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[Jojo_195]

Let's pitch ideas for a cosmic horror mod that may or may not be made ever. Interesting mechanics (wether they are feasible right now or not) are welcome, especially campaign/non-combat related.

1. The further away from the core systems, the higher the chance for something to spawn/happen
2. Some classic H.P.L. monsters like the Mii-go or Elder Things could make an appearance
3. Some of the ships/monsters could have some interesting abilities to simulate messing with your mind, like making you see ships and missiles where there are none, displaying allies as enemies and enemies as allies, etc
4. Depending on how you play, you could play an entire campaign without seeing anything too weird
5. Some mysterious cult factions that make their homes on the fringes of civilization
6. An option for the "darkness" to grow during the campaign until you either beat it back (maybe through some quests) or it engulfs everything. Inspired by those flood-like aliens from Pulsar: Lost Colony
7. IBB-like quests where you have to stop a group of cultists before they summon something
8. A faction that can give you these quests and others related to the mod.
9. Ship/Monster that is either engulfed by fog, making it hard to know its exact position, or liquid-like and constantly changing form. Inspired by those ships from the Rakka short movie by Blomkamp.
10. [Unspeakable horrors]

[Ahne]

I like the idea of fighting horros in the deep of space. Cool mechanical ideas. My mod even mentioned a "faction", the Dokkalfar-cult (doom-preacher-sect) who tried to destroy the NGO and who fled the system, remain unknown.

Though it wasnt intended that they have connections to the HP lore world or alike but more the knowledge about some ancient alien race and artifacts connected to the chaos warp (similar to warhammer 40k), the similaritiy to the ideas are high, gave me chills.

I even had already created a Faction logo for the Dokkalfar Cult but never really began with them, last thought was to make them hightech pirates similar to templar but never happend because cabal was introduced into the mod world with also violet style and hightech pirates.

This was my Dokkalfar Cult -logo

Spoiler

[close]

But who knows maybe they can be find in the edges of the sector? No kidding not yet.

greetings
Ahne

[Protonus]

Hightech pirates similar to templar but never happend because cabal was introduced into the mod world with also violet style and hightech pirates.

But who knows maybe they can be find in the edges of the sector? No kidding not yet.

Maybe the ones who would hand out cookies. Or worse?


Joking aside.

A random monster generation that is dedicated to punish those who remain in hyperspace for too long, something to hunt other than engaging faction-size fleets/ships for endgame (a la Monster-Hunter style) or simply "ship-eating monsters out of nowhere" in Starsector would be very appreciated.

[King Alfonzo]

The Seeker Mod by Tart kind of does some things like that, and I know that there is a bio-alien faction in the works, as well as biomechanoids.

However, i had an idea for three factions that I probably won't be able to get around to.

1) The Jellyfish faction

It's essentially jellyfish alien monsters that spawn from random planets in uninhabited systems and don't do much other than float around and not do much, with some aggressive ones that target random shipping. Idea is like there's a 'passive' faction that won't attack until you do, and one that will ALWAYS attack you. Killing them drops Monster Bits, which is very similar to AI cores. They use burst beam weaponry, as well as using tentacles to attack (a la the Angel of Might from Evangelion Rebuild) along with swarming fighters. No shields, but regen armour and hull.

2) The Geometry Faction

Alien monster faction (again), except it's geometry. So there's a circle one that shoots antimatter shots, a triangle one that shoots beams from it's corners, a square one that is hard to kill, a pentagon one, etc. However, they have alternate forms - the circle one folds into itself and phases, the triangle one turns into a fracal - and shoots from it's corners, the square one folds open and unleashes a hellish beam attack but also becomes vulnerable (Ramiel from Evangelion Rebuild), and the pentagon one sort of flips into itself and does an AOE attack that wipes out fighters, missiles and deals a sledge of damage to anything too close to it. They float around hyperspace, and are more common near the edges of the map. Drop hyperspace Bits that also work like AI cores.

3) the Cthulhu Faction

The idea is this: A boss faction where the ships have no weapons, instead using drones with shields and guns on them. The ships phase, but the weapon drones don't. The ships buck out of phase when all the drones are killed, and remains out of phase until all the drone weapons are rebuilt, before phasing again. Also has infinite CR. Ships look suitably biomechanically alien, like sealife crossed with Giger. Definitely boss faction, but shows up when the player reaches near the edge of the map.

[YuiTheModder]

I would love to see this made, it feels like a lovely addition to the soon-to-be completed Seeker mod!

