(https://i.ibb.co/gPRvC8j/text.png) (https://github.com/theDragn/HTE/releases/download/1.2.4/HTE_1.2.4.zip)
This mod intends to expand the options for high-tech fleet doctrines. It includes 13 new high-tech hulls (3 capitals, 6 cruisers, 3 destroyers, and 1 frigate), 14 new weapons, 3 new fighters, and a new Domain Battlegroup with 12 hulls (with fancy paintjobs and a unique hullmod).
It also includes one new low-tech light capital to give the Hegemony a fighting chance.
High Tech Expansion can be safely added to an existing save.
Please note that versions after 1.2.0 are NOT save-compatible with versions 1.1.5 and earlier.
(https://img.shields.io/github/downloads/theDragn/HTE/total?color=a&style=for-the-badge) (https://github.com/theDragn/HTE/releases/download/1.2.4/HTE_1.2.4.zip)
This mod requires LazyLib. Get it here. (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=5444.0)
This mod requires MagicLib. Get it here. (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13718.0)
Vayra's Sector is required if you want to do the unique bounties this mod adds, but is not otherwise required. Get it here. (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=16058.0)
Spoiler
25FEB2021: 1.2.4 release
Save compatible.
New:
- Kneecapper MRR: A medium-range rocket that delivers a spread of 5 high-energy ion bomblets at extended ranges. Deals a very small amount of energy damage, and a very nasty amount of EMP, with a chance for multiple arcs. It's pre-aimed, so the rocket will rotate to face the target before igniting its engine. An autoloader provides a bit of ammo regeneration for longer fights. Comes in small (5 OP) and medium (10 OP); both are included in the missile blueprint package.
Changes:
- Ahab Harpoon Barrage: Renamed to Ahab Harpoon Stream. Sprite and mechanics reworked; no longer fires a fixed burst of missiles. Instead, it fires a single missile at a time with an extreme bonus to fire rate that decreases with each consecutive shot. This bonus regenerates while the weapon isn't firing. It's roughly the same in terms of sustained DPS, but has less burst damage. OP remains the same; ammo reduced (56->50).
- Aggressor: DP and maintenance cost increased (36->38). Had a bit too much firepower for the cost, and I'd rather increase cost than reduce firepower.
- Bombardier: DP and maintenance cost increased (22->25). Shield efficiency decreased (0.8->0.9). Too good for the cost, given how much alpha damage it can put out.
- Flamingo: One small synergy hardpoint was a cleverly-disguised turret. Now it's a hardpoint.
- Gloom: Front hardpoint synergy slots changed to universals.
- Peregrine: DP and maintenance cost decreased (22->20).
- HVB scaling adjusted, and added an FP cap to both bounties so they can't get too big.
- HVB boss loadouts adjusted. They are no longer remotely fair.
- Sprite improvements for:
- Inequality (all variants)
- Scute (all variants)
- Sprite rework for:
- Tawa Standoff Torpedo Launcher
- Tawa Standoff Torpedo Barrage
- Removed meme bugzapper variants of Paragon and Radiant from spawn tables. RIP in peace.
- Blueprint packs now properly display icons. (I think I fixed this earlier but it sneaked out of the patch notes.)
13FEB2021: 1.2.3a patch
- Fixed a crash that occurred when Metelson Industries was installed. Not sure exactly what caused it, but I fixed it anyway.
13FEB2021: 1.2.3 release
- Save compatible. Probably.
- Use "generateHTE" from the console (requires Console Commands) to add the Zarmazd system to an existing save.
New:
- System: Zarmazd. A black hole with a single planet, Svarog, terraformed into (mediocre) habitability before the collapse. The independent planetary government managed to keep critical parts of the pre-collapse industry intact, and now performs contract shipbuilding for major polities across the sector. In addition to their standard markets, they have a special market that sells high-grade weapons and ship hulls, including IV and XIV battlegroup hulls. You'll need excellent rep with independents to access it, and "spare" domain-spec hulls don't come cheap.
