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Starsector => Mods => Topic started by: Mephansteras on November 14, 2021, 06:51:06 PM

Title: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Mephansteras on November 14, 2021, 06:51:06 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/eDRviol.png)

Stardust Ventures


Download Mod (https://github.com/Mephansteras/Stardust_Ventures/releases/download/stardust_ventures_v0.8.3/Stardust.Ventures.zip)
Requires MagicLib (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13718.0)
Requires LazyLib (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=5444.0)
Optional LunaLib (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=25658)

A ship pack centered around light, fast Midline ships that excel at long distance exploration missions. All of them have extended fuel range, larger than normal fuel tanks, and built in resistance to hyperspace hazards. While they integrate well with any midline or high-tech fleet, the Stardust Ventures ships are designed to work best as a cohesive fleet. In fact, the more of them in your fleet the higher a bonus to agility you get for the entire fleet in hyperspace!

Safe to add mid-save.

Ships
(https://i.imgur.com/DIvP54R.png)
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Weapons
(https://i.imgur.com/wH2nCcw.png)

Proton Guns - Ballistic shell weapons that do Energy damage and EMP

Diana's Darts, Arrows, and Spears - Fires out bursts of self-guided shells that home in on the targeted ship. Comes in Fragmentation, High Explosive, and Kinetic varieties for all three sizes. Currently only found on mercenary and Sindrian ships.

Fel Weapons (Free-Electron Lasers) - Pulse energy weapons with longer range than vanilla pulse lasers, lower damage, with a bit of EMP thrown in.

Plasma casters - Good damage against both hull and armor with a fairly low OP and flux cost, the plasma casters only real drawback is their slow fire rate and mediocre ability to take down shields on their own.

Mist Point Defense System - Slow firing but very cost effective energy based PD

Cloudburst missile launchers - Fires a guided missile that splits apart near the target into multiple warheads. These warheads explode into large clouds of charged energy. Effective both as area of effect defense against missiles and fighters and for finishing off damaged ships, the Cloudburst makes for a good multi-purpose combat missile.

Lithobreaker Torpedo launchers - Fires a guided torpedo that releases a high powered kinetic shot at the target when in range. Useful in both mining and warfare.

Streak MRMs - Very fast guided missiles with fairly low payloads. Excellent for taking out smaller vessels. Comes in Amber (frag), Azure (kinetic), Crimson (energy)

Scorpion Beam - A power hungry but versatile support beam that can safely fire over allies

Pirate Weapon - The Walloper, two Thumpers strapped together for twice the fun! Makes for a really cheap large slot weapon, and can prove surprisingly effective in the right situations

(https://i.imgur.com/DtrFB0f.png)
Walloper
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If you are running Nexerelin, the mod has a custom start called A Golden Ticket, which starts you off with a VIP version of the Storm Seeker carrier and a bundle of Stardust Ventures blueprints. Perfect if you want to quickly jump into a SDV run!

As of v0.8.0 you can now find Stardust Ventures shops on select Independent planets. By deafult, this will be Ilm, Agreus, and Baetis, although you can configure the mod to spawn on additional planets if you wish.

NOTE: This mod is still in development, so expect a good bit of change as things get tested, balanced, cleaned up, and generally tweaked.

Thanks to theDragn for help with campaign map movement modding, ruddygreat, Wisp, Lukas04, PureTilt, and Vanilla for helping me get past some code hurdles, and the Unofficial Discord folks in general for help with all of this!


EVE Copyright stuff
"Non-commercial sites may use content and resources from the official EVE Online website under the condition that the copyright notice below is displayed prominently on each page where those items appear. When using materials or content that was originally published elsewhere, proper credit must be given to the original author and used only by permission. When using content, including forum posts or blog entries, from the official EVE Online site, please include the name of the contributor and a link to the post or location of the content you're using."

Thanks to celestis for the old Eve ships mod which I plundered as part of the kitbashing to make these ships originally.
Everything is pretty much new and only inspired by the EVE stuff, now, but keeping this in anyway.
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Change log
v0.1.1 = Initial upload
v0.1.2 = Vortex Hunter takes over the Light Cruiser role from the Storm Herald, which is now more in line with the Eagle.
           Various rebalancing to make the ships more consistent with things like shield effectiveness and fuel efficiency.
           Added the new pirate hull the Cosmic Fury.
v0.1.3 = Additional balancing of various hulls
             Added the Storm Bringer battlecruiser, Warp Diver Electronic Warfare destroyer, Comet Tail missile frigate, and Plasma Burst superfighter.
             Bumped up the size of the Solar Flare's sprite & bound box to be more appropriate for its hull size
v0.2.0 = Renamed the tags for all files from sv_ to stardust_ (this will break saves!)
              Art pass on all of the Frigates
              Some minor balance tweaks
v02.1 =  Swapped out the carrier decks as requested
v0.2.2 = Added two new weapons, the dual proton gun and heavy proton gun.
              Added the new weapons to some variants
              Small modifications to the Ion Skimmer and Comet Tail sprites     
v0.2.3 = Compatible with 0.95.1a-RC6
              Art rework of the Starlight Guard
              Stats rebalance of the Starlight Guard   
              Added three new pulse laser weapons, the Fel Repeater, Fel Pulsar, and Fel Cannon. Longer ranger than the vanilla Pulse weapons but do a bit less
damage.
v0.2.4 = Art rework of the Warp Diver, Stargazer, and Sunbeam Rider
              Added a new missile type, the Cloudburst. A mirv weapon like the Sabot that does wide AOE designed to take out groups of missiles and fighters. 
v0.3.1 = Added in a new fighter, the Meteorite
              Added a new proton gun, the single-barrel light proton gun
              Added a Large mount Cloudbust weapon, the Stormfront launcher
              Art rework on the Vortex Hunter and Cosmic Wind ships
              Art rework on the Fel Pulsar and Fel Cannon to make them more distinct from vanilla energy weapons.
v0.4.1 = REQUIRES A NEW SAVE
              Added in a new fighter, the Stormwing
              Art rework on the Storm Herald, Void Nomad, and Starlight Raider ships
              Rebalance of abilities on the Starlight Raider and the weapon mounts on the Storm Herald and Void Nomad
v0.4.2 = Art rework of the Solar Flare
              Rebalance  of hull mods and stats on the Solar Flare
              Added in Moonbreaker bomber wing and Stormlight gunship wing
              Added in Lithobreaker torpedoes and double, pod, and barrage versions(s/m/l)
              Added in nex mining capabilities to the Void Nomad and Lithobreaker torpedoes
v0.4.3 = Art replacement of the Storm Bringer
             Major rebalancing of the Storm Bringer
             Added custom faction skins for the Plasma Burst - Persean League, Hegemony, Sindrian Diktat, Mercenaries           
v0.5.0 = MAY BREAK SAVES
             Added in a new Destroyer, the Storm Seeker
             Reworked the Cosmic Fury into the Cosmic Horror with new art and some big stats/hardpoint adjustments
             Added in a new weapon type, the Plasma Caster with Small, Medium, and Large slot versions
             Added in a new Large proton gun, the Proton Autocannon
             Added in a new Large version of the Thumper, the Walloper
v0.5.1 = Added in a new variant of the Storm Seeker that swaps the large mount for a fighter bay
             Added in a new set of weapons, Diana's Dart/Arrow/Spear with Frag, HE, and Kinetic versions of each
v0.5.2 = Bugfix to prevent issues on Linux systems
v0.5.3 = Added the Oort Traveler, twin-linked fel repeater, and quad-linked fel repeater
             Updated the sprites for a few ships
             Adjusted the stats on a few ships to improve balance
             Fel weapon shots are now a bit more blue looking
             Moved the Diana's Dart/Arrow/Spear to being Sindrian Diktat and merc only, and actually gave some factions access to the Cloudburst pod, Stormfront launcher, and Stormlight gunship
v0.6.0 = BIG CHANGES - MAY MAKE SAVES WONKY
          NOW REQUIRES LazyLib and MagicLib
          Solar Shielding swapped out for Stardust Core Drive, which has slightly weaker effects but also adds a fleetwide boost to campaign map agility, up to 50% improvement for all-SV fleets
          Added in Stardust Engine Enhancements hullmod, which gives +1 burn, +10% combat speed, and +20% maneuverability.
          Cosmic Wind is now cheaper to deploy and maintain
          Warp Diver has more OP and better flux stats but costs more to deploy and maintain
          Adjusted some loadouts and ship variants, particularly for the Warp Diver
          Stardust Venture blueprints have been split out of the midline pack and into two packs, one for civilian and one for military
          Did some rebalancing of which factions get access to what bps
          Added Industrial Evolution integration for reverse engineering and ship duplication
          Fixed a sound issue with the linked fel and fel battery weapons
          Added versioning support and direct download for SMOL         
          Various bugfixes
          Various minor art tweaks      
v0.6.1 = Bugfix
           Fixed an issue with the version checking files   
v0.7.0 = Starsector 0.96 Update
          Updated code to handle MagicLib changes
          Added new ship, the Celestial Guide
          Added new fighter, the Gamma Racer
          Added new weapon, the FEL pds
          Updated graphics for the Starlight Guard
          Upped Stardust Core fleet agility boost to 100% max bonus from 50%
          Tweaks to various variant loadouts
          Tweaked Faction usage of SV ships/equipment to better fit new lore
v0.7.1 = Added Environmental Shielding hullmod
       Added Mist PDS
       Added Amber, Azure, Crimson, and Violet Streak MRMs (in small/med/large mount sizes)
       Fixed Celestial Guide not showing up as often as it should
       Fixed Celestial Guide not giving the intended 30% nav penalty reduction
       Updated the Gamma Racer to also use a Mist PDS
       Updated some variant loadouts to include the new weapons
       Updated the Exploration ships to include built-in Environmental Shielding (Horizon Chaser, Stargazer, and Void Nomad)
v0.7.2 = HOTFIX for the Celestial Guide harmonics crash
v0.7.3 = Added Twilight Defiance missile cruiser
       Fixed Environmental Shielding not showing up as often as it should
       Updated engines to have a little less smoke in the contrail
       Adjusted Independents to use SDV ships a little less often
       Adjusted some descriptions
       Added S-Mod bonus for engine mod
v0.7.4 = Added Fel Defender and Guardian
         Added Proton Gun Battery and Heavy Proton Battery
       Art update for Plasma Burst, Storm Seeker, Vortex Hunter, and Cosmic Wind
       Cosmic Wind gains a new unique ship system
       Updated various weapon stats
       Updated Storm Runner stats (slightly tankier, slightly slower, better flux dsp.)
       Mercenaries get their elite Plasma Burst
       Color shift for Proton weapons and Fel PDS based weapons
       (Linux) Fixed a capitalization issue that could cause crashes
       Added VIP version of the Storm Seeker (c) as a rare blueprint
       Added a Custom Nex start using the VIP ship that includes the two base Stardust Ventures blueprint packages
       Updated various variant loadouts
       Rebalanced the Stormwing fighters
       Save compatable, HOWEVER some OP costs have changed so your ships may be over/under on existing saves
v0.8.0 = Added Stardust Ventures Store to some Indy markets
       VIPs get special treatment
       Added mod configuration files and Lunalib support
       Scavengers can now use some SDV ships
       Toned down SDV ship usage in most factions
       Art update for Sunbeam Rider
       Save compatible, stores WILL generate in markets on game load after update if enabled.
v0.8.1 = Updated some ship variant loadouts
       Fel Guardians are less common (autofit was abusing it to the detriment of AI ships)
       Fixed an issue that was causing crashes with Java 7
v0.8.2 = Added unique base for Streak MRM (double) versions
            Fixed market blacklist not working
       Fix - Golden Ticket start now gets a skill point
       Art updates for Horizon Chaser and Void Nomad
       Horizon Chaser now has Advance Survey Drones (This reduced the available OP slightly)
       Updated various variant loadouts
v0.8.3 = Starsector 0.97 Update
       Extended the shield bubble for Vortex Hunter
       Tweaked some weapon arcs
       Updated some descriptions
       Rebalanced some ship stats, and gave Solar Flare Harmonic Winds instead of Active Flare system
       Rebalanced some weapon stats
       Added Stardust Ventures ship name list
       Added the Scorpion Beam weapon
       The Twilight Defiance's internal Streak MRMs now have slow ammo regen
       Reduced Moonbreaker wing size down to 2, as well as OP cost to 14
       Updated some variant loadouts
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Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.1
Post by: Mephansteras on November 14, 2021, 06:51:26 PM
Mod notes:

