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[Inventor Raccoon]

Secrets of the Frontier a work-in-progress mod that aims to contain both campaign-level content and campaign-level features,
along with connected combat-level features. When fully released, it will contain a significant number of handmade quests.

A prerelease intended for testing is available to download. Individual modules are described below. Each module can be
individually toggled using a .ini in the mod's folder. Note that the prerelease may be subject to odd bugs and issues -
save (using the Save Copy button, ideally) often!

Click the big banner to download. Requires LazyLib AND MagicLib.

All of the current modules in the prerelease can be added midway through a campaign and still function.
Turning off Watcher Beyond the Walls mid-campaign may cause issues.

If you find any bugs, do mention them to me!

Secrets of the Frontier is currently my main modding focus but despite that, a full release is most likely far off. Teasers
may end up posted here.


Modules
Secrets of the Frontier will, on release, be split into several modules that will come as one package and be individually turned on and off. Here's the current list:
Prerelease:
Watcher Beyond The Walls: Adds narrative content including quests and special encounters. Meet an unusual ally. Become friends with a voidwitch.
- Currently features 3 quests/encounters:

Spoiler

- A Promise
- A Memory
- Wayward Star

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Tactical Expansion: Enhances the combat layer of the game.
-Adds two new objective types, the Emplacement Uplink and Hyperwave Transmitter, alongside their Remnant versions.



-Visual enhancements to battlefield backgrounds, including visible jump-points and multiple planets.

-Context-based battle generation. Some aspects of combat such as objectives change depending on where you're fighting.

Frontier Development: Adds a constructable orbital habitat to stable locations that grants a hazard reduction to in-system colonies.
-Can be upgraded into an outpost, which acts as a low-hazard colony but loses the hazard reduction and has a soft-cap on its growth.

Full release:
Watcher Beyond The Walls: More quests and encounters in the frontier.

Screenshots - Spoiler Free
(the first three images are featured in the prerelease, the last two are not)

Spoiler

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Screenshots - Spoilers
(however, they are all heavily censored and some outdated, so chances are you won't get much out of them. Just to show that yes, there's stuff in the works)

Spoiler

... and that's about enough. For more, wait until the mod releases... eventually.

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Changelog:

Spoiler

PRERELEASE 0.12
- Added Version Checker support

- Added a little teaser near the lion's heart
- Added Sierra conversations for people who are bad at budgeting and have questionable choice in literature
- Pledge: Buffed ordnance points 100 > 105
- Concord ships now have built-in Phase Field
- Anomalous Shift now halves shield upkeep while phased, increased speed boost (50% > 75%)
- Expanded description of Sierra's Concord to explain officer mechanic and ship system
- Slightly increased lesser wisp hull points
- Reduced performance impact of dancing ghosts
- Decreased spawn rate of tour guide ghosts
- Added some compatibility with modded scanning abilities (e.g Seeker's enhanced neutrino detector)
- Fixed up Sierra as in-combat officer, reducing jankiness
- Fixed crash when launching without WBTW module

- Battlespace generation will prioritise placing SoTF objectives in the middle of the two fleets
- Automated Ships skill now allows for any spare AI cores in cargo to remotely captain spawned droneships (which also allows player to issue them orders). Some NPC factions can also do this, determined by a new remote_ai_factions.csv in config/fronsec.
- Removed reinforcement objectives from pursuit battles
- Fixed turret/bombardier emplacements having hidden flux bars (despite having shields now)

PRERELEASE ELEVEN / 0.11
- Added "Guilt" stat which increases difficulty when sufficiently accumulated (can be tweaked in settings.json)
- A Memory: made less unreasonably obscure, added SP option to allow 1 phase frigate wingman
- Wayward Star: Added "Suffering Mode", fixed boss kiting like a gremlin instead of ordering a FA when almost defeated, ally fleets now allowed
- Added SFX to wisp spawning
- Adjusted Pledge premounted weapons (starts with a H. Needler, easier A.M. prep)
- Added 1 new Sierra thought
- Sierra is no longer considered "unremovable" to fix some jank (her ship can still only be piloted by her or the player)
- Upgrading from Pledge to Vow now properly gives bonus XP for installed smods
- Fixed Omicron not assisting in murdering smugglers, scavengers and other low-impact indie fleets
- Fixed Omicron's starting relationship being set too low for escort fleet to assist player reliably (one-time fix: rep set to 50 on save load)

- Increased minimum spawn radius for defensive emplacements to reduce cases of them contributing to their own capture

PRERELEASE TEN POINT ONE
- Vow: 140 OP > 150 OP (compensation for fighter bay loss from AE version)
- Concord augments now have purple text and concords have purple borders
- Added guaranteed volatiles to ? ? ?
- Fixed Wispersong AoE improperly rendering
- Fixed wisps holding fire at high flux
- Fixed A.M. crash intel crash in random sector
- Fixed W.S. second-chance derelict spawning on repeat-attempt victory
- Fixed Vow being unscuttleable until loading a save
- Reimplemented W.S. instant-battle-end failsafe

