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[Dazs]

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Requires
Nexerelin, LazyLib, MagicLib

New game required to have them appear in the sector

Hiver Swarm is a non player enemy AI faction designed to be aggressive invaders and can colonize systems. An insectoid race that uses high tech cybernetics to grow their living ships. Their home world is found in deep space and their relations range from inhospitable to hostile for all factions. Their exclusive living hull designs (seen below) allow them to regenerate their hulls in combat and to be tougher made than the average factions' making them a challenge to fight. They use custom made drones, energy pulse weapons and missiles (also seen below) but have been known to use captured Corvus ships. They are vengeful toward the player and will become hostile on sight, you have been warned.

Peek here for ship and weapon sprites

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Peek here for a side by side image of the optional ship replacements found in the imbedded RAR

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Peek here for spoilers on their tactics - no really, do not read unless you do not want to figuring out how to face them yourself

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Hiver ships are high tech in nature with good shields, heavy armor and regenerating hulls. Their weapons do general damage with no bonuses to shields armor or hull but they swarm targets and the accumulative damage makes short work of weaker or lone enemies. Their smaller ships regenerate much faster than the larger ones and will wolfpack until they take about half damage then fly away to self repair while the larger ships keep you occupied. Also, their fleets will swarm if you attack a fleet in their sector and there is another fleet nearby. Approach fighting them tactically with a fleet that can handle these threats. I do not recommend you stick around for too long, take your salvage and run to come back repaired.

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Why oh why?

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My inspiration for this mod started when I was selecting ships for my faction mod, Junk Yard Dogs and came across these great sprites on Spiral Arms II. I was originally going to make them a sub-feature in JYD with a mini lore of them being found derelict ships from an unknown race while mining in deep space. The more I spent refining that mod, which led to time spent on my second mod Ore Refinery, the idea laid on the scrap floor. Well I am also a huge fan of Kerebos production's Sword of the Stars game series and it hit me to make them an enemy faction based on the Hiver faction in that game. Their lore and ship setups are loosely based on those Hivers but this is a Starsector version confined to the rules here (sorry no gate tech).

I made the mod nonplayer because the ships are overpowered compared to standard. They are not as difficult as Remnant Ordo fleets but a mid game challenge for sure. Their ships are capturable but I did set a chance for them to shatter. I do have the bare bones structure to make them playable still in the mod so I could test them so if you really want to you could fiddle and make it playable but that is not in the scope of my release idea.

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Instructions to make them a playable faction

Spoiler

As stated earlier by default the Hiver faction is unplayable but if you follow these steps you will be able to play as a Hiver with a fully functional market. You will be on good standing with the Hivers however the faction itself will remain enemies with all other factions. As the player you will have some factions that are neutral to favorable as well as several enemies. Each step is modular and it is up to you what level of functionality you would like. For example. if you just want to flag them as playable so they show up on random core world mode but want them still hidden on the intel tab and don't care for the portraits being used then just enable the first change.

First off, use Notepad++ or a java complier. If you make changes with standard notepad or some other editor it may mess with the Java code.

From the mods tab in you Starsector folder go to Hiver Swarm\data\config\exerelinfactionConfig\HIVER.json and open it with your editor. Navigate to line 3 "startingFaction":false and set it to true, and save. Now go to Hiver Swarm\data\campaign and open rules.csv and delete lines 27-31 see below spoiler for the lines to delete if you are unsure:

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hiver_cmsn_askForCommissionOpt_disable,PopulateOptions,"$isPerson
Nex_Commission personCanGiveCommission
!Nex_Commission hasFactionCommission
$faction.id == HIVER","SetEnabled cmsn_askCommission false
SetTooltip cmsn_askCommission ""The Hivers do not take in outsiders.""",,,

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To enable the Hiver faction to show on the intel tab: Go to Hiver Swarm\data\world\factions\HIVER.faction and open it with your editor on line 14 you will see "showInIntelTab":false,  change the false, to true, and save the file.

