HighFleet - Desert Russians Fight With Warships In Post-Apocalyptic Wasteland

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

 

[agris]

Ok, first run ended in defeat at the 1st or 2nd floppy disk town depending on how you count. I was doing well but then had two consecutive hard victories after which I was down to to just 2-4 ships in pretty bad repair. I probably should have retried at least one of them but in the rush and surprise of winning I forgot to and stupidly clicked "continue". I got to a fleet HQ, found nukes but was found by 4 missle cruisers who utterly mullered me. I suppose that was the strike group I'd been dodging for a while.

My primary miscalculation was probably not buying enough fuel to allow me to leave a town when when radar defence started bleeping.

I see what reviewers and streamers are saying about under-tutorialisation but frankly the setting and the combat together are so compelling that I'm willing to wade in. Maybe some of you can clear some stuff up for me.

Firstly: missiles. Firing them from one of my craft in combat: fine, that's an ok opening strategy. I don't always remember to fit them but when I do they help a bit. But when should I be firing them over the horizon at others? And at what? At towns? At radar contacts? The manual heavily hints not to fire nukes lightly, for fear of beginning a nuclear exchange but the game opens with the baddies nuking your capital so that doesn't make a lot of plot sense.

You seem to be conflating missiles in the real time dog fight phase with the "tactical" screen missiles. R-5s, dog fight missiles, are best used at the start of combat when enemy weapons are being loaded. Sometimes I use them to take out the smallest craft to just not have to deal with it, or to weaken the strongest. Even if you can't see enemies yet, use your target ship info pannel in the bottom-right to see which enemy ship you have in focus - that's the one you'll be firing your missiles at. Move your cursor to cycle between then and then launch against the ship you identified at the fight prep screen to first strike against. I can't reliably use missiles any other time during dog fights, outside of rare lulls, because combat is too hectic to time it correctly. Which means my missiles are shot down.

TLDR: missiles in dog fights, use an opening salvo when you need the help. Don't be wasteful tho, if you can easily maneuver and take out the ships without using missiles, don't use them. Also, armor and protect your missiles so they aren't needlessly destroyed. See here and here for examples on my favorite dog fighters.

For cruise missiles: K-15 have a long range (1400 km) and are useful to use against SGs or garrison troops (when landed). Anything large-ish that isn't moving or is moving slowly. A-400 have much lower range (400 km) and people tend to shoot down enemy cruise missiles with them. For radar activated missiles (both of these), make sure they're fired at a target about 100 km in front of where you want them to go (unless garrisoned ships), because they need to switch on their active radar homing (ARM, or SARM for semi-) to be accurate.

FYI - once you start using nukes, the enemy uses them quite a lot. I haven't done this myself, but be forewarned.

Secondly: ship repair/refitting. I haven't really ventured to adjust the loadouts of any of my ships yet save buying some alternative ammo. I take it I probably should Incendiary ammo is presumably best used against ships with larger fuel tanks. I can't say that I've had a great deal of success trying that yet though. When should I think about using AP ammo?

So I get that buying different ammo types is easier than thinking about how to modify ships, I did this as well, but really you need to get comfortable making some basic adjustments to ships in the dock so that they live longer. Once you have more survivability, you don't need specialty ammo at the start of the game and can save more money.

Incendiary: works well against unarmored sections of hull. If I have the Gladiator starting combat with a mixed frigate / corvette fleet, I'll consider equipping with incendiary to quickly take out corvettes, and switch to regular for taking out the frigate.

AP: self explanatory, helpful for frigates+.

Prox: I don't use them, i've read they do well against missiles and small, fast targets like aircraft.

Specialty aircraft ammo is really important. Bombs, buy them. All of them. Not the bombs in the shipyard, but the ones in the supply store. Super useful against SGs, large / slow targets, and grounded planes. Also buy air to air missiles, your aircraft can use them to shoot down cruise missiles. Much cheaper than burning a 2k A-100 to knock out a CM. I haven't found rockets very useful on aircraft, if the enemy can dodge they dodge them, and if they aren't moving then bombs are more effective.

Thirdly: intercepting messages. To begin with I was getting gaps in messages even though I did a perfect decryption - which contradicts the manual. And with respect to intercepting encrypted messages - if you later get the cypher can you then read old encrypted messages? But would there be any point given that messages largely contain enemy movements which would be very out of date?

There are always gaps outside the prologue, and yeah old info is... old. Not much value. Pay attention to the direction of the incoming radio signal, that's one of the most useful pieces of information. Often you can work out which route the ship(s) are on. Also, don't be afraid to use aircraft to scout, just make sure they're approaching/leaving from a vector that doesn't trace immediately back to you, or you've given up your location. Also - this is how you can trace enemy carriers, planes often making a b-line from enemy carriers. Trace that route back to the originating city and bam, there's a carrier group.

