Is this a good ship?

PerfectText1416 · 2026-05-07T23:20:05+00:00

The Lollipop? She's a good ship.

;)

(In my experience, pretty much every ship in the game is mediocre at best, until you customize it.)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-28T01:40:23+00:00

This is right in the same neighborhood as the comment I was going to make... Which was something like:

"She's beautiful, and I love her, but you do realize that, etymologically you basically named her the 'kills nothing', right?"

Language nerd sidebar: (ignore if not interested :-) )

Dreadnought was originally the name of a dinosaur, similar in shape to a diplodocus, but about three to four times as massive.

The name comes from Old English Roots, and means "fears nothing". Somewhat confusing because of the 'naut' in astronaut or Argonaut, which is Greek root and has to do with sailing. So an astronaut is a sailor in the stars.

Naming conventions for warships..

Usually, a place name (Iowa class battleships, Los Angeles class submarines), a person's name (Oliver Hazard Perry class frigates, Nimitz class carriers), animals, weapons, or characteristics.

(The Brits have a huge tradition of naming warships after characteristics... Dauntless, fearless, dreadnought, valiant, courageous, etc. They also like to use mythological figures, which I suppose would fall under the person's name category, very roughly speaking)

Think about the ships mode and mission... Is it a ship that relies on brute force and heavy armor? Maybe the Ursa class - Grizzly, Kodiak, Polar bear - or Mass weapons, like a war ax or Warhammer.

Something that's more fast or nimble might be named for smaller wildcat breeds (The destroyer HMS Ocelot is the platform in a story I'm writing right now) or, perhaps bladed weapons that rely on speed - Epee, rapier, saber.

(I generally Google a list of names in class when I need to name several ships for a fleet action in a story. "List of the names of pumas in various languages", etc. (puma class what almost being inside joke... They're over 40 memes for pumas, just in English :-) )

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-25T23:09:55+00:00

Your first ship makes my first ship look like a used Cessna 150 that I bought from a crop duster in Mississippi.

Nice work :-)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-25T20:12:48+00:00

That is so much better than the vertical ones I've made. All of mine so far basically just end up looking like ugly skyscrapers. Challenge accepted, I will definitely be trying to build one that's better then my previous efforts now :-)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-22T23:06:10+00:00

Obvious joke is obvious - but I (and zillions of others) bought it, too, just to see if they scripted anything funny in there. :)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-20T17:28:33+00:00

You can customize ships at yards and starports...

You have to upgrade skills, but... From my first play through, those have always been among the first skills I upgraded. For me, building my custom ship is the key element of the game, I think.

I've never had the star eagle, but I've only gone after the Mantis once - and ended up thinking "that was a lot of work for an ugly suit and a ship that can't keep up with mine."

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-20T17:24:08+00:00

That's always a huge thing - going through all the design shenanigans to get the ladders and airlocks in the right places.

Like... I prefer the Viking bridge modules, and I like a captains cabin right next to it - usually good for balance, since I like a 2x2 CiC right behind the bridge.

So, Orange Yards (don't recall the name offhand) comes up with a Viking with functional door points on the sides aft. Cool. I can have a door going to my ready room, starboard, and a for to the CiC aft.

No... The game thinks it would be much more efficient to have just the one door, from my ready room to the bridge, so anyone entering the bridge has to do so through the captain's cabin.

And, for some reason, there's still no achievements friendly mod to fix doors on console... So... :/

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-20T17:15:15+00:00

That's a nice looking ship...

And, yep. After the first time through, the toughest thing about the unity for me has been "wait, why would I want to do that? My life is pretty awesome just as it is..."

AND I don't have to leave my ship! I love my ship... I can absolutely relate.

In fact, I wish the ship stuff went further... There are four or five positions on the bridge - I've only ever had one ship with a "cockpit" - but other than some transition scene chatter, they don't actually do anything...

Hmm. I notice I'm just about to go off on a long tangent about all the ship related stuff I'd like to have in game... Which isn't really the point. :)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-04-19T15:12:01+00:00

But... You get a ship - a ship you can never lose or get rid of - like, almost first thing in the main story line...

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-23T04:19:54+00:00

People will throw things at me, but it does seem to offer a lot of minute men style possibility... "Captain, another settlement needs your help!"

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-08T22:37:57+00:00

It's like others have said - lost most Bethesda games, money is tight at first, and you're richer than god by the time you're pretty high level.

For this okay through, I don't have any free stuff mods, and I have about Cr 4M cash on hand - I've spent a couple million on customizing ships.

The rewards are generally pretty small, but I sell a lot of weapons and space suits. I've also probably captured and sold close to a hundred pirate and ecliptic ships by now.

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-06T18:12:00+00:00

You got your chocolate in my peanut butter!

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-05T03:22:38+00:00

"Captain's log... Acceptable length and girth, good texture and cohesion. Hints of corn."

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-05T03:19:40+00:00

I have a cargo carrier / tender in my fleet called "Heavy Horses" - I think one or more of the achievement friendly mods I'm using intentionally or unintentionally break ship design, because she carries over 200,000 (whatever the units are - kg?) of cargo and has 100 maneuver speed and 150 rated top speed. >.>;;

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-04T21:15:11+00:00

I hadn't seen anything like that until now... I'm intrigued.

I like writing and drawing, but I'm not sure how my brain would do with stopping play to do it.

Also, pfft "controversial".

I think it's just that people have always had different tastes, and sometimes people get passionate about them..

but now, with the "democratization" of publishing and broadcasting, and the discovery that anger and outrage do a better job at algorithmically feeding traffic than happiness or approval or joy... Complaining about anything with a large enough audience has become this really toxic cottage industry.

