I’m very sad that the series ended here. I Learned a lot from watching this playthrough. And listening to you play is very soothing; you are the Bob Ross of Starsector. 😄
Hi JD. I am new to Starsector and have been thoroughly enjoying your tutorial and let's play series (now a subscriber). When family permits, please do continue making videos. I learn a ton from watching and your videos are just plain fun.
Hello sir ! If you see a surge of viewers from France in your starsector videos, that's because a popular french TH-camr made a starsector series. (I'm one of them). Keep up with the good work !
Glad seeing from recent comments that you're still around. Looking forward to a modded series. I'm very(, VERY) new to the game, and your vanilla series as well as tutorial series has definitely been some of the most instructive content I was able to watch so far. And I could already get to the point of making a million creds pretty reliably but I would do it kind of shoddily. Now I understand more about fitting ships to specific tasks and fleet compositions I feel like I could do a much better job with the game. Have a good one and thanks for all the quality content.
Couple tips I have: 1) A Conquest is the easiest capital to get early (not counting Atlas MkII) that can be super potent as a flagship. The Sindrian Ditkat or Perseans usually have them on the Black Market surprisingly early in the game. Fitted for range, extended shields, hardened shields, and max flux disappation, it can be a tanky, high-DPS long-range gun platform to anchor your fleet. I like starting with Mark IX autocannons in the large slots and heavy autocannons in the mediums, then upgrading to a final loadout of 2x Haephestus Autocannons, 2x Gauss Cannon, and 4x Hypervelocity Driver. This can easily be done by mid game after raiding some low threat systems. I don't use missiles personally because I find them too expensive OP wise for what you get (opting for more capacitors), instead I bring 2x strike Herons since bombers don't run out of torpedoes. I shred the shields, and the Haephestus can get through armor, but everything including capitals becomes a one shot for the bombers after I shred the shields. Use your mobility to not overcommit and the Conquest's bad shield flux to damage won't be a problem. You want to kite and bait the enemy to chasing you into your carriers and support cruisers. A Conquest, 2x Assault Eagle IVX, and 2x Strike Herons can beat any pirate Armada (set a defensive waypoint order in a corner so you don't get flanked when heavily outnumbered) for trading or exploring heavy style, but still on a budget, costing ~1 million for initial set up. 2) Games with a habitable world in the Duzahk system can be really fun for the fact its easy to do trade missions with your own supply, but definitely makes the game less difficult because you can quickly snowball how much you can make per mission by rapidly buying up freighters.
Thanks for the tip on acquiring Conquest early. This ship is amazing and love to fly it, the loadout I normally use is 2 heavy needlers and 2 Haephestus assault guns on one side and 2 swarmer SRM in the front, the other side just flak for PD. I will try your loadout to see if it will work for me.
JD I just discovered Starsector about a week ago, bought the game and have been thoroughly enjoying the game. I loved watching this Let's Play series and your instructional commentary. I have learned so much from watching you. I hope you plan a new Starsector series soon. Congrats on the new addition to your family. Children are a joy and I pray for God blessings upon you and your family.
Here's the things that cause your colonies to be attacked: Pirates: Breathing Expeditions: If you break a faction's ruthless monopoly on a given product, they might attack your colony which produces the most of that product because you're making too much money. You can also be targeted with these for being a free port, also because they don't like how much money you're making. AI Inspection Day: The Hegemony hate fun and profit. The higher level and higher number of AIs you use, the more likely they are to catch wind and try to shut them down. Luddic Path cells work slightly differently. Many buildings will generate interest for a local Luddic Path cell. These are: Mining (1), Refining (2), Tech-Mining (6), Heavy Industry/Orbital Works (2), Fuel Production (2). Nanoforges and Synchrotrons increase interest significantly. All AI cores also generate some LP interest, but I'm not quite sure how much. If a colony has 7 or more interest, it may spawn active Luddic Path cells. I believe 5 or more interest spawns sleeper cells but they won't do anything. Active cells are mostly harmless as long as you keep stability high.
@JDCollie PIN THIS! HUGE NOTE FOR THOSE NOT IN THE KNOW: Any colony you make that isn't in a pre-owned system, *you have an initial 3 month grace period where you won't be raided, assaulted, or Pather celled.* Use this time to aggressively expand your colony industries and defenses. *WARNING:* This time is reduced by one month (30 days) for every next colony made. However, this is completely mitigated if you put those colonies in the same system as the first, as long as that first colony is still in its grace period (it will end for all colonies when the grace period is over). Use that time wisely, and remember, mass colonizing a system, even for its poor planets, is best for those not wanting to be that ball and chained to their colonies. Just make sure you put a mining industry (for cost mitigations) and High Commands (for system defense fleets) on all the planets. With 3 colonies in the same system of size 4+ all with High Commands (with your own heavy industry supplying it), you basically stop needing to worry about any colony threats other than Pather cells. And even those aren't that big a threat right now, so don't stress it over much.
