1. OVERVIEW

Tired of always starting your journey as a miner on Vectera? NG+ doesn't suit you? Roleplayers' Alternate Start is what you've been waiting for!

Inspired by classic mods like Start Me Up (Fallout 4) and Alternate Start – Live Another Life (Skyrim), this mod provides a fully dynamic alternate beginning framework designed for roleplayers, modders, and explorers alike.

Features

• Multiple paths into the main quest: Discover your first artifact naturally during exploration, get help from a mysterious new NPC, or follow the original miner introduction by taking the job at Argos HQ.
• Unique starting options: Start shipwrecked on a remote planet and build a rescue beacon to escape. Or begin without a ship (or with a grounded one) and earn enough credits to get back into space. And more!
• Immersive introduction: Begin your journey in a custom area inspired by the Unity, seamlessly integrated into the game's lore and narrative.
• Made with compatibility in mind: The mod relies primarily on hooks and replacers, keeping vanilla quest edits to an absolute minimum to ensure compatibility with most mods.
• Dynamic integration: Automatically detects and integrates mod-added locations, ships, and items into the starting options. No patches required.
• Modder-friendly: Built from the ground up to be easily extended by other mod authors. Documentation is planned for a future release. Also fully open-source.

2. DETAILS

Main Quest Edits

There are three ways to begin the main quest:

1. Argos Recruit (Vanilla Start)

Visit the Argos Extractors Office in the Valberg Building, located in New Atlantis' Commercial District. Accepting the job starts the original vanilla introduction on Vectera.

2. Organic Discovery

Artifact Eta can be discovered naturally during exploration.

• By default, it has a 33% chance to appear after level 5 when entering an eligible location.
• These conditions can be customized through Gameplay Options.
• A complete list of eligible locations is available in the FAQ.

Discovering the artifact launches an alternate introduction that bypasses the Vectera opening sequence.

3. The Guide

Speak with "The Guide", a unique Starborn NPC who appears at the Viewport in New Atlantis after your first encounter with the Hunter.

"The Guide" will direct you toward Artifact Eta and initiate the same alternate introduction as the "Organic Discovery" path.

How the Alternate Introduction Works

• Once acquired, you may choose what to do with the artifact. Whatever you choose, Constellation will eventually learn of its existence and reach out to you.
• Barrett will leave to assist the Vectera Mining Operation before your arrival at the Lodge. During his recovery of Constellation's second artifact, Barrett attracted pirate attention, prompting the Argos miners to call for help after discovering evidence of hostile activity in the area.
• After entering the Lodge, you will proceed through the standard Constellation intro with new dialogue that does not reference Argos or Vectera
• After Sarah's first quest, you will be tasked with rescuing Barrett on Vectera, again with no prior miner references.
• Completing Barrett's rescue grants access to the Frontier via a brief follow-up quest.
• The vanilla "One Small Step" quest is skipped entirely. As a result, events depending on it will not occur (e.g. the SSNN interview about the Vectera events). For compatibility with certain mods, you may still wish to mark the quest as completed. This can be done through the "Narrative Adjustments" terminal, but will disable the "Argos Recruit" entry point into the main quest.

The three starting methods are mutually exclusive: choosing one will disable the others.

Starting Options

Choose from a variety of starting scenarios:

• At a major Settlement or Starstation (except quest-locked ones, like Crucible or Dazra)
• At a Random POI (outpost, mine or dungeon): with customizable criteria to determine the type of planet it will spawn on
• Shipwrecked: crash-land in the middle of nowhere and call for help using a rescue beacon (the beacon can also be used during normal gameplay!)
• In your House/Dream Home/Parent's Home

Starting home

Start with any vanilla home already unlocked (except quest-tied ones, like the Mercury Tower Penthouse) as well as a selection of supported mod-added homes. Currently most of DownfallNemesis' house mods are supported (see my Discord server for a detailed list).

Starting Ship & Vehicle Options

Pick any vanilla ship as your starting one at a custom ship technician (or even mod-added ones if you have the Ship Vendor Framework installed). You can also customize it or unlock vehicles, at no cost.

Alternatively, you can begin without a ship and acquire one later through normal gameplay.

