u/SgtBANZAI

I've played for a few hours but I'm still incredibly confused by the in-game UI. Googling these issues doesn't for some reason bring any concrete answers, maybe I'm misunderstanding how to properly label them.

1. How do you continually stick the active mission on screen? Not general direction after you lay in course, I mean consistently highlited/named location where the active quest leads you? Many games that have active quest markers have a way to continually indicate it on your screen at all times, yet I have no idea how to do it in Starsector.

2. How do you highlight the imperial borders on map? I'm always confused where anything is because no systems are ever marked with the appropriate state symbols. M&B has it, every single global strategy game has, but I can't seem to find how to outline the policies in this game.

3. How do you check your actual current credit spending? It's been hours before I've noticed my crew actually demands payment, and that only after I entered a fringe menu that outlies my income. In M&B your party's expenses are located on the main screen, yet when I hover over my bank account it simply states "Available credits"?

I want to specifically outline that I don't hate these movies or anything. I like the prequel trilogy. However, after some thought I think that Attack of the Clones' entire subplot circling around the secret weapon (the army of the Republic), while a great idea that I don't have any issues with on paper, is executed in such a strange way it's basically a direct predecessor to the entire Exegol armada. I will spoil both movies below.

Episode 9 of the saga features an entire fleet of Star Destroyers stationed at the remote planet, waiting for its chance to unleash hell upon the galaxy. It is an infamious piece of the movie due to how contrived and confusing its origin is, and how much of an overkill their weapons are considering their numbers. There is no coherent in-movie explanation for where it came from, how it was built, how exactly it was hidden, why hide it at all in such a strange manner and how absolutely nobody noticed such an insane amount of materials flowing to Exegol for supposedly many years while it was being built.

I'd argue the entire Obi-Wan's detective arc centered on discovering Kamino and the clone army is just as contrived.

First, we learn that Kamino, the birthplace of the new Republic army, is erased from the jedi archival maps (presumably by count Dooku). This simultaneously supposedly leads to the complete erasure of said knowledge across the entire Republic safe for a random local diner, because nobody in the Order heard of Kamino or can even admit to the possibility of its existence, and no attempts to locate where the assassin's dart even came from lead to anything. A planet that supposedly continuously breeds entire armies across the galactic history (prime minister of Kamino stipulates that the clone army is "one of the finest we've ever created", implying there were many more and probably at least as numerous) should be on everyone's radar at all times, yet Obi-Wan was unsuccessful in locating it before speaking with a random former prospector? Does Coruscant have no other map archives aside from those in the order where Obi-Wan could reliably look for the missing planet? Has Dooku erased those too, and nobody from untold amount of traders and industrialists directly dealing with the planet or its direct surroundings noticed or talked to anybody about it? Yet a random diner's chef is not only in the know of where exactly the planet is, but what customs Kaminoans have, what they do and that the dart is 100% their creation?

Second, when Obi-Wan finally arrives to the planet, he is greeted by a Kaminoan emissary stating they were losing hope he would ever arrive. Wait, what, how is it possible?! Do you imply that for many years you've been raising, supplying and training an army that's supposed to watch over entire galaxy, paid for in (presumably) astronomical sums of money, and there was no direct contact with the people who ordered it?! It's news for the prime minister that his original contractor, Syfo Dias, is dead, and has been for almost ten years!

Were the Kaminoans autistically ordering extraordinary amount of expensive materiel year after year, ever expanding the size of the armed forces, bringing in weapons, vehicles, surely astounding amount of high-tech equipment and supplies, and never once asking what's the deal with all those jedi is and why nobody's calling? Surely they must've been in touch with all of the huge military contractor companies directly responsible for equipping the army they're making?

Third, how was the entire operation hidden from the galaxy exactly? Wookiepedia states that all of the clone army's vehicles, weapons and starships were manufactured in colossal numbers by multiple industrial conglomerates across the Republic space. They weren't getting them from unknown regions, this stuff is what probably millions of people and many shipyards and planetary factories had to work on for many years. By the time we see the clones on Geonosis, they are well equipped and have hundreds of land and air vehicles and an entire starship fleet. The key problem of the Republic discussed throughout the entire movie is its lack of an adequate standing army, yet every single time this topic is brought up all the characters hint at it like it's some vague idea that may be happening sometimes in the future once the bill is passed. This implies that the existence of the Kaminoan-made army is just as unknown to the political circles as it is to the jedi.

