Ramke gifted me Starsector a few days ago and while I have a few mixed opinions on the game's mechanics, it is certainly one great game to waste hours and even more so if you are good at modding. Given I did all this stuff already half a life ago for a very, very similar game called Startrade by a german guy called Fetze, I quickly looked into it and found myself converting the Apahanta into a Starsector ship in the respective art style. And then another ship. And then another ship. And then another ship.
Long story short, after putting Ramke's unique Gallic Destroyer into the game, I also added the entire MRG fleet: Valor, Obstinate, Triumph, Perilous, Lynx and Cougar. And since vanilla Starsector doesn't have a weapon that resembles the Warwolf FWG, I added one specifically for Ramke's ship and the Valor. And now I figured I can just put a lot more Discovery stuff in there as well, so why not?
This being said, all ships I'm going to put into the mod are going to get converted to the Starsector-typical art style. Additional to that, I will likely alter some ship classes to look less like in Discovery - namely all ships that are, when seen from above, just tubes. This is why I, for example, will not put Liberty into the mod as literally all Liberty ships are tubes. Same goes for the Order. Starsector generally goes for non-tube ship designs, very bulky if not even rectangular.
Edit: Wow, Sombra, very consequential. Says won't put Liberty into the mod, then puts the entire Liberty shipline into the mod two days later.
Weapons
I'm also not planning to add Discovery's weaponry to the game, except where unique weaponry seems like a cool idea. Vanilla Starsector already offers enough weapons and since barely anyone plays without additional mods, I'm fairly certain you will find enough mod weapons that are already very fun to use or fit your favourite Discovery ships.
Stats
All implemented shiplines will come with one fighter wing, one bomber wing and one gunboat wing. All of them will be rather OP-heavy, so you need to consider whether you really want your faction wings or go for the reliable Starsector ones. Fighters will usually be VHFs and be allrounders. Bombers will use a faction-specific medium weapon to take on bigger ships. Gunboats will be, depending on the faction, support ships that can only be deployed once per engagement (high refit time). The Perilous-class Gallic Gunboat, for example, will fire a barrage of Salamander missiles to damage the engines of the enemy, as all Gallic ships with hangars are rather slow.
Do not expect Discovery-related stats for the implemented ships - battleships with a speed of 90 really break the game. Battleships will be very slow, Battlecruisers a bit faster, Cruisers and Destroyers will be the main bulk of any fleet to cover their capital ships.
There will be Unique Ships that will generally have better stats and encourage the player to take command of them, as for example the Gallic DD+ Destroyer Prototype with a Warwolf Foward Gun and Burn Drive. While not very durable, the ship, in player hands, can not only take on most destroyers and cruisers but also quickly move behind capital ships and exploit their limited shield arcs.
Implementation
Ideally every bigger factions gets an actual system with a planet or starbase, which means Nexerelin-players should be able to enjoy a naturally growing faction. I want to keep things rather simple since Starsector is already a game bloating with mods and mechanics, so I doubt I will add any specific commodities.
Hero ships like the Apahanta or Ramke's Destroyer Prototype will become available either as blueprints from exploration or hidden as derelicts in secret locations. The plan is to place some nascent gravity wells in places you would otherwise not visit more than once, so keeping an eye on the hyperspace while moving through the core worlds should be rewarding.
References
This is a labor of love, so Discovery player characters will show up in one form or another.
Download
Not available yet, only once more content is ready. I will keep this thread updated whenever I have new things to show. Work and Lev give me only so much time right now, though, so don't expect frequent updates. It's a hobby thing.
That's a cool idea, adding the blueprints to the perk screen, but I have no idea yet how to do that. I would prefer to keep the mod separate from Nexerelin, not depending on it. So far I've added all non-hero ships and wings as rare blueprint, meaning you can get them from quests and exploration. Once the actual "factions" are added to the game with their respective star systems, you will also be able to get their blueprints from raiding.
As for the own faction start, I guess the workaround would be to use the command console and use additem dsy_faction_bp to get the specific blueprint item for the faction you'd want to play as.
make a gallic faction relevant to legio infernalis
then a bretonian colony lol
I am looking forward for this mod, I love Starsector, it will be more fun with freelancer ships
(11-26-2022, 11:59 AM)Venemon Wrote: make a gallic faction relevant to legio infernalis
then a bretonian colony lol
I am looking forward for this mod, I love Starsector, it will be more fun with freelancer ships
The Valor can tank a few shots of the big gun, is that relevant enough?
I'm using Legio Infernalis as reference point for balancing - if a ship can defeat an Onslaught, that's fine, but against a Dun Scaith, it should not stand a chance.
(11-26-2022, 12:11 PM)Sombs Wrote: The Valor can tank a few shots of the big gun, is that relevant enough?
I'm using Legio Infernalis as reference point for balancing - if a ship can defeat an Onslaught, that's fine, but against a Dun Scaith, it should not stand a chance.
I agreed, ships like Dun, Radiant and Paragon have unique role and enough, I am guessing you guys going for low tech ships with armor tank
I try to take the roles from Discovery into consideration. Light Battleships like the Mako I'd definitely put in the high tech range, trying to stay at a distance while Heavy Battleships like the Valor and the Tokugawa are tanky low tech ships.
The Valor, for example, is very slow but has the FWG and an Ammo Feeder, meaning it's ideal for short and mid range, and the Tokugawa, while being slow, can jump into battles with the flux-heavy phase teleport system but not out. Ideally all capital ships should feel job-specific and be a bit different from the class equivalents of the other factions. Sadly, this will be a bit difficult with fighters/bombers, but I think the gunboats will at least feel unique.