Starsector is Easy

[@OffyDGG]

It's me - I only saw the first 15 mins but I think I saw what I needed. Big point up front is that the video isn't a review, it's a let's play. All the commentary is simply what I thought as I played, minimal hindsight or game knowledge. Doesn't mean that I believe is actually true if I'd known differently, and the later parts of the video look at everything from a more experienced perspective, with much less balancing concern being ranted about. The big take away: In the first, say, five minutes of your video, I learned enough to overcome my problems with the game when I first started, things that took hours upon hours in the game to learn myself (like double salvage, think about the huge different that makes and what its like to not have it as a new player) and in fact some other things that are new to me even now. When I saw your video I was like 'what, his fuel is cheaper than mine, his surveys cost less, the requirements are so easy to reach, what is going on?' 'Survey equipment' - damn, that's a game changer! And that survey fleet too, in your hands right at the start? I even talked in my video about how I thought that kind of setup would exist in the game but couldn't find it. Here, far too late, you are telling me it's real. (in truth someone else told me already since my video, but you get the picture) Perhaps you begin to see the issue, on which we probably agree: there is stuff you NEED to know to have fun. And stuff you need to make the numbers work, stuff I didn't know, didn't know I didn't know and hence never thoguht to look it or whatever... It needs to change. And who-knows how many other players likely had the same initial experience. Being able to go out with a small fleet was something I praised in the game, and indeed I had the same experience you are showing in this video - it's in my video too. Very good. However, I kept increasing the size of my fleet because I was worried about getting attacked. And it all stopped working. I didn't dare go out on a survey run because I didn't know how much fuel I'd be able to get out there, and judged the reward of 1-30K not to balance well against the cost of 3-7k baked in plus travel plus crew plus any battle damage etc. Better to make money some other way, I thought, and left disappointed. That's just a new player's perspective on things. You can say that *you* knew it was fine, so it was easy, but is there a game out there in existence this doesn't apply to? "It's easy when you know how." For sure. What if you don't? Should coming be know be made easier, more fun? People seem to agree with that. Maybe some quests to teach these things? I think these would be natural improvements to the game from new player perspective. Even giving a guide or FAQ for beginners at the start would go a long way - could even be a link to a webpage or video, I would have checked it out for sure. You claim that issue I had was that it is too hard, but it's not really difficulty, since the problems are 'easy' to deal with, simply tedious as they carry on over and over. In fact later in my video I turn around and criticise the game for being far too easy. It is packed with very easy things you need to do to carry on, and I was worn down by the repetition of millions of easy fights and chore-like journeys to deal with yet another enemy spawn, distracting me from enjoying building colonies, exploring and salvaging, which was the part I liked the most. I wanted more auto-resolves, more skips, more automation. The colony system is really good for this, at least. Sorry if what you say in the rest of the video changes all this, but I suspect I see what you are getting at. What I don't want you to think, though, is that what you demonstrate means anyone would assume all that at the start of the game. Well, my commentary is there with all my thoughts and why I did what I did in the game, if anyone is interested in the details. I'm still reeling at all the stuff that was in the game which I never found, like that survey thing and the gate system, which people only showed me afterwards. Would have been much better with that sort of thing. Ah sweet regrets - pray that the devs will include at little more info, so the unknown number of people who come to the game like me and get pushed away can be brought in to become starsector fans instead. Amen! THE RANTING NEVER ENDS

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

Yeah a fair number of people are either put off at the start of the game or have to learn though youtube. Reddit too, has a post just about every week from a new player trying to get into the game. The good news is the community is generally friendly and really wants to help new players so anyone who seeks out help will find what they're looking for. You didn't call the game 'too hard' but I used that wording with the intention that this video would reach people who were frustrated by the game and felt it was "too hard," because in a sense the game is too hard: not to play but to learn (not for me, of course, I'm built different). Oh, and oops... I called your video a "review" when "commentary" would've been more appropriate.

[@OffyDGG]

@@bigbrainenergyguy that sounds good. I didn't really expect so much outrage coming my way, but ironically it could be that I wasn't clear how casual and 'first impressions' my commentary was! Clearly going at it alone was the wrong approach. Still, perhaps the real treasure was lessons in game accessibility we learned along the way, or something 😜

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

You keep reiterating this point of "Starsector doesn't tell player enough to play it properly", but I honestly don't think this game is any more opaque than, say Mount & Blade. It's just that different things click with different people, and you may be the outlier here.

[@OffyDGG]

@@Self-replicating_whatnot While I disagree, because I think the info in this video, for example, is really useful to know and I didn't see it in the game, if what you say is true, then wouldn't it still be better if I weren't an outlier? Or in other words, say only one crazy person like me made a fleet that cost too much to run, couldn't make a certain activity work with a small fleet, didn't know about double salvage, didn't know where to find resources or whatever, all that good stuff, and normally it would be impossible for a player to have these problems. The game is *still* better if that is avoided for that single person. Slightly! Really, I don't see what there is to lose by throwing this sort of thing in a tutorial, FAQ, beginners guide, anything like that, even in the most extreme scenario where I am just completely insane for wanting, or even needing, this. If you don't need it, that's good. if you do, that's also good!

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

@@OffyDGG Let's not start this again. Just remember that game does in fact tell you how much supply and fuel you burn per day, and it does tell you how long - at minimum - it'll take to get anywhere. So too does the salvage icon light up after a battle. For the game to be more "user-friendly" it'd have to jump up and bite the player in the ass every time they are about to do something inadvisable. I mean, it's not like in M&B you can't get out of the starting town, take a wrong turn and immediately get you sh*t pushed in by sea raiders...

[@EnderraphaXX]

It is unacceptable to do exploration missions without bringing the biggest and most expensive ship you can find, specially one that is leaking fuel and have high maintenance to showcase your status. Also most of the profit from the expeditions doesn't last long as all of it must be spent on booze and recreational items so you can throw parties with your crew inside the hulk while sunbathing in star coronas, not to mention the additional costs of supplies and fuel from the usual black hole jumps, hyperspace storm racing with pirates and pathers, and the pulsar beam diving you must do to entertain those VIP sons and daughters from Galatia's academy to show them what a true spacer does for living.

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

This actually sounds like a fun game. You have to do reckless and expensive stuff to impress people and gain status, constantly lighting your own ass on fire just to make progress.

