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About this mod
Starfield's weapons are woefully unbalanced, especially for automatic rifles. This is my best effort to correct that issue.
This balance patch attempts to make weaker weapons viable and to make full-auto play styles competitive. This patch consists of all buffs to player weapons, but also affects NPC weapons.
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π’ Royal Weapon Balance π₯
A Simple Balancing Pass of the Weapons in the Game for both the player and NPC. Version 1.0 consists only of buffs. I'll keep any nerfs to an optional file.
Full automatic and burst-fire play-styles are now strong (but not overpowered in the way that setting them to deal the same damage as semi-auto does).
Weaker weapons like a full-auto Grendel or Equinox are now strong.
***
This mod is complete (unless I receive feedback or new ideas).
Further updates to combat outside of the scope of "fixes" or "balance" have been pushed to Royal Combat Overhaul which will make non-Vanilla changes to further enhance gameplay.
Any objective balance improvements I make in Royal Combat Overhaul will be backported into Royal Weapons Balance.
I'm not trying to abanadon it or force people to swap over to Royal Combat. =)
***
A Simple Balancing Pass of the Weapons in the Game for both the player and NPC. Version 1.0 consists only of buffs. I'll keep any nerfs to an optional file.
Full automatic and burst-fire play-styles are now strong (but not overpowered in the way that setting them to deal the same damage as semi-auto does).
Weaker weapons like a full-auto Grendel or Equinox are now strong.
***
This mod is complete (unless I receive feedback or new ideas).
Further updates to combat outside of the scope of "fixes" or "balance" have been pushed to Royal Combat Overhaul which will make non-Vanilla changes to further enhance gameplay.
Any objective balance improvements I make in Royal Combat Overhaul will be backported into Royal Weapons Balance.
I'm not trying to abanadon it or force people to swap over to Royal Combat. =)
***
A common critique of this game is bullet sponges and wishing that enemies were more threatening. This helps make most enemies more threatening while buffing your damage when using guns that are weak in Vanilla.
The vanilla multiplier for full auto is 70% less damage than semi-auto, which makes them borderline useless.
Weapon changes affect NPCs and player, so this took extensive playtesting. Enemies using full auto weapons will be significantly more of a threat.
In early versions of playtesting, this + PEAKο»Ώ made NPCs too powerful since so many enemies use the weaker weapons buffed by this mod and full auto, but I got it working all together. =) If you don't want a difficulty increase, you might want to try PEAK's casual accuracy mode.
Stat Changes (Approximate Values):
Fully automatic damage:Vanilla 0.3x --> Now varies from 0.6ish, with some up to 0.8x due to tiny magazines and other balancing elements.
Burst fire damage: Vanilla 0.4xish --> Now buffed to 0.75xish
These are hand-tweaked per weapon and playtested. I started with logical values like 1.25x stronger, 1.5x stronger, but then tweaked based on playtesting.
This initial release mostly tweaked underpowered early game weapons and fully automatic rifles. Other rifles were also buffed so that they did not become weaker than early game rifles. This mod does not significantly buff the guns that already quite good in Vanilla, but there are minor tweaks.
This mod has plenty of minor tweaks and common-sense changes. In short, I'm pretty satisfied, but I haven't changed every single weapon from vanilla. I am highly open to suggestions and feedback. Like my other mods, this is just # tweaks that require a ton of playtesting.
Tier 1 stats of weapons untouched-- the first few hours of Starfield are fine.
Base damage for horrifically underpowered early game automatic weapons doubled for Tiers 2-4.
Base damage for horrifically underpowered early game automatic weapons doubled for Tiers 2-4.
You might think this would make them overpowered, but it doesn't even come close. Bethesda did not attempt to balance these guns for player enjoyment. They were balanced to be early game weapons you upgrade away from and for NPCs to use without being too damaging.
If Bethesda had any apparent original design intentions, I kept those. For example, the Drumbeat has a very high multiplier for burst-fire damage. Is there any way to figure out that's supposed to be a burst-fire gun in-game? Not that I know of. But I maintained that value.
As I playtested, I found that these buffs, while helpful, didn't quite feel right. I could balance full auto to either be the best no matter what, or they felt terrible. Additionally, since so many NPCs use the weapons I tweaked, specifically set to full auto by default, this mod initially proved to be an insane buff to NPCs, particularly when running something like PEAK hardcore. So I kept working on the weapons to keep them fun when used alongside the best mods available now. :)
The following adjustments help deal with the overpowered NPC issue, but also improve player gunplay and make automatic weapons stand out a bit more:
( -_β’)β¦Μ΅Μ΅ΜΏβ€β Recoil:
Base stability of all weapons reduced.
Stability when crouched increased by 2.0x.
Base stability of all weapons reduced.
Stability when crouched increased by 2.0x.
This helped make weapons more viable for the player without making NPCs insanely strong.