Any suggestions, issues, balancing notes, and whatnot much appreciated!


Looking ahead, I have a few plans. No real order on when I'm going to get to any given piece.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.1
Post by: 6chad.noirlee9 on November 15, 2021, 07:06:26 AM
Looks interesting.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.1
Post by: Mephansteras on November 16, 2021, 07:36:54 AM
Put some more work into this. I've done some re-balancing and added in two new ships.

The Cosmic Wind now has its sister hull, the Vortex Hunter:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/tl67vqmf3kyug3w/sv_vortex_hunter.png?raw=1)


I've also added in a Pirate section which is what I'm using rejected designs for.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.2
Post by: 6chad.noirlee9 on November 17, 2021, 07:50:43 AM
Ah. the rejects love more rejects.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.2
Post by: Mephansteras on November 17, 2021, 09:12:57 AM
Heh. We'll see how it goes. I actually haven't had too many rejected hull designs so far.

Right now I think I'm looking at 6 more ships planned for the pack.

A Battlecruiser, which will be the heaviest combat-focused ship this pack gets since it's more of a swift strike set and not so much on heavy line combat.
An electronic warfare ship, either frigate or destroyer sized.
Another frigate/destroyer. Probably a missile boat of some sort. Size would be whichever isn't used for the EW ship.
A capital sized Exploration/Flagship. Not a true dedicated combat ship, but strong enough to work as a flagship while still being focused on Exploration.
A capital sized Refinery/Forge ship based on Ontheheavens Forge Production hull mods.
A capital sized general logistics ship with a starborne city motif. Pondering trying to give it some slow commercial goods/farming/crew production as well. Would have large minimum crew requirements, but also fits the "stay out on the rim for extended periods of time" theme of the pack.

Thoughts? Anything I'm missing that you'd love to see in this pack?
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.2
Post by: Mephansteras on November 18, 2021, 08:08:42 AM
Currently working on testing out my new battlecruiser, the Storm Bringer class
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/yz5b8n0qsgajyt5/sv_storm_bringer.png?raw=1)

And a WIP missile frigate, the Comet Tail:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/x7sjtsqjnv73ttd/sv_comet_tail.png?raw=1)
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.2
Post by: Mephansteras on November 19, 2021, 11:10:34 PM
A bit more testing and balancing to do, but I expect I'll have v0.1.3 up this weekend.

This one normalizes some more of the stats across the ship pack and adds in some new ships. In addition to the Storm Bringer and Comet Tail, we have the Warp Diver (EWar Destroyer) and the Plasma Burst (basically a frigate classed fighter).
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/wmngnngosb9xg7s/sv_warp_diver.png?raw=1)          (https://www.dropbox.com/s/z3gff6kby9h3rf5/sv_plasma_burst.png?raw=1)

Plasma Burst wasn't really part of my intended plans, but it just kind of came together. It's kind of neat and can be fun to fly, but isn't terribly powerful. Still, it can make a decent little escort ship and works pretty well for anti-fighter duty if you don't have any fighters of your own.

I might hold off on the non-combat Capital Ships until I get to the hull mods they'll need to be interesting.

So next release after this will probably be v0.2, which will move on to adding in some weapons to the pack.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.1.3
Post by: Mephansteras on November 20, 2021, 09:57:32 PM
v0.1.3 is now up.

I am going to hold off on the last few capital ships for now and move on to some of the other bits. So next up is weapons.

I may end up shifting the Storm Bringer's design to one of the non-combat hulls at some point. I like it, but not really as a combat ship for this pack. It'll probably end up being the city-ship.

On the whole, though, I'm pretty pleased with the balance I have so far. The ships feel pretty good, they don't look terribly out of place compared to the vanilla art while still looking distinctive, and they are fun to use without feeling OP.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.0
Post by: Mephansteras on November 25, 2021, 10:01:02 PM
Started doing an art pass on the ships. I'll probably end up doing multiple of these, but it's a good start.

Also made the mod items less likely to collide with other mods by changing the prefix of all the tags.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.0
Post by: Thaago on November 25, 2021, 10:37:36 PM
 Please do respect this Mephansteras and remove those parts: DME is published under a no-derivatives license and the mod's FAQ explicitly asks others not to use their sprites or portions of them.

There is a sprite thread here: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=12896.135
and here: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=1131.0
which are all free for use if you want parts/inspiration.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.0
Post by: Mephansteras on November 26, 2021, 09:39:59 PM
Yeah, I'll get the flight decks replaced. Sorry about that!
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.1
Post by: Mephansteras on November 29, 2021, 06:32:30 PM
Carrier decks have been replaced.

I do apologize for that. I had just skimmed things in the thread and the license and had mistakenly assumed it was similar to many creative commons style licenses that I'd encountered in other areas where using stuff was fine as long as you didn't claim it was yours or try to make money off of it. Good reminder to make sure I read things more carefully in the future and not make assumptions! Won't happen again.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.2
Post by: Mephansteras on December 08, 2021, 12:41:09 PM
v0.2.2 is out.

Added in two new weapons, the dual proton gun and the heavy proton gun. These are both basically mini-mjonirs. The dual is pretty long range point defense gun that is also good at disabling ships. The heavy is better vs ships, though still not great against strong armor. They seem to do well when paired with anti-armor weaponry.

They probably need more balance tuning, but so far they seem to work pretty well and have a nice distinctive look to them. I've added them to some of my ship variants. Mostly the smaller classes of ships.

Other than that I did some tweaks to the Ion Skimmer and Comet Tail. They're getting a bit closer to how I think they'll ultimately end up looking.
Title: Re: [0.9.5a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.3
Post by: Mephansteras on December 20, 2021, 09:07:15 PM
0.2.3 is up!

Redid the sprite for the Starlight Guard, which looks a bit beefier now and more like the tanky light destroyer that it is. Also did some light rebalancing of it.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/t249yoo1au2d02d/sv_starlight_guard.png?raw=1)            (https://www.dropbox.com/s/vx9hqyw12uokdeg/stardust_starlight_guard.png?raw=1)
       Old                             New
       
I've also added in a few more weapons. New pulse lasers this time.

Fel Weapons (Free-Electron Lasers)
        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/5kb3tgpf3hh0drt/stardust_felrepeater_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)                 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/v6eji7woaunmyne/stardust_felpulser_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)                 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/e8kesdtmz8p0g4a/stardust_felcannon_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)
Fel Repeater       Fel Pulsar      Fel Cannon 



Next up is the sprite re-work for the Warp Diver and Stargazer class ships as well as a new missile or two.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.2.3
Post by: Mephansteras on December 28, 2021, 07:07:18 PM
0.2.4 is up!

