High Level Weapons

High Level Weapons, a so small collection mod (see collection details at the end)

-- The challenge -- You need over 300 levels to learn all skills to the max in Starfield, but you have unlocked the best weapons possible already at level 75. What weapons do you look forward for during the next 225 long levels?

Only a handful of the roundabout 55 weapon types in Starfield remain competitive in the higher levels of the vanilla game. You have the fantasy of a Rescue Axe wielding berserker type or a cloak and Rispshank trespasser? A detective noir with a Rattler? A lunatic pirate with a Maelstrom? Hard to live these without utterly gimping your build.

In vanilla you can find every loot item in the very same (mid to high level) star system. No need to explore the vast expanse of the Settled Systems. A lost opportunity for a golden exploration incentive.

Most of the unique, named weapons of vanilla have no backstory or lore to them. At the same time many of the books found do not tie into the Starfield lore, but quote extracts of existing real literature. They lack the magic of enlarging Starfield's world in their reader's mind beyond the boundaries of what can be shown on screen. And they lack gameplay meaning beyond being loot to sell in a book store or give to Cora.

-- The concept -- High Level Weapons (HLW) tries to remedy that by adding 50 new uniquley named, legendary weapons (using existing models and skins), each of a different weapon type, covering almost all of Starfield weapon types (ranged and melee). Each of them scales in 7 (sometimes 8) new, additional revisions/tiers, up to player level 300.

They first appear 10 levels after their base version's vanilla "advanced" tier has become available (or would have become available, in case of only 2 tiered vanilla weapons), spawning at a power level that balances them against other weapons that start to appear at that level, creating a broad, competitive field of weapons. After their first appearance, every 40 levels a new, improved revision becomes avalibale, finally capping all of them at level 300. This creates a spiral of ever new appearing better revisions of different weapon types, all up to level 300.

The High Level Weapons always drop as legendary versions (golden, three randomly rolled traits) and have greatly increased base damage with each new revision, but they also always come without weapon mods attached. This creates a strong drive to finally learn those weapon crafting skills (and to hunt for the resources needed to do the crafting).

Each of them is tied to a specific star system - only in this star system you will ever find it. 50 weapon types, 50 star systems calling for exploration. To collect them all you have to go out there and explore thoroughly. They are very rare drops from human enemies, added diretcly to your inventory. Boss type enemies have very signficantly improved chances of dropping them.

The books show the way to find the High Level Weapons. HLW adds 10 new books that deal with the - twisted, tonally rather mature, but also anarchic and nerdy - background lore of the High Level Weapons. These new books have - of course - been written by Charles Dickens and are all excerpts of his magnum opus "Objects of Quantum" or so the books claim at least - who knows. Additionally, 50 already existing vanilla books have been modified ever so slightly to provide you with vital clues. Your library never made more sense.

As you will end up with about 300% more firepower compared to vanilla at level 300 (slowly, gradually building up over the levels, starting with the appearance of HLW Revison 85 / player level 85) when using the High Level Weapons, you might start to feel some pity with your enemies. If that's the case (and for me it is, I always make games more challenging than I probably should) you can install my free mod "Counterfire" which I will release simultaneoulsy with HLW. It increases player damage received in ground combat by 1% for each player level above level 85, capping at 3.15x times the damage recceived at level 300. Level playing field.

And now, good luck finding all of the High Level Weapons! Oh, and if you see the other Charles out there... greet him from me and tell him I want my Novablast Disruptor back!

