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[Dazs]

Carter's Freetraders

CFT is a faction mod that focuses on smuggling, scrapping and trade.
Includes 40 faction ships, a new system full of wrecked ships and plenty of salvage, 8 hull mods, 30 weapons, 6 wings and an upgradeable faction colony structure.

DOWNLOAD

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1kf_U1hKWCJ_M03pfm9ti4r15Ox1gEOhA/view?usp=sharing

Nexerelin as well as it's dependencies LazyLib and MagicLib required

Mod integrations:

Commissioned crews
Starship Legends
Industrial Evolution
New Beginnings
Bounties Expanded compatible
Version Checker

Faction Lore

Spoiler

This mod is dedicated to a distant relative, John Carter of Prussia Cove who was known as the “King of Prussia” and was the most successful and notorious smuggler of the Penzance district between 1777 and 1807, together with his two brothers, Harry and Charles. According to 19th century historian Sabine Baring-Gould, John Carter received his nickname as a boy. The cove was originally called Porthleah but became Prussia Cove in recollection of Carter’s exploits.

John Carter had a reputation for honest dealing. On one occasion during his absence, the excise officers carried off a recently arrived cargo of tea to the Penzance custom house. On his return, Carter and his men broke into the stores at night and carried off all the confiscated cargo, without touching a single article which he did not consider belonged to him. The excise men knew immediately who had broken in as he was known to be an upright man. There are many other stories about the smuggler, including a history written later by his brother, Harry Carter.

In-game lore is based on his history with several references.

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Mod technical notes

Spoiler

• CFT ships are all midline and are made to be blockade runners. They are lightweight and fast with low armor, below average hulls, above average shields, and above average flux capacity and generation. Each trade ship has above average cargo space and is equipped with shielded holds. They use a mixed blend of weapons and ships will have mounts for each type of weapon.
• The added system has salvage areas, wrecked ships, supplies, weapons and some blueprints floating around. Nothing too much, just enough to reward exploring. There is also a pirate planet with a strong battle station. There are two asteroid rings and different types of planets for mining. All CFT planets are flagged as freeports
• The CFT "letter of marque" from commissioned crews adds an increase to sensor range, lowers sensor profile and increases cargo space.
• There are two utility ships that have a custom hull mod called Combat Engineers. This mod repairs a % of armor and hull damage after battle and increases the recovery chance of any ship in the fleet that is disabled or destroyed
• Each ship that has those yellow and black labels (Bawley, Danube, Clipper, Collier and Bolster) have mining stats and you will receive a bonus to mining if you have them in your fleet.
• The included colony structure produces recreational drugs with an option to update it into an industry that also produces heavy weapons
• Each CFT planet and station is flagged as a freeport and will trade in all goods with the exception of slaves
• CFT is set as neutral to just below neutral to all in game factions (including pirates and pirate themed modded factions) with some exceptions like Hiver swarm. I set it this way so that the player can decide if they want to play as more of a pirate or a bit of a shady rogue with a good reputation. You will have some time to make that decision but the game will slowly make it for you since as time goes on you will loose reputation with one faction because you are friends with another. So think ahead on how you want to play and act accordingly.
• All in game assets are named after real life naval terms. Mostly taken from the time period when John lived with some exceptions like the carriers which was a ship type that did not exist then so they have more modern naval names as well as laser weapons that are named after a certain old school space naval anime I loved as a kid.

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Mod vision

Spoiler

In real life John Carter was what was known as a wrecker, which is someone who salvages wrecked ships and sells the cargo w/out paying excise taxes. In this version of game history John sold all his holdings and migrated his clan to the Corvus sector to start anew. The faction is based around a blend of smuggling and salvage to reflect the nature of wrecking. The system is littered with salvage and wrecked ships to reflect the nature of where John lived was a cove that the tides washed all manner of salvage ashore.

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Sources and Thank You Credits

Spoiler

The John Carter Biography is from https://www.cornwalls.co.uk/history.

Each ship, weapon and drone sprite is an original Dazs kit bash with a few of my own creations. I used the skills I picked up while designing ships for my other faction mods and I hope you enjoy them.

All parts were sourced from the forum page, Spiral Arms II https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=12896.0 and the #spiraled-arms forum on the Spaceport Corvus discord. All credit goes to the multitude of kind people who have donated their artwork.

The logo and associated graphics are free assets from the site Vectorportal.com.

