Original Post wrote:This is the result of my playing through and beating the game a few times and then deciding to tinker with the blueprints.xml file a bit myself. The mod isn't really devoted to any one thing [although it is mostly weapon changes right now], this is just my personal mod to make the game more enjoyable to myself and others.
UPDATE 3 v0.7
DOWNLOAD v0.7
CHANGES TO WEAPONS
Basic Laser and Dual Laser made available in the shop
Minor tweaks made to Dual Laser/Burst laser I to make them a bit more unique to themselves [one is cheaper, one has a shorter cooldown]
Changed the power req/cooldowns on weapons I thought weren't balanced myself
-NEW LASERS-
Zoltan Laser Mark I -
Deals 1 regular damage, 1 ion damage and can pierce 1 shield. If the enemy has only 1 shield left, this causes it to pierce that shield, disable it with 1 ion damage and continue on to its target room to deal 1 regular damage and another 1 Ion damage.
Zoltan Laser Mark II -
Fires two shots identical to the weapon above.
Burst Laser Mark III
Before you tell me this was already in the game: I changed that one to Mark IV. This laser fires only 3 rounds like Mark II, but these pierce 1 shield and have improved fire and breach chance.
Burst Laser Mark V
Fires five lasers in a burst which can all pierce one shield. Again, slightly improved fire and breach chance over the Mark IV just firing five regular lasers.
-NEW MISSILES-
Rapid Missiles
Deal only 1 damage, like Leto Missiles, but have half the cooldown allowing for some impressive missile barrages. Beware your missile count however, you'll burn through them quickly.
Zeus Missiles
These special missiles cause 3 Ion damage, and like the Zoltan laser, will apply it to any shields the missile passes through. After passing through shields, they make contact to deal 1 regular damage and another 3 Ion damage with a moderately low chance of causing a fire.
Vulcan Missiles
These missiles are guaranteed to start a fire and do 2 damage to the room they hit. Not as useful as Zeus in my opinion, but everyone has their preferences
Hades Missiles
These diabolical missiles are designed specifically to take out crew members in the targeted room. They deal 2 damage on impact and an additional 5 damage to crew members in the room. I consider making this 4 additional damage, because Zoltans are killed from full health how the missile stands right now... and I intend to make this available to enemy ships later.
Hercules Missiles [Previously Nuke]
This will actually cost 4 missiles in order to fire, but deals 10 damage on impact completely destroying anything in the room. In addition it deals 5 extra damage to crew members, to make sure there are no survivors of a nuclear missile. 100% chance of causing a breach. Completely overpowered, but the cost to buy and use suits it I think.
-NEW BEAMS-
Lance Beam
This beam deals in Ion damage.. and works a bit oddly. Completely disables any shield systems; the more powerful the shield was, the longer it will be disabled for. In addition, this beam will deal 1 ion damage to any systems in its target rooms.
Drill Beam
A peculiar beam that deals no damage, but instead pierces all shields and ruptures the hull. The beam is very short [same as mini beam] and takes a rather long time to charge up. Will work best for those who like to destroy their foes' life support.
-NEW OTHERS-
System Hacking
Deals 1 damage directly to systems and only systems. Counts as a bomb, but does not consume missiles, it simply bypasses shields as a hacking attempt should do in my opinion. Will edit weapon sprite and sound in the future.
Bio Bomb
I'm sure you can tell I love my Bio-weapons by now? Good. Deals 8 Bio damage with no other effects. Again, considering toning the power down since this would kill a Zoltan in one hit.
Phoenix Repair Unit
Uses up 5 missiles to place a bomb which will fix 8 hull damage and 2 system damage. Long cooldown and comes at a very steep cost, but makes for a versatile tool when remote healing is needed.
-NEW DRONES-
I changed the beam drone to have a longer beam. it's length was 20 in coding, so I changed it to 45 for it to be the same as the mini beam since it was completely outclassed by the laser drone. It still only hits one or two rooms, but will now hit two rooms much more often. If you get insanely lucky, it may hit 3 rooms since I know the mini beam can if aligned just right. I think this will account for the fact it can't do anything about shields on its own.