The tanking aspect of the Paragon is what I like about it, personally. XD With level three shielding perk and the hardened shields mod, it only takes like one third damage on its shield, which is insane. I've been able to sit there and simultaneously fight a pirate cruiser, destroyer, and like 4 frigates, without really being in any danger. The ship mod that lets all small energy and ballistic weapons act as point defense, plus a big compliment of tactical lasers with their 1,000 range has been great too.
My favourite ship at the moment is a 14th Battlegroup Falcon with Safety Overrides, 2x Sabot SRM, 2x Assault Chainguns, 2x Ion Pulser, 2x Ion Cannon and 2x Mining laser for PD at the back, escorted by Spark Interceptor Drones from my Heron-Class Carriers. So much fun! :)
I see you are planning to be a fuel producer. You might use that as an opportunity to explain the market share mechanic a little bit and the benefits/cons of it.
Honestly there isn't much to share (Alex obfuscates a lot of that kind of data) It mostly boils down to More Share = More Profit, with a side of angry invasions from factions who are losing their market share to you. The one detail some new players may not know is that you can raid planets who are in competition with you to take over their market share, at least for the duration of their repair time for the disrupted industry.
@@jdcollie258 Yeah there really isn't much to talk about but would be neat to show how to disrupt their industries effectively (without hurting your reputation yet still disrupting them) or for example destroying every planet who has a bigger market share and then getting with them friends again so your accessibility wouldn't be hurt. P.S. these are like a few of my "tricks" i used on my "Vanilla" playthrought I also wanted to destroy every hegemony planet leaving only Chicozmotoc and getting with them friends again (since they are only the biggest producer in like two industries but consume a lot more). But i "accidently" raided them too much to the point of 104 unrest points...
FOR MODS. Go into Starsector folder. Open vmparams file with notepad++. edit the area that says -Xms1528m -Xmx1528m -Xss1024k TO: -Xms8192m -Xmx8192m -Xss1024k (This is if you have more than 8gigs of ram)
I run with Armour Line setup - 3 onslaughts, 2 Legions, and several Dominators as support. I dont like piloting the ship myself, so this is perfect for me - setup a defensive line, let people come to me and get shrekt. Just to put in perspective - Ive had a fight with 3x large pirate fleets at once (~20 Atlas mk.ll and god knows how much smaller ships) and did not lose a single ship. Ofc, they didnt all attack at once, rather pirates had a steady stream of reinforcements, but still. Important thing is to keep them all together, where they can maximise defensive potential until you wreck enough frigates to charge their capitals, or wreck enough capitals and cruisers to chase their trash down. Also ECM skill is mandatory, since longer ranged fleets will counter you.
Have you tried it against Remnant Ordos? It sounds incredibly sexy, but I'd be curious to know how it fairs against the extremely high burst and mobility of things like Radiants.
@@jdcollie258 I have, in fact. Its quite more of a struggle, considering radiants jump away, but with some careful target selection you can whittle away their escorts, and then gang up and wreck the radiant. Definetely more of a challenge though.
When I was looking to make a colony, I followed a guide on Reddit. I now have colonised 3 planets in one system, making over $800k a month. Colonies are a money sink, but they make back so much money in the end. I was also lucky to find a paragon blueprint, so my fleets use them mainly. Sadly, I got bored as I became quite powerful. Colony guide I mentioned earlier: www.reddit.com/r/starsector/comments/cp8c4j/091a_stressfree_newbie_colony_guide/
@@LokiLiveStreams The Paragon has an insane shield and is capable of dealing a LOT of damage at extreme ranges. Whilst the Onslaught is definitely not a bad ship it definitely requires a different piloting philosophy...
One thing i see in the meta-game is that the -1 stability and -10 accessibility is pretty much nothing from the pirates (the Path is even less important ) the only thing you actually need to keep the colony safe is a star fortress High command is unusually useless if build more than 1 in a system and more important they take one WHOLE industry slot which can be very important for a colony which was made for the specific economic value.
In my latest game I stumbled upon a system with 5 habitable worlds (1 terran, 1 arid, 3 tundra) and a cryosleeper. The only issues are the lack of volatiles (there's a single gas giant but its a moderate production, although it's only 150% hazard), and the fairly long travel time to and from the core worlds. Seed is ON-444575690185730786, the system is Delta Piscum in the Pisces constellation.