Broken Ship Start

Once you've selected a ship, a new "Narrative Adjustment" becomes available at the dedicated terminal. It's called "Broken Ship Start" and will make your ship unable to take off at first.

• If you start in a major Settlement or Starstation, you will need to ask a ship technician to repair it.
• If stranded in a remote location, you'll need to explore a nearby dungeon and gather the required parts to repair your ship and take off (if you escape the remote planet by other means, you can ask any ship technician to repair and recover your abandoned ship).

Gear Options

Build a custom starting loadout using a vending terminal that dynamically offers items from vanilla Starfield and compatible mods. Items must be distributed through leveled lists to appear automatically.

Set a budget to limit your starting gear for a more immersive experience, or use the free shopping option to assemble your perfect loadout.

Manage your Character

Customize your starting character by adjusting their level and setting their Piloting skill to any rank without completing the associated challenges.

Ships offered by the custom technician and gear available through the vending terminal automatically scale with your chosen level.

NG+ Starts

When doing NG+, you will be prompted if you want to go through the Vanilla process or if you want to customize this new beginning.

• The "Vanilla" option preserves continuity with your previous universe, adapting the Lodge introduction based on whether your previous character followed the Argos miner path or an alternate start.
• The "Custom" option comes with extra "Narrative Adjustments":
  • Argos Miner: choose whether your counterpart in this universe is/was an Argos miner, regardless of the path taken in your previous universe.
  • Non-Starborn NG+: removes Starborn-specific dialogue, allowing you to experience the new universe as if this were a fresh playthrough. Unity progression is still preserved for future universes.

Regardless of your "Narrative Adjustments" choices, you may keep the Starborn Guardian, exchange it for another ship, or even start without a ship entirely.

You're also free to dispose of the Starborn Suit if you don't want it (sell it to the gear terminal or drop it).

You will also find the "Quantum Entanglement Device" inside the custom Unity, in case you want to pick up the gear you transferred from your previous universe early on.

Immediate Starborn

You can choose to begin as a first-rank Starborn right from the main menu, gaining immediate access to the Starborn Guardian, the Starborn suit, and all Starborn-specific dialogue options.

In addition, the "Quantum Entanglement Device" found within the custom Unity gains an alternative purpose when starting as a Starborn. With it, you can:

• Unlock all Starborn powers
• Learn all available "foreknowledge", granting access to every Starborn dialogue option.

Supported languages

The mod is available in the following languages:

• English
• French
• German (thanks to PearlCanopus)
• Brazilian Portuguese (thanks to Fabeco00)
• Simplified Chinese (incomplete)(thanks to Peter4Master)

3. FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

In which POI can the artifact added by the mod spawn?

Here's a list:

• Abandoned Mineral Refinery
• NeuraDyne Botany Laboratory
• Abandoned Muybridge Pharmaceuticals Lab
• Forgotten Mech Graveyard
• Deserted Robotics Lab
• Abandoned Cryo Lab
• Abandoned Maintenance Bay
• Pressurized Cave
• Occupied Cave
• Deserted UC Listening Post
• Abandoned Mine
• Thermal Rise
• Hillside Cave
• Mineral Caverns
• Cave

Does it support vanilla traits ?

Yes, indeed. There's a few things to note however :

• While I made it so you can visit your parents from game start, they will only have dialogs after you join Constellation
• The adoring fan will only show up after you complete the "Echoes From Vectera" quest, otherwise his dialogs wouldn't have made any sense (thanks to TwoArmedMan15 for suggesting that)
• The dream home quest will trigger at the start of the game (you need to complete "One Small Step" in vanilla)

I found a mention to Constellation/Vectera in the dialogs with that NPC, can you fix it?

Yes, that's in my plans. Currently the mod only covers the first steps of MQ. All other quests/dialogs are left untouched, I'll add them later in an optional file (to ensure maximum compatibility with the base mod). Please check in the Planned Features topic on my Discord server if you find that dialog already listed before requesting.

Find more questions on my Discord server.

4. FEEDBACK & MORE

Found a bug or have an idea for new features? Needs more info? Go to my Discord server! Discord: https://discord.gg/K9Jk4y2tjJ

Whant to know more about me and my other projects? Check my links! LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/zecroque