This is a mini-mod that changes the mechanics of the planetary shield generator; I found that, with its vanilla implementation, I never actually wanted to use it – so I modified it to address the lack of alternative options for dealing with pather terrorists.
This mod is safe to add to an existing save! And, yes, you’ll get the new behavior immediately, including on any shields you’ve already built. (Starsector will display a mod compatibility warning; it is safe to ignore it.)
It is not safe to remove once you’ve added it, but there’s a settings file that lets you swap it back to vanilla behavior if you want to turn it off. (In the mod folder, open the “wyv_ps_settings.json” file, and on the line with “revertToVanillaShieldBehavior”, edit false to true, and then re-start Starsector.)
The exact changes are:
Changelog:
- 1.4
- Fixed a bug where the combination of Nexerelin random mode and the Industrial Evolution mod caused PS:AC to crash with a null pointer exception.
- 1.3
- Updated mod for 0.95.
- Removed accessibility and growth penalties.
- 1.2
- Fixed a bug where, on the initial install of the mod, any AI cores already installed in shield generators would be destroyed.
- Fixed a bug where, on mod install in Starsector 0.9.1, all under-construction shield generators would be instantly completed; as a side-effect, this mod is no longer compatible with Starsector 0.9.
- Fixed a bug where the shield generator would apply its penalty to colony growth even when disrupted, under construction, or toggled back to vanilla behavior.
- Removed the x1.2 defense strength multiplier, leaving just the flat value boost.
- 1.1
- Fixed the planetary shield blueprint’s description.
Credits:
- SafariJohn, Retry, & Mesotronik: provided the initial ideas for the mod’s secondary effects.
- FutureMunk: asked for the mod to be updated to 0.95, without which prompting I probably wouldn’t have bothered.
It’s especially useful to quietly send people off from a tech-mining colony once it grew out it’s usefulness.
Yeah, I expect I’ll need to rebalance a bit come 0.9.1, but I’ll worry about that when we get there.
It’s a nice balance since it does make shields usable on small outposts (for a heavy price in growth) we want to protect without absolutely killing the need for anything more than one other defensive industry on a size 10 planet. So I think you’ve got this absolutely right.
And it indeed does help with pathers a little. Though they seem to be still active despite being 0.43% on a size 10 xD
I’d suggest removing the beta cores from Farming, Waystation, Commerce, and Population & Infrastructure; that should be enough to make the pathers go away.
Looks like you set the description for the shield via scripts (really neat btw), which seems to not want to work for the blueprint? Would be my guess.
Either way, like the idea. Looking forward to trying this out!
The delay was me trying to find a way to make the blueprint’s description vary the way the industry does – but I don’t have any good answers to that, and ended up just putting back in the vanilla description for the blueprint. It’s not ideal, but it’ll do.
I’ve also been considering some balance adjustments; while I think the mod works well for vanilla or vanilla + faction mods, it doesn’t mesh well with Nexerelin. For one thing, Nexerelin agents are a vastly cheaper way to remove pather cells. For another, there’s no need to worry about keeping a colony at size three, since Nexerelin allows you to transfer colonies to other factions. Maybe I should just have it detect if Nex is loaded, and if so, disable the accessibility and growth penalties? Haven’t come to a decision on this yet; if anyone else has any ideas, please don’t hesitate to make a suggestion.
I’ll have to think about it, but if I could suggest (though we don’t know the release date yet) waiting for 0.9.1 to drop? I’d would wait to see what the changes are first and how the new colony dynamic flows before making any drastic overhauls like that?
Since the No Atmosphere condition mentions micrometeorites and a slow drizzle of radiation, I’d think a planetary shield would provide some hazard mitigation for the No Atmosphere and Thin Atmosphere modifiers; Perhaps 10 and 5% respectively. Also, you’d think a giant glowing shield might reduce the effect of the Low Light and No Light hazards.
An aside about hazards. One thing that always bothered me is that money that goes into hazards just disappears. There’s no increased demand for specific goods that, aside from hazard pay, would go into such endeavors. For instance: The High Gravity trait mentions powered exoskeletons for mundane tasks; Shouldn’t that be reflected in all the industries? Basically the High Gravity modifier should add bonus demand for heavy machinery to every job, even population and infrastructure. This would make all heavy industry even heavier and even simple habitation have a demand for heavy machinery. Similar things like increased demand for organics on cold worlds to provide for heat (simple combustion), increased demand for consumer goods or cloned organs on planets with Inimical Biosphere (consumer goods meaning medicines, insecticides, disinfectants, and so on) and demand for volatiles on hot worlds to make coolants.
Apparently I commented those lines out during testing to make sure the growth rate modifier worked, and, uh, never actually un-commented them.
Whoops, you’re right. I don’t have time to do a full release right now, but if you go into the mod, and open up PlanetaryShield.java (under data/scripts/wyv), and find the four lines towards the end that start with “//” – delete the slashes (leaving the rest of the lines alone), and it should then work properly.
Apparently I commented those lines out during testing to make sure the growth rate modifier worked, and, uh, never actually un-commented them.
I understand. Just wanted to report something i found. Anyway, got it.
Also had some good time reading this 
return -9f + super.getPatherInterest(); // why you'd install a beta or gamma core in a planetary shield generator I don't know, but we should account for it anyway.