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Twinge's Balance & Bugfix Mod v4.0.2

Goal: Improve the overall experience by fixing balance issues and by adding more interesting decisions to the game while still feeling like normal FTL. Balance Mod is appropriate for both veterans and newbies.

Note: This mod assumes you are using Advanced Edition content and won't work properly otherwise.

Download: Current Version (4.0.2)
Previous Stable Version (3.7.2)

Installation: Download Slipstream Mod Manager and install the Slipstream file linked above via the manager.

Twitch: http://www.twitch.tv/darktwinge
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/DarkTwinge
Support my Content: http://www.patreon.com/DarkTwinge or https://streamlabs.com/darktwinge
Forum Thread: https://subsetgames.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=26269

Feel free to contact me on Discord or Twitter with questions or comments.

Overview of Important Changes

  • Many events tweaked, making far more options actually worth considering (e.g., the black market weapons trade is far more reasonable). All event choices requiring you to risk a crewmember (e.g. Giant Alien Spiders) now only have a 25% chance or lower of losing crew.
  • Improved player ship targeting zones and shrunk shield bubble visuals, significantly increasing the reliability of Defense Drones and Anti-Combat Drones (especially impactful on the Stealth C).
  • You can no longer bypass enemy Defense Drones with Hacking, and Hacking is much more expensive.
  • All 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 offer a unique experience compared to other ships.
  • 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; Stealth B starts with Titanium System Casing and Level 3 Cloaking is cheaper.
  • Most augments improved or made cheaper. Advanced FTL Navigation now maps every new sector (and costs more). Hacking Stun removed from game. Long-Ranged Scanners cost more. Species augments sell for less to encourage their use.
  • Shield Drones & Ion Intruders 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.
  • Drone Control significantly cheaper to buy and upgrade, and is no longer more common than other systems. Cloaking more expensive (L3 cheaper), L2 and L5 Engines more expensive, Teleporters slightly cheaper. Most other systems cheaper at the higher levels (especially Engines & Artillery).
  • Moderately reduced the odds of free crew from events and tweaked many event scrap gains up or down appropriately. Less free stuff in Engi Sectors.
  • Fewer dead beacons in Sector 1, Mantis Sectors, Rock Sectors, and Abandoned Sectors. Reduced average reward for Civilian Sectors. Sector 8 events make more sense.
  • Various quality of life tweaks: easier beam aiming, more consistent event option ordering (standard choices are first, better blue options are listed first), better default weapon/crew positions, more informative text, etc.
  • Fixed numerous game bugs.
  • Stores: Missiles & Drone Parts cheaper. Most crew cheaper.
  • Fixed enemy base power so they no longer have excessive spare power during plasma storms. (Enemy Slugs Ships, Zoltan Ships, and Automated Drones handle plasma storms slightly better than other ships.)
  • The Rebel Flagship is less of a difficulty spike when playing on Easy difficulty (less HP in all phases and several systems are lower level, most notably Hacking and Mind Control).
  • Enemy AE ships buffed to be more in line with their non-DLC counterparts.
  • Enemy ships are stronger in Sectors 6-8. Some weaker ship classes can no longer appear in late sectors. "Scout" class enemy ships now always have only 6 missiles, Medium enemy ships always have 10 missiles, Large enemy ships always have 14 missiles.
  • Rock ships have worse Cloaking but can equip Swarm Missiles. Lanius Bomber slightly weaker.
  • 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.

Special Thanks

Special Thanks: My stream community, Mike Hopley, slow, mekloz, DiscordDraconequus, LethalFrag, and many other great folks that've helped out who I've lost track of over the years!

Ships

Kestrel B

The Zoltan now starts manning the Engines.

Kestrel C

Modified 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, 10 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.

Engi B

Starting Piloting increased from 1 to 3.
Starting Drone Parts 6->8
(Heavy Ion buffed.)
(Starting 'extras' sell for 28 less total.)

Fed. A

Rock now starts manning Engines, Mantis now starts manning Weapons.
(Artillery Beam upgrades are cheaper.)

Fed. B

Modified 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.

Fed. C

Now starts with a Repair Burst.
Starting Missiles 5->7
(Artillery Flak upgrades are cheaper.)