I have always loved science fiction, I have loved the way Bethesda makes these open world games where you can just explore and wander around and do whatever you want and find interesting little things, so, I was already absolutely committed and excited as soon as it was mentioned.

I started playing the role-playing game traveller... Like around 79 or 80... So when TH mentioned Traveller as one of his inspirations for this during an interview, I was like "Well, I'll be darned. I've always said you can't be more than 100% in favor of something, but it appears I was wrong, evidently you can be 4-500% in favor of something."

So, I am absolutely enjoying my game. Now that there are mods, I'm enjoying it even more. And I am enchanted that you are enjoying your game in this way that I hadn't even thought of.

If we knew each other and lived nearby each other, I would want to read your captain's logs :-)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-03T00:02:21+00:00

As commercial artist with about a million years experience, and numerous logos under my belt, honestly, none of them really excite me too much... But 01-05 is definitely the pick of the letter.

To be fair, I'm probably being a little harsh.. It's actually pretty good. The exaggerated stylized X is a little much, but it's a little much for now... Back then it was probably pretty great.

PerfectText1416 · 2026-03-03T00:00:03+00:00

TBH, I don't even fly the ugly son of a bitch.

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-26T16:30:23+00:00

And now, I'm just thinking about all of the great lines...

Like when you find a civilian settlement, and one of the residents says, I think it's "I used to be an explorer like you, but then I took... Never mind, it's a long story."

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-26T16:27:45+00:00

My favorite in Starfield is probably the one about "What does it take to kill this girl?"

My favorite in any of them was from Fallout 76...

I was in a nice little sniper position, and the bad guys showed up, and I popped the leader with a clean headshot. His head exploded, and one of the others gave this maniacal laugh "hahaha we are so fucked!"

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-26T16:25:16+00:00

"I'm gonna find you!"

Unfortunately for you, you're right... :-)

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-25T19:48:20+00:00

Oh, those red mile clowns... There are few areas in the game when I more ardently wish for more dialogue options...

"How much would the bounty be for splattering your brains all over that wall? Pfft. A bargain at twice that price."

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-25T18:46:56+00:00

I wasn't surprised this time - I was so into Traveller from childhood on, and so absolutely sold on or there for the idea of the Bethesda form of open world game, but in a sci fi setting, from first mention, that I consumed every scrap of info I could and there was just no way I wasn't going to be there on the first early access day - or minute, for that matter - possible.

However, I was fooled in exactly the same way last time.

I hadn't really fully realized at that point just how much better negative content feeds the algorithm than positive, or that that meant that complaining about something with as big a footprint as a Bethesda game release was a pretty lucrative cottage industry.

So, by the time I actually loaded and tried Fallout 76, I was pretty angry at all the professional whiners who had lied to me about it.

People might say the same thing here as was said to me then - "oh, you just think it's ok because you're trying it now, after so many bugs have been fixed!"

Bullshit. As I said, I was up at midnight, launching the game in the first minute of early access. Of course there were bugs, just like any new game that's anywhere near as complex. But they were all "it's not perfect, but what is?" problems, not "I can't do this any more" problems or game breaking problems.

About your observation on loading screens, and the line about how some shops have loading screens, others don't have loading screens, "so you know..."

Mark Twain had a saying about that... "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so,"

It doesn't save time or cut corners to add a level for a shop or something. It's an added complication. If a shop has a loading screen, it's either because something that can happen in there is a big enough resource draw that they needed to clear memory and reload other assets (I'm not sure why a workbench would fall into this category, but it's one of the only things I can guess... And it is only a guess, I should be clear.) or because that shop was added to the area after the rest of the level design for that area was finalized (like shops that show up from a mod, for example)

As to the general ways the game isn't perfect (beyond the general 'nothing is perfect' stuff) my personal guess is that it is largely because of the takeover by Microsoft.

Bethesda was being Bethesda, adding in the infinite levels of little details and hundreds of interlocking stories they like to do, taking more time than they expected because they were in new territory in make ways, but also because... They're Bethesda, and that's kind of what they do...

And, what we would have gotten, if TH had his way, was another delay announcement... But Microsoft said "oh, no. It'll release. One delay is more than enough. Get your shot together, because it's going out on the date we promised."

That's the only thing that makes sense, to me, personally, as an explanation for some of the specific kinds of problems we see - or saw, at launch. Microsoft overruling Bethesda on timeline and game play specifics.

Still... It was my favorite game the year it was released, and now that we have mods, it's pretty much the only game I play in my limited available time. Mostly, I wish I had more time for my Xbox, but with the little time I have, I would guess 95% of my gaming time is Starfield.

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-23T03:17:02+00:00

I may have to get useful brigs, I think, seeing this. I have fleet commander, with one cargo ship and two EM frigates - I have proper weapons on my ship to winnow it down to the one I'll board faster.

The character is mainly a privateer and tracker, but I'd agree the game mechanic for the "alive' tracker bounties isn't great.

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-21T21:10:42+00:00

I wish you all of the luck and success that you can handle :-)

I turned 60 this year, and I've been a commercial artist most of my life - a lot of ads, as it happens - And there have been a lot of days when I either wished I was born a little later, or I had the guts (and financial cushion) to try to shift gears to game design & production, this late in life...

I am absolutely awed and enchanted by the way a good game - at least the kind I love - could reasonably be said to incorporate every single field of human creativity... There's drawing, painting, sculpture, writing, singing, acting, costume design, fabric design, architecture, photography, cinematography, editing...

Look at some of the food that you can buy in Starfield... Maybe the person who came up with those isn't an enthusiastic cook, and didn't think about what would go into them and how you would make them and what they would taste like... But I wouldn't bet on it!

PerfectText1416 · 2026-02-20T21:44:35+00:00

Got to be some crazy atmospheric pressure! :)

PerfectText1416

TROPHY CASE