[SHIP] Obsidian Cruiser v1.3

[Kirbypowered]

This ship looks seriously awesome. It's just that I don't want to use it until I win with the Engi type B cruiser...so I probably won't be using it any time soon. =( I know it's by no means permanent, but...I don't know, I like the little thing.

[TheKillerNacho]

Really cool ship that replaces a ship I care nothing about. This will surely be included in my standard mod list.

[mattimao]

My wife and I are now using this ship all the time!
If you haven't downloaded this yet... Do it!

The Obsidian Cruser is a terrific ship that replaces a VERY lame stock ship.

It is so worth it.

I look forward to what Kieve has in store for this mod or any other future mods.

[Kieve]

Thanks for the positive response guys!
Very sorry 1.3 is taking so long. The honest truth is I'm kinda crap when it comes to spritework (you have no idea how long I fussed over each pixel just for the weapons!) I'm trying to work out custom room stuff, the inspiration is just very slow in coming. Also as I'm sure most of you noticed, my failed attempts with the T3 "Rebel Destroyer" were chewing up a significant amount of my time - with that out of the way, I should be able to focus on polishing the fine details off this and getting a final update out.

[Endrian]

So, what would it take to get you to make two more weapons to finish off the Obsidian weapon suite (like a beam weapon and a missile launcher)? It just doesn't feel right only having two weapons with that fantastic aesthetic.

[Kieve]

So, what would it take to get you to make two more weapons to finish off the Obsidian weapon suite (like a beam weapon and a missile launcher)? It just doesn't feel right only having two weapons with that fantastic aesthetic.

"A simple yet reasonable way to include them without Shops or starting weaponry."
The ship is a little OP right now but not gamebreakingly so. Enough that on Normal it's still a challenge. Fitting it out with an excess of high-powered Obsidian-class weapons would be a bit over the top. Likewise, I don't just want to set their rarity to 3 and have a "maybe they'll crop up in the store" deal, since doing so would make no sense.

What that leaves then, is probably some kind of event chain. What I'm likely to do is create one or two NPC "Obsidian" ships on an order similar to say, the rock scout & bomber, with various encounter options for each. It's doubtful they'd be hostile at first, but who knows. Either way, it'd provide an opportunity to gain new weapons, through negotiation or salvage.

[Whale Cancer]

So, what would it take to get you to make two more weapons to finish off the Obsidian weapon suite (like a beam weapon and a missile launcher)? It just doesn't feel right only having two weapons with that fantastic aesthetic.

"A simple yet reasonable way to include them without Shops or starting weaponry."
The ship is a little OP right now but not gamebreakingly so. Enough that on Normal it's still a challenge. Fitting it out with an excess of high-powered Obsidian-class weapons would be a bit over the top. Likewise, I don't just want to set their rarity to 3 and have a "maybe they'll crop up in the store" deal, since doing so would make no sense.

What that leaves then, is probably some kind of event chain. What I'm likely to do is create one or two NPC "Obsidian" ships on an order similar to say, the rock scout & bomber, with various encounter options for each. It's doubtful they'd be hostile at first, but who knows. Either way, it'd provide an opportunity to gain new weapons, through negotiation or salvage.

Have you considered making those weapons only available in shops in the crystal sector? Your idea is good (and I actually prefer it to my suggestion), but I feel like people will complain if the chance to get more obsidian weapons is too 'random'. You can set rarities by sector in sectors.xml (except for the starting sector, rarity lists don't seem to work there).

[Kieve]

Have you considered making those weapons only available in shops in the crystal sector? Your idea is good (and I actually prefer it to my suggestion), but I feel like people will complain if the chance to get more obsidian weapons is too 'random'. You can set rarities by sector in sectors.xml (except for the starting sector, rarity lists don't seem to work there).

Thought about it. Also think it's probably worse than fiddling with events, given how hard it can be to unlock the event chain that gets you to the Crystal sector. I don't mind that idea, I just think altering "Rock-Controlled" and "Rock-Homeworld" sectors to offer random encounters of Obsidian ships is likely to offer the best chance. The way RNG rolls, there's never a 'sure thing' on any given playthrough anyway.

[Whale Cancer]

That's absolutely and entirely reasonable!

[Zaffre]

Well, as I've just figured out, Crystal make excellent boarders. I've picked up a Mantis and a Rock and now use all four as my boarding crew. Kills pretty much anything and the Crystals' ability makes fighting a whole lot easier. I sold my Singularity Projector for a pre-igniter, but the pre-igniter lets me fire a Pulse Disruptor, Ion Blast, and Burst Laser II all at once in an alpha strike to take down med-bay/weapons.

Having a lot of fun with this. It certainly seems like you can go any direction with this ship, i.e. boarding focused, drone focused, or weapon focused.

EDIT: Just beat the Rebel Flagship for the third time with this ship. I had FRAPS on at the time so I figured I'd record it. This time it's the full fight and not just the last stage. I'll upload the video as soon as I edit the footage.

EDIT 2: Here it is!