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There's also the fact that the Duke has kinda been at odds with Daud the whole game. I started a game and got on his good side so there might be a different path if different choices were made. Couldn't say though, I got cut off by a strike group and annihilated.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 16:39 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 11:31 |
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Too bad you cant just nuke Khiva. Need that reactor to survive at this point, even with the capital not being destroyed
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 16:44 |
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Inspired by your airplane centric play I started a game with a few of these. I'm not sure how effective they are in actuality compared to a single large carrier, but they are pretty fun to use.
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# ? Nov 11, 2021 21:53 |
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I love how implausible and weird many of the ship designs are in this game. Runway longer than the plane? Nah, don't need that. And add another one two feet above the tail of the first plane while you're at it.
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# ? Nov 12, 2021 06:12 |
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It looks nice if you imagine the runway is facing towards the camera rather than to the right.
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# ? Nov 12, 2021 06:45 |
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Not gonna tell you how to fly since everyone's got their own style, but I find that crashing ships into the repair dock is generally counterproductive. Also for how often you advertise your presence before stopping to sell nukes, you need to name one of your missile ships "Ice Cream Truck"
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# ? Nov 12, 2021 06:55 |
El Spamo posted:There's also the fact that the Duke has kinda been at odds with Daud the whole game. I started a game and got on his good side so there might be a different path if different choices were made. Couldn't say though, I got cut off by a strike group and annihilated. Daud is still pissy even if you do all his stuff. It does mean you can burn his stars consequence free.
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# ? Nov 13, 2021 02:53 |
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Far to the south, months ago, at a Romani skunkworks facility... "Esteemed Admirals, welcome, despite these troubled times. That being said, I hope what we have been working on will steel your resolve." "Your... passionate, objections to the current fleet designs reached the ears of the Emperor, Affendi." "You may find that to your detriment." "Nevertheless, the Emperor has asked us to hear your pleas. Please, begin." "Thank you. As you know, the ongoing rebellion has strained our resources and put us in a difficult strategic and logistical position. Our fleet is currently not agile enough to respond to crises effectively. We weren't expecting a guerilla war both within Romani land proper, nor the Lord Governor's coup in Gerat. However, we must adjust. And we can, starting with the command ships of our squadrons." "A pocket Nomad?" "Essentially, yes. The Nomad class cruisers were designed to operate in grand squadrons, not as independent strike groups. This, the Kharak class, is more faster, lighter, and more agile, able to more quickly deploy to a task." "A curious decision to defang the Nomad's arsenal. I see no AA missiles, no 180mm batteries, or even defensive palashe. "You expect Admirals to fight a war with... Vympels and Gatlings? "No, I don't expect the Admirals to engage the enemy directly. The Kharak is the mobile battlefield platform to oversee and logistically support multiple operations. Redeployment is critical; less time spent travelling, less time refueling, less consumption while at a halt, all this means a Kharak can reposition rapidly to more favorable ground and strongholds. Further, you'll notice that there is ample space for on-deployment expansion. All this, for over fifty-thousand dirham less." "An agreeable goal, but I must again point out this design's lack of firepower. Odder still, the combination of different calibers. Why have you designed as such? "The Auto-Loader system, standard in pretty much every ship of the last and current reign, draws from a single pool of ammunition, divided into calibers. Deplete a caliber, and all cannons of that caliber will reload at the same rate, no matter how many cannons or ammo stores you have. By dividing the anti-missile cannons between Vympels and Gatlings, the defense system has now two ammo pools from which to draw their reloads from. And Vympels are not slouches when it comes to intercepting ballistic missiles." "Speaking of, just a pair of K-15s for its own ballistic weaponry. The Nomad carries nukes. Care to explain? "The silos of the Kharak are adaptable, but outfitting the cruisers of the Highfleet are dictated by imperial decree, yes?" "As it currently stands. Still, two K-15s are hardly threat to a Gerat strike fleet. "Next slide, Admirals." "The Merchantman