Beta Testers: Big Thank you to Kris_xK, Zoro89, polkageist, Shadow Rune, rawkhawklives and 5ColouredWalker

A special thank you to Alex for his hard work making this game and keeping it up to date all these years

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

Current Changelog

v0.5 Save Compatible with 0.45 but if you have a Scow in your fleet, it may need to be refitted.
   -Fixed an error with the Inferno and Hellfire MIRV behavior, makes them more effective and flashy - TY Wasara for pointing this out
   -Added Nexerelin and lib dependencies to the mod files - TY Avanitia, drunk test pilot and Tim, IRS Mommy for the idea and solution
   -Removed the small missile mount from the Scow, touched up it's graphic to reflect the change and lowered it's OP by 5 - TY Kumquat & 5ColouredWalker for your valid points
   -Lowered the speed of the Scow from 180 to 120 putting in line with other CFT frigates - PeopleThief made a valid point that the speed was OP for a combat freighter
   -Updated the ship image on the forum OP with the new Scow sprite

Past Changelogs

Spoiler

v0.45 - Save Compatible with 0.4
   -Fixed a typo on the Demi-Culvern - changed the flux per shot from 2 to 20 as was intended
   -Changed the damage of the PD rockets 75 to 35 - Balances them and puts them in line with other PD weapons
   -Fixed an error on the Inferno rockets by swapping the damage rating of 25 and impact rating of 50 - They do the correct damage now
   -Reduced the Ammo count on the Auto Cannon from 100 to 50 - Makes the ammo limitation more realistic
   -Reduced the OP on the Sloop tanker from 60 to 50 and replaced the weapons on the variant to lower OP ones - was a tad too OP for it's role
   -Changed the Ship System of the Bombardier from microburn to forgevats
   -Changed the Ship System of the Galleon form microburn to cannister flack - Both ships are meant to be backline support and giving them a speed boost did not make sense
   -Replaced the sprites of the PD and inferno missile images with larger versions
   -A big THANK YOU to rawkhawklives and 5ColouredWalker for the above Balance and graphic suggestions - I've added you both to my list of Beta testers *hugs*
   -Added a new sound file to the Autocannon - TY ThatFolfy for pointing out that the previous sound was bugged
   -Sharpened the image of the Fog of War hardpoint and base - was a little too blurry and the barrel was not showing up
   -Added three torpedo weapons to the CFT lineup - All based on the new Carronade Fragmentation Torpedo in small medium and large sizes
   -Added a new small long range fragmentation missile the Katyusha - designed to be a small version of the Pilum
   -Replaced the single medium Pilum missile on the Apollo missile pod to a dual small mount Katyusha missile and the wing count from 2 to 1
   -Added a new Hull mod - Overclocked Shields inserts new circuitry into a shield generator that increases shield turn rate and unfolding speed at the cost of an overload duration increase

v0.4 Save compatible with v0.35a - Weapon balance changes and many graphic updates - Some ships in you current fleet may need to be re-armed (see below)
   -Changed the weapon mounts on the following CFT ships (Astera, Barque, Bolster, Bourbon, Carrack, Chester, Exeter, Griffon, Ironclad, Pinnacle, Retourschip) to be side by side symmetrical
      -In testing I found the AI had problems with the different ranges when facing forward in the asymmetrical layouts and it gave the more OCD players a headache -Ty 5ColouredWalker for having me look into it
         - NOTE: If you have any of the following ships in your fleet you will need to re-arm them due to the symmetry changes:
            -Bourbon: Changed the left large turret to be energy and the right medium turret to be ballistic
            -Carrack: Changed the left medium turret to ballistic and the left small turret to energy
            -Freebooter: Changed the right large turret to ballistic and the left small turret to energy and increased the OP by 5
            -Griffon: Changed the top left small turret to ballistic
            -Pinnacle: Changed the left small turret to energy      
   -Widened the firing arcs of the Astera mounts to line up with the symmetrical changes
   -Replaced the middle turret graphic on the Astera - Accidently used a side facing instead of a forward facing
   -Replaced the medium turret graphics on the Chester and re-aligned the left small turrets from 94 degrees to the proper 90 degrees - Fixing minor initial release oopsies
   -Re-designed the Dingy making it more symmetrical - Added missing boundary lines and weapon mount graphics and changed the rear forward facing hardpoint to a rear facing turret
   -Added a missing small turret graphic on the Cutter and centered the ship sprite - another graphical fix from the initial release
   -The above graphic changes are reflected on the forum OP image
   -Equipped a Wave Burst PD laser on an empty weapon mount on the Bolster variant - fixing a mistake on my part from initial release
   -Lowered the range of the Auto Cannon from 3k to 2500, Increases the flux per shot from 630 to 750 and projectile speed from 2k to 2500 - Balance suggestions from rawkhawklives and ThatFolfy
   -Adjusted the Culverin PD to be an upgraded version of the Fog of war PD - same damage/flux, more range and better accuracy for 2 OP more - Ty rawkhawklives for pointing out it was unsustainable in it's past stats
   -Increased the projectile speed of the Fog of War PD from 200 to 400 - puts it in line with the Culverin changes but still below the light machine gun
   -Increased the damage of the Paixhan and reduced it's charge down - Making it worthy of a 7 OP PD weapon
   -Added a new Hull mod, Salvaged Shield - Similar to makeshift shield but instead of a speed penalty it has a 15% hull & armor penalty - For when players use ships like the Hound but want to keep the CFT midline playstyle
   