Got the art pass done on 3 ships this time:   (Old->New)

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/wmngnngosb9xg7s/sv_warp_diver.png?raw=1)    (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9nfxt79po8cb5c9/stardust_warp_diver.png?raw=1)
Warp Diver

 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9xqkfk0cuuxbtpz/sv_stargazer.png?raw=1)     (https://www.dropbox.com/s/o4j98ap2w6jdk3g/stardust_stargazer.png?raw=1)
Stargazer

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/zr5uwfcujetz0j1/sv_sunbeam_rider.png?raw=1)    (https://www.dropbox.com/s/q872o4gpkthtwyg/stardust_sunbeam_rider.png?raw=1)
Sunbeam Rider


Also added in a new missile weapon called the Cloudburst which does a mirv spread like the sabot. Unlike the Sabot, the spread is wider and designed to do AOE energy damage. Good for taking out groups of missiles or fighters, but underwhelming vs ships since not all shots will land. (I need to get a few good composite shots of those to add to the OP.)

in the meantime, here is a shot of the Cloudbursts in action:
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/7d5eukilunx4teu/Cloudburst.jpg?raw=1)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.3.1
Post by: Mephansteras on January 03, 2022, 08:10:07 PM
On to 0.3.1!

Reworked the Vortex Hunter and its sister hull the Cosmic Wind.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/hqkv7li8b0ox1gx/Vortex_Hunter_Comp.png?raw=1)

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/1zgyujy91w3xysk/stardust_cosmic_wind_comp.png?raw=1)

Also added in a new fighter, the Meteorite, since I was touching a carrier anyway. It's a fast little strafing and interception fighter. The proton guns let it be pretty versatile, though it can do little against a shielded ship other than apply some pressure.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/8t7bfvaqxtxtz42/stardust_meteorite.png?raw=1)


Plus two new additions to the weapons.

A single-barrel Light Proton Gun, used by the Meteorite but also available for larger ships.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/sc4e1f6rok6iy8j/stardust_lt_proton_gun.png?raw=1)

And the Stormfront, a Large missile rack version of the Cloudburst that continually manufactures new missiles during a fight. This allows the ship equipped with it to pretty much indiscriminately fire it off as point defense.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/rfdgronvggsz2dr/stardust_stormfront.png?raw=1)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.1
Post by: Mephansteras on January 19, 2022, 08:09:29 PM
v0.4.1 is now out.

Bumped up the version # on this because it'll break old saves due to hardpoint changes.

For this one I added in a new fighter, the Stormwing. It's armed with mini versions of the Fel Repeater and a single-shot Cloudburst Missile. It's tough and fast, designed to work best against other fighters while still being solid against larger ships.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/kfto0nhe86d58kq/stardust_stormwing.png?raw=1)

I also have a rework of the art on a few ships. There was some rebalancing that went along side the art work on these.

Storm Herald
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hk6whx4ynmq7ox/sv_storm_herald.png?raw=1)     (https://www.dropbox.com/s/k34jz3gccymeuqn/stardust_storm_herald.png?raw=1)


Void Nomad
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayy5a7fb3csys9j/sv_void_nomad.png?raw=1)        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hy05fkyoo8ordm/stardust_void_nomad.png?raw=1)


Starlight Raider
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/lvi4vvvnvkou80z/sv_starlight_guard_pirate.png?raw=1)        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/tevj9nhpscqwvuv/stardust_starlight_guard_pirate.png?raw=1)


Getting close on the artwork! Only a few ships left, at least for a first pass. I will certainly be going back through and doing touch-ups on a lot of them. And I'd like to do some snazzier stuff like converting the static power core lights to being dynamic lights that turn off when the ship is shorting out or disabled.

Along side that I'll be adding in at least one new bomber to round out the fighter wings, a new kinetic torpedo, and then on to the hull mods and systems.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.1
Post by: SwaggyCthulhu on January 23, 2022, 05:03:48 AM
v0.4.1 is now out.

Bumped up the version # on this because it'll break old saves due to hardpoint changes.

For this one I added in a new fighter, the Stormwing. It's armed with mini versions of the Fel Repeater and a single-shot Cloudburst Missile. It's tough and fast, designed to work best against other fighters while still being solid against larger ships.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/kfto0nhe86d58kq/stardust_stormwing.png?raw=1)

I also have a rework of the art on a few ships. There was some rebalancing that went along side the art work on these.

Storm Herald
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/4hk6whx4ynmq7ox/sv_storm_herald.png?raw=1)     (https://www.dropbox.com/s/k34jz3gccymeuqn/stardust_storm_herald.png?raw=1)


Void Nomad
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ayy5a7fb3csys9j/sv_void_nomad.png?raw=1)        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/7hy05fkyoo8ordm/stardust_void_nomad.png?raw=1)


Starlight Raider
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/lvi4vvvnvkou80z/sv_starlight_guard_pirate.png?raw=1)        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/tevj9nhpscqwvuv/stardust_starlight_guard_pirate.png?raw=1)


Getting close on the artwork! Only a few ships left, at least for a first pass. I will certainly be going back through and doing touch-ups on a lot of them. And I'd like to do some snazzier stuff like converting the static power core lights to being dynamic lights that turn off when the ship is shorting out or disabled.

Along side that I'll be adding in at least one new bomber to round out the fighter wings, a new kinetic torpedo, and then on to the hull mods and systems.

Looking forward to giving this mod a try. The ships look great and unique, and I can definitely appreciate some restraint when it comes to mod ship balance.

Thanks for making the mod.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.1
Post by: Mephansteras on January 23, 2022, 12:53:57 PM
Great! Let me know what you think once you've played with it a bit. So far it's all balanced around my personal play style, so some more input would be good.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.2
Post by: Mephansteras on January 27, 2022, 12:59:44 PM
0.4.2 is out!

Did a rework of the Solar Flare fleet carrier, added in a new bomber and a gunship for it to use, and made a new kinetic torpedo called the Lithobreaker.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/ahv4gudyg08x9gr/sv_solar_flare.png?raw=1)        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/p06mtzv6jq3qsxq/stardust_solar_flare.png?raw=1)


Moonbreaker bomber - Armed with the Lithobreaker torpedo, it is highly effective in both taking down shields and finishing off damaged ships. Does not fare well against heavily armored targets on its own, however.
  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/pvzln6ba110my54/stardust_moonbreaker.png?raw=1)


Stormlight gunship - Well armed with an array of weapons, tough, and equipped with a decent shield generator. This wing only includes a single ship, but that ship can do quite a lot even by itself.
  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/y595j08bpnpc6c1/stardust_stormlight.png?raw=1)


New Lithobreaker torpedo launchers - More advanced than the vanilla Hammer torpedoes, but you get fewer of them. The Barrage launcher fires three at once, however, and can be a very formidable weapon in any combat!
  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/r2tsfaz0155mtij/stardust_light_lithobreaker_launcher_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)       (https://www.dropbox.com/s/pxyd3x6w0w0adxc/stardust_lithobreaker_launcher_pod_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)        (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xlko1vq1g8z0oie/stardust_lithobreaker_launcher_barrage_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)



From here I just have the Storm Bringer to do for the main ships, which will probably be getting a major art overhaul. I'll also need to rework the Cosmic Fury pirate ship at some point.

For weapons, I plan to get a Large mount version of the Proton guns in, probably a fast firing rotary version to differentiate it from the Mjolnir cannon. I may also make a Large mount version of the Thumper for the pirate ships.

After that it's on to ship systems and hull mods, and probably some additional art passes on the various ships to get them to a good spot.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.2
Post by: liliyn on January 27, 2022, 02:22:25 PM
Hello, found and error while running this mod, this is the log:
java.lang.RuntimeException: Weapon spec [stardust_lithobreaker_pod] not found!
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.o00O.?00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.o00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.o00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.specs.HullVariantSpec.<init>(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.oO0000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.public(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.loading.ResourceLoaderState.init(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
   at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
   at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.2
Post by: Mephansteras on January 27, 2022, 02:24:01 PM
Huh, ok, I'll look into that. Maybe something didn't get added to the zip file somehow.

Thanks for the bug report!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.2
Post by: Mephansteras on January 27, 2022, 05:03:30 PM
Ok, looks like two of the lithobreaker files ended up in the starsector-core folders instead of the mod folders. Which explains why I didn't get any errors and you did.

I've reuploaded the zip file with the corrections, so it should work now. Please let me know if you get any more errors, though!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.2
Post by: liliyn on January 27, 2022, 06:47:55 PM
Thanks for the very fast reply and fix, I appreciate that :)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.2
Post by: Mephansteras on January 28, 2022, 07:44:50 AM
You're welcome! And I hope you enjoy the mod  ;D
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.3
Post by: Mephansteras on February 08, 2022, 09:24:56 AM
0.4.3 is up!

Complete rework of the art for the Storm Bringer this time. I decided to make it fit in better with some of my other ships and changed it to be an combination/evolution of the Storm Herald and Solar Flare hulls. It's also had a bump in both power and number of weapon mounts to bring it more in line with the Conquest battlecruiser in terms of power.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/r3fh3sp999a6z6x/stardust_storm_bringer.png?raw=1)


I also started playing around with the skin system a bit and made some faction specific skins for the Plasma Burst superfighter. It now has Persean League, Sindrian Diktat, Hegemony, and Elite Mercenary skins. They lose the Solar Shielding in favor of Stabilized shields, except the Merc one which has an omni-shield. They also have different built-in missiles. Sabot for the Persean League, Hammer Torpedos for Sindria and Hegemony, and rocket pods for the Mercs.