[@charlesissleepy]

the first ship i always try to get is an atlas, equip it with surveying equipment and all but the largest gas giants cost 5 supplies to survey. You come back to base with more supplies than you started

[@BobfromSydney]

​@@charlesissleepyalso those sweet sweet high paying bulk transport bar missions 👌pure perfection

[@kaulis6524]

i vibe with this

[@khaoscualdawath]

The scarcity of supplies and the need to plan and budget with fuel and supplies is one of the greatest ways of how the game actually makes itself viable and replayable. The world's primary response to you becoming a wannabe galactic main character is throwing you the ultimate curveball if you just forget to buy enough fuel, you'll just get stuck in a star system 55 lightyears out, behind a black hole. It's challenges from the roots to the top that make a world living and breathing enough so you actually get its illusion...

[@stalwartteakettlepotato9879]

I remebre when I first started playing and didn't realise that only the core worlds are inhabited. I took an exploration mission all the way across the map. I got there easely enough and then realised that I don't have enough fuel to get all the way back so I had interesting journey back, lucking into one of thoes one way vortexes and deciding what ships to scuttle to save fuel.

[@johnx140]

This game is a certified epic game. Like fr its so good.

[@genericscout5408]

the moment you know the importance of supplies it's no longer a concern when you can field 8 atlas full of supplies to fuel the largest of any fleet. The supplies are expensive when your colonies make them, but you'll get 50K supplies a month more than enough for most fleets anyone can conceive of.

[@exginto8053]

>trade space meth >but two largest tankers >fill them with 16k units of fuel Budgeting? What budgeting?

[@AstroBioMan]

"ballistic and energy mastery at the same time" We call those Eagle pilots

[@bigmike8586]

the sexy man with the sexy voice and 105IQ (literally too smart to live) is back with another banger

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

Flattery will get you far on this channel. Truly, 105 IQ pushes the limits of the human creature.

[@atatatatatagsad]

@@bigbrainenergyguy as a viewer who got room temp IQ your videos are amazing, even for retarded fucks like me, also i got a sugestion about the furry, try a fleet of furries with cryos and the kinetic missile omega thingy (forgor its name) shit is busted as fuck

[@jackzarazun5007]

​@@bigbrainenergyguy thats like 5 above 100% how does your brain fit on your skull?

[@DancerVeiled]

The MLG glasses give a +5 to IQ, that's how. Pulse laser apogee ftw, who even needs auto-?

[@wu1ming9shi]

Wait wasn't being between 95 and 110 supposed to be average?

[@waypastfuture3746]

Sheperd spin is related to one of the engines of the sheperd being blown: uneven engines will naturally cause ships to rotate, on the sheperd, because it's as heavy as soggy paper, this effect makes it spin like that.

[@ewanlee6337]

I think it’s actually a defensive move so that shots don’t always hit the same bit of armour. It always seem when they take some armour hits.

[@Bronimin]

its probably an AI bug that Alex thinks is funny so left in

[@mortache]

I understood the game is easy after 2 restarts. Basically don't run around with a war fleet if you wanna explore, and its free to store ships in 3 spots (one in the starting location after tutorial end)

[@eldrinpaulgok-ong3450]

best one in my opinion is the one beside mairath in mayasura since its in the middle of the core worlds.

[@mortache]

@@eldrinpaulgok-ong3450 I mean, they're all pretty close to each other if you only visit them once in a while. Its the journey to end of the sector which is painful

[@halo007Mex]

@@eldrinpaulgok-ong3450 also patrols don't care if You run your transponder off

[@Ashlevon]

I remember reading a thread where a guy took an Onslaught, Legion, Prometheus, and Atlas, just to do exploration missions and (no surprise there) easily chewed through >1k supplies, and needed contracts >80k creds to turn a profit. Maybe OffyD had the same issue of not knowing how to optimize fleet composition for lowered logistics costs.

[@genericscout5408]

Yeah you gotta make a colony or store your ships after you get capitals. If you want to do exploration missions profitably.

[@selectionn]

maybe the game needs a bit of a tutorial on fleet composition to any noob readin this, take the bare minimum of ships needed to not get wiped out by a small pirate fleet when you are doing exploration. you should be avoiding combat when you are doing exploration at the start of the game. you can store your ships for free in abandoned stations you find, or just pay a small fee to store them at a factions planet.

[@ahmetsaidalkur50]

biggest advice for new players i could give is to have 8-9 shepherds in the fleet until getting to fast cruiser stage then slowly replace them with freighters and salvage rigs

[@elethio]

Pirates will try and break off and run away, when things go badly for them, Usually it'll be transport/civilian ships and only when things a very bad for them They could make this more common with lower trigger, maybe with more negotiating too like you suggest.

[@Salted_Fysh]

The first time I played Starsector, I essentially ignored the core systems and like the completionist that I am spent my entire time fully surveying system after system and filling up any empty slots with com relays and whatever else there was room for wherever possible. I ended up funding everything just from the salvage I found. I'd more or less discard any commodities to save space and only returned to the core systems when my storage was so full of guns and other stuff that it was getting incredibly tedious just to constantly balance my supplies, fuel, metal stockpile etc. by discarding any excess wherever possible or when I started getting slowed down and running out of crew capacity by lugging around all those salvaged Battleships and whatnot. Naturally, as the hoarder that I am, I also never really sold any of my survey data, guns, ships, blueprints, forges, AI cores, synchroton stuff etc. Instead I just kept jamming it all into storage on an abandoned station or wherever 'for later use' and didn't even settle my first colony until at least 50 hours into the game because I was always looking for that perfect system cluster capable of being entirely self-sufficient and self-supplying (I was very naive about the game back then). Even despite all that, I still managed to make more than enough cash selling excess high value resources I found while salvaging stations like lobsters, heavy armaments and the occasional exploration mission that happened to be near where I was operating etc. to afford my salvaging fleet (though to be fair, most of it was just literally salvaged or found drifting around so other than the occasional low-cost utility ships, I didn't ever really buy any.) I fail to see how one would run into money problems if one were actually focused on making money and not a hoarder like myself. I mean, literally all you need to do to figure out how to outfit an exploration fleet is reading a few subsystsm descriptions so you know what a salvaging gantry is and what efficiency modules to throw on your support fleet. The second step is realizing that it comes for free on Shepherds (I think? It's been a long time since I last played).