How is this possible? Some of the galaxy's most well known heavy duty concerns have been manufacturing military equipment for a galactic-sized armed forces, yet nobody notices, no leaks, no specific points brought up in senate, nothing? When the army of the Republic is unveiled at Geonosis, all of the Separatist leaders (except Dooku for obvious reasons) are shocked. How come some of the wealthiest and well-connected tycoons whose business is directly built on manufacture or money transactions had no idea of such a huge build-up?

We know from additional media that the deployment of the clone army was quick, a few months in and we are already witnessing huge battles across the entire galaxy. No way the clones could be supplied via the single route back to Kamino, and it's obvious they actually weren't, because there already had to be many factories and shipyards directly responsible for first building their stuff and then replenishing the losses. The advancement in armament during the war was lighting fast, which means there already had to be some plans or rough ideas on where to get the current-day equipment next, because there is always a lag between an order and its fulfillment, even if we can surmise it to be fairly short in the Star Wars universe due to how technologically sophisticated it is. All of this implies multiple engineering bureaus toiling away for quite some time, and, again, nobody noticed anything?

Fourth, this entire operation had to consume astronomical sums of money that were straight up impossible to hide, yet (as far as I remember, maybe someone can correct me?) nobody in the Senate actually discussing that the Republic's funds are disappearing to the nowhere at an alarming rate? How could nobody notice this? Those things had to be paid for and transported, and this is supposedly the first actual army the Republic have had in a thousand years, surely the buildup like this is supposed to be extraordinary?

The more I think about this plot, the more obvious it becomes that this was probably one of the most poorly thought through storylines in the entire movie lineup.

Basically title text. I was quite excited to read Sam Mustafa's recent Nimitz ruleset but it left me more annoyed and confused than intrigued. I'm not sure what's the point of playing naval engagements where ships rotate on the spot and can freely move and see through each other, and torpedoes are basically cannons but more deadly. Counting loads of cannons on the ship to roll a single D6 and then consult multiple charts sounds incredibly awkward and counterintuitive. It does however wins in how clear the rules are presented, so I'm curious if there are any other modern looking and actually readable and playable rulesets?

I've been playing B&P for many years now, and have accumulated (I think) 100+ games, primarily 17th century ones, but majority of them were on land. After some time spent playing Ostend Privateers (mixed Dutch+Spanish faction), I want to ask the community's opinion on them. Because from where I'm standing it's by far the best Spanish naval faction that simply makes every other obsolete.

There are two other 17th century specific Spanish naval factions excluding dedicated character ones (I exclude them because you have to take a specific named commander, they are usually expensive and are better suited to large games) - Guarda Costas and Spanish Corsairs. They both feel vastly less powerful from my experience than the Ostenders.

Guarda Costas has abysmal unit selection (only Milicianos and Marineros in Core). The only unit they can leverage above the other two are Milicianos Indios. Their faction specific trait is that Milicianos exchange their Drilled special rule for Sailors, and that's just whatever? You're not exactly starving for the Sailors units in naval factions. If you're not taking lots of Milicianos (preferrably with heavy muskets to gain some kind of advantage), you're basically getting nothing for choosing this faction.

Spanish Corsairs are a boarding-focused faction. Their unit selection is a bit better (dragged down by having Corsarios in Core - in my opinion by far the worst Flibustier-like profile in the entire game), and they can freely reroll Throw grapples once per game. Nice. But their Dutch units are all in the Support section.

In contrast, Ostend Privateers have vastly more useful special rules. Ruthless is an excellent rule, and giving it to Zeelieden and Kapers for free is absurd. Ruthless is counter balanced by relatively poor Spanish morale and limited high quality shooting, and having Dutch units with Ruthless fixes both of those issues. As with the other two factions, you also remove Poorly equipped from your Trained and Veteran units. The only things you lose are Milicianos (but do you really need them in naval action when you have quite limited space on your boats?) and Vicaions (basically worse Enter Ploeg because your Enter Ploeg get Ruthless for free).

From my experience there's barely any point to even consider the other two unless you intend to have very specific tactics or named characters in your force. I want to constructively discuss this issue and hear community feedback. Where am I wrong in my assumptions?

Edit: I've now realized I've forgotten about Armada de Barlovento, but its only claim to fame are Soldados, and the subfaction rule to remove muskets from them is frankly insane and I have no idea why would I ever take it.

Basically title text. I don't know why, but I'm having trouble reliably executing it. I'm not exactly sure what the instructions in the moveset menu mean, what exactly should I do 360 with, movement or camera? Because I've tried all ways of mashing the buttons, and I can only semi-reliably make it happen in the dedicated challenge, and literally never can use it anywhere else. What am I doing wrong, is there a specific sequence of buttons I'm not aware of?