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[Cosmic Bananas]

is there a reason why whenever i download this all the hivers are using vanilla portraits? only portrait mods i have, are faction mods.

[Dazs]

is there a reason why whenever i download this all the hivers are using vanilla portraits? only portrait mods i have, are faction mods.

Hello there, thanks for reporting this. If you are using the standard download with none of the "optional adjustments" that should not be the case. The standard faction file that the game and Nexerelin read has 9 male and 9 female custom portraits set as the default. I cannot think of another mod that would override that other that a portrait replacer of some sort but you state you do not use portrait mods.

The only thing I can think of is if you used the option to make them a playable race but did not follow the step of "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" But that would only effect the player portraits, the NPC ships would still use the default Hiver ones.

Please let me know if that was the case or if you use a mod that effects portraits in some way because I am sort of stumped otherwise.

[AngryShrew]

Is there a way to delay their expansion, or even appearance, to a certain year at which they appear in full force from what appears to be outside the sector, similar to an endgame crisis in Stellaris?

[Dazs]

Is there a way to delay their expansion, or even appearance, to a certain year at which they appear in full force from what appears to be outside the sector, similar to an endgame crisis in Stellaris?

Hello there, I do have some instructions on the main page and in the README that is included in the ZIP on how to adjust the difficulty. In there you will see a couple way to adjust their invasion settings. This snippet from the README is most applicable to your query:

Spoiler

There are a couple different ways to manually modify the mod:

Go into the mod folder data\config\exerelinFactionConfg and open a file called HIVER.json with an editor. If you do not have one you can download notepad++ it is free and easy to use and automatically recognizes Java code.
Once you have that file open and ready for editing, navigate to:
   Line 21 "invasionPointMult":1.25 and lower the number to lessen their invasion fleets. If set to 0 it will disable their invasions all together.
   Line 58 "colonyExpeditionChance":1.75 determines their chance to sending a colony mission. Lower it and they will be less likely to be picked by Nexerelin to start a colony.

You can also open data\world\factions and open HIVER.faction the same way:
At lines 259-261 the composition of their fleets are set to max so lower those 5's and it will effect the strength of their fleets and officers.
At line 264 "aggression":5, determines how aggressive the faction will be in invasions and expansion and 5 is the maximum. Lower that and they will be less aggressive.
At line 327 "canBombard":true, enables their ability to saturation bomb, set that to false and they will no longer.

If you feel uncomfortable making these changes manually I included an optional ZIP in the main folder called Vplus.zip that has preconfigured settings for a vanilla plus gameplay with few faction mods.
Just extract Vplus.zip into the mods folder and overwrite the main files.
   -The files in Vplus.zip lower their aggression, halves the invasion and colony fleet frequency, lowers their officer & ship quality, the number and size of ships in a fleet, and turns off saturation bombing.
NOTE: If you want to revert back to the base settings you can either make backups for those files first or you could just reinstall the mod.

Lastly, there is sadly no way to specifically delay Hiver invasions but before you start a new game you can go to the "mod settings" button that LunaLib adds on the top left of the game menu.
Scroll down to the Nexerelin button, select the "fleet and battles" tab and look for an option "invasion grade period". The default is set to 90 which equates to 90 in game days until any invasions occur.
You can use that slide bar on the right and increase it up to 1825 days which is 5 years. Enter the # of days you feel you need to prepare before invasions occur.
NOTE: this will effect ALL faction invasions, not just Hivers. For example, if you set it to say 365 days it will delay ALL faction invasions for 1 in-game year after game start.

[close]

As to them being an end game threat well they can be if you ignore them but I intended them to be a mid game crisis. What I generally recommend is to have a couple faction mods installed when playing with them. The more enemies they have the slower their progression will be but I personally keep it to 5 or so to get the full experience.

I do hope that helps and if you have any other opinions or questions please feel free to post them, Enjoy!

[AngryShrew]

Hi, thanks for the response as that clears it up a bit for me. I play it heavily modded, so there are plenty of different factions to contend with. So the Nexerelin option that prevents invasions until you have your first colony also applies to them I assume. Does that also apply to npc factions aquiring non-colonized planets as well for Hivers or AI in general? As for end game stuff everything I know of that is out there usually applies to like the [redacted] and [super-redacted], but they do not do invasions or enter systems they are not already in as far as I am aware, was wondering if the Hivers could be used in a way to shake things up since others I am aware of cannot or are not designed to be as aggressive.

[Dazs]

Hi, thanks for the response as that clears it up a bit for me. I play it heavily modded, so there are plenty of different factions to contend with. So the Nexerelin option that prevents invasions until you have your first colony also applies to them I assume.

Yes they fall under the same rules. I have them set up just like a playable faction so the Nexerelin settings will effect them like other faction mods.

Does that also apply to npc factions aquiring non-colonized planets as well for Hivers or AI in general?

I am unsure about what you are referring to. To my knowledge, the only way a faction can acquire planets is by colonization or invasion. Some clarity on what you mean by non-colonized planets would help me better answer.