[@AB-bg7os]

I am very new and had the same thoughts as the review you mentioned in the beginning. But deep inside i had the urge to retry and this video helped a lot. Thanks king

[@blackcat7k]

The trap with Star Sector is if you start poorly you are going to snowball into a loss of everything and that's what a lot people end up with they first try the game. The problem is they can burn several hours just to realize there was no way they were going to survive. All of the stuff you're pointing is not something that someone will know fresh coming into the game.

[@fluffytowels1145]

One really nice thing about Sebestyen is that when he offers multiple missions outside the core, they tend all to be near each other

[@ewanlee6337]

You want to bring transplutonic metals around so you can build com relays so you can get new missions. Also if you get survey costs down to 5 supplies then you always make money from surveys as class 1 data (the worst) sells for $1,000 so still $500 profit at minimum. With the expand storage hullmods, if you also give them militarised subsystems then they don’t get the 50% maintenance penalty. Hardened shields is better than the equivalent amount of capacitors as it means less time is needed to dissipate the hard flux. For people that don’t know, armour damage is multiplied by (weapon shot damage)/(weapon shot damage + armour value) so high DPS but low shot damage weapons do worse against armour than lower DPS but higher shot damage. So light mortars do better against armour than light assault guns even though they have less DPS.

[@wontcreep]

i don't even remember how i learned how to roll on this game it used to be mysterious and unknown, and the following day it's like another minecraft playthrough, second nature. haha

[@Darlorthdf]

Man,try to explore with stealth ships and revenants . 1. You will look safe everywhere,2. You can rush the mission with the holes easy and fast ,3. You can do missions of a pirate till you befriend the pirates and forget these also. 4. You can also do stealth missions with these . Then you can steal all nanoforges. Pirates are the good guys. They will help you. If there is one pirate base you can eliminate it with closed transponder without affecting you relationship with these. This is how I play this game and dominate without much bloodshed. This is how I make a fortune. I do not rush for nothing. I use abandoned stations for long ..I store the ships there.. the punisher fleet. The capital ships I store from exploration and from criminals. For surveying there is the survey equipment to add to revenants. Invisible fleet = less problems

[@adamhall2288]

For those struggling with combat, press SHIFT to toggle the "have ships point towards cursor" (reset the controls of strafe left and right, to A and D), you will find it much easier to pilot ships this way and accurately hit enemies (recommend practicing with a Luddic Path Brawler 2 dual mg, 2 chain guns, augmented thrusters). For broadside ships, just press SHIFT again to toggle back to manual turning controls.

[@wu1ming9shi]

I didn't know about the shift trick. I usually get a ship that can basically carpet bomb everything in front of it lol.

[@jkjoegunz]

huh, I didn't know that debris around a planet would indicate ruins, or that 7 skill captains were so rare. All I need to know now is if that Ziggurate system is the only place to find rare weapons.

[@StelzCat]

There's a very good reason why a Ruthless sector mod exists. Meanwhile, excuse me as I drop another 3000 unit haul into REDACTED for a million credit profit.

[@George_Rakkas]

I would like to humbly request a lightly moded full playthrough! Would absolutely adore it

[@CD-vb9fi]

There are numerous mods for this game. You should be able to find one that suits your play preferences. Otherwise I mod the game myself some... I could give some easy pointers.

[@ToGdBear]

The trouble with that review appears to be that the one who made it, didn't stop and think "maybe I'm missing something" when facing those difficulties.

[@rw6611]

you can learn blueprints and modspecs on the salvage screen too, just by right-clicking on them before doing any transfer

[@hellorin]

i always start with selling most of my ships, going for spy sat missions with tiny sensor profile, its a good way to get back into flying shape

[@StevetheShaman]

When I first started playing Starsector, I kind of stressed out over any kind of relations penalty, wanting to be a good boi and all. What helped me a lot was to think of relations as just another currency to be spent; it costs x relations to plap a trade fleet and jack their urgent shipment of space-drugs (which you can usually then sell to its destination for beaucoup bucks), x relations to trade on the black market with the transponder on, etc. It's worth nothing if you don't spend it, so aside from certain thresholds where faction behavior changes, why not engage in a little extralegal economic activity?

[@alexeybulatov3547]

Starsector is one of those games that we nerds worship with amazement and adoration, and normies are instantly knocked out with numbers and many moving parts.

[@angtrankien441]

Prob sth related to the UI more than other stuff

[@dennylukman1801]

I play with spacer start, I always seem to get colony going on cycle 209. Dram with unstable injector and safety override make that tanker ship so fast, not even fighter wing can catch up. Get some orbital analyze job, and keep the frontier ruin intact. The only thing you may salvage if you get em after kicking pirates and terrorist ass. Dram and Shepherd are great duo for early game, venture cruisers bunched up can deliver pain that make Onslaught blush. I somehow got two random derelict hyperspace Heron, got an Eagle and Falcon from bar deals, three Eradicator, four sunder and four Manticore, an monitor frigate, and a Dram. Yeah, that my current fleet, it's Harpoon missle barrage. No, I only carry that fleet for combat missions because my exploration fleet rely solely on their speed to outrun their enemies, yeah I only have PD weapon if OP permitted

[@BlackeyeVuk]

Some mission rewards do not scale well with hidden fleet costs. Like Fuel and Supply. There are noob trap missions for example is spy satellite which are fairly easy to do early game. But are almost impossible mid-late game when you have big fleets. And are hit or miss because they depend on luck and how many patrols you spawn with. As the most precious resources is time. However, game does become unplayable quickly if fleet isn't managed correctly, and that hidden cost of supply/fuel is noob killer for sure. Game scales with your fleet, and so do rewards. But only on a base level. Additional cost of supplies and fuel is omitted in that equation. And you can quickly run deficit runs if you get your fleet damaged in the process. _The point is, game scales with your fleet._ And noobs are too ego driven trying to have 10 Paragons in fleet not knowing they can't field more then 2 effectively in the battle. Basically towing expensive useless toy across the galaxy.

[@batuarganda728]

Efficiency overhaul + Industry meta. Fields a lot at a fraction of the cost So exploring with an invasion fleet is viable, especially if you can kill and loot everything you come across

[@hidefreek6905]

It's hard. Because its too much fun and we usually forget to resupply ourselves. And it's easily to be distracted by the environment and fail the quest time limit.

