TANSTAAFL: Part 1
by r457 & gh057

“Oh, ‘ tanstaafl.’ Means ‘There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.’ And isn't,” I added, pointing to a FREE LUNCH sign across room, “or these drinks would cost half as much. Was reminding her that anything free costs twice as much in long run or turns out worthless.”
Robert A. Heinlein
“The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress”

Part 2 of the mod is here.

Prerequisites:

• redscript
• red4ext
• Codeware
• Browser Extension
  

Installation:

• Download the main archive
• Extract the archive into the Cyberpunk 2077 install folder
• Installing Part 2 is highly recommended!
  

Description:
In Cyberpunk 2077 we’re supposed to live in a harsh future world ruled by ruthless corporations and corrupt administration knowing no other God but Money. For anything and everything - you pay. And if they could make you pay for the air you breathe - they would.

Our goal with this mod is to bring that harsh atmosphere into the game. Patch 2.0 did good reworking many of the badly done systems (skills, cops, etc), but in our opinion it’s not enough.

Part 1 of the mod introduces the Vehicle Insurance system into the game. We have tweaked the numbers compared to the initial release, plus, it will be tweaked more later when it’s fully integrated with the other parts which are in development now.

Vehicle Insurance system rules:

• Fast Travel is a paid service. No money - no travel.
• Vehicle summoning and repair are paid services: no money - no cars; and if you get in debt with the system, they will deny you access to your vehicles until you repay your debts.
• You are charged for traffic accidents depending on which car you hit.
• Important difference from other similar mods - those are not flat numbers, prices are calculated based on fast travel distance, vehicle price and your possible discounts. It’s on you to decide whether or not you want to risk your fancy car or grab an old rusty one depending on potential dangers you might face.
• Another important difference of this mod: you gain access to the Vehicle Insurance website through your home PC where you can buy different subscription packages to have a discount on all the vehicle related services. Those aren’t cheap, but without those discounts prices are biting!
• In the works: more means to get data on your current subscription state (phone messages).
  

As a result those prices are supposed to have an actual gameplay impact to push gameplay driven decisions and increase the importance of the game’s open world. Means of traveling are an integral part of any game world, they work for better immersion, more open world interactions and, thus, more emergent gameplay situations which are, in fact, the very core of a game - without those any game will turn into a movie with short loading screens in between scenes. Same can be said about many other systems that are often overlooked in modern AAA games.

TODO list:

• Keyboard & Mouse controls r3visited (for both on foot and vehicles) - to assure the player is always in proper command of the character (several mods do exist that deal with sprint and crouch problems as well as KB&M ways to have analog walking speed, but we’re also investigating here).
• Vehicles r3visited - tweaking of vehicles so the players have proper controls and won’t feel unfairly punished by Vehicle Insurance charges (same: mods exist, but further tweaks are needed). Since the latest patches the devs have been tweaking vehicles, but still they don’t feel proper and mostly behave like paper dolls that lack weight. So if you want, you can install your preferred vehicle overhaul mod to feel more in control.
• Reworking of Vehicle Insurance system for more persistency: relying on player garages and parking, not on the spawn mechanic (AMM extensions exist, investigating).
• Reworking Life Insurance system for the upcoming parts of the mod.
• Economy rebalance (investigating).
• Cyberware rebalance (investigating, interesting mods exist).
• Skills rebalance (searching for ways to introduce more active ones instead of just flat bonuses).
• Tweaking game’s UI and graphics for better look and feel (in progress).
• … and other open world balance tweaks to make all the systems work together and create a rewarding gameplay loop.
  

The end result:
We’re aiming for a complete overhaul of the many gameplay systems done in a coherent way. Cyberpunk 2077 modding community created a lot of interesting mods to date we do like and we plan to rely on. And we’d be pleased to see even more coming from the same direction of making the game “rewardingly harder”.