Starfarer / Starsector

[Daehawk]

Just wanted others to know of this little gem. I got it a couple years ago for like $10 and it is still being added to. It was named Starfarer but had to change names or something so now its Starsector.

Its a space tactical type game in real time. It combines some old school with great graphics and play. You start out with just a ship or two and can work your way up to a huge fleet. You fly around in overhead view throughout a solar system and attack or get attacked. Then it changes to a close in overhead view where you move your ships, fire on enemies, vent heat..all kinds of stuff. Then you get to collect salvage which could be a ship or more. You can hit up the local star base to buy supplies or crew or new weapons and ships. It has a lot of depth to it and re playability.

Im installing it again for the 3rd or 4th time. I play it a while and move on and then return. Great little gem.

http://fractalsoftworks.com/

From the alpha.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo6qIvo9YOw

[Daehawk]

EDIT: Seems I made a thread on this after all a ways back...well heres to that thread too..shat.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=83280&p=1958915&hil ... r#p1958915

And of course the original original thread I missed on this.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=81066

At least Im keeping it in the know ...hope others find it as fun as me.

[Stefan Stirzaker]

I got in a few years ago, stopped playing for a while but just got recent version. Still a good little timewaster but at least there's more guts to it now showing what sort of direction it's going in. Still find it hard

[Daehawk]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLu4HPVl8KQ

Just another 3 year old video. Trying to keep this out there so others can enjoy it. Amazing game. Not anything like it really. Plan to reinstall soon'ish.

[Paingod]

I dropped $15 on this. Why not. I'm not sure when I'll get to play, but I'm interested enough by what I've seen.

[Punisher]

If I understand correctly, this thing is still in Alpha?
Does anyone know if this is still being actively worked on?

[Daehawk]

http://fractalsoftworks.com/

Yes it is still being actively worked on. Check the BLOG section of the homepage.

This is the latest entry there...

Posted February 21, 2017 by dgbaumgart in Lore

No, not terraforming; world-building! You know, like writing and content implementation.

In the upcoming Starsector 0.8x patch we’ve added at least one* new faction and expanded the number of hand-scripted star systems in the Sector by a significant though not quite finalized number. Alex has of course obliquely described how he has expanded the number of procedurally generated star systems from zero in the currently available build to potentially a whole bunch in the upcoming patch. This does much to embiggen the world of Starsector! My part in this has focused mostly on the hand-scripted Core Worlds, the centers of human civilization, industry, and conflict within the volume of the Persean Sector.

I’ll talk a bit about the creative process as well as design considerations that go into creating this content. We’ll cover some old star systems, some new star systems, the Persean League just a tiny bit, and whatever tangents that come up.

(*Hedging how I word this because the truth of the matter is a touch complex.)

EDIT: Another little heads up...if you like this game or Space Rangers then you might look into VoidExpanse. Heres a link to my post on it here on OO.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=90153&p=2454396#p2454396

[Paingod]

Bear in mind that this is an "Alpha" game, but might as well be "Beta" for as well as it's running and the content they have in there so far. There's a lot of meat on the bone, and so far some excellent concepts that I haven't seen in other space games. I've been at this one for maybe 20 hours and my impressions so far are...

Gameplay

• You start with a basic character builder - choose an avatar image, answer a few questions, take off into space.
• Not every start is created equal. I tried a "Humble Trader" type start and came out with a nice big cargo bay on a ponderously slow ship, pretty much what you'd expect. With $5,000 in hand and another $10,000 in cargo, I was ready to go. It's a hard slog up the ladder and 20 hours in my "fleet" is a ragtag band of misfit junkers. Later, I tried a "Mighty Bounty Hunter" start and fired up with a sweet combat ship, pre-hired veteran AI pilot, and a second ship. The whole thing was a massive step up in terms of what you get; the ships alone were worth like $40,000 between them and my first few fights were a breeze. It needs some balance.
• In the overworld (space) controls are very simple - point and click with a few "powers" in your menu bar. Your ship autopilots to where you clicked, either in space or on a planet/station/enemy/friendly.
• Combat is far more interesting and complex. You have a set number of command points that limits how many orders you can issue during the fight. You have a set number of Deployment points that limits the size of the fleet you can deploy. You can pilot a ship yourself, or let the AI fight for you (it doesn't do a terrible job). The actual battle is played out in plausible real-time, and your direct involvement is usually extremely beneficial.

Space/Meta Mechanics

• The "Transponder" skill is a very interesting addition that I like. Basically, if you're going to do anything shady - engage in piracy, dock with pirate stations, or try and avoid pissing off your allies with smuggling - you need to shut off your transponder. The flip side of this is that police patrols get very angry with you if they catch you doing this. If they pick up a "Transponder Off" ship, they make a beeline for it and the only way to shake them is to kick in the afterburners and/or try and drop them on some poor unsuspecting Pirate fleet first. The second level of this is "Go Dark" where you shut down the Transponder and external signals, slowing to 50% speed but making yourself impossible to spot at normal distances.
• You can visit different planets to look for missions, but these appear to be largely broken so far. A game "day" is maybe 12 seconds, taking several "days" to cross a system - and the vast majority of missions are timed "Supply" type missions where you need to buy 200 of a certain good and deliver it to a distant planet in another system. The timer is maybe 40 days, but it would realistically take about 200 days to get there, let alone actually finding the goods they're asking for. No way at all. The game desperately needs "bounty" missions and other types mixed in there.
• As you level up your personal pilot, you choose different skills from one of four branches. You have to invest points in the branches themselves and the cap on the skills in that branch is simply determined by your level in the branch. If you dump 6 points into Combat, you can in turn spend other points to bump several skills to level 6 in that branch. One of these four branches has absolutely nothing in it yet.
• You can hire AI pilots that do fly better than the default drone AI of your ships. They have different personalities - aggressive, balanced - and as the pilots gain experience, you choose different skills for them that provide substantial bonuses to the ships they fly.
• Trade is mostly broken right now. Prices seem completely wonky and I'm not sure what's driving them. As a trader, it's very hard to put together enough cash to do anything when you're making $1000 per run in profit, but spending $400 to repair and refuel - and that's just in-system trading. Aside from that, often a "production" planet where a specific good is produced won't sell it for a price that makes sense to actually buy it up and sell it elsewhere - or there's just no demand for the good and prices don't come up anywhere else. I've had to sell off a number of loads at a loss because I just couldn't find a market for them after the planet I was headed to decided that they just didn't need my stuff anymore. Additionally, trading with one faction that another hates can cause you to lose standing with them. This can be offset by turning off your transponder before landing, but isn't guaranteed.
• Every port has a "Black Market" where you can buy and sell goods without paying a Tariff (determined by your faction standing - about 30% when you're Neutral), as well as having a different (sometimes illegal) inventory to choose from. There's even a Black Market for ships, which is where I've seen some things I can't find anywhere else. Trade would be workable if I could sell my goods to the Black Markets exclusively, but the downside is that factions often find your dealings with this market distasteful and you can lose standing. The Black Market is often where I go when I need to buy cheap Marines (for Boarding) or weapons I can't seem to find anywhere else.
• In most ports, you can pay a one-time fee (generally $5,000) to activate a storage unit there, allowing you to offload unused weapons and goods taking up a lot of space. If you find yourself swimming in Fuel and Supplies, it might be a good idea to store them for later if you can't find a good market to sell them at, because these two things cannot be done without.
• Bounty Hunting is where the money is. While I've yet to deliberately chase a bounty, half the pirates I kill have them attached and I earn anywhere from $1,200 to $4,000 for taking them down. This disparity is reflected in character creation where Bounty Hunter > Trader, hands down. As a trader, I've had a number of times where killing the pirates that jump me between planets was more profitable than the actual trade run.
• Your fleet has "Combat Readiness" (like you'd find in the Total War series). This is the general state of preparedness of a ship for a fight. When you engage, you spend 10%-20% of your "Readiness" for each ship you deploy (each has it's own bar, determined by Crew Skill and Pilot Skills). This in turn determines if the ship will have combat bonuses for being very fresh, or negatives for being in disrepair. To replenish this, you can either dock with a planet/station and immediately refill it for a Supply cost, or drift/fly in space until it regenerates naturally by consuming extra Supplies. The cost either way is about the same, and you burn a lot of Supplies in the days following a huge fight.
• Repairs happen over time, or if you dock and pay for them. It's possible to capture a ship, repair it, refit it, and never actually dock as long as you had enough crew in reserve to pilot it.
• There are a number of different factions in the game, and each sells different ships if you're friendly enough with them. That's a matter of either trading with them enough or killing members of factions they hate. I've read that in "allying" with one faction, you essentially exclude every other one as they keep resetting your standings for you. Be cautious of ticking off the dominant faction in a sector. They can make life pretty miserable for you, causing you to need to basically relocate to a different area.

