Fractal Softworks Forum
Starsector => Mods => Modding => Topic started by: pappyodaniel on October 10, 2022, 12:35:01 PM
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Hello all, I'm currently working on a mod for Starsector that adds a variety of loot items you can find on ships, stations, and planet ruins. I'm a big fan of ARPG loot mechanics (Diablo, Borderlands, etc) and usable items that grant small bonuses (a la perk mags in Fallout 4). As such, the new items will have their own internal loot-tier color-grading that reflects their rarity. The idea is to add a little bit of extra flavor and excitement to looting, and give some new dimension to the loot mechanic.
Note these will not be weapons or hullmods, but rather additional kinds of things you can sell for cash, and some usable items with useful but non-OP effects. Think trinkets, rare curiosities, rare materials, and so on. All of it is being designed to be non-conflicting with other mods.
The input I'm looking for is: what kinds of miscellaneous loot have you always wanted to be present in Starsector? With your permission I'll incorporate some of the ideas here into the mod, perhaps with minor modifications to make it fit with the rest of the loot framework. You can make this easier by including in your original post "I hereby grant permission to pappyodaniel to use this concept in their upcoming mod", so I don't have to follow up and ask every time.
Looking forward to what comes out of this. And will keep you all updated how it progresses. Thanks!
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Very interesting idea! Sadly, I don't have any ideas what to add. I've been thinking about affixes for generic weapons to spice things up but since you said:
>Note these will not be weapons
...
:D
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Current plan is to do a series, so 1st: loot mod, 2nd: weapon mod (similar to what you describe, adding some variation to 'vanilla' weapons), 3rd: secondary skill tree mod (completely separate skill tree that unlocks at max-level, for late-game+ play). Skill tree mod won't edit main skill tree at all, but instead add a completely separate skill tree with its own UI that becomes available in late game.
But yea, loot mod first so I can hone my modding skills before doing more complex things.
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Sounds rad, thumbs up!
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If you made it adaptable to mods item and add rarity qualities to looted ships - it would be great. Still nice idea, do it.
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Perhaps not the fanciest thing but a consumable item that upon use instantly surveys all planets in system? That way in systems with alot of planets you can pop one to save time and know if any have ruins to explore.
Idk how hard that would be to implement tho.
I hereby grant permission to pappyodaniel to use this concept in their upcoming mod lol
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You want ideas for consumable items that you right-click from inventory for some effect, am I understanding this right? If so:
- An item that increases burn level of the fleet for a few days
- An item that spawns a slipstream-generating ghost in hyperspace
- An item that makes the fleet immune to damaging terrain for a few days
- An item that makes the fleet sensor signature smaller for a few days
- An item that reveals all sensor-visible objects in the current system
- An item that lets you transverse jump once without the ability
- An item that randomly removes some d-mods from a ship
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Expanding on some of the great suggestions by Amoebka and connortron7.
An item that increases burn level of the fleet for a few days
Fuel additive that increases burn level but causes increased supply usage due to engine wear. Make is some sort of Domain hyper fuel or something that could only be produced in specialized facilities in the Domain core worlds and at great cost. Very rare and valuable.
An item that spawns a slipstream-generating ghost in hyperspace
This would be great as some sort of omega related item so it's not really known how it works. Probably brakes some of the rules of physics.
An item that makes the fleet immune to damaging terrain for a few days
Special ship coating that is able to absorbed high levels of space radiation. Not typically used due to both it's cost, how fast it degrades to just the background radiation of space, and how extremally toxic it is making spraying all over a ship a then washing the ship down again afterwards just to be safe a hazardous process.
An item that makes the fleet sensor signature smaller for a few days
Phase Field Generator much like you will find on phase ships but tuned to help hide ships grouped close together. Reduces sensor signature but also prevents ships from using sustained/emergency burn. The generator burns itself out after it's used.
An item that reveals all sensor-visible objects in the current system
Overcharged Sensor Burst Array. A sensor array built to generate a gigantic sensor burst. Even though the fleets sensors are all turned off during the initial burst, some always manage to get damaged so using it consumes some supplied based on fleet size. Will damaged relations the same way an interdiction pulse does if other fractions fleets in the same system it is used in. They do not appreciate being blinded, having their sensors damaged, and maritime trade effectively being stopped for a short time. Perhaps make it an illegal item due to how it can be used on populated systems.