- Added config file. This is mostly for market config at the moment- there are a bunch of options in there if you want to change the proportions of what Svarog sells. Right now it can only be set to sell various proportions of XIV, IV, Hightech, Midline, and rare blueprints; eventually I'll figure out how to allow an arbitrary number of tags.
- Gloom-class utility phase cruiser. Phase cloak and a salvage rig. It's capable in combat, though inefficient for its supply cost. The main attraction is its Drive Field Compressor, which improves fleet acceleration, and also reduces sensor profile while you're not using sustained/emergency burn. Each one you have in your fleet will provide a 50% bonus to acceleration and a 7.5% reduction to sensor profile, up to a maximum of +200% acceleration/-30% profile. Note that more acceleration also means better turning. Big Tritachyon fleets can probably catch you a bit more easily, so be careful. Glooms are fairly rare; even large Tritach fleets shouldn't have more than one or two.
Changes:
- Smaller ships have had their credit costs adjusted to bring them in line with vanilla.
- Scute: PPT increased (180->240).
- Persephone/Moray: Significant stat/system reworks; the two ships have had their roles and ship systems swapped. The Persephone now offers greater firepower (and better CR/PPT stats) at the cost of speed, and the Moray now offers speed at the cost of firepower.
- All Arc Emitters: Efficiency and fire rate increased by ~10%. Previous nerf was perhaps a bit heavy-handed.
- Some small sprite improvements to Arc Emitters, Incursion, and Flamingo.
- Some internal code changes. Mostly more robust error handling, and some other internal tweaks.
6FEB2021: 1.2.2 release
Save compatible.
New:
- High-Value Bounty, including a unique cruiser reskin as flagship. Requires Vayra's Sector to spawn.
- Several extremely heretical Ashen Keeper refits. Scute (AK), Tigershark (AK), and Spire (AK). Requires Vayra's Sector to spawn.
- "Grand Fleet" start scenario for Ashen Keepers. Requires Nexerelin and Vayra's Sector. A bit pricey in supply costs, but the Luddics will happily throw themselves into your guns.
Changes:
- Covert Ops Refit: Supply cost penalty increased (50%->100%). Sorry, but it had to be done.
- Kukri: Changed from Trident reskin to Dagger reskin. Wing size is still 2. OP cost reduced to 19. 4 torpedoes per wing was simply too good in comparison to other bombers. (I think I did the math wrong when originally making these.)
- All Tawa torpedoes: Projectile maximum speed reduced (350->300), acceleration reduced (100->80), split range variation removed, and spread increased (30->35). Flight time increased (4->4.5) to compensate for reduced speed. They shouldn't feel quite as bad to get shot by now, but you'll still need more than vulcans or PD lasers to intercept them. This also makes them a bit worse (but not unusable) in off-bore mounts.
- Plasma Lens Projector: Decreased reload time (10s->6s) and firing cycle duration (1.5s->1s). Should now be much more competitive with other high-end energy weapons.
1FEB2021: 1.2.1 release
New:
- Scute-class Frigate. 1x Medium Energy, 1x Medium Synergy. Has a built-in Harmonic Energy Projector hullmod that increases weapon range and projectile velocity as flux level increases. Its system is Flux Compressor, same as the Peregrine.
- Five custom starts for Nexerelin if you're starting as Tritachyon. Three are normal (1x Combat Small, 2x Combat Large), and two (Super Ship) start you off in a solo destroyer with a Covert Ops refit.
Changes:
- Adjusted some values and text on the HVB ship hullmods. Compact Missile Autoforge: Cycle time increased (20s->50s) and reload percent increased (5%->10%). Covert Ops Refit: Zero-flux boost threshold increased (1.0%->1.5%), which makes a few weapons usable without disabling the zero-flux boost.
- HVB has been made a bit more difficult. Total fleet size remains the same, but ships and loadouts have been adjusted.
- Flux Compressor: Now changes engine and contrail color while active.
