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Twinge's Balance & Bugfix Mod v3.4.1
Goal: To improve the overall game experience by fixing balance issues throughout the game and by adding more interesting decisions to the game.
Note: This mod assumes you are using Advanced Edition content and won't work properly otherwise.
Download: v3.4.1 Mod Files: Slipstream file
Official Forum Thread. Feel free to post here with any concerns, comments, bugs, or suggestions related to the Balance Mod.
Installation: Download Slipstream Mod Manager and install the Slipstream file linked above with the manager.
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Overview of Important Changes
- Fixed multiple game bugs.
- Weak weapons made relevantly cheaper or otherwise improved. Best weapons more expensive, Flak I less accurate, Flak I & Halberd less common.
- Kestrel C and Federation B have been redesigned in an effort to make them a unique experience compared to other ships.
- You can no longer bypass enemy Defense Drones with Hacking, and Hacking is much more expensive.
- Many events tweaked, making more options actually worth considering (e.g., the black market weapons trade is far more reasonable).
- Stealth C's Shield+ Drone now requires 1 power; Engi B starts with Level 3 Piloting and Heavy Ion is buffed; Rock A starts with Explosive Replicator (with fewer missiles) and Hull Missile is buffed; Fed C starts with Repair Burst & Zoltan Bypass instead of Respirators; Stealth B starts with Titanium System Casing and Level 3 Cloaking is cheaper.
- Most augments improved or made cheaper. Adv. FTL Navigation & Hacking Stun removed from game. Long-Ranged Scanners cost more. Racial augments sell for less to encourage their use.
- Shield Drones and Boarding Drone now require only 2 power and cost less. Fire Drone slightly weaker but only requires 2 power. Combat II & Beam II Drones have been buffed slightly and are more common. Defense II and Combat II cheaper.
- Other System Pricing: Cloaking more expensive (L3 cheaper), L2 and L5 Engines more expensive, Teleporters slightly cheaper. Many systems cheaper at the higher levels (especially Engines & Drones). Cheaper to switch Medbay and Clone Bay.
- The Rebel Flagship is less of a difficulty spike when playing on Easy difficulty (several systems are lower level, most notably Hacking and Mind Control).
- Stores: Missiles & Drone Parts cheaper. Humans, Rockmen, and Mantis cheaper.
- Enemy ships can no longer have Tier 5 Shields.
- Enemy AE ships buffed to be more in line with their non-DLC counterparts.
- Reduced the odds of free crew from events slightly and tweaked many event scrap gains up or down appropriately.
- Fewer dead beacons in Sector 1, Mantis Sectors, Rock Sectors, and Abandoned Sectors. Sector 8 events make more sense.
- Tweaked enemy base power so they don't have weirdly high power during plasma storms sometimes.
- Engi are slightly less common, and you get less free stuff in Engi Sectors.
- Rock ships have worse Cloaking but can equip Swarm Missiles. Lanius Bomber slightly weaker.
- Some weaker ship classes can no longer appear in late sectors. "Scout" class enemy ships now always have only 6 missiles.
- Various quality of life tweaks: easier beam aiming, more consistent event option ordering, better default weapon/crew positions, more informative text, etc.
- Large number of punctuation and grammar fixes. Event phrasing tweaked to be more consistent and clear. Event text more inclusive.
- Fixed visuals on many ships, including shield positioning/size, cloaking lines, and system graphics.
Ships
Red-tail (Kestrel B)
The Zoltan now starts manning the Engines.
The Swallow (Kestrel C)
Modified ship in an attempt to make it more distinct from other ships:
Renamed 'The Loon', to keep the bird theme and fit its diving nature.
Weapons: Hull Laser 1, Breach Bomb 1 (16 missiles)
Augments: FTL Recharge Booster (significantly buffed)
Crew: Lanius, Slug, Human
Systems: L1 Clone Bay, L2 Piloting, L4 Engines, 9 Power. (Standard L2 Shields, L1 Doors, L1 Oxygen, L1 Sensors, 2 Drone Parts.)
This ship has some tricky early encounters in somewhat similar ways to the Engi B (missing one laser shots is rough), but the Breach 1 charges fast and you have enough missiles you can use it when you need to. It's very good at killing off enemy crew for better rewards, and it can very quickly run from any fight that's a problem. Additionally, it can dive for extra beacons fairly safely, as it can generally escape before an ASB shot hits.
The Vortex (Engi B)
Starting Piloting increased from 1 to 3.
Starting Drone Parts 6->8
(Heavy Ion buffed.)
The Osprey (Fed. A)
Rock now starts manning Engines, Mantis now starts manning Weapons.
Nisos (Fed. B)
Modified ship in an attempt to make it more distinct from other ships:
Renamed 'The Albatross'.
Weapons: Heavy Laser II, Hermes Missile (12 missiles)
Augments: Automated Reloader
Crew: Slug, Zoltan, Human
Systems: L3 Weapons, L3 Shields, L2 Medbay, L2 Engines, L2 Artillery Beam, 10 Power. (Standard L1 Doors, L1 Oxygen, L1 Sensors.)
