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[vorpal+5]

Are there any significant plans for the mod, or is it primarily in maintenance mode? I'm asking because it seems there are major features running which still do not make the factions in the game behave as in a 4X game. I'm not referring to the player-centric view and the player fleet being the only possible point of focus; I'm fine with that, and Starsector should remain Starsector in that regard. I'm talking about the fact that most of the fleets generated by the AIs are very loosely tied to actual assets. I would expect at some point that (just as a crude example that would need to be refined) planets, depending on their infrastructure, would generate ships or ship parts, assembled into fleets and either stored on the planet or put in orbit for missions or patrols. However, we know this is not the case in the game; 99% of the ships are generated from thin air (or void). Another example is the indestructibility of stations. Under some very specific circumstances, choices, or hard constraints, it should be possible to destroy a station (the AI would do that too).
So Nexerelin makes SS a 4X in the sense planets can be conquered, but the whole economy and military production is still very much like in a RPG (or Rimworld, Story-generator). Stuff is generated when needed, to make a good story, and that's it.

[Histidine]

Are there any significant plans for the mod, or is it primarily in maintenance mode? I'm asking because it seems there are major features running which still do not make the factions in the game behave as in a 4X game. I'm not referring to the player-centric view and the player fleet being the only possible point of focus; I'm fine with that, and Starsector should remain Starsector in that regard. I'm talking about the fact that most of the fleets generated by the AIs are very loosely tied to actual assets. I would expect at some point that (just as a crude example that would need to be refined) planets, depending on their infrastructure, would generate ships or ship parts, assembled into fleets and either stored on the planet or put in orbit for missions or patrols. However, we know this is not the case in the game; 99% of the ships are generated from thin air (or void). Another example is the indestructibility of stations. Under some very specific circumstances, choices, or hard constraints, it should be possible to destroy a station (the AI would do that too).
So Nexerelin makes SS a 4X in the sense planets can be conquered, but the whole economy and military production is still very much like in a RPG (or Rimworld, Story-generator). Stuff is generated when needed, to make a good story, and that's it.

To answer the opening question: I do have some plans for the mod, some that might actually get done in the near future, some that are "yeah, maybe someday".

The game's economic systems are something I've put a bit of thought into over the years; brief comments in the section below.

NPC faction economies
I have a functional implementation of faction resource pools that are expended for actions in space (generated based on the faction's commodity availability in supplies, ship parts & weapons, and fuel) and ground (supplies, marines, fuel). But then I realized the existing invasion points work the same (in a cruder way) while also having far more playtesting behind the system, so for now I'm just plugging a couple more things into the invasion points mechanic, most recently the base strike missions against pirate/Pather bases. Maybe I'll rename them to 'military assets' or somesuch.

A significant limitation is that I have/can only hook (a portion of) Nex mechanics into the system, most notably invasion/raid fleets. Vanilla fleets like patrols and the colony crisis fleets currently aren't connected to it; I might find a way to do so if/when I want, but it'll need a bunch of thinking over and implementation work that I won't get into here.

In any case I don't yet plan on tracking these resources per-market or implementing them as an actual commodity that gets moved around by trade fleets.

There are any number of cool ideas for economic simulation I can come up with, but if the player doesn't actually perceive a difference in how things behave, then the 'fake' behaviors would've worked just as well. (This was a big concern of mine when developing the strategic AI: whether the super smart and sophisticated system ends up playing in the same manner as the crude 'do things at random' system.)

Destroying stations
Well, is there a particular reason to implement this for either the player or NPCs, beyond the already-extant sat bomb mechanic?

[vorpal+5]

Thank you for the detailed answer. I had not considered the difficulties in interfacing with all the components of the game; I thought it was easily moddable for an external developer.
Destroying stations: It feels odd that some pirate stations (or any other) are constantly under repair because they are trashed by in-system hostile patrols or fleets, and then brought back online rapidly (although you can still dock and do your usual business even if damaged). It seems very pointless, but then it is on par with patrols generated from nothing at rapid intervals. I probably need to accept that SS is not a 4X game and will never be!
I should try returning to Aurora, if I can muster some neurons, and if not, I can try Distant World 2, once it is more polished, if that even happens. 

[Faptor]

Is there a walkthrough for the Midnight Dissident questline?
 
I was sure there was more to it after you

Spoiler

Defend the Ludd station and get the Planetkiller bomb.

[close]

but idk if I just missed what I was supposed to do for the next step, finished the questline or if im bugged.

I thought MD wanted me to find someone but I ended up bounty hunting for 15 hours and the quest markers gone and theres no mention of them hahaha

[Histidine]

That's the last mission

(Not sure how to indicate this. Maybe I'll just write "the end" or a longer version thereof in the final intel update bullet points and description, or add a quick dialog with Midnight)

[Faptor]

Oops! I must of been thinking of another mod mission. I haven't played in about a year so im mixing everything together haha
Thanks for the reply and Thank You for the mod! I couldn't imagine SS without it.

