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    Home Unlabelled Faster Than Light | I'm developing my Stellaris mod based on FTL again, but I can't do it all on my own and I need as much input & assistance as you guys can give.

    Faster Than Light | I'm developing my Stellaris mod based on FTL again, but I can't do it all on my own and I need as much input & assistance as you guys can give.

    June 03, 2020

    Faster Than Light | I'm developing my Stellaris mod based on FTL again, but I can't do it all on my own and I need as much input & assistance as you guys can give.

    I'm developing my Stellaris mod based on FTL again, but I can't do it all on my own and I need as much input & assistance as you guys can give.

    Posted: 02 Jun 2020 09:27 PM PDT

    Last year in November I posted this screenshot showcasing extremely early progress on a concept for an FTL mod for Stellaris. The idea was inspired by the wonderful FTL: Kestrel Adventures by Andrew Colunga, and he even generously donated the species artwork, Rebel & Federation flags, and loading screens that have helped keep me inspired to work on this mod.

    People seemed to react positively and I did make some headway. However, I got burned out after a few weeks and school kept me too busy to keep working on it.

    Well, a few weeks ago I started up again and I'm proud to say I have the following to showcase: https://imgur.com/a/LxfChW2

    • All 8 species modded in as 9 separate empires.
    • The entire soundtrack, as well as the Deep Space Deluxe EP & Color Sky album from Ben Prunty, able to be used in-game as a separate mod (Edit: If necessary, I can create the scripting so that players can add their own legally bought .ogg files by drag & drop into the mod folders, without sharing music files directly). I have not uploaded any music and do not plan to without any explicit permission.
    • 4 unique traits; 3 for the Engi to represent their biology and independence, 1 for the Lanius to better represent their lust for metal.
    • The ability for Engi to live in organic empires, despite vanilla Stellaris normally not allowing machine intelligence pops to do so.
    • A new policy for your empire's attitude towards machine unit pops specifically(separate from domestic robots or AI) living in your empire, specifically made so that Engi could be given full rights, enslaved as robotic servants, or purged as filthy xenos.
    • 3 new origins for the Rebellion, Engi, and Lanius.
    • English Localisation for most of the added traits, policy decisions, origins, species, and empires.
    • Plans for changing the Rebellion to a mid-game civil war event where you choose Federation or Rebellion.

    Overall, it is still not a lot, and I do wish I could have gotten a more complete and unique build finished to show off to you guys. But I have realized that if I continue to do everything myself I will run into brick walls or tedious busywork and burnout before I accomplish any of my long-term goals.

    That's why I'm posting this now. As I've learned how modding Stellaris works, I have realized that there are both things that I can do much more easily than I realized, as well as things that are nearly impossible for me on my own.

    So, I am now officially requesting any & all help the FTL community can give. I don't want this to just be a personal pet project anymore, I want this to be a community project to represent FTL in the Stellaris & Paradox communities, as well as the gaming community at large.

    You don't have to know much about Stellaris or modding to help me, especially since there's an official wiki that can explain many of the concepts, ideas, and modding capabilities that Stellaris has. Anything from actual programming experience, to minimalist pixel art, and even fanfiction writings can help me expand this mod beyond being a few custom empires.

    • 2D artists, I can provide vanilla icons, artwork, backgrounds, and specific directions & requests as reference. Simply replacing the city artwork, flag symbols, building icons, and even tooltip icons can go a long way to helping this mod look & feel that much more "FTL". And random events will need artwork to show the reader what is happening in the universe.

    • FTL Modders & Writers, even if you don't know how to program or mod Stellaris, even if your mod breaks canon or contradicts other fanworks, there are many sci-fi concepts in your mods & lore that I could adapt into a Stellaris mod and that would help me fill in the gaps that vanilla FTL can't. I know you guys love coming up with your own factions, planets, people, events, and both future & past events. I can add your fan theories about the future as late-game events, I can add your factions as fallen empires, marauders, or pre-interstellar planets, I can add your lore as in-game techs, events, leaders, & planets. I would even love to have more starting empires or ways to create your own using Stellaris' built-in empire editor. If you're a developer of a popular FTL mod, I'd especially love to discuss with you on possibly adapting you & your team's work into Stellaris.

    • Animators & 3D Modelers, I can't model. I just don't have the willpower, knowledge, or time to learn modeling along with making an overhaul mod for Stellaris. If anyone knows any 3D modeling or even just 2D animation in Blender, you could be a great help to me. Even if you can't make that awesome ship from the background of FTL's main menu into a fully modeled in-game battleship, you can still help me make species portraits animate, have variable clothes, or even just create a new main menu background(it's animated, not static!). I don't know much, but I know that Stellaris works with both Maya and Blender, so if you can use either of those you're already a rare person I'd love to recruit.

