Darvin3

Reply to Counters to vasari uberness. in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]making capital ships more durable against bomber spam or LRF spam would be a nice step in reawakening interest to soase online.[/quote] I couldn't agree more. Seleuceia and I did some experimentation this summer with a balance mod, and tried a bunch of different approaches to fixing this issue. Some worked well, others had unintended consequences. I did find one change was [i]extremely[/i] effective not only at keeping capital ships alive but also making oth

Reply to Sova carrier in Strategy Sins Forums

1) On larger maps, the Sova probably isn't your best selection. Use the Akkan instead to give you a stronger economic advantage, and bring out the Sova later. The Sova is very much a rush and counter-rush type of capital ship, and the skills you select are based on how you intend to use it. You usually do not want to balance all three skills, and want to focus on any two. Generally speaking your first skill should be either Embargo or Missile Batteries; the only advant

Reply to A few ideas about research that might help the balance. in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Unfortunately, there has [i]never[/i] been alterations to the tech trees except in expansion packs. So, sad to say, this discussion is purely academic. This would definitely bring phase missiles into line in the early-game. It would still be the best upgrade line because the units it affects complement each other very well, and because its levels are actually very low by the standards of other comparable paths (PM's are 1/3/5/6 compared to TEC's missile 2/4/6 and Advent's

Reply to Domina Subjugator is Uber crap. in Strategy Sins Forums

It got a turn speed buff, meaning it has an easier time acquiring targets now like all support cruisers. Other than that... no. Still roughly on par with the Cielo for the title of weakest support cruiser.

Reply to Whats Your Favorite Type Of Planet? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]the best are the uncolonizeable with neutral extractors[/quote] Well, that's not really a colonizable planet in the first place. Pretty much nothing competes with a fully-loaded neutral, though. Costs you nothing but your colony frigate's time and you get three extractors that operate at 110% efficiency. Unless your opponent is Vasari, they're effectively untouchable, too.

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]I agree that scramble bombers won't change the late game much, but in the early game it is still overpowered.[/quote] We were speaking, hypothetically, if the illuminator bug were still in play, which changes matters substantially. As it stands right now... good luck buddy.

Reply to Advent Illuminator -- should it only require 2 military labs? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Scouts got nerfed which hurt advent the most(I still support a scout nerf despite that being an advent strength)[/quote] At this risk of beating that dead horse again, I always held that the TEC/Vasari scouts were fine and what the Advent scout needed was a nerf to its hull/shield/armor, which are still out of line even today. Most scouts had to tread carefully around fighters and flaks due to their fragility, but the Advent variety could just go charging into the middl

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Honestly though, I have to wonder how Advent would still compare if the illuminator was still bugged...[/quote] They might be disadvantaged in close-range sudden death scenarios, but once they got out those illums it wouldn't matter. They could run down Skirantras with ease and easily maul massed assailants until PM research was maxed. Vasari would be forced to either lean (heavily) on Sentinels and hope he can suppress any disciples the Advent brings out, or put up

Reply to Whats Your Favorite Type Of Planet? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Asteroids, for sure. Asteroids are inexpensive and easy to capture and a massive boon to early-game economies. With enough asteroids to fuel your early war effort, you can [i]take[/i] what you need in the long-run by force. Beyond that, desert and terran planets start with a wonderful 3 logistics slots, which is very useful. Desert planets in particular can be upgraded to have up to 9 logistics slots, which makes them perfect for development moguls. Ice/V

Reply to Early game help in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]1 build cap base - build scouts - build one of each lab - any extracters[/quote] Unless you're anticipating a rush (you shoudln't on the 32-planet random map) you should build your extractors before your labs and wait until you've scouted at least 1 jump from your homeworld before you decide to put down labs. Money is tight early-game, so getting those extractors operational is high priority. Generally speaking your best approach is to put down 2 civic labs early on

Reply to hello difference between factions in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]Once someone had about 25 of them they won.[/quote] Until Advent had a functioning battleball, TEC could still compete with LRM/Garda/Hoshiko if they played it well. If Vasari could survive to get subverters and maxed out PM's, they also stood a chance later on. However, Advent was rock-solid from the first minute to the last minute of the game, so it was uphill no matter who you were.