This ship is something of an amalgamation of pieces not used in other ships. The crux is balancing your starting 3 weapon power with the HL2 and Hermes, deciding when you want to use which weapon. A common approach might be to fire the Hermes first and then switch to the HL2. It's awkward to use, but between the HL2, Hermes, and Artillery it has flexibility to build out in a lot of different ways. The Reloader softens the relatively high cooldowns of its starting weaponry and also works with the Artillery. Finally, it features a shield buffer point and a L2 Medbay, which partially makes up for the awkward layout + small Medbay while also offering some event blue options rarely seen otherwise.
The Fregatidae (Fed. C)
Now starts with a Repair Burst.
Starts with Zoltan Shield Bypass instead of Emergency Respirators.
Starting Missiles 5->7
Flak Artillery projectiles 7->8
Flak Artillery radius 35->34 (~6% more accurate)
The Nesasio (Stealth A)
Starting weapon order switched.
(Titanium System Casing sells for 20 less, but is 33% more likely to proc.)
DA-SR 12 (Stealth B)
Now starts with Titanium System Casing. (Sells for 20.)
Swapped the location of Cloaking and Drones to make it harder for Weapons+Cloaking to be hit at the same time.
(Level 3 Cloaking cost reduced.)
(Shields cost slightly reduced.)
Simo-H (Stealth C)
Shield+ Drone now requires only 1 power.
(Anti-Combat Drone recovers faster.)
Bulwark (Rock A)
Now starts with Explosive Replicator.
Starting missiles 28->12.
(Hull Missiles buffed.)
Man of War (Slug A)
Starting weapon order switched.
(Slug Repair Gel sells for 10 less.)
The Stormwalker (Slug B)
Swapped the location of the Medbay and the Cloaking system. (Makes using the Medbay + Teleporting or flushing boarders work a bit more smoothly.)
(Medbay & Clone Bay are 10 scrap cheaper to buy.)
(Slug Repair Gel sells for 10 less.)
(Healing Burst Cooldown significantly reduced.)
Ariolimax (Slug C)
(Slug Repair Gel sells for 10 less.)
(Chain Laser slightly buffed.)
The Gila Monster (Mantis A)
The Engi now starts manning Engines.
The Basilisk (Mantis B)
Starting Power 11->10
(Boarding Drone now requires 2 power instead of 3.)
Bravais (Crystal A)
(Crystal Vengeance sells for 20 less.)
Carnelian (Crystal B)
(Crystal Vengeance sells for 20 less.)
Kruos (Lanius A)
(Chain Laser slightly buffed.)
Visual Fixes
Flipped the Sensors visual on the Nisos to the top side for better visual symmetry.
Removed a door on the Bravais that went through a console.
Moved a door on The Stormwalker so it no longer goes through equipment.
Fixed the engine room on the Tektite and the oxygen on The Shrike so doors weren't going through equipment.
Changed the shield image for the Mantis Cruisers to be larger so it encloses the ship properly.
Adjusted the positioning of the shield images on several ships so they better enclose the ship: Lanius A, Crystal A & B, Kestrel B, Slug B, Rock A & C, Stealth B.
Systems
Pilot Level_2 Cost 20->25
Pilot Level_3 Cost 50->40
Engines Level_3 Cost 15->20
Engines Level_5 Cost 40->45
Engines Level_6 Cost 60->55
Engines Level_7 Cost 80->65
Engines Level_8 Cost 120->85 (Levels 6-8 of engines cost substantially more scrap for the relative dodge provided than previous levels do. See Engine Efficiency for more details.)
Oxygen Level_2 Cost 25->20 Oxygen Level_3 Cost 50->25
Medbay System Cost 50->40
Medbay Level_2 Cost 35->25
Medbay Level_3 Cost 45->30
Medbay Rarity 1->2
Clone Bay System Cost 50->40
Clone Bay Level_2 Cost 35->25
Clone Bay Level_3 Cost 45->30
Clone Bay Rarity 1->2
Shields System Cost 125->120
Shields Level_5 Cost 40->35
Shields Level_6 Cost 60->70
Shields Level_7 Cost 80->75
Shields Level_8 Cost 100->95
Drones System Cost 60->50
Drones Level_4 Cost 30->25
Drones Level_5 Cost 45->40
Drones Level_6 Cost 60->50
Drones Level_7 Cost 80->60
Drones Level_8 Cost 100->70
Teleporter System Cost 90->80
Teleporter Level_3 Cost 60->40
Cloaking System Cost 150->160
Cloaking Level_3 Cost 50->40
Hacking System Cost 80->130
Hacking Level_2 Cost 35->55
(Hacking also nerfed via no longer being able to bypass enemy Defense Drones, and indirectly nerfed via things like fewer free drone parts.)
