Welcome back friends. Ironclad here, with a Starsector mod review. In this video, we'll be answering the question: Who are ScalarTech Solutions? Or, the Spindle Protectorate? Or the ScalarTech Defense Force?!? Or... Just Spindle? Okay, yeah, we'll get to that in a few minutes. This mod features a faction in high tech style,
pretty white spaceships, ridiculous carrier technology, lots of "pewpew" fun, a comfy
little system at the edge of the core, and the most fun of all, a Corporate
Democracy. Consider subscribing to the channel and supporting
ScalarTech development. Now strap yourselves in, because here, we,
go! *Music plays with ScalarTech ships in background* The ScalarTech Solutions Faction mod is being
produced by Nia Tahl. Not that chubby choco lava vacuum, we're talking
about Tahl. The incerdibly charismatic Starsector
modder who when asked if I could do a review of one of their mods, responded with unparalled... Enthusiasm. ScalarTech Solutions was first posted to the
Fractal Softworks forum on July 18th, 2020. It's a small faction mod that came about by
accident as- How does that happen? Like oops, I accidentally, a whole Starsector
faction. Turns out, yes, that's exactly what happened. While experimenting with concept art for a
tournament boss, the Filament was born. The Filament looked cool, and so,
accidentally, a whole Starsector faction mod. 100% Nia Tahl and defenitely not my own voice:
"Looks cool, I ain't gotta explain shit!" And that, works for me! The motley development crew of ScalarTech
include: Tartiflette for good advice and big brain
ideas. DarkRevenant for Script Wizardry. MesoTronik for music and missle AI. This guy does a lot of Starsector stuff which
we'll talk about later. SirHartley for Artwork and stuff. TBDisciple for the Chinese Translation. And of course the lovely Starsector discord
for, bug related activities. So where are ScalarTech in the sector? Let's answer that question first, as their
lore is very much tied to their star system. ScalarTech Solutions can be found in the
Spindle system. Located just to the southeast of the Naraka
system, quite close to Hegemony space. In very close proximity of Diable Avionics
if you play with them, WHICH YOU SHOULD BE. Just a single system? Yes. ScalarTech is not a large faction, which makes
the planets they do control, that much more important. Of the three populated spheres in the Spindle
system, ScalarTech is in control of two of them. Charkha is the capital planet of the Spindle
system, and is where the STDF headquarters and ScalarTech high command
is based. Jacquard is a gas giant that supplies the
Spindle Protectorate with many of it's industrial needs. Both Charkha
and Jacquard have some rather unusual anomalies that we'll talk about in a minute. There is one additional populated planet in
the system by the name of Ardor. Ardor is under control of pirates, but ultimately
is not a significant threat to the Spindle Protectorate. While the pirate presence could be removed,
it hasn't been deemed necessary as Spindle high command has other priorities. And to understand "The Spindle Protectorate"
priorities, we'll need to understand the companies history. Yes, that's right, the company. The previously small company
of ScalarTech Solutions specialized in advanced transport and drive technologies. Or to put it simply, high-tech logistics. A few years prior to the Collapse,
ScalarTech branched out into the military sector for profitable opportunities. The new military models, were promising. But with the collapse... Actually, that made everything better for
the company (WOOOW)! ScalarTech basically said:
"I'M BATMAN" ramped up warship production, and established
the ScalarTech Defense Force. The planetary government of Charkha, being
an independent world and having no idea what
was going on after the gates went dead, said, "ok". So, while closer to a vigilante militia than
a real army at that point, the STDF managed to keep the Spindle system
safe in the cycles following the collapse. Now the uh, historical archives get a little... Questionable here, so I'll be
doing my best to interpret. *Ahem* Since ScalarTech didn't die a hero,
they instead lived long enough to become a state corporation,
taking over government functions within the Spindle system. "The role of CEO now an elected position",
Mhhmm, yeah. I'm not exactly well versed in these sort
of things but uh, I think that's what they call a, hostile
takeov- Adopting a position of NEUTRALITY, superficially
following old Domain regulations, yup.. We're Corporate Sweden. Let's clarify this timeline while we're at
it. In the beginning, in a land before time, in