Ships and Weapons

• In my mind, space games tend to live and die by the variety and customization you can give ships. This game has a good variety of ships, each with different variants, and they are fairly customizable.
• Ships come in many sizes and shapes, each consuming different levels of Supplies to maintain and having different speeds in combat and the overworld map. A single Frigate might have an A and D variant, with "A" being the "Premium" with built-in bonuses. It might also be something a Pirate has jury-rigged and it has inherent negatives but gives you access to a higher level of firepower for a lower cost (and some real negatives).
• As an example, I captured a Pirate Gunship that looked awesome, but had some questionable systems built into it that I couldn't remove. I adapted the design as well as I could, and it's a fast, fierce combat ship - as long as it's Fresh. If I deploy it worn out, it basically flies apart and shatters itself on the battlefield, losing engines and weapons randomly.
• Customization comes down to "Ordinance" - each ship has an Ordinance cap (like 40 points) that limits what you can stuff in there. As an example, you might add an overclocked engine system, but that'll consume 15 Ordinance and leave less for guns. You might put a really powerful cannon in the "Medium Ballistics" slot instead of a weaker one, but that leaves less Ordinance for the rest of the ship build.
• Each ship has a different set of hardpoints for weapons, and each hardpoint has it's own firing arc. Unfortunately, there's no way to know what that arc is until you're customizing the ship (that I've found) - meaning you might buy a ship with a purpose in mind, and discover the arcs turn it into a spear instead of a shield. Save before buying! There's no trial period or return policy.
• Weapon hardpoints come down to: Small, Medium, Large. Ballistic, Energy, Missile, Hybrid, Omni. Ballistics are generally chainguns, flak cannons, and the like. Energy tends to be beams, but can also be bursts and pulses (not sustained damage). Missiles are, well, missiles - and could include Torpedoes (nasty, but slow). Hybrid is something I haven't used yet, but I imagine it's Ballistic/Missile (no Energy). Omni lets you put any damn thing you want in there.
• Point Defense is done using regular hardpoints and installing an appropriate weapon. You might have a hybrid PD/Close Support gun that will shoot at missiles in range, or you might install a laser that's a dedicated PD platform. Point Defense is very useful for getting rid of missiles, which tend to cause a lot of Flux generation when they hit a shield - but that also means sacrificing a weapon spot.
• Examples of some ships:
  • I started with a Trade Ship with 300 cargo capacity, but it only goes 45m/s in combat. It has four Small Ballistic turrets, one on each corner. The big feature is it's high armor and health, meaning it takes a beating and keeps ticking. My first combats with this thing were painful.
  • My second ship was a Shuttle. Very cheap, very basic. It's somewhat fast (120m/s) and has three small Ballistic Turrets with good, overlapping firing arcs. It doesn't do much, but it is a good distraction.
  • My third ship was captured from Pirates and is similar in style to the Shuttle, but has three Small Omni turrets. I keep this outfitted with long-range, low-damage lasers that act as a form of Flux control against my enemies, ensuring they can't easily lay down a continued barrage of firepower. I often fly this one myself as the AI isn't good at holding a steady beam.
  • The fourth ship was also captured from Pirates and is the Gunship that basically rattles itself apart in combat if it's not in tip-top condition when the fight starts. It has four forward-facing 10º arc guns, two Small Ballistics and two Medium Ballistics. I give this to my AI Pilot and she does a great job with it.
  • My last acquisition was a "Combat Freighter" I bought that has a moderate (100) cargo hold and really good weapons arcs, with three Small and one Medium Ballistics. What I didn't notice when I bought it was that it had high armor and no shielding. This means it's good for hit and run or flanking ops, but cannot stand up in a direct fight.
• All told, that fleet consumes 0.5 Supplies/day when "Fresh" and flying normally. It consumes 8.7 Supplies/day when it's battered and recovering. It moves at a speed of "8" - which is a little slow, derived from the slowest ship in a fleet (my starting trade ship).

