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[Sundog]

Idoneus Citadel Exiles
Download ICE  (Requires LazyLib)

Featuring 17 ships, 18 weapons, 7 ship systems, 7 hull mods, and 4 types of phase cloak

PROS	-	CONS
Powerful armor repair and evasion abilities	-	No shields, low hitpoints, and moderate armor
Ships often hit above their weight class while still being very fast and manueverable	-	Ships often have the cost, FP, and logistical requirements of the next weight class.
Improved range for ballistic weapons that normally have less than 600 range	-	Reduced range for ballistic weapons that normally have more than 600 range
Maintenance drones provide ammo and CR regeneration during combat	-	All ships suffer CR loss during combat and generally have low ammo
Sight radius of all ships increased by 20%	-	Point defense options are very limited and frequently sub-par
Hull and armor repaired instantly out of combat	-	High deployment costs, low capacities, and really bad gas mileage

Ships

Spoiler

Apocrypha Command Ship	Abraxas Battlecruiser	Shalom Colony Ship

Kelpie Blade Cruiser	Voidreaver Elite Cruiser	Eidolon Support Cruiser	Shiekwraith Support Destroyer	Soulbane Elite Destroyer

Nightseer Elite Frigate	Athame Drill Frigate	Specter Frigate	Seraph Support Frigate	Palantir Recon Frigate

Umbra Bomber Wing	Stormwhisp Fighter Wing	Phantom Interceptor Wing	Poltergeist Escort Wing

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Weapons

Spoiler

	Nosferatu Fusor Large Energy Strike Beam Repairs armor in a wide radius around the weapon's mount when it hits hull or armor		Mine Pod Large Area Denial Weapon Moves to a designated point, then deploys several mines in a large area
	Mobeus Ray Large Energy Assault Weapon Fires in a curving stream toward the cursor		Hex Autocannon Medium Point Defense Gun Equally effective at point defense and applying shield pressure
	Chupacabra Fusor Medium Energy Assault Beam Repairs armor near the weapon's mount when it hits hull or armor		Hypermass Bomb Medium Strike Weapon Delivers a massive kinetic payload
	Flamebolt Medium Strike Cannon Limited by short range and low ammo, but shreds armor		Boomerang SRM Pod Medium Short Range Missile Rack Fires in two stages to circumvent enemy shields
	Boomerang SRM Small Short Range Missile Rack Fires in two stages to circumvent enemy shields		Light Hex Autocannon Small Point Defense Gun Equally effective at point defense and applying shield pressure
	Scatter PD Small Point Defense Rocket Pod Fires many rockets in a wide arc, exploding shortly after deployment		Falx Beam Small Energy Utility Beam Reduces the active arc of any shields the beam hits

In addition to six exclusively built-in weapons.

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Lore

Spoiler

Admirals,
   The incursion into our territory can be attributed to a group originating from the Idoneus Citadel. This confirms earlier suspicions of their expansionism. For those unfamiliar with the Citadel and its’ inhabitants you can refer to anthropological archive HA.122.b.003.1, but to put it succinctly- it’s a colossal, self-sustaining orbital stronghold left over from the Domain of Man. The inhabitants are, until now, largely isolationistic, relying on few resources outside of their citadel. Thanks to the generously forthcoming prisoners taken in the skirmish we’ve been able to determine that their recent wanderlust and aggression is the result of a conflict between two factions of the Citadel. Our new friends lost that conflict when the other faction managed to cut them off from the core of the citadel, effectively exiling them. The annex they were isolated to lacked the permanent life-support infrastructure of the core, forcing them to leave in search of resources. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be very good at gathering resources themselves. In all matters of agriculture and industry they have been pampered by their citadel, and now lack the means to establish a sustainable colony even if they had access to a terraformed planet. For this reason we fully expect them to resort to more raiding and piracy as their resources dwindle.
   The fleet encountered during the skirmish was small, consisting only of three frigates. Its’ mission was originally to scout the system. None of our captives seem to know why their late commander ordered the attack on the convoy, and we at Intel can only speculate. The ships of the fleet lacked shields and had only rudimentary point-defense capabilities, but they employed a number of unfamiliar technologies. Most notably the ships were equipped with rapidly repairing armor plates. Analysis of the wreckage indicates that this armor was composed of self replicating nanites. They also seem to employ a defensive system similar to the ITT’s phase cloak technology. Unlike phase cloaks, however, this technology seems to allow only brief jaunts into p-space during which mobility is greatly increased (presumably through some form of p-space folding).
   We’re still awaiting conclusions about the interrogations from our psychology analysis branch, but it seems clear to me that these exiles are simply desperate rather than hostile. They are refugees. They need a way to sustain themselves and the Hegemony has the means to help them do so, but if we leave them to starve they’ll just begin feeding on us. We have the simple choice of making a new enemy or a new ally. Forgive me for overstepping my bounds, but time is of the essence. If we don’t act quickly to resolve this we’ll just end up with more pirates to deal with.
   Every effort will be made to expedite the analysis of our data on this issue. Expect a comprehensive report within the next few days.
 