No idea how much I'll end up doing with skins, but it was good to learn how they work.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/mwpqmmphxp53c6w/plasma_burst_skins.png?raw=1)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.4.3
Post by: IGdood on February 08, 2022, 10:41:41 PM
For some reason I saw the name and automatically all I can think of is Jojo's Bizarre Adventures
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.0
Post by: Mephansteras on February 28, 2022, 08:49:38 PM
Well, haven't quite gotten to the ship systems and hull mods yet, but I have had some fun with some additional ship and weapon content.


WARNING! This version may cause crashes if you have a Cosmic Fury in your fleet. I haven't noticed any otherwise, so it may or may not be ok to just upgrade your version.

First up I did a rework of the old pirate carrier of mine, the Cosmic Fury. I decided to make it a proper pirate bash, so it is now based on the Pirate Mule and Pirate Falcon hulls with the Cosmic Wind bridge and fighter bays bolted on to it. It's pretty well armed and armored for a carrier, but a bit fragile due to the salvaged nature of its construction.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/e6h25hd5r6tiyvq/stardust_cosmic_horror.png?raw=1)


Next up in an addition to the main line of ships. I decided the Storm combat line was missing a destroyer option, and I figured out a good shape to work in a clear lineage going from the Storm Runner up to the Storm Bringer.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/8cea36v9hllf962/stardust_storm_seeker.png?raw=1)

This is a fast strike destroyer that carriers a spinal mounted Large Ballistic slot. It's good at both hit-and-run and fleet support depending on how you manage its weapon loadouts.


Finally, a slew of new weapons!

The Proton Autocannon gives us a large version of the Proton guns. Fires faster than a Mjolnir cannon, but the individual shots don't hit as hard. Good support weapon since it can keep up a pretty steady stream of fire without overloading your flux.
 (https://www.dropbox.com/s/tcb045fotaj9ptp/stardust_autoproton.png?raw=1)


Plasma casters - Good damage against both hull and armor with a fairly low OP and flux cost, the plasma casters only real drawback is their slow fire rate and mediocre ability to take down shields on their own. These help make better use of many of the Stardust Venture ships energy slots without overwhelming their somewhat limited flux capacity as much as many other energy weapons.
(https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ihqngsos97sgo0/stardust_plasmacaster_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)                                  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/xxpqoqvykmeqsdy/stardust_hvy_plasmacaster_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)                                  (https://www.dropbox.com/s/9e7mx48ubnujxmb/stardust_plasmacaster_array_hardpoint_base.png?raw=1)
     Plasma Caster        Heavy Plasma Caster        Plasma Caster Array


And finally some pirate love to go with the Cosmic Horror rework. The Walloper, which is just two Thumpers strapped together. It's great for hunting down logistics ships and taking out damaged combat ships. Also not bad at bringing down shields, though it works better for that if you have Expanded Mags on the ship.

(https://www.dropbox.com/s/yhybtdvbsdf18nz/stardust_walloper_hardpoint_base00.png?raw=1)
Walloper


Next up, really going to work on those ship systems and hull mods!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.0
Post by: Mephansteras on March 02, 2022, 03:50:14 PM
Started playing around with doing some video capture. I may end up making a bunch of showcase videos for the various weapons and ships in the mod, if there is interest.

This one has a Storm Herald bullying a Venture as a nice easy test vid.
https://youtu.be/VlcKPm7Ozto (https://youtu.be/VlcKPm7Ozto)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on April 04, 2022, 08:07:21 PM
Well, for a variety of reasons (mostly bad) I didn't get a chance to do much on the mod. But I have a few new additions to it that I figured I'd go ahead and release while I try to get back into the swing of things.

First up is a carrier version of the Storm Seeker. It trades out the large ballistic mount for a fighter bay. It makes a good little escort ship, especially for other flanking ships like the Void Hunter. Unlike most carriers, it can be a bit aggressive and isn't a bad flanker by itself when properly outfitted.
(http://i.imgur.com/maikNos.png) (https://imgur.com/maikNos)

Next up we have a new set of weapons designed around guided shells. These weapons are good at curving around asteroids and broken ship bits, and can considerably increase the hit rate against some targets. However, they have mediocre damage and high OP costs, so should be used sparingly. Each size (s/m/l) comes in Frag, HE, and Kinetic variants.
        (http://i.imgur.com/DMXSbEd.png) (https://imgur.com/DMXSbEd)                  (http://i.imgur.com/mUaSwi6.png) (https://imgur.com/mUaSwi6)                (http://i.imgur.com/H4w8O8U.png) (https://imgur.com/H4w8O8U)
Diana's Dart    Diana's Arrow    Diana's Spear


Here's hoping that April brings in some more significant upgrades to the pack!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: juzek666 on August 14, 2022, 03:03:49 AM
Hi, i found some error when loading your mod. Could you check it please?

Code
23618 [Thread-4] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull spec [stardust_plasmaburst_hegemony] not found!
java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull spec [stardust_plasmaburst_hegemony] not found!
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.oO0O.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.specs.HullVariantSpec.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.do(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.ÓO0000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.ResourceLoaderState.init(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 18, 2022, 06:48:19 AM
Hmm, that's interesting. I'll check it out!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 23, 2022, 07:14:52 PM
Hi, i found some error when loading your mod. Could you check it please?

Code
23618 [Thread-4] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull spec [stardust_plasmaburst_hegemony] not found!
java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull spec [stardust_plasmaburst_hegemony] not found!
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.oO0O.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.specs.HullVariantSpec.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.do(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.ÓO0000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.ResourceLoaderState.init(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

Well, I can't seem to find anything that would cause that. The zip has all the files it should need, and all my local tests run fine.

I reuploaded the zip just in case.

Can you delete the mod and install a fresh version? Hopefully that'll fix it.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: juzek666 on September 03, 2022, 12:01:18 PM
Now i get similar bug  ;D :
Code
15549 [Thread-4] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull spec [stardust_plasmaburst_merc] not found!
java.lang.RuntimeException: Ship hull spec [stardust_plasmaburst_merc] not found!
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.oO0O.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.super(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.specs.HullVariantSpec.<init>(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.do(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.SpecStore.ÓO0000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.loading.ResourceLoaderState.init(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)

I'm on linux if that matters.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on September 03, 2022, 02:23:09 PM
Hmmm...not sure if that makes a difference, but I would assume not.

I'll do some more digging, see if I can figure out what's up.

Edit: And this happens on start up, right? Not triggered by something you're doing in-game?
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Esmeron on September 05, 2022, 11:51:56 PM
Hmmm...not sure if that makes a difference, but I would assume not.

I'll do some more digging, see if I can figure out what's up.

Edit: And this happens on start up, right? Not triggered by something you're doing in-game?

I have the same issue, test with only Stardust Venture v0.5.1 Alpha as enabled mod in case of mod conflict didn't solve the issue.

And yes it's on startup

I'm running the linux version of SS

Hope you'll fix this soon, love the ships
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on September 06, 2022, 07:55:41 AM
Well, maybe it is linux. Little harder for me to test, since I don't have a linux box to test on and don't have one set up in a VM or anything right now.

But I can research mod issues with linux and see if there is a trick to getting stuff to work on both linux and windows.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Esmeron on September 06, 2022, 11:27:00 PM
Might be true, I don't think I had the issue on my windows, if you have any leads to fix it I'd be happy to give it a try
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on September 07, 2022, 10:00:40 PM
I miiiight have figured it out.

Can you try renaming hulls/Skins to hulls/skins?

I think the capitalization might be messing with it on Linux in a way it won't on Windows.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Esmeron on September 07, 2022, 11:21:12 PM
I miiiight have figured it out.

Can you try renaming hulls/Skins to hulls/skins?

I think the capitalization might be messing with it on Linux in a way it won't on Windows.

That's indeed a fix! thanks a lot, know I'll enjoy it!

Linux is indeed way more case sensitive than windows, not the first time I have a mod who crash due to case mismatch
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: trstrs on September 08, 2022, 12:41:00 AM
Intersting idea. Hope for separated faction (they will monopolize long run delivery service, lol) question about Stormbringer, ship have low small energy coverage, especially front, is it intended? Tested Diana's Spear, it don't work well against cruiser size ships, also F version of a gun have same dps as K or HE, that don't really make a lot sense(800-1200 frg dps fits more IMHO) 
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.1
Post by: Mephansteras on September 08, 2022, 08:13:40 AM
I miiiight have figured it out.

Can you try renaming hulls/Skins to hulls/skins?

I think the capitalization might be messing with it on Linux in a way it won't on Windows.

That's indeed a fix! thanks a lot, know I'll enjoy it!

Linux is indeed way more case sensitive than windows, not the first time I have a mod who crash due to case mismatch

Glad that fixed it! I'll get a patched version up later today with the fix in it so no one else has to deal with that. But for juzek666 and anyone else currently having this problem on linux it looks like the fix is pretty simple.


Intersting idea. Hope for separated faction (they will monopolize long run delivery service, lol) question about Stormbringer, ship have low small energy coverage, especially front, is it intended? Tested Diana's Spear, it don't work well against cruiser size ships, also F version of a gun have same dps as K or HE, that don't really make a lot sense(800-1200 frg dps fits more IMHO) 

The Stormbringer is an exercise in a completely balanced set of hard points (2 of each basic type in s/m/l). It works pretty well, but does suffer a bit from reduced point-defense capabilities. It's best to give it some escorts to handle that for it. Many of the smaller ships can easily be configured for dedicated point defense, most notably the Starlight Guard which also doubles as a reasonably tough Tank on its own.