Ion Drone Mark I
Works exactly like the basic laser drone, except firing Ion lasers instead. Very useful for people who like to constantly board enemy ships since it won't put your crew at risk. Since aside from this situation, it's almost entirely inferior to the laser drone, I gave it a lower power req. [Permanent damage to random systems + hull is better than just temporary ion damage, wouldn't you say?]
I should make a note and say that even though I was planning to make this drone, I found it's coding already in the blueprints.xml.
Ion Drone Mark II
Pretty much a carbon copy of the above, with a higher speed. Identical to laser drone #2 in fact. Again, lower power req than Laser II since it's not as useful for actually taking down enemy ships.
Missile Drone Mark I
Moves slower than the other combat drones since its method of attacking will always pierce all shields. I was trying to find a way to make this drone consume missiles, but adding a missile cost to it's weapon [DRONE_MISSILE] was no help. The Missiles deal just 1 damage, but of course spread chaos amongst the systems they hit.
Missile Drone Mark II
Again, carbon copy, faster than the other Mark I drones, but only by a very tiny margin. Still, it pierces shields and has a pretty good rate of fire.
Beam Drone Mark II
Same beam length as Beam I, but will pierce a single shield. Does only 1 damage regardless of whether that first shield is there or not and will do nothing if the enemy ship has 2 or more shields.
Anti-Bio Beam Drone
Great in theory... but honestly hasn't served me very well in my own testing. Largely due to the drones' random targeting nature and the fact this beam does NOTHING except deal 5 damage to crew members if it hits a room with any.
-AUGMENTATIONS-
Increased the effectiveness of a number of augments to make them more noticable and give ships more specialization.
- Rock Plating - 30% chance to block hull damage instead of 15%. Be warned, this is already in place on enemy ships since the augmentation is the same for both player and enemy ships [I think]
Crystal Vengeance - 30% chance to strike back with a fully shield piercing crystal instead of just 10%. Because I always sold the augmentation that MIGHT deal 3 damage for me in a battle during which my ship is almost fully destroyed.
Slug Repair Gel - 75% normal repair rate instead of 25%. Just a personal preference.
Drone Speed - 50% speed instead of 25% [I know it said 50% before, but numbers showed 25% in the blueprints.xml]
System Casing - 40% chance of preventing system damage up from 15%. IN MY OPINION system damage is less threatening than hull overall, so a bit more of a boost. Also made this available in the shop at a rarity of 4 since I noticed it was set to rarity 0.
Reverse Ion Field - 35% chance up from 20%. I've never chosen this because I felt 10% more scrap or otherwise saving my money was a better investment. With all of these new ion weapons I've created, I just might consider getting it after I add them to enemy ships.
Automated Re-loader - increased slightly to 20%
Shield charge booster - Increased slightly to 20%
Weapon Pre-igniter - I found this one to be underpriced for what it does, so I made it a tick rarer and cost 40 more scrap. [rarity 5, 160 scrap] I'm sure I'm not the only one who, after getting this, pretty much breeze straight to the end of the game with no trouble. might even remove it entirely, if not add it to enemies somehow.
-PLAYER SHIP CHANGES-
Kestrel #2 has been given the System Hacking weapon
Stealth #2 has been given the Lance Beam and Heavy Laser I in place of its Glaive Beam. Also now has weapon stealthing so that they won't interrupt a cloaking attempt.
Mantis Ships remain unchanged for now. I need something Mantis-y
Engi #2 has had it's weapon system nerfed and drone system buffed. It now starts with an Ion I and no other weapon, but instead starts with a defense drone and beam drone to make up it's offense. Also has Drone recovery arm.
Federation #2 has been outfitted with Rapid Missiles instead of Leto
Slug Ship #1 and #2 have swapped weapons out to include the new Bio Weapons I made
Rock Ship #1 now has Vulcan Missiles, but no other change [no weapons removed]
Energy Ships #1 and #2 have been given the two new Zoltan Lasers in place of their primary weaponry
Crystal Ship #2 starts with the Phoenix repair device.