Stealth A

Starting weapon order switched.
(Titanium System Casing sells for 25 less, but is 33% more likely to proc.)

Stealth B

Now starts with Titanium System Casing.
Swapped the location of Cloaking and Drones to make it harder for Weapons+Cloaking to be hit at the same time.
(Sector 1 can no longer have Auto-Assault enemies.)
(Level 3 Cloaking and Shield System costs reduced.)

Stealth C

Shield+ Drone now requires only 1 power.
Slug now starts manning Piloting, Human manning Weapons.
(Anti-Combat Drone is now about 50% more effective on Stealth C overall.)

Rock A

Now starts with Explosive Replicator.
Starting missiles 28->12.
(Hull Missiles buffed.)

Slug A

Starting weapon order switched.
(Slug Repair Gel sells for 15 less.)

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 15 less.)
(Healing Burst Cooldown significantly reduced.)

Slug C

Starting Drone Parts 15->10
(Slug Repair Gel sells for 15 less.)

Mantis A

The Engi now starts manning Engines.

Mantis B

Starting Power 11->10
Swapped location of Doors & Oxygen to allow repairing Oxygen with your starting crew in some additional situations.
(Boarding Drone now requires 2 power instead of 3.)
(Defense Drone targeting is not improved on this ship, because the Engi that was forced to design it built in poor drone targeting as an intentional flaw.)

Mantis C

Starting Missiles 20->16
(Stun Bomb & Crystal Lockdown Bomb have significantly reduced cooldowns.)

Crystal A

(Crystal Vengeance sells for 31 less.)

Crystal B

Starting Power 8->7
(Crystal Vengeance sells for 31 less.)

Lanius A

Starting Emergency Respirators replaced with FTL Jammer.

Lanius B

Starting Power 8->7
(Adv. Flak mildly nerfed.)

Other Tweaks

Shrunk shield borders on almost all ships to increase the available Targeting Zone for Anti-Drone Drones, making them more reliable.

Fixed visuals so doors are no longer going through equipment (via minor door removals, graphical substitutions, etc.) on: Fed C, Rock A, Rock C, Slug B, Crystal A, Lanius B.
Fixed jagged shield borders on Zoltan/Rock/Slug/Crystal ships.
Flipped the Sensors visual on the Nisos to the top side for better visual symmetry.
Fixed a small graphical glitch in the left-hand power allocation for Zoltan C when at 2 power.

Systems

Pilot Level_2 Cost 20->25
Pilot Level_3 Cost 50->40

Engines Level_3 Cost 15->20
Engines Level_4 Cost 30->35
Engines Level_5 Cost 40->45
Engines Level_6 Cost 60->55
Engines Level_7 Cost 80->65
Engines Level_8 Cost 120->80 (Levels 6-8 of engines cost substantially more scrap for the relative dodge provided than previous levels do.)

Oxygen Level_3 Cost 50->30

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->45
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

Drone Control System Cost 60->45
Drone Control Level_4 Cost 30->25
Drone Control Level_5 Cost 45->40
Drone Control Level_6 Cost 60->50
Drone Control Level_7 Cost 80->55
Drone Control Level_8 Cost 100->60
Drone Control Rarity 1->3 [Drone Control is more commonly sold than other systems, because it is forced when Drones are being sold in the same shop. This brings its rarity in line with other systems.]

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->60
Hacking Level_3 Cost 60->70
(Hacking also nerfed via no longer being able to bypass enemy Defense Drones.)

Mind Control System Cost 75->85
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->3

Doors System Cost 60->30
Doors Level_2 Cost 35->30
Doors Level_3 Cost 50->45
Doors Rarity 1->3

Federation Cruiser Artillery Beam/Flak Level 2 Cost 30->20
Federation Cruiser Artillery Beam/Flak Level 3 Cost 50->40
Federation Cruiser Artillery Beam/Flak Level 4 Cost 80->65

Weapons

Burst Laser I Cost 50->60

Burst Laser II Cost 80->100

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 Rarity 4->3

Heavy Pierce Laser Mark I Stun Chance 0%->20%

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, Hull Smasher I is 75.)