a galaxy far far away... A long time ago... There was ScalarTech Solutions. Then the collapse. Then, the STDF. Then, the Spindle Protectorate. And then there was, me. Trying to make a mod review of ScalarTech
Solutions, and wondering why this strange 'Spindle' faction showed up,
when I just downloaded the ScalarTech Solutions faction mod. Now, with your eyeballs, you, understand my
understanding of the understandable confusion that is now, understood. And it gets better. ScalarTech, in their infinite wisdom, wanted
to build their own gate to core domain space. What could possibly, go wrong? *millions of voices cried out in terror, and
were suddenly silenced* The 'failed gate experiment' as they call
it, had catastrophic effects on the Spindle system. And to Charkha, the closest planet to the
gate, especially so. The failed gate experiment ravaged the surface
of Charkha, killing many, rendering large tracts of land infertile, and leaving the
atmosphere forever irradiated. Despite
the irradiation, Charkha remains the capital garden world of the Spindle system. This might explain the other things that happen
here. One thing that's not explained by the gate
experiment is the anomaly of Jacquard. Basically, many, many cycles ago, pre-colonization
and all that. Two planets collided. Jacquard now hosts the massive remains of
these planets in orbit. Effectively giant floating continents. These continents are rich in ores, and due
to their orbitable nature, are relatively easy to mine. So, that's to explain anyways, why the local
gas giant, is also an industrial powerhouse. Relatively Speaking. Life in the Spindle system isn't easy. And maintaining their ongoing existence in
the sector is a difficult one. Since they are a small faction, the Spindle
Protectorate rely on their extensive research and development
programs to maintain their technological edge over other factions in the sector. Who is in charge of these technological advancements
you might ask? Meet Yurika Kusanagi, High Councillor of the
Spindle Protectorate. Yurika is the currently elected leader of
Spindle, and opposes the faction's traditionally isolationist
policies. Favoring instead to connect with the greater
sector and welcoming freelance pilots to Spindle. I thought the elected leader was the CEO. I guess it's the councilor of economic oppression. You can say hi to her, and that's about it,
at least in the current version of ScalarTech. As for who you'll actually be interacting
with and doing "lucrative work" for, meet, Silvys Renham. While STDF maintains a strictly defensive
doctrine, Silvys will happily employ you as an independent contractor,
once you have built good relations with Spindle. Silvys is a Very High importance Military
and... Science contact? And you can turn in your acquired blueprints
to her. Why would she be interested in those? Well my friend, let's go... DEEPER. Silvys is the head of ScalarTech's RnD department,
a very prestigious position, and has been so for the last few decades. She's the daughter of the scientist who pioneered
the wormhole technology used on ScalarTech carriers, we'll get to that in a bit. But wait, she's been the head of RnD for "the
last few decades"? How old is she then? A lot older than you think (or wish she was). So what about her dad? He left to get some milk, at the gate they
were building. *No more daddy: explosion edition*
Silvys managed to survive the 'failed gate experiment' but, most of her body, didn't. With the help of ScalarTech RnD, Silvys was
placed into an artificial body. This is the part where you ask yourself:
"Has science gone too far?" This is both deeply unsettling, and, erotic. This is a dangerous path to walk. Trust me. I've been down it before. MUSIC. ScalarTech really leans into the Ambient music,
like, their full weight. If you don't know MesotroniK, you should. Guy has been doing StarSector music & sounds
effects for many years, and you might recognize some of these tunes. If you are a
fan of chill ambient music, that's his specialty, and it fits in very well next to the vanilla
Starsector soundscape. Best described as: "Post-nut clarity"
(By me, I would describe it that way) Let's give the ScalarTech soundtrack a quick
listen. Oh yeah, it's all coming together. The Spindle Protectorate Fleet Doctrine. You see, there are other high-tech factions,
but the difference is, the STDF, makes it look good. Despite being a small faction,
the Spindle Protectorate has developed a nice variety of ships. They have a strong focus on mobility, and
also, painfully thin armor. Thematically this makes a lot of
sense, given the companies history being in high-tech logistics, with only recently adopting
a militarized doctrine. Let's take a look at the unique ScalarTech
