[MOD][WIP] Defector Mod v0.3

[A Future Pilot]

Hello everyone!

This is yet another ship-customizer mod (and my first mod), that attempts to be compatible with as much as possible.

DOWNLOAD v0.3

This mod removes all systems except piloting, engines, and oxygen from every ship. It also causes every ship to only have a single human crewmember by default. The first sector is filled with stores where you can purchase crew members and systems before embarking on your journey.

Let me know any suggestions, comments, criticisms or critiques you may have!

Storyline: You're a Rebel captain who is defecting to the Federation. You're using a ship that you captured and stripped down as your getaway vehicle.

CHANGELOG:

Code: Select all

v0.3 - Fixed rebel pursuit never happening
v0.2 - Adjusted balance slightly
v0.1 - Initial release


ARCHIVE:
DOWNLOAD v0.2
DOWNLOAD v0.1

TODO:

1. Decide which weapons to allow/disallow in the store - Currently I haven't changed the defaults, so the only things that appear in the stores are what you would expect to appear in the first sector. What's the best way to modify this while keeping mod compatibility?

2. Balance - My idea is to have easy be CRAZY OP, Normal be a good, fun challenge, and Hard be absolutely brutal. (The difficulty is selectable...all it changes is the amount of starting scrap with which to customize your ship). Please let me know your thoughts on good scrap amounts!

3. Starting sector exit beacon - I couldn't figure out a way to customize ONLY the first sector's exit beacon to add some nice flavor. Any experienced modders have any suggestions?

4. Compatibility - My goal is for this to be compatible with as many mods as possible. My specific goals are for CE, CE - infinite, sM Polish kit, and sMPK: Insurrection. I haven't checked compatibility at all yet, so I will be doing that over the next few days.

5. Don't use Sector 1 - I would really like to be able to keep Sector 1 as a regular sector and have the market sector "before" sector one. I don't know if this is even possible though...

[stylesrj]

Hmmm a sector full of stores...
There is a way to add systems to ships via events so you don't have to ruin Sector 1 with constant store bombardment.
Look at Stations Job for such ideas on how that can work.

[WhiteWeasel]

You should really check out the decent into darkness mod, as what it does will fix a lot of your problems: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im0CwMFa-8M

[A Future Pilot]

Yeah, I've seen a couple mods that do that. There are two reasons I didn't wanna do that with this mod:

1. Clunky menus. Going through all the menus in order to purchase things is a pain (IMO) with the other mods...I prefer the store's interface.

2. RNG. I like the idea of "shopping" and not just having everything available. I'd like to get feedback on editing the rarity of items in the stores to reach a good balance.

Can I make randomness using menus? If I could, I might get over the problems with the menus if it meant getting a usable first sector.

@WhiteWeasel: Descent Into Darkness was actually kind of the inspiration for this mod. I wanted more customization than it offered...and less than BYOS.

[stylesrj]

Also, if the Civilian Sector is full of stores, that means all Civilian Sectors will be Store Sectors.

To paraphrase from Sleeper Service, you should remove Civilian Sectors from the lineup and replace them with a sector called "Civilian Sector" or something similar.
Because I know from experience - encountering 3 Civilian Sectors in a row would get very annoying fast and it can and will happen eventually.

[A Future Pilot]

Yeah, I did that. Thanks for the tip though!

Also...I was under the impression that delaying the rebel fleet only affected the sector where they were delayed in...is that not the case?

[stylesrj]

If you delay the Rebel Fleet by 1000000 jumps at the start of Sector 1, you'll effectively never encounter the Rebel Fleet until the Last Stand.
It's not sector-by-sector as most fleet delay mods think they are.

[A Future Pilot]

Ah, I see! Fixed in v0.3

[stylesrj]

Just a crazy idea with the Market Sector:

You can start the game normally with whatever Scrap you want and fight in the Civilian Sector for all the stakes, etc. Or you can take a blue option at the start to immediately transport you to the Market Sector where there's nothing but Stores.

Of course this does mean Sector 1 is skipped entirely but maybe you want a challenge right off the bat with no Stores in sight.

This also means no Crystal Sectors so keep that in mind.

[A Future Pilot]

Yeah, that's how I originally had it coded. But then I decided I wanted to keep it compatible with a vanilla playthrough (so the crystal sector is a available), and with infinite mods (which use the crystal sector).

I just tested the compatibility with sMPK + Insurrection and it seems to be working fine. I'll have to try it out with CE to see how it does, but I'm not expecting any problems