Combat Mechanics

• Since the game isn't about trade, which is a byline so far, then it must be about combat - and this is where I'm loving it.
• This game does do a little of the Rock/Paper/Scissor in weapons vs. defenses, but it's not as heavy handed as I've seen it elsewhere - which is good.
• Ships have Shields, Armor, Hulls, and Flux. Shields prevent all damage while they're up, but must be directed at a threat to stop it (generally a 120º or 150º arc). When a shield is hit, it doesn't take damage - but it generates Flux. Flux is akin to Heat - you need to manage your Flux or risk overheating and shutting down in the middle of a fight. Weapons fire generates Flux as well. Flux can be vented naturally by lowering shields and cease firing, or by forcing a purge (disabling the ship momentarily, but far shorter than overheating). Armor simply blocks damage to the hull and when it drops on a certain grid of the ship, the Hull in that grid starts taking damage. Your Hull is your basic Health.
• Different damage types affect certain defenses differently. Kinetic damage causes a lot of Flux generation when it hits a Shield, but is weaker versus Armor. Explosive damage is very effective versus Armor, but not so much against Shields (causing little Flux). Fragmentation (Flak) damage is kind of middle-of-the-road, not excelling at anything. Energy damage generates moderate Flux and minor Hull damage, but can often be sustained in constant fire mode (laser beam), causing the enemy ship to have difficulty managing their Flux in the long run and needing to run and vent.
• When you engage an enemy, you Deploy a specific number of ships, at your discretion and up to the Deployment cap. You might choose to keep your plodding Trade ship in Reserve since it can't really fight anyway, despite it's high armor values. You might choose just your two fastest to counter a quick enemy and avoid chewing up the Combat Readiness of the other ships.
• When you hit the battlefield, it may have Bonus areas - Nav Points that can provide bonuses like speed boosts or extra command points if captured. These aren't primary objectives, but are very nice to have.
• The combat field can be controlled using a map view to direct your ships to move to different targets, guard waypoints or ships, capture navs, retreat, and give other objectives. Each order, though, consumes a Command Point and those are a tightly limited resource (you start the game with 3 and only get extras by gaining levels and adding Command skills). This means your first fights are basic engagements and not grand multi-waypoint flanking maneuvers.
• Piloting the ships themselves takes some getting used to since the control orientation doesn't change as the ship moves and spins - "Right" will always be the right side of the ship, even if the ship is upside-down and visually it's on the left side.
• You can raise and lower the shields with a Right-Click, and keep them oriented using the mouse pointer.
• You can assign different weapons to groups to help control the Flux you generate by moderating your fire.
• You can control the weapon group's aim manually or set it to Automatic aim/fire. I tend to do the latter and then focus on keeping the ship more out of harm's way.
• Your drone AI is very basic, and adding an AI pilot makes them clearly better in combat.
• You can send your command module to dock with different drone ships during combat to take them over directly. I haven't had this shot down yet, but it does mean there's a period of time where you can't affect the fight at all while you wait for it to fly between ships.
• Crew comes in four flavors. Green (50%), Regular (60%), Veteran (70%), and Elite (80%). You purchase them from ports and stations, and can find any level there - but experience costs. After each fight, a few Crew will always level up - and if you were beaten badly enough, a few may die. The percentages after them is the maximum Readiness they have, with 50% being the bare-minimum to enter a fight without penalties. Obviously, an Elite Crew means getting into two or three fights in a row before your Readiness suffers enough to matter (as well as having nice bonuses for those first couple fights). The Readiness of your Fleet in the star map is determined by taking the average Readiness of every Crew member together. For a single ship upon Deployment, it's just their Crew. They're key to managing your combat effectiveness.
• Boarding and Capture only takes place after the fight is over and is pretty non-interactive. For each ship you defeat, you seem to have a small chance (very rare) to opt to send in Marines to capture it during the combat completion report (which gives stats like faction gained or lost, crew lost, money earned, loot found). I don't know if this is a fixed variable that depends on the ship when it spawns, or if it's completely random. I've tried running and re-running some easy fights over and over and over but never seen a capture screen. Capturing involves basically taking the Crew remaining on the ship (say 40 on a small one) and doing the math against Marines you have in your fleet (say 20). With 20 Marines against 40 Crew, I'm given a 100% chance of success, but I lose 6 Marines in the battle. I have to resupply these Marines by buying more at another port or Black Market (they cost anywhere from $350 to $1,000).
• I load a lot because of combat. Often, if a fight goes to pieces, I have to load my game to a point before the fight started (there's only one save, so be careful of where you save) to avoid losing half my fleet (or all of it). This is happening less as I understand the game better, but is still pretty frequent when I engage in equally match forces. Combat isn't easy. If one of your ships is disabled during the fight, there's a fair chance it will simply be scrap at the end and not recovered. When you don't have ships or cash to spare, that's not a good scenario.

Visuals

• The game doesn't fall into the same "Indie Trap" of using barely passable visuals. They've put a good deal of time into making the ships all look good, the star systems look good, and it already has a degree of polish I'm surprised by.
• I would closely approximate the visuals with the first SPAZ. Some of the ships look as though they may have been strongly inspired by this.
• Planets and Stars look about as good as they have in any game, with fully rendered 3D globes slowly rotating. I actually said "nice touch" to myself when I passed by a star and watch a sunspot slowly crawl across the surface as it turned.
• The UI is very clean and easy to navigate, as are the character screen and inventory areas.
• You spend the majority of the game zoomed out as far as it can go (seeing threats and opportunities at range is essential), so ships become small rendered dots, and your fleet composition is actually visible in those dots. My five-ship fleet clearly has a trade ship in the center with four smaller ships flying as wingmen when I see the group's representation.
• One complaint is that the camera always defaults to "Zoomed In" when you start a fight, and it's jarring. You fight at extreme zoom as well, and having to constantly switch that at the start of every battle is a nuisance.

Audio

• I haven't actually listened to the game as I don't wear my headphones right now due to needing to listen for puppies that need to be attended to while others are asleep and I'm up. During the day when I play, I also keep them off so I'm not out of touch with what the kids are up to.
• I can say that the audio is not essential to playing successfully, so in that regard it's friendly for deaf folks. Some games get harder when you can't hear them (FTL, for example - you need to hear when there's a fire to combat it early) - this isn't one of them.

Modding
While I haven't gotten into it, what I've read seems to indicate that the game is set up for this easily, with a lot of variables exposed in Config files.

Overall
I'm really enjoying this title and have already gotten my $15 worth. I don't mind at all that I had to buy this direct from the developer and that it's not on Steam or GOG. I wish Trading could be made to work better, but the combat is already there and working great. I look forward to seeing what the dev adds to this. Hopefully they won't break what's already working before release!

[Daehawk]

Sounds like you've really taken to this game. Glad I posted now.

Sounds also like they have done a ton to this over the last year. I see you mentioned SPAZ. I bought this and SPAZ at the same time and enjoyed both. They are different enough.

[Paingod]

Sounds like you've really taken to this game. Glad I posted now.

Sounds also like they have done a ton to this over the last year. I see you mentioned SPAZ. I bought this and SPAZ at the same time and enjoyed both. They are different enough.

I would have never heard about it. I get my gaming news from here, Steam, and GOG for the most part - so thanks!

I mention SPAZ just in terms of ship visuals, and possibly ship handling in combat. The game itself is vastly different, which makes it worth it to have both!

Edit: I've been looking around at Boarding as a means to expand my fleet, and it seems that it should be more "planned" than what I'm getting. Somewhere in the closing battle screen, I should be able to see disabled ships and try to board them by assigning a ship to "hard dock" - and there's even a special ship for Boarding (Valkyrie) that increases your odds and comes with Assault Pod launchers. Maybe I just haven't gotten to a point where I can do this. Right now, it's a random shot that only sometimes pops up.

[Daehawk]

Here are a couple of 'Let's Plays' from late last year.

Normal play thats modded

A modded pirates guide lets play

[Paingod]

That seems to be the trick - modding. It seems like every video and guide out there is based on a modded version of the base game.

*Edit: Playing around with different starts. The "Humble Trader" is the absolute worst one! Some examples...

• Trader - Single good trade ship, weak in combat
• Bounty Hunter - Strong combat ship, strong AI pilot Ship
• Smuggler - Moderate trade/combat ship, good AI Pilot Ship
• Privateer - Advanced combat ship/ weak AI pilot Ship

I have to say, the Privateer is tempting to play longer. The Advanced ship has 7 Small Energy Turrets, 2 Synergy (Energy/Missile) Turrets, and a "Temporal Shield" that slows the rest of the fight down to 75% - confounding targetting AI and letting you almost literally dodge bullets while hammering at your own normal speed. It's also a "Broadside" ship - 3 turrets on Left/Right, with three facing Forward. You could outfit the left side with short-range powerful guns, the right side with long-range lasers, and the front with Point Defense and Torpedoes. The only cost is a "Hostile" relationship with an otherwise powerful, neutral faction. Small price, right?

I'm really digging this game.

Edit 2017-03-16: Started a new game as a Bounty Hunter with a strong Frigate and fast attack cohort. Knowing the systems in place, I was able to leverage my initial $5,000 into $40,000 and a third ($16,000) ship with 100 Cargo space and moderate combat ability in the first two months. A solid start, but nothing I can continue unless I want to make enemies of one of the primary factions. They're already looking at me sideways and I don't need it to spiral into carnage. Basically, I did a lot of quick turnaround Black Market trading with Pirates who seemed desperate for Supplies and Fuel. Even with my Transponder off and "Dark", the Hegemony still caught wind of it and got angry after each trade run.

