Starsector

[Adraius]

I'm still here, just lurking when I'm on the bus . I'm desperate to get some games down!

I've been expecting you to to be on that high scores list! Or even win a game in the absence of our other previous winners. Somewhat disappointing turnout from that crowd. biomatter says he's busy, and KY is busy playing Qud! (There was also another player who won via stealth, but said afterward they'd be back for 1.0.)

But hey, if it happens to be an inconvenient time that's okay--we have at least gotten a ton of games in, some nice stats, and sparked a lot of ongoing discussion.

Sorry!  What happened to me was I discovered the game Starsector, which (when the brilliant community-made mods are added) is literally my dream game.  I literally haven't touched another computer game since I found it about two weeks ago. =) It also unfortunately scratches much the same sci-fi procedural loot-based niche that Cogmind was filling.  I also have a good bit less free time than I did a few weeks ago, so I won't be anywhere near as active around here as I was my first couple weeks on the forum.  I'll be around, though!

[Kyzrati]

Cool, glad you found your dream game, and eventually when you've played the heck out of it Cogmind will be more complete . Good to know where you disappeared off to so suddenly--thanks for sharing and see you around!

[zxc]

Sorry!  What happened to me was I discovered the game Starsector, which (when the brilliant community-made mods are added) is literally my dream game.

Ooh this looks cool! See you guys in a few weeks!

[mendonca]

Starsector ... brilliant community-made mods ...

*cough*



(sorry to continue derail, but couldn't help myself ... ! )

[Kyzrati]

(sorry to continue derail, but couldn't help myself ... ! )

Well look who it is!

And wow that's been in the works for quite some time.

[jimmijamjams]

Starsector ... brilliant community-made mods ...

*cough*



(sorry to continue derail, but couldn't help myself ... ! )

Hehe I didn't want to derail the thread any further, but now it has its own thread:

This game looks really interesting!  Just had a quick look a few videos and I'm pretty impressed.  Does anyone know of any good LPers that are playing it?

[mendonca]

This game looks really interesting!  Just had a quick look a few videos and I'm pretty impressed.  Does anyone know of any good LPers that are playing it?

It's pretty much my favourite game ever ... even after playing and modding it for the past 4-5 years it's still pretty much my go-to game for maximum enjoyment (not so much recently, as the last major update release came out nearly a year ago - but when the next one drops - which should be pretty major in terms of gameplay content additions - I expect I'll be back to it for a while).

There were a few historic LPers who did some vanilla and modded runs; I can't remember all the names so it's probably as well searching YouTube for Starsector and hoping for the best (NemoNaemo, EverLazy spring to mind ... although they are likely all earlier versions). Current LPs are a bit light, as the release cycle is slowing down general community involvement.

(This isn't a slight on the development process, byt the way - The Dev is great, and really intent on creating a coherent and complete game - the stability and quality of all major releases is absurdly good - but game dev takes time)

Interestingly, the artist is David Baumgart of Dungeons of Dredmor (Roguelike) / Gaslamp fame - hence the superb visual aesthetic running throughout.

If you can catch Cycerin on Twitch, that's always good fun, and he has a few stored videos of him testing out the thoroughly beautiful and brilliant BlackRock DriveYards mod (as well as other stuff).

Vanilla really does stand out on its own as a great game, and for a bit of added longevity there really are some very high quality mods. It seems to have attracted a small community of likeminded artists and creative types who work together to put out some very high quality and complementary content.

Try Starsector+ for a majorly tweaked vanilla experience (but still maintaining the general feel), Nexerelin for a procedurally generated sector and system-conquer mechanic, and notable high-quality content mods (typically adding factions / systems and sometimes new mechanics);

Scy, Blackrock Driveyards, Shadowyards, Exigency are some of my favourites and all contain original artwork and interesting twists on Vanilla gameplay.

Knights Templar is frighteningly beautiful and polished, but adds a super-scary, ultra-high-tech faction (and I don't personally tend to play with them switched on). There are more, and they are all generally very good.

Oh, and ShaderLib, where modders have added support for normal mapping / pretty shader-driven lighting to the experience.

[jimmijamjams]

Thanks for all the info!  I'll have something for my other monitor while I whittle away at assignments for a while

[Adraius]

Mendonca covered things pretty darn well. =) I've skimmed all six seasons of Nemonaemo's playthrough, he has a pretty good grasp of the game and goes from 100% vanilla at the start to a whole plethora of mods, and shows everything from single-ship to multi-capital fleet combat.  As noted by mendonca, Starsector Plus and Nexerlin are the two core mods, I see little point in playing the game WITHOUT those - there's also a half-dozen or so quality-of-life mods like Simulator Overhaul and Common Radar I'd also recommend everyone use (listed on the SS+ page).  Most of the other mods add new factions - the most vanilla-like ones are Interstellar Imperium and Tiandong Heavy Industries IMO.