Fourthly, when I restart, is it worth my while (mechanically) to run through the prologue again?

Finally: IR detection? The tutorialisation was telling me that I had contacts but I couldn't see shit on it.

I probably need to go back and re-read the manual now on the basis of my new experience.

If only to get better at combat. It used to be the prologue could give you a good campaign bonus, so it made sense to complete it with as much $$$ remaining as possible (including selling ships), but now it doesn't matter outside the extra experience you get in dog fights.

IR is just an early warning system in my experience. Maybe if you pick something up that isn't actually headed directly towards you, but is somewhat parallel to your trajectory, it could be useful for that. But mostly its telling me I have aircraft / missiles / ships coming right at me just before they become visible. T-7s intercept!

 

[Magitex]

So I get that buying different ammo types is easier than thinking about how to modify ships, I did this as well, but really you need to get comfortable making some basic adjustments to ships in the dock so that they live longer. Once you have more survivability, you don't need specialty ammo at the start of the game and can save more money.

I can't say I really agree with saying you don't need specialty ammo at the start of the game - these can actually save you from losing money and time by finishing more difficult or outright unwinnable battles, sometimes without taking damage. I wouldn't hoard the ammunition, particularly when you are low on funds, but if you hold on to ammo directly useful to your specific fleet they will get you out of a bind or shorten a battle significantly.. and you can always sell them for the price you bought them for.

AP - makes short work of anything above your weight class.. it's a good solution to problems when you want to end a battle quickly, if a bit expensive to let loose. Generally I pull these out when I hit a city in early game and I don't really have the punch to take out so many ships, no retreat necessary.
Incendiary - I have little experience with higher caliber incendiaries, but the 37mm incendiary is deadly and cheap, especially against multiple unarmored opponents/weak spots, or if you pull this out this later in a battle where the enemy now lacks fire suppression. It only takes a few rounds to actually cause a fire, so they're are particularly effective after stripping away some armor using multiple ships (i.e using an armored ship or heavy hitting ship to remove critical armor sections and then retreated to a more nimble ship with small incendiary munitions to finish the job without taking module damage).
Laser guided munitions - These simply break apart ships, doesn't matter what caliber you are using. Cost something like 200-1000 a piece, but will remove just about anything from the battle with one or two shells. They're a steal and I recommend having a few in inventory at all times.
Proximity - not a munition I've used myself, I've heard they're exceptionally effective at anti-missile and plane duties but I just haven't gotten around to fielding them!

Provided you don't use these munitions as a primary means of dealing with your opponents, I think it's well worth holding on to them, even at the start of the game to ensure the enemy never gets the initiative to strike back or put you in a bad position. The stock ships are mostly good at their roles, you don't need to modify them extensively although the situation will dictate that ultimately if you fall behind.
Survivability comes from being good at both the strategic layer and particularly at dodging in combat, and I think not so much from making min-maxed battleships (well, that's icing on the cake).

I would still recommend modifying ships to suit the situation, particularly if you are having difficulty with certain situations (raiding, tankers, or keeping the sevastopol from bankrupting you).. just that I think the special ammunitions are well worth the cost in many situations.

 

[agris]

Magitex I don't disagree with you, and I suppose your post highlights how there are many different ways to play. I think it's better long-term to get quite good at the real time combat and not need this ammo often. That being said, I keep rounds for my go-to combatants because sometimes you really do need a leg up. I just think relying on it early in the game is (a) a money sink and (b) delaying getting gud. Once you're gud, you truly see the advantages that these ammo types bring. Without being gud, they're a crutch.

 

[Zariusz]

Interesting, i didnt expect that we can hire Lord Governor.

 

[agris]

Interesting, i didnt expect that we can hire Lord Governor.

You can hire him?

Spoiler

I assume this is an outcome from meeting him one on one.

When I met with him and told him I would use the plutonium for the betterment of the people, he said "no you wouldn't", told me that HE was going to use them to make a republic for the people, and I would just wage war. To prove him wrong that I'm not a filthy warmonger, I killed him.

I wondered at that time if him believing me was gated behind a Kindness check. My kindness is not.. high. It's not even positive

How did you do it?

 

[Zariusz]

Interesting, i didnt expect that we can hire Lord Governor.

You can hire him?

Spoiler

I assume this is an outcome from meeting him one on one.

When I met with him and told him I would use the plutonium for the betterment of the people, he said "no you wouldn't", told me that HE was going to use them to make a republic for the people, and I would just wage war. To prove him wrong that I'm not a filthy warmonger, I killed him.

I wondered at that time if him believing me was gated behind a Kindness check. My kindness is not.. high. It's not even positive

How did you do it?

Spoiler

Talk about being a prophet

Also wtf how to defend against those damn nuclear carriers.

 

[agris]

Interesting, i didnt expect that we can hire Lord Governor.

You can hire him?