- Gunnery emplacement: increased dissipation 150 > 200, added builtin turret gyros, added omni shield
- Bombardment emplacement: added omni shield, reduced armor/hull 750/7500 > 500/5000, fixed both variants having mines (now 50/50 LRMs/mines split as intended)
- Emplacement name now includes its type: gunnery, hangar or bombardment. This is also displayed in the objective's description
- Fixed pursuit battles spawning the escaping and flanking ships too far down

PRERELEASE TEN
- New sprites for : : : : {thank you, Nes}
- Sierra's ships are no longer considered phase ships, can now be scuttled and stored (yes, scuttling Sierra will halt her questline until you console-command her back)
- Added two hullmods, "Concord - Serenity" and "Concord - Fervor" to replace Adaptive Phase Coils and Phase Anchor respectively
- The existing augment now displays its area of effect in combat, slightly extended range
- Added a short winddown and cooldown (approx. 0.125s with Field Modulation) to Anomalous Shift for smoother visuals
- Reimplemented Edict Stormblaster trails
- Miscellaneous text fixes/changes - better clarity, better flow, better purple
- Added quest compatibility with Nexerelin random core worlds (works mid-campaign)
- Increased difficulty of W.S. encounter (improved enemy officer quality and unique ships' power)
- Fixes for A.M. & W.S. - crash during deployment, being unable to retry after a loss, instant battle ending

- Wasp/Xyphos hangar emplacement replaced with Claw/Longbow (since Xyphos can no longer roam)

PRERELEASE NINE POINT FOUR
- Fixed bugged station interaction

PRERELEASE NINE POINT THREE
- Phase madness now kicks in when in hyperspace and near A.M. encounter
- Anomalous Shift now grants an intrinsic speed boost (+ max value Phase Corps = same as old Phase Mastery), less susceptible to flux
- Fixed "second chance" derelicts spawning as Nebulas
- Fixed A Promise being repeatable (again)
- Improvements to save compatiblility
- Fixed typos

PRERELEASE NINE HOTFIX #2
- Watcher Beyond The Walls is now save-compatible

PRERELEASE NINE HOTFIX #1
- Fixed A Promise being repeatable

PRERELEASE NINE
- Updated to Starsector 0.95.1a

- Partially implemented Watcher Beyond The Walls module:
- Added A Promise
- Added A M    ::::    {data stream corrupted?}
- Added Wayw    S a  ::::  {data stream corrupted! however will they find me?}
- Reminder: individual SoTF modules can be toggled in fronsec_settings.ini

- Sierra (compared to Arsenal Expansion 1.5.4a):
- No longer counts against your officer total
- Fixed jankiness and duping
- Custom Combat Chatter integration
- Has things to say about your accomplishments
- Accepts constructive criticism about her combat style
- Added special conversation
- Increased phase madness to    (was: 0)

- Added Edict Stormblaster

Tactical Expansion:
- Fixed some objective timers running while combat was paused
- Reinforcement drones no longer take up deployment points

PRERELEASE EIGHT
- Updated to Starsector 0.95a
- MagicLib is now a required mod to run Secrets of the Frontier

- Battle objective spawning and emplacement turret variants are now based on mergeable .csv files, allowing for mods to add custom objectives and new turret variants
Also, feel free to go change them yourselves for a personalized objective experience

- Both objective types now grant a bonus to deployment points when captured (slightly less than a nav buoy or sensor array)
- Reinforcement objectives now spawn a new wave after 20 seconds, up from 15 seconds
- Emplacement objectives rework: emplacement no longer spawns on battle start. Emplacement creates a new emplacement on initial capture and after 60 seconds if the old one is destroyed. Emplacements regenerate 0.5% max hull / sec and always have a Gamma Core officer
- Outposts now receive an 10-point reduction to growth at size 4, which doubles for each subsequent size level
- Implemented the full release's additions to the ship name pool

- Emplacements will now resist being pushed out of place (top speed, acceleration and decceleration are no longer set to 0)
- Ship types spawned by objectives will become automatically added to Combat Chatter's no-chatter hull list
- Fixed outpost colonies missing an icon in the colonies list
- Fixed potential crash when a reinforcement objective attempts to spawn a ship from a faction without ships of the desired roles (e.g a mod has deleted the Remnant ship list for some reason)

PRERELEASE SEVEN HOTFIX #2
- Removed context-based derelict ship spawning because it shatters the combat engine into a thousand pieces

PRERELEASE SEVEN HOTFIX
- Fixed combat not ending in battles where the AI cannot retreat (e.g Remnants)
- Fixed a crash when a derelict with no weapon mounts spawns

