Stars in Shadow

Discussion regarding the Outsider webcomic, science, technology and science fiction.

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dragoongfa
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by dragoongfa »

Just run into a pretty ridiculous bug with the new patch, humans don't produce food anymore!

At least not on Glacier worlds.

EDIT: Is this actually intended though? It doesn't say anywhere that food can only be naturally produced by each species in its appropriate habitat.

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

It might not be a bug. Both the food produced by colonists and farms scales with the planet type.

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dragoongfa
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by dragoongfa »

Quick question about boarding mechanics:

If one doesn't have boarding tech and a specialized ship do we have to immobilize the ship by destroying its engine before being able to board it?

EDIT: If this is the case, I advice in tweaking the humans a little with being able to board a ship as if all their ships have the boarding module by default. This will make sense in regards with the limited lore set in place and will be a good high risk/high reward mechanic.

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

dragoongfa wrote:If one doesn't have boarding tech and a specialized ship do we have to immobilize the ship by destroying its engine before being able to board it?
That's right.

ShadowDragon8685
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by ShadowDragon8685 »

Arioch wrote:
dragoongfa wrote:If one doesn't have boarding tech and a specialized ship do we have to immobilize the ship by destroying its engine before being able to board it?
That's right.
How does one disable/board a ship? I never bothered, as it seemed to me to be far, far too much work and risk for far too limited payoff. Can you target specific parts of an opponent's vessel to attempt to disable them, or do you just have to hope RNGesus smiles on you before the craft goes the way of Winter Tide?

Also, is there any plan for boarding shuttles that can be carried in hangars and deliver marines to an enemy ship from afar?


Double-also, is there any plan to make fighters actually controllable, and give them like, weapons with ranges exceeding that of point-blank? They might be more useful if they just spawned as additional controllable entities and you could keep them close to the bigger ships that can bait the enemy into firing on them with their point defenses.

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

ShadowDragon8685 wrote:How does one disable/board a ship? I never bothered, as it seemed to me to be far, far too much work and risk for far too limited payoff. Can you target specific parts of an opponent's vessel to attempt to disable them, or do you just have to hope RNGesus smiles on you before the craft goes the way of Winter Tide?
Weapons fire can destroy engines, but there is no way to currently do so on purpose. Limpet missiles and EMP missiles can be used to disable a ship without destroying it, though it seems that Limpets are not currently in the game for some reason. There are more boarding options planned (such as transporters with the Matter Transport tech), but we haven't talked about it recently and so the plans aren't firm at the moment.
ShadowDragon8685 wrote:Double-also, is there any plan to make fighters actually controllable, and give them like, weapons with ranges exceeding that of point-blank? They might be more useful if they just spawned as additional controllable entities and you could keep them close to the bigger ships that can bait the enemy into firing on them with their point defenses.
The Starfighters tech will unlock fighters that operate as an independent unit. But making fighters more useful is just a question of balancing them properly (as is the case with missiles).

ShadowDragon8685
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by ShadowDragon8685 »

Arioch wrote:Weapons fire can destroy engines, but there is no way to currently do so on purpose. Limpet missiles and EMP missiles can be used to disable a ship without destroying it, though it seems that Limpets are not currently in the game for some reason. There are more boarding options planned (such as transporters with the Matter Transport tech), but we haven't talked about it recently and so the plans aren't firm at the moment.
Oh man, apropos of nothing, that's made me think the phrase "On a scale of 1 to Shrekt, how screwed would someone be if they were fighting an enemy who could transport a Teidar kill-squad directly to their bridge?" I'm thinking "Shrekt."

