Breaching the Core Full Mod Main

[Hammish]

Breaching the Core
Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dhhwj2qdztt2c83/btc.mpk?dl=0
Author: Hammish (William)
Additional models and textures: FlessenGreendart
Additional localization: Samui
Mod version: v2.1.1
Test version: Unavailable
Game version: Compliant with VE 0.10.0.  Test version compliant with VE 0.15.3.
Game mode: Tested in SP, should work in MP though latency might make the fusion ray look odd.

So what is BTC and how does it change things up from the vanilla game?  Well, let me count the ways!

WEAPON CHANGES
You will notice instantly weapon selection available in shops has changed.  There are now three classes to weapons: basic, standard and experimental/hybrid.  Basic weapons can be mounted without any required skills in the character tree being unlocked (hull traits must still match, so a basic carrier bay would not fit on a ship designed to carry missiles).  Standard weapons require the Standard Turrets skill at the correct rank, and experimental/hybrid weapons require both the Standard Turrets and Experimental Turrets skills to be at the proper rank.  The cost required to use each also factors into weapon design; basic weapons tend to be simplistic and easy to use but low in overall stats whereas experimental weapons are either markedly better or have unique properties to offset needing to unlock them using skill points.  Each type of weapon (energy, ballistic or missile) also has two skill trees dedicated to it in the Combat branch, one designed to increase raw destructive capabilities and one to accent 'secondary' stats such as range, projectile scatter, ect.

So what are the weapons?

Energy - Beam:
Beam Lasers are a constant stream.
Pulse Lasers use rapid-fire pulses.
Auger Beams are lasers with a much shorter range but higher damage. (Coming soon)
Tachyon Cannons are slow-reloading sniper beams with a warmup.
Fusion Rays are long-range beam weapons with damage that begins low but builds up over the course of two seconds as all three beams come online.  The capacitor for the weapon, however, depletes quickly.

Energy - Plasma:
Plasma Repeaters fire five-round salvos of small explosive shots.
Plasma Cannons are slow-moving heavy explosive shots.
Plasma Ejectors are flamethrower-like weapons.
Plasma Accelerators are a mix between cannons and repeaters; they take a long time to load but fire clusters of four moderately-damaging explosive shots.
Plasma Torpedoes are a long-ranged weapons firing high-damage shots that are semi-guided.  While offering exceptional burst damage, the downside of this weapon is that the torpedoes take a long time to reform, with a full capacitor supplying only 5 shots and taking a full 20 seconds to recharge.
Plasma Missiles are a long-ranged weapons firing clusters of low-damage shots with excellent guidance.  A variant on the P-Torp, the missile version is far more effective against nimble ships but useless against larger hulls and features the same rapid-depletion capacitor.

Ballistics - Guns:
Assault Guns fire fast-moving sprays of five smaller shots.
Rotary Autocannons are rapid-fire, inaccurate 'spray and pray' weapons with excellent overall DPS.
Burst Rifles fire rounds at a steady clip thanks to multiple barrels and are the only gun-class weapon able to deal somewhat with heavier armor.
Flak Cannons fire slight-damage high-explosive shells that can saturate an area.
GyroShot Cannons are medium-ranged weapons that resemble rotary autocannons but use microthrusters on the shells it fires to give them limited tracking.  The increased size of the shells slightly lowers the rate of fire and thus the overall damage this weapon does in addition to limiting ammunition space.
Cluster Cannons are large-bore area-saturation weapons.  Unlike the flak cannons that explode at a fixed distance the cluster munitions begin detonating shortly after launch, creating a rippling outward explosion.  Slow to reload, but does enough damage to affect even cruiser hulls.

Ballistics - Cannons:
Dual-Linked Cannons are the fastest-firing of the cannon line thanks to twin barrels, but low overall DPS.
Mass Drivers fire slow-moving heavy shots.
Naval Artillery fires large-caliber shells with a large AOE burst.
Gauss Cannons operate similarly to mass drivers, except they uses shaped rounds and accelerate the projectiles to much higher speeds in addition to reloading more quickly.  An overall excellent weapon, easy to use and fast-firing while being able to deal with heavier armor.

Basic Missiles:
SRM Rockets are unguided, low-moderate damage but fire very rapidly.
LRM Missiles are guided but slow-moving, causing moderate damage.  After launch they have a slight delay before they acquire the target and begin to accelerate.
MRM Missiles are semi-guided but move very quickly.  They have the same damage over time but trade the tracking of the LRM for speed; they require better aim and can be easier to dodge, but are harder to hit with beam weapons in point defense.
MLRS pods are semi-guided (worse tracking than LRMs) but fire in salvos.
The MIRV Launcher fires a large casing that splits apart after a few moments, launching a swarm of fast-tracking missiles into space.  Only useful at long ranges, in close the casing tends to impact before splitting and causing very little damage.