An item that lets you transverse jump once without the ability
idk
An item that randomly removes some d-mods from a ship
Remnants/Derelict repair bots. Automated ships can't support crew, but they do have drones inside of them that crawls through the cramped interiors to maintain and repair them. Illegal due to needing at least a gamma ai core being to control them. Another issue is hacking into their OS, which is heavily protected to prevent them being turned against the very ship they are supposed to be working on. As such, the methods needed to use them tend to also damage them. Alongside having no way of producing more, once they have been reprogramed and sent to repair a ship back to it's blueprint specifications, they will work till they fall apart and or mangled code fries their circulatory.
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>repair
Mmm
How about an item/consumable which repairs a certain percentage of combat readiness fleet wide (say 15%) and hull/armour instantly (more than 15% I guess?), or it repairs one ship to 100%, including combat readiness to 100% even if it is above the ships combat readiness cap (it will degrade down to the cap anyway if the item does not interfere). "Repair nanites" or something? Probably not needed but might have certain niche uses, I'd limit it do half a dozen of finds per standard sector, might be useful if you pause right before a fight to restore your ships a bit.
Maybe a consumable that extends peak performance time for the whole fleet for a possible "boss tier" drawn out fight, or a consumable which does the opposite but buffs your ships, maybe with even more drastic consequences, possibly buffing vent speed, flux generation, damage, attack speed, I mean fire rate etc, as consequences ships that get disabled blow up or something, also faster CR decay or something.
Or an item which permanently alters or buffs (or exchanges "attributes" of) a ship as a non S-Mod inbuilt once applied.... Oh, wait. Anyway, how about some Domain tech builder drones which instantly get the colony running by building the first x things/industry instantly?
Tbh I find these ideas, my ideas from this post kinda meh since I am more interested in more weapon and ship options and planetary conditions...
Now more interesting imo: some kind of item which links 2 places like a gate, lets call it "Space Folder Coupling" or something, lets say I bind some of my outer colonies or rather one planet/place/station in in that system to my main planet and it lets me instantly travel between those places without running around searching for a gate, that would be &%$! nice QoL, probably an item only available once in a sector, easily colony item tier imo.
And lel you are free to use the ideas as you see fit/like/want. :D
I hereby grant permission to pappyodaniel to use this concept in their upcoming mod. kek :D
E:
- An item that increases burn level of the fleet for a few days
- An item that makes the fleet immune to damaging terrain for a few days
- An item that makes the fleet sensor signature smaller for a few days
consumable item that upon use instantly surveys all planets in system? That way in systems with alot of planets you can pop one to save time and know if any have ruins to explore.
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Me like these. :D
E2: Yes, TASC https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=17094.0 has the option to enable gate construction on stable points I guess, but the "Space folder coupling" thingy would link 2 places without running around to a gate across the star system...
How about a consumable which buffs the amount of goods a certain industry/resource on a planet yields for a while to increase/give a steady flow of credits instead of an instant return? Or an item (consumable) which teleports a selected ship or groups of ships back to my storage so I don't have to go back to dump my mothballed, salvaged ships and can keep exploring?
E3: How about consumables which give logistics/troop non space combat advantages, like drones as light and heavy ones found in bulk of hundreds or thousands but take no crew/goods slots and replace/supplement marines and/or heavy armaments? A few stashes or (military) bases hidden in the sector or on planets, or maybe on a salvageable military capital/dropship, being illegal goods and all, would enable a fleet without decent crew/goods capacities to raid or just give an advantage by bolstering numbers, you would still deplete them with attacks so it is a consumable.
E4: How about a consumable item or even ship! which acts as a failsafe to prevent loss of ships after a fight? Very rare and one use only... Gets consumed after the fight I guess? Or at least if (lost) ships were restored.
Maybe a consumable "biomass converter" or something which lets your fleet (supplies and fuel) run on food/organics for a while?
E5: An item/consumable which lets me drag a planet for a short distance into another free orbit to make a hot planet colder or vice versa to improve conditions would be really nice, now that one I like! [plantery engine intensifies] or some gravity magic shenanigans, maybe with a downside by permanently adding tectonic activity... Or making a hot planet hotter and slapping Cryoarithmetic Engine on it. :D Me like. [grunting noises lel]
Stasis field (generator): Prevents all loss or gain of hull, armour and combat readiness outside of combat, limited charges/duration. Maybe it can affect supplies and part of the fuel consumption too...
