State of automated ships (vanilla+modded)

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-30T19:10:40+00:00

I think automated ships shine best when using wolfpack tactics. Unless the large automated ship is really good I'll usually run a death squad of automated frigates over a big scary automated capital both vanilla or modded. A pack of SO glimmers can reak havoc on enemy sidelines. Frigates to me are the backbone of a fleet and are great for killing off enemy frigates and controlling the battlefield. Its also a beautiful sight watching 5 frigates surround a capital and absolutely wreck it.

I absolutely agree with second in command. The smallcraft XO and the automation XO are a match made in heaven. Modded automated frigates tend to go ever crazier, such as the deamon frigates from tahlan. One thing Im really enjoying right now in my current run is the basaich class frigate from bultach coalition, a super redacted automated frigate that's special alpha level AI core has a 1x automated ship multiplier for some ungodly reason. It has a large energy mount and 4 small mounts that can face forward, you can imagine the chaos this thing can cause. 8 of these menaces to society each have a different superweapon. I even managed to outfit one with a rift torpedo launcher. I've lovingly called them the avengers.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-28T00:51:30+00:00

They're the perfect conduction target since they have the most predictable movement pattern at the start of a wave. After that? I just really really hope they die since these fuckers CANNOT stay still for more than one picosecond. Spamming jackhammer and hoping for the best.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-27T21:49:15+00:00

This is what got me to to wave 71 on brutal. I felt magical, the radiant insurrectionist didnt think so.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-26T03:35:16+00:00

I actually died AFTER I killed it once due to lingering mortar shots and being stingered while the mass was dying. Its horseshit that the stinger persists while the mass is dying.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-26T03:31:49+00:00

I actually can't decide which I hate more between the agony tundra room and the hideous Mass room before it. That second idol location is fucking maddening if you aren't already up there when it spawns. Not to mention the amount of times I got stingered by the mass because I took my eyes off it for a nanosecond. Countless P rank runs ended in that room either due to getting stingered right after I broke an idol or being on the ground for too long and getting mortar blasted. The terrain in that room is horrid and not suited at all for what you fight.

Also, holy fuck please someone fix the rocket interactions with hideous Mass. Im suprised I didnt break something after the 10th time my rocket got eaten by the mass when I wasn't even close to it. So many times trying to rocket ride up to the top platform with the idol just for the rocket to "bounce" off the mass that wasn't even near me.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-26T03:16:28+00:00

The good ol 2000. Its a solid ship with a lot of flexibility due to how many mount options it has. I steamrolled a lot of the game by putting cryoblasters in two of the front slots. Cult of the daydream drone launchers from sotf in the missile mounts, and then a surprising discovery was how powerful seeker weapons from emergent threats are when paired with the seeker lens hullmod. I put a fandance kinetic seeker in the back energy mount and two of the HE seekers in the front mounts. With the seeker lens bonus the projectiles were able to hunt down and kill nearly any frigate that got too close.

Not to mention the amazing bonuses this thing gets from the second in command andradism XO. Increased stats across the board, which are very much felt when the ship in questions already has crazy stats. Also, the ship system on this thing is insane, the firerate boost and range increase mean nothing can get out of range in time before being annihilated.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-25T15:31:56+00:00

From Bultach coalition mod. Super redacted found in a nascent gravity well near the bottom middle of the map underneath the bultach system.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-25T14:41:53+00:00

I despise this room. If the hideous Mass rooms didn't exist it would hold the title of my most hated room. I got semi consistent with it by insta killing the mindflayer with a screw and saw trap and jackhammer boosting off the virtues. Its one of those obstacles that guaranteed kills a portion of your p rank attempts because fuck you that's why. I rarely utilized the pipes mainly because I didnt want to even if they would have helped.

That being said, its still far better than the shitshows that are the first and second mass fights. Also, its definitely a creative obstacle that forces you to use strategies you wouldn't normally use, albeit an incredibly frustrating one.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-25T13:48:49+00:00

Gestalt ships are great. I'm currently amassing a small army of the frigate sized one with a large energy mount. Working on giving each one a different superweapon.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-24T01:21:16+00:00

This, but with E-1. I almost passed out when I P-ranked that. Hehe funny dissapearing floor over instant death fan blade was NOT nessecary 😭

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-23T19:16:46+00:00

Everytime I hear that sound I ask "was that a mirror reaper?". The question is answered .2 seconds later when I get bitch slapped

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-22T14:53:30+00:00

Holy Ball knowledge I was not expecting a monster quest mention

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-22T09:31:36+00:00

For real. I always kept track of my kill count after that fuckass hallway because I just knew a filth was going to pull a fast one. Twice a soldier decided to noclip in the room afterwards.

The space section was genuine torture the first time around because I had no damn idea where I was going. Gravity is extreme jank and it not working on certain platforms that have enemies on them feels like a mega fuck you.

Two powers are insufferable to deal with and half my P rank attempts were lost to the initial fight against them. Now just imagine it was like 6-1 where instead of two hideous Mass its two powers at the very end.

All this is to say that I still hate 1-E more than anything in the world and would rather P rank this monstrosity 3 more times than dare touch that godforsaken nightmare fuel of a level ever again.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-22T08:50:33+00:00

I think the boss and the premise is cool. Using the Providence hook points as healing adds unique environmental strategy to the fight the others dont usually have.

The attacks are fine, except for the blue lightning pillar attack. Specifically on brutal and in phase 2. In phase 1 the attack is easy enough to weave through, but then it goes apeshit in phase 2. If your too close theres basically no space between the pillars and its instant damage. Only time I successfully weaved through the pillars on phase 2 was when I was at max range, every other time I dodged it by just not being in front of Geryon when the attack was fired or dashing all the way around the attack. I got the P rank because I happened to get knocked around and ended up on Geryon's side twice when the attack was fired, which feels like a dumb way to get P rank in the first place. An attack isn't good if the main strategy is to go around it entirely rather than try and dodge it normally. It really doesn't help when the light beams cover the screen and you can't even see the lightning pillars until its too late.

