder. Personally, I find Hard balanced really nicely, too (although, as expected, hard and unforgiving in case of unnecessary mistakes from player side).

condonzack wrote:I was using stealth b, so I mapped the whole sector. there were only 3 non distress non ship points, which the wiki says is where the huge rebel shipyard can appear. I rejected a quest to prevent any possible overriding. And IT WASN'T AT ANY OF THOSE BEACONS!!!!

Now if the shipyard isn't guaranteed in vanilla, then just tell me.

As far as I can tell, it is not guaranteed, also in vanilla. But, to be honest, I haven't seen a glance of this quest myself, too (I have Fed cruiser unlocked pre-AE way), despite having been in Rebel homeworlds numerous times, too. But I wasn't "hunting" for that particular quest neither, so no opinion here. Maybe it's worth checking - could something in CE accidentally overwritten it?

/Estel

Do you think the homeworlds could be differentiated more? I love the idea that you have to learn what all the names mean, like learning items effects in a classic roguelike. But you should be about to learn "this means this is a homeworld! cool, let me search for non-distress beacons" too.

I guess that makes sense, when it comes to the load outs. I think that both engi a and b are harder with the ce versions, so i might just go vanilla to unlock the cruiser. Honestly there are some loadouts I prefer from vanilla and some I prefer from ce.

One thing I love about CE is the AIs, especially the AI sectors. (Even if the last time I went to one it kicked my ass- they run away SO QUICKLY.) I'd really really love an optional AI player ship. Also an Idea I had was that the rogue AIs should be totally terrified of Lanius. And Lanius have problems recognizing the ais exist. Like, they barely notice these weird light beings as they happily munch on the machinery that keeps them alive. IN fact, I can't help but imagine the reason the AIs haven't attacked anyone is because they are afraid of attracting the lanius, who don't need air either.

I feel kind of entitled about this, but I also think there needs to be another style of human station. Its fine that the other races have only one style but it seems like at least half of all stations you see are going to be variations of the fed t style. Just a another configuration would break up the monotony a lot.

How hard would it be to alter the flagship construction to look a bit less blown up? Could you just copy one half of the sprite and mirror that, so it looks symmetrical as if its being methodically built?