Lastly to enable the Hiver playable portraits shown below when you make a new character: Go to Hiver Swarm\data\world\factions\ - now the tricky part, you will see a file named xxplayer.faction - rename that to player.faction - Sorry to make it so difficult

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Credits

Spoiler

Alex for making this wonderful game!
Dandilion, Tecris, Xenoargh, HELMUT and Protonus for allowing dreamers with no art skill to use these sprites on Spiral Arms. (which I shamelessly bashed and re-colored for a consistent look)
Portraits used for the Hivers in game are from SWOTS, permission was given to non-profit fan made mods for that game.
Vayra for her modding tutorial that helped so much as well as the guide makers on discord.
The MutableShipStatsAPI page (Alex again I assume) giving me the inspiration to use getHullRepairRatePercentPerSecond on the Hiver ships.
Ty to the Beta Testers / Suggesters: 6chad.noirlee9, Deageon, Arthur_The_Ok, MapleDaddy__ TTV, grinningsphinx
Trylobot and Deathfly for the ship and weapon editor that allows a clueless ape like me to code.

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If you enjoy my content, please consider buying me a coffee to keep me going! on Ko-Fi!

Current Changelog

0.97 - Save Compatible with 0.96 however, The Rizdet system change will only take effect on a new game start
   -Moved the Rizdet star system to be clustered with the other two Hiver systems - due to the aggression fixes in the last patch it no longer needs to be so far away
   -Increased the flux per shot of every Hiver energy weapon by 10% - Ty derrzzedd for making the case their weapons were a bit too OP
   -Decreased the ammo count of the Istkrrtc-type Hive by 3 and the Xrrymm-type Hive by 4 - A needed fix for their damage
   -Reduced the speed of the Beetle, Carabidae, Queen, Emperor, and Lucanidae by 10% - These are the larger tankier Hiver ships that with their armor needed a little nerf
   -Added hostile flags for Iron Shell and HMI - TY gufiu for noticing those two factions were too close to neutral
   -Changed the percentage of hull that the BIO Hull mod kicks in from 90 to 95% - Will kick in faster and repair more

   

Past Changelogs

Spoiler

0.96 -Save compatible with V 0.95 -If you have them set to be playable revisit the instructions on the forum OP - I recommend a new game start to take advantage of all changes 
   -Added a "Buy me a Coffee" tip link to Ko-Fi on the forum OP - By no means do I expect anyone to use it but it was requested by travhill20      
   -Added some lines to the code to better integrate Hivers in the picking of colony fleets in NEX
   -Added some code to better interact with NEX so that Hivers are more aggressive in invading the sector (you have been warned) - Ty so much Histidine for all your help!
   -Added new custom greetings when a player encounters a Hiver fleet or attempts to interact with a Hiver planet
   -Increased the range of the Krrakt Thermionic Hyper-Exiter PD from 350 to 400 - minor range increase to make it more competitive
   -Increase the speed of the Istkrrtc-type Hive from 225 to 325 - Allows it a better chance of reaching it's target
   -Increased the armor of the Scorpifly heavy drone from 325 to 450 - With it being unshielded this change will allow it to survive a little longer vs PD weapons
   -Added the Cerambycidae to the Hiver blueprint - Was incorrectly added to the high tech bp by mistake
   -Removed entries in unused columns on the ship hulls - Just removing some bloat that I though was needed when I started the project
   -Removed the nanoforge from each instance of light industry on Hiver planets - Learned that it was unneeded when fixing JYD so another small bloat removal
   -Changed the instructions on the forum OP on how to make the Hiver faction playable - The code changes made the previous way obsolete