Spoiler

I assume this is an outcome from meeting him one on one.

When I met with him and told him I would use the plutonium for the betterment of the people, he said "no you wouldn't", told me that HE was going to use them to make a republic for the people, and I would just wage war. To prove him wrong that I'm not a filthy warmonger, I killed him.

I wondered at that time if him believing me was gated behind a Kindness check. My kindness is not.. high. It's not even positive

How did you do it?

Spoiler

Talk about being a prophet

Spoiler

I didn't have that option. Did you explore every city, and thus have all the pieces of the qora or whatever it was called? I found and transcribed 2 of them, but I don't think it was all.

 

[Zariusz]

Interesting, i didnt expect that we can hire Lord Governor.

You can hire him?

Spoiler

I assume this is an outcome from meeting him one on one.

When I met with him and told him I would use the plutonium for the betterment of the people, he said "no you wouldn't", told me that HE was going to use them to make a republic for the people, and I would just wage war. To prove him wrong that I'm not a filthy warmonger, I killed him.

I wondered at that time if him believing me was gated behind a Kindness check. My kindness is not.. high. It's not even positive

How did you do it?

Spoiler

Talk about being a prophet

Spoiler

I didn't have that option. Did you explore every city, and thus have all the pieces of the qora or whatever it was called? I found and transcribed 2 of them, but I don't think it was all.

I think you only need to choose faith options in events to have atleast + 1lvl of faith and then you have that option.

 

[Lithium Flower]

Interesting, i didnt expect that we can hire Lord Governor.

You can hire him?

Spoiler

I assume this is an outcome from meeting him one on one.

When I met with him and told him I would use the plutonium for the betterment of the people, he said "no you wouldn't", told me that HE was going to use them to make a republic for the people, and I would just wage war. To prove him wrong that I'm not a filthy warmonger, I killed him.

I wondered at that time if him believing me was gated behind a Kindness check. My kindness is not.. high. It's not even positive

How did you do it?

Spoiler

Talk about being a prophet

Spoiler

I didn't have that option. Did you explore every city, and thus have all the pieces of the qora or whatever it was called? I found and transcribed 2 of them, but I don't think it was all.

I think you only need to choose faith options in events to have atleast + 1lvl of faith and then you have that option.

Spoiler

It's a neat bit of C&C since choosing the pragmatic/rational options in the qoda interactions gives you a lot of short term bonuses, such as bonus Romani points (pretty useful since it will be checked heavily in the post-eclipse speeches) and extra favor with YEE BOYZ. But the mad prophet options is what will give you the conviction to recruit the Lord-Governor and get an extra cruiser.

Wish there was more of that in the game. Otherwise choosing which ideologies to level seems like a crapshoot, since you don't know which Tarkhans you will come across. And is there any rewards to getting Gerat points? Its naturally the hardest path since many vignettes pit that option in conflict with the Romani ideology, and since you start with points in the latter, you will be penalized for choosing the former.

 

[agris]

I do wonder if there’s a way to play to embrace Republicanism such that a unique end game sequence is presented. The prologue hinted at this a bit with the options to tell Daud to pound sand.

what happens if you

Spoiler

side with Daud rather than Pyotr? I tried to pacify them both and Pyotr capped Daud’s ass.

I’m in the post-capture Khiva phase now, this is gonna b gud.

 

[Beowulf]

I do wonder if there’s a way to play to embrace Republicanism such that a unique end game sequence is presented. The prologue hinted at this a bit with the options to tell Daud to pound sand.

what happens if you

Spoiler

side with Daud rather than Pyotr? I tried to pacify them both and Pyotr capped Daud’s ass.

Spoiler

IIRC Daud leaves and takes your starting ships, apart from the flagship, and comes back after you capture Khiva

 

[Zariusz]

 

[ERYFKRAD]

I wonder if he should have made the pivot at the hilt rather than dead centre.

 

[Zariusz]

Interesting, it seem that first mods are starting to arrive, though from what i can tell from this trailer its probably just swap of ship design files.

 

[Taka-Haradin puolipeikko]

https://store.steampowered.com/news..._medium=tweet&utm_campaign=twitter-2021-09-20

Changelog V.1.13
Fixed a lot of crashes, added the first version of the easy difficulty and started rebalancing the game.

A list of all the changes (well, almost) is below:

- Easy mode with free saves.
- Large rebalancing of armor.
- Numerous fixes related to missile interception and logic.