Regards,
Chief Intelligence Officer Cdr. Sanders

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FAQs

Spoiler

Is the ICE mod compatible with the ***** mod?
Probably. To find out, click the 'About' spoiler and read the Compatibility section.

Where can I buy this faction's ships and weapons?
This mod has two markets, each controlled by a different faction. The first is the Idoneus Citadel, a station found on the outskirts of Eos. The second market is attached to a fleet called the Exiled Idoneus Colony Fleet that periodically moves between star systems. There are notifications about where it goes, so it shouldn't be too hard to find. If this fleet is destroyed it will take a month or two to respawn, so it might not always be available.

Can I add ICE to a saved game that I've already started without it?
Yes, adding ICE to a game later on will enable all of it's features. This hasn't been tested extensively however, so create a backup of your save file first. Also be aware that the economy of the markets this mod adds will take a while to stabilize.

Are the previous versions available?
Yes. These are the recomended versions of ICE for old versions of Starsector:
ICE 0.1.0 for Starsector 0.6.2a RC3
You can find all of the previous versions here

So the Recall Teleporter hullmod moves my ships around automatically? How do I control it?
The Recall Teleporter chooses which ships to recall based on how much closer it can bring them to their assignments. This usually means you need to give the ships you want to recall a direct order.

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About

Spoiler

Credits
Sundog - Scripting, Art, Design
Histidine - Scripting, Design
Cycerin - Sound


Thanks
Alex, David, and everyone else at Fractal Softworks - For making Starsector
LazyWizard - For LazyLib and the Netbeans set-up tutorial
Trylobot - For the excellent ship editor

kazi, MesoTroniK, Debido, xenoarph, Chaos Farseer, HELMUT, Gotcha!, mendonca, CopperCoyote, zoe_zucchini
and many others
- for various reasons, from giving invaluable feedback to helping me kill bugs


Compatibility
Requires - LazyLib
Supports - Campaign Mode, ShaderLib, Nexerelin, and Version Checker
Incompatible - All total conversions, such as Ironclads and Vacuum
ICE 0.3.2 may be compatible with Starsector+ 2.0 in spite of not being integrated. Some SS+ features will be missing from ICE, most notably fleet commanders. I haven't found any conflicts between the two mods yet, but that doesn't mean they aren't there.
All other mods should be fully compatible.


Permissions
All assets from this project may be used without obtaining explicit permission as long as...
No laws are broken and Fractal Softworks' terms of service are not violated
The original authors of any assets used are credited
The assets are not used for nefarious purposes

If you would like to use something in a way that doesn't meet these criteria, please ask me about it first.

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[MesoTroniK]

Sundog, I don't even... that is going to be incredible.

Edit: I got a wise idea, wonder what is stronger your tractor beam, or my repulsor beam? Would be funny to lock the two in a tug of war and see who wins

[FasterThanSleepyfish]

Fight fight fight fight....

Anyways, time to bump up the mass of my ships by 1000% No grappling here, unless you want to die by ship-to-ship collision! (I kid) Real nice everything there, by the way.

[kazi]

Looks fantastic Sundog!  Your ships turned out really well!

Also, I find that melee cruiser hilarious.

[Gotcha!]

Those are some incredible ideas. I love the 'melee' thing, luring in ships between its mighty mandibles and chewing them to shreds.
The Soulbane's 'burn' thing is amazing. I guess another scripting god has risen. /envy

[HELMUT]

Your Kelpie remind me a bit of Gradius Big core bosses. Anyway i like the "blender" lasers on it. The Soulbane cloak is really good too, a bit like the BRDY's Asura, would be even better if you add a proper sound effect to it.

I hope we'll see some more ICE ships soon.

[Bjørn_in_the_Sector]

I am really glad to see some really original content from you. I liked your first sprites on the judgement thread, and now that they're in action, I like them even more. this community never ceases to amaze!

