That’s easy enough – just a distance check with some padding.
The first order of business is for a fleet to get a list of neighbors that are too close for comfort. The calculations are also performed by each fleet independently, but designed so that effectively cooperative behavior emerges when all the fleets apply the same behavioral rules. So, what’s actually involved in getting this behavior? While nothing here is terribly complex, there is a surprising number of pieces. The other day, encountering a particularly egregious case, I wrote a quick algorithm for the fleet AI to use to avoid overlapping other orbiting fleets as much as possible. This isn’t a huge problem in terms of game mechanics, but it’s still occasionally inconvenient and just messy to look at. The orbits of some well-to-do colonies can get quite crowded, with fleets overlapping each other and being difficult to pick out. In Starsector, fleets will often orbit a planet for some time – trade fleets offloading cargo, patrols preparing for duty, and so on. I will, of course, continue to write regular-style blog posts as well. As the recall device has a set cooldown of 30 seconds, it pairs extremely well with Systems Expertise in Tier 5 of the Combat skills tree.This blog post is a bit different than usual – instead of talking about a major new game mechanic, I’d like to instead take a quick – but in-depth – look at something relatively minor, but that I thought was interesting. Its most notable features are the built-in Advanced Optics hull mod, which extends the range of any beam weapons the ship has equipped this is useful for suppressing any detachment from trying to take its flank.Īstrals have a Recall Device system, unique to the Astral, which allows it to teleport any fighters (especially effective with bombers) it has deployed to back to the ship for rapid re-arming.
#Starsector key full#
The full power of the Astral needs to be focused on its fighter ships. The high flux capacity should be utilized to defend itself as it cannot easily tank unshielded damage like other capitals.Īs a direct combat ship, it is the worst of all the capitals (not counting the Atlas or Prometheus). The Astral boasts two large missile mounts and powerful 360 degree shields with a fragile hull and a respectable logistical profile, as to be expected from a high-tech ship. The Astral is a capital-grade carrier with heavy missile weaponry and the most fighter bays of any ship in the game. Senior Naval Corporate Officers of the Tri-Tachyon Corporation or extremely wealthy private admirals sometimes make an Astral their flagship. Few serve with the Hegemony due to the high technological requirements that it imposes on orbital docks. The Astral is perhaps the most technologically advanced capital ship that can be seen in the Sector today. These task forces are a rarity, as the power they hold is usually required to subjugate entire planets or blockade enormous areas of space. This is why when not protected by its fighter wings it never travels alone, but instead is at the head of space-borne carrier fleets. The Astral-class is very vulnerable should the X-35 come down. Automated facilities ensure that a squadron coming back from a mission can quickly be repaired and rearmed behind the safety of the powerful X-35 shield emitter. Nearly any enemy ship type that appears on the captain's scopes can quickly be dispatched, given just a launch order of a wing of nimble interceptors, strike bombers or fighters.
The true power of an Astral lies in its fighter craft, which give the carrier unprecedented flexibility in the battle space. Defensive weapon systems are typically, but not always, point defense turrets and long-range missiles. Nearly all systems that can be automated are, with each handled by sophisticated AI cores installed throughout the ship. The Astral-class ships are thought to have been the epitome of carrier design in the Domain during the years prior to the Collapse. A technologically advanced capital ship designed primarily as a carrier, the Astral-class is able to project vast amounts of firepower through its numerous fighter craft squadrons.
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