The War for the Universe

[HorseMonster]

If you look back over other peoples threads you should be able to find plenty of inspiration and examples of ways to make cool spaceships and spaceship related projects to help you improve your own spaceshippery.

[HorseMonster]

I made I guess fanart?

[Arcalane]

Could you put up specific ship stats? The laser wars download is old and broken.

Google Drive - Laser Wars Data.

You'll notice there's only data for R/Y/G/B/V. This is because;

1) Orange turned out to be absolutely crap due to rounding*. It was pretty much the worst laser ever.
2) Indigo likewise turned out to be a middling piece of crap, IIRC it was even worse than Orange overall.
3) HorseMonster hates Indigo and insists that it's not a real colour, or something. Also it makes for a really boring laser colour.

The 'other weapons' tab is for actual beams (using mining beams, probably) rather than bolts. I never actually implemented or tested these values, they were just vague approximations of balance.

*Specifically, I already had stats for Red and Green lasers, IIRC (Kebb use Green and the ASA use Red), which I got from blueprints that Horse sent me by request. I then calculated, discussing with Horse (I think) and using simple multiplication & rounding of base numbers, the rough end result of other laser colours. Or something like that anyway. Point is, Orange and Indigo lasers weren't worth listing for a number of reasons. I think Indigos had the Reload and Capacity of a Violet but the Accuracy, Damage and Range of a Blue. Likewise, Oranges had similar reload/cap to Yellows, but the accuracy/damage/range of Reds.

End result, they were kinda inferior to both, especially in the smallest and largest varieties. The other kinds were just mediocre. Not worth using at all.

Ultimately if you wanted to be smart you'd mix multiple laser colours on your vessels - big Violets for long-range engagements, and lots of smaller Reds for point defense and close range combat, maybe with some Snub H/SH Reds for close-range, since Reds pack the most power per volley and the fastest recharge times. Also, you should probably mention which kind of laser a ship uses if it's not apparent in your empire brief, especially if you have multiple types on the same ship. "2x Tiny Red Laser", for example, rather than just "2x Tiny Laser".

I'd recommend sticking to the default values, but you should be able to copypaste them out of that sheet to make your own if you want to experiment with the DPS/DPV values if you want to make, say, supercharged lasers that hit harder but fire slower, or rapid-fire lasers that spam out pewpews without doing much damage per hit**.

**Just remember, if you're testing using the latest metabuilds, ships will have armour values/damage reduction that'll make very weak spam weapons very ineffective against the heavily-armoured ships, such as the GORE's Moloch-class or the ASA Yari-class.

[calvin1211]

Ooh, nice map.
What's the significance of the lines connecting systems and the circles surrounding claimed systems?

[HorseMonster]

The lines are space lines, all science fiction maps have them. They probably have something to do with space travel. The circles represent volumes of space controlled by a given civilization. Also the reason indigo isn't on there is that indigo is not actually a spectral color so you literally cannot have an indigo laser. I actually started work on a new spreadsheet that is a bit more reasonable and includes orange as a laser type, I kind of want to go back through the Laser Wars ships and make the balance a bit more formulaic.

[Arcalane]

Hm. I'll see if I can't drop some time on fixing the GORE weapons if/when you get that sorted out, then.

Or I can pass you the GORE blueprints if you want to tweak the balance on them yourself, keeping in mind the GORE are the tough/slow/long-range faction. Kinda tempted to rebuild the GORE ships from scratch, but I haven't touched BSF/SM in months.

[Doogie12]

this would make a great informal metagame. Im convinced that their complexities are why they keep failing.

[Deltaflyer]

Registering interest for this shindig.

[shamrocksoldier]

Eh, forget about my last ship I posted, it was unbalanced and simple. This time I actually made an effort

EOS Federation



DPX-17 Cuchulainn Class
HP: 310
Speed: 4.2
Turning:2
x3 Light Lasers
x2 Medium Lasers

[calvin1211]

I see the Federation's colour scheme has changed. I quite like it.
Deltaflyer's asymetrical design is also quite interesting.

[shamrocksoldier]

I'm coming for ya calvin...


EOS Federation




CXS-92 Elatha Class

HP: 560
Speed:3.5
Turning:1.5
x3 Medium Laser
x1 Heavy Laser
x1 Light Laser


Sometimes I chase my shots with muscle milk just so I can feel yoked.

[jwa8402]

I have to say this is pretty wicked. The 'vets' all left and you guys started building amazing stuff. I love small detailed ships like this and the windows some of you are using are great! Its also interesting that some of you are managing to do things that were considered nearly impossible to pull off, like combining shiny and sw sections. If I could get shipmaker to work right now I would join you ;(

[robots rock]

I am interested.
On second post, too.


I am confused though, is this just a BSF thing, or is this a real game?

Never mind, searched for a bit. Know what is going on.
Might join.

Just to hold onto a thought, I call dibs on PACIV
Peic - Adaeckin - Ceaphos - Idotus - Vaero

[Doogie12]

Come Christmas break (tomorrow) I will create my own thread and spam it with Miora Colony ships and establish an arms race with the SAR.

[Preacher]

Now that I have more free time (a whole two hours a day :O) I would be interested in doing this, simplicity is key, and this looks both simple and fun