That is an extremely profitable system, and a gas giant with only 150% and moderate volatiles is great. Complete self sufficiency will significantly reduce costs of your worlds. I would recommend colonizing every planet at once, throwing down one farming industry to supply the system early on, and as many mining industries as it takes to get all basic commodities (ore, rare ore, organics, volatiles). There should be a planet or two after that that do not have any industries on them, so try and set it up that these ones have the least amount of hazard rating, because you need to drop a heavy industry and refining industry on them asap. While you wait for your planets to get bigger and open a second industry slot, upgrading your Spaceport to a Megaport and dropping on Waystation will significantly increase accessibility to your planets. When your second industry slots open up, you want to build a fuel refinery, and upgrade those Patrol HQs into Military Bases (and then upgrade those into High Commands). Having so many military bases and high commands will increase system defense significantly, allowing you to not have to babysit for anything but Pather cells. Don't forget, you have 3 months of initial safety for the system when you first colonize it, so coming in and populating everything in one big swoop will be to your advantage. Just make sure you have the cash, commodities, and crew on hand to to it, plus the ability to pick up making more money to keep that production going at all times.
I started colonizing with a bit over 3 mil, so i should be able to get a total of 3-4 planets for now, but i really need to make money (commission barely pays enough to make a new building in 3 months and bounties are rather rare at the part of the sector i'm in).
Hi JD, I have just started playing Starsector and love you Let's play series! Also have a 5 months old so can imagine how caotic it can be. Hope everyone is well and that you can come back and do another wonderful series. Maybe going full pirate side this time!
Can't say I use Falcons properly, but I typically use two as escorts for my flagship while I hunt HVTs. Throw some beam weapons on there and they keep a lot of annoying threats away while I focus on the corvettes/frigates I can burst down. Or, give them shield deletion and they can help nuke a real threat. I typically drop them once my Colony is set-up and I can afford to field an Onslaught as my Flagship, which is when I start swapping them for a group of mules and make my death ball. Shoot, sometimes I run a Falcon (xiv) as my Flagship and just plant my capitals somewhere on the defense line. Like you said, just because something isn't best in slot, doesn't mean it isn't worth using. Falcon (P) also has some good uses and I often pick one up when I can, even late game. Besides all that, I guess I just love the wedge shape. Looks like an A-Wing had a baby with a Y-Wing. Really unique vanilla look. Downloaded a whole mod because the design focused purely on the Falcon frame. The ships aren't even amazing. Or if they are, I'm not good enough to use them.
@@joshuadavis5899 in modded content, the Apogee is one of the few vanilla ships that has a place in my fleet. Two reflector beams on the front small with an HIL make this a very deadly support ship for a survey fleet. Reflectors are kinetic beam weapons that decimate shields. I forget what mod adds them.
Btw after you get done with this series are you going to give a series on a "somewheat modded" playtrough? That would be intersting see from you if you have the time and care to do so
Once you have a strong fleet, system bounties become super easy money makers. It's always pirates with garbage ships, but a lot of frigate points to destroy. At some point, you can mop them up with your second line whatever. The Conquest is awesome if set up right, but the Odyssey is just an autowin button. Efficient 360 degree shields (Hardened Shields + Shield Conversion: Front) FTW. For the modded playthrough, I would start with Nexerelin, Underworld, Starship Legends, Ship&Weapons Pack, then add whatever factions you like.
I'm new player and I thank you a lot for you series. I want to start my first colony really bad but it seems I got not very fortunate rng seed. Capped out personal and officer skills ages ago, sitting on about 7KK balance and even occasionally farming the a-cores from those dudes. I've surveyed most of the map and still have not found a single 75% haz planet, and all those having 100% and farming are located in really bad systems. It would be interesting if you show the ways of handling ordos effectively. I play on default fleet size and the guys give me hard times. I found set-up that works for me more a less: Para, Astral, the rest filled with Moras and atlasses mk3. I tank up the Radiant with the Paragon and sync my retaliation with mass fighter strike, this way it can be crippled from the 1st pass, and then finished up. The rest is no problem. Haven't tried vs fleets with 2+ Radiants though (seems impossible for my current fleet composition).
@JDCollie Fantastic series, thank you so much for your effort. Would it be possible for you to make a carrier guide? Is it viable to mainly use them from the start? A drone focused video showcasing early and mid game? Have a fantastic weekend. Also you mentioned other games you could play, here are some tips. Startraders Frontiers, Rimworld, HoI IV Old world blues mod. Have a fantastic weekend
I use my colonies as free storage, and if you are planning on hoarding stuff, I recommend you do the same. As for supplying the colony however, do what works for you.
Hey, JD, I wanted to chime in quickly about your previous suggestion to take a commission from a faction when going exploring or building up your colony... Whilst this IS a great way to make a boat-load of cash (especially on long exploration trips), one should be somewhat careful with this as your standing with other factions will get progressively worse and worse as time goes on. After I was done exploring, pretty much all the factions but the one I signed up with were very "unkind" to the point where they wouldn't let me trade, which is a problem... And while it's definitely possible to jump back up (best way is to find a system where a pirate siege is underway and help out; but those don't pop up on demand), it's certainly an investment. Other than that - yeah... boatloads of cash.