- Fixed crash during ship repair, after evacuation.
- Fixed a bug with the disappearance of transport in the player's squadron when meeting a missile / aircraft and the disappearance of transport after the death of an escort from missile strikes.
- Fixed a bug where missiles / planes did not attack single transport.
- Fixed a bug with explosions of objects on the map (for example, the explosion of an anti-missile and ballistic missile).
- Fixed the logic of aircraft returning to aircraft carriers: correct direction, correct position on the deck.
- The game no longer minimizes on ALT-TAB.
- An exploit in the editor has been fixed: when a module is attached to 2 hull parts, one could be removed and the module remained in place.
- The entire ship can no longer be rotated in the editor.
- Removing antennas by RMB.
- Fixed an error of incorrect operation of modules when connecting two large parts of the ship.
- Fixed an error occurred when attaching a ship to an object in the editor if it was rotated.
- Fixed entries in error.log when logging into Shipworks.
- The possibility of starting the landing of a non-flying ship has been excluded.
- Fixed a bug due to which when the last ship (flagship) hard landing, the game ended in defeat even if the flagship survived.
- Added one more, the lowest, level of graphics.
- Fixed a bug with calculating the time until the end of the repair in the presence of spare parts.
- Fixed a bug with instant repair of squadrons when they were connected.
- Fixed a bug in Yehuda's quest.
- Fixed a bug in the dialogue with admiral Wan.
- Fixed bugs in the Alsahir's Revenge event.
- Fixed a bug in the quest Matter of Honor.
- Fixed exploit with the final battle.
- Fixed a bug in the final briefing.
- Fixed a bug in the dialogue with the Steward.
- Fixed bug with buttons on the GAME OVER screen.
- Fixed a bug with the spawn of the Varyag in Khiva.
- The game cannot be unpaused in menues.

 

[Zariusz]

Now since Sseth has arrived hopefuly this means that Highfleet popularity will soon resurface again .

 

[CaffeineConquistador]

Is the deckbuilding bullshit as obnoxious as it looks? It worked well in Star Traders and Shadow Empire.

 

[CaffeineConquistador]

And the answer is a resounding "yes", but the rest of the friggin game is obnoxious as well. And it's fun as hell. I don't typically go in for these kinds of spastic games, but the guy who made it got it right. I played this thing until the wife got up and the dog started bothering me for a walk. Can't believe this didn't show up in any Steam recomends.

 

[Twiglard]

Had it on my wishlist for a while and only now bought it.

The sound design and particle effects are fucking perfect. Just see the nozzles and the exhaust when landing.

Actually I prefer this single-ship combat to Starsector where it all comes down to shield attrition. Less grindy on fleet supplies but with semi-permanent losses to each craft is the way to go.

I'd even say it's more complex in regular gameplay. No base building, but by the time you colonize in Starsector the game is mostly over anyway.

 

[Twiglard]

This is the current meta and it's fucking disgusting.

1. Use the 2x2 piece with one missing corner for things like guns and large generators to save just a few kilos. There's no downside, it's not any weaker as long as you align it inward.
2. Use 2x1 pieces for things like small gas tanks or fire extinguishers. They're lighter than the 2x2 piece.
3. Don't use the fixed engines, or at least use only a minimal amount.
4. Always mount flares, and use at least 4 of them for diagonal coverage. Best use 8 emitters. Even with a small ship, evading and repositioning takes too much time that could be spent firing.

Now it starts to get worse.

5. Use this particular armor pattern:

Unlike (1) and (2), the mass savings are fucking massive.

It's takes the same amount of durability with the same hitboxes. Proofz:

The bottom part of the Gladiator isn't meant to be protected, hence the extensive damage.

6. Just spam Palash everywhere. This isn't considered excessive by the game.

7. Use a small vertical gear piece and a modified rotation of bottommost small gear piece, if you can get away with it. Tap upward thrust when landing.

Piece rotation has a crazy positive effect on damping properties of the gear pieces.

8. Proximity rounds are OP, even against armor.

 

[agris]

Yeah, you can, but the game is not so difficult as to warrant that level of cheese. This build is akin to people who rest after every encounter in IE games - you can, there’s nothing stopping you from it, but the game isn’t so difficult as to require it and it’s actually more fun to see how far you can go without 100% straight meta optimization.

 

[Twiglard]

What's the Kritikal Kodex Konsensus on designing your own flagship? Is it cheating?

 

[Twiglard]

This game is so autistic and merciless it's unbelievable. First, the total lack of shields or similar anti-attrition mechanics. Second, ship design has excellent (but still buggy) balance between mass, thrust to weight, fuel amount and armor. This blows theorycrafting builds for 3.5 or KSP right out of the water.

Hell, in KSP RP-1 it was always possible to use a slightly better engine variant and use just slightly more fuel. In Highfleet, builds are tight and the process of arriving at them prone to failure.

So this has extremely high TWR, decent fuel consumption, forgiving amount of fuel, and is capable of catching a convoy before it sounds the alarm.

Try uprating it for more armor / guns at the same TWR and speed while keeping 200+ seconds of fuel, all the while keeping fuel consumption below 450t. It falls apart. The game cockblocks you from running away with the specs in its simple rules and small part count.

 

[Twiglard]