As for end game stuff everything I know of that is out there usually applies to like the [redacted] and [super-redacted], but they do not do invasions or enter systems they are not already in as far as I am aware, was wondering if the Hivers could be used in a way to shake things up since others I am aware of cannot or are not designed to be as aggressive.

I made this faction specifically because I saw that lack in gameplay. There are other alien enemy mods out there like the Angi from prv or Symbiotic Void Creatures by Tecrys but the Agni stay in their systems and the Void creatures are more of a hyperspace threat. I wanted a looming threat that added some expediency in getting your empire built up. Alex has stated several times that the AI are the big bad endgame threat and I did not want to compete with that. I see the Hivers as a stepping stone between pirates and Ordo to level up against and to salvage some vanilla plus equipment that will help in that end game after pirates are no longer a danger.

I appreciate the follow up and look forward to any more comments.

[AngryShrew]

Does that also apply to npc factions aquiring non-colonized planets as well for Hivers or AI in general?

I am unsure about what you are referring to. To my knowledge, the only way a faction can acquire planets is by colonization or invasion. Some clarity on what you mean by non-colonized planets would help me better answer.

Basically was asking if the option that prevents invasions until player has first colony also applies to standard colonization as it seems like they do not expand at all until I have a colony, but I may have not been paying enough attention to see what they are up to.

Yes I see your point about leaving the AI's as the big bads, and they can be quite challenging at times especially with some of the mods out there that give them more ship variety and such. I just wish they presented more of a threat that can come to you, like if you start gaining population from the cryosleepers the [redacted] take notice and target impacted planets for orbital bombardment and do not stop until fleets or colony are destroyed, even continuing to bombard if no colony is there but uncivilized population is still present. Or for the coronal hypershunt the [super-redacted] will come in higher numbers than normally seen and turn colonized planets using them into uninhabited bombarded lifeless worlds or into a new patch of asteroids if you do not stop them. Both focusing on extermination rather than invasion or control when they come after you. Wish I knew how to mod Starsector to add things like that.

Anyhow I really do like the Hivers, the design of them is really cool, and they do pose quite a threat for where I am currently in my playthrough, and I could crank them up a bit if they start to become less of a threat. Great mod!

[Dazs]

Basically was asking if the option that prevents invasions until player has first colony also applies to standard colonization as it seems like they do not expand at all until I have a colony, but I may have not been paying enough attention to see what they are up to.

Ah ok, thank you for the clarification. If you have it set that invasions do not occur until your first colony, the Hivers behave like any other faction and will not invade until you do. That will supersede the "invasion grade period" setting so, in effect, you can prevent them from expanding indefinitely until you first colonize.

Yes I see your point about leaving the AI's as the big bads, and they can be quite challenging at times especially with some of the mods out there that give them more ship variety and such. I just wish they presented more of a threat that can come to you, like if you start gaining population from the cryosleepers the [redacted] take notice and target impacted planets for orbital bombardment and do not stop until fleets or colony are destroyed, even continuing to bombard if no colony is there but uncivilized population is still present.

That is due to the base game being an exploration sandbox and not a 4x. Alex has stated multiple times that he will not add that to the game and it is the reason that Nexerelin is so popular. The base AI [redacted] are hanging out there in their sectors being a danger to explorers and you can consider the Doritos as the end game bosses but it is another mod, "Ruthless Sector" that make them a hyperspace threat. The Remnant are not set up as a faction so they will not behave as one. Overall the AI are meant to be a threat that you find and not one that reaches out to find you. The closest thing I can think of that fits your query is the derelict empire start with random core worlds but then again that is a Nexerelin feature.

Or for the coronal hypershunt the [super-redacted] will come in higher numbers than normally seen and turn colonized planets using them into uninhabited bombarded lifeless worlds or into a new patch of asteroids if you do not stop them. Both focusing on extermination rather than invasion or control when they come after you. Wish I knew how to mod Starsector to add things like that.

Well the Hivers do saturation bomb any planet that is under their threshold for colonization. So if the planet they are invading is a class 4 Terran then for sure they will send relief fleets and try and hold it but if it is a class 2 volcanic they will most likely just delete the population and move on.

Anyhow I really do like the Hivers, the design of them is really cool, and they do pose quite a threat for where I am currently in my playthrough, and I could crank them up a bit if they start to become less of a threat. Great mod!

That is so nice to hear, thank you for that.

[TheSAguy]

Hey Dazs,

Just wanted to say thanks for all your mods. I'm playing with all of then and find myself with a lot of your ships in my fleet.

I do have one request on the Hiver Swarm mod. I'm hoping you could add an option in the mod settings, to make the faction a lot harder/scarier.
I know this won't be balanced, but that's precisely the point. I don't want them balanced. I want them to be a threat to the entire sector. (Think Warhammer 40k Tyranids)

Not sure if it's possible, but make their ships almost never recoverable. (Since it's basically a living ship, I don't think it should easily be captured and controlled by the player)
Give all ships a "Hive Mind" Hull mod as the Hiver Swarm that boosts all stats by 10-15%. Both these are to prevent the player from getting those powerful ships.