After my first Red Planet my Sector now got 7 Planets/ moons from 20k up to 32k defense. I think its now impossible for anyone to attack something in there^^
@@GunLinser he doesnt actually mention it (which is surprising and actually important) but you can pump it to even a bigger DP if you get into the game files. There should be a more in-depth guide to do that.
When to start a colony: 1) you have enough money in the bank for the colony upgrades - roughly ~4-5 million should suffice; remember that the ideal colony should have more than one colonized planet in the system, and the upgrades are expensive! 2) you have a medium sized fleet capable of handling threats confidently - you don't need to have the largest of capital ships just yet (of course if you do, great!), but you can't be running on Kites... 3) have actually found a suitable place to colonize!
You really don't need to have the money in the bank though, just the ability to make it. You can only construct a single structure at a time, so there is a limit to your expenses for a single colony. (Less true of course once you being upgrading, since you can do that concurrently) As long as you can keep enough money coming in to finance the construction and upgrades, your actual savings are irrelevant.
@@jdcollie258 I guess that's true, but you still need a few of the base structures for +stability and +accessibility bonuses which, in turn, help the colony grow faster (not sure which is more important). Yes, those are optional, but why wait? ;) Slap on the free port and there's also the danger of the occasional faction attack. Of course those are small and can be repelled, but I (personally) don't like to babysit my colony and would prefer if it was able to defend itself. All in all, I'm very risk averse, so I'd prefer to have a bit more money when starting the colony than not enough. The worst thing you can do is start a colony and have it create very little income whilst requiring near constant babysitting... or a situation where the faction attacks are bigger than you can handle requiring you to divert nearly all earnings to prevent them... (Yes, I did that once...) In theory you could just start a colony with next to no investment incentives and just the initial industry (mining or farming) and that would already make some money whilst not requiring all that much babysitting (no free port, no AI cores, no heavy industry)... But with a bit of investment the colony will grow much faster and yield much better income. For the record - my reply to your video wasn't criticism! Your videos are excellent, and I really like them. Heck, I learned a LOT from them myself. It was just my 2 cents for "when to start a colony". ;)
@@jdcollie258 PS. I also feel that if ones choice of a system to colonize is sensible, then it WILL make money - and the biggest limiting factor is how fast you can get essentials online so that the income is in the hundreds of thousands rather than (just) thousands... Again - personal preference, nothing else.
@@shaamaan I generally agree with your approach, to be honest. I just want to make sure than anyone who is reading your comment understood that kind of preparation isn't strictly necessary, just wise :D
What about the battlefield "objectives" like Nav Buoy and Comm Relay? I don't see you taking them, but I noticed the Luddic fleet take 2 of them in the battle at 28:20 minutes.
They give minor buffs to you and debuffs to your opponent. They're nice and all, but I find that, since I'm usually outnumbered, going out of my way to capture them will expose my flanks or isolate my weaker ships to superior numbers.
The first world JD settled he called Trenzalore, since its supposed to be attacked often. So I am pretty sure JD also called that one himself. Which makes HIM the Doctor Who fan.
The bonuses they give aren't always useful, especially not to a character with many skills: increasing ECM rating, for example, usually isn't needed because it doesn't provide a larger bonus than the one he's already getting from the electronic warfare skill. Other bonuses like increased command point production just usually aren't worth the time unless you find yourself running out of command points often, which unless you're over-managing your fleet, doesn't really happen.
I’m very sad that the series ended here. I Learned a lot from watching this playthrough. And listening to you play is very soothing; you are the Bob Ross of Starsector. 😄
As a dad myself I love every time a baby disruption occurs. Its so wholesome and relatable.
I agree. Being an 'older' dad gamer, its the side things like that that make me come back to watching a youtuber.
Hell, it's a joy to hear even for me, who's not a dad yet
Hi JD. I am new to Starsector and have been thoroughly enjoying your tutorial and let's play series (now a subscriber). When family permits, please do continue making videos. I learn a ton from watching and your videos are just plain fun.
Hello sir ! If you see a surge of viewers from France in your starsector videos, that's because a popular french TH-camr made a starsector series. (I'm one of them). Keep up with the good work !
Glad to have you all :D
Glad seeing from recent comments that you're still around. Looking forward to a modded series. I'm very(, VERY) new to the game, and your vanilla series as well as tutorial series has definitely been some of the most instructive content I was able to watch so far. And I could already get to the point of making a million creds pretty reliably but I would do it kind of shoddily. Now I understand more about fitting ships to specific tasks and fleet compositions I feel like I could do a much better job with the game.
Have a good one and thanks for all the quality content.
Couple tips I have:
1) A Conquest is the easiest capital to get early (not counting Atlas MkII) that can be super potent as a flagship. The Sindrian Ditkat or Perseans usually have them on the Black Market surprisingly early in the game. Fitted for range, extended shields, hardened shields, and max flux disappation, it can be a tanky, high-DPS long-range gun platform to anchor your fleet.