Chain Vulcan Cost 95->75
Chain Vulcan Cooldown 11.1s -> 11s (10% more dps once charged)

Laser Charger Cost 55->60
Laser Charger Fire Chance 0%->10%

Laser Charger+ Fire Chance 0%->10%

Chain Burst Laser Cost 65->60
Chain Burst Laser Cooldown 16s/13s/10s/7s->15s/12s/9s/6s

Laser Charger II correctly named.
Laser Charger II Cost 70->75
Laser Charger II Cooldown 5s->4.5s

Flak Gun Mark I Cost 65->75
Flak Gun Mark I Rarity 1->3
Flak Gun Mark I Radius 42->50 (About 42% 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.)

Hull Beam Cost 70->65
Fixed a minor Hull Beam visual glitch.

Halberd Beam Cost 65->85
Halberd Beam Cooldown 17s->18s
Halberd Beam Rarity 2->4

Glaive Beam Cost 95->80
Glaive Beam Color Bright Red->Darker Red (Visual tweak only.)

Fire Beam Cooldown 20s->19s
Fire Beam Swipe Speed 5->7
Fire Beam Color Bright Red->Red-Orange (Visual tweak only.)
(One new blue option.)

Anti-Bio Beam Cost 50->40
Anti-Bio Beam Color Orange->Green (Visual tweak only.)

Hull Missiles Cost 65->40
Hull Missiles Cooldown 17s->14s
Hull Missiles Breach Chance 30%->40%
Hull Missiles Stun Chance 10%->30%

Breach Missiles Cost 65->50
Breach Missiles Cooldown 22s->21s
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->45
Swarm Missiles given a new launch sound effect.

Heavy Ion renamed Heavy Ion Stunner.
Heavy Ion Cost 45->40
Heavy Ion Cooldown 13s->12s
Heavy Ion Stun Chance 20% for 3 seconds -> 100% for 7 seconds
Changed Heavy Ion Stunner graphics to look like a stun weapon. (Thanks to Mike Hopley for the graphic.)

Ion Stunner Cooldown 10s->9s
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 Cooldown 4s->3.7s
Ion Blast Mark II Projectile Speed 30->40

Chain Ion Cost 55->50
Chain Ion Cooldown 14s->12.3s
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

Small Bomb Cost 45->50

Fire Bomb Cost 50->40
Fire Bomb Cooldown 15s->14s
Fire Bomb Rarity 2->3

Stun Bomb Cost 45->35
Stun Bomb Cooldown 17s->11s
Stun Bomb Rarity 2->3

Healing Burst Cost 40->25
Healing Burst Cooldown 18s->9s
Healing Burst Rarity 3->4

Repair Burst Cost 40->25
Repair Burst Cooldown 14s->4s

Crystal Lockdown Bomb Cost 45->25
Crystal Lockdown Bomb Cooldown 15s->6s

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
Heavy Crystal Mark II Cooldown 19->17
Heavy Crystal Mark II Stun Chance 20%->100%
Heavy Crystal Mark II Shields Pierced 1->2

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->31
Combat Drone Mark II Rarity 5->4

Anti-Ship Fire Drone Power Requirement 3->2
Anti-Ship Fire Drone Movement Speed 12->11
(One new blue option.)

Boarding Drone Cost 70->40
Boarding Drone Player Power Requirement 3->2 (AI Boarding Drones still require 3 power.)
(One new blue option.)

Ion Intruder Drone Cost 65->40
Ion Intruder Drone Power Requirement 3->2
(One new blue option.)

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->25
Anti-Combat Drone Firing Cooldown 7s->5.6s
Anti-Combat Drone Rarity 1->2
(Shields resized & Enemy Targeting Zones moved on player ships to increase how often enemy drones are targetable.)

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 fix 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 Cost 50->60
Defense Drone I Rotation Speed 5->6 (Visual fix so drones don't overlap.)

Defense Drone II Cost 70->60
Defense Drone II Player Cooldown 0.88s->0.80s

Enemy Targeting Zones moved on several ships to increase how often enemy missiles are targetable by Defense Drones.

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 -> 0.95s

Augments

Hacking Stun removed from the game.

Adv. FTL Navigation Cost 50->80
Adv. FTL Navigation Rarity 3->4
Adv. FTL Navigation now also automatically fully maps every new sector you enter.

