High Level Armors

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

-- The challenge -- The best armors (suits, helmets, packs) are available from level 70 onwards in the default, unmodded game (like Superior Bounty Hunter sets). From there on, there's not much to look forward to when it comes to looting armors for the rest of the high level gameplay up to vl 300+ which is required to earn all skills points.

Furthermore, only less than a handful of the dozends of armor sets grant the best armor values. This way, you are locked into very few specific looks from level 70 onward, unless you want to gimp your loadout. This makes living your prefered scifi fantasy for your current character much more difficult. Want to be a miner legend in a heavy, worn labour suit? Be an ace of the stars and wear a sleek pilot suit? A Crimson Fleet Pirate Admiral with a graffiti on the helmet? Hard to do in the vanilla game that pushes high end characters strongly to all to look like the same Mercenaries or Bounty Hunters.

Finally, the NG+ Starborn armors suffer from a twofold design gripe: 1) They are much less powerful than default high end armors (because they are single piece vs. three pieces, resulting in 3 instead of 9 traits, less modding slots and only half the combined armor values) and 2) you lose all already unlocked Starborn armor types except the newest one when starting a new NG+, crippling aesthetic choice severely.

-- The concept -- High Level Armors (HLA) tries to remedy these perceived shortcomings by adding six new revisions/tiers to almost all of vanila armors (suits, helmets and packs). Far over hundred items (using vanilla models and vanilla textures) are affected this way, each gaining increased armor values (Physical/Energy/Electromagnetic) at revisions/levels 70, 100, 140, 180 , 220 and 255.

Starting at revision/level 70 all armor types (eg a Miner Suit, a Crimson Fleet Suit or a Bounty Hunter Suit) have - roughly - the same armor values, leading to a very broad field of aesthetical choices for your character's armor looks. Go out there and express yourself. Mix and match different armor styles as you like.

The armor values are gradually increased for each revision, culminating at an increase by 40% (compared to former high end armor, like the Bounty Hunter set).

The HLA can be found just like all other armor pieces in the default game (at dead enemies, in chests, at stores, etc.). They can be of any rarity (normal, rare, epic and legendary). They require a minimum level to appear as indicated by their revision and will replace the former highest tier of an armor piece once they become available.

Enemies will wear them and benefit from the increased protection, too.

Additionally, HLA makes significant changes to Starborn armor:

As first step the armor values of the Starborn armors (which have no revisions) ingame are increased by 60%. This way they are still below former high end armors, but come really close at the best Starborn armor iteration (NG+10).

Furthermore, they get two unique advantages to partially offset the fact that the player can only get 3 (vs. 9) traits from them: +15% XP gain and +25% melee damage as long as the player wears them (these boni are not shown in texts ingame, but work in the background; ie they dont occupy any of the three regular trait slots). Imho these boni fit the archaic style of the Temples (melee bonus, see also my Star Powers mod) and the experience seeking, universe hopping drive of the Starborn (xp bonus). All these advantages combined do still not make the Starborn armors better in the end than the best regular armor sets/high revisions, but they come a lot closer and get an intesting twist of their own.

Finally, when beginning a NG+ the player receives all Starborn armors already unlocked (like eg 4 Starborn armors to chose from at NG+4; v1.2 of the mod fixes a bug here that formerly could affect the boostpack). And all of them have equally high armor values (always the armor value of the best iteration unlocked already). The design idea here is again to allow the players the freedom to express themselves: wear whichever Starborn armor style you like, eg. cloaked/in rags or sleek/metallic.

As a last suggestion: HLA ideally pairs with the High Level Weapons (HLW) mod and the Counterfire mod. These two add high level fire power to yourself (HLW) as well as the enemies (Counterfire), keeping gameplay on high levels fast and deadly - even with the increased protection from the HLA.

-- 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 Armors" 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.

You can find an overview of the "so small collection" on my homepage: https://youngneil1.github.io/so-small-collection/

Here is also an overview video on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKrZ3oP20aA

Finally a list of the Creations 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.

High Level Weapons: Continue to find better weapons, all the way up to level 300. 7+ new revisions/tiers for each of 50 weapon types. Uniquely named, legendary, each hidden in a specific star system.

High Level Armors: Continue to find better armors up to lvl 255. All HLA share about the same power level - mix and match for the looks you like. Starborn armors improve in quality and variety, too.

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.

Terra Incognita: All ground surface maps disabled. No markers, no topography, no top down small buildings, no white dots - nothing. Welcome to Terra Incognita - the universe is yours to discover.

Helium-4: Gravjumping requires a pilot to inhale new Helium-4. Not storable and non-tradable - lasts 2 jumps. Explore those moons to get it. Can you chart a course across the Blackest Sea?

Dusty: The new stat Suit Energy depletes rapidly on airless worlds. Mine minerals or take shelter to survive. Five very hidden grains of Elder Dust reward the true Dusties out there.

Less XP: Extra XP for more difficult vanilla gameplay options removed. New options to turn off crafting XP, lower XP for killing fauna and adjust XP gain rate to 75/50/25/10 percent.

The Waiting Game: Whenever you wait or sleep you will sell loot for zero profit for the next 60 real time minutes. Go visit vendors at different places, adventure naturally, quit the waiting game.

Enter Unity: With Enter Unity your origin universe has a max level of 60, raised by 30 with each NG+. If you enter Unity more than 50 levels below max though, you are in for big trouble.

POI Rotation: A new realtime timer and a new list of discovered POI (Points of Interest) effectively prevent repetition. It will take many hours before you can encounter the same POI twice.

Further entries (space gets too short here :-)): Rarity Health Journey Building Rarity Time PPOI Deserted UC Listening Post Waylayer Level Scaled Quest XP (LSQXP) GunFu