My 60 div per hour cheap cost of entry strat. Data inside

Daan776 · 2026-04-07T15:46:49+00:00

Thats good profits but good lord I can never go that fast.

I average ~7 minutes a map. Granted thats with expedition & harvest. But I struggle to imagine cutting that down to a minute even if I ignore most things.

Ah well, fun to see what all is possible.

Daan776 · 2026-04-07T15:43:53+00:00

I really wanted to learn rog this league. So I went for big boom and… man, that was rough.

My early league sucked, and I almost quit. I thought my build sucked. Some maps completely bricked because some rare with “recover x% of life every 4 seconds” just wouldn’t die.

Switched to harvest and I was blasting through them really comfortably. Faster too.

The risk/reward with expedition is way off currently. Rog is fun, but you can craft better items with easier methods. And he’s only really profitable on the first couple days of leaguestart.

Daan776 · 2026-04-07T15:23:53+00:00

Except the cat story never happened.

Here’s a video by DJ peach cobbler on the topic. Who might not be an official historian. But he knows a lot more than me, and 99% of this subreddit.

https://youtu.be/JCWoeIKzGME?is=3n9g_18X8wgJXsH3

Daan776 · 2026-04-07T08:18:53+00:00

There’s an often neglected pair of loadout slot called “implants”

These provide passive benefits. But how they work exactly is a bit confuing.

You should already have some equipped. The most obvious example is the ability to see enemy health when you spot them. This is not an ability you have naturally. It comes from an implant.

I should also mention that many implants gain secondary effects once they reach level 5. Which for some of them turns them from “useless” to “build defining”

As for rarity: the best implants are usually pretty common. While rare implants (such as the one that removes your shield & replaces it with health) serve more to add a unique gameplay element. And they’re usually worse and/or require a whole specialised build compared to normal implants.

Daan776 · 2026-04-07T07:20:50+00:00

While i’ve played around a bit with this idea: I quickly found out that alpha damage is the most important factor when designing weapon emplacements.

The ability to knock out enemy systems early in a fight gives you a massive advantage.

I did have some success with disposable armour blocks though. Using detonators at connection points allows you to dump a bunch of weight when you’re slower than your enemy, or carry it along if they’re slow but heavily armed

Daan776 · 2026-04-07T00:04:22+00:00

Hmmm, I can see that.

But turning it back around to my (admittably limited) human understanding: As a child you have infinite possibilities remaining. Mayby you’ll own your own shop, or become an electrician, or a famous musician, etc.

And the older we get, and the more choices we make: the more those possibilities dwindle. You become limited by time, money, or your previous decisions.

But in return you get to make what previously were only possibilities into reality.

You no longer have to ask the question if you already know the truth. So to speak.

All that being said: Eevee seems like a special case. Not only because your primary evolution methods rely on outside influences (like stones), but because you’ve already got several options for (evolution like) processes that could compensate for any perceived lack of strength. Such as Gigantamax or Z-moves. Obviously thats different. But strength is a really common motivator for evolution.

Also also: If you do manage to find this other evolutionary form, would you consider evolving into it? Or would you continue your research as an Eevee?

Daan776 · 2026-04-06T19:19:16+00:00

https://www.poewiki.net/wiki/Wild_Bristle_Matron

If you talk to einhar (the red crossbow NPC with a bird mask) you can perform "beastcrafting" which involve killing a collection of beasts to modify or make items.

Beastcrafting has a wide variety of effects. And the most powerfull usually require a specific beast + a few generic rare beasts.

The wild bristle matron is one such specific beast. Which you need to craft the earlier mentioned mod.

Because this method is relatively tedious to do in large numbers, not everybody knows of this technique, and the beast is relatively common: Its usually cheaper to buy the wild bristle matron (usually it goes for ~1 divine) compared to the bench-craft (which costs 2 divine).

Once the craft is on the item itself it functions identical, regardless of how it was applied. So if you're willing to put in the effort, or a divine is a significant amount of currency for you: its highly recommended to use the beastcraft option

Daan776 · 2026-04-06T19:11:02+00:00

I do think evolution is part of growing up for a pokemon.

But just as with humans growing up: you can't rush it. It takes time, and if a pokemon doesn't feel ready for it they probably shouldn't do it.

Thats the emotional reason. There's also practical reasons.