0.95 Save Game compatible with version 0.9
   -Replaced the Hiver crest graphic with a better quality one
   -Received some requests to add more Hiver ship graphics to the alternate ship pack so I made replacements for the Aphid, Chrysopidae, Lacewing, and Lucanidae
   -Replaced the ship sprite for the Cleridae freighter with a cleaner version - Same graphic just less saturated
   -Replaced the ship sprite for the Viridula tanker with a less blurry version - Darker tint with some minor changes
   -Added a new Super Freighter to the Hiver lineup, the Chalcosoma - With the new colony added in 0.9 I felt they needed a large well defended freighter for their long distance trade fleets
   -Added a new Super Tanker to the Hiver lineup, the Cerambycidae - Same reason as above but for fuel
   -Added a new small energy weapon to the Hiver lineup, the Krrakt Thermionic Exiter and gave it a custom shot
      -Based of the vanilla IR pulse laser but does 10 more damage per shot, has a longer range of 700, a higher energy per shot of 70 and an additional chargedown of 0.1
   -Replaced every vanilla IR pulse laser equipped on all Hiver ship variants with the new Krrakt Thermionic Exiter
   -Changed the projectile of the Krrakt Thermionic Hyper-Exiter PD to the new custom shot I made for the Krrakt Thermionic Exiter
   -Added a glow effect to the Krrakt Thermionic Hyper-Exiter PD   
   -Added a turret image and glow effect to the Krrakt Thermionic Hyper-Exiter PD - The base image was a bit too large for a turret mount
   -Added a glow effect to the Svrerresh Bio-Plasmic Launcher and gave it a custom shot - Previously used the vanilla pulse laser shot
   -Added a glow effect to the Sverrtrrsx Bio-Plasmic Caster
   -Added a glow effect to the Xhezek Thermionic Sling - seeing a pattern here yet
   -Fixed and error in the Hiver weapons to prioritize - Added a missing entry for the Ezkepren-type Hive torpedo
   -Added turret mount images to the Deathfly and sharpened it up a little, also added missing Biological Hull mod - Just cleaning it up a little and noticed the missing hull mod
   -Added turret mount images to the Princess and sharpened it up, also added two missing small weapons on the variant
   -Fixed and error with the Scarabaeus not being added to the Hiver medium blueprint
   -Added the four new replacement ship sprites to the side by side comparison image on the forum OP
   -Re-made the ship sprite image on forum OP - replaced the above changed images and added the two new logistics ships(bottom of the image)- The old image was being cropped on smaller monitors
   -Added a Hiver emoji to the SS discord, you can now show your love Hiver style - Ty to Timid for suggesting it and Avanitia for adding it!

v0.9 - Save Game compatible however I recommend a new game since the new system requires a new game start to appear - Also, if you currently have any of the ships listed below in your save game fleet, you may need to refit them
   -Increased the % that the Biological Hullmod will kick in from 75% to 90% - Received some feedback that it needed a tweak
   -Added a new Hiver system; Rizdet is located on the map at the diametrical opposite of the other Hiver systems which should force Hiver fleets to travel the map to reach each other but still far away from normal traffic
   -Added yet more code flags to make Hivers aggressively hostile - An ongoing process that I am sure I'll nail down eventually
   -Increased the supply use and deployment points of the cruisers Prince, Catcher and Eyes from 15 to 20 - Brings them in line with other cruisers
   -Changed the loadout of the Scarab by removing it's offensive missile mounts and replacing them with more small turrets for defense - it is a freighter after all   
   -Increased the OP and the flux on the Eyes phase cruiser and added a second medium turret to bring it more in line with similar ships
   -Added a new logistics cruiser, the Ceruchus is well defended with PD mounts and equipped with a salvage & survey suite - Their fleet lacked these logistics - Essentially a heavy Apogee
   -Added a new destroyer, the Scarabaeus is primarily an energy weapon powerhouse for it's size - Essentially a beefier Sunder - The Hiver midweight class was lacking 
   -Updated the sprite for the Emperor - Same graphic just less saturated
   -Replaced the sprite of the Twinblaster weapon - the previous sprite was a blurry mess
   -Updated the sprite for the Twinpd weapon - Same graphic, just darkened a little    
   -Replaced the graphic used for the Scarab - Replacing one of my early blown up blurry messes, I swear I'll get them all eventually
   -The above graphic changes and additions are reflected on the Forum OP picture
   -Added a secondary RAR file to the download called "Replacement Ships.rar" that when extracted over the base mod will replace 11 pixel and data files for the biological looking ships (see below)
      -This is a request I have received from several players and the number one complaint regarding the "bug" sprites that I see on discord
      -The added RAR makes no other changes to the mod and can be ignored if you want to keep the original sprites
      -The replaced ships are the Beetle, Calopteryx, Crabby, Eyes, Flyter, Moth, Prince, Scorpifly, Snipper, Swimmer and the Viridula - Added a graphic to the mod main page showing the side by side differences
      -To enable all these changes, first install the base mod then open the "Replacement Ships.rar" (found in the Hiver Swarm base folder) and extract to your mod folder (same as any other mod)and accept overwritten files
      -To replace only some of the old sprites then install the mod as above but extract the "Replacement Ships.rar" to a dummy folder. Select the files for hull, variant and ship graphic you want and drag these to your HIVER folder and overwrite
      -To revert back to the original sprites, delete the HIVER mod from your mod folder and extract the base Hiver RAR to your mod folder. You can ignore or delete the Replacement Ships.rar file

