{"action":"created","issue":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173","labels_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173/labels{/name}","comments_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173/comments","events_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173/events","html_url":"https://github.com/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173","id":115757038,"number":173,"title":"Exponential Bulk Freighter...","user":{"login":"SolraBizna","id":427857,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/427857?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna","html_url":"https://github.com/SolraBizna","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/SolraBizna/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"labels":[{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/labels/enhancement","name":"enhancement","color":"c7def8"}],"state":"open","locked":false,"assignee":null,"milestone":null,"comments":6,"created_at":"2015-11-08T20:23:15Z","updated_at":"2015-12-01T06:05:48Z","closed_at":null,"body":"(Sorry for the long-winded post; I am enamored with the sound of my own typing. Skip to the last two paragraphs if you're interested only in the \"fix\", but do stop to look at the screenshot on the way...)\r\n\r\nIn this game, there appears to be no limit on the number of \"escort\" ships you can have with you. (This is not a bug, this is _awesome_.)\r\n\r\nAlso in this game, there are random pirates who are attracted to your fleet according to the number of freighters you're flying with. (This is also _awesome_, especially since it is _far_ more balanced and fun than the corresponding \"feature\" in EV.)\r\n\r\nUnfortunately, it seems that the pirates' composition is determined only by the number of freighters, not the size. This does manage to discourage the so-called \"Exponential Star Barge\" strategy, as a flock of Furies, Sparrows, and Hawks will manage to pick off at least a few in a given pass. However... if the ships are Bulk Freighters instead, even fairly stock ones... by the time pirates start showing up, you have an undulating mass of well-shielded Bulk Freighters capable of firing dozens/hundreds of Laser Turrets at any threats.\r\n\r\n![2015-11-08_00001](https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/427857/11022309/b87a9e76-8618-11e5-841a-964ba6247a81.jpg)\r\n\r\nThe bank will happily give you loans big enough to buy dozens of new Bulk Freighters at a time by the end, and your profits only grow and grow and grow. More and more pirates come, and more and more die. _No_ amount of Sparrows threatens this group at any point. Not only does your money increase exponentially, but your combat rating does as well... I had 829 kills (combat rating 6) when I started doing this yesterday, and had 21297 kills (combat rating _9_) by the time my session ended.\r\n\r\nOut of curiosity, I decided to re-arm and re-outfit these ships to be more capable in combat. A Bulk Freighter can carry 3 Heavy Laser Turrets and 2 Heavy Anti-Missile Turrets. Equipping them all was a pain (literally, it hurt my wrist), but the result was an unstoppable death wave that followed me through every system I went to. Dominating planets and fighting off the strongest of ships became easy.\r\n\r\nNow, I know that by doing this, it's my own fault if my fun was \"ruined\" by this being possible. I could just as easily have chosen not to fly around selling cargoes and buying bulk freighters while watching the pirate fleets burn around me. But in my defense, it was pretty amusing... :)\r\n\r\nWhile this whole thing was going on, I tried to think of ways to fix this. It should remain _physically possible_ to have this many bulk freighters or other large ships flying with you. The main fix I came up with is to alter the _composition_ of the fleets that attack depending on the _composition_ of the player's fleet (in addition to altering the _size_ as is already done). I noticed that on the rare occasions a component of my \"Unstoppable Death Wave\" was disabled, it was because of a Leviathan or other large pirate warship. By my reckoning, if even 10% of the attracted pirates had been in Leviathans, I would have lost a Bulk Freighter every few jumps, absent skillful and proactive intervention on my part. (And skillful and proactive intervention is something we want to require, in the event of such a large freighter fleet, right?)\r\n\r\nAs for the exponential combat rating thing... in my opinion, very small ships should cease contributing to combat rating if you have a very large fleet (or ship). I think, however, that if exponential strategies in general are reduced in effectiveness, the combat rating problem becomes less important.\r\n\r\n(Now to sell the Unstoppable Death Wave and go back to _playing the actual game_... :P)"},"comment":{"url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/comments/160865741","html_url":"https://github.com/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173#issuecomment-160865741","issue_url":"https://api.github.com/repos/endless-sky/endless-sky/issues/173","id":160865741,"user":{"login":"brick96","id":16091650,"avatar_url":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/16091650?v=3","gravatar_id":"","url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96","html_url":"https://github.com/brick96","followers_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/followers","following_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/following{/other_user}","gists_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/gists{/gist_id}","starred_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/starred{/owner}{/repo}","subscriptions_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/subscriptions","organizations_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/orgs","repos_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/repos","events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/events{/privacy}","received_events_url":"https://api.github.com/users/brick96/received_events","type":"User","site_admin":false},"created_at":"2015-12-01T06:05:48Z","updated_at":"2015-12-01T06:05:48Z","body":"But how will they know? Gotta get fairly close to use a scanner"}}