As for Diana's Spear, thanks for the feedback. Those weapons are still very much a work in progress. Personally, I find them a bit underwhelming on my own ships but I hate when enemies have them, so I'm still trying to figure out the best balance point on them. Bumping up the damage on the K versions might be good, yeah. I was playing around with letting those also work as point defense, but that gets wonky.


Ended up drifting away from Starsector a bit, but I've been playing it more recently and starting to get some motivation to expand the mod. We'll where that takes me!


Edit: I have the bugfix in as version 0.5.2 now. An update of the mod should fix the crash on linux systems.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.2
Post by: trstrs on September 09, 2022, 10:04:51 AM
Quote
Quote from: trstrs on September 08, 2022, 12:41:00 AM

    Intersting idea. Hope for separated faction (they will monopolize long run delivery service, lol) question about Stormbringer, ship have low small energy coverage, especially front, is it intended? Tested Diana's Spear, it don't work well against cruiser size ships, also F version of a gun have same dps as K or HE, that don't really make a lot sense(800-1200 frg dps fits more IMHO)


The Stormbringer is an exercise in a completely balanced set of hard points (2 of each basic type in s/m/l). It works pretty well, but does suffer a bit from reduced point-defense capabilities. It's best to give it some escorts to handle that for it. Many of the smaller ships can easily be configured for dedicated point defense, most notably the Starlight Guard which also doubles as a reasonably tough Tank on its own.

I'll explain wath i mean, ship can easily be front pd guarded(Paladin PD on L.energy, Heavy Burst Laser M.energy) but while i am using a lot of mods, i get a lot of different small energy pd. In a case of using the ship i will have to serch for PD weapon M and L size.
Overall ship desing quate pretty. Storm Bringer versatile, do whatever you want with a vessel. (IMHO to do it even more versatile give him two wing slot?)
I'm aware of escort tactic (actually playng so most of the time Dorothy RED, Charybdis SRA, Aquinas Machina Void) but find it very convenient when ship can do a job alone.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.2
Post by: Mephansteras on September 17, 2022, 08:13:32 PM
Ah, yeah, I see what you mean. Probably not going to adjust it any, since I think the current design works pretty well. I might see about adding in an additional medium PD weapon for it, though. I've been pondering some new weapon ideas.

In other news, I am doing some touch-ups on old sprites. First one I'm redoing is the Horizon Chaser, which was a bit too squashed and always looked odd with missiles crammed in the center.

(https://i.imgur.com/XLjokzE.png)       (https://i.imgur.com/va5UJev.png)
     Old                  New

So I expanded it out a bit, which helps a good bit. Not perfect, since some missile types still look a bit too big there, but overall a nice improvement. I may tweak it a bit more from this version, but we'll see.

Next will be the Comet Tail, for similar reasons, though I doubt I'll do quite as much to it.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.2
Post by: Mephansteras on September 20, 2022, 03:27:58 PM
Moved the inner missile mounts of the Comet Tail out to pods on the side. Definitely looks much less squashed in game, which is a big improvement.

(https://i.imgur.com/hpkQVbJ.png)          (https://i.imgur.com/Izn8nJf.png)
      Old                         New

I've also started doing some additional work on the Sunbeam Rider sprite. It was a bit too clean and flat looking before.

(https://i.imgur.com/zenx6KZ.png)        (https://i.imgur.com/PzUwrH5.png)
             Old                                    New

Still not super happy with it, especially the weird bumps on the sides of the tanks, but it's starting to look a little bit better with the additional shading. Going to put some more work into that tonight.


Otherwise, next step I think is a new ship. I've been feeling the lack of a good cruiser sized transport ship to act as a step up from the Sunbeam Rider. Currently thinking of having armored and unarmored versions, to better suit different playstyles.

From there, we'll see how things go. I have a few weapon ideas I might play with, or I might start actually working on the big refinery and factory capitals that I was thinking about when I first started working on this pack.

I also have to think about how things are going to work when the next version of Starsector comes out. Right now this is just a pure addition to the midline ship set so they end up pretty much everywhere. But with the additional faction differentiation that is going to be in the next version that may not fit as well. Might be time to make SV its own faction and maybe even craft some more faction-specific versions for use as export.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.2
Post by: Mephansteras on September 29, 2022, 08:32:04 AM
Here is a sneak-peak at the latest addition to the ship line up, the Oort Traveler!

(https://i.imgur.com/V4Uvk0n.png)

This is a cruiser sized logistics ship that carries a balanced amount of crew, cargo, and fuel. Basically giving you the hauling capabilities of a Nebula, a Buffalo, and a Dram in a single package with good speed and excellent range. Good for fleets that don't want to take up too many ship slots with logistics, though not as good at any one thing as a dedicated ship.

I'm also planning on making an armored version that will sacrifice some of its capacity for better combat ability.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.2
Post by: cytokine on September 30, 2022, 12:32:21 AM
Really liking the style of these new ships <3. Some of the names make me wince for whatever reason ;D. I'm thinking in a playthrough it would make sense of they were obtainable from only the 'fringe': rare blueprints, mercs, bounty fleets.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.2
Post by: Mephansteras on September 30, 2022, 08:05:09 AM
Heh. Well, you can change the in-game names easily enough in Stardust Ventures\data\hulls\ship_data.csv if you like.

They're not supposed to be super rare, for the most part, but ultimately they will end up being less common than they are right now. Currently they are just part of the midline bp package, so most factions just get them. I'm going to be moving them to a specific Stardust Ventures bp pack (or two) and more carefully controlling who gets what. Likely they'll be common among mercs and independants and a good bit rarer among the proper factions.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: Mephansteras on October 13, 2022, 08:40:00 AM
0.5.3 is out!

A whole bunch of little tweaks and upgrades to the pack, plus the new Oort Traveler to give you better long distance hauling capabilities.

(https://i.imgur.com/tpelSgr.png)            (https://i.imgur.com/ThZ15tz.png)

I've also added in two new linked-fel repeater based weapons (twin and quad). They're still the shorter range that the repeaters have, but are slightly more flux efficient and have larger magazine capacity so they can sustain fire for longer. Overall, better at stressing shields and hitting small targets but not as good at punching through armor as the larger Fel weapons. I have found in my testing that they add a nice set of options to your load-outs.

(https://i.imgur.com/dkL0aaG.png)     (https://i.imgur.com/wKNsbOU.png)


Looking forward, I think the next things on my list are to finally get around to some real code work and getting into the ship systems and modules that I've been wanting to add in. We'll see how fast that goes.

I'm also probably going to finally split out the Stardust Ventures stuff from the midline blueprint package and make it its own thing. This will give me much more control over who gets what, and will be necessary whenever I make the plunge to turn this into a faction instead of just a content pack.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: Ramiel on October 13, 2022, 09:09:56 AM
There's no file on github...
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: Mephansteras on October 13, 2022, 09:37:39 AM
There's no file on github...

Please try again, I apparently forgot to set it to public. Should be available now.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: Ramiel on October 14, 2022, 09:34:57 AM
Yep! Works now.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: Mephansteras on October 21, 2022, 04:00:12 PM
I have made my first foray into hull modifications!

Spoiler
(https://i.imgur.com/nkpCg1C.jpg)
[close]

Just a really basic one for my first attempt which adds a smattering of engine related improvements (+1 max burn, +20% maneuverability, +10% max combat speed). Not terribly original, but also not an exact combination I've run across. Makes for a decent addition, at least, although the icon was thrown together so that'll need to be improved upon. It also needs exclusions to prevent it being added to similar hull mods.

Most importantly, though, this gets the ball rolling on more additions. Most of which should be a bit more interesting!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: Mephansteras on December 04, 2022, 03:23:43 PM
Ok, 0.6.0 is now live!

Big changes this time. Old saves shouldn't break, but some of the stuff might get a bit wonky so be warned.

The biggest change being that Stardust Ventures ships finally have their Stardust Core hullmod that I've been planning forever. It works as a slightly weaker version of Solar Shielding, but adds in a big boost to your fleet's campaign map agility. The bonus scales depending on what percentage of ships are Stardust Ventures, maxing out at a 50% bonus if all your ships have the Stardust Core Field.

(https://i.imgur.com/qR0lwfp.png)

End result is that you'll be much more responsive on the map outside combat, especially when dealing with hyperspace storms and slipstreams. All to make exploring the edges of the sector just that much easier.

There is also the Engine Enhancements hullmod from the previous post, which boosts burn speed and combat maneuverability.

Getting all that to work required adding in MagicLib, so that's now a dependency plus LazyLib which MagicLib needs. Most mods use them, so you probably already have them, but if not I'm adding links to the OP.

The other major change was splitting the blueprints out from the midline package and into two separate Stardust Ventures packages. One for civilian bps and one for military. This had some spillover into which factions use what, but those changes are fairly minor. However, this does mean that mod factions that used midline tech won't be randomly getting Stardust Ventures tech now.

There were a few other changes here and there which you can see in the changelog.

From here, probably some more hullmods and into the Ship Systems.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.5.3
Post by: bibigun23 on December 09, 2022, 12:03:17 PM
Ok, 0.6.0 is now live!

