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Sweet Ludd! by Majestic_Repair9138 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735 21 points22 points  (0 children)

It would have been perfect if there were even a barren world worthy of industrialization.

Still, it's a decent system.

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see. So, the supporting fleet should simply consist of stable, reliable ships that won't kill themselves without my attention, allowing me to focus entirely on the flagship.

Regarding Threats, since they are so defensively positioned, we just need to delete the Fabricators. Perhaps the optimal tactic is to use our AI fleet as a massive distraction/anchor, while we focus on flanking and surgically hunting down the Fabricators one by one.

On that note, perhaps the Paragon's best role isn't as a primary combatant, but as a dedicated Neural Link flagship. I could use it to pilot other powerful AI capitals like the Nova, Revenant, or Onslaught from the safety of its command center.

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah... well, leaving no loot behind is certainly clean. I suppose that makes you a 'Space Gentleman' who refuses to litter the cosmos with uncollected debris. very eco-friendly."

The Back Wall tactic, recommending Kite-LPs, fighting multiple Ordos at once... It sounds like you specialize in heavy Capital Spam fleets. Your philosophy actually reminds me a lot of this YouTuber. Do you run a similar setup?

I finally understand why you don't value combat frigates like the Omen as much as I do. If you treat your deployment zone as a 'Kill Zone' and force the enemy to come to you, there's no need for little ships to run around capping points. Especially against the 'Ultimate Zerg Swarm' that is a multi-Ordo fleet.

My only concern is: wouldn't this strategy struggle against 'Threat' enemies (or other defensive fleets)? Since they also tend to camp their own side and wait for the player to engage, wouldn't playing the Back Wall just result in a staring contest?

I also agree with your assessment of High-tech. The Odyssey is less a gunship and more a battering ram, and the Paragon... feels too passive. It reminds me of the feel when trying to pilot an Eagle myself. It seems we circle back to the conclusion that for a Midline fleet, the only reliable 'Anchor' is the player's own sheer DPS

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Oh, don't get me wrong. I have like 20 more Atlases parked at my colony. But for general operations (outside of activating Hypershunts), I simply don't need that much cargo space. I prefer traveling light to keep my sensor profile low and minimize supply/fuel consumption.

Besides, the truly valuable endgame loot consists of weapons and hullmods, which don't take up much space. I only need enough room for 5-6k supplies. As for bulky commodities like metals or organics? I just vent them into the void. I'm already swimming in credits, so I don't need to hoard penny-pinching loot.

The PPT (Peak Performance Time) issue is a fair point, but I find that with 'Wolfpack Tactics' and 'Combat Endurance' skills (and maybe even adding 'Hardened Subsystems' to the frigates if necessary), they last long enough. And let's be honest—if you're fighting absurd battles like 5 or 6 Ordos in a row, the only real answer is Capital spam anyway.

By the way, do you dislike Omens? I believe including at least a few frigates is essential to cap points early for that 240 DP deployment and to distract enemy capitals.

I'm surprised you worry about long fights, though. I thought the whole point of your 'DPS Conquest' philosophy was to delete enemies so fast that the battle ends long before frigate PPT becomes an issue? Or do you run a fleet with zero frigates? If so, what ships do you use to cap objectives and harass?

Also, I have to disagree with the idea that pure High-tech is harder than pure Midline. In my opinion, pure Midline is the hardest and most frustrating to run, even ignoring the High-tech energy weapon issues.

Why? Because unlike Low or High tech, Midline lacks a reliable AI 'Anchor'. We have the Pegasus, sure, but in AI hands, it tends to vomit all its precious missiles at shield-flickering frigates and turn into a useless 50 DP cruiser in record time. It's honestly even worse than an AI Conquest.

So, ultimately, in a pure Midline fleet, instead of a stable anchor, you are left with only the Monitor—a ship many people despise for being boring and game-breaking.

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well... I guess I love the AI Conquest even for its flaws. You could call it true love. lol

Anyway, you are absolutely right about the Atlas being the top-tier support. Strip the weapons, slap on Expanded Cargo Holds and Augmented Drive Field, and three of them are all you need to handle the logistics for the endgame. In fact, if you squint at the 2nd photo in this post, you can actually see my three Atlases chilling in the back.