v0.85a - Save Compatible from 0.85
   -Raised the break point of all Hiver ships to 60% for the smaller up to 90% for the larger to make them less recoverable
   -Raised the base cost of all Hiver assets by ~25% to make them more of a prize and more expensive to rebuild- TY vcuaoiwk for this and the above idea idea
   -A code update to fix a compatibility crash when using Linux - TY Phantasia for brining this to my attention   

v0.85 - 0.8 Save Compatible however most changes require a new sector generation and will only take effect on a new game
   -Tagged all Hiver ships to no longer be able to be spit out by the machine god during an Industrial Evolution sacrifice event - Big thanks to SirHartly for adding a tag to allow this - will take effect on the next Indi Evo update
   -Reviewed every major modded faction config and set Hivers to a higher percentage to be picked for colony evaluation - Best I can do to force them to be picked other than writing my own custom colony code (sadly way beyond my abilities)
   -Increased the distance Hiver fleets can travel to find a colony planet - Should cover the map
   -Installed Alpha Cores to run all Hiver Star Fortresses - Being a high tech civilization it is on brand plus it gives their planetary defense a little more teeth
   -Tweaked the Hiver planets to produce more fuel - Fuel was a limiting factor in their production of ships and fleets, this will hopefully increase their Invasion and Colony fleets in campaign mode
   -Increased the Hiver invasion chance a little to spur their growth
   -Increased the size of Hiver invasion and vengeance fleets - Makes them more of a threat
   -Added the tag that if the Hivers are used in Random mode they will get a bonus Orbital Works and Fuel production to give them a decent start in that mode 
   -Fixed an issue with the Zesketet background image causing a crash. - Essentially I changed the name of the sector but not the image - Ty to Omega_DarkPotato for the crash report

v0.8
   -Added Version Checker integration
   -Renamed Homehive to a Hiver name - Will only effect new games since SS only assigns system names at game creation
   -Hiver ships are no longer searchable in the codex - TY gentulf for this and the above suggestions
   -Added a Industrial Evolution black list making HIVER assets not available at the requisitions center industry
   -Added a Blacklist to exclude all Hiver ships, weapons and wings from SCY's Amity's Freeport discount trader
   -Added the ability for all Hiver missiles to be immune to Diable Avionics' Derecho ECM system - see below
   -Added the ability for all Hiver missiles to be immune to Arma Armatura's Karma hacking - I feel that Hiver weapons are too alien to be effected by these two mod's abilities
   -Changed Hiver relationship status to all from Hostile to Vengeful - enter their systems at your own risk!
   -Changed the ship system of the Queen to Targeting Feed  -More in line with the Queen being a back line command ship
   -Changed the ship system of the Calopteryx to Recall device - More in line with the Calopteryx being a highly mobile strike carrier  - TY to grinningsphinx for this and the above suggestions
   -Changed the weapon type of the Calopteryx from energy to synergy and added Expanded missile racks as a built in mod. Also reset the Standard refit to reflect these changes - Gives it more flexibility
   -Changed all ship weapon mounts from hidden to shown (Turret & Hardpoint). TY Namesarethings for brining this discord discussion to my attention and guiding my research into the topic
      Did this for three reasons:
      1) As hidden mounts they could not be disabled which made them a little too hard to overcome
      2) By converting some of the hidden mounts to hardpoints they gained the benefit of having lower recoil
      3) What self respecting cyborg wouldn't want to show off it's shiny?
   
v0.75
   -Added a blacklist for the Hivers that exempts the Hivers adjusting reputation if a player uses the Ruthless Sector mod
   -Added more AI tags to the faction ID that limit their chances of showing up on missions
   -Added all their weapons and ships to a blacklist preventing them from showing up at the Prism Freeport
   -Added HIVER to a faction blacklist preventing them from interacting with Varya Bounties
   -Configured all options for HIVER to flag false under the conditions for bar events when a player has the Starship Legends mod

v07a - quick hot fix - 0.7 save game compatible
   -Re-drew the boundaries on all Hiver hulls - Read a comment on discord that if player owned Hiver ships with hidden weapon mounts are equipped with non-Hiver weapons there is a small chance it may go out of bounds and cause a crash.