This decreased base stability is not as noticeable as you might think, but crouching and firing feels a lot better.
Minimum bounce per shot (for full auto weapons I buffed) initially multiplied by 1.25x
Maximum bounce per shot multiplied by 1.5x.
Then I playtested and reduced the ones that no longer felt "right" or like themselves. I put many weapons back to or close to vanilla because recoil changes just made them lose identity or feel awful.
Laser weapon recoil reduced but not fully removed.
These are the values I find fun. Simply overwrite this with another recoil mod if you prefer it.ο»Ώ
Slight (5-10%ish) buffs to:
Armor-Piercing rounds,
Penetrator Rounds,
Depleted Uranium Rounds
Flechette,
Gut buster
Includes the changes from the SFCP but restores Rank 4 lasers burn damage to particle weapons and buffs it for both particle beams and lasers to a 10% chance. Armor-Piercing rounds,
Penetrator Rounds,
Depleted Uranium Rounds
Flechette,
Gut buster
I strongly suggest running Inflictor Enhanced which is a very thoughtfully balanced mod that works well with these values.
A little burn damage keeps weapons viable against late-game health-sponges. Without the burn, these weapons start to feel meh late game without any options for armor-piercing. Fire helps deal with high HP mobs.
Other Recommended Mods for Weapon Balance:
Originally, I was going to make this mod require other mods, but I decided to keep things simple, so these are just strong suggestions and how I, personally, have my gameplay set up.
Originally, I was going to make this mod require other mods, but I decided to keep things simple, so these are just strong suggestions and how I, personally, have my gameplay set up.
I strongly suggest installing:ο»Ώ
More Weapons Have Tiers
Early Game Weapons Empowered:ο»Ώ
Thank you to gpgpgpgp2019ο»Ώ for permission to include More Weapons Have Tiers and Early Game Weapons Empowered!
Easier install and less plugins needed for you!
TN's Melee Weapon Improvements:ο»Ώ
This adds weapon modifications to melee weapons, making them significantly more interesting and powerful.
Load this after Royal Weapons Balance or Royal Combat Overhaul.
Early Game Weapons Empowered:ο»Ώ
Thank you to gpgpgpgp2019ο»Ώ for permission to include More Weapons Have Tiers and Early Game Weapons Empowered!
Easier install and less plugins needed for you!
TN's Melee Weapon Improvements:ο»Ώ
This adds weapon modifications to melee weapons, making them significantly more interesting and powerful.
Load this after Royal Weapons Balance or Royal Combat Overhaul.
Load Order/Compatibility:
Load Royal Combat Overhaul after Item Sorter. A patch will be needed for correct names of new perks with Item Sorter.I am currently testing compatibility with mods that remove legendary perks to be crafted later. I don't personally play with these (yet) as I like the thrill of finding loot.
Please let me know-- since I used vanilla perks, they may still be compatible. If not, I'll see if someone can help me with patches ASAP.
1. Load this before perk and recoil overhauls, as it includes (and will add) many common-sense changes like slightly buffing scavenger ammo drops.
2. Load this before setting full auto-damage to 100% via other mods (will be compatible, just slightly OP).
3. Load this before Craftable Quality, you'll still benefit from many of the changes and Craftable Quality will overwrite the differing damage values with Gambit's values. :)
4. I also changed weapon drop-separately-from-corpse chance to 25% to help against save bloat. If you have it set to 0% chance using No Weapon Death Dropο»Ώ, load that after this.
5. Everything is compatible with everything; just load the mod you want more second.
There are other tweaks in here, such as slightly reducing (not removing) the recoil on Equinox and increasing unarmed damage.
These are basically gameplay changes that I feel (from extensive time in my personal patch) make the game objectively better. As I playtested this mod, I had to go with my gut on making the guns feel enjoyable to me.
Currently, does not touch headshot or body data, though I recommend using a mod that does that. I play with human headshots set to 2.5x from the default 2.0.ο»Ώ I can always roll that into this mod if there is demand/need.
Note that any changes to human body data affect the player as well as NPCs, so will further increase difficulty.
Even with these changes in this mod, semi-automatic seems to get the job done better due to ammo conservation. In my initial releases, I continually try to stay close to vanilla balance for compatibility reasons. I want to help make this the best version of Starfield possible, not some parallel universe where the game is entirely different.
That being said, with certain weapon perks and situations, full automatic rifles now have a CHANCE to be the best choice.
Playing with Fully Automatic Weapons:
With the absolutely tiny magazines in the base game, it's clear that you should not actually be spraying and praying (not even against heatleeches). Even with full auto, pace your shots, use burst shots, and aim for that head.Use fully automatic weapons the way you would in a multiplayer FPS if you want them to be viable. Don't waste shots. That being said, I did buff scavenger rank 2, so there is more ammo in the world.