[@digitalizedmind6784]

7:42 i knew that and I usually don't know facts that the game doesn't mention so its probably in a title screen tip or something 10:35 surprised you didn't notice the fight would be in the corona because the sun was pushing your fleet back as you approached the derelict. Turn off sustained burn when entering coronas so your fleet gets pushed back less, you want to minimize time spent in coronas because your supplies drain INCREDIBLY fast 15:13 dont mind your wayfarer pilot he's just flexing on them derelict drones 23:02 I usually ignore hyperspace derelicts because 90% of the time I lose more value in supplies/fuel approaching the derelict than I gain from it :p but always check unknown readings because the odds are never zero you'll randomly encounter a 14th onslaught in the middle of nowhere 34:10 LMAO THATS SUCH AN INTROVERT MOMENT and also a mood (nice voice acting btw) 47:12 how do you click and drag the modspecs like that? ive been playing with the controls but cant seem to find out how to do that, the game doesn't even mention it. is it a mod? 49:51 i remember my very first starsector run I had basically zero understanding of fleet composition and bought way too many herons :p Oh and by late late game I was just casually obliterating the hegemony with like 6 paragons :D (supplies werent an issue because my colonies were an industrial powerhouse) edit: forgot to complain about the part where you decided against buying a hyperion, recently became my favorite frigate. flux caps full? just disappear! enemy deployed 6 dominators? *teleports behind one* nothin personal hegemony!

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

For grabbing multiple mod specs, the answer is holding alt. This function is disabled by default but you can go into the files and change one line from false to true. Hopefully one day the devs add it to the settings menu in game.

[@digitalizedmind6784]

​@@bigbrainenergyguy found it in settings.json. leaving it here in case anyone else has the same question "altMouseMoveToMassTransfer":false,

[@mortanes2]

@@digitalizedmind6784 thanks brother, very kind of you

[@Famelhaut]

I once found a paragon blueprint inside a shuttle derelict lol, since that day I always dismantle them. Maybe it was a mod? Altho it usually doesnt hurt checking them out

[@mortanes2]

@@Famelhaut just today I looted three level 7 officers from derelict shuttles, over the span of maybe 10 minutes. Never skipping again

[@Wanky_Woop]

The Shepherd speen is really like a Starsector equialient of Giant Space Program from Skyrim. They shouldn't patch that it's too funny.

[@shitbutt_esq]

40:34 - this is the principal skill that new players need to learn. what's notable is that nothing on the manticore changes substantively. what changes is the AI's analysis of what it can do with the manticore, enabled by flux coil adjunct and 2 vents. a new player could try to reverse-engineer this by observing that the failed manticore design had just 4 flux dissipation with weapons and shield, while the successful manticore has 44 flux. the numbers don't really make a big difference (it's like 2 lmg's firing) but it's enough for the AI to believe in itself and actually fire its weapons.

[@vladtheinhailer1428]

@6:39 you talk about how the Pirates are the fanatics who never surrender and can't be bribed, and the Luddite Path who 'are' the actual fanatics in the setting can be bribed. Is there a Mod your aware of that can reverse that? As I agree that seems pretty bass ackward.

[@Kurazarrh]

I came here to say, "I think I saw the video you were talking about," and then there's a pinned message from the creator of that video themselves, so... >.> Haha. Suffice it to say, I think you both make fair points. The game IS very opaque. It's chock-full of an absolute flood of information and numbers that don't mean anything out of context to a new player. I've introduced this game to about 5 other friends, all of whom are experienced gamers who grew up in the era before even GameFAQs. We all remember the days of learning about games by trial and error and word-of-mouth, but even they struggled with the game because they didn't do research before starting the game. So I definitely think this game needs an accessibility facelift and a method of both easing the player into each new functional system, as well as a means of pushing the player more toward new systems and teaching them how they work. Even things like "why shouldn't I set up a colony on a 250% hazard level planet in occupied core territory?" could use some more explanation. That being said, once you grok the numbers, the game certainly isn't HARD. Though in the early game I do still sometimes get spanked by fleets that chase me down despite being 10x my fleet's size. That's what save-scumming is for! But even save-scumming is a thing from bygone days. People forget having to mash F5 all the time while playing Baldur's Gate 1/2 and Icewind Dale 1/2. Anyway, loved the video. Keep 'em coming. Really enjoying your content, your takes on ship and fleet composition, and your sandpaper-dry humor! XD

[@cookingonthego9422]

2x salvagers and you would have +50% suplyes and fuel from salvage. This game is all about problem solving, and i love it.

[@Tampahop]

It does have a steep learning curve, but economics is the key to the game, and there are many lessons you have to learn. One thing I do is take 6 engineering skills at start. Your combat will always go better when you can afford the fleet you want, but without money, you are sunk. Pick any two of the three in the first section, then pick up the two that make fuel and supplies cheaper. Next I get the one that repairs d-mods over time and finally I go back and pick up the third skill in the first section. That optimizes your skills for economics. I keep my fleet small early on to keep under the Galatian academy stipend, but I make sure to buy a salvage ship. I add a built-in exploration s-mod to it when I have the money. When the academy stipend runs out, it's a good time to join a faction. When the faction salary isn't enough, that's the time to start a colony as you should have had time to explore for a good starting colony world. There are certainly other things you can do to make money, but that is a good start.

[@Meowbringer]

Ive been playing this game on and off for 5 years and i didnt know about the debris around planets means ruin lol

[@zuthalsoraniz6764]

I think there could be some more enhancements to pirates too - e.g. giving shielded cargo holds a further purposes beyond just smuggling. What if instead of a monetary ransom like the pathers, pirates demanded you give them all (or at least most of) the stuff you are carrying, but they can't see stuff (which would have to be weighted differently than for smuggling, special items/blueprints/weapons hidden first, then supplies, then other cargo in descending order of value imo) protected by shielded cargo holds? Similarly, it could be fun to give the player the option to, if they have a sufficiently much stronger fleet than them, extort merchants or scavengers for their cargo, rather than having to destroy them. Another thing that I would love to see in the game as just a QoL thing would be a fleet loadout manager. By which I mean, something that lets you save the current set of ships in your fleet and the officer assignment to them, and then load such a loadout at a market that (either for sale or in storage) has all the requisite ships and weapons to fulfill it. That way, you could easily swap between specialised fleets for exploration, station destruction, remnant farming etc, something which is quite tedious to do currently.