Edit 2017-03-17: With trade unviable as a source of wealth, I'm not sure how to keep my fleet in the air long-term. After each battle, I burn up thousands in Supplies to repair and refit. I might get a handful back plus a thousand or two in goods. Places where there are Bounties out on Pirates are abundant enough, but the Pirates aren't once I get there. They run Dark all the time, so you need to be inches from them to detect them and give chase. Also, my previous money laundering scheme with Pirates continues to haunt me as I keep randomly losing faction standing - I assume as trades are discovered on the network. I'm fighting mostly now to avoid becoming hostile to large factions that can grind me up like a worm. It's like Firefly in here. Still lots of fun for an "Alpha". So far I've encountered one bug - when my AI Pilot lost several levels. I was still level 4, but he had gone back to 1 with no skills. Not a huge loss.

[Paingod]

I solved the budget crisis by undertaking specific Bounty assignments - killing Pirates for $20,000 in different sectors. Once I started doing these, that sum snowballed and the fights kept getting harder. A $20,000 Bounty might be 5 Frigates. A $200,000 Bounty might be two Battlecruisers, 2 or 3 Destroyers, a fleet of Frigates, and a gaggle of Fighters. These bounties more than make up for flight expenses and I'm currently sitting on about $500,000 in cash with enough resources to recover from 3 large fights in reserve.

My heavy engagement fleet composition includes two Cruiser-sized Carriers (2 flight decks), 8 Fighter wings (2 anti-missile, 2 anti-fighter, 2 general purpose, and 2 anti-Frigate), 3 Destroyers, and 4 Frigates. Tactically, the game seems playable by rules learned back in 1993 when playing DOOM - The magical power of Circle Strafe. While a hostile fleet spreads out to acquire waypoints for bonuses, I set my entire fleet to follow me and then I strafe my way around the perimeter, always facing in, ripping apart any ship that strays out of the enemy cluster to engage me. This tactic lets me take down fleets with heavier compositions than I have and not lose a single ship more often than not. The only catch is making sure my deployed ships can keep up with me - if I have a slow ship, the enemy singles them out too.

My character is Level 42, with masteries in many skills - and these skills really change the game for your fleet and in particular, the ship you're piloting. I have a number of AI Pilots I've picked up, trying different personalities in different roles. Timid is for anything with 2000m+ weapons as they won't get close to a fight, Cautious is for 1000-2000m ranged weapons (Carriers), Balanced moves back and forth in and out of the fight and is hard to kill, and Aggressive likes to get in and lay down firepower at optimal ranges but isn't stupid about it. Having highly skilled AI pilots and high level character skills opens a lot of ship mods up, and can really change the battle directly - making your fleet perform more optimally, better shielded, faster turrets, longer ranges, etc. My personal character flies a Destroyer with three powerful forward-facing beam weapons that are supposed to have a range of 1000m, but with my skills and ship mods, they reach out to about 1600m - a huge advantage.

Some highlights from the game would be:

• Some of the best "assistant" AI and Auto-aim in a tactical space game I've seen. There is Friendly Fire in this game, but your fleet actively works to find their own openings and won't just cross your arc of fire for fun - so many games leave me cursing the AI "assistants" and calling them either useless or actively unhelpful (blocking you, running in and dying constantly). These are not.
• Solid enemy AI. I've seen them spread out and try to flank, and hold back in a defensive formation. When they retreat, often one or two split off to slow you down while the others run.
• Good old-fashioned ship exploding tactical combat.
• Logical mechanics, from fleet Supplies to reinforcements to faction inner workings.
• Much to my delight, when I entered a system where I was on "Friendly" terms with the owners, a fleet still came for me and scanned my cargo. When I was a complete unknown, they never did this - but this faction knew me to be a Smuggler as well and still checks my luggage when I show up. I assume that was it, since I hadn't been there in a while and had done nothing illegal in a long time.
• I love jumping in to help an overwhelmed friendly fleet when I pass by, and like that hostile fleets can band together and attack you at the same time.
• A learning curve, which is always welcome. I didn't just walk in and feel like I knew it all.
• Every weapon category has it's place and there is no single best one; it comes down to play style and fleet composition.
• Oddly, planetary storage was sweet - it gave me a place to unload all my salvaged weapons and excess ships so I could try out different builds and fleet compositions without having to sell and re-buy everything. If I wanted to, I could venture out with just my favorite Destroyer and leave the fleet parked elsewhere, in order to get every little hostile fleet to try and jump me. As it is, all but the largest run when they see me
• Very well placed caps on fleet size, cargo limits, etc. Nothing feels overpowered or under powered in terms of logistics.
• The game easily supports modders and has a community working on new stuff.

Some things that need work (again, this is an "Alpha" game here):

• I've encountered only a couple bugs, none game breaking.
• Trade is completely broken and the economy needs work.
• Faction "war" is pretty sterile and territory never changes hands.
• It can be frustrating to find enough (non-lethal) combat early in the game, and later on you spend a lot of time just moving from one big fight to another (high paying Bounties).
• There's no overall sense of my actions having a greater impact on anything.
• You have to go out of your way to make a backup save. By default, it constantly overwrites just one. Normally not an issue, but it would be possible to save just before being jumped by a fleet you can't win against, or getting stuck in a system with no trade options to allow you to escape or keep your ships running.
• Salvage and boarding need to be fleshed out a LOT more; I can take down a fleet of 15 hostiles and leave them adrift in space as empty husks, but not a single one can be salvaged? When I conduct a boarding op against 20-40 (relatively cheap) "Crew" with 40-60 "Power-armored, highly trained Marines"- I manage to lose 4-12 (very expensive) Marines each time? No matter what, I can never salvage more than one ship from an enemy fleet?

All in all, a great investment of $15 on this one and I look forward to seeing where the developer takes this. There's already enough of a game here to make me feel like I got my money's worth (I've logged maybe 40 hours for that $15) and there's more I could do but want to hold off for now. This was all with the base game. I can easily see myself wanting to add in a lot of other ships and factions made by modders, but want there to be a bigger universe to play in before I put that much time into it.

[Daehawk]

You realize you can change your main ship that you control right? Well you used to be able to..not sure now. You just transfer your flag to what ship you want. So if you have a bigger better one you just move to it if you want.

The game reminds me of the combat in Master of Orion 1 a little bit. Tactical but modern and of course real time. I missed the space battles from MOO 1 and 2 in all other space strategy games.

I think if Im remembering right if you buy a ship or whatever from the store you can return it right back to for price and not lose money an stuff. I may be mixing that up with another game but I think thats right.

[Paingod]

Maybe with a mod, but as it stands right now, if you touch ship in the store, you've bought it. Then you get to sell it back for 1/6th the cost at a loss.

I know how to shift my command ship - I just really prefer to fly that Destroyer personally. The AI pilots don't do a great job of maintaining beam damage, so a ship that relies heavily on it is best piloted by a human.

[Daehawk]

Just throwing this out there. When you are done with Starfarer you might want to look at VoidExpanse ....its a great space game too.

[Paingod]

It always amazes me how I seem to be in a yearly cycle with games. My last post on this game was March 2017, and here we are in late February 2018 and I'm back to playing it.

The developers haven't released an update in some time, but what's there is still fun for $15. For me at least. Other people may feel differently. It hits a few good points for me, and I think the engine they've build is solid.