Mind Control Level_3 Cost 60->40
Backup Battery System Cost 35->40
Backup Battery Level_2 Cost 50->45
Sensors System Cost 40->35
Sensors Level_2 Cost 25->20
Sensors Level_3 Cost 40->25
Sensors Rarity 1->2
Doors System Cost 60->30 (Shivan only. Does practically nothing by itself - you then need to pay more to upgrade for any real effect, AND you still don't have any doors to vent outside the ship.)
Doors Level_2 Cost 35->30
Doors Level_3 Cost 50->45
Doors Rarity 1->2 (Slightly less common in case you don't want to buy doors at all, but still common enough to generally find if desired.)
Federation Cruiser Artillery Beam/Flak Level 4 Cost 80->75
Weapons
Burst Laser I Cost 50->55
Burst Laser II Cost 80->90
Burst Laser III Cost 95->40
Burst Laser III Rarity 4->3
Burst Laser III Cooldown 19s->18s
Burst Laser III Fire Chance 0%->10%
Heavy Laser Mark II Cost 65->60
Heavy Laser Mark II Rarity 4->3
Heavy Pierce Laser Mark I Stun Chance 0%->20%
Hull Smasher Laser Cooldown 14->13
Hull Smasher Laser Mark II Cost 75->60
Hull Smasher Laser Mark II Breach Chance 30%->40%
Hull Smasher Laser Mark II Projectile Speed 90->75 (Standard lasers are 60; being extra fast makes it harder to land last when you generally want to.)
Chain Vulcan Cost 95->80
Laser Charger Fire Chance 0%->10%
Laser Charger+ Fire Chance 0%->10%
Chain Burst Laser Cost 65->55
Chain Burst Laser Cooldown 16s/13s/10s/7s->15s/12s/9s/6s
Laser Charger II correctly named
Laser Charger II Cost 70->65
Laser Charger II Cooldown 5->4.5
Flak Gun Mark I Cost 65->80
Flak Gun Mark I Rarity 1->3
Flak Gun Mark I Radius 42->49 (About 35% less accurate)
Adv. Flak Cooldown 8s->9s
Adv. Flak Radius 40->45
Mini-Beam Length 45->47 (This makes the player's beam easier to aim without letting it hit anything new.)
Halberd Beam Cost 65->75
Halberd Beam Cooldown 17->18
Halberd Beam Rarity 2->3
Glaive Beam Cost 95->85
Glaive Beam Color Bright Red->Darker Red (Visual tweak only.)
Fire Beam Cooldown 20->19
Fire Beam Swipe Speed 5->7
Fire Beam Color Bright Red->Red-Orange (Visual tweak only.)
Hull Beam Cost 70->65
Hull Missiles Cost 65->40
Hull Missiles Cooldown 17->14
Hull Missiles Breach Chance 30%->40%
Hull Missiles Stun Chance 10%->30%
Breach Missiles Cost 65->50
Breach Missiles Cooldown 22->21
Breach Missiles Breach Chance 80%->100%
Breach Missiles Fire Chance [6]%->0%
Breach Missiles Stun Chance 10%->20%
Pegasus Missiles Cost 60->50
Pegasus Missiles Cooldown 20s->16s
Hermes Missiles Cost 45->30
Swarm Missiles Cost 65->50
Swarm Missiles given a new launch sound effect.
Heavy Ion renamed Heavy Ion Stunner.
Heavy Ion Cooldown 13->12
Heavy Ion Stun Chance 20% for 3 seconds -> 100% for 7 seconds
Changed Heavy Ion Stunner graphics to look like a stun weapon.
Ion Stunner Projectile Speed 30->40
Ion Charger Cost 50->55
Ion Charger Projectile Speed 30->40
Ion Blast Mark I Rarity 3->2
Ion Blast Mark I Projectile Speed 30->40
Ion Blast Mark II Cost 70->60
Ion Blast Mark II Projectile Speed 30->40
Chain Ion Cost 55->50
Chain Ion Cooldown 14s->12.5s
Chain Ion Stun Chance 0%->20% (for 3 seconds)
Chain Ion Projectile Speed 30->40
Ion Bomb Cost 55->50
Ion Bomb Cooldown 22s->21s
Fire Bomb Cost 50->40
Fire Bomb Cooldown 15s->14s
Fire Bomb Rarity 2->3
Stun Bomb Cost 45->35
Stun Bomb Cooldown 17s->12s
Stun Bomb Rarity 2->3
Healing Burst Cost 40->25
Healing Burst Cooldown 18s->11s
Healing Burst Rarity 3->4
Repair Burst Cost 40->30
Repair Burst Cooldown 14s->5s
Crystal Lockdown Bomb Cost 45->25
Crystal Lockdown Bomb Cooldown 15s->13s
Crystal Burst Mark I Cost 20->30
Crystal Burst Mark II Cost 20->40
Crystal Burst Mark II Cooldown 17s->14s
Heavy Crystal Mark I Cost 20->30
Heavy Crystal Mark I Breach Chance 10%->20%
Heavy Crystal Mark II Cost 20->50
Anti-Bio Beam Color Orange->Green (Visual tweak only.)