I like starting with Mark IX autocannons in the large slots and heavy autocannons in the mediums, then upgrading to a final loadout of 2x Haephestus Autocannons, 2x Gauss Cannon, and 4x Hypervelocity Driver. This can easily be done by mid game after raiding some low threat systems. I don't use missiles personally because I find them too expensive OP wise for what you get (opting for more capacitors), instead I bring 2x strike Herons since bombers don't run out of torpedoes. I shred the shields, and the Haephestus can get through armor, but everything including capitals becomes a one shot for the bombers after I shred the shields. Use your mobility to not overcommit and the Conquest's bad shield flux to damage won't be a problem. You want to kite and bait the enemy to chasing you into your carriers and support cruisers. A Conquest, 2x Assault Eagle IVX, and 2x Strike Herons can beat any pirate Armada (set a defensive waypoint order in a corner so you don't get flanked when heavily outnumbered) for trading or exploring heavy style, but still on a budget, costing ~1 million for initial set up.
2) Games with a habitable world in the Duzahk system can be really fun for the fact its easy to do trade missions with your own supply, but definitely makes the game less difficult because you can quickly snowball how much you can make per mission by rapidly buying up freighters.
Thanks for the tip on acquiring Conquest early. This ship is amazing and love to fly it, the loadout I normally use is 2 heavy needlers and 2 Haephestus assault guns on one side and 2 swarmer SRM in the front, the other side just flak for PD. I will try your loadout to see if it will work for me.
JD I just discovered Starsector about a week ago, bought the game and have been thoroughly enjoying the game. I loved watching this Let's Play series and your instructional commentary. I have learned so much from watching you. I hope you plan a new Starsector series soon. Congrats on the new addition to your family. Children are a joy and I pray for God blessings upon you and your family.
Thanks!
I'd love to plan a new series soon, but it isn't very likely at the moment, especially with all the older kids being home now too :/
Here's the things that cause your colonies to be attacked:
Pirates: Breathing
Expeditions: If you break a faction's ruthless monopoly on a given product, they might attack your colony which produces the most of that product because you're making too much money. You can also be targeted with these for being a free port, also because they don't like how much money you're making.
AI Inspection Day: The Hegemony hate fun and profit. The higher level and higher number of AIs you use, the more likely they are to catch wind and try to shut them down.
Luddic Path cells work slightly differently. Many buildings will generate interest for a local Luddic Path cell. These are: Mining (1), Refining (2), Tech-Mining (6), Heavy Industry/Orbital Works (2), Fuel Production (2). Nanoforges and Synchrotrons increase interest significantly. All AI cores also generate some LP interest, but I'm not quite sure how much. If a colony has 7 or more interest, it may spawn active Luddic Path cells. I believe 5 or more interest spawns sleeper cells but they won't do anything. Active cells are mostly harmless as long as you keep stability high.
@JDCollie
PIN THIS!
HUGE NOTE FOR THOSE NOT IN THE KNOW:
Any colony you make that isn't in a pre-owned system, *you have an initial 3 month grace period where you won't be raided, assaulted, or Pather celled.* Use this time to aggressively expand your colony industries and defenses.
*WARNING:*
This time is reduced by one month (30 days) for every next colony made. However, this is completely mitigated if you put those colonies in the same system as the first, as long as that first colony is still in its grace period (it will end for all colonies when the grace period is over).
Use that time wisely, and remember, mass colonizing a system, even for its poor planets, is best for those not wanting to be that ball and chained to their colonies. Just make sure you put a mining industry (for cost mitigations) and High Commands (for system defense fleets) on all the planets. With 3 colonies in the same system of size 4+ all with High Commands (with your own heavy industry supplying it), you basically stop needing to worry about any colony threats other than Pather cells. And even those aren't that big a threat right now, so don't stress it over much.
The tanking aspect of the Paragon is what I like about it, personally. XD
With level three shielding perk and the hardened shields mod, it only takes like one third damage on its shield, which is insane. I've been able to sit there and simultaneously fight a pirate cruiser, destroyer, and like 4 frigates, without really being in any danger. The ship mod that lets all small energy and ballistic weapons act as point defense, plus a big compliment of tactical lasers with their 1,000 range has been great too.
My favourite ship at the moment is a 14th Battlegroup Falcon with Safety Overrides, 2x Sabot SRM, 2x Assault Chainguns, 2x Ion Pulser, 2x Ion Cannon and 2x Mining laser for PD at the back, escorted by Spark Interceptor Drones from my Heron-Class Carriers. So much fun! :)
That is a sexy sounding build. Terrifying DPS too. I may have to give that fit a shot.