v0.7 Save Game Compatible - New game start needed for rep level changes see below
   -Lowered the starting and max possible relationship with Hivers to Vengeful - Essentially they hate you personally now and will do so to perpetuity - **This will only take effect on new game starts**
      Reason: Read a couple comments of players "working the system" and making them trade partners which is very op since their economy is very strong and not on brand
   -After some testing I decided to increase the dps of the Twin Blaster from 300 to 600 and energy per shot from 95 to 85 - it is essentially two medium pulse lasses (300 dmg and 40 energy) on a large mount
   -After some consultation with Histidine, I increased the range that Hivers will look for colony planets - This will help but overall it is a matter of how many faction mods installed that determines colony change %
   -Upgraded the Hornet's ground support to advanced groud support - ty to grinningsphinx for the suggestion
   -Increased the break probability of all the unarmored living ship variety of Hiver (Calopteryx, Crabby, Eyes, Moth, Prince, Snipper) to make them less recoverable
   -Removed the above list from the Industrial Evolution whitelist which disables them from being reverse engineered
   -Lowered the deployment points of the Emperor from 90 to 70 -It's dps was lowered by fixing the OP error on the Twin Blaster so it seems more balanced
   -Added a new torpedo weapon- grinningsphinx pointed out that the Hiver bomber was underpowered with the MIRV plus they lacked a torpedo so voila here it is!
   -Replaced the MIRV with the new torpedo on the Gnawler bomber drone and reduced the wing count from 2 to 1
   -Increased the EMP damage on the two plasma weapons - 100 to 125 and 200 to 250 respectively
   -Swapped out missile mounts on some of the ship variants with the new torpedo mount
   -Renamed all Hiver weapons and added custom description as wrote by grinningsphinx - At this point thank you just does not seem enough for all his efforts for this mod but TY just the same    
   
v0.6
   -Changed the faction colony behavior based on feedback. They will now look for standard colony planets instead of industrial and I increased their chance to send a fleet from 1 to 1.5 -let me know if you see a difference
   -After reading numerous discord comments about the Twin Blaster being overpowered, I looked over the code and realized I made a typo and fixed it
      The charge up and charge down were set to 0.05 instead of 0.5. I intended it to be 300 dps not 3000, my bad
   -Changed the graphics of the two beetle ships adapting Protonus's designs after receiving a private messages that they were too disturbing and reading discord comments that they were too different from the other ships
      FYI: the Emperor is also a Prontus adaptation so he's not so lonely now
   -The Cleridae has been redesigned from a frigate to a destroyer and to not only be a tug for the Hivers but also a good small pd ship which they lacked and is now armed with 7 pd mounts and 1 small missile
   -Added 2 small hard point missile mounts to the Scarab giving it a bit more teeth
   -Replaced the graphics of the two beetle ships with the new ones on the picture posed in the OP
   -Fixed some code and naming left over from when the Hivers were part of my JYD mod
   -Took a posted suggestion from Tipnick on my JYD mod and going forward the mod tab and RAR updates will have version numbers
   -Added text descriptions to all the Hiver weapons, ships and drones. Not my best work but I banged it out this morning for this patch, I'll probably update them later - Feel free to give me suggestions!
      At least there is no more lazy boilerplate "Very little is known about Hiver ships. They are bio-cybernetic in nature featuring high tech weapons and living heavy armor."
   
