ASM: Enigmatic Discoveries (Expanded)

Built and tested for the 2.3 update.

There is also a lite version of this mod, ASM: Enigmatic Discoveries (Lite) which has no changes to science ships, starting technologies, or caravanner fleets.

• Science ships can now be armed and have stats relatively equivalent to a cruiser.
• First Contact and Communications now takes significantly longer to establish.
• Reduces hyperlane detection to only one jump, making for more intriguing discovery.
• Slows down anomaly research and planetary surveys.
• Many starting techs now must be researched manually (but still appear as initial research options automatically).
• First Contact and Communications now takes significantly longer to establish.
• If you own Megacorp, Caravaneer fleets will no longer move around the galaxy until the galactic market is founded.
• If you own Megacorp, Nomad fleets are now guaranteed to spawn again.

Have you ever scratched your head after receiving an event that some new, foreign, possible evil, repulsive, but maybe highly intelligent mystery species has been discovered and you need to decode their language and manage the impossible in just 14 days? Does the survey speed of your science-captains ever make you feel like they don’t really care about the planet they’re studying and are instead just trying to fill a monthly quota on total planets surveyed? And why are there so many training-wheel, starting techs already researched for you?! And those immersion breaking caravaneers? Nothing like holding your breath as an unidentified fleet enters your space, only to say, "Hey you guys! Want some bunk beds?" If these sagacious thoughts have ever come to you (and bugged you, like they did me), then this mod might be for you!

This mod’s primary goal is to make exploration and discovery a little more interesting and strategic, plus just a hint more realistic. This mod will likely only appeal to a niche group of players, but hey, that’s the beauty of mods! You pick those that work for your game and play style.

The first notable change is that the number of technology alternatives to pick from has been reduced from 3 to 2. This makes getting the bonus +1 to tech alternatives a much more rewarding event.

Additionally, a small, but relatively significant change made to technology tiers is the altering of how many technologies are required in order to reach the next tier. In vanilla, you have to first research 6 Tier I technologies before Tier II technologies start to show up and so on. This is arbitrary and rather gamey, in my opinion. This has been reduced to only 2 for each tier. If you or the ai wants to spend the research on higher tiered technologies, that is a strategic decision you can make now!

Finally, a number of starting technologies have now been made into true technologies, requiring them to be researched before being used. The AI has been programmed (as well as it can be) to pick up the most important of these techs as quickly as possible. All originally initial technologies now begin as research options, but must still be researched. If you start with any Advanced AI Empires, they automatically receive all of these techs.

Engineering Technologies

• Corvettes
• Defense Platforms
• Mass Drivers
• Nanocomposite Materials

Physics Technologies

• Active Countermeasures
• Deflectors
• Reactor Boosters
• Red Lasers

Society Technologies

• Holo-Entertainment
• Interplanetary Expeditionary Forces
• New Worlds Protocol
• Sociocultural History

• At the start of the game, you cannot see further than one hyperlane jump.
• Science ship anomalies take much longer to research.
• Science ship survey speed is much slower.
• Debris research takes much longer to analyze.
• Science ships have been upgraded to be closer to cruisers, with three different sections available with the various voidcraft techs (Corvette, Destroyer, etc.)

Altered Vanilla Files:

• 00_utilities_reactors.txt (alters cores of science ships)
• 00_utilities_sensors.txt (reduces hyperlane detection)
• communications_spread.txt (slows down listening in communication)

Built-in Compatibility:

• New Ship Classes 2: This mod does not touch any of the files that NSC2 touches, so the two are compatible.

• ASM: Reduced Station Clutter
• ASM: Ethics & Research Priorities
• ASM: Leader Ethics & Research Priorities
• ASM: Enigmatic Discoveries (Lite)
• ASM: Enigmatic Discoveries (Expanded)
• ASM: Artificial Wormhole FTL

Got feedback? Cool deal! See a bug or quirk? Let me know.