This mod is designed to address balance issues in the game, making more equipment in the game worth using and increasing the quantity of interesting decisions. This mod doesn't add large amounts of additional content - instead it focuses on improving the usefulness of existing content and making the base game a better overall experience without making the overall game notably easier or harder.
Mod File:
Balance & Bugfix Mod v3.7.2.ftl
Major 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).
- Enemy ships are stronger in Sectors 6-8.
- 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. Adv. FTL Navigation & Hacking Stun removed from game. Long-Ranged Scanners cost more. Racial augments sell for less to encourage their use.
- Shield Drones 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.
- 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. Sector 8 events make more sense.
- Tweaked enemy base power so they don't have weirdly high power during plasma storms sometimes.
- 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, Medium enemy ships always have 10 missiles, Large enemy ships always have 14 missiles.
- 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.
- 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.
There are several other changes not listed here; see http://www.it-is-law.com/ftl-balance/index.php for a full change list.
Mod Compatibility:
The changes to this mod are very extensive and not designed around compatibility with other gameplay mods. If combined with other mods, it should probably be set to the first slot (thus getting overwritten by other mods).
It should work fine alongside mods that only change visuals - for example, the High-Def Backgrounds Mod or Fleet Pursuit Indicator should cause no conflicts. I am also fine with anyone using my work as part of another mod as long as credit is given.