v0.55 oopise edition
   -Quick hotfix:
      Essentially I accidentally assigned JYD SRM missiles instead of HIVER MIRV missiles on the new Scorpifly drone (fixed) and it you do not have JYD installed it would kick a fit - ty Futanagatari!   
v0.5
   -Added a new heavy drone - the Scorpifly is a heavily armored drone equipped with 2 MIRV missile launchers, 1 Spitter and 1 Twin PD - TY grinningsphinx for the collaboration and great name!
   -Added a new large Drone Tender - the Lucanidae is heavily armed and comes pre equipped with 6 drones including 2 of the new Scorpifly Heavy Drone - you have been warned
   -Fixed the AI tags for the HIVER wings, they should fight more intelligently now
   -Added 2 new ships that fill in missing utility ships for people who play as HIVERS:
      small tanker - the Viridula  - I'm pretty happy with the kitbash, hope you like it
      small combat freighter - the Silverfish - a beefier analogue of the hound but high tech with weak shields
   -Increased the fuel capacity of the Swimmer to 1400 and designated it as a medium/large tanker
   -Increased the range of the Spitter from 750 to 800
   -Added a Cryosanctum to Chozanti to supply Harvested Organs to the Hivers
   -Removed Harvested Organs from illegal wares and added Hand Weapons - They do not have hands after all
   -Increased the % that the Biological Hull hull Mod kicks in from 50% to 75% - Ty grinningsphinx for that last minute callout
   -Added the Biological Hull hull mod to all HIVER fighters and drones - sort of of an oversight I fixed when I was tinkering with it
   -Added images of the three new ships and the new heavy drone to the op link

V0.45
   -Reworked the HIVER economy to be less cheatery by limiting industries to standard and adding an additional settled planet to each system to compensate - TY MapleDaddy__ TTV for the suggestion.
   -Added new patrol fleets to each HIVER system to cover some blind spots
   -Added a mine laying system to the Beetle - Ty grinningsphinx for the idea to add Hive mines
   -Added an emp system to the Snipper making it a more effective pd ship
   -Adjusted the Queen's standard variant to use all its OP
   -Reworked the ship systems of several ships. They can now do more than microburn and high energy focus. TY grinningsphinx for the suggestion
   -Changed the Crabby to a Phase Destroyer
   -Changed the Eyes to a Phase Cruiser - It's eyes now glow in the dark oOoOoOooo spooky!
   -Changed the weapons on the Katydid to be more in line with Hiver high tech
   -Added a new troop transport ship the Hornet - TY grinningsphinx again for the suggestion, hope you like it I'm pretty happy with the kitbash
   -Added a new Tug utility ship the Cleridae
   -Added images of the Hornet and Cleridae to the op link (bottom) - The two beetles are holding hands how cute

v0.4
   -Fixed a typo with the long range blaster. Now uses 175 flux per shot - TY grinningsphinx for pointing out that OP mistake
   -Added a new Heavy Cruiser, the Princess. Heavy armor and hull with 2 small missiles as well as 5 medium and 3 small energy mounts
   -Added image of the princess to the op link (bottom)
   
v0.35
   -Made changes and tested to ensure compatibility with the latest version of Starsector
   -Fixed an error in the starting blueprints graphics when you flag them as playable
   -Added 16 Hiver player portraits that the player can enable if they choose to make them playable - see forum OP for instructions
   -Added two Hiver specific interaction images for their planets
   -Each Hiver planet now has a market that will only sell Hiver ships
   -Hiver Military markets sell Hiver weapons as well as other Corvus energy and missile weapons
   -Added detailed instructions on how to make them playable to the forum page
   -Hiver ships will now remain in dark running even if you are commissioned with them
   -Lowered the price of the Chrysopidae and changed the class from destroyer to heavy frigate
   -Increased the size of the Crabby and Deathfly to be more in line with other destroyer hulls

v0.3
   -Added 5 new Hiver specific BP packages that can be found when looting any area a BP pack can be found, for example a research station
   -Added the new BP packs as start items if you enable the mod to be playable
   -Added some functionality code to the Hiver wing AI
   -Fixed a mistake with the Scarab being accidentally flagged as a JYD ship
   -Ran a spell check on every text file and fixed several errors in spelling/grammar

v0.25
   -All Hiver weapons and Ships are now blacklisted for the Prism Freeport and will not show up for sale
   -Disabled the Hiver blueprint package so it should now not show up as loot. - may cause a crash if you have it in your inventory
   
v0.2 New Game Required
   -Added new hull - Scarab - Medium Freighter
   -Greatly increased the credit value of Hiver weapons as a reward for salvaging them (assuming you do not use them)
   -Reworked initial Hiver system to be more self sufficient
   -Added a secondary Hiver system for inter faction trade
   -Increased patrols in both Hiver systems
   -Set Player relations to Inhospitable (just a little above hostile) - you can visit their systems and view their assets but one wrong move....

v0.1
   - Initial release for review, testing and constructive criticism.

