Resistor's Gripes

[resistor]

Let me start off by saying STF is my favorite indie game and I'm proud to have backed it. Now I'm going talk about everything that bothers me in it.

This is not in the suggestions thread because I'm just complaining about things that I don't like but probably won't/can't/shouldn't be changed.

1) Captain Traits that affect ship combat

    This really makes me cringe to think about. I'm especially bothered by how the Smuggler has a +10% bonus to Defense which is a very significant combat edge, despite being a profession that isn't associated with combat. I'd prefer battles being decided by skills and ship components rather than being influenced by starting profession, but being used to STRPG where this was the case may be a factor in why this bothers me.

2) Boarding is far too easy

    The enemy ship crew always has very low attributes, which makes boarding with high/decent-attribute crew easy. I know it's to make it so impressing defeated crew isn't the optimal way to recruit, but I'd rather enemy crews have more average stats anyway.

3) Faction-controlled sector system is not present

    In STRPG, faction military and bounty hunter ships wouldn't search you if you were in a sector of space that they didn't have legal ownership of. STF doesn't have a system like that, and faction military and BHs will want to search you wherever they encounter you, which feels weird if it is far away from a system their faction controls, especially if they don't control a single world in the local quadrant.

4) Ship visual designs are different from STRPG

    I don't mean the difference in 2D and 3D, I mean the ships seem designed differently. Ships in STRPG varied a lot, but they all had prominent, sturdy-looking prows. In STF, ships don't necessarily look like they have sturdy prows, especially ships like the Guardian Interceptor which even has a split prow. This doesn't bother me as much as it used to after getting used to it from all my time playing STF, but if there is ever a mod that makes ships look more stylistically consistent with STRPG I will download it immediately.

5) Surrender isn't always an option

    There exists no experience in STF more frustrating than being attacked, with no option to surrender, by a hostile military ship that only searches you after destroying half your ship because your rep was high enough that they didn't even want to kill or imprison you anyway. Surrendering not always being an option leads to fights that can feel completely pointless and, dare I say it, an unfair challenge in certain circumstances.

Well, there you have it. The major things that bother me, but probably won't/can't/shouldn't be changed.

[fallen]

Thanks for the feedback! We'll keep working to improve.

1) Sorry you dislike that.
2) We're always working to improve the AI ship builder. Some big level-ups are coming in January.
3) Quadrants are owned by factions, we will not differentiate below that level.
4) That's unfortunate but understandable.
5) Adding mid-combat surrender is on our list.

[Brutus Aurelius]

I attribute the design philosophy changes to the nescessity of smaller vessels, the technological differences in quadrants, and 2 centuries of advancement

[fallen]

I attribute them to ... I used to draw like crap

[daveal]

For #3, I think the request is that only ships of the faction that owns the quadrant should be allowed to demand inspections. Other ships, regardless of whether they own any planets in the quadrant, should not be allowed to demand inspections. If that is too restrictive, at least can you prevent factions who own no planets in the quadrant from inspecting?

[Cory Trese]

3) Huh? I disagree with this assessment and see the logic being very similar based on Quadrant ownership.

[daveal]

To me, it is weird that a ship which is alone in the quadrant - not a single planet in the quadrant belongs to its faction - feels justified in demanding an inspection. They are just passing through with no claim to ownership.

[drspendlove]

Yeah, in some places, we'd call them "Jerks".