hullmods. The primary built-in hullmod being ScalarTech
Drives, the faction-wide hullmod that predominantly defines
ScalarTech ships. ScalarTech ships are already quite fast, and
with these special drives, they get their 0-flux boost enhanced by 10. When their peak performance time
runs out, every ship receives at 10% speed boost for a speedy getaway. Or if you are me, it simply means MOAR POWA. Due to ScalarTech engines being highly specialized,
the usage of Unstable Injectors or Saftely Overrides will respectively half, or disable
these effects. A small boost to engine shielding also reduces
engine damage taken by 20%. What does that all really mean? It means, you get to go FAST! The majority of ScalarTech's direct combat
ships have boosting or other special movement capabilities, allowing them to close the distance
with their enemies, and perform spectacular flanking maneuvers. Now I did promise to talk about the ScalarTech
carriers. All ScalarTech carriers have the Bridgehead
Design built-in hullmod. Here's how this works: Instead of fighter
bays on the actual ship, there's a stable wormhole that connects the carrier to a planetside
aerospace facility. This reduces the fighter replacement time
and decay from losses by 15%. If you don't fully grasp this concept, ScalarTech
are thinking with portals. Instead of massive fighter bays on the ship,
the projected wormhole allows instant access to a much better equipped
planetside facility. I quite like this idea. It's smart, it's sci-fi, and they made it
look cool. In fact, it even sounds cool! NUT. There are some other ships which focus on
disabling the enemy rather than mobility, these, we'll talk about later. For the ships that don't have disabling capabilities,
that's where the ScalarTech Solutions weapon lineup really shines. Yo dawg, I heard you like EMP weapons. So we put EMP on your EMP, and then we... YOU GET THE IDEA. To get the full ScalarTech experience, I did
my best to only equip my fleet with ScalarTech weapons. For the most part, ScalarTech weapons are
shorter range and somewhat light on direct damage. Meaning that a ScalarTech fleet will need
to use their mobility and clever positioning to win large fleet battles. If however, the enemy fleet separates, the
isolated targets can quickly be hit with enough EMP to leave them a vegetable. If the
enemy fleet chooses to turtle, Scalartech ships have the mobility to encircle the enemy,
and pick off targets one by one with sustained EMP fire. For those that don't know, EMP stands for
Electromagnetic Pulse. Without getting into the various types of
electric and magnetic disturbances, an Electromagnetic Pulse system can be militarized and applied
to various weapons. These weapons are capable of knocking out
communications and electronic systems. In Starsector terms, it
means disabling pieces of enemy ships, fighters, and even missiles mid flight. When it comes to EMP weapons, ScalarTech lives
and breathes this shit. Let's highlight a few ScalarTech weapons for
demonstration purposes. The Stitch beamlance is a large energy weapon
that can zap targets at long distance, but certainly
pays for the power in flux, and is best employed on backline support ships. The Seam cannon is a large, but short range,
energy scatter cannon. Great for applying unhealthy amounts of EMP,
and best employed on mobile frontline ships. The Crinkle Disrupter is a heavy ion weapon
crammed into a small energy mount. With only a range of 400, this weapon has
to be used in knife fight range to be effective, but is an extremely powerful weapon when used
appropriately. Often mounted on frigates, it's a great strike
weapon that can disable a much heavier ship, with a couple
well placed shots. A weapon that's unusual by Scalartech design,
we have the tousle (pronounced tau-zl, I had to look that one up). A medium weapon, and the only ballistic weapon
developed by ScalarTech. It's a long range kinetic gun that can apply
light pressure to enemy shields, and that's about it. It makes a decent support weapon, and is something
to fire at the enemy before closing the distance,
to lay on that thicc EMP. The last weapon I'll highlight and my personal
favorite energy weapon in the STDF arsenal is the BASTE Ion Discharger. If you like your water types, you'll be happy
to know that this is an amazing bubble beam. The Baste functions as both a potent EMP weapon,
and an exceptional point defense flak weapon. It doesn't have the longest range
and has a limited amount of charges, but with expanded magazines, you can make a monster
of a ship. I'm a big fan of flak weaponry so the baste
is based in my book. A quick note on ScalarTech weapons. The reason I mentioned that I "tried my best"