Anyways,
Love your work!
Thanks.

[Dazs]

Hey Dazs,

Hey TheSAguy

Just wanted to say thanks for all your mods. I'm playing with all of then and find myself with a lot of your ships in my fleet.

That is quite the compliment, thank you. I am happy to hear you are enjoying yourself!

I do have one request on the Hiver Swarm mod. I'm hoping you could add an option in the mod settings, to make the faction a lot harder/scarier.
I know this won't be balanced, but that's precisely the point.

That is frankly a first for me, 90% of the comments I see is that they are too hard. Personally I do not have an issue with them but I try to tune them for the majority of the player base. However your bravery inspires me to consider the idea.

I don't want them balanced. I want them to be a threat to the entire sector. (Think Warhammer 40k Tyranids)

They are coming! I feel them scratching inside my mind, scratching, screaming, running, so many - so, so many voices. They are coming for us - flesh, body and soul! We must scour them from the stars before they do the same to us. Their blasphemy is such that only one solution is acceptable, Extermination.

Not sure if it's possible, but make their ships almost never recoverable. (Since it's basically a living ship, I don't think it should easily be captured and controlled by the player)

There is an option in the README with instructions on how to make their assets unrecoverable. Sadly it is only a binary choice but I do agree it would be better as a percentage.

Give all ships a "Hive Mind" Hull mod as the Hiver Swarm that boosts all stats by 10-15%. Both these are to prevent the player from getting those powerful ships.

That is an interesting idea and on first thought, I could add that as part of the insane difficulty option combined with a mandatory unrecoverable. I need to give this some thought though so any other thoughts you have are welcome.

Anyways,
Love your work!
Thanks.

You have no idea how much I needed to hear this. Most of the comments I read on discord are negative and it sucks the joy out of making/modifying mods. I have no other pending mod adjustment requests so this will be my next project. I look forward to any other ideas you or anyone else have while I tinker away.

[Sundivingdownloader]

If you felt capable of updating Stellar Networks to .97a, (or just Galactic Markets) it should basically avoid the whole F1 trade menu issue.

[Dazs]

If you felt capable of updating Stellar Networks to .97a, (or just Galactic Markets) it should basically avoid the whole F1 trade menu issue.

Hello there. I am unsure what you are referring to. I am not the mod author of Stelnet and I am unaware of a F1 trade menu issue with Hiver Swarm. I know that I have mentioned in the past that Jaghaimo, the author of that mod, had stated he would look into adding a way to exclude markets from Stelnet but that was back in 2/23/23 and on 2/4/24 Jaghaimo posted that they are no longer updating their mods.

Though Jaghaimo has given permission for anyone to take it and modify it for their own use, I personally do not have the skill to do that. Sorry for the TLDR there, I am just trying to figure out what your comment refers to. Any clarity on the issue would be helpful. TY.

[Dazs]

v1.1.3 released today - Save compatible with v1.12
   -Added a new optional Hard Mode as suggested by TheSAguy, when enabled it does the following:
      -Adds a built-in hullmod to all Hiver ships and wings that raises multiple stats by 20%
      -Increases the fleet pts of all Hiver Ships by 20% - Used for when two AI fleets clash in the campaign to determine fleet strength calculations
      -Makes all Hiver ships and wings unrecoverable - Way too OP to be in a player's fleet IMO - Weapons are still lootable as they are not changed
   -Added instructions to the forum OP and README located in the mod ZIP on how to enable the new Hard Mode option
   -New hull mod icon provided by Tesser - TY

@TheSAguy I know you suggested 10-15% but in my testing that did not seem to make them all that much more difficult so I tried different percentages and 20% seemed like the sweet spot. I made it easy to adjust to whatever percentage you would prefer if 20 is not to your liking. Navigate to the mod folder, data\scripts\hullmods and open the file, "HIVER_HiveMind" with an editor, l recommend notepad++ as it is free and easy to use. Now, navigate to line 10    public static final float BONUS = 20f; and change that 20 to w/e you would like. Currently that 20 represents a 20% increase and any number you replace it with will make it that percent. Now if you wanted an easy mode option you could change that 20 to a negative number. So if you set it to -10 then Hiver ships will be 10% weaker.

Sorry it took me so long to get this done, Illness has been making it's way through my household and I finally had time to test what I've tinkered with since you posted. Consider it beta tested but I could always use another opinion on the sweet spot for difficult (brutal ) but still manageable percentage.

Anyway, Enjoy!

[TheSAguy]

Thanks Dazs!

Updating now 

[Dazs]

Thanks Dazs!

Your welcome. It was a great idea I had not thought of and I have to tell you, my current game is quite spicy indeed!

Updating now 

Excellent, please let me know what you think after playing with it. I have only my own personal observations to go on.