[Mr. Nobody]

I'm not exactly sure if it would fit.
First AFAIK the lore of Starsector says that the colonist's never had to deal with any alien more advanced than the local fauna. No ayyrmadas of flying saucers, at worst the local equivalent of a grizzly.
The concept could be reworked as a Remnant (or domain-era) AI that got a little more bonkers than normal and started aggressively exploring new avenues of science, the "Geometry Faction" would be a good candidate, maybe the Biological one too but it's a little more contrived to work with since it's a bit overused in fiction (plus Ramiel=Best Angel, fite me).

Having literally Cthulhu appearing in front of your ships doesn't fit too much. Though it can still be worked with as long as it's not too derivative (thus breaking immersion). This implies making whatever is the Cthulhu/Yog-Sothoth equivalent a truly alien thing, and i mean it, the player should NOT go into combat and think "oh, it's just everyone's favorite alien squidhead" but more "what the hell is that?" and, after combat "WHAT the crispy HELL was THAT?".
So stuff like interface screwing, inexplicable movements, radar going all over the place (ie: make a plugin for Common Radar & co.), just throw the notion of "it's just a weird enemy ship with such and such ship systems" to the wind.

[etherealblade]

Well I love all of this. I believe however it was mentioned that the seeker mod is still a long ways off.
As always.... It sure is nice to dream.

[cjuicy]

but more "what the hell is that?" and, after combat "WHAT the crispy HELL was THAT?".
So stuff like interface screwing, inexplicable movements, radar going all over the place (ie: make a plugin for Common Radar & co.), just throw the notion of "it's just a weird enemy ship with such and such ship systems" to the wind.

I'd go a bit further and add distortions to the actual battle screen and physics. Make bullet paths curve, missiles suddenly implode, fighters start spinning in circles.
Or perhaps go the route of a "Glitch". Might work better with the geometry faction, adding odd graphical anomalies and matrix-esque lines of code appear. Have "Daisy Bell" play in the background as the screen dims red.

[Mr. Nobody]

Might be a good idea for the Geometry faction, though there should be a difference between the Geometry proper and the "strange thing from outer dimensions", namely that the former effects should resemble more a advanced form of EWAR (interface/weapons screw) while the latter are more of a "either reality is breaking down or it's reality is leaking into our own" (battlefield screw)

[xenoargh]

In terms of "fitting the backstory"... I think it's fair to say that just because the only Aliens humans ever met are a distant myth (iirc, that's still Canon)... there's plenty of room for Cosmic Horrors to show up, crazy genetically-engineered humans who no longer look like regular people, etc., etc.

I think that the idea that there can't be "anything out there" because it breaks Canon is pretty abhorant, personally; it's a mod, the creator's having fun, we shouldn't be too judgmental

[King Alfonzo]

People don't necessarily want aliens in the game because they're canon-compliant. They want aliens in the game because they want aliens in the game.

[banano of doom]

aslo the fact that humans hav not met aliens in the past does not mean that humans wil not meet aliens in the future. or that those who met have not lived  to tell the tale. remember Dead space or Alien.

[Drokkath]

The Universe is vast with enough space to have almost infinite variables of sentient life. Why SS doesn't have aliens is something that rubs me the wrong way as even a galaxy is big enough for various amounts of life to evolve. This humans-only trope is BS to me (hence why I consider it a 100% trope) and it's why I play SS as a sentient alien life form to smash the BS with a proverbial sledgehammer made of many dwarf stars.

[Mr. Nobody]

Because a alien threat is reason for the faction to unite as they would otherwise be reduced to soylent green in the best case scenario (since if the ayys are not hostile and instead helpful... WHELP! There go 90% of the reason the sector is in the sorry state it is.).
And since part of the whole thing of SS is not a "humanity vs ayy lmao" but rather "a-holes of side A vs a-holes of side B vs a-holes of side C vs...", it kinda breaks the whole setting. Think of it like Dead Rising (or DayZ), zombies aren't the big threat but rather the Psychopaths/other players (ie: psychopaths). The "external" threat in this case is more of a backdrop that gives a reason for why douchebaggery is running wild and rampant. Same for the Collapse in SS, it serves a reason for why everyone is at each other throat, no more direct authority from the Domain=>Everyone wants to be king of the hill

[FreedomFighter]

I'm cash in for warp demonic creatures from WH40k but idk if i want to experience those thing by myself. Hyperspace travel in 40k is 11/10 scale of danger in there.