Ascension

Ascension is a total overhaul of the gameplay of Starfield. It changes most aspects of the game. Weapons, Armor, Enemy Scaling, Leveling and Perks are all altered. The purpose is to create a world that is consistent, challenging, and above all fair. Almost all level scaling is gone, Weapons do the same damage at the start of the game as the end, Armor is always a major factor, and Enemies don't just get stronger because you have leveled up. The Player Character no longer gets stronger as they level up, they just get more skilled. This means the combat is engaging from beginning to end, no matter how long you play, no matter how many cycles you go through.



In Ascension, the PC no longer grows stronger when they level, they get more skilled. Health increases have been drastically decreased, and Exp required to level is now far more static.

• The PC now only gains one HP per level, and your HPs start at 100. This means by the end of the game if you reach the level cap you will only have about 500 health. This means that while combat is harder at the start of the game, it is always difficult, requiring tactics to succeed. 
• Exp gained no longer varies, it is constant no matter how long you play. To start with you require 500 Exp to level up, but this will grow be 10 for each level.
• Crafting now longer gives Exp, so you have to play the game to level up.
  

Weapons

Weapons have been rebalanced so that each type of bullet does more or less the same damage no matter when it is fired, and from what weapon. This makes the game feel more consistent, and prevents the PC from ever becoming overpowered. 

• Weapon quality tiers are gone, now a Weapon will always do the same damage no matter when you pick it up, excluding mods you add. 
• Fire modes no longer effect the damage a weapon does, Automatics are just as powerful as Semi-Autos. 
• Most weapons have been rebalanced as well to be stronger. Most Enemies will die from a single headshot, and so will the PC.
• Weapons sway far more, meaning it is harder to hit your target.
• Weapon mods now increase the price by far less.
  

Armor

Armor defense ratings have been massively increased. High tier enemies now have maximized resistances, requiring AP to combat them effectively. This means the what you are wearing always matters.

• All armor tiers have been removed, now the base stats are always the same.
• It is far easier to get to the armor cap at any point of the game, for the PC and NPCs.
• Armors are separated into three categories, Metal, Kevlar and Fabric. Metal has no EM protection, Kevlar is 50% weak to Energy and Fabric is 50% weak to Ballistic.
  

Enemies

Enemies no longer scale with your level, all tiers will spawn in regardless of system level or PC level. This makes to world consistent, and makes combat difficult from start to finish.

• All tiers of Enemies will spawn in at any level. They have had their stats adjusted so that a level 100 Enemy is only twice as powerful as a level 1.
• The difficulty of each foe mostly depends of their Weapons and Armor, with level only slightly effecting their health, by the same amount as the player (1 HP per level).
• All Humans obey the same rules as the PC, even the Starborn. The maximum health they can achieve is no more than a high level player, and their effectiveness comes down mostly to gear.
• Spacers and Crimson Fleet have weak Armor and Weapons, and are low level, meaning they are easy foes to fight.
• Elliptic and Va'ruun have strong Armor and Weapons, and are high level, so they are hard opponents.
• Starborn have inhumanly strong Armor, but only strong human made Weapons, and their new abilities. They are hard to beat, but just human, although they are all very high level.
• Aliens are stronger than humans, and larger, making them a challenge to fight.
• Robots and Turrets and heavily armored, but weak to EM weapons.
• Terrormorphs are apex predators, they have huge amount of health, medium armor.
• Limb shots now only do half damage.
  

Perks

Perks have been overhauled, all damage increasing perks have been altered, and perks required for all characters have been changed so the PC has those abilities from the start. The idea is to make it so you want to take all perks, but their are none that you always need.

• Perks that increase Weapon damage, both for the PC and Space Combat, now only give their secondary effects. These effects have been doubled to compensate.
• Armor Penetration is now half as effective, to compensate for Armors increased role.
• Ballistics how allows you to mod the fire mode of your Weapons, without resources. High ranks allow you to research ammo types.
• The PC can use Boost Packs from the start of the game. The first rank of this perk now allows you to mod your Boost Pack's fire rate without any resources needed.
• Perks that decrease damage taken now cap out at 30%
• You get the combat slide ability for free.
• Your Ship command abilities are higher at the start of the game, and the perk is more effective.
• The Stealth Meter is always available.
• Pickpocketing is always unlocked.
• Wellness only grants 20% extra health.
  

Ships

The type of ships you face is now de-leveled, so you can face high tier ships at the beginning of the game if you aren't careful. As you build up your ship, you become much stronger, and will be able to face harder targets, eventually making combat much easier.

• Spacers have low level ships.
• Crimson Fleet are mid level.
• Elliptic, Va'ruun and Starborn are hard opponents.
• All parts can be purchased at any level, as you have the right perks.
• All habs can be purchased from Akila City, Neon or New Atlantis.
  

Misc

The below changes have also been made.

• Non-Legendary Enemies now longer drops their suits, as you shot a hole in it.
• You now need to scan 5 plants/animals to survey a planet.
• Space Adept does a flat 15% damage increase in space.
• Instigating now does a 25% damage increase on the first hit.
• NG+ no longer increases the amount of damage you take or do.
• Contraband is more expensive.
• All resources cost five times as much.
• Weapon cost is halved.
• Hotel rooms, Houses and Doctors are more expensive.
• Ship registration now costs 50% of the ship cost.
• All Suppressors decrease damage by 10%.
• The chance for legendries to spawn is static, at the Very Hard difficulty rate.
• You gain Exp on any kills where you did any damage, not over 50% damage.
• Med Packs heal you much slower than before.
• The PC has a very small amount of health regeneration, just enough so you don't need to waste Med Packs outside of combat.
• The PC walks the same speed as NPCs.
• Vendors credits have been increased.
• Mines explode faster.
• Phase times duration has been halved.
• Vasco now helps out in the Vectera fight.
• The Elliptic in the Old Neighborhood are now all Spacers, as Elliptic are now far to difficult to face that early.
  

Instructions

Ascension is balanced around normal difficulty. At this difficulty, the PC and NPCs are playing by the exact same rules. It can be played on a different difficulty as well, but try this one first. 

This mod will require a new game, as it changes so much that your old save will be full of balancing errors if you continue. A NG+ might also work.

To install, just download it with Vortex or M02, then add Ascension.esm into your Plugins.txt file.

Credits

Ascension is inspired by Requiem - The Roleplaying Overhaul for Skyrim. Both by copying is basic design principles of a de-leveled, fair world, while hopefully avoiding its major downfalls of locking half the content behind high level characters and encouraging exploits. The balance of this mod should feel quite similar to my Rebirth - Gameplay Overhaul for Tale of Two Wastelands, as it uses most of the same techniques.

Let me know if there are any new features you would like me to add. Once the Creation Kit comes out I will be updating the mod with some new features I have been planning. There is a Article attached to this page with the details.

Thank you to Bethesda for making such a great game, and to the XEdit team for the tools used to create the mod.