[@maelglorious]

He didn't factor in the loot from doing combat missions, which usually gives more supplies then what's used for deployment, not to mention fuel, metal, heavy machinery, weapons etc. Even trash combat missions worth 50k give 10-30k loot. End game combat mission for 200-300k can also give a few hundred supplies (300-400+) and plenty of fuel. I've picked on pathers before without even an active bounty (the ones for 1.5k per frigate types), and it's still profitable just to blow them up. The mission bounties just make it even more profitable. And if the game is still too hard, just install the UAF mod, UAF fighters and point defense are insanely good, not to mention the semibreves (the nukes).

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/nWnCYod3hqdkbtE The commentary (not actually a review) I reference in the video, for those interested. Be nice.

[@Alex_Ao7]

in earlier builds it absolutely was extremely difficult, but as he has added mechanics if you know what youre doing a lot of things become trivial

[@andrewtomascak1175]

Always appreciate your videos. Keep it up!

[@legueu]

All I need is one Hound, and I'm going to have fun for hours.

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

I think a lot of people go in expecting to “get it” in the first play through, I’ve been playing on and off for over a year and while the game, to me now, is pretty easy, I still don’t understand a lot of the shipbuilding mechanics. You just have to play the game and lose to find out how to win.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

I was watching you trying to figure out if you want to risk getting chased by a patrol from buying a few weapons on the black market (in an independent colony). The thing is you can do any amount of black market trading on independent colonies and you will not be chased. You will lose a small amount of faction with them though. Edit: I just saw you getting chased down by an indy patrol right after. I have no words. This never happens to me. I mostly trade with Asharu which is the indy right next to the abandoned station. Whenever possible I will even turn off transponder to avoid the faction penalty. Getting chased down from one of the big factions is par for the course, but this is new to me.

[@LordSasquatch63]

I believe this was changed in the new patch, in 0.95 I don't think Indie patrols ever chased you for using black market.

[@StelzCat]

As a matter of policy I always run exploration and trade fleet with burn level of 9 and lowered signature. I discard every ship with degraded drive field. I take sensors skill to reduce signature and s-mods that increase burn and further decrease signature to keep up the pace of trading and earn millions on blockade running. Atlas mk2 with burn 9 and sig of destroyer is my second nature now. Fast pickets light afterburner right behind me but the best they can reach is stalemate. Anybody who can catch up to me, including REDACTED, can't deal enough damage to me.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

@@LordSasquatch63 Maybe you are right. I have been playing 0.96a but I still haven't come across this so I don't know.

[@Hardwaregeekx]

@@StelzCat I do that too. I don't use Atlas MK2 or destroyers though.

[@StelzCat]

@@Hardwaregeekx pardon, I meant to say just regular Atlas for freight. Though now I think it could be good ide to try.

[@ahmetsaidalkur50]

this game has a lot of reading and reading is hard also it takes a bit of thinking to understand what most subsystems do from their texts and for most people thinking is also hard i am basically insulting peoples intellect who think the game is too hard on the campaign map but it feels very much fitting for this video since the entire video is making fun of people who think the game is hard

[@НикитаСадовин-ю8щ]

Great video! Really love the sound quality, and your voice. Also it's really funny, that you make exactly same decisions as me buildwise, i follow your forum posts, and i find it really interesting. Right down to the smallest details. Keep up the good wrong!

[@rottenmeat5934]

That dual railgun hammerhead is what I use to test the viablility of most ships. It's actually quite efficient in a duel, and I don't field destroyers or frigates that can be chased down by it.

[@ratatoskr1069]

About the weird found officers: What would be so difficult about making them actually unique characters Master of Orion style, with a defined name, skillset and portrait?

[@devinhallsworth5531]

If fuel and supplies are too expensive chances are youre trying to do exploration with 30 ships, two of which are onslaught classes and you might only have a couple of salvage rigs. Cut yourself down to eight or ten ships and make most of them ventures, shepherds or remoras and exploration is easy.

[@dankrue2549]

Storm damage scales off fleet size!? Dude, I'm probably over 1000 hours at this point, and never picked up on that. Funny. Then again, I just use the storms like some sort of evil Mario Cart speed booster, so I guess It's never been something I worried too much about.

[@vesperflute9030]

I just started playing this game, the learning curve is hilarious 😊

[@Riecheck]

Holding SHIFT while aiming with your mouse will improve your shots on target significantly

[@EadTaes]

The pirates not retreating and seeming like a death cult can be hard to understand at first i agree. But if you look into the lore and interactions you start seeing that the pirates in fleets are more like "reavers" from firefly. Bunch of drugged up junkies on the hardest substances they can get. While the station pirates that give missions seem to be more people down on their luck, not counting the kanta interactions in the story line were the "reaver" comes back hard. Essentially pirates are too stoned out of their minds to make logical decisions.

[@Bradley_UA]

Earlygame is way too easy indeed, because you can just trade drugs and if you know that drugs are the best to trade you can make millions in an hour or so.

[@Thicc_Boyo]

Just FYI you can click LMB and hold and your fleet will keep following the cursor without having to spam click.

[@Vastin]

I mean, in the early game if you don't know what the most useful early character traits are, don't know how things like salvaging works, don't know how to arrange your fleet to *manage* the costs of salvaging and surveying, then the margins on many missions do in fact get really small, and a mis-judgement can drive you negative. Then there are the issues of whether you're going to build to fly a hero ship or play the game as an RTS, and the learning curve for either of these approaches - the command point system is definitely not an intuitive concept for a starting player for example, and the flight control system works fine but is not highly responsive, so its definitely tricky to get the hang of. This of course makes the combat a LOT harder early on, and the fleet balance you can go into a fight with is much less forgiving - which pushes an early player to build their fleet up faster than is wise, leading to the overconsumption of fuel and supplies for otherwise manageable missions. Heck I've got quite a bit of time in and I am pretty uncertain about what effects various orders are going to have on the behavior of certain classes of ship, or how they'll interact with the different aggression levels. For someone starting out, NPC ship behavior is just a complete mystery. So all of us who've put 100+ hours into the game have got the basics sorted and the economics are pretty easy - but hell, I've even seen some pretty experienced players who still weren't even familiar with the concept of "2nd Salvage".