Domain Gemini Matrix copy generator thingy something something: Consumes x of equivalent or greater value and grants y if you already have y so it makes a copy. Items? Goods? Ships? Colony items? Consumed upon use. Lets say it is limited to standard vanilla ships or some colony items, corrupted nanoforge vs. soil nanites or consume a Paragon to grant an Odyssey... This sounds good as an exchange mechanism, me like.
E6: Infiltrator drone as a consumable: Either gets a bunch of blueprints from the targeted planet, more with a HQ and orbital works with a nanforge maybe? Or sets to fleet points (Nex) to zero for that faction for a while to prevent attacks, or maybe it just siphons credits, based on the planet I guess? Or maybe it scrambles some industries? Or maybe it takes over one of the ships available on the market or from the faction? Or it disables patrols/fleets coming from this planet/station, makes them slow/they don't move or the CR is impaired/zero... So many options... Or the drone has data for juicy loot or some domain secrets. Or it can discover some other secret on a planet with ruins... Or maybe it buffs the next loot plundering operation... Or maybe it scrambles all stable point objects in the system or part of the factions and fleets run around like headless chickens, maybe some end up falling into the sun. o.O :D
E7: Yes, one can already introduce false readings, but the effect of the "infiltrator drone" could be stronger or faction wide. Emperor - Battle for Dune had infiltrator drones, they were cloaked, floating bombs which also had the ability to detect other invisible units as far as I remember. Good times. :D
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor:_Battle_for_Dune
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oops, multipost
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ooops, multipost 2
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Wow, these are all great, thanks so much everyone.
I'm still learning the main API but anticipate having an alpha version soon-ish. My main concern at the moment is not diluting loot tables, apparently that can be an issue with some mods.
Re: support for other mod items: definitely something I've looked into, it'd be more of a cosmetic patch for other mods (e.g. Industrial Evolution) but could add some nice flair for aRPG fans.
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Finally getting some time to actually work on this ;D
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check the exotica technology or the industrial evolution loot drop scripts for how to handle loot drops without polluting pools.
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Will do, thanks for the tip!
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Still getting to know my way around the API and MagicLib etc. But making some progress.
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:D
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So, I read through as many mods as I could, and the API itself is still fuzzy to me. I can't quite figure out how to do things like:
- inject more loot dynamically - I understand planet/ruins loot is determined when the sector is generated, but is there no loot drop mechanic to add more loot? Seems like there should be some kind of event-driven hook to grab onto, like eventService.on('loot_drop.ruins', ...)
- navigate the API docs - they're pretty opaque. I was hoping for some examples of how to do common operations. Examples are incredibly scant
Overall not really sure I have time to finish this because learning the API is too time-consuming without solid examples. The artwork, mechanics, and everything else won't take long to finish, but the actual implementation is proving difficult.
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There are two ways to 'inject loot dynamically': one of them is to just add it to the drop tables, since loot is technically not determined until it's being looted; that determination uses a pseudo-random number generator based off the sector seed value. Which means that the contents of a given ruins set will always be the same if the loot tables remain constant. So, if you enable a mod that adds a droppable blueprint, for example, then your exploration has a chance to find that blueprint, even if the mod that adds it wasn't enabled when the sector was generated.
The other is to use whatever mechanic is used by the flashy person / old person with book bar events; both of those create new items that weren't previously present and add them to the loot from a specific thing.
(Or, if the goal is just more stuff in general, it might be worth grabbing an old copy of Starsector from when one of the skills actually increased rare loot drops, and seeing how that was implemented...)
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Thank you for the input Wyvern, really appreciate it. I'm having another go at implementing based on a simpler setup which should also maximize compatibility.
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I got the first item to show up in-game as a commodity. Meager progress, but encouraging.
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Rare Gems and Antimatter Cell in inventory. Sneak peek.
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Gems? Sounds like $$$ to me. 8)
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Yea they can just be sold off, but actually thinking each item will be consumable for a special effect. For example, gems can be "used" as in distributed amongst your crew to improve morale, which might improve CR/recovery by a little bit.
The idea in this mod is that everything has a purpose or use, or can just be sold off as extra loot. Kind of like you do with extra blueprints once you already know them.