Carrier Drone Bays contain autonomous fighters that are launched, much like carriers of old.  The limited AI means relying on the launching ship for targeting data, however, and they expend power and explode very quickly.  Carrier drones are only able to be mounted on specific hulls with the proper structure.  These hulls are unable to mount conventional missile weapons (due to the possibility of friendly fire) and in general take longer to achieve a target lock but can maintain that lock to much further ranges, allowing the drones to stay on target effectively.  They come mounted with one of the following weapons: micro rotary cannon (Fighter), micro gauss (Gunner), micro LRM (Interceptor), micro torpedo (Bomber) or a railgun/missile combination (Advanced).

OTHER CHANGES
In the current version, besides the starting shuttle, there are 5 baseline hulls currently in:
Athena Corvette - Dogfighter, very nimble, better versions are specialized.
Apollo Corvette - Interceptor, fast with lots of missiles for stand-off gameplay.
Hephaestus Corvette - Miner/hauler, better versions have better protection and space.
Ares Frigate - Multi-role ship, customizable, fairly clunky compared to the corvettes.
Hera Drone Cruiser - Only carries one direct weapon, multiple hardpoints for equipping drones.

And then some advanced hulls:
Artemis Bomber - Advanced corvette, multiple missile hardpoints, very frail.
Dionysus Gunship - Advanced corvette, as agile as the Athena but with four under-the-wing ballistics/energy on very limited arcs.
Poseidon Frigate - Frigate-sized but with cruiser-scale armor.  Very beefy and with a solid weapon mix.  Also very slow and turns like a hog.
Persephone Mining Frigate - Much like the Hephaestus, but larger and with better weapons.
Hades Destroyer - Cruiser-sized but with the nimbleness of a frigate, packs a ton of weapon mounts (including two large mounts), but a power hog and frail for its size.
Zeus Heavy Cruiser - Unbelievably slow and sluggish to turn but can take a pounding like no other vessel and can dish it right back with four heavy-hitting hardpoints.

There are also now two basic classes for engines (speed and maneuver), three for power (efficiency, output and capacitor), three for shields (basic deflect, high capacity and barrier), two for RCS (turning and rerouting for extra speed), and two for radar (long-range scanning or short-range, fast-locking).  More equipment coming soon!


DISCLAIMER
This mod is a work in progress and currently in a very early state.  Pirate AI may be a little odd and balancing is still ongoing and all.

[Hammish]

CHANGELOG

v1.0.0
Basic mod released to public with 8 hulls.
Redone small and medium weapons!
All new ship modules as well as a revamped skill system!
New character types added to take advantage of these skills!

v1.1.0
Three new hulls added: The Persephone-class mining frigate, the Hades-class destroyer (uses the cruiser skill for now) and the Zeus-class heavy cruiser.
Large (III) versions of all weapons added.
Nine modules added: three engine mods and six weapon mods.
Alternate and better gas tanks added, all the way up through experimental.  They require Engineering to equip, but may eventually shift to Engines.
Some projectile effects changed.  Plasma cannons and mass driver now have animated shots and pulse lasers really pulse!
Introduced scaling models for medium- and large-sized energy weapons.  Thanks FlessenGreendart!
Also from FlessenGreendart, there is a one-off character available: the Han Solo class, complete with his own Falcon.  Coming soon, a giant sphere to fly into.  (Just kidding, but only about the Death Star.)

v1.1.1
Fixed the HPH-C and HPH-I hulls (hopefully!)  They should be dual energy, not energy-missile, so this should fix the problem with not being able to mount a launcher.
Added the EPEE-S plasma flamethrower.  It's totally a work in progress and needs a lot of fixing in balance and the sprite, but it's still fun to go around flamethrowering all the things.  I may eventually change it to a beam-style weapon and make it look like a WW2 napalm flamethrower with a faster stream but the same short, short range.

v1.2.0
Official version of plasma ejector introduced.  Energy auger, harmonic wave weapon, dual-linked cannons and shockwave cannons added.
First capital weapon added, along with the capital hull: The Capital Gauss Cannon and Zeus-XX.
Better mining modules added!

v1.3.0
Updated to work with VE 0.10.0.
Added tachyon needler, naval artillery, normal cannons and reworked the rotary autocannon.

v1.4.0
Industry tech tree added to engineering, armoring tech tree added to defenses.  Both still being balanced but seem okay for now.
New starting class, the Miner.
Major revisions to other tech trees.  Radar operation moved to page engineering page, in the combat page there are now three main trees:
- Weapon Enhancement, deals with accuracy, ammunition capacity, range, other various misc. variables.
- Ammunition Enhancement, deals with mostly raw damage on weapons.
- Turret Mechanics, deals with maximum equipable turret size, advanced turrets, and turret turn speed/range.
Tons of new models and meshes.  Rotary models should be complete now, and look excellent.  New test models for the Naval Artillery and MLRS-3.  Thanks to Flessen!