Reply to hello difference between factions in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]Are illuminators really that inferior when compared to the other long ranged frigates?[/quote] Illuminators suffer three major issues. The first is that they require more labs to access, slowing down your rush or defense preparations. The second is that their damage is spread out across three targets (and, if you're not a top-notch player, it's not even a sure-thing that all three weapons will be firing at any given time) which greatly reduces their effectiveness ag

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]The problem with HC as it stands is the bomber spam particularly from vasari. Going to HC against a vasari is foolish with skirantra the way they are. [/quote] And yet, what other choices do you have? Disciples get slaughtered by assailants, scouts are a joke now, carriers get countered or run down, illuminators are only really good against LF (which Vasari doesn't use much) now, and capital ships get murdered by phase missiles. That leaves you destras and def

Reply to Advent Illuminator -- should it only require 2 military labs? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

No technology has [i]ever[/i] changed position in the tech tree in a patch. So I think it's safe to say it's not gunna happen. While getting illuminators out faster would allow Advent to be very competitive at the 2-lab level, I think a buff to the strength of the illuminator is a better approach to fixing this guy. It's become very apparent that behind its bugged damage output, this was actually a relatively weak unit. [quote]They were nerfed too hard and vasari buf

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]I want to say sentinel is better against SC once it has its ability[/quote] Once PM's are maxed out the Sentinel is definitely better, but "out of the box" so to speak the Vasari units are all bottom of their respective classes. [quote]Does anyone happen to know how much additional DPS the illuminator did when it was bugged?[/quote] Funny, I've never actually heard a solid number backed up by data. I've heard as low as 25% and as high as 70%.

Reply to Anybody left? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

Some of the fans don't visit the main site, others aren't active on the forums altogether. Generally speaking, the forum-going community is a snapshot that isn't representative of the entire community.

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Huh, somehow I was thinking Cobalt was toughest LF[/quote] It's a 5 command unit; the Disciple is a 4 command unit. It's weaker individually, but overall it's about the same in terms of durability as the Cobalt (typical for Advent, less hull more shield). Where it is superior is its damage output, which is almost the same between the two units despite the Disciple being cheaper. [quote]I feel like a noob again[/quote] Some things change, some things

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]Perhaps small buffs to the damage of the Disciple and Defense Vessel are in order?[/quote] Both of these units are excellent as is, already the strongest of the three faction equivalents. We shouldn't expect the disciple to carry Advent against [i]LRF[/i] rushes, and the flak frigate has never been able to carry the entire fleet on its own. The issue is that Advent [i]fundamentally[/i] has no counter to LRF. If we're just going to toss in a scalar buff and cal

Reply to Which Planetary Bombardment Weapon? in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

I'm somewhat amused by his flurry of questions, but I do have to agree that it crosses the line to spam when he asks the same question twice and makes a new thread for it.

Reply to Star Trek is to Star Trek Enterprise... in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

As far as I'm concerned, the last C&C game was Red Alert 2. After that, they completely lost the spirit of the franchise and became an utterly generic RTS that wouldn't even merit a blip on the radar if they didn't have brand recognition.

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]You're looking at 3 military labs, but I'm talking early than that, before Hoshikos and Illuminators are involved...[/quote] Advent is just as screwed at the 2-lab level; they have no match to the LRM. Massed flak will beat massed LRM, but TEC has more than sufficient opportunity to diversify, and once they have hoshikos attempting to fight with primarily defense vessels is a joke. [quote]the advantage Vasari have here is that they only need o

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

If TEC are three jumps away, get a starbase operation on your homeworld. Advent is very much in the same position as 1.181 Vasari; at close range, you have no hope of winning a frigate battle.

Reply to Giving TEC a late game in Sins of a Solar Empire Sins Forums

[quote]it's really the early vasari that absolutely kill Advent in the early game, not TEC....[/quote] I disagree. I find the TEC rush is just as dangerous to Advent as the Vasari variety. Hoshikos soak up sidebeam damage from illuminators like no tomorrow while LRM lay waste to just about every unit type. This simple combo forms the backbone of the TEC fleet, and leaves more than enough room for them to pick up other units to suppress whatever counters you try to br

Reply to Seven More Scams You Need To Know About in Personal Computing Sins Forums

I can't believe there are people out there who are still falling for this stuff. I can understand stripped gift cards (that's really the retailer's fault), and [i]maybe[/i] a sophisticated email spoofer. The rest of it, though... just refer to the golden rule: [b]unsolicited offers should [i]always[/i] be ignored[/b]. This is what I teach all my less computer-savvy relatives.

Reply to Balance help for balance mod :) in Strategy Sins Forums

[quote]Capships in SotSE are not like real naval capital ships, specialized in their main role and without access to everything else[/quote] I completely disagree; capital ships are built with a high level of specialization, and this adds more diversity to their role and imrpoves the game. While homogeniety may be the direction you [i]want[/i] to go, I don't think it's supported by the canon and I don't think it's the best direction for the game. [quote]Why railgun is su