Everything I said before is still holding true. Combat is fun, customization options are solid, the AI is good - but trade is completely defunct and there's no story. Still, for a sandbox to play in, it's nice. I'm wishing they'd release a new version with the features they blog about working on.

[Paingod]

I'm on an 11 month cycle, I guess. Pretty impressive since I'm not trying. Ever 11 months since I bought the game, I've replayed it.

I just went hunting for info on this as the itch came back, and it looks like the developer released 0.9a in November. Lots of changes, player owned colonies, production, and other things - like maybe a campaign? I'll have to get back into it. From the forums, it sounds like they've added in ground combat (probably just hiring Marines) to raid for blueprints and materials and brought back Boarding (probably, again, with Marines) after ship combat. Nice.

[Paingod]

The update to this game adds a lot of interesting things that I haven't even fully explored.

Build your own Colony? Yes please. They even leave an abandoned sector in the middle of the populated areas for you to claim. It's a hole in the wall, but it's mine! Raided by Pirates? Cool. I have to defend my own sector from attack now!

The combat AI continues to be pretty good, and I think they've even tweaked it so they use beams more effectively now. Used to be that allies would hit something with a beam in tiny bursts... now they hit and hold as long as they can, which is the right way.

I don't know if anyone else is into this, but if you've ever played a top-down space combat game - like SPAZ - and wanted something with a little more meat on it, it's worth a look. Again, still Early Access, but the game is coming along nicely.

[Paingod]

Colony management amounts to three things...

• Choosing to settle on a planet with less than 150% hazard rating - ideally one with built-in resources.
• Throwing money at the colony to build up defenses and production.
• Dealing with invasions from Pirates and other Factions; optional - but it'll break your bank if you don't.

A thriving colony with minor resources and economic boosts from the Governor rakes in a couple hundred thousand credits each month. The same colony under attack by Pirates and a hostile faction costs $150,000 per month in lost expenses.

Ship capture isn't a thing that I've seen again, so Marines seem to strictly be for planet and station raids. You can raid a Pirate or Zealot station before destroying it in hopes of pilfering blueprints that will let you create ships and items at your planetary factories for a set cost. There's also colony raids for the same, and those damage the growth and economy of a planet for months while they recover... but I imagine you'll be KoS in those areas thereafter, so it's kind of a near-permanent choice.

I've crept into something that looks like the end-game, but only have two planets in my control (with a possibility to run maybe 8 between myself and hired Admins). My fleet is comprised of a single Battlecruiser, a few Cruisers, a few Destroyers, and a selection of Frigates. Most enemy fleets run from me, and the ones that don't are broken easily unless they have nearby reinforcements or come as part of a station assault.

Attacking stations isn't complex - but it can be dangerous. They're powerfully armed, and often able to shred one or two ships that get too close. I have to carefully monitor my fleet for anyone who's shields are dangerously overtaxed and tell them to back off before they drop - because that's a quick death with stations.

I still have a story mission I picked up early on and haven't touched it. The game doesn't really need a story. I just enjoy the combat.

[Daehawk]

Sounds liek a lot of new work has gone into this great game. I wish I could enjoy it or something. I just cant play anything. Im not doing anything.

[Paingod]

I appreciate you getting me into this game... I've spent a lot of time playing and enjoying it.

Sounds liek a lot of new work has gone into this great game. I wish I could enjoy it or something. I just cant play anything. Im not doing anything.

Gotta give yourself time. Each day that passes, things get a little easier.

[Paingod]

It's time for my yearly recycling of games I love, apparently - because I'm back into StarSector, just like last year.

For as much as it's still an "Early Release" with an incredibly long development timetable, there's a lot of fun in the package already and I've sunk a week of evenings into it again building up my fleet. All told, I've probably logged a hundred or more hours with this game - but have no way of knowing.

Some of the things that keep bringing me back:

• Combat reminiscent of Star Control, only you have a whole fleet of ships on your side.
• The composition of your fleet evolves drastically from small trade runs or bounty hunting to starbase killing.
• Ship customization is meaningful without being obtuse or difficult to grasp.
• You can actually colonize planets and earn money doing so, but it's not the focus of the game.
• Combat AI isn't stupid or overpowered. Enemies often try and flank, and your own commanders AI acts based on its settings.
• It's pretty lightweight, on the PC and on the senses. Combat can be kind of Zen and relaxing, and it doesn't seem to matter how chaotic combat gets, even my 5 year old tablet can keep up.

Some things I would like to see improved:

• In earlier versions of the game, the dev had a "Nebula Plow" ship that let you carve highways as needed. I get why they took it out (it makes you plan a route more manually), but miss creating my own pathways through stormy hazards.
• In earlier versions of the game, there was a way to board ships with Marines after combat to capture them. This has been simplified to clicking "Salvage", but I liked it better as a risky gambit.
• In earlier versions of the game, basic crew members gained experience through use and became valuable assets worth keeping, improving ship performance by small amounts. This has been removed entirely.
• I wouldn't mind if the developer just "tied off" the game and said it was done, but it's still "In Development" with no signs of ever finishing.

Overall, this is a fun title I keep going back to each year - hoping for updates, but still having fun with it despite the lack of them. There is "mod support" - but that's mostly people figuring out which XML files to edit to change the game to their liking and sharing it.

[Buatha]

Some things I would like to see improved:
In earlier versions of the game, there was a way to board ships with Marines after combat to capture them. This has been simplified to clicking "Salvage", but I liked it better as a risky gambit.

In earlier versions of the game, basic crew members gained experience through use and became valuable assets worth keeping, improving ship performance by small amounts. This has been removed entirely.

I just ran across the game and was very interested. It's too bad these features were removed since they sounded pretty cool.

[Paingod]

Some things I would like to see improved:
In earlier versions of the game, there was a way to board ships with Marines after combat to capture them. This has been simplified to clicking "Salvage", but I liked it better as a risky gambit.

In earlier versions of the game, basic crew members gained experience through use and became valuable assets worth keeping, improving ship performance by small amounts. This has been removed entirely.

I just ran across the game and was very interested. It's too bad these features were removed since they sounded pretty cool.

Yeah. I suppose I get why these were removed, but it's still disappointing to see good concepts scrapped.

Having the ability to board meant needing to lug around Marines to do the boarding. If you're not dedicated to boarding, that's a lot of spent resources - and Marines don't come cheap, either. It's far easier to just roll the dice at the end of the mission and hope you get to salvage something you fought. Now Marines are used exclusively for raiding other factions - where you can "invade" their planet or starbase in an attempt to destabilize it or capture resources.

Giving crew experience was fun, but I find that in later stages of the game crew gets pretty expendable as you're using a lot of fighters and getting hammered a lot.

When the dev stripped out those features, they were adding others - like space stations. Large orbital platforms that you need a hefty fleet to consider tackling.

The heart of the game is the top-down combat using customized ships in customized fleets. You control your flagship directly and issue orders to other ships - typically I set them to support the flagship so I know they're not off getting pinned and isolated, but sometimes I just let battles play out in the strategic view and let my AI pilots do their best. In my current game I've managed to put together a fleet that can outgun a far heavier force with a little luck - mostly involving my flagship being a huge shield wall that shoots down incoming fighters and missiles, while being supported by carriers spamming fighters launching missiles that strip shields, disrupt weapons, and punch big holes in armor.

