I thought I would announce my current project in development. Although the concept may seem a little bland to those who have already sampled Vanilla and found it wanting, I hope to create a mod that those who like Vanilla gameplay will enjoy. Many mods try and balance things, and thats great, but what if I like Vanilla balance just the way it is?
Do you like your PBG's flaming hot? Missile frigates spaming flails in every direction killing everything until they run out ammo? Maybe you just like plots and stories but found Vanilla gameplay a little to dull. Maybe you'll like VanillaPlus!
How is VanillaPlus different than plain Vanilla/Other Mods?
The Unbalanced Mod - No overpowered Vanilla gameplay will be harmed in the making of this mod. My opinion is as long as the AI can use it too then its mostly fair, and if they can't well too bad. Don't expect a gimped AI though. Though some AI enhancements will be optional expect to see a little bit more engagement. Also not all AI improvements will be identical across factions. Expect for different factions to have different responses to the same activity.
Better commands and gameplay - VanillaPlus features additional commands or in some cases replacement for built-in commands. Lets face it, many Vanilla commands are mostly worthless and are immediately replaced/upgraded. But still some mods don't always follow the Vanilla rules and sometimes feel more like cheats. I'll make sure there are no cheats just plenty of good solid gameplay enhancements based around Vanilla rules. I'll also make sure that if you don't want any of the add-ons you can just enjoy a fixed and streamlined Vanilla featuring additional plots and missions. Whatever works for you.
Full Plots - Courtesy of dillpickle - The mod will be based around a Universe containing all the plots in his awesome TC plots for AP mod. And hey since we're on the subject of plots, I'm going to add a few more plots including starting plots, mid-game plots, and an endgame plot. Expect to see additional missions too - additional build, think, fight, and trade missions. Custom game starts featuring unique reward or starting ship only available to that gamestart. Some will be easy some will be hard, but at least it will be different.
No Nerfing - But lots of buffing of weak stuff that was broken. Did you ever wonder who in their right mind would fly a Boron freighter? Or why the Truelight Seeker takes 30 minutes for all 400 MJ of its shield strength to return to full. Maybe you just didn't know how bad some of the stuff in Vanilla really is. Don't worry all that broken stuff will get fixed (I'll only make you wait 10 minutes for full shields on your Truelight Seeker
). I have a special approach to balancing beyond the normal make it faster make it hold more cargo approach. (Although that is on occasion what is needed.) Boron freighters are still the slowest at Vanilla speeds having low speed per cargo compared to other ships in my universe and yet you'd be a fool not to use them for certain strategies. What did I do... You'll have to use your special X-power called *Think* to figure out how to make the best use of the upgraded Boron freighters. These are just 2 examples of what you can expect to see in terms of stat changes.Custom scripting for existing mods - Thanks to generous permissions from certain modders who will be named at a later date and whose works are featured in VanillaPlus, the mod will already include a few essential mods you probably already use. Whereever possible these mods have had their User Interfaces upgraded and any bugs they might have had squashed.
There shall be better wings - These Vanilla wing commands are horrible! VanillaPlus wings will have several new commands and much improved logic. Of course the AI will be getting these improvements as well.
Do you want to help?
If this mod sounds appealing to you and you are interested in helping out then feel free to drop me a PM. Current open Co-Developer and Tester positions are as follows:
(MD) Plot Developer - Determine the who what why when and how of the plots I've outlined for VanillaPlus. Write text entries for plot mission text and create a general story for the flow of the plot. Lets face it, you guys don't want me writing the additional plots. But I will if you don't step up.
Universe Developer - Modify the VanillaPlus universe to support additional plots, design new sectors, and apply specific improvements to the existing Universe.
Alpha Tester - I need an alpha tester to focus on playing the game to report any defects encountered including conditions to recreate and possibly even save files. Must be able to communicate issues in a technically accurate fashion. Must play the game as is without additional mods and figure things out without too much hand holding. Must have plenty of free time to play without pissing off their loved ones and be willing to accept setbacks in stride and see the project through to the end of the Alpha stage.
Current Development Status - Last Updated 01/08/2015 - Alpha: Stable
Player scripts: 80% completed.
AI improvements: 10% completed.
MD bugs fixed: 2 of 4 (known) completed.
New generic mission offers: 5/5 completed.
New game start plots: 0/4 completed.
New mid game plot 0/1 completed.
New end game plot 0/1 completed.