Hi i just wanted to tell you that the mod fails to load. It says (0.6 failed to load master version file from URL "https://github.com/Mephansteras/Stardust_Ventures/blob/main/stardust_ventures.version").
 That url leads me to 404 error in github

Also since i'm inexpirienced i saw the URL for download inside the mod_info.json file and it leads to version 5.3 instead of the latest 6.0.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.0
Post by: Mephansteras on December 09, 2022, 11:15:05 PM
Hmm. Ok, I think I know how to fix that.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: Mephansteras on December 10, 2022, 11:52:09 AM
Ok, 0.6.1 is out.

Minor fix for the version file that was causing issues with the Version Checker and I assume SMOL/MOSS.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: bibigun23 on December 11, 2022, 01:15:51 PM
Ok, 0.6.1 is out.

Minor fix for the version file that was causing issues with the Version Checker and I assume SMOL/MOSS.

Great work @Mephasteras ! It loads fine now and it's really nice to see some old good aerodynamics in space for a change :3
 Beutiful art. Thank you  ;D
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: Mephansteras on December 11, 2022, 05:08:45 PM
Ok, 0.6.1 is out.

Minor fix for the version file that was causing issues with the Version Checker and I assume SMOL/MOSS.

Great work @Mephasteras ! It loads fine now and it's really nice to see some old good aerodynamics in space for a change :3
 Beutiful art. Thank you  ;D

Thanks! Glad you enjoy it!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: Mephansteras on January 12, 2023, 02:30:49 PM
I'm curious, how are people finding the new Stardust Core Drive effects? Is the campaign map agility noticeable for everyone? Does it do anything to encourage you to run more SV ships in your fleet?

Personally, I've been enjoying it, but it's hard for me to gauge how it effects most players.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: Bungeezus on February 09, 2023, 09:46:48 PM
I am loving everything about this mod. The ships are balanced, the sprites look good, the overall design is awesome.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: Mephansteras on February 09, 2023, 09:59:58 PM
Glad to hear it!
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: Mephansteras on May 09, 2023, 11:28:02 AM
Just to give an update, I'm working on getting an official 0.96 version out that has some addition stuff in it plus some balance changes to go along with the vanilla updates.

Might be a bit for that, since I need to play around a bit with vanilla some more to make sure I'm happy with how the SV stuff fits in with the new factional changes. I also have some more code work to do on the new ship to make sure it's doing what it is supposed to properly.

Good news is that as far as I can tell 0.6.1 works fine without any changes as long as you've updated LazyLib and MagicLib. If anyone does run into issues, though, let me know.
Title: Re: [0.95.1a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.6.1
Post by: NGTM-1R on June 14, 2023, 05:24:11 PM
Just to give an update, I'm working on getting an official 0.96 version out that has some addition stuff in it plus some balance changes to go along with the vanilla updates.

Might be a bit for that, since I need to play around a bit with vanilla some more to make sure I'm happy with how the SV stuff fits in with the new factional changes. I also have some more code work to do on the new ship to make sure it's doing what it is supposed to properly.

Good news is that as far as I can tell 0.6.1 works fine without any changes as long as you've updated LazyLib and MagicLib. If anyone does run into issues, though, let me know.

That's good to hear, I've gotten quite fond of this mod's weapons, even if I'm less familiar with the ships than I probably should be given my love of exploration.
Title: Re: [0.96] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.0
Post by: Mephansteras on July 10, 2023, 11:06:27 AM
All right! After a very long delay, Stardust Ventures is now updated for SS 0.96.

It mostly worked with the new version anyway, other than a crash if you tried to put Solar Shielding on a ship with a Stardust Core. But as far I can tell everything is updated properly now and I haven't had any issues during my own test games.

There have also been some tweaks to the equipment lists for factions to take the new doctrine differences into account. The Persean League, for example, will not use any SV Missiles since they have their own unique list.

(https://i.imgur.com/4XMVeoq.png)

The Celestial Guide also makes its debut! This strange looking vessel acts as a significant fleet boon on the campaign map. It both increases the overall burn level by +1, it also adds +50% agility to the fleet in addition to that given by Stardust Cores. Which mean that a fleet of nothing but SV ships that includes a Celestial Guide will have a whopping +150% agility on the campaign map. Makes dodging storms and getting in and out of slipstreams much, much easier.

(https://i.imgur.com/yvnQd0W.png)

A new interceptor also got added in. Meet the Gamma Racer! It's kind of like a Talon with a shield. Much more survivable, and it's use of the new Fel PDS makes it a bit more useful against targets of any sort. While not a powerhouse, it does work pretty well at keeping your ships from lighter missile and fighter threats.

(https://i.imgur.com/Vhw1AVv.png)

Speaking of the Fel PDS, it is basically an energy Vulcan. Slightly longer range, loses a bit of raw damage in exchange for EMP. Not as good at actually taking out missiles and fighters, but also not worthless in a fight against anything with shields and armor.

New:  (https://i.imgur.com/3lczTpO.png)        Old: (https://i.imgur.com/F2bl32k.png)

The other addition for this release is the first of my art improvements that includes lighting outside of the main sprite. The Starlight Guard has not only had a bit of a makeover, you'll also see the front side lights and core lighting areas darken during venting and flicker when overloaded. It's a good touch, I think, and I'll gradually start improving all of the ships like this.


That should be it for the most part. Let me know if you run into any issues!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.0
Post by: Atlas De velen on July 17, 2023, 07:45:23 AM
So i installed the mod on a ongoing save and I wanted to know, can I  get the celestial Guide on it or it´s just a faction exclusive kind of ship ? I can find the rest of the ships on persean League or Independent Market´s no problem
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.0
Post by: Mephansteras on July 17, 2023, 08:00:49 AM
Yeah, it's just a fairly rare ship. About as hard to find as an Ox, actually. But any of the places that sell SV ships should be able to have it.

You can also have them made if you find the Stardust Ventures Core blueprint package. Which, given the rarity of the ship, might be the most reliable way to get one.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 11, 2023, 06:27:23 PM
0.7.1 is now out!

A moderately sized update, with a few fixes and some new stuff added in.

First off, I discovered that the Celestial Guide was missing an entire category of roles that it was supposed to show up in, which explains why it was even harder to find than intended. That's now corrected, and while still not common you should be able to find them for sale a good bit more often.

I also discovered that it's stated ability to reduce the Nebula movement penalty and hazard occurrence wasn't working. After a bit of code sleuthing that was finally nailed down and corrected. It now properly mimics some of what the Navigation skill does, and stacks with it!

Here is a 30 ship sized fleet making use of both the Navigation skill and a Celestial Guide to cruise through a nebula with only a little bit of slowdown:
(https://i.imgur.com/w5jvwVD.png)

Without the Celestial Guide, that fleet can only move through nebula at a 12, so not a bad improvement for a single ship! Note that the bonus doesn't stack with more CGs, although it's normal Drive Field Stabilizer does.

Other additions are the Fel PDS system. A super cheap energy pd weapon that is both OP and flux friendly, but has a very long delay between shots. Good for the occasional missile, but it can't do much if you're being pressured by a lot of stuff at once. It was primarily added in to let the Gamma Racer do its job a bit more effectively, but it does make it's way into a few loadouts as well.

The final addition is the Streak MRM series of missiles. Fast, guided missiles with decent range they're highly effective at actually hitting their target, provided it doesn't have too much point defense. However, their low damage mean they're much better for taking out small ships like frigates than doing more than pressuring larger ships.

(https://i.imgur.com/HdY6Npl.png)

They come in 4 flavors: Amber (fragmentation), Azure (kinetic), Crimson (energy/emp), and Violet (high-explosive). The small version has both 2 and 4 ammo versions, while the medium has 12 shots (firing two at a time) and the large 32 (firing four at a time!).

They make an excellent addition to any fleet having issues with frigates and other fast flanking assailants.

Finally, ships with Stardust Cores get a new exclusive hullmod option, the Environmental Shielding mod. It's not terribly expensive, and boosts their resistance to damage from solar coronas and storms to 100%. Quite handy, though warships may still find that OP is too precious to spend on a modest reduction in travel damage. The three exploration ships (Horizon Chaser, Stargazer, and Void Nomad) all now come with it built-in to let them do their jobs just that much better.

That's it for now. Next update should see some more art upgrades and perhaps a new ship system or two!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Sleepy Rachel on August 13, 2023, 12:01:59 AM
Hi there Mephansteras, been loving the mod! I hope I'm not being too much of a bother but I've been getting CTD while in Hyperspace occasionally and the error log seems to be pointing towards Stardust. It's happened a few times since the 0.7.1 update.

Code
4805441 [Thread-3] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
at plugins.stardust_FleetStatManager.applyHarmonics(stardust_FleetStatManager.java:130)
at plugins.stardust_FleetStatManager.advance(stardust_FleetStatManager.java:54)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.advance(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignState.advance(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.BaseGameState.traverse(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:750)

Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 13, 2023, 08:15:50 AM
Hmmm. That's annoying. Definitely an issue with the new Celestial Guide code. I haven't run into that yet personally, though, I've gotten quite a few hours of testing in.

I wonder if there is some difference between Java 7 and Java 8 (which is what I'm running). Default for SS is Java 7, which I assume you haven't moved from?