- Aggressor: Armor reduced (1500->1350), flux capacity reduced (15000->13500), max speed reduced (50->40), and turn speed reduced (15->10). Its narrow profile makes it surprisingly tanky, so this should bring it down to a more reasonable level of toughness.
- Inequality: DP and supply cost increased slightly (45->48). It was a little too strong for its cost.
- Kingfisher: Renamed to the Flamingo because Vayra bullied me. Added some engines to match up with the sprite.
- Khanjali: Slight HP buffs across the board. Increased hull (300->350), armor (25->75), shield HP (500->550), and shield arc (180->220). This should put it closer to other superheavy fighter wings in terms of toughness.
25JAN2021: 1.2.0 release (not save compatible)
New:
- High-Value Bounty, including a unique flagship. Requires Vayra's Sector to spawn.
- Two new variants of existing ships. They only show up as flagships for random bounties, so they're quite rare (and quite powerful). Requires Vayra's Sector to spawn.
- Kaskara Assault Fighter Wing. Carries a close-range High Intensity Laser that fires in short bursts. It excels against isolated targets, but is quite fragile due to its small shield arc. Two per wing, at a price of 17 OP. Included in the high-tech blueprint package.
Changes:
- All Arc Emitters: General nerfs, mostly to fire rate. No longer arc to phased ships. No longer reset chargedown or refund flux if they don't produce an arc when firing (this was a 'hidden' stat due to some AI shenanigans, which have been resolved.) Secondary chain range scaling adjusted. Formula is now (((total_range_after_modifiers / base_range) - 1) * 0.5) + 1) * base_chain_range. Basically, weapon range adjustments apply at half effectiveness to chain range.
- Light Arc Emitter: Firing speed decreased (1.75->2.5) and charge time increased substantially. Flux ratio increased (1.5->2.0).
- Arc Emitter: Firing speed decreased (1->1.75) and charge time increased substantially. EMP damage reduced (100->50). Flux ratio increased (1.5->2.0). Base secondary chain range reduced (250->200).
- Heavy Arc Emitter: Firing speed decreased (0.4->0.6), damage reduced (125->100), EMP damage reduced (100->50), and flux ratio increased (1.8->3.0). Now starts ramping down if it didn't produce an arc the last time it fired. Base secondary chain range reduced (300->250).
- Spire: Deployment and supply cost increased (50->55), and maximum burn reduced (8->7).
17JAN2021: 1.1.5 release
New:
- Scarab (IV). Two energy mounts replaced with universals, in addition to the IV hullmod. It's *very* good, but good luck finding one.
- Fourth Battlegroup Blueprint Package. Much rarer than other blueprint packages; you have about a 50% chance of finding one in a vanilla game with no other mods if you visit every blueprint drop source.
- Fourteenth Battlegroup Blueprint Package. Same rarity as the Fourth Battlegroup package.
Changes:
- Fixed some descriptions being too long in certain contexts.
- Aphelion: Added a rear turret slot to match up with the sprite. Adjusted turret arcs. Reduced OP by 5. Omni shield converted to front shield. Variants adjusted.
- Gila: Shield arc increased (110->120). Previous nerf was a little bit heavy-handed; now you can reasonably choose between stabilized and extended shields.
- Kingfisher: Sprite adjusted to match turret arcs and directions.
- Peregrine: Adjusted turret arcs. This is a buff.
- Khanjali: Shield HP increased (425->500). Plasma Catapult damage increased (250->350), mag size decreased (4->3), and it now reloads one projectile every 3 seconds, instead of the entire mag every 10 seconds.
- Heavy Arc Emitter: Decreased ramp time (10s->6s) and increased the time needed for the ramp to fully decay (3.3s->4s).
- Plasma Lens Projector: Improved visual effects a little bit.
- Toroidal Plasma Railguns: Now create a small secondary explosion when hitting armor, and have improved visual effects on impact. Sprites adjusted so that the barrels don't look quite as flat.