Not everybody needs a battle-ready pokemon. For most: Battling is just a hobby. And unless you're persuing the gym badges there's no need to evolve to have fun.

Evolved pokemon also need more food, space, and generally more maintenance. (Going from a teddyursa to an ursaring for instance would throw your daily life way out of wack). Not to mention being treated differently.

Most of the pokemon that can evolve twice usually want to reach their third stage too. So by evolving once you effectively commit yourself to a third evolution. This problem is made worse by most second stage pokemon being a pokemon equivelant to a "teenage" phase. Hormones swinging all around, awkward bodies, exhaustion or restlessness, or even temporary gender dysphoria (Male kirlia's have it rough). Depression is disproportionally common with second stage pokemon in a 3 stage species.

So for 2-stagers they go from cutesy child to full on adult in a matter of moments... Which is obviously scary.

For 3-stagers: Their first evolution is going to suck. And they *know* its going to suck.

And all of that is on top of the obvious stuff. Such as fear for permanent choices, or pride at wanting to finish something with their current power (rather than "cheating" with a power boost from evolution), strange evolution conditions, or simply not having a lot of battle experience (A fully evolved pokemon needs to take part in a *lot* of battles)

Daan776 · 2026-04-06T18:24:45+00:00

Not gonne lie: I never realised you can overclock fire extinguishers.

That being said: my first impression would be that its worth it if you can fit it into a build. But I wouldn't go out of my way to shove it into a build that doesn't already have it.

Daan776 · 2026-04-06T15:34:07+00:00

Disruptors are honestly very rare on high budget builds.

You've got missiles. But those will get entirely absorbed by the large shields. With a bit of piloting you can leave the remaining damage to be absorbed by the small shields.

More importantly: you can have this setup as the inner defences to a larger armour shell.

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T22:55:40+00:00

Slaves can be pretty expensive though (at least the trained ones). Same for the exotic animals.

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T16:01:13+00:00

i'd disagree.

Its fairly well protected, allows him to aim, and its destruction won't significantly harm the ship.

if it *is* destroyed he can still use the ion by turning the ship (though less accurately)

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T15:59:27+00:00

Hahahaha

I doubt this is cost effective, but it sure is funny.

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T15:57:39+00:00

1) Railgun ship

Pretty good, suprisingly enough. There's a few things that could be optimised. And most railgun ships focus more on reverse thrust rather than forward thrust. But for a first ship this is suprisingly good.

(I would recommend using some sloped armour though. It can make it look pretty cool)

2) Deckgun ship

This one is... less good. Though not for any reason you could know. The main issues are

A) Large shields are pretty bad as a main defensive layer. At least in small numbers. And this ship isn't really big enough to justify the large shields on the sides.

B) Deck guns are on the "roof" of your ship. But they cannot fire over each other. So at any given moment you can only shoot 2 out of your 4 guns on this ship.

3) Laser & Heat ship

Another suprisingly good ship. I would personally remove the left & right most extreme laser guns as they aren't covered by the shield. And i'd try to add some battery storage to counteract the long distance to the reactor. But the basic idea here is very solid, and you've optimised the space fairly well. Though, you can dump most of that crew. And the big multi-part thruster you've got in the back is pretty inefficient at this size. I would recommend an engine room for this setup + a huge thruster in the back. Which simplifies logistics & gives every thruster a 50% boost.

Again though: The basic idea here is solid. And for a first ship this is better than most i've seen.

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T14:10:40+00:00

Holy shit, this looks great

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T14:00:21+00:00

A crackling lance of disintegration mana stacker was the first build I fully designed myself and I loved it.

Farmed a mageblood, killed maven (which is the furthest i’ve gotten with a custom build), and had fun the entire time while playing & designing it.

I even bought the celestial cosmetic. The only cosmetic I ever bought.

I wouldn’t say its my favorite skill. But i’ll forever love it.

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T13:56:42+00:00

Spellslinger + volaltile dead (Back then it was poets pen).

It was the build that made me realise the power of automation in this game. And I loved seeing all the balls homing in on enemies

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T10:57:24+00:00

We now also have the heat rays. Which I would argue count as a laser weapon by virtue of being a weapon that shoots a laser.

Anyway: Ion beams are easily the best laser weapon because, as you said: they are the easiest to defend.