v1.4.1
Updated to comply with VE experimental build 1.10.1b.

v1.8.0
Massive overall of weapon equipment, now split into six main branches:
- Beam (Energy)
- Plasma (Energy)
- Gun (Ballistic)
- Cannon (Ballistic)
- Missile (Missile)
- Carrier Drones (Missile)
Plans drawn up for redevelopment of mines in the future.  The two mine trees will be Standard Mines and Combat Structures (short-lasting deployable turrets), both of which will be designed for defensive gameplay.
Tons of new models and skins for turrets!  Beams are boxy but distinguishable from ballistics, rotary turrets are more widespread, the burst rifle has an all-new three-barrel turret, and the plasma and gauss all have fancy new looks.  Naval artillery is enormous, enough to look hillarious at Large size.
First partial-release version with the new skins for certain hulls.  All the Banshee/Athena variants now look different, including a temporary option to buy and drive both the Athena and Athena Precursor with pirate skins!  Do what you want 'cuz a pirate is free.  FOR NOW.
Work has begun on tweaking muzzle flashes!  They look far better than they did previously for now, but still need tweaking for depth and minor X/Y adjustments.

v1.8.1
Fixed quest issues.
Fixed Falcon hull issues.
Added new sounds for RFL and NAR weapons.
Finalized changes to the Artemis and Dionysus hulls, Artemis bomber should now use the Boomerang hull (skins coming soon!)

v1.8.2
Hull physics overhauled and changed dramatically in some cases.
Engine and RCS equipment overhauled for decreased performance.
Hercules MR Cruiser added, uses Yamato hull, large hybrid direct fire/drone ship.
New skins for Persephone mining and military variants added!
New class added: Former Pirate.  For now he just starts out with the Athena - Pirate mod, eventually he'll have more... uses.

v2.0.9
Some new icons.
Some new models.
Large reworking of skills.  Most passive bonuses have been reduced, and many skills are available at lower levels.
Reworking of the starting classes.  New characters receive changed skills to reflect the new skill system costs, in addition to receiving more skillpoints in general.
Reworking of the armor system.  Base armor is now based on ship class: corvettes have 0 armor, frigates have 20 armor, cruisers have 50 armor, and most capital ships and structures have 100 armor.  This gives a more distinction between high-DPS weapons and high-damage weapons that are perfect for damaging cruisers or structures.
First half of NPC adjustment is done.  Corvettes now feature BTC-style weapons and hulls in addition to sporting the new armor rules.  Cargo ships, cruisers, frigates and aliens coming soon!

v2.1.1
Finished revisions from 2.1/2.0.9
Updated to work with VE 1.4.x
New weapons added: cluster cannon and plasma missiles.

[Hammish]

LOOKING FOR:
I'm personally pretty good on doing balancing and weapon/tech design on my own, but I'm always looking for people to help with other aspects of the mod!  Full credit will, of course, be given.  Here are some areas I could use some help:

• People to help with model submission, in particular for tackling some specific designs;
• People to help with working on a campaign of sorts.  This would entail working heavily with the universe generation files while are a bit beyond what I've studied in the data so far.   The general slant of this would be slowly working toward a multiplayer-friendly map type with less aliens and more inter-faction fighting;
• People to help with other specific art assets like projectile sprites and trails (I've managed the basics okay, but I want weapon effects to really pop!);
• More gineau pigs... I mean, playtesters!

FUTURE GOALS AND PROGRESS:

Tech 1 (RELEASED!)
All basic and hybrid small/medium weapons.  (DONE!)
All basic and 2nd-tier equipment modules. (DONE!)
Fighter/interceptor/cargo/bomber/gunship corvettes, multirole/miner/brawler frigates, carrier cruiser.  (90% done, mining frig didn't make 1.0 cut)
Revamped skill tree (120% done, I got the social skills in ahead of time)
Revamped character archetypes to match new skills (DONE!)

Tech 2
All basic and hybrid large weapons. (90% done, needs to work on mines and some missiles)
Finish the tech tree for mining/industrial and defenses, or find someone to help with either/both.  (100% done!)
All 3rd-tier and experimental equipment modules. (80% done, just need boosters)
Destroyer and heavy cruiser hulls. (80% done, just need to work in Yamato.)

Tech 3
Capital weapons ahoy!
Crafting system of sorts.
Storyline work (ties in with the makeshift version of crafting)
Engineering madness.
Roles for support pilots (repair, shielding, ect).  Possibly asynchronous-warfare stuff.
All the other crazy @*#! that I feel like trying.

[Hammish]

Any questions, comments, ideas or criticism you have for BTC?  Please leave it over in the discussion thread, it's very welcome there!  Thank you!

[Hammish]

Bump for the release to 1.8.0!

[Hammish]

Bump for the update to 2.0.9!  Massive changes in BTC as of 2.0, even moreso with this version.

Please enjoy my work and let me know what you think.  Steam comments especially welcome.