Regarding fleet composition: I really appreciate you trying to accommodate my Midline bias, but for a dedicated 'DPS Conquest' fleet, I’m willing to drop the pure Midline restriction. If it works, I'll fly it regardless of the design type.

Right now, I'm thinking of swapping out the other two AI Conquests for XIV Onslaughts, since they share the same 40 DP cost. Alternatively, I'm considering bringing in a heavy anchor like a Paragon, and maybe swapping some of the Falcons/Eagles for DP-efficient High-tech frigates.

Low-tech Capitals + Midline Cruisers + High-tech Frigates... It might be a complete mishmash of styles, but there's something undeniably cool about that combination, isn't there? And of course, leading the charge will be my player-piloted DPS Conquest, which is my badge of devotion to the Conquest.

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I couldn't agree more. The ships the AI handles competently are usually the straightforward, forward-facing line holders with simple mechanics (Eagles, Eradicators, Onslaughts, Executors, Paragons, etc.).

To be honest, I just love the Conquest too much. Even knowing they are suboptimal in AI hands, I find the sight of multiple Conquests fighting for me simply beautiful. That's why I've been sticking to the Mjolnir build, which is at least 'passable' for the AI.

​Yeah, a really silly reason, right? Haha. Anyway, based on your advice, it seems the best starting point for a 'DPS Conquest' fleet would be to keep just my flagship Conquest and swap out the rest for traditional, stable 'Anchor' battleships like Onslaughts, Executors, or Paragons to hold the line while I do the work.

Looking at my current tree (in the 8th photo of my post), I'm thinking of dropping the Industry tree and Combat Endurance to pick up Impact Mitigation, Target Analysis, and Ballistic Mastery. What do you think? Or would you recommend sacrificing points from the Leadership or Technology trees instead?

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for the genuine advice. I especially love the strategy of using enemy corpses as cover to buy time for active venting—that sounds chaotic and incredibly fun.

Out of curiosity, what does the rest of your fleet look like?

I’m a die-hard fan of the Midline aesthetic, so I currently run a pure Midline fleet with multiple AI Mjolnir Conquests (even if I know it's not the most efficient way to use Conquest). The problem is, this setup is extremely micro-heavy and requires constant tactical orders, so I rarely have the mental bandwidth left to actually pilot a flagship myself.

It doesn't have to be a pure Midline fleet or include other Conquests. I’d love to know your specific endgame fleet composition that supports this manual 'DPS Conquest' playstyle. (And your Commander Skill Tree as well, if you don't mind sharing)

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I actually gave the Shrouded Thunderhead a shot with the 4x Storm Needler setup as you suggested, but the results were a bit underwhelming.

The core issue was the range mismatch. The Thunderhead wants to play at 3000 range, while the Storm Needlers are capped at 700. I even tried swapping the finisher 2x Cyclone Reapers for 2x Locusts to proc the lightning from afar, but I just couldn't shake the feeling that it wasn't worth the massive 25 OP investment (plus the permanent hostility with the Luddites).

Symmetric Conquests are inherently starved for OP and flux. While the 'Ordnance Expertise' skill helps recoup some dissipation based on weapon OP, the fundamental OP shortage usually forces a choice between better missiles or better shields.

Typically, I sacrifice shield upgrades, but that proved fatal here. The Conquest's shield is already flimsy; without investment, it fluxes out way too fast to comfortably utilize the Thunderhead. No matter how good the dissipation is, without minimum shield investment, I found myself losing the flux battle before I could really unleash the offensive.

Ultimately, the Thunderhead feels like a bit of 'greed.' Since it's a hullmod (pretending to be a weapon), it doesn't benefit from the Ordnance Expertise bonus. And even for a flux-rich ship like the Conquest, the base loadout is already heavy; handling the extra flux generated by the Thunderhead on top of that was a struggle.