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[6chad.noirlee9]

Great idea making a mid game threat that could scale to being late game threat via conquering of systems.
I would advise making the "clearly a giant insect" ships impossible to recover, and perhaps kitbashing some of them into pirate ships, and maybe a high tech version or two.
Just my thoughts.

[Dazs]

Thanks 6chad, always nice to get your feedback. All the ships in this mod are high tech, if you capture one you can install beams and the like. I just went with custom pulse energy and plasma weapons for lore and flavor. The largest ones, Emperor, Beetle and Queen all have a decent shatter chance and due to their deployment costs they would be rare sightings and probably never in the same fleet. That should curtail hunting down a fleet of them but I am reluctant to disable their recovery entirely so as to appeal to as many players as I can. You can always decide not to recover but I do get your meaning.

As to kitbashing them into pirate ships that would be tricky and stay within the Hiver lore. Ok getting nerdy now feel free to TLDR Yeet out:

Wars are common among Hivers and the Hiver military impulse is generally driven by population pressure or the urge for supremacy. Because each Hiver princess can produce countless offspring per year, the population of Hivers in any one place can spike very quickly leading to intense competition for space and resources. A hive under pressure has limited options: either they can flee, cull their own population or eliminate the competition.

I envision this faction of hivers as one of those offshoots that fled a larger swarm and established a new home for themselves in Corvus. In SWOTS he fastest a Hiver fleet can ever go is 0.99C, or 99% of the speed of light. Any fleet could see them coming so Hivers cannot perform pirate actions, and in fact will never unlock Commerce Raiding (the SWOTS version of pirates). OK I know those limitations are from another game but I do my best to establish a lore in my mods and keep it consistent.

[Deageon]

I'm gonna throw this on in my next playthrough and see how it feels to encounter these guys, but do they operate like remnants in that they have certain outskirt systems marked with beacons to tell players where the danger is? Also, perhaps they could drop loot and such to help reward players, not /too/ much but y'know, profit motivates.

[Dazs]

They are not as prevalent as Remnant but they are aggressive and will attack on sight. I have them currently set up in one system on the edge of the map but I have not added a beacon because there is a note not to add any assets to the storm as it slows down the game. Essentially they are set up to behave like a faction, they will defend their system, send out scouting fleets, look for systems to colonize and eventually send a colony fleet to do so. I excluded them showing up on the Intel tab but their system is named and on the sector map. You could find them by opening up the map and looking though all the stars for a new one but I would not suggest going after them until you have a good fleet. They are meant to be a mid level challenge but do not wait too long because as time passes they will expand.

As to special loot, currently their ships are pretty OP and they have custom weapons/wings that could be useful. Remnant have the advantage of dropping cores that are useful in many ways but the main difference is the Hivers only have the one system unlike Remnant that are everywhere on the edges and farmable. Adding a custom asset or commodity that only the Hivers have as an additional reward would have to be carefully thought out. I will give it some thought because I do want this to be a rewarding experience and any suggestions knowing those limitations would be welcome.

[Arthur_The_Ok]

About the custom asset/comodity: since they're so difficult to kill, killing them would grant the player swarmer heads and/or living ship parts, that could be traded for credits or reputation with other faction

[Dazs]

I can see your point as well as Deageon's . At this stage I am unaware of how to enact that but that hasn't stopped me from releasing three mods now from a start point of ignorance lol. I just polished up JYD and pretty sure Ore Refinery is at the stage of completion so I'll do a deep dive and see how I can improve this mod. It may not be this (at least at first) but I'm sure I'll come up with something.

As always, thank you for the inspiration!

[6chad.noirlee9]

I'm sure you know but in case you dont there is a misc modding questions thread that is active that alex also reads and responds.  The discord folks are also known to be spectacular in regards to helping people solve problems.

[Dazs]

Yes I do use the unofficial discord at times and I use all the resources on the forums. I tank you for the tips however.

@everyone - I am sorry to say I cannot recommend you expect this mod to be working as intended at this stage of development. As I was implementing 6chad.noirlee9's suggestion about adding custom commodity drops (which I think I have done) I went after the hivers and was dismayed that their system was in decline. All the assets were there but the fleets were pathetic. I made myself friendly and looked at their worlds and they lack several commodities they need in order to grow. What I hadn't considered when making them hostile to all is that they have no opportunity for trade and growth.