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->40

FTL Recharge Booster Cost 50->35
FTL Recharge Booster Effect 25%->55% (Allows Level 4 Engines to fairly reliably avoid ASBs, and Level 3 to avoid them sometimes.)
FTL Recharge Booster Rarity 2->3

FTL Jammer Cost 30->20
(Added a few blue options for some escaping enemies to further delay them.)

Explosive Replicator Cost 60->40
Explosive Replicator Rarity 3->2

Long-Ranged Scanners Cost 30->45
(Now has worse blue options.)

Reverse Ion Field Cost 45->30
Reverse Ion Field Effect 50%->60%

Shield Recharge Booster Cost 45->40

Stealth Weapons Cost 50->25

Scrap Recovery Arm Scrap Bonus 10%(~8.5% actual)->11%(~9.4% actual)
Scrap Recovery Arm Rarity 1->2

Distraction Buoys Cost 55->40

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.)

Battery Charger Cost 40->25
Battery Charger Reduction 10s->16s (Instead of reducing the cooldown from 20s to 10s, it reduces it to 4s.)

Defense Scrambler Cost 80->35
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->40

Emergency Respirators Cost 50->20
Emergency Respirators Effect 50%->60%

Zoltan Shield Bypass Cost 55->45

Titanium System Casing Sale Value 40->15
Titanium System Casing Effect 15%->20%

Crystal Vengeance Sell Value 40->9
Crystal Vengeance Effect 10%->20%
Crystal Vengeance Shard Breach Chance 10%->100%

Mantis Pheromones Effect 25%->30%
Mantis Pheromones Sell Value 25->15

Rock Plating Sell Value 40->25

Slug Repair Gel Sell Value 30->12

Drone Reactor Booster Effect 25%->300%
Drone Reactor Booster Sell Value 25->12

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
Zoltan Cost 60->55

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 Slug Sector Plasma Storm events not being properly placed within the nebulae.

Fixed a mistake that let AE weapons appear in Crystal Sector Stores.

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: Price 45->20, success rate 50%->83%.
Mind Control blue option now guarantees a weapon, with a 33% chance at a small discount.

Reduced the cost of mercenary scouting and delaying Rebels.

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.

Improved the 'rescue Engi from Rebel' event reward options: Medibots cost 40->20;
'Normal' gift cost 25->15, no reward 33%->20%, Drone Schematic 33%->40%, Heal Bomb 33%->20%, and now includes Repair Burst as a possibility 0->20%.

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.

Significantly reduced the cost of buying from slavers (from 35 average to 19 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.)

Reduced the cost of buying crew from the tavern event from an average of 35/40 to 23/26.

Slocknog hiring fee 55->~33
Slocknog now starts with 1 star in all skills.
Refusing Slocknog's offer now has 3 possible outcomes: he begs to let him join for free; he lowers his price (to ~21); you get nothing.

Slightly reduced the price of repairing large amounts of hull in the ship repair event.

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.)

The Zoltan Custom Check event now boards with 2-3 Zoltans instead of 3-4.

Increased the odds of the Rebel fleet being delayed if you're out of fuel and don't turn your distress beacon on.

The Rock Minelayer event now has an option to just take 12 damage instead of risking your crew.

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.

The Six-legged Pony event now guarantees a med-high scrap reward if you try to sell them, with a 1/4 chance of trampled crew.

The "purge the system code" choice in the Engi Virus event now reduces the Engines of both the player and opposing ship to 1.

Improved the chances of finding fuel in an asteroid field when out of fuel.

Prices for the 'buy discount fuel' event reduced slightly.

Blue Options

Ordering changed in several events so that better blue options are listed first.

Removed or weakened some blue options for Long-Ranged Scanners.

Improved several blue option rewards for having Sensors 2 or Sensors 3.

Added new Lifeform Scanner blue options for: Giant Alien Spiders, Mantis Pod, Pirate Cargo Ambush, Missing Federation Base, Battlefield Survivor, and locating KazaaakplethKilik.

Added new FTL Jammer blue options to two events where enemies are trying to escape as the fight begins: Auto Drone Warning, Rebel Transport Ship.
Pirate Smuggler event: Added FTL Jammer blue option, preventing them from trying to run when damaged.