Drones
Anti-Ship Beam Drone Mark I Cost 50->45
Anti-Ship Beam Drone Mark II Cost 60->55
Anti-Ship Beam Drone Mark II Rarity 5->4
Anti-Ship Beam Drone Mark II Movement Speed 11->12 (This makes it about 40% higher DPS than Beam I instead of 30%.)
Fixed Anti-Ship Beam Drone Mark II images so it glows properly when firing.
Combat Drone Mark II Cost 75->70
Combat Drone Mark II Movement Speed 28->30
Combat Drone Mark II Rarity 5->4
Anti-Ship Fire Drone Power Requirement 3->2
Anti-Ship Fire Drone Cost 50->55
Anti-Ship Fire Drone Movement Speed 12->11
Boarding Drone Cost 70->50
Boarding Drone Player Power Requirement 3->2 (AI Boarding Drones still require 3 power.)
Ion Intruder Drone Cost 65->35
(FTL's hard-coding prevents changing only the player's power requirement.)
Hull Repair Drone Power Requirement 2->3
Hull Repair Drone Cost 85->100
Hull Repair Drone Rarity 4->5
System Repair Drone Cost 30->20
Anti-Personnel Drone Cost 35->25
Anti-Combat Drone Cost 35->20
Anti-Combat Drone Firing Cooldown 7s->6s
Anti-Combat Drone Rarity 1->2
Shield Overcharger Drone Cost 60->40
Shield Overcharger Drone Player Power Requirement 3->2 (AI Shield Drones still require 3 power.)
Shield Overcharger Drone Rotation Speed 5->4 (Visual change only, so drones don't overlap.)
Shield Overcharger+ Drone Sell Value 30->25
Shield Overcharger+ Drone Power Requirement 2->1
Shield Overcharger+ Drone Rotation Speed 5->4
Defense Drone I Rotation Speed 5->6 (Visual change only, so drones don't overlap.)
Defense Drone II Cost 70->55
Defense Drone II Player Cooldown 0.88s->0.80s
Defense Drones projectile speed significantly increased and Hacking Drone speed decreased to make it very difficult to bypass Defense Drones by depowering your Hacking mid-flight. Enemy Defense Drone Cooldown increased to make it easier to get your Hacking Drone or Missiles past with other weapons assisting: Defense I 1.0s -> 1.4s; Defense II 0.88s -> 0.93s
Augments
Adv. FTL Navigation removed from the game.
Hacking Stun removed from the game.
Repair Arm Cost 50->40
Repair Arm Scrap Loss 15%->10% (Scrap amount rounds against you.)
Repair Arm Rarity 3->2
Drone Recovery Arm Cost 50->45
FTL Recharge Booster Cost 50->35
FTL Recharge Booster Effect 25%->55% (Level 4 Engines can now fairly reliably avoid ASBs, and Level 3 can sometimes.)
FTL Recharge Booster Rarity 2->3
FTL Jammer Cost 30->20
(Added blue options for enemies that are trying to escape as you start the fight.)
Explosive Replicator Cost 60->40
Explosive Replicator Rarity 3->2
Long-Ranged Scanners Cost 30->50
Reverse Ion Field Cost 45->30
Reverse Ion Field Effect 50%->75%
Shield Recharge Booster Cost 45->40
Stealth Weapons Cost 50->25
Scrap Recovery Arm Rarity 1->2
Fire Suppression Cost 65->35
Fire Suppression Effect 1.0->1.25 (Puts out all fires simultaneously at about the same rate as a Human, ~10 seconds.)
Distraction Buoys Cost 55->45
Battery Charger Cost 40->25
Battery Charger Reduction 10s->15s (Instead of reducing the cooldown from 20s to 10s, it reduces it to 5s.)
Defense Scrambler Cost 80->40
Defense Scrambler Rarity 4->3
Backup DNA Bank Cost 40->30
Lifeform Scanner Cost 40->20
(Added new blue options to several events.)
Reconstructive Teleport Cost 70->45
Emergency Respirators Cost 50->25
Zoltan Shield Bypass Cost 55->35
Titanium System Casing Sale Value 40->20
Titanium System Casing Effect 15%->20%
Crystal Vengeance Sell Value 40->12
Crystal Vengeance Effect 10%->20%
Crystal Vengeance Shard Breach Chance 10%->50%
Mantis Pheromones Effect 25%->30%
Mantis Pheromones Sell Value 25->20
Rock Plating Sell Value 40->27
Slug Repair Gel Sell Value 30->17
Drone Reactor Booster Effect 25%->250%
Drone Reactor Booster Sell Value 25->15
Damaged Stasis Pod Sale Value 15->24
Stores & Crew
Missile Base Cost 6->5
Drone Part Base Cost 8->7
Human Cost 45->40
Mantis Cost 55->50
Rockman Cost 55->50
Events
General
Fixed hundreds of cases of typos, missing punctuation, incorrect capitalization, etc.
Tweaked the phrasing of many events and items to be more consistent or clear.
Re-ordered some event choices so the standard 'fight' option is in the #1 slot consistently.