[@CarlyRivers_91]

Watched both videos and play the game myself but like, thinking about when I first played I can see all the nuance in his points but also your points are valid too, really is a case of you don't know what you don't know and the game could improve on "that" in some areas. I'm selfishly more glad to see more uploads from you though lmao

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

Funny that you phrase it as selfish, I think anyone would feel good when they make something and the audience asks for more even if you can't provide right away :)

[@nick1752]

That's some big brain energy

[@kermitthefrog1176]

game is incredibly easy, start with the explorer start, start killing pirates, you can explore too but i prefer bounty hunting for start. if you get a better fleet you can choose bounties by their fleet comp, and what ships you need. you basically get paid for getting ships you need, and right here my friend, you can do whatever you want.

[@brandong7784]

I won't lie my first couple runs I would have said the same things as this unknown youtuber it wasn't until I died a tragic death in many ways that I started to learn the systems and now after many galactic conquests I would almost say its too easy to rush to the end game sort content. I would say its a high skill floor but not a high skill ceiling not that its low but once you figure it out there is not much more to challenge you after that besides self imposed challenges and mods

[@Bronimin]

I love talons too. very nice to slap into converted hangars everywhere. The fighter uplink skill keeps the casualties down.

[@hidalgobc]

"If I'm bad at something the first time I ever try it, that means it's badly designed"

[@ahrengroesch8774]

I feel for the guy. I don't understand Starsector either. I'm always running out of fuel, supplies, money, ships, and patience. I feel like I'm missing something. You are right in that the game does an extremely poor job of communicating it's mechanics and what of all the visual noise on the screen is important. And people that recorded tutorials understand the game so well that they've lost touch with what it's like to be new. I don't know what they're doing or what they mean most of the time.

[@Wytooken]

I dont know the video he's responding to but I assume the player fell into the common noob trap of wanting to be combat focused too early -> expands fleet too quickly , now all of your income is swallowed by maintenance, and if the fleet is built poorly... you don't have combat strength either

[@ahrengroesch8774]

@@Wytooken so I should stop adding ships?

[@shadoeboi212]

@@ahrengroesch8774 it depends but generally for a decent Profit early-mid combat fleet my biggest reoccurring cost is paying crew so unless i have a lot of excess income(a very profitable colony/ect) my fleet will generally be 1 eradicator or Falcon a couple destroyers plus at least 1 salvage rig( I like Pirate mules for simplifying my logistics and the rigs+sheperd+salvage skill means on most engagement i gain supplies) Most of the fleet should be destroyers and low tech tend to be the most cost effective . total fleet size being like 10-15 at most ships with like 4 being larger then frigate (1 cruiser 2 destroyers 1 salvage rig) Pros make a lot of money in the core worlds with system bounties. can be slow to assemble/snowball. Cons pretty short range/kind of dependent on how good you are at the combat.

[@ahrengroesch8774]

@@shadoeboi212 I understand some of that. I think I fall apart way before I get as big as you're talking about. The game of have going right now I'm probably doing better than I ever have before but I was mostly abusing the tutorial smuggling trick. I haven't even left the first system yet. Where do I get the numbers to do the math for long trip logistics? How do I know which missions are a good idea to try and which ones will bankrupt me?

[@shadoeboi212]

@@ahrengroesch8774 so the fleet comp i mention is not meant to leave the core and is best used when you are commissioned by a faction and are fighting said factions enemies. as for fuel/supplies use the fuel range map and hover over the target star and you get an estimated travel time + how much fuel it will take. I like to have at least 10%-20% more fuel at minimum (or the target being in the inner circle) to deal with storms/dodging fleets/ect. as for supplies you get a daily usage so i make sure i have at least double + a couple days worth. ALL of this is assuming you have the first 2 tech and first 3 industry skills as well as the tier 3 industry skills Containment Procedures and makeshift equipment TLDR Industry is the most busted for exploration/cost saving skills

[@AceMontage]

one of the best decision I've made in this game was increasing ship cost to 3x, this made the game feel much slower, which i like

[@jenathan76]

Pirates(and other hostile fleets) will absolutely try to flee if they calculate your fleet is too strong for them, and if you engage them anyway you go straight to the ‘mop up’ battle. The exception to this is scripted enemies like bounties and mission fleets. The big problem is that pirates in particular tend to overestimate their strength compared to yours.

[@TorMatthews]

I tried watching that review you mentioned and only got 30 mins in last week, the guy is some kind of self declared 'game design expert' despite not understanding basic gameplay or game design. *shrug*

[@Lorebagger]

the first playthrough i had i didnt even know there was extra hull mods you could acquire so i think it really is just a communication issue where you stumble on your first playthrough and get back up to start running

[@andreiha1669]

I tink the crime for piracy is death, so they wont surrender since they're dead anyway. At most they will run once they're overwhelmed, but youbwill always chase after them.

[@michaelreece3937]

With any game, it takes practice and getting use to the mechanics of the game

[@Harkruel]

ahhh Idk how to dm. We should have a chat about those various things about starsector. I remember going through them and having a similar experience but eventually got over it. But it could be a good video. and then a condensed video about those things as well as a follow up.

[@ingold1470]

I wonder if he is coming from a game like Mount and Blade:Warband, where fighting is the primary source of income. In that game if you lose half your troops in a fight and win, you'll still loot enough to be richer than you started, in Starsector you barely break even unless you know how to capitalize on your victory.

[@Loyde06]

52:18 Did you know that you can use the blueprint immediatly when you salvage them ? Instead of putting them in your inventory, closing the salvage menu, open your inventory just to learn the blueprint, wich is quite a bother. Beware, if you touch anything else, the blueprint are locked, just like in the market place.

[@Galipheo]

Knowing how to view the market rate of tradeable goods as well as using the black market without being detected is crucial for jumpstarting any run, but isn't really covered in the tutorial.

[@FPSSteel]

Expanding your fleet too quickly is a huge problem, I think players see a big ship and think that is a good pick but generally it is not, they need to accomodate to what they have available and even a frigate might be better a much better pick than the destroyer/cruiser they are looking at

[@spit782]

Strange,pirate fleets do retreat in my install,they dont fight tooth and nail,seems like every captain on each ship judges by themselves

[@process183]

never knew that there is only 4 level 7 officer per sector. I found a lot of them in 0.95, to the point that I thought there is no need to use any other officer. Well I gusse I'm lucky. Only found one after the update.