A few other questions:
   1) Are you on 0.7.1?
   2) Do you have a Celestial Guide in your fleet?
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Zalpha on August 13, 2023, 08:21:45 AM
I added a bunch of mods, removed a bunch of mods, found a tool that tells you how much VRAM is being used up, disabled a ton of mods. This mod uses little VRAM so I kept it. I was surprised by this mod. I didn't notice it before and then suddenly with a lack of mods this mod started to shine. I was surprised by them as fleets on the edge of core space started showing up and they cool. Great design, engagement, it is all good. I am not a pro and am playing a heavily modded game with the mods in my favor making me slightly OP so don't judge me on balance but I like the mod. Thanks of making and sharing it, also new sprites look cool.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 13, 2023, 09:57:30 AM
Glad you're enjoying it!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Zalpha on August 13, 2023, 01:06:42 PM
Title says 7.1 but link to download is for 7.0?
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 13, 2023, 04:17:04 PM
Well, that's a problem. Should be fixed now.

If you downloaded the mod via that link, please re-download it!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Qyku on August 13, 2023, 05:21:55 PM
Hi, I'm running Stardust Ventures version 0.7.1a on Starsector .96a-RC10. This is a fresh save, mod was loaded at playthrough start. Got this crash when jumping through a hyperspace portal.
I do not have any Stardust Ships, or stardust weapons or LPC fighters equiped on any of the mounts.

Game did not crash again, when going through same hyperspace portal the second time on reloading the save and playing. I predict it will reoccur though reading the above posts.

I've attached my enabled_mods.json just in case.

Code
510706 [Thread-3] ERROR com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain  - java.lang.NullPointerException
java.lang.NullPointerException
at plugins.stardust_FleetStatManager.applyHarmonics(stardust_FleetStatManager.java:130)
at plugins.stardust_FleetStatManager.advance(stardust_FleetStatManager.java:54)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignEngine.advance(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.campaign.CampaignState.advance(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.BaseGameState.traverse(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.state.AppDriver.begin(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.combat.CombatMain.main(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher.o00000(Unknown Source)
at com.fs.starfarer.StarfarerLauncher$1.run(Unknown Source)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:748)
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Sleepy Rachel on August 13, 2023, 05:30:22 PM
Hmmm. That's annoying. Definitely an issue with the new Celestial Guide code. I haven't run into that yet personally, though, I've gotten quite a few hours of testing in.

I wonder if there is some difference between Java 7 and Java 8 (which is what I'm running). Default for SS is Java 7, which I assume you haven't moved from?

A few other questions:
   1) Are you on 0.7.1?
   2) Do you have a Celestial Guide in your fleet?

Did the swap to Java 8 quite a while ago and just double checked that I'm still running it for Starsector.

Yup, am running 0.7.1.
And no, I don't currently have any in my fleet.

From what I can tell, the crash only happens randomly in hyperspace (and one time it happened as I was exiting a system gate back into hyperspace). On the save I've been playing for a couple of days now it has occurred maybe 4 or 5 times? It's also happening to my partner who is running the same mod list as me, and the logs keep repeating what I sent earlier.

We're both running fairly new save games, and we've never had this particular crash when running Stardust Ventures previously. If there's any other info I can give that might be of help, just let me know. And thanks for looking into it!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.1
Post by: Mephansteras on August 13, 2023, 06:12:51 PM
I've a couple of other people report crashes as well. Unfortunately, I haven't seen it in my own games yet so I haven't had a chance to run it through a debugger. But I may have a solution.

I'm working on an update to the code that should catch any of these issues and prevent them. Once I'm fairly certain it's stable I'll release an update.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.2
Post by: Mephansteras on August 15, 2023, 09:47:16 AM
Ok, I have a fix in that should hopefully stop the crashes.

However, there is a chance some cross-mod issue is also causing crashes, so if you still get crashes with 0.7.2 please let me know. I'll also need your modlist for those crashes so I can see if can narrow down where the mod conflict might be.


I'm also working on some code robustness that should prevent any similar types of crashes in the future regardless of what other mods do, but I'm waiting on some advice from Alex for that.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.2
Post by: Mephansteras on August 17, 2023, 10:02:50 PM
In other news, here is a short video showing off one of the things I'm currently working on adding to the mod:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdxL_qrufoQ

Right now I'm calling it the Equinox Defiance, although we'll see if I keep that name or not. Got a few more tweaks I'll probably do to it, but it's shaping up nicely!

And, yes, it's inspired by the Normandy, though by no means attempting to be a copy of it.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.3
Post by: Mephansteras on August 27, 2023, 08:34:33 PM
New release is out!

Nothing too big this time, but you do get the new Twilight Defiance missile cruiser to play around with!

(https://i.imgur.com/ulqf63o.png)

It packs quite the punch, but it's rather fragile so make sure it's got escorts or proper ships of the line to hide behind while it goes to work.

Otherwise, not too much else new. A few fixes here and there, some better descriptions for some effects, and the Stardust Engine Enhancements hullmod gets the same S-Mod bonus as the vanilla Augmented Engines (additional +1 burn speed). I also toned down the rate that SDV ships show up in Independent fleets a tad. They're supposed to be common in those fleets, but not overwhelming compared to vanilla ships.

I've got a few other ideas on what to work on next, but we'll see how it goes.

As always, if any issues pop up make sure to let me know!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.3
Post by: Mephansteras on September 15, 2023, 10:01:16 AM
It'll still be a bit before the next release, but I wanted to show you a few things I've been working on.

First off, I'm both adding in some new Proton guns as well as larger Fel defense weapons (multi-barrel versions of existing guns) as well as doing a few color changes to make it more obvious what type of weapon is on the ship. While I like the consistency of how my weapons have been looking, it's been getting increasingly difficult to tell at a glance what you're getting shot by.

(https://i.imgur.com/dBiNJPt.png)

As you can see, the proton guns are getting a blue paint job. I've also shifted the Fel point defense weapons to a greenish hue.


I was also playing around with an alternate 'VIP' paintjob, and came up with this:
(https://i.imgur.com/Ob90IkQ.png)

Not entirely sure what it'll be used for yet. Maybe a custom Nex start, or perhaps as a special derelict you can find out somewhere on the rim. We'll see how it develops!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.3
Post by: Mephansteras on September 22, 2023, 09:02:22 AM
Ok, v0.7.4 is now out!

Lots of little changes in this one, plus some new content with the extra proton guns and fel defense systems.

And, you can now start the game with the fancy Ivory and Gold Storm Seeker carrier if you've got nex installed. Just go to Custom Starts and pick A Golden Ticket. It's a fairly low powered start. The ship is a bit nicer than normal, but not a super ship by any means, and you start off with a decent amount of credits and a bit of rep with the independents. Mostly, it's designed for you to be able to go out and start exploring the sector without worrying about too many entanglements or restricting your run too much.

Note that with the rebalancing I've done that some things had their OP costs changed, so for existing saves you may find some ships over or under on OP. Otherwise, should be fully save compatible.

I hope you enjoy it!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.4
Post by: hidefreek on October 13, 2023, 09:33:44 AM
The game notified me.
where can I get the 0.8 version?
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.4
Post by: Mephansteras on October 13, 2023, 09:40:48 AM
The game notified me.
where can I get the 0.8 version?

Still in development, I'm afraid.

I guess I shouldn't update my mod_info version until it's actually released. I didn't realize that it'd notify people just from a dev push up to github. Makes sense though.

But in the meantime, here is a teaser on one of the big things I'm working on:
(https://i.imgur.com/QRQZR0D.png)
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.7.4
Post by: hidefreek on October 14, 2023, 09:29:37 AM
The game notified me.
where can I get the 0.8 version?
Thank man
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.0
Post by: Mephansteras on October 20, 2023, 08:33:10 PM
Ok, 0.8.0 is out!

Mostly behinds the scenes code stuff that'll make future additions go smoother. But we have shops now, and that makes finding your favorite SDV ships and gear that much easier to get your hands on. Note that you'll need to have good rep with the market owners (Independents) to unlock the bigger ships and much of the weapons.

We've also got a configuration file as well as LunaLib config support. Note that LunaLib settings get taken over the config file, so if you're not seeing your changes take place that could be why. LunaLib isn't required, however, so no worries if you don't have it.

As always, let me know if you have any issues, and have fun with the mod!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.0
Post by: jtcbrown on October 21, 2023, 11:01:48 AM
Updated Mod...

"Fatal:  Error loading [plugins.stardust_ModPlugin]

Compiled for the wrong version of Java, change the compile target to
Java 7
Cause: plugins/stardust_ModPlugin : Unsupported major.minor version
52.0"
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.0
Post by: Xiborr on October 21, 2023, 03:51:15 PM
Hi, the same issue about the Java just updated and I can't get the game to run hopefully it can be solved soon thank you. It says it was compiled wrong. Loving the mod so far keep up the awesome work.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.0
Post by: Mephansteras on October 21, 2023, 05:02:00 PM
Yeah, looks like my IDE was being 'helpful'. I will see about getting a patch out as soon as I can.

Upgrading your Java version from 7 to 8 should fix it for you (and helps with performance), but I will definitely try to get this fixed so it's not causing people issues.

You can also roll back to the 0.7.4 version by downloading the zip file from that section on the releases page here: https://github.com/Mephansteras/Stardust_Ventures/releases
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.1
Post by: Mephansteras on October 24, 2023, 04:38:26 PM
Ok, very sorry about that. It seems my IDE decided to be a bit overly helpful and 'upgrade' my java target for me so it could properly handle some code I'd added in.

Took a fair amount of work, but it's sorted now, and seems to work fine with both the default Java 7 as well as Java 8. And I know to keep an eye on this in the future!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Mephansteras on December 03, 2023, 10:02:32 AM
8.2 is out!