Made blue option text consistent: 'Improved' refers to a Level 2 System or Level 4-5 Weapons/Engines; 'Advanced' refers to a Level 3 System or Level 6-8 Weapons/Engines.
Removed some excessive text prompts.
Made event text more diverse/inclusive.
'Ion storms' renamed to 'plasma storms' to reduce confusion with pulsars.
New game tips tweaked to be more helpful and informative.
Bugfixes
No fuel stalemate situations now give you a chance to continue a fight, in case they trigger when you were still able to win.
Fixed a bug where Fire Drones were not considered Combat Drones for events.
Fixed a bug where Hull Missiles weren't counted as missile weapons for events.
Fixed several no-fuel events where the fight was not guaranteed to give you fuel.
Fixed a bug where you could (rarely) delay the fleet multiple times in a row by waiting when out of fuel.
Made it more clear that the reward for the Merchant_Investigate event was from scrapping the ship and the cargo reward is additional.
Fixed a no-fuel event where the game wouldn't re-enable your Engines properly.
Fixed a bug where a distress beacon event was not showing a distress signal on the map.
Added a missing drone part cost to a blue option using a Hull Repair Drone for a Lanius event.
Fixed the Crystal Hunter event so the ship no longer remains hostile after you accept their surrender.
Fixed an event that let you buy a reactor upgrade despite being maxed already.
Fixed a bug where multiple Hacking blue options would appear in a single event.
Fixed a bug where the pirate smuggler gave no text when it escaped the fight.
Fixed a mistake that let AE weapons appear in Crystal Sector Stores.
Fixed a minor visual glitch with the Hull Beam.
Prices & Trades
Tweaked several resource trading event to increase the number of resources traded. (This makes these events feel a little less boring and unimportant.)
Reduced the cost of Lanius Research Craft event: 45/50/40 for augment/weapon/drone -> 30/40/30; with Lanius 35/40/30 -> 20/30/20
Reduced the cost of trading scrap for an augment from the Lanius 'beacon eater' event, and made the 'give them scrap' option not strictly bad to choose.
Nebula Black Market Weapons Trader only charges 20 instead of 45, and you have a 5/6 chance of getting the weapon instead of 1/2.
Mind Control blue option for this event now guarantees a weapon, with a 1/3 chance at a small discount.
Reduced the cost of mercenary scouting and delaying Rebels.
Significantly reduced the cost of buying from slavers (from 35 average to 20 average) to make it occasionally worth considering if you need crew. (This is alongside the fact slavers are less likely to surrender and offer free crew.)
Lowered the cost of legitimate repairs from the dodgy slug mechanic, and increased the odds of a semi-favorable result from accepting their repair offer.
Reduced the cost of the 'rescue Engi from Rebel' event reward options: Medibots cost 40->25; Random cost 25->15 and now includes Repair Burst as a possible result.
Reduced the fee the pirate charges to not attack you slightly.
Tweaked the costs of discount system upgrades down to be appropriately lower compared to the normal cost of upgrades (averaging roughly around half cost), and made reactor upgrades based on your current reactor level instead of having a flat cost.
Reduced the cost of buying crew from the tavern event from an average of 35/40 to 24/28.
Reduced the amount of scrap you offer the Crystal collector.
Event Changes
The Rebel Shield-hacking event now hacks only 1 level of shields. (This makes it less potentially ridiculous and also encourages buying a shield buffer level.)
Improved the chances of finding fuel in an asteroid field when out of fuel.
Increased the odds of the Rebel fleet being delayed if you're out of fuel and don't turn your distress beacon on.
Prices for the 'buy discount fuel' event reduced slightly.
Tweaked the escaping Rebel Drone event so that the Auto-Drones won't have more than Level 2 Cloaking and increased the escape timer from 40s to 43s. (This gives at least one chance to fire any weapon if Weapons are manned and gives more flexibility as far as damaging their Cloaking/etc. goes.)
Increased the reward tier from Low to Medium.
Blue Options
When rescuing the Stranded Madman after assessing him with a Slug, he will now be a random race (instead of Human only) and have a random skill.
Using an Anti-Personnel Drone to explore the diseased station now has a 67% chance of a reward instead of 33%.
A Teleporter sub-option for the diseased station is now usually helpful instead of almost the same as no blue option.
Added additional blue options for the 'secure the dangerous cargo' event for Fire Beam, Fire Drone, and Boarding Drone.
Improved several blue option rewards for having Sensors 2 or Sensors 3.
Added a Lifeform Scanner blue option for giant alien spiders.
Added a Lifeform Scanner option for the Mantis Pod event.
Added a Lifeform Scanner option for the Pirate Cargo Ambush event.
Added a Lifeform Scanner option to locate KazaaakplethKilik.
Added FTL Jammer blue options to events where enemies are trying to escape as the fight begins: Auto Drone Warning, Rebel Forward Scout, Rebel Transport Ship, Engi Unlock Quest, Slug Unlock Quest.
Added FTL Jammer option for the Pirate Smuggler event, preventing them from trying to run when damaged.
Removed or weakened some blue options for Long-Ranged Scanners.