class, derived from the design of the Triumphant. A compliment to the Kharak in speed and range, able to carry six ballistic missiles instead of just four. And as a high value target, adds to a Kharak's air defense with two Gatlings of her own." "The odd silo design here as well." "Rather than waste precious aluminum or steel on silo fairings, these instead use lighter pneumatic catapults to launch the missile out of the housing before the propulsion ignites. In fact, the weight and dirham savings of this design over the standard Triumphant are two hundred tons and twelve thousand respectively." "You can't beat an Archangel by cutting back on firepower in favor of savings, Affendi." "Unless you spend those savings on something that will make even an Archangel cower. To which, the next slide." "The Barbarian." "Bless the Emperor..." "What manner of monster is this?" "Twice the direct firepower of a Gladiator, twice the armor too. And an effective anti-missile system. The Kharak is the hilt, and the Barbarian is most definitely the cleaver blade." "Impressive, though I do see it's also slower than the Gladiator. "And about twice the cost." "As the Admiral of the Second Squadron noted, it can't all be cost saving measures. With only these three ships, we're still an ungainly, slow and plodding target to avoid. As I said before, the Kharak is a mobile platform from which to launch agile and swift operations. Starting with, next slide." "Sparrow class support tanker. All the tick marks; lighter, faster, and longer range than a Skylark. Good at two things: Fuel carrying for other ships in her flight, and listening for radar." "Minus the obvious lack of VTOL capability." "Good at two things, Admiral." "So it won't slow down a Lightning." "Exactly, if you want to waste money on a Lightning, that is." "Are you... suggesting we don't pair this up with a Lightning?" "Something better. For now though, two more specialists good at two things." "The Flea class is less a ship than it is a super-sonic courier. There and back again in two hours. Very cheap to refuel, can hop from place to place very quickly in short order." "If speed and range is the goal, why the ELINT?" "That's more an early warning system to determine if a destination is safe to arrive at or not, rather than direct tracking. Which saves time and fuel." "Next slide. Similarly, the Crybaby class radar platform is a-" "Excuse me, 'Cry baby' class?" "Quite apt, actually. As I was saying, it is a radar platform intended to use radar to detect, distract, and to draw enemies into traps." "How did you find out about our radar jamming research!? We haven't even properly tested it yet!" "Admiral, it's being developed here. I see the potential for it. On a very, very mobile and cheap platform, a radar jammer could very effectively play hide and seek with enemy strike groups far more effectively than a slower, more valuable platform." "Enough, I will talk to Al-Saad about his leaky jar later, but for now get to the light combat options." "Alright then, then if I may..." "The Squall takes what the Lightning is good at, and gives it a little extra push." "Is that an engine?" "IT'S UPSIDE DOWN AFFENDI! Are you an idiot!? We don't need engines to go DOWN, gravity does that for us! "Peace and love, Admiral. Let me explain." "I wish you would!" "When it comes to dodging enemy ship artillery, sometimes gravity isn't fast enough. The Lightning is a nimble ship, but the added vertical thrust authority makes it absolutely dance around incoming fire." "An extra fifty tons and eleven hundred dirham more for dodging incoming fire better?" "It is a legitimate improvement on the Lightning design." "Next year we'll come back and he'll put two engines upside down." "..." "What is it, Affendi? "TWO engines!?" "Next slide." "Two engines." "You put three more engines on a Rook, a ship we barely approved of, and you put two of them ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE SHIP!" "I sought to make it better." "I share my colleague's disbelief. What purpose do two upside down engines serve?" "Let me answer that question with another question, Admirals: How long does it take to get a Navarrin off the ground, from shut down to takeoff, best case scramble scenario?" "About six seconds. "The Gambit, here, can reach the deck from a thousand meters to three hundred meters, at full burn, in two seconds. The Rook does it in four. Which one of the two has the better chance to deploy its payload and escape within their window of opportunity?" "Bombing operations are always risky." "Indeed they are, dive bombing doubly so. I am no Admiral, but in my opinion, bombers should always be deployed with intent to deliver their payload, not as a backup plan. With the Gambit, It is cheaper, lighter, faster, longer r-" "Yes yes, it check marks every aspect. " So, we have our light options, and our heavy options. I think we've seen enough to make a report to the Emperor about your experimental designs. "Wait! Wait... please, wait." "You have more?" "Just... one more. A bridge in the gap between light and heavy combat options." "Make it quick." "Final slide." "It looks like a bigger Lightning." "Correct. This is the Dervish. Twice the guns, twice the palisade..." "Twice