to equip entirely ScalarTech weapons, is that they are actually quite hard to come by. Both Charkha and Jacquard produce a very limited
quantity of STDF weapons each month. I found it's actually easier to acquire ScalarTech
ships than it is to acquire enough weapons to outfit them. The good news, is that Silvys will regularly
offer nanoforge production of STDF items. So if you are doing a faction pure playthrough
like I am, you'll be going through the STDF drive
through more often than you'd like to admit. Can I get uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. As for ScalarTech missiles, there are two,
excluding built-in weapons. The Tineola heavy torpedo, and the tear missile. I'll show more of the tineola later, but let's
talk about the tear missile, which you'll be seeing a lot of if you choose to play ScalarTech. There's a small, medium, and large Tear Missile
launcher. So it's easily
equippable to any ship. Tear missiles have good range, decent tracking,
and asbolutely fry ships like it was treason. Now putting tear missiles on all your
scalartech ships, is pretty neat, but what if we take it one step further? What if we mounted a tear missile on a fighter? ScalarTech fighters. They are numerous, and they go pew pew. What more could you possibly want? Let me tell you, you want THIS! The Garter. The Lore? We took a Tear Missile, and built a vessel
around it, big brain. You get a carrier, you slap on more garters
then those juicy thighs have room for, and LOOK AT IT GO! The Garter then comes back to the carrier,
goes through the portal, grabs another tear from their backyard, and shoots it off. Repeat this process,
until everything is dead. The only downside? Sometimes the garter shoots it's load at something,
unintended. That's okay, because there's a lot more, where
that came from. The Garter, is amazing. I should probably talk about the other fighters
as well. There's the heavy attackers, the Fiber Bomber,
and various swarmers. The heavier fighters such as the cord, dessous,
and stocking, actually pack a good punch. When combined, they are very capable of destroying
ships that have their point defenses disabled. The fiber bomber is the most expensive wing
in the ScalarTech arsenal. There's five bombers to a wing, and they all
drop emp bombs. While not as versatile, they do an
excellent job at disabling larger vessels. And finally we have the thread and twine fighters. These are cheap, light fighters that can cause
a lot of problems for the enemy. I usually never use swarmer type
fighters, but ScalarTech has a special ship that synergizes very well with swarmers. Let's take a closer look at some of the special
ScalarTech vessels and see what this faciton is made of. We'll start with the Filament as that was
the original ship that the rest of the mod was based off of. Backbone of the STDF military, the Filament
is an impressive Battlecarrier. The first ship to carry a Renham-Bergenson-Device,
the technology behind the Bridgehead wormhole design, the Filament possess the
armament of a Battleship, and can support up to 4 fighter wings. It truly is a remarkable ship, and very enjoyable
to use. Maintaining such a complex hull certainly
takes its toll in supply cost, but when it comes time for combat, you'll be glad you
brought it along. What makes the ship
extra special though, is the ship system, the EMP Relay. When enabled, all fighters from the filament
will launch EMP arcs at nearby enemies. The more I played the
Filament, the better I realized this ability was. You can use it to disable enemy ships, win
fighter engagements, and even stop large missile barrages if timed well. The EMP relay will do the same amount of EMP
damage per fighter, so a higher fighter count, means more EMP arcs. Those little swarmer fighters you told yourself
you'd never use? It's time for big thinkin'. But if the Filament is the only ship with
an EMP relay, what do the other carriers have? Point Defense Suppression. This system will disable all enemy point defenses
on the target ship for roughly two seconds. While it doesn't sound like much, it can be
all the time you need to land a few crucial hits. And with the amount of EMP ScalarTech uses,
those few hits will probably disable the rest of the vessel. A simple system,
but ever so satisfying. How about this zippy boi you've seen a few
times by now? The Skirt-Class Frigate, SKIRT-SKIRT, is the
premium ScalarTech superfrigate. Possessing a pair of built-in,
twin-linked Crinkle Disruptors, and the "overboost" system, this little ship can punch far above
its weight class. Able to zip in and out of combat easily, it's
the ultimate hit and run attacker. However, given the shallow flux capacity,