Removed bad results from a Rebel radar station blue option using combat drones.
Increased the reward value for the blue 'warning shot' option in the distress civilian-attacked-by-pirate event. (Previously it was worse to use the blue option.)
Added some better results for higher level Mind Control compared to lower level Mind Control.
Enabled a Lanius blue option for the haywire satellite defense.
Improved a Slug blue option in a Rock event. (Previously it was worse to use the blue option.)
Made a Crystal Sector blue option require only Level 5 Engines instead of Level 7 so that it might be seen more often than never.
Result Tweaks
Reduced the chance of a slaver surrendering and offering crew from 80% to 40%.
Reduced one of the crew-kill scrap rewards High->Med and reduced free crew 67%->50%.
Reduced income from killing enemy crew to the same as destroying their ship in a few situations where time would be limited.
Destroying Slaver ships now gives a medium instead of high reward.
Completing the Rock Quest now gives you a medium scrap reward in addition to the hull repair and Rock Plating.
Reduced the odds of losing crew to the quarantine event to 25% (from 50%) and increased the reward chance to 75% (from 50%).
Reduced the odds of free crew from the Rebel vs Federation distress event when you don't have a blue option.
Reduced the scrap gain when using the Teleporter or Healing Burst blue options.
Added a Repair Burst blue option.
Reduced the odds of free crew from the Rescue Civilians from Asteroids event when using the Teleporter blue option (50%->33%).
Reduced the odd of free crew from one of the drone part delivery events (67%->50%), but gave a chance for a small scrap reward (0%->25%).
Increased the odds of something happening in the battlefield investigation event.
Added a black market store quest result as an uncommon outcome of freeing the trapped miner.
Reduced the odds of losing crew from 'Send in your crew to help put out the fire' from 50% to 25%. (Average reward is roughly the same for Clone Bays but better without.)
Slightly increased risk/reduced reward for 'Dock and try to rescue the survivors'.
Increased the reward for securing ammo/fuel supply in the plasma storm from low to medium.
Increased the reward for the secret word quest.
Tweaked the Engi surrender event to make explaining you're friendly less bad: you can now gamble on a high reward from being friendly (2/3rds chance) or take a guaranteed medium reward.
Tweaked Repair Beacons in The Last Stand to give 2 fewer drone parts and 1 more missile.
Reduced the reward from the insane Zoltan Wiseman event.
Reduced the reward in the Zoltan Study event when they're being held hostage.
Reduced the reward from scrapping debris from the dilapidated space station, and improved the rewards for investigating.
Reduced the reward for securing the Engi equipment cache.
Sectors
The Rebel Shield-hacking event can no longer appear in Sector 1.
Sector 1 'Nothing' events reduced: 1-2->1; 'Neutral Civilian' increased: 2-4->3-4.
The Rebel Shield-hacking event will now also appear in Rebel sectors.
Removed the 'giant alien spider' event from Mantis Sectors. (Will still appear in Civilian, Engi, or Rock sectors.)
Mantis Sector 'Nothing' events reduced: 2-3->1; 'Hostile Mantis' increased: 6-7->7-8.
Rock Sector 'Nothing' events reduced: 2-3->2-2; 'Hostile Rock' increased: 6-8->7-8.
Engi Sector 'Engi Items' events reduced: 3-3->2-2.
Abandoned Sector 'Boarder' events reduced: 1-2->1; 'Neutral Lanius' increased 5-6->5-7.
Engi are now slightly rarer in Pirate and Rebel sectors but slightly more common in Zoltan sectors. (Engi are supposed to be friends of the Zoltan.)
The Last Stand now only has Neutral-type events that make sense for a sector with a massive fight going on, and the Mercenary doesn't offer to delay the Rebels (which would do nothing).
Enemy Ships
General
All enemy ships that had a maximum of Level 10 Shields now have a maximum of Level 9. (Prevents 5 shield bubbles and prevents out-of-depth high-shield encounters, e.g. Tier-3 Shields in Sector 3.)
Enemy ship base power allocation adjusted so some ships no longer have huge advantages in plasma storms. Now all ships only have enough power to cover their systems - except for Automated Drones, Slug Ships, and Zoltan Ships which all have 1 extra power (simulating some preparation for plasma storms).
Rebel & Automated Ships
The Rebel Flagship now offers a smoother difficulty curve on Easy difficulty: Level 2 Medbay (All Phases), Level 2 Hacking (Phase 1), Level 1 Cloaking (Phase 1), Level 2 Doors (Phase 1), Level 2 Mind Control (Phase 3), Level 4 Engines (Phase 3), Level 1 Teleporter (Phase 3).
All difficulties: Drone ordering during Phase 2 has been changed to depower in this order: Defense, Boarding, Combat, Beam. (This allows various attacks to disable the Defense Drone to allow for Hacking or Missiles.)