'Secure the Dangerous Cargo' event: Added additional blue options for Fire Beam, Fire Drone, and Boarding Drone.

Mantis War-camp: Added new Ion Intruder blue option.

Zoltan Odd Moon: Added new Breach Missiles blue option.

Haywire Satellite: Enabled a Lanius blue option (Low Reward); Reduced Engi reward from High to Medium.

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.

When rescuing the Stranded Madman after assessing him with a Slug, he will now be a random species (instead of Human only) and have a random skill.
Now requires a Level 3 Clone Bay (instead of Level 2) to save the Stranded Madman.

Removed bad results from a Rebel radar station blue option using combat drones.

Added some better results for higher level Mind Control compared to lower level Mind Control.

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.)

Improved a Slug blue option in a Rock event. (Previously it was worse to use the blue option.)

The Battlefield Survivor now requires a Level 3 Clone Bay to save them instead of Level 1. [Medbay Level 2 still works as well.]

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 chances of free crew from killing the enemy crew in standard encounters significantly; reduces the odds of a free weapon slightly.

Changed the free crew reward to an augment reward when killing the crew of Lanius ships.

Reduced the chance of a Slaver surrendering and offering crew from 80% to 30%.
Reduced Slaver crew-kill scrap rewards when gaining free crew and reduced free crew 67%->50%.
Destroying Slaver ships now gives a medium instead of high reward.

Reduced income from killing enemy crew to the same as destroying their ship in a few situations where time would be limited.

Completing the Rock Quest now gives you a medium scrap reward in addition to the hull repair and Rock Plating.

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.

Giant Alien Spiders lost crew odds 50%->20%, reward chance 50%->60%.

Quarantine event lost crew odds 50%->17%, reward chance 50%->83%.

Madman Charlie event lost crew odds 25%->17%, gain crew odds 25%->33%, gain crew odds with Level 2 Medical System 50%->83%.

Slug Malfunctioning Oxygen event lost crew odds 33%->17%, average direct scrap reward slightly lower.

Human-Mantis 'Robert Smith' default choice: lost crew odds 50%->33%, crew/Engine upgrade odds 50%->66%. [There is also one 'nothing' result possible, which is ignored for these percentages.]

Dilapidated Space Station 'Look for survivors': lost crew odds 33%->20% (still 0% with Level 2 Medbay), gain crew odds 33%->40% (but with half the scrap reward), scrap (low->med) and supplies (none->standard) increased when you don't find survivors. 'Scrap some debris': Reduced scrap reward.

Distress Station On Fire 'Send in your crew to help put out the fire': lost crew odds 50%->20%. Slightly higher scrap reward.
'Dock and try to rescue the survivors': Reduced scrap reward.

Rebel Defector 'Accept his proposal': lost crew odds 17%->14%, advance fleet odds 17%->14%, gain crew odds 50%->57%.
'Reject his offer', then 'Reluctantly accept': lost crew odds 17%->14%, advance fleet odds 17%->14%, gain crew+cache odds 50%->57%.

Crystalline Physiology Test lost crew odds 33%->20%.

Refugee Ship Distress Beacon event lost crew odds 33%->25%, free crew odds 33%->25%, decent reward 33%->50%. [There are also 'nothing' and 'nothing + boarders' results possible, which are ignored for these percentages.]

Zoltan Security checkpoint 'Submit to profiling' choice: no reward -> 75% chance of small fuel reward, dangerous fight 50%->25%.

Rebel checkpoint 'Bribe the Rebels' choice: new augment possibility 0%->20%, new weapon + quest shop possibility 0%->20%, low scrap reward 25%->30%, fight 25%->20%, nothing 25%->10%.

'Save the drone schematic!' choice now still gives a drone reward even if your crewmember dies.

Refueling platform: Reduced odds of faulty platform exploding 50%->25%; Made pirate fights guarantee a fuel reward; increased fuel reward for normal results.

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.

Repair Beacons (Sector 8) average bonus scrap 33->27.
Repair Beacons 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 for securing the Engi equipment cache.

Sectors

The Rebel Shield-hacking event can no longer appear in Sector 1, but can now appear in Rebel Sectors.
Sector 1 'Nothing' events reduced: 1-2->1.