At the stage I'm in now, I've got three planets colonized and giving me enough money that I never really need to go bounty hunting or trading again - but I find that other factions are disagreeable to a new faction on the block and now my challenge is fending off lunatic cultists who want to attack me for using AI cores to aid manufacturing and invasion forces from others who hate that I'm stealing some of their production profits. I like that the game is totally transparent about it, too "These forces are coming because you've got Free Ports that are havens of illicit activity" - so you know why they're coming and can choose to address it.

The combat element can get repetitive, but I find it a relaxing kind of chaos most of the time. Lots of pretty explosions and some mild strategic involvement.

[Daehawk]

Years ago you can switch to other ships to command during the battle. Is that gone too?

[Paingod]

Years ago you can switch to other ships to command during the battle. Is that gone too?

Absolutely not. I sometimes have to do this if my flagship gets smashed or if I have to retreat it. I simply open the tactical map, select the ship I want to command, press "X" and a tiny shuttle emerges from the ship I'm in and quickly scoots over to the new one for me to pilot.

A human player can make a staggering difference in the fights. The AI isn't bad - and you can hire AI pilots to meet specific qualities (timid, cautious, steady, aggressive, and reckless), but at their best they're still not good at predicting the flow of battle like a person can.

The AI pilot qualities are...

Timid: Avoids getting shot, often by staying out of weapon range. Might be good for a missile commander, but I never use it.
Cautious: Sometimes engages, but mostly tries to stay out of harms way. Good for heavy, slower fighter carriers that you don't want up front.
Steady: Tries to keep a good balance between range and shields, a good all-around combat pilot.
Aggressive: Likes to get in the mix, looking to unload as much firepower as they can. Good for ships with high durability or shields.
Reckless: Dives right into combat and tries to inflict as much damage as possible, often getting mauled in the process.

You face these pilots in hostile fleets, too.

The standard AI for ships without pilots is pretty close to steady, but they seem to lack some self-preservation aspect and don't fall back when they should. Since you can hire and use up to 10 allied commanders, you're often deploying a fleet of somewhat self-aware fighting ships that work out pretty well. It also helps that each AI commander gains levels and skills that make their ships more specialized or survivable.

[Paingod]

I just wanted to nudge this. I've been at this game for over a month this time and am still enjoying it, with some days into other games but getting back to this one quickly.

What's changed? Mods. I discovered the modding community for the game. The game has full and easy support for modders to add a lot of content. Some of the things I've added:

• GraphicsLib, a library of enhanced visuals for the game.
• LazyLib, a library of tools used by other modders.
• MagicLib, a library of visual and functional improvements.
• Nexerelin, a mod that creates faction warfare, alliances, raids, and covert diplomacy.
• Disassemble Reassemble, adding very balanced new guns and ships.
• Luddic Enhancement, giving a little love to an underappreciated faction.
• Ship/Weapon Pack, adding more weapons and ships, as well as missions and an arcade mode.
• Blackrock Drive Yards, more ships and a new faction.
• Interstellar Imperium, more ships, weapons, and a new faction.
• Scy, more ships, weapons, and a new faction.
• Tiandong Heavy Industries, more ships, weapons, and a new faction.
• Better Colonies, improved and expanded colony management.
• Terraforming, letting you take less desirable planets and alter them for a huge price.
• Commissioned Crews, joining faction comes with perks.
• Combat Chatter, your hired captains will give feedback in combat.
• Console Commands, essential for testing, restoring, or cheating.

Sooo... more factions, faction warfare, faction perks, enhanced visuals, LOTS of weapon & ship variety, and some other quality of life enhancements.

Some of the player mod ships are stronger than I'd make them, but knowing that the enemy gets to use them as well kind of balances that out - and it certainly doesn't make the other ships not worth using or obsolete.

It's been a long time since the game was last updated. The developer's last post was focused on the art in the game - which makes me wonder if he's considering tying it off and calling it done soon, or maybe he's just taking some time from dedicated programming. Despite this being "Early Access" there's a whole game worth playing that's pretty close to bug-free.

[Paingod]

So, WTF is this game?

I like this review.

[Daehawk]

http://www.indieretronews.com/2020/10/a ... ector.html

An exclusive interview with StarSector lead developer Alexander Mosolov.

[Paingod]

The dev for this one released some notes last month that looked promising, even assigning it a 0.95a tagline. I've been itching for an update on this game for some time. Given his track record of updates, I assumed maybe July or August of 2020. I was wildly wrong. There's still no update on when he plans to release this new version.

This remains a great game that works as a perfect time-filler that can absorb me for hours on end, night after night. Sprinkle in the right mods and it's all that much better. I'm generally a purist, often preferring the developer's original vision - but so many modders have added to and made this game so much more that it's hard to ignore.

I know the dev looks at the mods posted on his forums and sometimes comments on them. I would love to see some of the more robust yet balanced mods, or even just quality of life ones, be folded into the base game (with the modder's permission and maybe a line in the credits). I recently added a "Interesting Portraits" pack that adds an insane number of character portraits to the game, and are almost universally top-quality. I suppose the dev can let the modders mod, but a lot of things may fall by the wayside eventually and modders don't always keep their stuff current to the latest release.

I like, too, that he has a measure of some success as a pure Indie Dev without Steam or GOG. On Reddit alone the Starsector subforum has 20k followers - and assuming each one has a copy of the game, that's $300,000 in sales. I'd wager it's only a fraction of the total players, too.

I don't have much to offer with this bump except my enthusiasm for the game and the beginning of my yearly play of it.

[Daehawk]

Bet its changed a lot since my last stab at it.

[Paingod]

Bet its changed a lot since my last stab at it.

Unfortunately, it hasn't changed at all in over a year now. There are more mods, but the base game is still the same. The dev releases the occasional post about what he's doing, or changes he's made - but he hasn't released an actual new installer in quite some time.

I'm not complaining too hard, though. Even as it stands, every feature in the game works. Trade is functional, bounties play out correctly, combat is fun, enemies don't just sit in one spot and wait to die, etc. Mods make all that even better, especially the Nerexelin mod, which introduces faction wars and lets them both expand into new worlds and conquer worlds from each other.

[LordMortis]

Blind spent $15 I shouldn't have. Will get to this tonight.

[WYBaugh]

I'm going to grab this as well. Hoping for a good diversion from waffling around in WoW.

[Paingod]

Blind spent $15 I shouldn't have. Will get to this tonight.

I'm going to grab this as well. Hoping for a good diversion from waffling around in WoW.

I always worry when I sing the praises of a game and folks jump in - but if you like real-time top-down space combat games, it's easily worth it - and has a lot of mods that alter the game and add to it. The modding community, small as it is, has done a lot of cool stuff with it.

I've probably logged over 250 hours with this title in 3 years, and replay it every year for weeks of evenings.

What it has going for it:

• Ship customization - alter the weapons and mods on prebuilt ship chassis.
• Fleet customization - Keep anywhere from 1 to 30 ships in your fleet
• Trade - Buy low, sell high. Maybe be the vulture profiteering off a war-torn world.
• Piracy - Opt to attack trade ships from a given faction, or go hunt pirates yourself.
• Combat - Lots and lots of it, including a light tactical option with command options for AI allies.
• Salvage - After a fight you can often pick through the wrecks and claim a couple you like.
• Privateering - Ally yourself with a faction and fight their enemies
• Exploration - Set off into the vast unknown for profit and discover bountiful salvage opportunities - or die trying.
• Colonies - Settle your own faction and produce your own ships and weapons

What it doesn't have going yet:

• An overarching storyline. This is very much a sandbox.
• A rapid development cycle. The Dev posts updates on his work, but takes his sweet time.