[@vaendryl]

>starts the game with the best possible starter fleet. the one that gives you a fucking CRUISER class ship right away. an option that is listed as "faster start" which immediately implies it's *not for new players* who are likely going to start the game with literally nothing but a kite shuttle - because wtf do they know. >skips the regular tutorial, which basically primes a new player to salvage for as many ships as possible because more ships is more dakka and is more not dying. fuel? you don't even use fuel until the tutorial is over! >knows how to salvage properly in the field to save on resources. >gets attacked by a fairly sizable pirate fleet literally out the gate but best starter fleet and proper play makes it look like a joke. >knows not to take the shit pirate ships after battle because you know taking them along is not efficient use of your resources. >surveying is extra cheap, because again - broken starter fleet. you didn't even need a single tanker to explore deep space. >generally knows the game inside and out to the point of casually discussing the finer details of some random fighter type out of dozens in the game as if everyone knows what he's talking about. >most importantly, knows that the scary unknown of deep deep space is actually just fine to fly though without even a single cruiser. just a single light carrier and some junk and wow - no, you won't instantly get gibbed by a horde of secretive aliens or lost AI monstrosities. makes you wonder why civilized people never leave the core planets. >in fact, watch me wreck some guardians with literally only 2 pieces of crap ship I started with - no need to even use the cruiser that you started with. lol, imagine thinking deep space is scary and you overprepare like a fucking noob. "gee, I wonder why this game is so fucking easy for me? yeah, I just can't see how anyone could possible struggle." ffs dude. you're like a rich kid wondering why homeless people don't just... go buy a house!?

[@Kain987]

Can't believe you didn't diss on Splattercat too :). He's a really entertaining youtuber & I like watching his let's plays, not to mention he often points me to games I love that I would never have found out about, but his playing... yeah, he often makes me want to facepalm when watching him play... but to his credit, he pulls it off in the end and is funny to boot. Your vids... much more informative & grounded in experience.

[@AiDecc]

ATM I have much over 1.000h in Starsector (with and without multiple mods, with and without settings.json modifications), played over last ca. 5-6 years. And I remember my first problem in the game - having too much credits! Seriously. First issue that I had (and the one that later on made me stop playing SS for very long time) was that I have collected so much currency that the game couldn't handle it (credit cap). I don't see anything easier in SS than making credits. Entirely destroying a faction (for the first time) was difficult. Finding amazing ship- or weapon- blueprints. Destroying all the factions incl. Hegemony and becoming a "Supreme Ruler" of "known universe" - yes, it was very difficult. But making creds is so ez that from mid to late game I don't even collect any cargo after the battles. Figuring out how to make money quickly in the EARLY GAME is IMO part of the game as there is so many many many ways. Not only "Analyze" (derelicts, probes, planets) missions, but also Academy missions, bountys, dockside bar missions (especially transport missions - "Nod to...*") and even just fighting pirates for cargo and ships. From the first hours of playing SS years ago I never had a problem of not making profits. Tutorial missions have been enough for me to reach credit cap within first 10 days of playing. I will point it out one more time; I don't see ANYTHING easier in SS than making credits.

[@The-Uh]

You gud, too smort for us (I'm not special *but*, when in started I've just saw that certain "person" review video because I was curious about the two of those things at the time, then I just go down the learning curve without help. Then here a year later I end up in love with the space game that rewired my brain into a machine that turns shooty space rocket into dopamine) And all started with an awful(?) Hammerhead fleet.

[@scott-richards]

funny i play the game and think it's too easy. lol. capital ships laying all around, unlimited scrap, a whole ton of missions and trading to do. guy is prolly complaining cause he wants to fly capitals, gets them, but can't fly them immediately. that is the game. you gotta put in alittle damn effort to earn it! hate hate hate unfair assessments of games. Starsector is fantastic. totally worth the money.

[@Cx10110100]

Expensive to travel? In most systems supplies go by like 98..110 credits per Fuel goes for 21..25 credits per AND you can always find more in debree fields and derelicts Singular Exploration mission offers you between 40k and 90k credits 40K credits gets you 600 fuel and 227 supplies. With mid tier fleet thats more than enough to go to the edge of the sector I think, especially if shortcuts are used. I was able to start a colony with only 200..300K credits (and a generous donation of 4K food from local research station) on a 75% hazard +1 ore, -1 food +1 organics, mild weather, habitable arid world (surely in a sub optimal but otherwise okay system 12 lightyears away from core worlds.). The reason for settling there was...well i found 4k food and only had 600 storage so i had to make a new storage nearby xD. Turned out okay, especially since there was a +2 transplutonics, +1 ore, +1 volatiles 300% hazard cryovolcanic world nearby and 175% hazard clone of the 75% world but with decivilized pop and some transplutonics as well. This system happened to have the slipstreams close by (within 3 light years or so) all year round

[@etlttc353]

what's the 5 hour review and where can i watch it ?

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

Just made a pinned comment with the link.

[@etlttc353]

@@bigbrainenergyguy naice

[@kasjink1946]

As a bit of defense for the guy, it's not a review, technically. It's more like 5 hours of open mic after a maybe days worth of playing of undigested thoughts. He's way off the mark sure, but it is what it is.

[@sphaera2520]

Some of the points he brings up do make sense, the game could use better tutorials and a way of handing over game knowledge to a uninitiated noob. I imagine some stuff would be explained in game, others through the odd loading screen tips, and ultimately an in-game wiki glossary. Where I diverge is the idea that a large majority of functions and features need to be explicitly taught to the player, no, it’s fine if the game allows for some fuck around and find out type of learning as well.

[@tomaszpankowski8903]

New player here, it's one of the hardest games I've played Dark Souls is a walk in the park comparably. Flying a ship is hard Commanding a fleet is hard After 5h in game refitting a ship is still a dark art Being able to pick your battles and knowing if you have a chance is challenging Balancing your early fleet to have a chance in a battle and not go bankrupt without YT requires a lot of time. The best evidence this game needs a better tutorial is that some players take more than 50h to learn core mechanics! (Read other comments)

[@bigbrainenergyguy]

The game definitely needs a better tutorial because all the tools are there for the player to succeed, but it can take hours to even find out about them. Some aspects of the game are inherently challenging and I think that's ok, but a lot of new player troubles have easy solutions that just aren't clearly shown to the player.