[c plus one]

Wow. Sundog, those teasers were like a shot of espresso! i cant wait to see your new faction become ready for public use. Such interesting and unusual hulls + capabilities = me likey

[GenBOOM]

very nice looking ships man, love design concept and the effects

just wanted to recommend http://obsproject.com/ for recording so you don't have the lame bandicam watermark.
its good for livestreaming as well

looking forward to more videos 

[HELMUT]

Looking good, can't wait until they're playable.  I always wanted to see what would happen if a Recognizer actually caught somebody.  Does that Kelpie have a way to deal with the explosion damage from destroying a ship right next to it, or does it just have to tank the damage?

Given it have a regenerating armor system, i guess it can tank explosions and repair afterward. However i don't know if the AI will be able to choose its target. Pulling a frigate in the meatgrinder is no problem, pulling an Onslaught is... Less advisable. It make me think, i send some kamikaze ships sprites to MesoTroniK for the TIM mod, those will probably be the bane of the Kelpie.

[Sundog]

Thanks guys! Glad you like it 

I got a wise idea, wonder what is stronger your tractor beam, or my repulsor beam? Would be funny to lock the two in a tug of war and see who wins

It looks like my tractor beam is a lot stronger. I think I'll nerf it so they're close to an even match.

Looks fantastic Sundog!  Your ships turned out really well!

Also, I find that melee cruiser hilarious.

Yeah, I cackled like a maniac the first time I used it 
And again, your help with spriting was invaluable, so thanks!

The Soulbane cloak is really good too, a bit like the BRDY's Asura, would be even better if you add a proper sound effect to it.

I hope we'll see some more ICE ships soon.

So far I have 10 ships (mostly frigates) in various states of disrepair. I want to release the faction before 6.2 is official, but I've still got a lot of work to do (like proper sound effects)

just wanted to recommend http://obsproject.com/ for recording so you don't have the lame bandicam watermark.
its good for livestreaming as well

Yes! I was hoping there'd be someone just like you! It's surprisingly difficult to find good screencasting software with google. Many thanks! 

Does that Kelpie have a way to deal with the explosion damage from destroying a ship right next to it, or does it just have to tank the damage?

Right now it has a hullmod that 'Reduces damage from collisions, ship explosions, and projectiles by 50 percent, but doubles damage from beams and missiles.' I'd rather not mess with damage from weapons, but unfortunately I have to due to the way collisions and ship explosions are implemented. I've requested an API feature that would allow me fix it, but it won't be available in time for 6.2 even if Alex decides to implement it. I've also seen the AI escape the blast using the phase cloak, but I certainly don't have the reflexes for that...

Given it have a regenerating armor system, i guess it can tank explosions and repair afterward. However i don't know if the AI will be able to choose its target. Pulling a frigate in the meatgrinder is no problem, pulling an Onslaught is... Less advisable. It make me think, i send some kamikaze ships sprites to MesoTroniK for the TIM mod, those will probably be the bane of the Kelpie.

Very true! I'm actually pretty conflicted about whether or not the Kelpie should have regenerating armor. On one hand, it's perfect for it, but on the other, it would make it OP. Meh. It can actually fit the nose of an Onslaught in it's jaws. Still, though, you're right. Pulling in a capitol or kamikaze ship isn't likely to be a good idea, and the kelpie currently uses the default AI to decide who to shoot. I'm pretty sure I can find a way to fix this if the need arises though.

[LazyWizard]

Those are amazing! I can't wait to see the completed mod.

I like the Soulbane's phase travel drive, it reminds me of a crab scuttling.

Do the armor repair nanites work from the center outwards? It kind of looks that way in the video, but that could just be due to the way the damage was distributed.

I want to release the faction before 6.2 is official, but I've still got a lot of work to do (like proper sound effects)

Psst.

[Sundog]

Doh! For some reason I thought Alex was waiting to remove 'RC' from the version name before making a blog post. Wishful thinking I guess.

The armor repair system tries to repair armor cells closer to the cursor first, but it's highly randomized so it's hard to tell unless most of the armor is stripped.

[etherealblade]

Amazing! Those ships, dos animations, dat melee, such talent. Well done.

I personally think it doesn't look like a crab scuttling. I love the way it moves like a phantom.
I feel like Phantom Drive fits that ability well...then again...you could call it crab scuttle ability but...meh....I think it deserves better lol. Then again, is crab your favorite food?

I love the melee ship, and if you want regenerating armor. put it. It's your mod. If you are worried about balance you just simply need to counterbalance it with something else..such as no shields. There's nothing wrong with a powerful ship that takes strategy to beat. So don't be afraid to implement all kinds of features!

[Cosmitz]

Armor repair nanits look a bit strong, also, i love that shakey-phasey-burst-effect, though i wonder how that's activated.