the size and twice the price. We've been down this road before, a medium ship is simply a solution in search of a problem." "Not this one. Even the best pilots and crew of a Lightning, or Squall, will have to retreat from battle eventually, due to cumulative damage and or morale fatigue. Adding armor would strip away a light fighter's greatest asset. More thrust on a light fighter is wasted by being incontrollable, and on a heavy fighter it's just throwing tonnage and dirham in a bottomless hole." "Finish your thought. We are done here." "Wait, okay. The Dervish, aided by a flare system, can outmaneuver anti-air missiles as effectively as a light fighter. This is in addition to always having at least three sources of thrust available in every cardinal direction, vertical and horizontal. This allows the Dervish to reposition and use its larger firep-" "Horizontal? "I don't see another gimbaled thruster. Just two. "Look... right there." "Right wh-" "Oh my god. "MOTHER FUCKER! "They're on SIDEWAYS!? "It was the only way to give a medium ship viability in combat!" "I WILL HAVE YOUR HAND CHOPPED OFF SO YOU CAN NEVER AGAIN DRAW SUCH CRIMES AGAINST SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING!"
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# ? Nov 16, 2021 19:20 |
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Prophet save us from Engineers! What wont they do in the name of efficiency?!
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# ? Nov 16, 2021 21:03 |
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Oh no, now i'm wondering how viable it would be to have a light combat ship with zero gimballed thrusters. Just up, up, down, left, right.
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# ? Nov 16, 2021 21:16 |
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Ceebees posted:Oh no, now i'm wondering how viable it would be to have a light combat ship with zero gimballed thrusters. Just up, up, down, left, right. Somewhat viable, but there are some issues. Stationary engines have the quirk that they generate no torque even though the exhaust plume animations make it look like they *should*, which can be misleading. If you want rotational control you need at least one maneuvering engine, ideally located (symetrically) above the center-of-mass so that pushing the 'up' button doesn't cause you to flip upside down. Otherwise get used to crash landing a lot.
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# ? Nov 17, 2021 03:11 |
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I've had so much more fun with this game after watching your first ten episodes, teaching me a lot about how to play this game but, holy poo poo with the lord governor dude
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# ? Nov 17, 2021 12:34 |
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1. Congratulations! 2. Remorseless firing (esp' the sound) brings a smile. 3. Do you remember the "sir Isaac Newton is the deadliest son of a bitch in space?" bit, from mass effect? Came to mind during the last episode. 4. I'm guessing the writing on the pillar is "Kilroy was here"
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# ? Nov 20, 2021 18:47 |
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Gun Jam posted:4. I'm guessing the writing on the pillar is "Kilroy was here" I assumed it was the poem on the title screen: Well done on the win and the fun LP! My pocket carrier run went well as it turns out there are very few problems a sufficient number of 250kg bombs can't overcome. I also found putting the 250kg bombs on the T-7s got be best results as they will carry two bombs each, so an attack with two of them will almost always kill a strike fleet cruiser as all 4 bombs land together and just remove half the ship. MagicBoots fucked around with this message at 05:03 on Nov 21, 2021 |
# ? Nov 21, 2021 04:57 |
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Yeah, congrats, finishing the game successfully seems like it's no mean feat. Pity abou the cliffhanger ending like that since they clearly thought and care a lot about the setting and game world, but I don't feel too shortchanged since this game is very, very much about the journey rather than the destination. I also love that there was an option to stab the lord governor while he was giving his villain speech to you, although I have a feeling that taking that particular choice would have some nasty repercussions. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 12:08 on Nov 21, 2021 |
# ? Nov 21, 2021 11:57 |
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And a patch just dropped and added changing keybinds, no longer do I need to change my keyboard layout.
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# ? Nov 24, 2021 17:22 |
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Just looking at the state of the map at the end of the game, this is all I can think of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRqxc8ewnC4
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# ? Nov 24, 2021 19:18 |
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Game is on sale, and I have now realised that Phrosphor was making the battles look easy, they are very much not actually easy.