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).

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->1-1; 'Hostile Mantis' increased: 6-7->7-8.

Rock Sector 'Nothing' events reduced: 2-3->2-2; 'Hostile Rock' increased: 6-8->7-8.

Civilian Sector 'Nothing' events increased: 1-2->2-2; 'Neutral Civilian' (most of which have double-reward potential) reduced: 2-4->1-3; 'Hostile1' increased: 2-2->2-3.

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 Crew Base Rarity 2->3 (Applies to sectors: Civilian, Pirate, Mantis, Sector 1)
Engi Crew Rarity in Rebel Sectors (incl. Sector 8): 2->4
Engi Crew Rarity in Zoltan Sectors: 3->2

Enemy Ships

General

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: Health 20/22/20 -> 16/17/16 for Phase 1/2/3; 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), Drone Parts 10 -> 8 (Phase 2).
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 Missile Artillery Range [1-4]->[2-4]
Flagship Construction Oxygen Range [1-2]->[2-2]
Flagship Construction Teleporter Guaranteed[1-2]->Optional[1-3]
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 [2-4]/[4-6]/[1-2].

Rebel Rigger Drone Range [2-8]->[3-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Rigger Weapon Range [1-6]->[2-6] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Disruptor Hacking Range Optional[1]->Guaranteed[1] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Disruptor Weapon Range [1-6]->[2-7] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Rebel Fighter Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Fighter & Invader Pilot Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Invader Weapon Range [2-8]->[2-9] (only affects Sectors 6-8)
Rebel Invader Teleporter Range Optional[1]->Guaranteed[1] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Rebel Elite Fighter Shield Range [4-8]->[5-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Elite Fighter Shield Range [4-8]->[5-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Elite Fighter & Elite Assault Piloting Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rebel Elite Assault Teleport Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Auto-Scout renamed Auto-Drone (to be consistent with other "Scout" ships only having 6 missiles)
Auto-Drone & Auto-Surveyor Shield Range Optional[2-8]->Guaranteed[2-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Auto-Drone Weapon Range [2-8]->[2-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Auto-Assault no longer appears in Sector 1. (Helps Stealth B and C's early game.)
Auto-Assault Weapon Range [0-6]->[1-6] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Auto-Hacker Shield Range [2-8]->[3-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Federation Ships

Federation Scout & Federation Outrider Max Sector 7->6
Federation Scout & Federation Outrider Engine Range [1-5]->[2-5] (for Sector 6 only)
Federation Scout & Federation Outrider Missile Count 10->6

Federation Bomber renamed Federation Fighter. (Consistency: All Bomber-class ships have 14 missiles.)
Federation Fighter & Hacker Base Health 9->10 (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Federation Fighter Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Federation Fighter Piloting Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Federation Fighter Door Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Federation Hacker Hacking Range Optional[1]->Guaranteed[2] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

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 Scout & Engi Outrider Drone Range [2-8]->[3-8] (for Sectors 6 only)

Engi Bomber & Engi Hacker Base Health 9->10
Engi Bomber & Engi Hacker Door Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3]
Engi Bomber Door Range Guaranteed[1-3]->Guaranteed[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Engi Bomber Shield Range [2-10]->[3-10] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Engi Hacker Hacking Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Engi Hacker Weapon Range [2-8]->[2-9] (only affects Sectors 6-8)
Engi Hacker Drone Range [2-8]->[3-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Anti-Personnel Drones & Ion Intruder Drones can now appear on Engi Bombers & Engi Hacker.
Engi Bomber & Engi Hacker Missiles 10->14 (Very unlikely to matter, for consistency.)

Zoltan Ships

'Energy' ships renamed to 'Zoltan' ships.