Updated art! The Horizon Chaser and Void Nomad get some shading and a bit of weathering, plus shiny new yellow lights to visually show off their built-in Environmental Shielding upgrades:
(https://i.imgur.com/jwnQ7V4.png)    (https://i.imgur.com/hG9Rc1x.png)

Most of the rest of the changes are tweaks and bug fixes, nothing that should break saves. There is one new thing, however. In addition to the art lift, the Horizon Chaser exploration frigate now has the ability to do preliminary Survey scans of planets without needing you to go into orbit thanks to its Advance Survey Drones. Having more of them in your fleet will extend the ability out, letting you grab basic info on planets without needing the Remote Survey skill or taking the time to go into orbit.

This mimics the ability granted by the QoL pack mod, but the range is a bit further, especially if you have multiple horizon chaser's in your fleet.

This is one of those things I've wanted to do for a while now. I've always found it a bit unsatisfying that exploration ships didn't have a unique role to play in your fleets since you could do Survey Equipment just fine as an add-on to your freighters and tankers. This way you might actually want to keep around an exploration frigate for a while. Expect the Stargazer to get a similarly interested exploration skill at some point. The Void Nomad is already chock full of stuff like the Salvage Gantries, so it's tempting enough already.

That's it for now. Next up is probably more exploration ship stuff, but we'll see how it goes.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Tryhardosaurus on December 04, 2023, 02:51:03 AM
This must have been asked a 1000 times, but I cant find the faction listed as a faction in Nexrellin. Also, the custom scenario golden ticked isnt listed. Only derelict empire. I can select the ships when making a custom fleet.
What am I doing wrong?
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Mephansteras on December 04, 2023, 07:47:05 AM
This must have been asked a 1000 times, but I cant find the faction listed as a faction in Nexrellin. Also, the custom scenario golden ticked isnt listed. Only derelict empire. I can select the ships when making a custom fleet.
What am I doing wrong?

Ah, it's not an active faction (yet). It's currently a tech set with shops on select worlds and usage by many of the vanilla factions. Which is why it's listed in the Content Expansion section of the index rather then the Faction list.

Strange that you don't see the Golden Ticket start. Should show up under Custom, like the Tutorial or Spacer starts. This is with the current version, 0.8.2?
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Tryhardosaurus on December 04, 2023, 09:04:18 AM
https://imgur.com/D2FrPsV

this is what it looks like :)

Can't wait to see it when it's a fully fledged faction!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Mephansteras on December 04, 2023, 09:45:44 AM
Ah, it's not on that screen. Nex is a bit confusing.

(https://i.imgur.com/aQkzMRk.png)

Once you're at the 'Select a Faction' screen, you probably have another page. If you go to that, you'll see an option for Custom Start. A Golden Ticket is one of the custom starts in there. (For my modlist I have two pages worth, and it's on the second page. That'll depend on the mods you have installed)
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Mephansteras on December 14, 2023, 02:59:49 PM
Shoutout to Notscoop who is currently doing a Stardust Ventures and Bultach Coalition (https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=24616.0) YouTube playthrough. You can find the Playlist here (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5NIBODnbZfiGT8YlCpO7a5GGGL2j4IV2).

Been a pretty entertaining watch so far, and an interesting view into how other people use what I've created!
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Mephansteras on February 02, 2024, 10:08:24 PM
Looks like you can get away with a version update in the mod_info file to get SDV to work for 0.97. I'll have a proper update out some time later this weekend, I've got some stuff in development that I need to either polish up or shelve before I can releast 0.8.3.

But so far, no crashes or issues with anything in the mod that I've discovered.
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Onyx_sand on February 04, 2024, 08:20:29 PM
i tried out this mod and it's great, but there are 2 problems i want to ask:

- The Diana weapons: when their range is extended with hullmods, the darts/spears/arrows simply stop its tracking past the original range and flies like dud missiles for the remaining range. They can still cause damage, but the hit rate is extremely poor outside original range in that case. Is it the intended design?

- Detachment fleet composition: encountered some detachment from sindria using like 100% stardust venture ship like the Void Nomad. I wonder if it's my messed up modded games or it's just a bug
Title: Re: [0.96a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.2
Post by: Mephansteras on February 05, 2024, 08:28:57 AM
For the Diana weapons that's not really intended, more a side effect of how I got them to work. They really need a rework at some point with some custom code to stop that from happening. It's in my backlog of "things to go back and improve". In the short term, the Diana's weapons are going to get an OP cost reduction in the next update.

Ah, THAT fleet. It's something odd with mods and how fleets spawn for Sindria. I've seen it with SDV, and I've seen it happen with other mods. No idea why, as nothing in the settings I put in should cause it. It also doesn't really hurt anything, so I haven't dug into it too much.
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Mephansteras on February 10, 2024, 02:55:33 PM
Ok, took longer than expected to do all of the balance tweaks and testing to ship this update out, but we're finally here.

Lots and lots of small changes, and a few bigger ones.

The Solar Flare still needs a proper rework, but it's been adjusted a bit. DP cost has gone down and it gained armor, hull, and flux stats. It also gained the use of the Harmonic Winds system instead of Active Flares, which helps it get the wings out to the combat lines. It now performs about as well as a Legion, though more of a support role than a front line combat role.

Finally got around to a nerf to the Moonbreaker bombers. They're still very strong, even with only two to a wing, but they now just slightly over-perform compared to vanilla bombers instead of massively. They may get hit with a nerf bat again at some point, but we'll see.

Celestial Guide has also been made considerably more expensive to run, as it was never intended to be a flat-out better alternative to an Ox. Now it at least costs more to run to make up for the additional utility it adds, and there is less reason to want to run more than one.

We also add a new weapon in, the Scorpion Beam. Basically an upsized tac laser that can fire over friendly ships, it's a really nice compliment to the usual rotational combat style that SDV ships excel at. Damage profile is good, although the flux usage is somewhat inefficient.

Lots more planned for the future, but this should kick off v0.97 of Star Sector pretty well!
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Allafif on February 19, 2024, 08:35:42 PM
A minor problem: when I hit "all" when selecting combat ships to deploy, my completely unarmed, non-militarized Void Nomads are getting auto-included. They don't count as combat ships for skills though.
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Mephansteras on February 19, 2024, 09:37:44 PM
A minor problem: when I hit "all" when selecting combat ships to deploy, my completely unarmed, non-militarized Void Nomads are getting auto-included. They don't count as combat ships for skills though.

That's...kind of intended. Not that specific behavior, but they're basically made to be like the vanilla Venture in how they work, which means they have the Civilian hull mod but not the Civilian AI hints. Mostly because, to my understanding, they're supposed to be armed and combat-capable, but still able to take advantage of things like militarized subsytems. I don't recall the specific reasoning Alex gave for it, but I do recall him talking about it at one point (in regards to the Venture).

I haven't specifically tested that exact scenario with one, but I expect Venture's will behave the same way.

If it's a bug, it's a vanilla one for the most part.
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Luckspeare on March 07, 2024, 07:13:16 PM
Minor issue.  Gamma Racer fighters show up as "Gamma Racer Gamma Racer".  Guessing that's not intentional.  If so, never mind me.
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Mephansteras on March 07, 2024, 09:48:24 PM
Minor issue.  Gamma Racer fighters show up as "Gamma Racer Gamma Racer".  Guessing that's not intentional.  If so, never mind me.

No, not intentional. I'll take a look.

And thanks for the report!
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Egren on March 16, 2024, 05:50:52 AM
Tried this one, but had to cut it due to balance issues.

One example is Fel PDS. A small energy turret with 400 energy dps for almost zero flux is insane. You can't just take a vanilla vulcan cannon and convert its damage type to energy. Frag damage weapons are balanced around the 25% damage effectiveness vs armor and shield. Now, granted, you did "lower" its dps from 500 frag to 400 energy, but you also added 100 EMP dps and 50 range.

To put it into perspective, Light Dual Machine Gun, which is terrible at everything except flux efficient shield dps at close range, deals the following dps vs different layers:
416 dps vs shields.
104 dps vs armor.
208 dps vs hull.
Poor PD performance. (turret rotation, accuracy, projectile speed, etc)

Vulcan cannon:
125 dps vs shields.
125 dps vs armor.
500 dps vs hull.
Great PD performance.

Now, compare that to Fel PDS:
400 dps vs shields.
400 dps vs armor.
400 dps vs hull.
100 EM dps.
Great PD performance.

Ergo, Fel PDS takes the most powerful aspects of two (three*) highly specialized weapons, Vulcan Cannons and Light Machine Guns. Vulcans and LMGs are allowed to be as powerful as they are in those specific scenarios because of their equally terrible performance in other scenarios. Fel PDS has none of those downsides.

Here's my suggestion:
Reduce energy DPS to 200 AND remove EM dps. Alternatively reduce energy dps to 150 and keep the EM dps.
Reduce range to 250.
increase OP cost to 6.

This post is long enough already, but the medium version is similarly problematic at 880 energy dps for 80 flux/s.

Don't take this criticism the wrong way, I want your mod to succeed, and good balance is much harder to achieve alone without rounds of feedback from the community, so here's my feedback! Cheers.
Title: Re: [0.97a] Stardust Ventures ship pack v0.8.3
Post by: Mephansteras on March 16, 2024, 09:35:09 AM
Yeah, they're due a balancing pass.

I am curious, though, have you seen them do much in practice other than be decent PD? Because despite having set up some ships to try to use them for damage I've found that it is very rare for them to have much of an effect as an anti-ship weapon.

Have you found a build that effectively uses them in that role?