

I'm fine with letting the AI fight it out at the ship level if I could usefully coordinate things but it's just not working for me.Īnd I must be missing something about missiles because the extremely limited ammo, poor maneuverability, and all ships seeming to have point defense feels like a waste of points to even mount them. Made worse when the ships also apparently ignore new orders. So I'm not sure why they so harshly limit ship orders.
And in a balanced engagement, the player's ability to coordinate better is normally where the advantage is. And doesn't feel like it's pulling nearly the same aggro as I do either. Active ship control is normally a player advantage, but here the AI is certainly better at balancing use of the various ship's systems/abilities than I am. Granted it's still early, but it feels like the only combat "strategy" is to have overwhelming numbers. So far, I like all the systems I'm seeing except combat.
#Starsector game window too small free#
It counts as a free action and will make them focus on the new order.
#Starsector game window too small for free#
You get a window to issue orders for free every time you issue an order - if you want your ships to go from defending a spot to attacking something else, pause and cancel the old order by selecting it either right before or after you issue the new order. On your complaint about ships not following orders - make sure you're cancelling existing orders when you assign new ones. I don't think there's a time where I would every try to fully control every weapon on a ship though - let your point defenses be on auto fire, and generally try to focus on aiming your big/valuable guns while allowing the AI to plunk away with the side guns or something like that. This is before you get into some of the more unique ships like the phasing ones - they will perform drastically better in a skilled player's hands relative to the AI. Being able to monitor your shield manually and knowing when to back out and vent flux alone can be a huge advantage, and once you get good at that you should be outperforming the AI unless you're particularly not suited for some other phase of combat.

For me I like a big tanky ship without a huge emphasis on missiles, and yeah you can absolutely outperform the AI with clever use of maneuvering, knowing when to withdraw and cool down, and utilizing your weapon arcs better than the AI can with practice. There are absolutely ships I perform better in than the AI does - I play exclusively as a pilot, and never "autoresolve" by letting the AI take over. Tossing in friendly ships to add to the volley will be even better.Īt the end of the day you need time to master the combat system to the point that you're outperforming the AI. You can pair the dumbfire ones (which shoot more volleys) with the smartfire ones using the "dumb" missiles to overwhelm their point defenses while the smart ones hopefully hit home at the same time. Missiles work best with proper timing, when you can shoot enough to overwhelm point defenses.

If you want to commit to missiles all out, find a ship that has bonuses (some give extra ammo and have abilities to regenerate ammo) and use their strengths. If you hate missiles, look for something that skews away from that and equip it differently that that. It's hard to give super specific advice on the combat because there are so many ships with different roles so I guess to start with, is to find a ship that fits a niche you enjoy.