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# ? Nov 24, 2021 23:30 |
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This escape pod bug in 1.14 is going to make shipbuilding unplayable until it's fixed.
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# ? Nov 25, 2021 04:53 |
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So, for the desired ship designs, as close to the desired features from the LP Run 1 AAR: Lightning 2.0 Stated Design Needs: 700 kph, at least 2 D-80s, Flares, ProxFuse Resistant Phrosphor's Arrived Design - The Audacity Bootcha's Submissions (Note: Current hull meta is the bookmark hull pieces are the lightest for 2x2 modules/equipment, so ugly ship trigger warning.) 1) Skull We've got Flares, Palash, 2 Molots, 700kph, and structure to protect a bit against proxfuse. The palash is a feature to catch the fire we accidentally fly into. Gains: More ProxFuse defense, Near 360 Palash Coverage (4), +5s combat time, Crew compliant, +3 MN Thrust Losses: -1.0 t/w ratio, +230 tonnage, -87 kph, -50km range, +10 tF/km, No Zeniths, No Extinguishers, -2 Flares, No Evac Pods, ~+7000 cost 2) Squat Funnily enough Phrosp and I were kinda on the design shape same track. Though this design is more risky due to the exposed bridge. Gains: ~+600km Range, -17 tF/km, -108 tonnage, +63s combat time, Smaller IR/RD signature, Crew compliant, ~ -2200 cost Losses: -0.7 t/w, -55 kph, -18 MN, No Flares, No Zeniths, -1 Extinguisher, EXPOSED BRIDGE, No ProxFuse Defense 3) Frankie This is what I was referring to (that Phrosp mentioned) when you start feature creeping a ship and things just pile up. Gains: +2 Guns, +53s combat time, +49 MN, ~+450km Range, Crew compliant Losses: -0.9 t/w, -81 kph, +60 tF/km, +811 tonnage, No Zeniths, No Evac Pods, No ProxFuse Defense, +12800 cost 4) Toast Dialing back the feature creep, we've made a square. Gains: +1 Gun, More ProxFuse Defense, ~+150km Range, +3 MN, +26s Combat Time, Crew compliant Losses: -1.0 t/w, -89 kph, +11 tF/km, +235 tonnage, -1 Flare, No Zeniths, No Evac Pods, -1 Extinguisher, ~+6000 cost 5) Fungi This was to be my submission for the Hard Run Lightning 2.0: Compromising on speed to a new target of 550kph. The reason for this, was in case Phosp lost/needed another tanker, the L2.0 range and map speed would not be hindered by a merc Skylark. 550kph is plenty faster than about 90% of the ships in Highfleet (exceptions are Lightning, Courageous, Slogger), and while it can't dance with speed at close range, the D80's offered range to compliment a more distant dodging tactic. Gains: +1 Gun, Slightly more ProxFuse Defense, +32km Range, -7 tF/km, +38s Combat Time, Crew compliant, space/crew for Zeniths if desired Losses: -2.7 t/w, -235 kph, +173 tonnage, -29 MN, -2 Flares, -1 Extinguisher, No Evac Pods, ~+3000 cost.
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# ? Nov 27, 2021 23:02 |
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That's a lot of interesting options, yeah, and I see what you mean about feature creep! I'd be keen to see what you think would work for a mid-lategame gladiator-killer, and whether anything mid-range between that and the neo-lightnings is viable. Where do you think they are trying to take the game by introducing the recent changes? It feels like it's 50% closing things that feel like loopholes purely in terms of gameworld consistency (e.g. can't armour over engines) and 50% trying to make combat harder (enemies spamming special ammo with uncanny accuracy). The net takeaway for the average player seems to be that you're much more likely to take significant damage in combat, which would slow down your progression since you pretty much have to enter combat to take towns - and therefore will be spending a bunch more time on the ground doing repairs. This makes me think that getting a silent strike off is now way more important that it used to be, since longer repair time means a greater likelyhood of getting cornered or hit by an enemy strike group. Everything else aside, what I want to see in the next campaign is us personally cutting down the governor at the end the "talks". He offered the meeting as a chance to settle our differences mano-a-mano, so I don't see a problem there. He never said anything about it having to be naval combat, and it's no less honourable than him as he straight up tells us that we were a fool to walk into his obvious trap.