Absolutely watch a "Let's Play" to see if it feels like it could be for you.
Episode 1: The starting fleet, running trade and scan missions - avoiding combat.


A different YouTuber with some capital combat videos.

[LordMortis]

This is going to be when I wish I had a demo before handing out that $15. I just went through the first combat tutorial and am reminded instantly of why I set down Kerbal Space Program. I just don't control space thrusters well and am even worse by WASD, much less adding shift to the mix. I might try again this weekend but it's highly likely that was a charity giveaway for game that looked neat but will be ultimately unplayable for me.

Don't worry about your praise. What sold me was the review from last May. That'll learn me for a little while.

[Daehawk]

heretic!

[Paingod]

I just don't control space thrusters well and am even worse by WASD, much less adding shift to the mix.

The control on this one aren't all that bad - once you're out of the light, flippy space craft. I can't pilot those for beans either. The fun starts when you get into more plodding destroyers or capital ships and away from shuttles or frigates. That can happen pretty quickly with a couple good trades and a shipyard purchase - or starting with the Nexerelin mod, which lets you select starting configurations with larger or more powerful ships and a couple levels under your belt immediately. This mod also expands the game's factions into more "living" entities that fight each other.

You probably started with a Kite or 6-gunned Wayfarer combat freighter. Both are fairly twitchy and I don't like flying them at all. Kerbal's flying was a nightmare compared to Starsector. The biggest adaptation for me when I started playing was getting used to WASD being oriented to my ship. W is always "Forward" - even if your ship is pointed to the bottom of the screen. That's the hardest hurdle to getting into combat.

The best TL;DR from below for someone who isn't enjoying the light ship combat would be to let the AI fight for you by issuing orders in the Tactical (TAB) screen.

Some tips...

Space Flight:

• Movement: Your ship moves to where you click, hold the mouse cursor to have it follow fluidly.
• Sustained Burn: This is how you'll do most travel. It takes some time to get up to speed and lets your fleet move at about double their normal speed. Consumes no fuel in regular space, consumes double fuel in Hyperspace.
• Emergency Burn: This is how you'll escape patrols that spot you and are close enough to catch you. It uses some Supplies and Fuel, and lets you plow through hazards like solar flares and hyperspace storms without them affecting your speed and trajectory, though you may still take damage.
• Hazards: Solar flares slowly shred your ships and cause you to chew through a tremendous amount of Supplies. Try to only hit these briefly, if ever. Hyperspace storms will ding and damage one or two ships each time you hit one - and they propel you forward at an increased speed, often not exactly in the direction you wanted to go - and often into another storm that propels you again.
• Transponder: You can turn off your Transponder (utility hotbar) to be anonymous. Faction patrols that catch you within radar range will fly over and get angry at you for doing this, harming your rep with the faction AND pilot. It is possible to outrun a lot of them, escape into a nebula, or jump back through a jump point to Hyperspace. If you dock somewhere while anonymous, you tend to only be able to use the Black Market services.
• Going Dark: This shuts off your transponder and cuts power and speed down to about 25% and makes you largely invisible to sensors. Very useful for smuggling. Faction patrols hate this and will search for you, sometimes sending out active sensor bursts near where you were. Otherwise it works like turning off your Transponder.
• Scavenge: This button is only an option inside a debris field - found randomly, after large battles, and when you break down stations. It pillages the debris field for Supplies, Fuel, Materials, Weapons, and even some stray ships you may not have seen before. Take what you need and leave the rest to drift until it decays - or spend some fuel to put the leftovers into a stable orbit so you can collect it later (around a 100 day timer).
• Interdiction Pulse: This kills the Sustained Burn engines of ships and stalls them for a moment, giving you time to catch them if they were caught in the blast zone. A favored tool of both space cops and pirates.
• Distress Call: When all else fails and you're in the ass-end of nowhere with no fuel to keep going, beg for help. Sometimes someone comes and can sell you enough to get you going, sometimes no one comes. You're supposed to stay near the innermost jump point so they can find you.

Logistics:

• Save: Before heading out beyond the core worlds where resources are abundant, I strongly urge you to make a new save or copy your save. It's far too easy to get stranded out there with no easy way home. Your last quick save won't help if it puts you back 40LY from safety and with just 12LY of fuel left.
• Fuel: If you run out of fuel in Hyperspace your fleet will drift towards and then into the nearest gravity well. If that happens to be a black hole, you're done. Otherwise, fly away from the star you land near and hit the Distress Call - or scout around the system for resources to scavenge.
• Supplies: If you run out of Supplies your ships will start breaking down. Go long enough and ships will eventually degrade to a point where they will be lost forever.
• Cash: If you run out of money your crew and captains will abandon you, not all at once, but steadily until you can't fly anymore.
• Factions: Each group in the game has its own agenda. The Hegemony think they're the interstellar police and hate AI. Tri-Tachyon love AI and offer a litany of goods the Hegemony outlaws. They get along about as well as you'd expect. Pirates hate everyone and enjoy raiding sectors and waylaying travelers, and in turn everyone hates them back. The Luddic Path are eco-terrorists that disrupt advanced technology on colonies (you can't get rid of them permanently once installed), and are about as friendly as Pirates. Other factions have other aspects.
• Trade: Buy low, sell high. The Nexerelin Mod helps make this more dynamic. I can't recommend it enough, even for a new player. Demand shifts with the status of a planet. War-torn hellscapes will be desperate for arms and food. Pirates tend to love buying illicit drugs. If you buy from the Black Market, you don't pay a tariff - and you should probably have landed with your Transponder off. Too many Black Market trades can ruin your rep with a faction. Legit, legal trading can boost your rating.
• Black Market: Found on just about every outpost and planet, this tends to offer goods and services not available normally - including ships. You suffer a reputation hit if you're caught using this - so don't dock with your Transponder on and then use this unless you're willing to take the hit. Footnote: Pirates run the Black Market. Anything you sell there can be "consumed" by them. If you offload ship blueprints on the black market, Pirates will suddenly start using them. If you unload a Pristine Nanoforge on the market, Pirates will start showing up in ships that aren't all beaten to shit. Be wary of what you give them.
• Colonize: Founding a colony is expensive. A lot of people recommend not trying until you have at least 1m credits in reserve. It takes time for it to become profitable, and also paints a target on your back - other factions and pirates can attack you by attacking that planet now. It can eventually be built up to defend itself, but it takes a LONG time and a LOT of capital.
• Hyperspace Warning Beacons: Take a peak at the danger level. Low is pretty tame, Moderate can be okay with some combat, High may result in death - even for a powerful fleet. These beacons let you know a system contains [REDACTED], and their general strength.