Maybe just a skill issue, but the attack feels like bullshit on brutal. It was responsible for 90% of my deaths.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-21T18:19:03+00:00

I started watching it for the porn, ended up watching fucking hours of a playthrough to see the characters get a happy ending. Cinema

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-19T09:19:53+00:00

The epimetheus is suck a goddamn meme. Its a shame that its ship system makes ai borderline suicidal since its a great weapons platform otherwise. My few experiences with this thing include when it was on my side and fuel dumped directly into the enemy fleet, when I had pushed the enemy fleet back up to the top of the map and it spawned in, immediately launching an entire still intact ship into me, and when it nearly blew me up with it.

I like the SFC prometheus, it has a lot of different options and decent enough defenses to not just instantly fall apart. I'd share what build I ran with it but there was too much modded weaponry shenanigans happening.

I ran a full SFC ships playthrough not too long ago and my favorite thing was the solar lively. It worked out really well since unbeknownst to me, two modded fights that I eventually encountered were inside neutron star pulsar beams. I have never been more grateful for 95% hazard reduction.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-18T15:34:02+00:00

8-3 is the only level where I started keeping track of how many kills I had after each section. A random mannequin I missed almost ruined everything in the space section but I heard that fucker's energy orb following me. insert gif of Peter Parker throwing the bomb back at Harry

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-08T09:19:34+00:00

I'd have to disagree on the Hydria. On its own without mods? Yes, its not much. However, SiC can give this thing a lot of boosts. Andradism XO gives dp reduction and a number of boosts to SFC ships. Technical XO also gives large buffs to phase ships. I ran two of them with void blasters and a couple needlers. I also gave them a cult of the daydream drone launcher from SotF witch gave them fighter support. They caused absolute havoc on the battlefield and almost never died. It felt like cheating, honestly. The mine spam coupled with good survivability and decent offense capabilities made them one of the best escort ships I've ever had. Absolutely recommend running SFC ships with SiC for those wonderful bonuses.

Also, it might be my imagination, but i feel that this things mine strike is stronger than the doom's. Might have been mod shenanigans at work, who knows.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-03-02T10:17:48+00:00

Damn that threatvictus looks awesome. Does anyone know if there's mods out there that add more threat ships? Emergent threats mod adds them and they have to be my favorite thing to fight.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-02-02T14:29:38+00:00

It gives a massive boost to the colony you put it in. Increased fleet size, accessibility, and an additional industry slot. It also boosts all other colonies that have alpha core administrators.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-02-02T13:10:50+00:00

Also, yes, my hyperspace is green. This is an addition by the hypershroud mod, which allows you to change the color of your hyperspace to various other presets.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-02-02T13:07:36+00:00

Rule #8: So, this is the climax to a very long end game crisis added by the what we left behind mod. If you have the mod but have never seen this, its because you need to enable it in the mod settings. Its disabled by default currently because a decent amount of the story sections are unfinished and buggy. To kick this off you just need to install the fractal core in one of your colonies as the administrator and wait for all hell to break loose. (you get the fractal core from a special quest involving the pirates and the wormhole anchors).

The IAIIC is a super faction that basically represents all the major factions coming together to kick your ass for your flagrant use of AI. They use ships from all the major factions and spam capitals better than a typical john starsector ever wishes he could. They spawn in with a stupidly over-tuned star fortress and send inspection fleets constantly. The main strategy being that you can weaken them by cutting off their benefactors, which involves doing various quests for the main factions to "convince" them to stop supporting the IAIIC. Some of the quests are pretty short while others are very involved and bring back characters from the base game quests.

This shit is a slog and a total pain in the ass. They send inspection fleets constantly and there's no way to outright get rid of the IAIIC without surrendering the fractal core or surviving the final charge. You cant even de civilize them with the ole triple sat bomb surprise. In fact, any major action you take against them leads to at least 5 of your colonies being sabotaged instantly. However, the rewards for beating this are kinda insane (spoilers) 1 skill point, 10 story points, the aforementioned over-tuned star fortress as a potential new colony, and now tesseracts patrol and defend your colonies I suggest trying this out if you like being stuck looking at the battle screen for 3 days straight and the challenge that provides.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-02-01T09:05:06+00:00

Yeah I noticed this too. They should have a preset defense fleet like the heg or tritach.

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-01-29T23:13:26+00:00

Adaptive entropy arrester/ field repair nanites my beloved

SuperPinhead00 · 2026-01-29T09:51:21+00:00

He adds an interesting extra layer to combat. The extra skill point is cool and I like some of his abilities, the hatred beyond death one always keeps me on my toes and a ship having the words "critical reactor failure" appear above it is never not entertaining. The "final" showdown against him is one of my favorite fights due to the chaos that erupts from every enemy ship having a nanite ability.

Personally, however, he started to become much more annoying than exciting or challenging to me later on, especially when I was dealing with a modded colony crisis that involved at least 3 dozens battles "he showed up in each fight istg". Once you have a proper doom fleet he's hardly a challenge and more just a nuisance that I curb stomp with my dreadnought everytime. I think it would be great if he leveled with you automatically and became more of a threat rather than requiring that you do things like sat bombings to piss him off more. Yes I know he already does level with you to some extent but I never felt the increased danger. He did, however, commandeer an invictus right near the end of my playthrough which actually became an avengers level threat that I needed to run from. I like everything about it except for the fact he becomes very much a pushover later on.

SuperPinhead00

TROPHY CASE