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 03:15 |
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Crazy Achmed posted:Where do you think they are trying to take the game by introducing the recent changes? It feels like it's 50% closing things that feel like loopholes purely in terms of gameworld consistency (e.g. can't armour over engines) and 50% trying to make combat harder (enemies spamming special ammo with uncanny accuracy). The recent change history is mostly about pushing players away from custom ships that leaned heavily on the "triangle meta" where custom ships used triangle hull pieces to squeeze every ton and newton of speed out of an otherwise heavy ship, as well as using triangles for cheap makeshift slat armor for proxfuse (to avoid using armor which would trigger more difficult-to-avoid AP shots). This is in addition to making armor heavier, engines more expensive, and a very far off a goal of maybe having online PvP duels between players and their ships. In a sense, the balance philosophy is more about pushing players towards slower speeds and the ascetic theme of the world's ship design. It's not comically obstructive, but some of the changes have removed potential goofy fun from custom shipbuilding, like the sideways/upsidedown engines I posted about earlier here that is no longer possible. And now, onto the other ships with desired design features: Skylark 2.0: 700 kph, Passive Sensors, FCS for missile strike support, Jammer? Bootcha's Proposals 1) Starling 2) Swan Proposed Comparison: t/w - Starling (+0.4) Speed - Starling (+43 kph) Range - Swan (+1494 km) Burn - Swan (-13 tF/km) Weight - Starling (-184 tons) Thrust - Swan (+6 MN) Sensors - Swan (+213 km FCS) Price - Starling (-3055 $, -1050 $ w/Jammer) Proposed Average Against Skylark w/L-FCS instead of IRST t/w - Proposed Speed - Proposed Range - Skylark Burn - Skylark Weight - Skylark Thrust - Proposed Sensors - Skylark Price - Skylark Paladin 3.0: Heavy hitter for mid/end game, Well Protected, Superior Firepower, Flares Bootcha's Proposal: This is gonna be non-standard. Introducing: Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego So, the idea for this is instead of over-engineering a single Gladiator/Paladin to deal with a majority of enemy threats that will probably be grounded more than attacking due to morale fatigue and repairs, we instead design a strike group that can clear the light/medium ship screen before retreating (Shadrack), and then a more specialized heavy killer can come in and deal directly with the large ships (Meshach). All this being supported by a heavier tanker ship that can support two heavier, slower attack ships (Abednego). ~300 kph is sufficient for good sudden strike chances, especially at night. Certainly there's the issue of experience splitting, but with this setup, the strike group can potentially attack more targets earlier on without having to lumber behind the Audacity. Phrosphor's desires for a missile carrier and crybaby are covered under my prior post of the Merchantman and Crybaby specifically. Now, for the big one? Bootcha fucked around with this message at 06:55 on Nov 28, 2021 |
# ? Nov 28, 2021 06:34 |
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Tanker comedy choice:
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 09:04 |
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Bootcha posted:Tanker comedy choice: This ship looks like it wants to fight me outside on the parking lot.
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 13:19 |
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Bootcha posted:Tanker comedy choice: the Master Shake
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 14:22 |
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That ship does synthol
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 17:50 |
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This ship is only mostly armless.
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 21:30 |
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I am finally trying my hand at the ship designer. And are there secret tips? Like how to mirror the whole ship to create something symetric? Or at least how to quickly grab several copies of an item without going through the whole menu? Also isn't there a way to share the designs for importing, could you share your designs?
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 23:27 |
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I can't believe this LP sneakily finished on youtube without any thread updates. Good run OP.