AI Pilots:

• Hire these guys at stations using the Comms, and check their capabilities before you accept the contract.
• First, look at their aggression level.
  • Timid: Avoids getting shot, often by staying out of weapon range. Might be good for a missile commander, but I never use it.
  • Cautious: Sometimes engages, but mostly tries to stay out of harms way. Possibly good for heavy, slower fighter carriers that you don't want up front.
  • Steady: Tries to keep a good balance between range and shields, a good all-around combat pilot that moves in and backs out regularly in a fight.
  • Aggressive: Likes to get in the mix, looking to unload as much firepower as they can. Good for ships with high durability or shields. They move in and try to stay at the front.
  • Reckless: Dives right into combat and tries to inflict as much damage as possible, often getting mauled in the process.
• Second, their skills (if any).
  • Pilots can get up to Level 20, for a total of meaning 21 skill boosts to select from.
  • There are three skills oriented towards Carrier captains, with 3 levels of each (9 total points). Carrier commanders tend to only work best in Carriers and not front-line fighters.
  • The Missile skill (3 tiers) may get used least of all unless you have a dedicated Missile ship in your fleet.
  • There are a few more valuable - like Helm, Shield, Combat Readiness - that make generally more survivable commanders.
  • When a captain levels up, you can select from two skills: One they already have a previous tier of, or one they don't have yet. If you have no non-3 tier skills, you select from 2 random skills.

Combat:

• Flight is by the ships' orientation. "W" is always forward, "A" is always turn left, "S" is always reverse, and "D" is always turn right.
• Holding Shift will force your orientation towards the mouse cursor. This is great for tracking forward-facing guns at enemies. It also means "A" becomes strafe left and "D" becomes strafe right.
• Ships do have momentum and will glide. Pushing against momentum can slow you, and the C key will bring you to a dead stop regardless of heading.
• "Space" will pause the game to let you soak in the visuals or take a moment to consider the field in front of you.
• Press "Tab" to open the tactical map - which also pauses the game. You can issue orders to your ships from here, but have a limited number of command points that slowly regenerate over time. A single command point is used with the first command issued and then a timer runs down.
  While the timer is active, no further command points are used to issue commands - so you can order 20 ships to do 20 different things with one command point. When you close the tactical window, it ends the timer - so re-opening it and issuing a new command consumes another command point and starts the timer over. You can play from the tactical screen and let your ships fight for you by pressing "Space" to unpause it.
• Ships will follow their last orders given until you interrupt them, even your flag ship. It is possible to direct your flag ship to attack from Tactical and then just kick back and watch the fight play out, only taking control when you want to. The second you touch the controls, the automation ends until a new order is issued.
• I tend to have my AI pilots follow me from the Tactical screen unless I have a high degree of confidence that they can handle themselves alone.
• Enemies often end up trying to flank you and it's easy for a straggler to get overwhelmed. Don't let your slower ships lag too far behind. Consider assigning escorts to them to help keep them out of trouble.
• Flux is the currency of combat. Every non-missile weapon fired, running shields, energy weapons hitting shields, and every ability generate Soft Flux. Soft flux dissipates over time, even with shields up. Hard flux is created by Ballistics weapons fire hitting shields. Hard flux can generally only be dissipated by having shields down and/or Venting Flux (default "V" key).
• Soft Flux may seem less dangerous, but can still limits a ship's ability to attack and they can still overheat.
• Hard Flux is more dangerous just because there's no way to get rid of it except to open yourself to attack. If you face heavily shielded enemies that dissipate Soft Flux quickly, you'll want to bring your best Hard Flux weapons to the fight.
• Venting Flux is often a time of intense vulnerability. Fall back from the front lines before doing this. You're inert for a few seconds while it purges. Enemy AI LOVE to take those few seconds to lob their hardest-hitting missiles towards you.
• Armor is sheered off when a ship is attacked and doesn't count towards overall damage. Armor can deflect part of the damage, based on abilities, but also tends to make ships heavier and less agile. You can see the armor left on segments of a ship by looking at it's outline grid in the HUD. If a section is black, the armor is gone. If this is your ship, keep that side away from enemies. If this is an enemy, focus fire on that spot.
• Hull is the structural integrity of the ship, the HP. Once Armor is breached in one spot, the ship will start to bleed out with each hit to that spot. Damage to the hull can also kill crew on the ship. Some weapons, like Machine Guns and Flak Guns, are amazing at ripping apart Hull but weak vs. Armor.
• Every ship that joins the fight uses a set about of it's Combat Readiness (CR, maintained using Supplies). In addition, each has a time limit to how long they can be actively engaged in combat before their CR starts to degrade. When CR dips under 40%, they may start suffering glitches. When it hits 0%, they glitch constantly and suffer hull damage. Generally speaking, Low Tech ships have longer "staying power" (time before hitting the reserve CR) than High Tech ships - but High Tech ships often bring more abilities, agility, or firepower for their limited engagement time.

Ship & Fleet Composition:

• The Refit screen lets you remove and apply any weapon you have in your cargo holds, on the planet, or available in a market where you've docked. Some things can only be fitted at a Dock and not in space (hull overhauls). Changing gear in space chips away some Combat Readiness.
• Not every ship mod or weapon is available from the start. These have to be accumulated over time through travel/exploration/combat. Just about everything you find can have a use depending on how you're putting your fleet together.
• A couple of my favorite hull mods:
  • Solar Shielding: Not only does this help protect against damage from solar flares and hyperspace storms, it also reduces damage from energy weapons by 25%.
  • Converted Hangar: Gives the ships a fighter bay, which can be stocked with fighters or bombers. Not as efficient as having a real Carrier, but lets a ship have more all-around function if you can afford the build points for it.
  • Hardened Shields: You can't really go wrong with shields that take less damage.
  • Efficiency Overhaul: 20% fewer resources needed, great for long-haul fleets and general thriftiness.
• Point Defense is something you'll likely want every ship to at least have a little of. Without this, enemy missiles will always find their mark. I tend to use a lot of the Vulcan turrets to guard my engines from Salamander missiles (stall you out) and to help with enemy fighters that get too close. A heavy Point Defense fleet can annihilate a Fighter heavy carrier fleet fairly easily. I've even experimented, and enjoyed, larger ships with large Point Defense weapons as their offensive tools, too. PD tends to shred Hull easily, but you have to get close to use it.
• Missiles can be potent in large numbers, but are often shot down easily if there are only one or two launched at once. It is possible to fill the sky with an overwhelming number of missiles. Missiles tend to be very limited on ammo, with the rare exception like the Salamander missile, which does no damage but can stall engines. A Missile boat doesn't have great staying power, but often makes up for that in alpha strikes.
• Carriers with fighters can be highly effective. Bombers replenish missiles when they dock - so that last note about missiles being in short supply is negated. Lost fighters and bombers tend to lead to lost Crew, though, and a carrier fleet after a number of fights can accidentally run out of crew to pilot their ships and need to Mothball a few to get back home safely. There are a number of Drone fighters available that can be sacrificed without expending crew, but they're usually less potent.
• Be sure to allocate build points to increase the flux dissipation and cap of a ship. These two stats determine how well the ship will soak damage with shields and vent flux without dropping shields.
• There's really no such thing as a bad fleet, but you'll always want to ensure you have enough Supplies and Fuel to get where you want to go, as well as some extra Crew in case you lose a few or find a nice new ship to add.
• After you design a ship, you can test it against different ships with no risk. Do this in the Refit screen, using the "Run Simulation" button. Note, too, you can add more ships to your side and the enemy side and have a whole mock battle without risking anything.

That's all I can really think of right now off the top of my head. I'd hate for you to abandon the game just because the flitty little starter ships are hard to control. If you find them annoying (and I do as well), consider using the Tactical screen to order them to fight and only interrupt the automated pilot if you want to. AI does a pretty good job flying smaller craft.

[LordMortis]

I'm likely to give it more time this weekend. Also I was just using the tutorial to learn the basics.

Movement: Your ship moves to where you click, hold the mouse cursor to have it follow fluidly.

That was not the case in the tutorial.