[@acrazedgunman3388]

i agree with the game mostly having a issue with not teaching you well. I honestly find the game getting easy once you know stuff to be a bigger issue, and the main reason why as a player you feel encouraged to artificially make it harder. good example is the whole setup any passive income that you can go afk for, and there you go infinite money. When most people would find it more fun to make money faster but with at least some risk.

[@Jaydee-wd7wr]

Who goes AFK in Starsector? The whole point of the wait times is to encourage you doing other stuff.

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

I wonder when "game not teaching you well" became this much of a stigma. I am old enough to remember time when game guides were a thing and people found nothing wrong with leaning on someone else's know-how. You'd think now with a thousand videos on every possible subject at your findertips this will be even less of a problem but here we are.

[@acrazedgunman3388]

​@@Self-replicating_whatnot it's just simple as some people find it more fun to go in blind and learn the hard way. There's also a difference between outside material being required versus being helpful for a few tips and tricks

[@Self-replicating_whatnot]

@@acrazedgunman3388 "Learning the hard way" without a hard way is an oxymoron.

[@acrazedgunman3388]

​@@Jaydee-wd7wr For win-max it is very smart to afk 10 mil then suddenly play the game. practically a exploit

[@csfelfoldi]

I definitely had games where once I left the tutorial area Corvus had pirate activity and they were gunning me down with 10 times my starting fleet. Or when the first 5-10 systems had either nothing or retracted in them. The game can be quite hard without a proper guide.

[@jonber9411]

Starsector has no difficulty. You as a player choose when everything happens, how fast progress is, when to take battles? You can save up millions of credits with a small fast fleet of freighters. If you fail, you choose bad battles.

[@phuct4980]

His ( that 5hours vid) constant complaining about making a profit is utter dumb when you can get a profit by open up the market, look for where you have surplus and buy that, deliver it to market with deficit( better if it pirate or Panther). It rather easy because if you know places with deficits mean you pay more but also the market would desperate to give you more credit just to balance out the market. It the simplest form of economic which I haven’t learnt but I know because I play Starsector and get accustom to it markets system. Which isn’t that complex, it just supplies and demand, market share and what not.

[@pyotrilyichtchaikovskyii6638]

If you want to feel true pain rush to get red planet, habitable worlds and nanoforge as soon as you possibly can without the colonies to back your wallet up.

[@Albedomancer]

It's cathartic watching you play while talking about the game, I hope you have more videos like these or a lets play planned. As for SS being difficult, a basic understanding of logistics will make the game very easy. Also, figuring out mechanics that the game doesn't hold your hand with is one of the joys of your stay in the sector, exploration is more than just following a map to a pointed out destination. There is a journey, which can include many stops and many approaches, and the challenges along that journey, different ways to overcome those challenges and learning from it. Whether you like to plan or just wing it, the game will sometimes accommodate you and sometimes challenge you. My take away from playing Starsector is that it encourages(and rewards) growth.

[@Kalleosini]

while I get the point you're making with this video and I agree with it. I don't think it's a completely fair comparison. if you really wanted to prove it, you'd only use default loadouts because new players don't know the weapons and dont know what builds are good. they just autofit everything according to the default templates you start with. additionally they also don't know what ships serve what purpose in combat. so knowing which ships you want to add to your fleet is another bit. should have bought random ships or based your purchases on things other than what you know would be effective. like "that one looks cool" or "bigger is better right?" taking inefficient pilot skills would be another thing

[@wu1ming9shi]

Honestly, most things in real life having consequences also has consequences in the game, so I treated it as real life and it became a lil more easier tbh. The fuel and supplies numbers were a lil confusing for me at the start too tho.

[@Yardiff]

Yeah it’s ultra-rare to run out of supplies. Even fuel. Far more likely to be leaving stabilized caches in the far systems for later use. The hardest thing for me is building ships. I have zero skill with piloting and prefer to go autopilot. Or even full assault.

[@logancopper3385]

You should do longer videos of just playing the different stages of the game explaining as you go along if thats something you dont hate doing. I enjoyed it alot even though I havnt really played starsector in a while

[@derkavondangerkill7628]

I've raged at this game so many times. So I take a break and I contemplate my decisions up until that moment of seeming failure, a 'state of the union' essentially. Sometimes it takes 15 minutes, sometimes I don't come back to the game for a day or 2. But just when I thought I was deadlocked I'll either concede and comeback with a fresh game and fresh attitude, or I try a new strategy, or accept losses and continue and succeed where I had previously failed. It is SOOOOOOOO satisfying. I just have to remind myself many times that this game is SO complex that it's okay to not always be optimized in the decisions you make, to make a blaring mistake that may not be so obvious in the moment, but later, with hindsight.. I am always failing and somewhat succeeding at my ordinance layout choices, but I feel like over time I may be getting better?? and when a weapon the AI uses DESTROYS me in certain conditions I make sure to inspect the weapon and get it for myself at some point. This is how I learn, expand, and get better at the game. That said.. fuck this game for being so hard!! It requires a ton of knowledge and experience to make the right decisions and ESPECIALLY to pilot ships more effectively than autopilot can. a lot of times i'll just force my capital ship to move into my intended position and then hit U for autopilot to let them shoot at targets.

[@frankhorrigan8193]

Love the game; but I had to rely on youtubers to really learn the game and sometimes I wish it had the option to play more like an RTS without your own AI crapping itself yknow?

[@playbabethebookshelf6249]

im pretty sure "active flare" (green flare) don't distracting missile or PD. but it will chase after missile and fighter.

[@stalwartteakettlepotato9879]

Some games are ment to for mildly autistic people who enjoy optimising trade routes and min maxing ship stats. That being said starsector is still a casual game that is fairly easy to understand. As long as you don't finish the main quest you can grind the academy quests and if you find a half decent system to colonise near the core worlds you are set for the rest of the game.

[@markvandesande8855]

The real problem is that easy mode seems to be broken i tryed it and had a hard time. Normal seem to work fine.

[@Wolf-Nyan]

while this has near zero informational benefit for me as starsector is also my crippling addiction, i'm pretty sureit's the closest we've got (and will get for a while) to the holy BBE playthrough so by ludd it ill take it!