PRERELEASE SEVEN
- Added context-based derelict ship spawns to combat
- Outpost colonies now change appearance when they have a battlestation constructed
- Reinforcement objectives now draw from Derelict and Remnant faction doctrine, rather than hardcoded variant lists (aka better support for mods)
- Reinforcement ships now immediately drop to 10% CR if they are the only combatants on their side to avoid drawn-out fights
- Emplacements now have a 20% chance to spawn with a level 3-12 officer
- Implemented cut-down fronsec_settings.ini to allow for toggling of SotF modules
- Fixes to reinforcement status messages
- Disabled anti-ship battery emplacement from spawning until it is less hackjobbed

PRERELEASE SIX
- Emplacement capture points will now be removed when the emplacement is destroyed
- When the player has any reinforcement objectives, a status is displayed in the bottom-left showing droneship status or, if applicable, the reinforcement timer
- Disabled Forwardbase Phoenix for new saves

PRERELEASE FIVE
- Added more variants to all existing emplacements
- Added icon for network hub and hyperwave transmitter
- Standard battles use a proper set of potential objective layouts, 6-objective battles now actually have objectives
- Miscellaneous improves and fixes - ship name colors, UI icons, turret facing, emplacement misfiring, etc.
- Reinforcer fixes: fixed counting non-allied objectives for reinforcement cap
- Fixed Forwardbase Phoenix spawning a lot of times
- With the Automatic Orders mod, reinforcement ships no longer auto-retreat

PRERELEASE FOUR
- Emplacements: Added LRM bombardier variant, increased size of standard turret, reduced capture time of emplacements from 10 to 5 seconds, added new icon for emplacement objectives
- Network Hub/Hyperwave Transmitter: now reinforces your fleet with up to one destroyer if you hold more than 1, halved reinforcement respawn delay
- Increased hazard reduction of makeshift habitats from 5% to 10%
- Forwardbase Phoenix's spawn system has all tags cleared (to avoid missions/pirate bases locating there), forwardbase no longer spawns in unpopulated core worlds systems
- Fixed ID mismatches for remnant network hub

PRERELEASE THREE
- Updated battle creation with code from Starsector Plus/Nexerelin: More varied battlefield size, changes to objective numbers, jumppoints/multiple planets in backgrounds, etc
- Added new defensive emplacement: Bombardier, current variant fires anti-ship batteries at nearby ships
- Hangars: added more variants to ruins hangar, normalized hangars to have integrated targeting unit, fighters no longer suffer debuffs from defective manufactory, labelled normally-manned fighters as drones
- Normalized defensive emplacement hull/armor at 7500/750
- Devastator turret: greatly increased range, more consistent shell explosions, no friendly fire
- Defensive emplacements are set as allies when on player's side (yellow rather than green)
- Removed flux bar from emplacements
- Fixed enemy emplacements not launching fighters (for both types, this time)
- Fixed Forwardbase Phoenix respawning after being destroyed

PRERELEASE TWO
- Gauss turret now has advanced turret gyros
- Fixed outposts starting with no spaceport and locked storage
- Fixed ID mismatch for Devastator turret
- Fixed turret beam weapons being able to turn while the turret is inactive
- Fixed enemy turrets not launching fighters
- Fixed typo in habitat description

PRERELEASE ONE
Features:
- Campaign event: Forwardbase Phoenix
- Campaign feature: Orbital habitats, upgradeable into outpost colonies
- Campaign feature: New battle objectives: Defensive emplacement, reinforcer
- Context-based battle objectives (e.g special objectives in systems with survey derelicts)

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Credits
- Alex, David and Stian, duh
- Inventor Racccoon (me), for everything not done by someone else mentioned here
- Dark.Revenant for some bits of the battle creation plugin for cosmetics and battlefield sizes
- Nes for sprite work
- Estudio Cafofo for music
- Gwyvern for sprite work currently not featured in the prerelease

For Modders - Tactical Expansion mod support

Spoiler

Secrets of the Frontier's Tactical Expansion module now supports additions from other mods. At present, this means 3 things:
- Mods can add new objective spawns to SotF battle objective spawning. This can be used either to cause objectives to spawn due to specific system themes, or to spawn their own custom objectives.
- Mods can add new ship variants to the lists used by SotF's emplacement objective
- Mods can add factions to the list that will employ remote AI core captains when they receive droneship reinforcements from battle objectives (akin to a player with the Automated Ships skill)

All mod compatibility is handled by several mergeable .csv files, located at data/config/fronsec and employed by the mod itself for its standard behavior. There's a modder_instructions.txt file included, which explains each spreadsheet's function and the requirements/effects of each column in detail.