Thanks for this series, you have helped me a lot with learning the ins and outs of this games
Congrats at 34:35 with the original homeworld soundtrack, I dig!
I see you are planning to be a fuel producer.
You might use that as an opportunity to explain the market share mechanic a little bit and the benefits/cons of it.
Honestly there isn't much to share (Alex obfuscates a lot of that kind of data)
It mostly boils down to More Share = More Profit, with a side of angry invasions from factions who are losing their market share to you.
The one detail some new players may not know is that you can raid planets who are in competition with you to take over their market share, at least for the duration of their repair time for the disrupted industry.
@@jdcollie258 Yeah there really isn't much to talk about but would be neat to show how to disrupt their industries effectively (without hurting your reputation yet still disrupting them) or for example destroying every planet who has a bigger market share and then getting with them friends again so your accessibility wouldn't be hurt.
P.S. these are like a few of my "tricks" i used on my "Vanilla" playthrought I also wanted to destroy every hegemony planet leaving only Chicozmotoc and getting with them friends again (since they are only the biggest producer in like two industries but consume a lot more). But i "accidently" raided them too much to the point of 104 unrest points...
I just discovered Starsector and ty for the vids - congrats to the baby
That's Homeworld music!!!! Turanic Raiders I believe...
FOR MODS. Go into Starsector folder. Open vmparams file with notepad++. edit the area that says -Xms1528m -Xmx1528m -Xss1024k TO: -Xms8192m -Xmx8192m -Xss1024k (This is if you have more than 8gigs of ram)
Hi JDCollie! Thank you so much for your work!
I'd love to see you cover some of the big total conversion mods! They seem so in depth and a helping hand would be nice
I run with Armour Line setup - 3 onslaughts, 2 Legions, and several Dominators as support. I dont like piloting the ship myself, so this is perfect for me - setup a defensive line, let people come to me and get shrekt. Just to put in perspective - Ive had a fight with 3x large pirate fleets at once (~20 Atlas mk.ll and god knows how much smaller ships) and did not lose a single ship. Ofc, they didnt all attack at once, rather pirates had a steady stream of reinforcements, but still.
Important thing is to keep them all together, where they can maximise defensive potential until you wreck enough frigates to charge their capitals, or wreck enough capitals and cruisers to chase their trash down. Also ECM skill is mandatory, since longer ranged fleets will counter you.
Have you tried it against Remnant Ordos? It sounds incredibly sexy, but I'd be curious to know how it fairs against the extremely high burst and mobility of things like Radiants.
@@jdcollie258 I have, in fact. Its quite more of a struggle, considering radiants jump away, but with some careful target selection you can whittle away their escorts, and then gang up and wreck the radiant. Definetely more of a challenge though.
When I was looking to make a colony, I followed a guide on Reddit. I now have colonised 3 planets in one system, making over $800k a month. Colonies are a money sink, but they make back so much money in the end. I was also lucky to find a paragon blueprint, so my fleets use them mainly. Sadly, I got bored as I became quite powerful.
Colony guide I mentioned earlier: www.reddit.com/r/starsector/comments/cp8c4j/091a_stressfree_newbie_colony_guide/
Yeah. Paragon is the way to go I once try onsluaght agains the redacted and it not going very well
@@LokiLiveStreams The Paragon has an insane shield and is capable of dealing a LOT of damage at extreme ranges. Whilst the Onslaught is definitely not a bad ship it definitely requires a different piloting philosophy...
@@shaamaan I like the look of the onslaught but sadly hull tank is not my style XD
Get mods, revel in the insanity.
One thing i see in the meta-game is that the -1 stability and -10 accessibility is pretty much nothing from the pirates (the Path is even less important ) the only thing you actually need to keep the colony safe is a star fortress High command is unusually useless if build more than 1 in a system and more important they take one WHOLE industry slot which can be very important for a colony which was made for the specific economic value.
Very enjoyable Series, I hope you will one day return to do a more advanced or normal playtrough either vanilla or modded.
In my latest game I stumbled upon a system with 5 habitable worlds (1 terran, 1 arid, 3 tundra) and a cryosleeper. The only issues are the lack of volatiles (there's a single gas giant but its a moderate production, although it's only 150% hazard), and the fairly long travel time to and from the core worlds. Seed is ON-444575690185730786, the system is Delta Piscum in the Pisces constellation.
That is an extremely profitable system, and a gas giant with only 150% and moderate volatiles is great. Complete self sufficiency will significantly reduce costs of your worlds. I would recommend colonizing every planet at once, throwing down one farming industry to supply the system early on, and as many mining industries as it takes to get all basic commodities (ore, rare ore, organics, volatiles). There should be a planet or two after that that do not have any industries on them, so try and set it up that these ones have the least amount of hazard rating, because you need to drop a heavy industry and refining industry on them asap.
