Distributed Shipbuilder Schematics V0.2

Adds a new magazine that grants permanent access to a level-gated engine or reactor. Distributed across POI’s to give more reason to explore them. No more grinding levels for the ship builder.

This mod is my attempt to make exploration more meaningful and fun. In my opinion, the game is geared towards XP grinding for too many of its systems, and when the perk trees are mediocre, it can feel less motivating and rewarding.

This mod makes exploring POI’s more rewarding by adding a new magazine placed at random that grants access to a level-gated engine or reactor. It also adds a small chance to find an ‘Astral Tome’ in POI’s, which will grant a perk point (not a player level) upon reading.

You can also be given reactor schematics as a reward for completing quests at Science and Research outposts.

You can still unlock the shipbuilder parts at their respective levels if you do not find their schematics.

Wall of text ahead! Not crucial info, can skip if desired.

My reasons and gameplay goals are the following:

1. Exploration for the sake of exploration. After you have seen every POI, it is very demoralizing to see it generate again and know exactly what is inside. The game should reward you choosing to explore more.

2. Randomization. I cannot understand for the life of me why Bethesda didn’t use more XMarkers to create more unpredictability in POI dungeons. While adding true randomness to all aspects of a dungeon is beyond the scope of this mod, it aims to combat this problem by placing the magazines in different locations each time you visit. You will now be rewarded for thoroughly exploring a dungeon, as you never know where you might find something useful. It also gives a random schematic, so you have a small chance to find a high level schematic.

3. Reducing Level Grind. In my opinion, the leveling system is too slow and unrewarding. Why is every basic mechanic locked behind the perk trees? This mod rewards you for engaging with its exploration and Radiant quest systems, something the vanilla game does not do.

4. Retaining Vanilla Balance. Currently, you can only find reactor and engine schematics. Engine schematics are far more common than reactor schematics, in part because there are many more engines than reactors. The reasoning for this is to keep the player from outscaling enemy ships with crazy overpowered weapons and shields. Reactors will allow you to allocate more power for more systems, inherently making you more powerful and allowing for more weapons, without giving you better weapons. I am open to feedback here. The chance to find Astral Tomes is about 15%, so you should find yourself with an extra perk point every once in a while, but nothing extreme.

5. Immersion. Due to their scientific nature (I think… ? It’s a bit iffy) reactors have a higher chance at being found at abandon Research and Scientific Outposts. If they are inhabited, you can now be rewarded a reactor schematic for helping out in their scientific endeavors. Reactor schematics are powerful. Engine schematics are far more common, but placing reactor schematics at science outposts means you can search them out without exploring every POI.

Important! I am still not sure if Vortex can handle loose files. If the automatic installer does not work, you will need to manually drop the contents of the gnShipbuilderSchematics folder into your Starfield/Data folder. I recommend installing with this method anyways.

To-Do List:
Make a version without Astral Tomes. It is a small aspect and is recommended, but I understand if some people don’t want it.

Credits:

gman4386