- Tawa torpedoes: Removed friendly-fire on secondary projectiles. The AI would occasionally try to fire them through allied ships, which would die when the torpedoes split inside of them.
- Reduced the rarity of several weapons. They're still in the same blueprint categories, but some of the rarer ones should show up more often in markets.
- Added 10 simulation opponents.
- Added two variants for [REDACTED]. I hope you haven't been relying on swarms of unshielded fighters.
- Reduced cost multiplier for IV variants (1.75->1.6). Lorewise, IV hulls are in active (though extremely limited) production around the sector, so they shouldn't be quite as expensive as XIV stuff.
- Adjusted some weapon descriptions to account for numerical reality.
- Actually remembered to update the version number this time.
- Added one new loading tip. Do you like focaccia bread?
11JAN2021: 1.1.4 release
- New weapon: Light Arc Emitter (small energy), Arc Emitter (medium energy), and Heavy Arc Emitter (large energy). They fire arcs at random hostile targets within a 120 degree cone, dealing decent energy and EMP damage with a relatively low firerate. The medium emitter has a chance to create a secondary chain, and the large has a chance to create multiple chains that increases as long as it's firing. The small and medium are in the hightech blueprint package, the large is rare and known by Tritachyon and Remnants.
- Remnant fleets will now occasionally use the Plasma Lens Projector, Nyx Atropos Salvo, and Tawa Standoff Torpedo Battery.
8JAN2021: 1.1.3 release
- Added some variants of vanilla ships that use the new weapons.
- Actually added the Ahab to the vanilla missile blueprint package this time. For sure.
- New sprite for the Khanjali Strike Fighter.
- New weapon: Toroidal Plasma Railgun (medium energy, 12 OP) and Twin Toroidal Plasma Railgun (large energy, 26 OP). One of the oldest types of energy weapon, they use electric fields to accelerate a tiny ring of plasma to extreme velocities. It has great range (for an energy weapon, anyway) and good per-shot damage with a side of EMP, but poor DPS and efficiency. It has relatively low flux usage when compared to other energy guns, so it's a good choice for ships that have energy slots but not high-tech flux stats. The medium is in the base blueprint package, and the large is in the hightech package.
Buffs:
- Tawa Standoff Torpedoes: Second-stage spread reduced (35->30) and EMP damage increased (50->75). Ammo on medium and large launchers increased (8->10 and 30->36). Large launcher OP reduced (30->28). Large launcher reload time increased (12->13).
- Plasma Lens Projector: Homing improved (23 deg/sec -> 28 deg/sec).
- Kukri Bomber Wing: OP cost reduced (28->27).
Changes:
- Plasma Lens Projector: Now deals 1000 damage on initial hit and 3x 500 damage in a line. (Combining the first hit of the original 4x 500 line with the initial projectile). This is numerically a buff, but in reality it makes the AI catch the projectile on its shields much more often, so it's more of a nerf (and intended as such).
- Persean League now knows the blueprints for the large Tawa and large Atropos, though they won't use them very often.
- Tigershark sprite lightened up a bit
Nerfs:
- Gila shield efficiency reduced 0.6->0.8, changed omni shield to front shield, arc reduced (180->110), armor reduced (950->800), and turn speed reduced (22->12). Still very tanky from the front, but much more vulnerable to flanking, and you can't catch shots on armor quite as much.
2JAN2021: 1.1.2 release
Now requires MagicLib.
New:
- Weapon: Plasma Lens Projector. Large energy. Fires a slow, weakly-guided projectile that deals significant HE damage in a line if it connects with the target's hull. Holds two charges, and reloads one every 10 seconds. Nearly unusable against small, fast targets. Synergizes extremely well with autopulses. Known by Tritachyon.
Changes:
- Name changes to deconflict with other mods and adhere better to vanilla naming patterns.
- Invader -> Aggressor
- Wyvern -> Khanjali
- Name changes are display-name only, hull and weapon IDs won't change until a future patch. No sense in breaking saves if I don't have to.