[enigma74]

Does Nexerelin disable the new colony threat colony crisis mechanics with Hegemony, Persean League, Pirates, etc?  I actually enjoy starsector more without that stuff, sometimes I just want to play a random galaxy in Nexerelin and let my colonies grow in peace.

[Histidine]

It doesn't, and I haven't (yet) planned to add a switch for this.

[Drachenor]

This may be a dumb question but I am certainly curious regardless.

Does befriending the Remnant's via Midnight help lessen the Remnant Colony Crisis? Or should I just clear out any systems with them in there before meeting her to avoid issues?

In .96 I enjoyed having a remnant Nexus in my sector, as they provided a very useful buffer against others as I grew.

[sawert42]

So i think there might be some problem between "Terraforming and Station Construction" and "Nexerelin", cause right after building a station i got invasions coming to take that station pretty much constantly, before that i had multiple planets for many cycles and they didn't got invaded once, is there some kind of ai that prevents factions from invading just established colony or something, cause if yes i think that ai ignores stations build by a player.

I've already asked about it on TaSC and the mod maker said that he isn't aware of anything in his mod.
Also just fyi i'm playing on 0.96 and my Nexerelin version is v0.11.1

[Akekho]

Hello i have a question, is there a way to make AI factions more eager to reclaim their lost planets? I often have situations when one planet gets invaded, invasion fleets get destroyed but ai REFUSES to reclaim their planet (cough cough sindrian dictat lossing curor to early invasion every run cough cough). It would be cool if factions were more eger to reclaim their lost worlds, or at least if factions that are confined to single system had some "stronghold" buff soo they wont be doomed to a death spiral if one planet gets taken, it would also give some more lore reasons why they still exist in sucha a volitile sector.

[Histidine]

Hello i have a question, is there a way to make AI factions more eager to reclaim their lost planets? I often have situations when one planet gets invaded, invasion fleets get destroyed but ai REFUSES to reclaim their planet (cough cough sindrian dictat lossing curor to early invasion every run cough cough). It would be cool if factions were more eger to reclaim their lost worlds, or at least if factions that are confined to single system had some "stronghold" buff soo they wont be doomed to a death spiral if one planet gets taken, it would also give some more lore reasons why they still exist in sucha a volitile sector.

I'll see if I need to make factions more aggressive with revanchism (and they should be anyway, if strategic AI is enabled), though in the Diktat case it might be that they don't have the resources to retake it anyway.

I've received a separate suggestion that makes factions generate invasion points more quickly and strengthen their defenses after losing markets; if I implement that it should help here.

Does befriending the Remnant's via Midnight help lessen the Remnant Colony Crisis? Or should I just clear out any systems with them in there before meeting her to avoid issues?

In .96 I enjoyed having a remnant Nexus in my sector, as they provided a very useful buffer against others as I grew.

Midnight won't help with the Remnant colony crisis until a later update.

So i think there might be some problem between "Terraforming and Station Construction" and "Nexerelin", cause right after building a station i got invasions coming to take that station pretty much constantly, before that i had multiple planets for many cycles and they didn't got invaded once, is there some kind of ai that prevents factions from invading just established colony or something, cause if yes i think that ai ignores stations build by a player.

I've already asked about it on TaSC and the mod maker said that he isn't aware of anything in his mod.
Also just fyi i'm playing on 0.96 and my Nexerelin version is v0.11.1

Do you have a commission with a pirate-type faction (in vanilla this is pirates and Luddic Path)? That protects all your markets (except those taken from another faction*) if pirate invasions haven't also been enabled.
*This check relies on checking the currently owning faction against the `$startingFactionId` memory key which I expect TASC doesn't set, hence the station getting picked on. TASC should probably set it, although an update won't help your 0.96 game.

[Dadada]

I have not played modded for a while so I dunno what the new strategic faction AI is capable of but I have 2 suggestions:
A toggle to mix old and new vengeance fleets and for the AI to send defense fleets to thwart invasions and maybe raid attempts etc., inb4 the AI can do that now.
Maybe the AI could also send invasions if the player is weakened or is invading them... inb4 the AI can do that now.

Thank you for the excellent Mod. Mmm, maybe I'll start a new modded playthrough, actually planned to do a modded one around Mai or June, but ehh, today seems fine too.

[Impertinent]

Hello !
Thanks for the mod, I'm really having a blast, and all this life really gives a new purpose to the game.

I have a question regarding Market Value. Does the Market Value increase when new colonies and new industries are built ?
In vanilla, at first building more colonies helps get a bigger share of the pie, but then it just divides the income between the colonies with increased upkeep cost, so it grealty hinders the economic viability of colonies past a certain point.
I hope Nexerelin allows for a growing economy !

Thanks

[enigma74]

Quick question not sure if this a nexerelin or vanilla feature.  How did I get these "x" on the my map next to the name of each area to indicate what I've already explored?  I think I pressed some key or key combination on the keyboard, and it suddenly popped up.