    • Sound designers & Musicians, I have no idea if Subset Games or Ben Prunty will be 100% ok with me using their music and eventually sounds in my mod. Additionally, there are plenty of sounds that would be hard to replace using stuff just from FTL. If you have any music that might match an FTL strategy game, or that you'd just like to show off, I can easily add it in and the game even has a built-in music player. If you know how to just make sound effects, that is useful too. Stellaris has everything from button press sounds, to notification tones, to explosions & lasers, and even the alien sounds from the various species in-game. Even the smallest bleep and bloop could make this mod feel better.

    • Stellaris players & modders, I know a few of you guys have played both of these games. You'll have a better understanding of the mechanics, probably even more than me. I'll need playtesters and I could use help with localising all the stuff I plan to add. Hell, if you even know how to mod, I could use your help just solving problems or getting things done faster.

    • Finally, the typical FTL fan. The backbone of the community. I just want to hear all of your ideas. Stellaris is such a malleable game, and just like FTL it can be random every time you play through. I want to hear both criticisms and ideas from you guys, even if you don't know anything about Stellaris or haven't played FTL in months/years. The dumbest suggestion could be a fun random event, while that one idea for a faction you have could end up being a really cool crisis or fallen empire. Maybe you just disagree with the way I'll have depicted your favorite species, or maybe you can tell me a theory that can really help make a faction play more uniquely.

    In conclusion, I just want your thoughts and suggestions. And I need help too. By the end of July, I'm going to be busy again and I probably won't have much time to work on this mod until school is over and winter break starts. The more I can get done the better. Making this mod has been a lot of fun, but it's demoralizing that I can't add or change as much as I want because I lack the assets, knowledge, or creativity to truly overhaul this game.

    So, if you have any way to help, just let me know. I'm Ivaneowski#1970 on Discord, so if you want to coordinate on there you can. I'm active on the FTL discord, the Kestrel Adventures Discord, and the Stellaris Modding Discord. I hope you guys can help me out!

    submitted by /u/Ivanator2294
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    FTL rams when?

    Posted: 02 Jun 2020 07:52 AM PDT

    Mikael/ The cooler Mikhail

    Posted: 03 Jun 2020 02:17 AM PDT

    1719 score: FTL Hard - Crystal B - new WR for lowest score victory on hard mode

    Posted: 03 Jun 2020 02:57 AM PDT

    My best setup with defense scrambler+Weapon Pre-Igniter+Zoltan shield

    Posted: 02 Jun 2020 03:11 PM PDT

    Idea for how engines could be redesigned: delay impact of shots instead of dodge chance

    Posted: 02 Jun 2020 11:59 AM PDT

    We sometimes discuss in this community if the RNG of dodge makes this game less fun. I think dodge is fine; good players win most hard runs and the game is very skill based and fun. Heck, the RNG of which room the AI targets is a much bigger deal.

    Nevertheless, it's fun to think about how it could be redone.

    Idea:

    1. Engines delay time to impact of enemy shots
    2. Missile weapons must remain powered while missile is inbound or it will "lose guidance" and miss
    3. Missile weapons do not charge next shot until previously fired attack lands (or misses)

    Ideally it would be set so that instead of getting shot by missiles every 5 seconds with a 50% hit chance, you would get shot by missiles every 10 seconds.

    Mathematically I think it would work out to travel time being divided by (100%-dodge chance), and if that value reaches zero (i.e. from cloaking) all currently inbound shots miss.

    I think the charge time of most missiles would be reduced, and the travel time of those missiles increased, to work with this idea.

    Impacts of this idea would be

    • Shields are still good against lasers, engines against missiles
    • Engines now synergize with defense drones (more time to shoot missiles) rather than working against them
    • Good engines now provide more time to alpha strike an enemy missile ship, rather than a chance to dodge their alpha strike and retaliate
    • Players using missiles now waste less ammo since they are hitting with every attack, just more slowly

    This change would also create a really cool/dramatic scenario where a massive missile is inbound, and at the last second you destroy the enemy ship or weapons room, causing it to lose guidance and sputter off uselessly into space.

    I think this would emphasize some gameplay styles AE doesn't see much of. It provides strategies against missile enemies other than "have hacking or cloaking". Instead of most damage in a run coming from missiles, it would be a split of missiles and lasers. Missile gunships become more interesting and viable.

    One issue is that this seems to inherently buff lasers if you cannot dodge them. The solution I think is that engines delay the last laser in a volley by more than the first, so that shields can recharge in the interim. Ideally 2 shield bubbles would be enough to block a BLII volley if shields are manned and you have decent engines.

    I think bombs would be similarly impacted to missiles, the time it takes them to slowly appear and explode would be multiplied, slowing their rate of fire and allowing the target more time to see where the explosion will be and move crew/power around to compensate.

    Again, I don't think the game needs this change. I don't even know if modding something like that in would be possible. It's just an interesting design thought I had that would change the way we think about evasive piloting. Good pilots don't dodge, they delay the inevitable long enough to let you kill the enemy ship, they maximize the time to impact of an incoming projectile, and otherwise make it harder for enemies to get a lock on you.

    submitted by /u/erikeu4account
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