- Wyvern (now Khanjali): Weapons no longer generate flux. Its Plasma Catapult now has a slow-reloading four-shot magazine and a fast rate of fire. Active flares are now shot forwards instead of to the sides, but the total number of flares has been reduced. Added two IR Pulse Lasers (high-delay). Speed reduced slightly. Shield is now frontal instead of omni, and arc has been reduced.
- Variants modified to account for changes and additions.
- New ships and items added to whitelists for Industrial Evolution and Vesperon Combine.
Nerfs:
- Incursion: Synergy slots converted to missile slots and turret arcs adjusted to reduce forward convergence. Maximum convergence is now 3 large energies, 3 medium energies, and 5 small energies. No more 9 graviton beams on a single target. System changed to Plasma Burn instead of Plasma Thrusters to reduce its ability to escape sticky situations. Maneuverability and flux capacity increased to compensate somewhat. It should now be significantly more dangerous to over-commit. Cleaned up the sprite a bit.
Buffs:
- Persephone: OP increased by 12.
- Moray: DP decreased to 9 (from 10).
- Iris: Has now been released from the PD jail. PD specialization no longer penalizes non-PD weapons and is compatible with DTC/ITU, but caps maximum weapon range at 1200 units. OP increased by 10.
- Kingfisher: Improved the AI's usage of Targeting Overclock. Arc of the large energy turret slightly reduced (this is a buff, it helps the AI)
27DEC2020: 1.1.1 release
Fixed an error that made the Ahab, Nyx, and Tawa Battery rare exploration drops only. Now the Ahab is part of the missile blueprint package, and the Nyx and Tawa Battery are known by Tritachyon.
27DEC2020: 1.1.0 release
New:
- Forums: Download tracker added. Nifty!
- Ship: Inequality-class battlecruiser, and its Battlegroup IV variant. It has a funky diagonal broadside and a built-in unique hullmod.
- Weapon: Alecto Atropos Launcher. Medium missile. Holds 6 shots of 2 torpedoes. Good choice when reliability is more important than sheer damage. Reload time is just barely fast enough to hit a target with a follow-up salvo if your first overloads it.
- Weapon: Nyx Atropos Salvo. Large missile. Has a very good fire rate, though not quite as good as the Hammer Barrage. Holds 8 shots of 4 torpedoes. Good choice if you're willing to sacrifice the damage and speed of a Hammer Barrage for homing projectiles and more ammo.
- Weapon: Ahab Harpoon Barrage. Large missile. Has a slow fire rate. Holds 6 shots of 9 missiles. It's 9 harpoons every 18 seconds. What more do you want?
- Weapon: Tawa Standoff Torpedoes. These torpedoes detonate into a trio of unstable plasma spheroids at the edge of point defense range, making them extremely difficult to intercept. Comes in a dual rack (small), dual launcher (medium, 4 shots of 2 torpedos), and triple launcher (large, 10 shots of 3 torpedos) variant. A good general-purpose weapon, but inefficient compared to anti-shield or anti-armor missiles. Struggles against small, fast, or narrow targets. Costs 5/12/30 OP.
- Fighter: Kukri Bomber Wing. A Trident bomber wing rebuilt to carry Tawa torpedoes. Generally better than Tridents by themselves, but not better than a Trident/Longbow combo, especially against heavily armored targets. Costs 28 OP.
- Fighter: Wyvern Strike Fighter. Carries a Plasma Catapult (a short-range, low-damage version of the Plasma Cannon) and two active flares. Great armor penetration (for a fighter) and a decent shield, but it will quickly stress its flux when firing. Costs 20 OP.
Nerfs:
- Overall: Most ships had their shield upkeep slightly increased to match vanilla values.
- Tigershark: Now has practically identical stats to the Aurora, instead of being better in most regards, and got a builtin hullmod that gives it a penalty to ballistic range, rof, and efficiency. Large ballistics should remain a good choice, but shouldn't be the optimal choice in all scenarios. Shield radius has been increased to prevent clipping with the forward large hardpoint.