Recoil:
Load recoil mods after mine to get recoil improvements for all guns. The stability reductions will need to be patched into other recoil mods, but it's not that significant.
Load recoil mods after mine to get recoil improvements for all guns. The stability reductions will need to be patched into other recoil mods, but it's not that significant.
Why Make This Mod?
As people played my Royal NPC leveled lists, I got reports from some that the enemies were taking 1000 bullets to kill. My gut reaction was, "yeah, you're using full auto weapons in a game with tiny magazines and that has them set to do 70% less damage per bullet. You're spending most of your time reloading."I would rather not tell players saying leveled lists are too difficult or bullet-sponges to stop using full auto weapons. I balanced around using better guns like a semi-auto Beowulf, Va'Ruun Inflictor, shotguns, and snipers. So when players were committed to using certain weapons or full-auto rifles, my leveled lists did not feel good.
But I want everything to be fun, and slowly I realized that I was ignoring more than half of the weapons in the game because they were poorly balanced, even with other mods. As I worked, I realized that Automatic weapons have SO many drawbacks. They eat through ammo faster than you can buy. They have to reload constantly. And in exchange, they get-- 70% less damage?
So I did start to come around to the idea that maybe automatic weapons SHOULD be stronger when played perfectly.
I'd love it if we as a community got together and made one overall balance patch. That way, users don't have to hunt down a thousand files. But I think the list of mods I included here pretty much has everything you need.
As of 1/29, with GRPGRPGRP's permission-- this includes his two awesome mods, and I guess this dream has come true =)
I have also run with Early Game Weapons Empoweredο»Ώ since I started playing. Without it, so many cool guns wouldn't be viable.
Can you make 1000 optional files?
Sure, let me know what you'd like. In general, once a modder tweak a value, it's easier for them to tweak it again than for someone else to make a new mod.
If people give me really well-thought-out numbers or rationales for specific changes, I am more likely to make those changes. The lack of DPS spreadsheets etc. for Starfield is a bit disappointing, but the vanilla balance is so random that it's barely worth taking too seriously as a starting point.
It's clear that gun balance was mostly intended to keep NPCs from being too overpowered; Bethesda probably should have just given all guns different NPC and player values the same way they did Starborn powers.
I'll make relevant patches and versions that remove features some people might not like upon request. For example, I'll put up a version that only includes the changes to full automatic damage-- but I'd rather get some feedback on the whole suite.
Every plugin increases my workload and takes away time from working on other mods that I find more fun and interesting and playing. I have also started to get wife aggro for the amount of time I spend on this stuff, as well as the same stress and pressure every modder mentions but that I never really imagined until I experienced it.
Created to try to balance out the game so it is more fun, as well as to go with my main listing making hobby.
Sure, let me know what you'd like. In general, once a modder tweak a value, it's easier for them to tweak it again than for someone else to make a new mod.
If people give me really well-thought-out numbers or rationales for specific changes, I am more likely to make those changes. The lack of DPS spreadsheets etc. for Starfield is a bit disappointing, but the vanilla balance is so random that it's barely worth taking too seriously as a starting point.
It's clear that gun balance was mostly intended to keep NPCs from being too overpowered; Bethesda probably should have just given all guns different NPC and player values the same way they did Starborn powers.
I'll make relevant patches and versions that remove features some people might not like upon request. For example, I'll put up a version that only includes the changes to full automatic damage-- but I'd rather get some feedback on the whole suite.
Every plugin increases my workload and takes away time from working on other mods that I find more fun and interesting and playing. I have also started to get wife aggro for the amount of time I spend on this stuff, as well as the same stress and pressure every modder mentions but that I never really imagined until I experienced it.
Created to try to balance out the game so it is more fun, as well as to go with my main listing making hobby.
π«Starborn Royalty - A Starfield Modlist
βββΌβββ‘Β°Λβ§βΌβ§ΛΒ°ββββΌββ π βββΌβββ‘Β°Λβ§βΌβ§ΛΒ°ββββΌββ
Royal Weathers and Encountersο»Ώ
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Royal Terror - Better Faster Stronger Terrormorphs
Royal Weapon Balance - Full Auto And Early Game Weapon Buffs
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Royal Space Magic - Player And NPC Starborn Powers Enhanced
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Royal Unique Human NPCs And Factions
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Royal Starborn - Starborn Enemies and Powers Improved Scaled Diversified
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Royal Aliens - Bigger Better Alien Creatures And Configurable Alien-Specific Difficulty
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Royal Works In Progress: Early Access to Upcoming Combat, Encounter, Loot, etc. =)
βββΌβββ‘Β°Λβ§βΌβ§ΛΒ°ββββΌββ π βββΌβββ‘Β°Λβ§βΌβ§ΛΒ°ββββΌββ
Royal Works In Progress: Early Access to Upcoming Combat, Encounter, Loot, etc. =)