Flagship Construction Shield Range [2-8]->[3-8]
Flagship Construction Laser Artillery Range [1-4]->[2-4]
Flagship Construction Oxygen Range [1-2]->[2-2]
Flagship Construction Teleporter Guaranteed->Optional
Bugfix: Flagship Construction can now optionally have Hacking [Level 1-2]
Bugfix: Flagship Construction can now optionally have Mind Control [Level 1-2]
Flagship Construction Base Health 10->11
Reward bonus Fuel/Missiles/Drone Parts reduced from 5/5/5 to [3-5]/[4-6]/[1-2].
Rebel Rigger Drone Range [2-8]->[2-9] (In practice: Sectors 6-8 are +1.)
Auto-Hacker Shield Range [2-8]->[2-9] (In practice: Sectors 6-8 are +1/2 bubble.)
Auto-Scout & Auto-Surveyor Missile Count 10->6
Auto-Assault no longer appears in Sector 1. (Helps Stealth B and C's early game.)
Federation Ships
Federation Scout & Federation Outrider Max Sector 7->6
Federation Scout & Federation Outrider Missile Count 10->6
Engi Ships
Engi Outrider Weapon Range [2-6]->[2-7] (In practice: Sector 6 now ranges from 5-7 instead of 4-6.)
Engi Scout & Engi Outrider Max Sector 8->6
Engi Bomber & Engi Hacker Base Health 9->10
Engi Hacker Weapon Range [2-8]->[2-9] (In practice: Sectors 6-8 are +1.)
Engi Bomber & Engi Hacker now start with Level 1 Doors (instead of them being optional).
Anti-Personnel Drones can now appear on Engi Bombers.
Zoltan Ships
'Energy' ships renamed to 'Zoltan' ships.
Zoltan Fighter & Zoltan Instigator Base Health 7->6
Zoltan Fighter now starts with Level 1 Doors (instead of them being optional).
Rock Ships
Rock ships can now be equipped with Swarm Missiles.
The Rock Elite you fight as part of the Rock Quest now has an additional crew member to make it less likely they can't run.
Rock Investigator Crew Range [2-3]->[2-4] (In practice: Sector 4 now has 3 Crew instead of 2.)
Rock Aggressor Crew Range [2-5]->[3-5]
Rock Aggressor Cloaking Range Optional[1-2]->Optional[1]
Slug Ships
Slug Scout Missile Count 10->6
Slug Interceptor Max Sector 6->5
Slug Instigator Crew Range [4-7]->[4-6]
Made the text after you fight the Slug assault ship guarding the construction platform hint towards the requirement for unlocking the Slug Cruiser.
Mantis Ships
Mantis Interceptor Crew Range [2-3]->[3-4]
Mantis Scout & Mantis Interceptor Engine Range [1-5]->[2-6]
Mantis Scout Missile Count 10->6
Mantis Scout & Mantis Interceptor Max Sector 6->5
Mantis Assault Shield Range [2-7]->[2-8]
Mantis Assault Weapons Range [1-7]->[1-8]
Mantis Assault Crew Range [2-4]->[3-4]
Mantis Aggressor Shield Range [2-8]->[2-9] (In practice: Sectors 6-8 are +1.)
Mantis Aggressor Weapon Range [2-8]->[2-9] (In practice: Sectors 6-8 are +1.)
Mantis Aggressor Clone Bay Range Optional[1]->Guaranteed[1-2]
Lanius Ships
Lanius Scout renamed Lanius Disruptor. (Consistency: All Scout-class ships have 6 missiles.)
Lanius Bomber Engine Range [1-5]->[0-4]
Lanius Bomber Cloaking Range Optional[1-3]->Optional[1-2]
Crystal Ships
Crystal Scout & Crystal Outrider Base Health 7->8
Crystal Scout & Crystal Outrider Missile Count 10->6 (Almost irrelevant, just for consistency.)
Crystal Bomber & Crystal Instigator Base Health 9->10
Crystal Bomber Weapons Range [2-10]->[3-10]
Considering & Planned
Short List - Next Major Update?
Make Sectors 6-8 more difficult. (Auto-Scouts always have Shields, other base/maxes tweaked up a little for Drones/Weapons/Shields especially.)
Swap Fed C. weapon mounting points
add rock mine option to not risk crew for high ship damage, and/or maybe some blue options
make it so 'sun in empty beacon' isn't always 100% a bad beacon?
Add a Lvl2-3 Sensors option for Giant Spiders? Anything else?
Other
Slug cache event - make it so there's maybe reason to pick either choice?
Maybe make it so 'reveal the map' event can't happen on the exit beacon.
Figure out what to do with the FTL Jammer - remove, add blue options (that strongarm doubled fleet timers), other blue options (could remove ASBs from Rebel Elites? How does this work thematically?)
Increase rewards to high for most(?) pulsar events.
'Bribe the Rebels' option always garbage? If so fix it
Consider Hermes Player power req drop to 2
Steal Slow's idea for Adv. FTL Nav - grant full map data on sector entry?
Add a new event for no ship detected Suns that is good, so that type of beacon isn't always bad.
enable rebel pds event - weaker ship and/or higher reward
Black Market Weapons trader - surrender offers scrap back? 'No hard feelings right?'
