[MOD] Crystallis Ship Module Expansion

[jordarkelf]

Some feedback after playing with this:

-I dislike the crews using a large component (reactor/hull) slot. This makes them unusable on most ship designs, and on the bigger ship types there is still nothing preventing me from using multiple different crews, especially after also getting some of the better power reactors to free up more slots. Is it not possible to add them to the 'right side' as a unique slot, like the combat computer and FTL drives? I've another mod installed (range finder) which does this.

-While part of this is a vanilla balancing issue, this mod seems to make it worse: Crystal-Infused Plating is even more useless now. In games with this mod active I have never been able to get the option for it and not get the superior Crystal-Forged Plating at the same time since entities seem to drop both, and after mopping up three or four 'groups' research is easily at 50% for both, making research into Infused a time waster. If possible, I would prefer it if the Forged plating drops were much more rare or even not dropped at all, and instead be the next step up from Infused so you'd have to research that first.
-Related to above? Crystal Entities are much stronger now. This actually is a good change, means they can't be wiped out as easily in early game.

---
This seems to be outdated (first post), judging by the actual file contents:

> !NOTE: this overwrites SOME vanilla files

 

[Guilliman88]

-I dislike the crews using a large component (reactor/hull) slot. This makes them unusable on most ship designs, and on the bigger ship types there is still nothing preventing me from using multiple different crews, especially after also getting some of the better power reactors to free up more slots. Is it not possible to add them to the 'right side' as a unique slot, like the combat computer and FTL drives? I've another mod installed (range finder) which does this.

It is something I want to do with the side option in the ship builder. The problem is, currently, it can only be done by overwrite every ship design file in vanilla. That would make it incompatible with range finder and various other mods. For now large slot only is to prevent too much spamming of the crews. I know they still can be stacked but that's entirely because the game gives me no tools to prevent it. I'm waiting for the devs to be out of holiday before I write up a massive list of issues and suggestions for modding modules and ship designs. We need a few code changes so we can mod modules and ships without massive compatibility issues.

-While part of this is a vanilla balancing issue, this mod seems to make it worse: Crystal-Infused Plating is even more useless now. In games with this mod active I have never been able to get the option for it and not get the superior Crystal-Forged Plating at the same time since entities seem to drop both, and after mopping up three or four 'groups' research is easily at 50% for both, making research into Infused a time waster. If possible, I would prefer it if the Forged plating drops were much more rare or even not dropped at all, and instead be the next step up from Infused so you'd have to research that first.

Same as above. There's currently no way to randomize or mod ship "loot" like that. Something I will highlight in my complaint/suggestion post as well. The crystal entities are also not randomized; they always have the same layout of modules and tech you get from them.

-Related to above? Crystal Entities are much stronger now. This actually is a good change, means they can't be wiped out as easily in early game.

Yup. Set layout of the ships means they're stronger as I gave them a forged plating and an infused plating as modules in their empty module slots.

Sadly it's a bit out of my hands at the moment but hopefully they can make some changes later to make it more mod friendly.

 

[WyldCard4]

Okay, reached the point in a game where I actually played through the shiny things and I am pretty sure I figured out which mod was causing me to crash so much, which was Expanded Starport when I had a whole bunch of modules.

Volunteer Crews are interesting, though my recently playing using hyperlanes reduced their value a bit. I quite like the RP element that their benefits come from allowing the primary crew to be specialized.

I would probably like more general buffs to space monsters, though that might not fit this mod. With all of the new and cool techs it would be nice to see some more challenges rising up, possibly event based and contingent on enough tech having been researched?

Overall I've been having fun with the expansions. Thanks.

 

[ShadowDragon868]

One quick hack to make crystal-infused plating relevant: make crystal-forged plating 2 require Infused AND crystal-forged plating 1.

 

[Guilliman88]

Updated to 1.2.3 (since yday).
Compatible with Plantoid DLC as well.

Just a notice; mod currently in maintenance mode. Bit burned out after nearly 600 hours of Stellaris. I also have a lot of studying to do next couple of weeks, so quite stressed atm.

Stuff is planned but I need a few code changes to happen in the base game for those. Some other stuff like support modules for fighters/bombers (damage and/or fighter/bomber speed) is planned and modifier was implemented internally. Waiting on update that puts that in the game.
Don't worry though, will be keeping this updated and occasionally work on new and improves stuff behind the scenes. Any bugs or issues are fixed fairly fast as well. Right now the most limiting thing for new modules, apart from time, is code limitations.

Edit; thanks for the feedback on crystal plating, I've planned to look at that but can't say when.

 

[Guilliman88]

Updated for 1.3.0 of the game!