Zoltan Fighter & Zoltan Instigator Base Health 7->6 (for Sectors 1-4 only)
Zoltan Fighter Door Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3]
Zoltan Fighter & Zoltan Instigator Crew Range [2]->[2-4] (for Sectors 5-8 only)

Zoltan Bomber Drone Range Optional[2-4]->Guaranteed[2-5] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Zoltan Bomber & Zoltan Hacker Door Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3]
Zoltan Hacker Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Zoltan Bomber & Zoltan Hacker Missiles 10->14

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 Scout & Rock Investigator Engine Range [1-5]->[2-5] (for Sector 6 only)
Rock Investigator Sector 4 Crew Amount 2->3

Rock Fighter Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rock Fighter Base Health 10->11 (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rock Interceptor Teleporter Range Optional[1-2]->Guaranteed[1-2] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Rock Interceptor Oxygen Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Rock Assault & Rock Aggressor Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-9]
Rock Assault Base Health 12->13
Rock Aggressor Crew Range [2-5]->[3-6]
Rock Aggressor Cloaking Range Optional[1-2]->Optional[1]
Rock Aggressor Doors Range Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3]
Rock Assault & Rock Aggressor Missiles 10->14

Slug Ships

Slug Scout Missile Count 10->6
Slug Interceptor Max Sector 6->5

Slug Light Cruiser Shield Range [2-10]->[3-10] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Slug Light Cruiser Weapon Range [2-8]->[2-9] (only affects Sectors 6-8)
Slug Light-Surveyor Engine Range [1-6]->[2-6] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Slug Light-Surveyor Weapon Range [2-7]->[2-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Slug Assault Cloaking Range Optional[1]->Guaranteed[1] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Slug Assault Oxygen Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Slug Instigator Engine Range [1-5]->[2-5] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Slug Instigator Weapon Range [2-9]->[3-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
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 Fighter Weapons Range [1-8]->[2-8] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Fighter & Assault Piloting Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Assault Shield Range [2-7]->[2-8]
Mantis Assault Weapons Range [1-7]->[1-8]
Mantis Assault Weapons Range [1-8]->[2-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Assault Crew Range [2-4]->[3-4]

Mantis Bomber Medbay Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Bomber & Aggressor Doors Optional[1-3]->Guaranteed[1-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Aggressor Clone Bay Range Optional[1]->Guaranteed[1-2]
Mantis Aggressor Shield Range [2-8]->[2-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Aggressor Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Mantis Aggressor Base Health 11->12 (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Lanius Ships

Lanius Scout renamed Lanius Disruptor. (Consistency: All Scout-class ships have 6 missiles.)
Lanius Disruptor Pilot Range [1-3]->[2-3] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Lanius Disruptor Weapon Range [2-8]->[3-9] (for Sectors 6-8 only)

Lanius Bomber Weapons Range [2-8]->[1-8] (Will always be at least 3 in practice.)
Lanius Bomber Cloaking Range Optional[1-3]->Optional[1-2]
Lanius Bomber Weapons Range [1-8]->[2-8] (Same as vanilla for Sectors 6-8 only)
Lanius Bomber Missiles 10->14

Crystal Ships

Crystal Scout & Crystal Outrider Base Health 7->8
Crystal Scout & Crystal Outrider Engine Range [1-5]->[2-5] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
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]
Crystal Bomber Shield Range [2-10]->[3-10] (for Sectors 6-8 only)
Crystal Bomber & Crystal Instigator Missile Count 10->14 (Almost irrelevant, just for consistency.)

Considering & Planned

Short List - Likely to Be Added

Test out AI Boarding & Intruder Drones at 2 Power more -- possibly block their appearance in Sector 1 (and 2?) if it's mostly okay but bad early.

Maybe make it so 'reveal the map' event can't happen on the exit beacon.

Other

Slug cache event - make it so there's maybe reason to pick either choice?

Increase rewards to high for most(?) pulsar events.

Consider Hermes Player power req drop to 2

Swap Fed C. weapon mounting points

Probably fix ALISON_DEFECTOR at some point so you don't know in advance what the results will be (and otherwise tweak to make options worth considering).

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

Reduce chances of enemies having Anti-Drones? Make their Power req 2 for AI?

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?

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.
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)

'Zoltan merchant' flavor no event in Rock Sectors -- make a store with Mind Control L3?

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.

merchant_deliver mind control 1/2/3 correct

Does Bio Beam still damage drones?

Possible to make Crystal weapons do extra crew damage?

Check Text-overflow for CREWDEAD

Zoltan_Distress_Mantis - asteroid speed

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 6?) 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.

Add a Lvl3 Sensors option for Giant Spiders? Anything else?

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.

Boarders-Hacking-Doors event

'arm the tubes' text --> force rock ship with missiles?

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

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