While you wait for your planets to get bigger and open a second industry slot, upgrading your Spaceport to a Megaport and dropping on Waystation will significantly increase accessibility to your planets.
When your second industry slots open up, you want to build a fuel refinery, and upgrade those Patrol HQs into Military Bases (and then upgrade those into High Commands). Having so many military bases and high commands will increase system defense significantly, allowing you to not have to babysit for anything but Pather cells.
Don't forget, you have 3 months of initial safety for the system when you first colonize it, so coming in and populating everything in one big swoop will be to your advantage. Just make sure you have the cash, commodities, and crew on hand to to it, plus the ability to pick up making more money to keep that production going at all times.
I started colonizing with a bit over 3 mil, so i should be able to get a total of 3-4 planets for now, but i really need to make money (commission barely pays enough to make a new building in 3 months and bounties are rather rare at the part of the sector i'm in).
Honestly that system sounds phenomenal. A 150% gas giant? Sign me up!
WhAt mods du u have
I play vanilla for now, maybe in the future I'll add some.
Hi JD, I have just started playing Starsector and love you Let's play series! Also have a 5 months old so can imagine how caotic it can be. Hope everyone is well and that you can come back and do another wonderful series.
Maybe going full pirate side this time!
Can't say I use Falcons properly, but I typically use two as escorts for my flagship while I hunt HVTs. Throw some beam weapons on there and they keep a lot of annoying threats away while I focus on the corvettes/frigates I can burst down. Or, give them shield deletion and they can help nuke a real threat. I typically drop them once my Colony is set-up and I can afford to field an Onslaught as my Flagship, which is when I start swapping them for a group of mules and make my death ball. Shoot, sometimes I run a Falcon (xiv) as my Flagship and just plant my capitals somewhere on the defense line. Like you said, just because something isn't best in slot, doesn't mean it isn't worth using. Falcon (P) also has some good uses and I often pick one up when I can, even late game.
Besides all that, I guess I just love the wedge shape. Looks like an A-Wing had a baby with a Y-Wing. Really unique vanilla look. Downloaded a whole mod because the design focused purely on the Falcon frame. The ships aren't even amazing. Or if they are, I'm not good enough to use them.
Yeah video games are definitely about fun. Is apogee the best ship for it's role or price ?
No but it's looks so cool.
@@joshuadavis5899 in modded content, the Apogee is one of the few vanilla ships that has a place in my fleet. Two reflector beams on the front small with an HIL make this a very deadly support ship for a survey fleet. Reflectors are kinetic beam weapons that decimate shields. I forget what mod adds them.
My best fleet consists of 3 holy rainbow disco gay laser paragons , some cargos and fuel tankers, and some small d-mod suicide squard
Disco Paragons are best Paragons.
Btw after you get done with this series are you going to give a series on a "somewheat modded" playtrough? That would be intersting see from you if you have the time and care to do so
I'd love to see that!
I'll be doing a modded playthrough to be sure. Don't know about the "somewhat" part though :D
Once you have a strong fleet, system bounties become super easy money makers. It's always pirates with garbage ships, but a lot of frigate points to destroy. At some point, you can mop them up with your second line whatever.
The Conquest is awesome if set up right, but the Odyssey is just an autowin button. Efficient 360 degree shields (Hardened Shields + Shield Conversion: Front) FTW.
For the modded playthrough, I would start with Nexerelin, Underworld, Starship Legends, Ship&Weapons Pack, then add whatever factions you like.
I'm new player and I thank you a lot for you series. I want to start my first colony really bad but it seems I got not very fortunate rng seed. Capped out personal and officer skills ages ago, sitting on about 7KK balance and even occasionally farming the a-cores from those dudes. I've surveyed most of the map and still have not found a single 75% haz planet, and all those having 100% and farming are located in really bad systems.
It would be interesting if you show the ways of handling ordos effectively. I play on default fleet size and the guys give me hard times. I found set-up that works for me more a less: Para, Astral, the rest filled with Moras and atlasses mk3. I tank up the Radiant with the Paragon and sync my retaliation with mass fighter strike, this way it can be crippled from the 1st pass, and then finished up. The rest is no problem. Haven't tried vs fleets with 2+ Radiants though (seems impossible for my current fleet composition).
@JDCollie Fantastic series, thank you so much for your effort. Would it be possible for you to make a carrier guide? Is it viable to mainly use them from the start? A drone focused video showcasing early and mid game? Have a fantastic weekend. Also you mentioned other games you could play, here are some tips. Startraders Frontiers, Rimworld, HoI IV Old world blues mod. Have a fantastic weekend
you`re awesome bro
Would you recommend dropping off majority of your loot on your first colony? Or just what it needs?
I use my colonies as free storage, and if you are planning on hoarding stuff, I recommend you do the same. As for supplying the colony however, do what works for you.
Hey, JD, I wanted to chime in quickly about your previous suggestion to take a commission from a faction when going exploring or building up your colony...