v0.35a Save game compatible
   -Fixed some capitalization mismatches that would case a crash under Linux - Ty polkageist for taking the time to make a forum account to let me know, appreciated!
   
v0.35 Tested with 0.3a save with no problems
   -Added a CFT emoji to the SS discord, you can now show your love CFT style - Ty to Timid for suggesting it and Avanitia for adding it!
   -Added the following missing code to the CFT weapons and Wings - TY to Shadow Rune for their help in tracking them down!
      -Added a PD tag to the Culverin so it will now target missiles and wings as intended
      -Changed the description of the Inferno rocket to reflect that is NOT a large mount, has tracking unlike the volley rocket and that it is explosive.
      -Added missing UI tags to all wings to better matchup when autofitting
      -Added UI tags to all weapons to better classify them and improve their functionality
   -Fixed an error in the planet King's Cove starting conditions - TY Kris_xK for that bug hunt
   -Added a fighter flare launcher system to the Mizzen PD drone - Makes them even more PD!
   -Changed the damage type of the point defense rockets from fragmentation to high explosive and set them to priority target fighters
   -Changed the following stats on the Barque - FP 8 to 10, flux 3200 to 6700, flux regen 230 to 400, price 29k to 39k - Puts it between the Hammerhead and the Sunder
   -Changed the following stats on the Barkentine - OP from 110 to 100, locked the first fighter bay to a Mizzen PD drone, changed the shield from omni to front - Puts it on balance with the Dover
   -Changed the flux rate of the Basilisk to be more efficient - TY Zoro89 for this and the two above suggestions
   -Touched up the graphic for the Barkentine to look less battered - As I was working on it I realized it looked more low tech than midline
   -Removed the scar running across the Pinnacle's graphic - Same reason as above - I can change either or both back if enough players want the previous battered sprites
   -Updated the ship picture on the Forum OP with the two new ship sprites if you'd like a peek
   -Updated the description string for the Barkentine to reflect the above ship changes
   -Added a missing description for the Dingy heavy bomber
   -Fixed a spelling error in the description string for the Skiff interceptor preventing it's description from showing - It's skiff not skif - D'oh!
      
v0.3a -Minor change save game compatible
   -Changed the version file to reflect being moved to the MOD forum

v0.3 Tested with a 0.2 save with no issues though if you have one of the changed ships in your current fleet they may need to be re-outfitted.
   -Re-designated the Ironclad from cruiser to Heavy Cruiser - I felt that the size and stats were a little out of line for a standard cruiser and the faction lacks a heavy cruiser so voila 2 birds 1 stone
   -Changed the Firestorm Missile damage type from Explosive to Kinetic, raised the damage to 50, increased the charge down to 2, and reduced the ammo count to 180 - Rounds out the CFT missile lineup   
   -Removed two of the missile pods from the Freebooter - it was a little too much and needed a balance pass
   -Replaced the built in hull mod, missile auto forge, on the Cog PD platform with expanded missile racks and removed the advanced turret gyros- Yet another balance pass change
   -Added a new phase cruiser, the Vasa - Partially to replace the Ironclad's slot as a phase cruiser but it adds a phase strike ship to the lineup
   -Added a new missile focused capital ship, the Galleon - A back line capital that will stay out of direct combat while flooding the field with ordnance to tie up enemy PD systems and deliver extended long range damage
   -Added a new light cruiser variant of the Apogee, the Odam - The faction lacked a medium/large scout/explorer ship   
   -Added a new hull mod that increases missile ammo storage by reducing cargo space - Since most CFT ships (especially the Bombard) have missile hardpoints this mod would allow them to be relevant longer
   -Added a new hull mod that increases ship speed when at zero flux, Zeroflux (original I know) - Could be used for several applications but envisioned as a way to give a boost to fleeing ships like freighters
   -Added a new hull mod that increases ship speed in combat, Booster Rockets - Similar effect of unstable injector but at a much lower OP and effect - UA and SO are incompatible
   -Fixed an error with the Volley Rockets being labeled as Anti-Armor to Anti-Shield as they are Kinetic damage
   -Optimized the script for the Pengersick system - Cleaned up some unneeded code and arranged the structure logically
   -Did a spelling and grammar pass on the CFT hull mods and fixed some mistakes
   -Raised the XP earned by salvaging the fields in Pengersick by 20% - Not game breaking by any means but it gives a new player a little head start
   -Removed 2 duplicates from the list of screen variants and sim opponents - Just removing some unneeded bloat
   -Updated the sprite for the Firestorm missile to reflect that it is a MIRV - The previous sprite only had 1 missile holder
   -Updated the sprites for the Fog of War base and turret - In the editor they looked fine but in-game they were kind of a JYD early era blurry mess