more mistakes were made than I'd like to admit. Throw in a couple S-mods and two additional
crinkle disruptors, and this is a great flagship for an aggressive player. Lobster ship, also known as the Midi Cruiser. The Midi is one of the strangest and niche
role ships ScalarTech has produced. Its ship system, magmine strike, lets
it teleport magnetic EMP mines wherever you want in a pretty wide radius. But that's not even the main feature. Its built-in lazer can absolutely boil enemy
vessels, but it needs to be provoked to do so. The lazer will only fire when above a certain
flux threshold, making it rather difficult to use. When the lazer does fire though,
you will know. You can't miss this sound. *ANGRY LOBSTER NOISES*. The lazer does have an long cooldown however,
making the Midi absolutely terrible in a duel. It excels
in fleet combat scenarios, and is best paired with Mac & Cheese, baked potatoes, Chardonnay,
and other frontline ships. How about we combine the best of ScalarTech
weapons, fighters, ship systems, and elegance into a single ship? Yeah, and make it big! The "Gown-class Battlestar" is the
supercapital of the STDF. Originally a prestige project for ScalarTech
to establish itself as a contending corporation for Domain military contracts, several Gown-class
ships were constructed, helping defend Spindle colonies after the collapse. The Gown now stands as a shining beacon of
the Spindle systems resilience, and is well regarded
as the pinnacle of STDF engineering. The main body of the Gown comes equipped with
the supercruise mode system, allowing the Gown to significantly boost its forward thrust,
at the cost of weapon range. This
allows the Gown to reposition itself quickly, and come to the aid of other STDF ships. While the main body might resemble a battleship,
the wings of the Gown are what makes it a battlecarrier. The gown is made up of three sections, with
each side section housing a wormhole projector system like the filament. In addition to supporting
fighter wings, each side section of the Gown also has the ability to warp in magmines like
the Midi Cruiser, giving the Gown an impressive amount of area control. The Gown makes an excellent centerpiece for
any large ScalarTech fleet, and can hold a frontline very well. Its balanced design makes it quite versatile,
and is able to deploy a wide variety of loadouts depending
on the captains playstyle. It looks sexy, and it plays well. As for acquiring the Gown, there's nothing
too complicated. You need to build your reputation with Spindle,
and check the Charkha market regularly. They are quite
rare so it might be a while before you see one offered. The first time I ever saw one offered, I saw
two. So naturally, I bought both! I shouldn't have to say this, but make sure
you have enough credits before you think about acquiring a Gown. They cost over 2 million a piece, and 100
supplies a month to maintain. It's the largest, most expensive ship the
STDF has to offer. But what if I told you, it wasn't the RAREST
ScalarTech ship? To acquire the rarest ScalarTech ship, one
must go on a bit of an adventure, and complete "The Howling Phantom" bounty mission. The STDF "lost" a Battlecruiser, a design
from their early MilTec days, and they want the person responsible "put to the sword". Hmm, wonder what they mean by that. They don't want the ship back, they just want
this person dealt with. Okay, seems easy enough- GOOD LORD! They didn't lose a ship, they lost an armada! Someone, heh... Really fucked up. Alright well, let's get to it I guess. They have to be hiding in this system somewhere. Here we are, only HEINOUS traitors and thieves
would be hiding in a nebulae. Now I did see that this fleet had a lot of
carriers, so what are we dealing with here- Are you kidding? 25 GARTERS? YOU SICK FUC- Welp, here we go. Who feels like getting electro shock therapy
today? Now I'm going to be flying a Sateen battlecruiser
for this, so I can bubble beam the garters, and nope out if I need to. This is a battle in which the EMP relay from
the Filament will be very useful for your fleet, and small swarmer fighters will keep
you alive as you can see on screen. Maintaining a strong battleline with plenty
of point defense is absolutely required for this mission. Your only real option, is to pick off carriers
in between Garter waves. Luckily, the enemy fleet lacks front line
combat ships, so pushing into the enemy formation shouldn't be too difficult. With clever positioning and fleet movement,
we encircle the bounty ship and their remaining forces. But what we really want to know about, is
this reward ship. And
here we are, "The Silken Banshee". The Silken Banshee is a unique Battlecruiser