-- More details -- An eager reader, not afraid of walls of text. My compliments:

Each revision adds the same amount of base damage (on all damage types, exception: stun weapons, which rise by fixed +10 each revision) that this weapon type has gotten on its advanced level. So it's a linear increase from there on, with the same speed as for the vanilla weapon type. The idea is to keep the original balance assessment as much as possible intact and extend it to a game with 300 relevant levels.
Up to Rev. 75 this increase is granted for every 10 levels, afterwards it's only granted every 40 levels capping for all weapons at 300. This creates a catch up effect for all low level weapons within the first or second revision, granting much choice between (relatively) equally strong weapons.
The power of a weapon is much more than its DPS. Dont let that fool you. Besides damage and rate of fire, you have to factor in range, damage reduction severity outside optimal range, accuracy, magazine size, reload speed, recoil, charge up time, ammo availability and price, ammo consumption rate, effects of perks on that weapon type, weapons mods only existing for this weapon type, damage type(s), power attack availabilty, weight... it's a lot.
The pure damage number of High Level Weapons in screenshots or when found might appear lower than expected. Keep in mind that my screenshots are with a test character with almost no perks chosen which would otherwise increase the damage number shown. Concerning weapons found by yourself, always factor in that you have to attach weapon mods to the HLW - they come blanco. The random roll of their legendary traits has a heavy effect on the damage number, too.
If you have trouble figuring out the location of specific HLW from reading the new and the slightly altered existing books (combine that knowledge!), have a close look at the description of star systems you have already discovered (on your star map, where the star system attributes are shown).

-- Installation / Deinstallation -- Before installing the mod, pelase make a manual save to return to, just in case. Should be good practive prior any mod install.

After installing the mod, please make a save and reload that save. This properly activates the script of the mod. It has only to be done initially, once. Afterwards just play on as usual.

Deinstallation is always tricky with mods. That said, I think you should be fine in this particular case. If problems occur nonetheless you always have that save mentioned above to return to.

-- Contact, bug reporting and feedback -- I will create a thread on Starfield reddit after release (search for "High Level Weapons" mod and my name there: yourfellowglitch) for feedback, bug hunting, updates and general chat with a good Terrabrew in hand.

-- so small collection -- This mod is part of the "so small collection" of mods. These mods dont require each other and can be played stand alone, even balancewise. They form a greater whole though - the more of them you combine, the more you see this final shape. The overarching idea is to create a gameworld that feels immensely vast, begs for thorough exploration, is full of mysteries, plays truely challenging and lasts very, very long. In other words the goal of the mods is to make the player feel: so small.

Here's a list of the mods in the so small collection in case this idea resonates with you:

Dynamic Universe: A universe that dynamically scales up with your character level - be it star systems or individual enemies. No more outleveling of content, no more overleveled starts of NG+.

Gear Progression: Gear Progression adds levels to all weapons, suits, helmets and backpacks. Your character level must match these in order to equip the gear. Each NG+ these levels raise further.

Economy: Economy shifts income generation away from tiresome loot hauling. Ship building becomes the long term goal it's meant to be. As credits get more scarce, rewards remain meaningful.

Explorer: An immersive overhaul of the resources - crafting - exploration loop. Get out there into the Starfield and explore - the rewards are much bigger now, but so is the need to do it.

Linearity (alternatively have a look for "Death" or "Ruin" mods): A new gameplay mode where reloading is your last resort. Live and embrace your adventure as it unfolds, imperfect as it may be. You can always save to quit and continue later.

Slow Travel: Slow Travel makes your journey through Starfield much more tactile and immersive by grav jump costs, less map markers, no move on overencumberance and restricted fast travel.

Star Powers: Live as a Spellblade in the Settled Systems. Powers are rebalanced so that eg crowd control, slowed time and near invisibiilty become interesting instead of game balance breaking.

The Isotopes: A compelling reason to explore POI in all Star Systems. Loot the 75 new Isotopes, each specific to a singular Star System. They are needed for rank 4 skills and gear mod crafting.

Counterfire: Starting with level 85 the player gets 1% more ground combat damage for each level. Idealy used in combination with the "High Level Weapons" mod.

PPOI Deserted UC Listening Post: Procedural Points of Interest (PPOI) aims to make the contents of each POI procedural - no repeat visit should ever feel identical. This time upgraded: Deserted UC Listening Post.

Further entries (space gets too short here :-)): High Level Armors Terra Incognita Helium-4 Dusty Less XP The Waiting Game Enter Unity POI Rotation Rarity Health Journey Time