V 0.2 Tested with a 0.1a save with no issues
   -Removed the repair gantry from the Draeck - Balance change, it did not make sense for a ship that small to have that many mods
   -Added a new frigate sized logistics/mining ship the Bawley - Partially to make up for the loss of a small ship gantry but also to add a frigate sized miner for wolfpack players
   -Increased the cargo space of the Danube - it was a little low for a logistics destroyer
   -Adjusted the "Good trait frequency" for Starship Legends to be in line with CFT being a lightweight good shield smuggler faction
   -Added the Scow, Shallop and Sloop to the list of ships that can be generally offered in the Starship Legends derelict bar event
   -Added the Bolster and the Ironclad to the list of ships that can only be offered at a CFT faction bar in the Starship Legends derelict bar event
   -Fixed several grammatical errors found in the ship and weapon description files - Should have done that before initial release sorry
   -Cleaned up some of the CSV code - Essentially made it more efficient
   -Modified the the med energy turret on the Clipper by widening it to match the med ballistic turrets - I also touched up the sprite work a little while I was there
   -Did some minor touch up work on the Bolster's sprites
   -Fixed an issue with version checker - I had accidently referenced JYD instead of CFT in the file (I swear it wasn't some marketing gimmick ) - TY andristzr for brining it to my attention!
   
V 0.1a - Should be save game compatible
      -Received a PM regarding a conflict crash and had to do a quick hotfix
      -Updated the graphic on the Clipper - I accidently left a nono sprite and only noticed when I posted the op picture - my bad sorry

v 0.1
   - Initial release for review, testing and constructive criticism.
   

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[WMGreywind]

Oh my, what an interesting collection of ships. I'll make sure to give this a go.

[Zr0Potential]

Whoo boy this looks vanilla-friendly af, nice job King

I'mma try it out

[Dazs]

Pets mod developer on the head and give it a cookie for being so productive. Good job, I am very proud of you!

<wags tail

Oh my, what an interesting collection of ships. I'll make sure to give this a go.

Woot glad you like them, I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to make them not a janky collection of haphazard sprites this time lol

Whoo boy this looks vanilla-friendly af, nice job King

I'mma try it out

Nice! Yea I was going for a more vanilla + friendly mod this time. It does need Nex to use the mining and other player made mod interactivity features but I am glad you like the aesthetic. I look forward to any opinions you may have after giving it a spin. I did my best to release a stable balanced(?) version but sometimes I get lost in the forest and miss things.

[Dazs]

Had to do a quick hotfix - Should be save game compatible to initial release

[MesoTroniK]

Please do not use my art in your kitbashes.

[Dazs]

My apologies for that on the Clipper. Most of these ships were made parts from when I first started last year but never used. I have a large selection of parts from various ships on my HD I use to bash and I picked them up out of the bin and touched them up for this mod. I caught my error when I posted the OP and noticed the no no and replaced it as soon as I saw what I did. It was a bonehead move and I am sorry, I have a deep respect for your work.

[MesoTroniK]

Thank you

[dcong89]

All your ships so thiccccccck 

[Dazs]

All your ships so thiccccccck 

Lol ok I hope that is a good thing

When I am playing Nexerelin, it informs that the mod has an update but it sends me to the page of: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=22826.0

I think there is a mix up in the update url's, or is it supposed to do that!?

Nope not at all. One of the issues of juggling 4 mods, I made an oppsie and cross referenced the wrong mod in the version file. Thank you for brining it to my attention, it is so easy to miss things. It's why I have it flagged as a candidate and I really appreciate the free "beta testing" that players are willing to provide to help.