I will keep the mod up in its current state but I will be posting a warning on the OP and working on making this what I envisioned

[Dazs]

v0.2 released - New game required for all changes to take effect - See changelog on OP or game files for details.

@Arthur_The_Ok -  I had made some progress on your suggestion for custom drops but in the process of testing it, I had to stop. I had relied on testing the mod before release mainly while I was commissioned with them and had not realized they were extremely hobbled once I made them hostile to all. So long story short, I had to remove the code I put in for the custom drops and totally rework their economy. As a consolation prize, I greatly increased the value of their weapons so if you are a ballistic user and do not have much use for energy weapons, you can at least benefit credits wise.  Not saying I won't follow up with the suggestion at some point because it is a good one and I would like to take a crack at it but whoah, creating a workable inter-faction economy more work than I knew.

Mad props to Alex for making this game work as well as it does!

[Dazs]

Also, To all:

I added some tactics / hints to the OP if anyone is having difficulty with them. I tested attacking them with quite a powerful fleet and it was some of the most challenging combat and came away bloody. I wouldn't suggest going after their ships or systems until you are established and can afford to loose some capital ships.

I set them to inhospitable to the player so you can scout their systems but not trade with them. I have their faction capped so you cannot increase your reputation with them. You want their sweet stuff, you gotta pay to play

Have fun, and let me know what you think. This is still a test release (now a working one) and I am always open to suggestions.

[6chad.noirlee9]

A shame about the hiccups but this mod is quite promising and I'm excited to give a go at annihilating the xenos scum

[Arthur_The_Ok]

I should've asked this a long time ago, but does the mod work with Nexerelin's random core worlds function?

[Dazs]

What a great question, I had not considered testing that. Soooo the answer is um, sort of.

Did a round of testing and here's the results:

• First round played as JYD with random - Could not find the Hivers in any settled system
• Second Round flagged Hivers as being able to show on the Intel Tab, played as JYD - They neither showed up on the intel tab nor could be found by me
• Third round flagged Hivers to be playable and started a game as them - they did appear in game but as I was flagged as a player, the faction's relations were reset to mine and they were neutral to many factions.
• Fourth round I left them playable and intel tab on and started as JYD - The Hivers were given 4 worlds in 2 systems and on the intel tab they were shown to have numerous enemies that when I played them were neutral so I am making the assumption that their hostile to all flag is in effect. I flew to one of their sectors that they shared with HMI and Independent and damn it was party city with door prizes and a piñata. Wrecked fleets everywhere, scrap galore and quite a fight for the system going on. I didn't last long as I was flying a starter ship but yea I can say with those changes in the code they will work in random core but random is random and you may wind up with them as neighbors

Now although there is the bare bones in the mod to make them playable, I did not envisions them in that role. However, although I do not play random core I am sure others do so below is the steps to make them playable and to enable them to show on the Intel tab. - Spoiler tags for those that do not want that knowledge:

Spoiler

First off, use Notepad++ or a java complier. If you make changes with standard notepad or some other editor it may mess with the Java code. From the Hiver mod tab in you mods folder go to Hiver Swarm\data\config\exerelinfactionConfig\HIVER.json and open it with your editor. Super simple, I made the first line of the code as the playable flag so set "playableFaction":false, to true, and save.

Now to set the intel tab: Go to Hiver Swarm\data\world\factions\HIVER.faction and open it with your editor on line 14 you will see "showInIntelTab":false,  change the false, to true, and save the file.

[close]

Congratulations! If you make those changes, you can now be a Hiver (sadly you will have to use a standard portrait as I have the custom Hiver portraits set for Hivers only) or play against them. This works on standard core worlds too. However, I would not recommend it in random mode as they do not have the advantages of the curated systems I designed to give them a booming economy and thus large fleets. This would make them easier pickings as pretty much every faction hates them and will eventually wipe them out. But to each their own just know you void the warranty by doing so

[Arthur_The_Ok]

Another thing: is Prism Freeport supposed to sell Hiver weapons? I have a screenshot of Hiver weapons on the High End Market, but I don't know how to put it here