V.1.3 Heinlein

Update 20-10-2016

• 
  Made Compatible with Version 1.3 of the game
  This is a compatibility patch. No new additions yet.
  This update breaks your 1.2 savegame (as does the game official 1.3 patch duo to the many changes to ship layouts/module slots.
  
  Changes:
• Thruster pre-required Techs moved down a tier. (Armored/Psionic Thruster I now recuires Thrusters I (base) etc.
• Crystal Forged Plating now uses the AUX slot.
• Crystal forged plating now provides a % hp bonus instead of a flat amount: Rank II = 20%, II=30%, IV=40%, V=50%
• Crystal Infused Tissue now uses the AUX slot.
• Crystallis Infused Tissue hull regeneration increased from 7/9/11/13/15% per month to 10/15/20/25/30% per month.
• Crystal Targeting Matrix now uses the AUX slot.
• Crystal Targeting Matrix now provides a tracking bonus instead of a hit bonus: I = +1 tracking, II= +2, II = +3, IV= +4, V= +5
• Crystallis Targeting Matrix attack speed bonus increased from 2/3/4/5/6% to 10/15/20/25/30%
• Ship Crews now use the AUX slot
• Shields have their health bonus reduced slightly to be in line with the new shield hp values of the 1.3 patch. Around 10%~ reduction.
• Armoured and Psionic Thrusters I-IV now provide a 0/3/6/9 evasion bonus instead of dodge chance
• Armoured and Psionic thrusters I-IV now also provide a combat speed bonus that matches their normal speed bonus.
• Crystallis Sensors V-X now prodive a 10/11/12/13/14/15 tracking bonus instead of hit chance bonus.
• Fallen Empire and crisis ships no longer have my custom modules for the time being. This to make sure compatibility is maintained. This is also done until I have a good understanding of the new balance, especially with the Fallen Empire Awakening events. Should crisis appear very weak I will include my modules to beef them up.

-----

Mod is no longer compatible with 1.2.x versions of the game duo to the module slot changes.
Balance issues will be looked at later (let me know if some things are too good or bad).
Please report any issues or bugs you have with it.

I have pushed out this update so that any future changes do not mess up your 1.3.0 savegames!

Enjoy.

 

[Guilliman88]

Updated!

Updated to 1.3.1 and new features! (still compatible with 1.3.0 of course!)

New: Science ship Advanced Ship section
New: Alternative Auxillary ship sections for corvettes, destroyers, cruisers and battleships.
New: Ship Hangar bays 1-5; aux module that increases strike craft attack damage and flight speed!

+some balance changes (see change logs).

(full change details in second reply on this thread)

 

[Guilliman88]

Huge Update!

+New weapons
+New names/descriptions for some existing modules to make it feel less boring/same
+Tons more

Full changelog here:
http://forum.paradoxplaza.com/forum...s-ship-module-expansion.938210/#post-21500049

Picture of new weapons!

 

[Guilliman88]

Updated:

Update 07-03-2017
Changes:

• increased extra dimensional accuracy and damage for the new tiers.
  
• removed the small hull regen bonus from crystaline armor
  
• Crystalline Armor will now provide a small hull hp bonus
  
• lowered the hull regen bonus from crystal infused plating to better balance endgame.
  
• This mod's modules and weapons can now auto-upgrade to their next level when "auto-upgrade" is enabled in the ship builder.
  
• Crystaline Reactor tech is a bit rarer now.
  
• The following weapon systems new tiers fire rate has been reduced by half, but deal twice as much damage (so effective DPS remains the same). This to reduce graphical effect clutter late game when ships have a lot of bonus fire rate. This also makes for much more beautiful battle scenes!
  
• - Plasma
  
• - Rail guns
  
• - Lasers
  
• - Extra Dimensional
  
• - Disruptor
  
• Reverted previous changes to shield regeneration. Turns out ships ended up being far too hard to destroy with enough + shield regen modules and repeatable techs. It's back to the vanilla system where a small shield has more regen but less hp compared to medium and large shields. Example, small shield X now has 4.6 regen, medium X now has 6.6 regen (instead of 9.2), and large x now has 8.8 regen (instead of 18.4).
  
• Extra Dimensional weapons now have much cooler firing graphics (more plasma orb/beam)
  
• Some tweaks to auxiliary module AI weights
  

New stuff:

• Two new tiers of shield capacitors
  
• Two new advanced bombers, one normal new tier and one "Extra-Dimensional Armed" which is unlocked after researching dimensional weapons.
  
• A new advanced fighter
  
• Tier 4 and 5 autocannons have new firing effects.
  
•