that fits into a heavy missile and fire support role. It
did take quite a bit of tinkering and several trial battles before settling on a final refit
for this ship. Now some of you veteran StarSector players
are probably thinking, "wait a second, I've seen this ship before!", and you'd be correct. But, where did this ship design
come from? Neutrino Corp. A classic StarSector faction mod that unfortunately
has not been updated in quite some time. If we scroll down the page, you'll be able
to see the original Banshee battlecruiser, that the
Silken Banshee is based off of. A beloved ship by many old StarSector players,
Tahl asked to revive the ship within the ScalarTech mod, and permission was given. The color scheme and other small
adjustments to the base model were made, and so the spirit of the Banshee lives on within
ScalarTech. There is also a very significant overhaul
and remake of Neutrino that is close to completion. I'm not going to get into that now, but I'll
link the forum thread for you to check out yourself. As for the ship, it utilizes the
point defense suppression system like the ScalarTech carriers, and also supports 3 large
missiles mounts. THAT'S A LOT OF DAMAGE! When used appropriately, the Silken
Banshee is a terrifying ship on the field. There's another mission by the name of "Kimono",
where you get to meet "Aurica". Since I don't want to spoil everything, and
I want to get on to the next section, I'll let you figure that one out. Critiques? The Tineola Distortion torpedo. Do I hate it? No. In fact, quite the opposite. I love these things like you wouldn't believe. There is something incredibly
satisfying about shooting giant barrels of raspberry jam at your enemy. They might be slow, but, I think they are
adorable. Something about a giant cylinder of a torpedo
is so aesthetically pleasing. They even reload slowly over time, I LOVE
THAT SHIT. So what's the problem? Are they hard to come by? Well, no, not any more difficult than
other ScalarTech weapons, and they can be ordered from Silvys like anything else. So really Ironclad, what IS the problem? THE PROBLEM!? Is that these juicy love pods are TRAPPED
in a large missile mount. This was so upsetting, I considered dropping,
the faction. Lemme explain. The Tear
missile, it has a small, medium, and large missile mount version. It even has a fighter that spams them for
you. The Tineola? There are only two ScalarTech ships that
can even mount it. Can you see where I'm going with this? The Silken Banshee, and the Gown. Let me say that another way. You need either the STDF supercapital, or
the one-of-a-kind relic ship if you want to mount
this torpedo without going outside the faction. There is no base STDF frigate (understandable),
destroyer, cruiser, or capital ship that has a large missile mount. Considering that the large mount launches
two of these thicc bois, you'd think there would be a medium mount to launch ONE. The reality is, there isn't, and
I don't want to live in this reality, anymore. This, is my only critique, of the entire mod. The ScalarTech Solutions faction mod is well
balanced. And I mean that in terms of game balance,
as well as overall design. The lore is neat, music is great, cool
characters, it's very cohesive. There's a good amount of weapon variety and
the visuals, especially, are excellent. I'd say one of the best aspects of ScalarTech
is the visual design of the weapon effects and
the ship sprite work. It's an absolute treat for the eyeballs. At this point, I'd consider ScalarTech Solutions
a feature complete faction. It does not feel like anything needs to be
changed or added. *Ahem*
Besides the one thing I mentioned. If things DO get added, such as the recent
planet artwork, which looks awesome by the way, it'd most likely be small enhancements
as opposed to significant overhauls. Maybe a super secret ship or two could get
added along the way, who knows. That being said, mods are always subject to
change so we'll see what the future beings for
ScalarTech. If you'd like to try out the ScalarTech mod,
you can find it on the Fractal Softworks forum and is in the mod index! Links in the description. ScalarTech
Solutions is a great faction mod that I'll be including in every campaign. I give it a ScalarTech out of STDF, out of
Spindle Protectorate! Thank you Nia Tahl for answering all my questions,
putting up with silly comments, and creating this awesome faction mod. And big thanks to the Iron Patreon Supporters
for financially supporting this video. As always, more links in the description of
the video, and subscribe if you want to be ENTERTAINED! I'm IroncladLion, and thanks for watching. My next StarSector mod review? Hard to say, but I could use some coffee.