I am currently tinkering away on making the mod a little more efficient and I have a couple other tweaks I've done so I'll fix this and bundle it all up into a 02 release and have it out later today.

Thank you both for your comments!

[Dazs]

V 0.2 released today - Tested with a 0.1a save with no issues
   -Removed the repair gantry from the Draeck - Balance change, it did not make sense for a ship that small to have that many mods
   -Added a new frigate sized logistics/mining ship the Bawley - Partially to make up for the loss of a small ship gantry but also to add a frigate sized miner for wolfpack players
   -Increased the cargo space of the Danube - it was a little low for a logistics destroyer
   -Adjusted the "Good trait frequency" for Starship Legends to be in line with CFT being a lightweight good shield smuggler faction
   -Added the Scow, Shallop and Sloop to the list of ships that can be generally offered in the Starship Legends derelict bar event
   -Added the Bolster and the Ironclad to the list of ships that can only be offered at a CFT faction bar in the Starship Legends derelict bar event
   -Fixed several grammatical errors found in the ship and weapon description files - Should have done that before initial release sorry
   -Cleaned up some of the CSV code - Essentially made it more efficient
   -Modified the the med energy turret on the Clipper by widening it to match the med ballistic turrets - I also touched up the sprite work a little while I was there
   -Did some minor touch up work on the Bolster's sprites
   -Fixed an issue with version checker - I had accidently referenced JYD instead of CFT in the file (I swear it wasn't some marketing gimmick ) - TY andristzr for brining it to my attention!

[Dazs]

v0.3 released today - Tested with a 0.2 save with no apparent issues though if you have one of the changed ships in your current fleet they may need to be re-outfitted. I feel the mod is ready for a wider release but I will keep it here for the weekend for any player commentary (which I deeply appreciate) until I ask for it to be moved to the main mod forum and post it on Discord.

Changelog:   

   -Re-designated the Ironclad from cruiser to Heavy Cruiser - I felt that the size and stats were a little out of line for a standard cruiser and the faction lacks a heavy cruiser so voila 2 birds 1 stone
   -Changed the Firestorm Missile damage type from Explosive to Kinetic, raised the damage to 50, increased the charge down to 2, and reduced the ammo count to 180 - Rounds out the CFT missile lineup   
   -Removed two of the missile pods from the Freebooter - it was a little too much and needed a balance pass
   -Replaced the built in hull mod, missile auto forge, on the Cog PD platform with expanded missile racks and removed the advanced turret gyros- Yet another balance pass change
   -Added a new phase cruiser, the Vasa - Partially to replace the Ironclad's slot as a phase cruiser but it adds a phase strike ship to the lineup
   -Added a new missile focused capital ship, the Galleon - A back line capital that will stay out of direct combat while flooding the field with ordnance to tie up enemy PD systems and deliver extended long range damage
   -Added a new light cruiser variant of the Apogee, the Odam - The faction lacked a medium/large scout/explorer ship   
   -Added a new hull mod that increases missile ammo storage by reducing cargo space - Since most CFT ships (especially the Bombard) have missile hardpoints this mod would allow them to be relevant longer
   -Added a new hull mod that increases ship speed when at zero flux, Zeroflux (original I know) - Could be used for several applications but envisioned as a way to give a boost to fleeing ships like freighters
   -Added a new hull mod that increases ship speed in combat, Booster Rockets - Similar effect of unstable injector but at a much lower OP and effect - UA and SO are incompatible
   -Fixed an error with the Volley Rockets being labeled as Anti-Armor to Anti-Shield as they are Kinetic damage
   -Optimized the script for the Pengersick system - Cleaned up some unneeded code and arranged the structure logically
   -Did a spelling and grammar pass on the CFT hull mods and fixed some mistakes
   -Raised the XP earned by salvaging the fields in Pengersick by 20% - Not game breaking by any means but it gives a new player a little head start
   -Removed 2 duplicates from the list of screen variants and sim opponents - Just removing some unneeded bloat
   -Updated the sprite for the Firestorm missile to reflect that it is a MIRV - The previous sprite only had 1 missile holder
   -Updated the sprites for the Fog of War base and turret - In the editor they looked fine but in-game they were kind of a JYD early era blurry mess

[Dazs]

Oh yea quick FYI - I redid the ship sprites on the main page to show the three new ships, Vasa, Galleon and Odam, they are on the bottom right if you are interested. 

[Oni]

Thus another faction gets added to my next run. 

[Dazs]

Thus another faction gets added to my next run. 

Woot!