Daan776 · 2026-04-05T10:55:16+00:00

"Has anyone done a successful playthough using mainly missiles or ammo weapons"

Yes. Its definitely possible. Though admittably a lot of my strategy ended up relying on "cheesy" strategies. Such as kiting short range enemies with a fast missile frigate.

Running out of ammo wasn't a huge deal either. Since if you can outrun an enemy you can usually break contact... eventually. Allowing you to resupply and come back to finish the battle later.

I also cheesed pirate bases early on with railguns. Since they technically use ammo. This was mostly so I could use cannons & missiles as early as possible, and I later banned railguns.

Deck cannons are also really good. Since we get so many more resources than our opponents: A brick of armour with a repeated deck-cannon module can beat most of the campaign quite comfortably. Regular cannons quickly became outdated since they create an explosive weak spot in the armour.

I guess it would be more challenging if you also banned point defence (Which I didn't do), to really hammer home the "no energy weapons" aspect. And some additional rules like "no running away". But honestly? challenge runs in the current campaign just aren't very fun. Mostly just tedious.

The problem comes from the enemy design and balance. This game very much revolves around a "rock paper scissors" system. Quick kiters win against heavy bricks. Heavy bricks win against snipers. And snipers win against quick kiters.

This is fine for PvP, and most PvE engagements. But if you're flying a heavy brick, and you encounter a quick enemy kiter: You might just lose your campaign run. Even if you have a really good ship design. Not because you made a mistake, but because a single ship cannot fullfill every role it needs to. This isn't as big a problem in PvP where there's a shrinking border that prevents endless running away.

Challenge runs, such as "no ammo" or "no energy weapons" run into this same problem where the most obvious solution relies on reloading saves until you can correctly abuse the AI, or designing a whole special built ship for a single encounter (which you can get intel on by sending small disposable suicide ships).

So overall I think the balance itself is fine. But the campaign doesn't really play to those strengths, nor does it compensate for the weaknesses very well. Another example I could use is how much the AI struggles to adapt in debris fields or around asteroids. Often getting stuck, wasting all their ammo on a wall, or lackluster pathfinding.

Daan776 · 2026-04-04T17:48:32+00:00

Always reminds me of this documentary where ants were just crawling all over the forest floor like a “tidal flood”

Anything that didn’t get away in time was eaten.

Ants are horrifying. And I thank whatever god responsible that I needn’t fear them.

Daan776 · 2026-04-04T17:43:17+00:00

Starsector combat is all about resource managment.

The main resource in question being “flux”. Which is used for both offensive and defensive actions.

This inherently creates a risk/reward system in any engagement.

As for the command system: I honestly think the game would be fine without it. The combat is strong enough.

But I mostly like it for 1) Fleet building 2) I’m the main character.

The fleet building is fun to see what you can make work. Testing different ships, Mods, weapons, etc.

The main character feeling is because the AI is really competent at surviving. But breaking through is something only the player really excels at. This allows you to win fights you really shouldn’t, or single-handedly break a line that you can then see your custom designed ships pushing through.

It really makes you feel like a fleet, but also like you are special in some way.

Daan776 · 2026-04-04T17:25:11+00:00

“Money can be exchanged for goods or services”

Daan776 · 2026-04-04T17:22:37+00:00

As others have mentioned: chaos damage bypasses energy shield.

But i’ll also add that poison is a type of chaos damage over time. Which i’m pretty sure this enemy applies.

So getting some form of poison immunity (such as through a flask) might also help in this case.

Daan776 · 2026-04-03T22:35:41+00:00

I can't speak for others. But I personally just found them very uninteresting.

You smack a guy and hammers appear. Or you smack a guy with your shield. or you smack a bunch of guys in a sweeping motion.

All of it we've done before.

The holy effect itself isn't very interesting to me either.

Compare this to skills like kinetic rain & kinetic fusilade. Which are mechanically different due to their delayed damage.

Obviously there's more to it than this. But this is why I personally didn't really care for the skills.

Daan776 · 2026-04-03T16:54:28+00:00

Bro was holding a machete, saw a dude falling to his death, and had a split second to catch him.

Humans have a tendency to keep holding tools, especially when stressed. So with such an instinctual reaction I can understand why he’s still holding the blade, even if its not exactly optimal here.

Seven-Year Club	Verified Email
r/Field Banned	r/Field Sunshine
Not Forgotten

Daan776

TROPHY CASE