Whilst this IS a great way to make a boat-load of cash (especially on long exploration trips), one should be somewhat careful with this as your standing with other factions will get progressively worse and worse as time goes on. After I was done exploring, pretty much all the factions but the one I signed up with were very "unkind" to the point where they wouldn't let me trade, which is a problem... And while it's definitely possible to jump back up (best way is to find a system where a pirate siege is underway and help out; but those don't pop up on demand), it's certainly an investment.
Other than that - yeah... boatloads of cash.
A great point, though I'd still recommend taking the commission.
After my first Red Planet my Sector now got 7 Planets/ moons from 20k up to 32k defense. I think its now impossible for anyone to attack something in there^^
How is your deployment points for combat so high? For combat at most i can only deploy 241 points.
He adjust combat point in setting menu
You can adjust the combat points in the setting menu, up to 1000. (That is a total for both sides on the field, not for you specifically.)
keep in mind that adjusting those generally gives the player an advantage
not that i care, as huge fleet battles are the fun ones
@@jdcollie258 How does yours goes up to 1k when mine only 500?
@@GunLinser he doesnt actually mention it (which is surprising and actually important) but you can pump it to even a bigger DP if you get into the game files. There should be a more in-depth guide to do that.
When to start a colony:
1) you have enough money in the bank for the colony upgrades - roughly ~4-5 million should suffice; remember that the ideal colony should have more than one colonized planet in the system, and the upgrades are expensive!
2) you have a medium sized fleet capable of handling threats confidently - you don't need to have the largest of capital ships just yet (of course if you do, great!), but you can't be running on Kites...
3) have actually found a suitable place to colonize!
You really don't need to have the money in the bank though, just the ability to make it. You can only construct a single structure at a time, so there is a limit to your expenses for a single colony. (Less true of course once you being upgrading, since you can do that concurrently)
As long as you can keep enough money coming in to finance the construction and upgrades, your actual savings are irrelevant.
@@jdcollie258 I guess that's true, but you still need a few of the base structures for +stability and +accessibility bonuses which, in turn, help the colony grow faster (not sure which is more important). Yes, those are optional, but why wait? ;)
Slap on the free port and there's also the danger of the occasional faction attack. Of course those are small and can be repelled, but I (personally) don't like to babysit my colony and would prefer if it was able to defend itself.
All in all, I'm very risk averse, so I'd prefer to have a bit more money when starting the colony than not enough. The worst thing you can do is start a colony and have it create very little income whilst requiring near constant babysitting... or a situation where the faction attacks are bigger than you can handle requiring you to divert nearly all earnings to prevent them... (Yes, I did that once...)
In theory you could just start a colony with next to no investment incentives and just the initial industry (mining or farming) and that would already make some money whilst not requiring all that much babysitting (no free port, no AI cores, no heavy industry)... But with a bit of investment the colony will grow much faster and yield much better income.
For the record - my reply to your video wasn't criticism! Your videos are excellent, and I really like them. Heck, I learned a LOT from them myself. It was just my 2 cents for "when to start a colony". ;)
@@jdcollie258 PS. I also feel that if ones choice of a system to colonize is sensible, then it WILL make money - and the biggest limiting factor is how fast you can get essentials online so that the income is in the hundreds of thousands rather than (just) thousands... Again - personal preference, nothing else.
@@shaamaan I generally agree with your approach, to be honest. I just want to make sure than anyone who is reading your comment understood that kind of preparation isn't strictly necessary, just wise :D
Archean order would be neat!
What about the battlefield "objectives" like Nav Buoy and Comm Relay? I don't see you taking them, but I noticed the Luddic fleet take 2 of them in the battle at 28:20 minutes.
They give minor buffs to you and debuffs to your opponent. They're nice and all, but I find that, since I'm usually outnumbered, going out of my way to capture them will expose my flanks or isolate my weaker ships to superior numbers.
@JDCollie Do you play with vanilla fleet commands?
I'm not using any mods, if that's what you're asking.
👌
Are carriers viable as support ships instead of frigates or no?
Carriers are actually OP
A desert world named Androzani Minor? Someone on the programming team is a Doctor Who fan.
The first world JD settled he called Trenzalore, since its supposed to be attacked often. So I am pretty sure JD also called that one himself. Which makes HIM the Doctor Who fan.
Why do you always ignore things like Sensor Jammer Delta, Nav Buoy Alpha? Why not have a few small ships in the fight to capture them for the bonuses?
The bonuses they give aren't always useful, especially not to a character with many skills: increasing ECM rating, for example, usually isn't needed because it doesn't provide a larger bonus than the one he's already getting from the electronic warfare skill. Other bonuses like increased command point production just usually aren't worth the time unless you find yourself running out of command points often, which unless you're over-managing your fleet, doesn't really happen.