Old Versions
Change Log
Compatible with all known mods.
Integrated with
Version Checker.
Can be added to existing games.
Can be removed from games in which it was already used.
Highly configurable. See the OPTIONS.ini file in the mod folder.
The goal of this mod is to provide difficulty options meant to incentivize challenging gameplay.
More XP and Rep for winning tough battles. Less XP for easy battles.
[REDACTED] in hyperspace.
Penalties for save scumming.
Far less free money.
What exactly does this mod do?
Note that all of this can be disabled or reconfigured by editing “RUTHLESS_SECTOR_OPTIONS.ini”
Adds [REDACTED] to hyperspace outside the core worlds. The further you venture, the more powerful the fleets you encounter.
Replaces the combat difficulty XP bonus with a multiplier that scales based only on the ships you deployed.
Rewards the defeat of fleets more powerful than your own with improved relations with one of the factions hostile to that fleet.
Makes it harder to become friendly with every faction by periodically reducing relations with a random faction if you have high enough relations with one of their enemies
Adds range bonuses to all derelict automated defenses, making them a relevant opponent.
Penalizes save-scumming by reducing xp and reputation rewards for the next battle.
Removes progress toward the next level if your entire fleet is destroyed.
Reduces stipends from faction commissions and the Galatian Academy by 90%.
Doubles the bounty payout from faction commissions.
Reduces the length of the Galatian stipend from three years to one.
Overrides the “danger stars” seen on fleet tooltips do indicate more precise estimates of battle difficulty.
FAQs
Miscellaneous
http://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=14481.msg237628#msg237628
Fixed issue preventing rep gains for impressive victories from occuring if XP gain scaling was turned off.
Resolved conflict with Tiandong Heavy Industries
Modded faction IDs whitelisted for relations bonus:
sylphon
dassault_mikoyan
fringe_defence_syndicate
adamantine_consortium
archean_order
trader_guilds
scicorps
interstellarimperium
shadow_industry
blackrock_driveyards
al_ars
sad
noir
Lte
Modded faction IDs blacklisted for relations bonus:
cabal
istl_snowgoose
templars
Fixed error caused by an inconsistent setting id
Fixed error reporting system erroneously blaming crashes on New Beginnings
Modded faction IDs whitelisted for relations bonus:
junk_pirates
syndicate_asp
pack
Modded faction IDs blacklisted for relations bonus:
blade_breakers
NEW FEATURE: Penalty for reloading after battle without saving (an anti-save-scum mechanic)
The penalty reduces the difficulty rating (and xp/rep by extension) of the next battle you fight
It increases by 20% (configurable) each time you reload without saving the results of a battle
Saving the game will reduce the penalty by 100% (configurable) for each battle you’ve fought since the last save
This feature will work even if you Alt-F4 out of an iron mode game
Improved accuracy of ship strength calculation
Fixed issue that frequently caused ships deployed during pursuit to count toward fleet strength
“Experience Multiplier” renamed to “Difficulty Multiplier”, as it affects more than just experience gain
Improved error reporting
Added static meathods to ruthless_sector.ModPlugin meant for mod integration:
getDifficultyMultiplierForLastBattle()
getPlayerFleetStrengthInLastBattle()
getEnemyFleetStrengthInLastBattle()
Impressive victories can now increase relations with the following modded factions:
Neutrino Corp
Junk Pirates
P.A.C.K.
ASP Syndicate
ApproLight
Immortal Light
Foundation of Borken
Celestial Mount Circle
Fixed reload penalty increasing for each engagement instead of each battle, leading to erroneous save-scum penalties
Fixed an error that would occur during some dialogue interactions (the only symptom of the error was the error message)
A difficulty multiplier is now calculated when the player joins an ongoing battle
Officers now increase the strength estimation of their ships by 2.5% per level instead of 5%
The player now increases the strength estimation of their fleet by 1% per level instead of 2%
The doubled supply cost is the most impactful part of the mod, makes me feel like I am playing with 0.8 economy again (where mod systems caused supplies to sometimes become astronomically expensive),
it’s brutal and a very real way to death spiral amazingly quickly, forces me to take bounties and to max out all skills that help to scrape more supplies
Fleet Logistics 2 and Both of the salvage skills under Industry are now an utmost priority.
Interestingly this also makes Salvage Rig a very nice ship to have in your fleet.
- Do you think the increased supply cost makes the Logistics skill branch OP?
- What level was your character while you were playing?
- Did you feel like the difficulty multiplier was fairly accurate most of the time?
- How difficult was it to get a difficulty multiplier above 100%?
- Did [REDACTED] in hyperspace ever give you any trouble?
1. I previously took it for the 3rd. rank 15% CP increase (to get the 100% CR bonus with combat endurance).
It’s now much more worth it but as it needs a four point investment so I’m not sure it’s a must pick because Industry and Combat also have very essential stuff.
2. I started form lv1 and the curve was brutal to about lv8 where I had a stroke of luck with the bounties to finance three tankers to get to the distant bounties and exploration missions.
At that point I had enough capital to start exploring ruins and the rewards there are so generous that money stops being a problem for a while.
3. Fairly accurate.
4. Just find a fleet far bigger than yours, just had a pretty bad loss against a huge pirate armada that was 188%, very cool to actually get rewarded for this.
5. I had a few close shaves that emergency burn helped me out of but pirate Corsairs/Luddic holy armadas have given me far more trouble as of now.
I strategically try not to go to the extreme edges of the map though.
The difficulty really goes down once you get to start looting stuff from abandoned systems, in my game I found 2.6K of transplutonics from wast ruins (just need a couple Atlases to come back for the loot).
Higher fuel and supply costs really help to increase the length of the mid-game and that I feel is really good.
edit: just got swarmed by like a pack of remnant fleets at the edge of the civilized sector, ouch.
The difficulty really goes down once you get to start looting stuff from abandoned systems, in my game I found 2.6K of transplutonics from wast ruins (just need a couple Atlases to come back for the loot).
That’s a pretty amazing haul! It makes for a good story, too. I haven’t really considered balancing loot economy. If I were to do something about hauls like that dropping the difficulty too quickly it would probably be something along the lines of adding remnant guardians near abandoned stations.
Higher fuel and supply costs really help to increase the length of the mid-game and that I feel is really good.
That’s good to hear. Mid-game is my favorite stage and I often feel like it goes by way too fast. However, Ruthless sector doesn’t change fuel cost.
edit: just got swarmed by like a pack of remnant fleets at the edge of the civilized sector, ouch.
How’s the recovery effort going?
Fixed occasional spawning of swarms of [REDACTED] fleets (At least I’m pretty sure I did, please tell me if you find out otherwise)
The campaign notifications for Battle Difficulty and lost experience now highlight their values
Moved settings file from /data/config/settings.json to RUTHLESS_SECTOR_OPTIONS.ini for ease of access
Renamed “Difficulty Multiplier” to “Battle Difficulty” because I’m fickle and can’t make up my mind
Also, I updated the FAQ with explanations for what ‘Battle Difficulty’ affects and how it’s calculated.