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Mods / Re: [0.95.1a] Interstellar Federation (refurbished)
« on: April 09, 2022, 11:40:38 PM »some how most the ships only require 10 DP, and I use command to get all blueprints but still miss some ships in this modThe deployment point costs I had overtaken from the original mod, so I guess this is a balancing issue now appearing in the new 0.9 era. Back then frigates actually cost more to deploy than capitals, so you will see these costs going down to 5 even on battleships in the current state.
I agree that this needs correcting. I will cross reference this with other mods later and release a version where this cost pyramid is the right way around.
As for the blueprints, yes, I experienced this issue too and had asked in the forum, but nobody got an answer for me. Currently the only way to get the rarer designs through console is to add the item "ifed_ship_package2" manually, which will give you all the missing designs. Don't ask me why the command line mod doesn't include these blueprints, because they certainly exist.
The blueprints being split into two packages because of how the ships are tagged in ship_data.csv. the tag section controls what blueprint packages each ship falls under. Most of the ships are under ifed_ship_bp, but some are under ifed_ship_bp2, and the prototypes (mk. 2s) are under rare_bp. ifed_ship_bp and ifed_ship_bp2 tags are part of the mod, defined in data/campaign/special_items.csv. This means that a player needs to find both blueprint packages to unlock most of the Federation ships (they are effectively split between two packages, believe Shadowyards does something similar). rare_bp is base game tag, and means that the ships aren't part of any package, and will only be dropped as single blueprints (think paragon, hyperion, etc.). Up to you if you want to change any of the functionality here. Also noticed that the Titan/Ocean class Battlecarriers have inconsistent text, still referring to them as the Titan (always liked the titan name, but probably conflicted with another mod back in the day maybe?). Also you might want to consider adding the NO_AUTO_ESCORT ship hint to the carriers, depending on how you want them to play.
As for making the mod it's own faction, I personally am a big fan of that idea, as that gives me a lot more opportunity to interact against the ships (and fight against them!). Plus the Federation has a nice style that could be expanded upon. However, you could also double down on making them a special "player only" faction by adding some lore and story to the world, and take advantage of the new story features to make it clear why only the player has access to these ships. You could even add campaign missions where the player has to build up this new fleet. Obviously more work either way, but it would add some nice spice.
And speaking of spice, I have no issues with the idea of "modernizing"/uniqifying the faction a bit via ship systems. Probably could use the tune up, but whatever systems are added should fit the theme of the ships/feel like it fits (for example, I could imagine a system that drastically expands weapon firing arcs so a federation ship could bring it's full arsenal to bare for a short period - though don't know how to explain turret suddenly being able to turn more, ahh minutia). Might add a bit more life into the faction and make it feel more modern, but also isn't necessary. I'll have to play test the ships a bit to see if anything sticks out!