Reduce chances of enemies having Anti-Drones? Make their Power req 2 for AI?
detail mind control boost amount
Engi Virus basic option 1 is garbage, fix -- 1/3 chance to be better?
Make it so Crystal Sector Pirates aren't crewed by Crystals? (Is there any elegant way to do this?)
Make waiting for fuel with beacon off worth considering more? What advantages should this have?
Possibly add an Ion (not Ion 1 or Ion Stunner)->asphyxiate option to the CREWDEAD quest, where they accept half the time from desperation.
Repair Burst blue option ('ship falling apart' type event?), Healing Burst blue option (e.g. medbay stuff)
It'd probably make sense for the Crystal Slaver event to give human crew upon killing their crew off at least 2/3?
check lanius crewkills; probably don't reward crew, maybe augment instead
Defense Drones -> Ion super fast fire -- lets hacking get stopped 50%? (maybe fast fire catches it 2nd time too tho?)
Test thigns laong these lines - toy with Defense Drone and Anti-Drone projectile speeds, recharge, etc. to see how it affects reliability.
add another blue option to the mantis warship quest
Activate the ROCK_ZOLTAN_HELP event. (Zoltan should be trying to flee)
Activate special text for destroying Rock ships.
Add option to not risk crew for the mine event.
Revert ROCK_SHIP_NO_SURRENDER change
Scour newEvents and Lanius events for changes to be made.
Add Mind Control blue option for Rock ransom no fuel sub-event -- coinflip if it doesn't work because he's mad and you pay a ransom for fuel+save crew unless lvl3.
Make Battlefield event less stupid (add other ways to improve your odds/reduce time/improved rewards)
Virus event - always bad to submit?
Tweak color of Fire Beam to be more orange?
'Zoltan merchant' flavor no event in Rock Sectors -- make a store with Mind Control?
An option for Mantis Fugitive where you don't risk losing 5 hull?
Remove Hull Repair Drone blue option?
Things to Test
Zoltan C clone->O2 placement repair timing. Don't think a Zoltan can; can a Human? Move O2 system closer?
Did changing the xml error fix Stun Bombs being treated as ion weapons or were they already?
How enemy weaponry is determined; test rarity/bp/etc.
Stun & Stun chance effects (how much difference does it make for heavy laser II?); add stun chances to tooltips.
Test & Fix Rock Nursery event
Try out System rarity=5 to see if increasing the rarity actually has the desired effect
merchant_deliver mind control 1/2/3 correct
Does Bio Beam still damage drones?
test weapon naming text overflow, e.g. 'Breach B. I'
Possible to make Crystal weapons do extra crew damage?
Check Text-overflow for CREWDEAD
Zoltan_Distress_Mantis - asteroid speed
Test Defense 1 vs 2 e.g. in an Asteroid field - does the faster fire rate help?
Test CRYSTAL_FED - random crew work and not giving Crystal?
Test Event results to verify are even distribution, e.g. Great Eye
Early Mantis Fighter ships - often have de-powered weapon?
Fleet delayed events (buoys) text display missing space?
Test stun stacking
Possibilities
Add new general distress beacon event to compete with charlie & spider; possibly reduce odds of Charlie event
+1 Zoltan Crew Blue Option
maybe add new event to NEUTRAL_ZOLTAN
add more pirate sector hostile events
add additional mantis sector intro messages
possibly use BG_NEBULA somewhere other than free weapon events
maybe a blue option with high level drone system (level 5) that can disable an automated scout or prevent them from fleeing, etc.
combine drone booster with anti personnel blue options once for an extra bonus
level 3 doors vs boarders event where you can ransom them off
add 1-2 more mantis-specific events? Possibly make the general odds of getting a weapon as a reward from a mantis sector higher than others, while maybe dropping the store count to exactly 1?
Add another 1-2 slug store text blurbs?
Make a ship type appropriate for 'refitted for transport' - more shields, less weapons, etc.
Re-enable Pilot blue option for PIRATE_ASTEROID event? (Test changing environment types, etc.)
Add possibility for Crystal fight from Zoltan Wiseman Rifts (1/4 chance of it being an option)
Make Pirate_Smuggler a bit stronger as was originally planned.
Possibly use weaponOverride to give specifics ships more dangerous/fitting weapons.
Make some of the text for unlocking the Mantis ship hint at the requirements a little better.
make variant ships (esp. engi, some zoltan/pirate) that have increased door chance and/or medbay chance
Boarders-Hacking-Doors event
'arm the tubes' text --> force rock ship with missiles?
Glaive Beam color tweaked to be more menacing in some way? (darker?)
Rarely 'surrender your good' rebel - sometimes they actually surrender goods? Maybe some of those times they warn the fleet?
Possible give chance to recover the pirate's cache (in the 'work with slugs to fight pirate' event).
Make the automated refueling drone match the description and actually be weaker in combat; reduced the time before it escapes from 80 seconds to 40 (50?).
Original FTL Balance Mod v6.3.1 can be found here: Old Balance Mod