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 23:39 |
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VictualSquid posted:I am finally trying my hand at the ship designer. And are there secret tips? For adding multiple copies of a part: hold down [shift] when you click to place the component, assuming you have enough parts (if your inventory runs out it will automatically buy more if there are any in stock) ...but it doesn't automatically combine or pull from stacks other than the first one, so if you've got e.g. 1 hullbit in inventory and 1 in the store, you can't shift-click to add a part that requires 2 bits. For symmetry, it helps to build simple structures out of hull first, or even add parts as a visual guide (and then delete them later). Which is how designs tend to gravitate toward everything being a Murder Cube instead of looking like an actual aircraft. silentsnack fucked around with this message at 00:00 on Nov 29, 2021 |
# ? Nov 28, 2021 23:40 |
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WarpedLichen posted:I can't believe this LP sneakily finished on youtube without any thread updates. it could use a couple posts if only for archival purposes.
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# ? Nov 28, 2021 23:42 |
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Hey, so does the ELINT dome have to be sitting on a little pylon like that? Or is it just style points?
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# ? Nov 29, 2021 08:37 |
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Crazy Achmed posted:Hey, so does the ELINT dome have to be sitting on a little pylon like that? Or is it just style points? It's specifically to ensure the the left and right sensor conics are unobstructed. Solid pieces (like fuel tanks, hulls with equipment in them) will fully block the conic, and empty hull pieces will halve the effectiveness of the conic. It's just easier to work with the max range of the sensors than have to do extra maths to account for the obstruction penalties.
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# ? Nov 29, 2021 10:51 |
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I personally use these designs which are just straight modifications of the Skylark. They don't fit the 700 km/h requirement but you can detach the 700 km/h strike ship. Also just... add more engines. See the final variant for a 700 km/h version. Skylark Mk2 For missile defense and adding FCR. ELINT range is sacrificed since it's dependent on enemy radar range anyway. Skylark Mk3 More of a strategic asset, for A-100 strikes while still having missile defense. Skylark S2 A version of the Mk2 with nearly 700 km/h speed. I did some experimenting with planes and they're just too heavy for my tastes. Not impossible, but there are too many sacrifices in making a 700 km/h carrier. Though I would take off the FCR and R-9 Sprints if I was wielding T-7s, as A2A missiles serve the same role.
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# ? Nov 30, 2021 00:45 |
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Is that the FCR dangling off the bottom of the ship - surely it'd get smashed off every time you land since the legs can flex quite a lot? [edit]and as good as Phrosphor's presentations of his prep for the hard mode run are, I wonder how much effort it would be to project them on to a wall and stand just outside of frame, pointing at stuff while wearing an antique military coat. Crazy Achmed fucked around with this message at 05:42 on Nov 30, 2021 |
# ? Nov 30, 2021 05:39 |
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Well, while we're suggesting ship ideas. Why not the ever popular: Thunder It's a lightning with a dual 180mm cannon. Also in a perfunctory nod to survivability the bridge has been moved inwards. I would hesitate to call it effective, though it is very fun, especially once you get used to the slow shells and fast ship. MagicBoots fucked around with this message at 09:25 on Nov 30, 2021 |
# ? Nov 30, 2021 08:33 |
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Crazy Achmed posted:Is that the FCR dangling off the bottom of the ship - surely it'd get smashed off every time you land since the legs can flex quite a lot? It's also possible to position the legs lower by changing the angle.
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# ? Nov 30, 2021 11:20 |
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SIGSEGV posted:it could use a couple posts if only for archival purposes. OP sold out to YouTube and the algorithm.
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# ? Nov 30, 2021 15:04 |
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My sudden strike group was just attacked by balistic missiles, and they automatically loaded that 100mm prox fuse I had laying around which made shooting down those missiles trivial. Don't remember that happening in the LP, so maybe it is new with 1.14 beta. And I really hope we will get the ability to choose ammo like in combat. But, anyways it seems that if I can keep a strategic reserve of prox, then having 100mm or 130mm flak makes a lot more sense for my carriers then the dedicated flak calibre.
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# ? Nov 30, 2021 17:40 |
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# ? Jun 10, 2024 11:31 |
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It did happen in the LP, a viewer suggestion was that the right reaction to incoming missiles was to immediately pause and buy prox ammo in some distant city so it would instantly teleport and be loaded.
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# ? Nov 30, 2021 17:45 |