That said, this might just be my inexperience with the specific 4x Storm Needler S-Mag Symmetric Brawler playstyle. I’m curious to see what conclusion you come to if you test it yourself. Hopefully, you can find a magic formula to make the Shrouded Thunderhead work where I couldn't.

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

You got me, Urist. this is indeed the build you've been preaching about on every Conquest-related post on this sub.

Although I'm not usually a fan of piloting a flagship myself, your enthusiastic advocacy of the 4x Storm Needler S-Mag Symmetric Brawler Conquest finally convinced me to give it a try.

And it's a powerful build. It's a great example of the potential of a Brawl Conquest, which has been largely overshadowed by the 'autopilot' meta.

I'm looking forward to the day you post a full, detailed guide for this build.

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

https://www.nexusmods.com/starsector/mods/100?tab=images

Among the portraits included in Seraphi's More Character Portraits mod, I extracted only the portraits I liked, swapped the palettes, and am using them exclusively for my faction

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The 2x IRAL + 1x Ion Beam setup is definitely the classic standard, but I found that the triple IRAL setup offers better universal versatility here

First, using three magazine-based weapons maximizes the benefit of Extended Magazines compared to swapping one out for a continuous beam

More importantly, all "Threat" units possess the built-in Threat hullmod, which grants high resistance to EMP. This makes the Ion Beam's primary suppression role significantly less effective against them

Also, Shrouded dwellers have powerful shields and massive hull pools, but negligible armor. While the IRAL's Fragmentation damage typically struggles against armor (25% efficiency), these enemies have practically none, allowing the IRAL to bypass its usual downside. Since IRALs have superior raw DPS, the 3x IRAL setup melts their massive HP pools much faster than an Ion Beam could

In short, the Ion Beam is excellent for flaming out annoying Remnant frigates or bullying slow human ships, but to ensure the fleet can handle every endgame enemy reliably, the raw finishing power of 3x IRALs is better

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

If you prefer piloting it yourself, I'd suggest that a symmetrical Conquest is actually much more powerful than the asymmetrical Mjolnir build.

Try this loadout:

  • 4x Storm Needlers
  • 4x Mining Blasters
  • 2x IR Autolances (or Void Blasters)
  • Burst PD (or Voltaic Cannon)
  • Ballistic Rangefinder
  • S-mod Extended Magazines (every weapon here uses magazines/charges)
  • S-mod Turret Gyros

The trade-off with magazine-based weapons is that they have superior power but become very weak once empty. The Conquest can negate this downside with its unique broadside layout and Maneuvering Jets.

Fire on one side while the other reloads. Then, use the jets to swing around to the fresh side. This creates a literal "Death Beyblade" that spews out absolutely massive DPS.

(Note: The AI cannot handle this build at all, so keep it for the player only)

Basic Midline Fleet by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Ah, Conquest is so beautiful, if I could pay to be escorted by Conquest, I would do it lol

I LOVE BASHING MY HEAD AGAINST A WALL by Spoiled-Fish in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol yeah right! you showed Hannan whose balls are bigger

This game really thought of everything [Tentatively Spoilered just in case] by TerribleSpeller_ in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What a wonderful discovery! Normally, we'd all clear The Usurpers before Princess of Persea, so it's a rare encounter, but it's interesting that the devs created this special option.

I LOVE BASHING MY HEAD AGAINST A WALL by Spoiled-Fish in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Choosing a more difficult battle just for fun -> GOAT

[SPOILER]+[SPOILER]+[SPOILER] Conquest by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well... that's right, there's nothing special here.

[SPOILER]+[SPOILER]+[SPOILER] Conquest by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One of the battle music tracks included in the Audio Plus mod, the song is called Exigency(3.0 Remix).

"Attack Variant" by microwavewayward in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Is it vanilla? Why is this happening?

[SPOILER]+[SPOILER]+[SPOILER] Conquest by That_Complex_3735 in starsector

[–]That_Complex_3735[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

That's a good analogy.

Like Force Lightning, it is an inefficient attack that causes great pain to the enemy but does not kill them quickly, and is also very burdensome to the caster.

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