Anyway, hrm.... Will there be plans to be able to selectively-target and fire upon individual components? This could make things more interesting, making weapons a divide between hull-smashers that have a hard time targeting individual components and/or tend to deal a massive amount of hull damage whether or not they hit the component, and "Sniping" weapons that do very little hull damage but are excellent for selectively disabling individual components, ala games such as Nexus: The Jupiter Incident.
Arioch wrote:The Starfighters tech will unlock fighters that operate as an independent unit. But making fighters more useful is just a question of balancing them properly (as is the case with missiles).
With fighters, I think it would help if even carrier-launched fighters behaved as an independent unit, or at least, a squadron of them behaved as an independent unit. That way you could launch them and have them NOT suicide-dive straight at whatever enemy you had targeted, but, say, have them fly an end-run around an enemy fleet to attack the planet behind it, forcing the fleet to either divide their attention or let the planet get shrekt (unless it has PD, of course.) Or you could launch them and hold them close, waiting to use them as point defenses, etc.

Anyway, the Starfighters tech is in the game, but it doesn't seem to unlock anything at present. Is that intentional (IE, not yet implemented,) or a bug?

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

ShadowDragon8685 wrote:Will there be plans to be able to selectively-target and fire upon individual components?
Not in the near future. It would be a major complication to the tactical UI.
ShadowDragon8685 wrote:Anyway, the Starfighters tech is in the game, but it doesn't seem to unlock anything at present. Is that intentional (IE, not yet implemented,) or a bug?
Many of the late-game techs are not fully implemented, and fighters in particular are not yet properly implemented.

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Diodri
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Diodri »

Hello! I've been checking out this game recently and it looks amazing. I certainly plan on picking it up in the near future (maybe once it is officially released, I don't know if I want to taste the sandwich before it is completed). I just had a question for you:

Do you plan on adding Loroi as a playable faction?

I can understand wanting to keep both projects separate from one another, but damn, I have a MIGHTY NEED to play as my favorite warrior space elves. Maybe not Loroi specifically but a race similar to the Abh (from Crest of the Stars)? If not, then someone needs to work on a mod. *wink wink*

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

It's a possibility at some point in the future.

fredgiblet
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by fredgiblet »

On sale again for 33% off on Steam.

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icekatze
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by icekatze »

hi hi

Congrats on leaving early access! :P

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

Thanks!

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Durabys
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Durabys »

@Arioch
Now that the game is out..and your attention has been freed up..when can we expect Outsider to resume weekly updating? You will be getting $653 dollars per page..and you said that $600 is when the time spent making a page is paid for. So....... ;)
Si vis pacem, para bellum. - If you wish for peace, prepare for war.

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Chekist_Felix
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Chekist_Felix »

Durabys wrote:@Arioch
Now that the game is out..and your attention has been freed up..when can we expect Outsider to resume weekly updating? You will be getting $653 dollars per page..and you said that $600 is when the time spent making a page is paid for. So....... ;)
I'm pretty sure everyone thing about this, but to afraid\polite\lazy to ask! :D
My literacy is cringe-fest... Apologies for what you're about to read.

Krulle
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Krulle »

The time is paid for. What about the other work around it? Hosting (costs and time), PC costs (hardware and software prices, installation time,...)

Arioch? How far are you with the lost key for your rendering software?
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

I will still have some work to do on SIS and other projects, but it's my intent to focus as much as I can on Outsider. I can't make any specific promises as to exactly when the next page will appear or how regular the updates will be.

I have what I need to continue.

Krulle
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Krulle »

Good.
Take care of yourself!
Vote for Outsider on TWC: Image
charred steppes, borders of territories: page 59,
jump-map of local stars: page 121, larger map in Loroi: page 118,
System view Leido Crossroads: page 123, after the battle page 195

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Gudo
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Gudo »

Any chance of getting Stars in Shadow released on GOG as well as steam? 'Nix port still looking unlikely?

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Arioch
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Re: Stars in Shadow

Post by Arioch »

Gudo wrote:Any chance of getting Stars in Shadow released on GOG as well as steam?
Yes, we're working on this.
Gudo wrote: 'Nix port still looking unlikely?
It's not in the plans for the near future.

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