- Kingfisher: Lost its two medium missile hardpoints, lost 20 OP, had its flux stats reduced, and has been given a new ship system, Targeting Overclock. This system is a toggle (though it cannot be immediately reactivated), and doubles the range of all energy weapons while active (up to a cap), but generates significant amounts of hard flux and reduces speed by two-thirds. DP reduced to 30. Turn speed increased, though it's still the slowest-turning cruiser in the mod.
- Aphelion: Fuel capacity and fuel/ly reduced; range is the same. Shield ratio increased to 0.7 to match the Apogee.
- Incursion: Max turn speed, top speed, and turn acceleration reduced. OP reduced by 20.
- Iris: Speed and flux stats reduced. DP increased to 12. Removed prior builtin hullmods. OP reduced by 5. Now has a builtin hullmod that increases PD range significantly, but blocks ITU/DTC and has a hefty penalty for mounting non-missile and non-PD weapons. PPT reduced to 300 seconds, but now has Hardened Subsystems built in. Shield radius increased slightly. You can still use it for things other than point defense, but it won't be nearly as good at it.
- Invader: Apparently only cost 30 DP to deploy. This was a mistake, and it has been increased to the intended 36 DP. Speed slightly reduced. The XIV variant got 5 extra OP.
- Spire: DP increased to 50, flux stats reduced, turn speed reduced, OP reduced, builtin hullmods removed and replaced with a weaker custom builtin hullmod.
- Gila: OP reduced by 12, flux capacity and shield radius increased slightly, speed reduced slightly.
- Bombardier: Shield arc increased a smidge, since it's such a wide boy. Reduced OP by 10 and adjusted turret arcs. This is a buff. (It's not)
Changes:
- Overall: Fleet point changes to balance AI usage. Cargo, crew, and fuel capacity have been adjusted on most ships.
- Overall: Changes to PPT and CR recovery. "Line" ships (Kingfisher, Gila) get an extra minute of PPT to make up for their slow speed, and lose less CR from deployment (and thus recover faster). Other ships have been normalized to standard values for their size and tech level.
- Sprites: Lightened up the Battlegroup IV sprites a bit to improve contrast against dark backgrounds.
- Spawning: The Tigershark has been removed from the high-tech BP pool and made a rare BP; independents will still use it, but very rarely. The chance of Battlegroup IV ships spawning in independent fleets has been reduced, and they will no longer use Spires. Tri-Tachyon will use Spires and Incursions less frequently, and has a better chance of spawning IV variants of all ships. (though they don't use direct-fire warships much so they'll still be fairly rare)
- Moray: Mild flux nerfs, 2 more OP. Has slightly less shield upkeep than the Persephone, and loses less CR from deployment. Increased rear small turret arc by a lot.
- Persephone: Mild flux nerfs, 2 more OP. Costs 11 DP (from 10).
- Peregrine: Has been given a new ship system, Flux Compressor. When activated, it instantly vents a sizeable fraction of your soft flux and a small fraction of your hard flux, and gives you a brief movement bonus that decays over time. Disposing of more flux with the system increases the bonus significantly, but not the duration. Dissipation has been slightly reduced to make it more reliant on its system. Integrated Supercapacitors has had its damage bonus reduced slightly to 66%, and now has a significantly weaker effect on beams. Base speed, acceleration, and shield arc slightly increased.
- Many updates to variants.
- Added some loading tips. Only one of them is threatening.
Buffs:
- Spire sprite redone a bit. It's still a flat wide boy, but the shading isn't as horrific. This is a buff.
- Fourth Battlegroup had its hullmod values adjusted. Now provides 7% reduced shield damage taken (from 5%) and -5% hull and armor (from -7%).
19DEC2020: 1.0.0 release
(https://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-sa/4.0/88x31.png) (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)