[close]

[SCC]

Space stations are a nice stopgap between nothing and full fledged colonies. I wish the base game also did something like that.
The battle objectives are, in my opinion, the best part about this mod, mainly because they make passable and boring part of combat into meaningful and fun one! You can't really ignore objectives when they are shooting gauss slugs at you.

[Thaago]

This looks extremely nice!

How much of a pain was it to write the quests btw? I think there is a huge opportunity for them this version, but not many modders have released them yet.

[Inventor Raccoon]

This looks extremely nice!

How much of a pain was it to write the quests btw? I think there is a huge opportunity for them this version, but not many modders have released them yet.

All the potential is there, it's just that it's a bit tedious to do, which I think is what puts people off. Lots of rules.csv, java code and rigorous testing. It's getting a bit easier with experience, and I'm experimenting with more complicated quest design as I go (a good reason why this mod will not be released half-finished, excluding prereleases for general features)

[Sarissofoi]

Sounds promising.

[ActuallyUlysses]

Eagerly waiting for full release. Looks like something that will end up on my default mod list!

[Nostra]

This looks extremely nice!

How much of a pain was it to write the quests btw? I think there is a huge opportunity for them this version, but not many modders have released them yet.

All the potential is there, it's just that it's a bit tedious to do, which I think is what puts people off. Lots of rules.csv, java code and rigorous testing. It's getting a bit easier with experience, and I'm experimenting with more complicated quest design as I go (a good reason why this mod will not be released half-finished, excluding prereleases for general features)

I saw that there is a mission editor on the forums, does that not make it easy to add new quests?

I noticed the lack of missions in the mod section and thought that that might be something I could contribute, would you be up for a collaboration? I got the impression that you intend to add more than a few missions with this mod and I'd love to help with that.

[Hrothgar]

I have question about Frontier missions. We know one "Promise", but 3 others are new or were incorporated in other mods?

[SCC]

These quests aren't publicly released yet, as Secrets of the Frontier is just a test of mechanics. Promise is included in current version of Arsenal Expansion and it will be changed only after Secrets of the Frontier's proper content gets released.

[Inventor Raccoon]

I saw that there is a mission editor on the forums, does that not make it easy to add new quests?

The mission editor is for the missions you access via the main menu (the one-off battles). There was talk of a tool to help quest creation but as far as I'm aware nothing has been done on that, so everything is just made "by hand", so to speak.

I noticed the lack of missions in the mod section and thought that that might be something I could contribute, would you be up for a collaboration? I got the impression that you intend to add more than a few missions with this mod and I'd love to help with that.

I appreciate the sentiment but at the moment I'm not looking to collaborate on this mod except for small bits of code and for art.

[Inventor Raccoon]

Hi, everyone. Wow, it's been four months since I started this post. Progress on Secrets of the Frontier has been... well, slow. But here are some updates for people who don't see my dev progress on the Discord server:

• Secrets of the Frontier's second quest has been overhauled. Several regular fights have become one do-or-die moment - and importantly, it is a semi-scripted combat encounter that is unique to anything Starsector (or any other mod I've seen) offers - using a different set of rules and making use of once-off battle objectives to deliver a once-in-a-campaign fight. It's also incredibly punishing. I'm, uh, working on the balance. The current version has completely wiped most of my test fleets.
• I've updated the prerelease with improvements to battle objectives. Emplacement control points now disappear when the emplacement is destroyed, and reinforcement objectives now tell you if the timer is ticking, or if it's waiting for some fodder to die before starting again. You can download the new version through the banner in the main post. I also stripped out Forwardbase Phoenix, since I think it might be a bit obstructive, and it's been adequately tested.
• Changes in scope: Boarding actions against random derelicts will probably not be a general campaign feature. Scripted boarding sequences will absolutely still be a thing.
• Story. I added a "conversation" function to the intel menu, to talk with a certain character you can travel with. I have plans to include extra dialogue options based on what you've seen and done during your campaign - I should probably get on that next.
• When Is It Releasing? Most likely some time after the next Starsector update (so, uh, quite a while off) - there's stuff in there that I would really like to make use of (like the new raid systems, or Story Points) or see pan out (like all the wacky stuff on Alex's twitter), and I would much rather not release Secrets of the Frontier in a state that has to be overhauled within the year. Sorry for the wait.

I'm sure I've bored you to tears with that, so here's some images patched together from the new(ish) quest.
Spoilers. Kinda.

Spoiler

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[Agalyon]

Just wanted to drop in and say everything looks really cool so far. I really enjoy the feeling and atmosphere of promise, and im happy to see some more scripted and handmade quests that really feel unique, like your description of the second one is shaping it up to be.

[ActuallyUlysses]

Will all features of this mod work when added to existing save?

[Inventor Raccoon]

The prerelease is savegame-compatible.

[Chewzie]

Is this\would this be compatible with Nexerelin?