Grounded Essentials Vol.4 - Spaceships+

WHEN THIS MOD UPDATES

I urge you to go to the Nexus download page for this mod and read the sticky note in the comments or the changelog article as update notes are usually too long for Creations display.

About The Mod

There is a lot to say about this one, but long winded descriptions are not going to convey the feeling of just diving in and playing with it. High level overview? Sure. This mod adds:

Dynamic wear and tear to your ship as you fly, land, take off and grav jump. Irrecoverable systems damage without relying on technicians at ports or space stations (fairly priced). Possible grav drive destruction. Possible main propulsion destruction. Possible fuel tank ruptures and complete loss of HE-3 jump fuel. A unique fast travel / cruise mode hybrid system that dynamically adjusts to your damage levels. Insane levels of immersion here! Seamless integration into the repair ship system of the base game: Ship Services, LIST, as well as Crimson Fleet and the Red Mile. Ship storage systems, so the mod never forgets how trashed one of your ships is when you put one away. Takeoff animations from locations with landing pads is now handled in first person view. (Optional) Potential Heatleech infestations in your ship, resulting in reduction of available reactor power. (Optional) Hull breaches, with fully functional zero-G piloting and ship interior integration with gravity and environments on the outside. (Optional) Hull Integrity System, when "breached" it limits total number of ship actions before the hull disintegrates and you die. (Optional) Crew members assigned to your ship could be sucked out of the breach in your hull and die. (Optional) Fuel tank ruptures, that completely drain your jump fuel. Systems in place for replacement of lost fuel for this function alone. (Optional) EVAs. For conducting limited repairs to some damaged systems (propulsion and fuel tanks only). (Optional) Distress call capability, for transport to nearest spaceport, for ship repairs, should you be adrift. (Optional) Auto Planetary Map landing site selection upon arrival at orbit destination via Cruise Mode. (Optional) Docking with faction owned space stations will require authorization and closer proximity before "dock" option appears on the HUD. (Optional) Having to request departure clearance from major spaceports, via the Ship Services technicians, who recall your ship from storage. (Optional) Simplified landing / docking fee system, as well as variable repair fees. This includes topping up your HE-3 fuel, if needed. (Optional) Situation limited ability to add fuel to your grav drives (only after repairing a tank rupture, to ensure you can keep moving). (Optional) Vasco is partially linked to ship repair systems, should he be assigned as crew on your ship (propulsion and fuel tanks only).( Only a few necessary base forms overridden - absolutely nothing that will impact any other mod, Im quite sure (see bottom of page).

Talk to me about this fast travel / cruise mode system.

Thats really the core of it. You see, when your grav drive dies, you can't leave solar systems. You are stuck. Without cruise mode, nothing would work, not even landing on planets. But with cruise mode, fast travel can be disabled all it wants and your ship wont care. So yeah, while a severely crippled ship may be stuck to one solar system, cruise mode allow you to fly from planet to planet, from moon to moon, looking for the things you will need to get your ship fixed up. Or to steal someone else's ship to get back to civilization. Or to have Vasco take care of it for you.

Wait... didnt you just point out that when Fast Travel is blocked, you can't land your ship?

I did say that. Because I have developed a one of a kind "landing locking" system that relies upon Cruise Mode to detect orbitals, which it then locks you into, allowing fast travel, which when in a ship is called "landing", to that planetary surface alone. Of course, if you dont find what you need on that planet or moon, you take off, go back into Cruise Mode and head to your next orbit, where the mod will again "landing lock" you. And of course, once on the planet, on foot or in your vehicle, fast travel is not blocked for you. Its only once you enter your ship that it kicks in. But, even when you are on the planet, on foot, kilometers away from your ship, if you try to use the Galaxy Map to fast travel to another planet, you cant. But you will be able to fast travel to discovered POIs and back to your ship, on the local map or via your scanner.

Why are there SO many Game Settings for this mod?

Some people moan when there's too many, others when there's not enough. Can't please everyone, all the time, so I didn't think about you in the slightest when making configurable settings. Just being honest.

A lot of things seem to mess up your ship. Are there any upsides to using this mod, or just endless punishment?

Its not punishment. Its "grounded", realism-adjacent. It forces you, like all the other mods in my "Grounded" series for Starfield, to take precautions, to plan ahead, to be ready for the unexpected. Just like you do in life. Its not punishing. Its actually quite forgiving. I could have made this SO punitive, but didn't want to make it "not fun". Will it be everyone's cup of tea? Likely not. But for those that appreciate the highest quality, bug free and most compatible "survival" experiences, they won't find this punishing in any measure compared to other things I've done, like Advanced Needs 76 for Fallout 4.

This mod, as much as it makes you have to take care of your ship, as much as it makes you have to land and secure what is needed to keep adventuring in space, it creates some of the most amazing and immersive game play loops that you have likely not experienced in this game to date. Big sell, I know. But I know survival modes. I do them very well.

Enough about the mod. Its not going to sell with words. It requires hands on interaction.

Wait wait wait... what about potential conflicts?

I tried to be VERY mindful of other people's mods while designing and implementing every single system in this mod. As someone who uses Real Fuel and Cost of Spacing, I didnt want to create overlap that was unresolvable. To that end, where there is overlap, there are game settings to disable my mod's functions, to allow other mods to handle things like Port and Maintenance costs, like Fuelling. My mod allows you to disable landing fees. It doesnt handle refueling at all, aside from filling your tank during EVAs to repair a ruptured fuel tank (or when Vasco does it), simply because without that small bit of possible overlap, EVERYONE without Real Fuel, or another fuel mod, would be completely stuck in the water. Now, I can't speak to all the mod out there, as I am HIGHLY selective about quality and whose work I put into my game, so if you ask me about this, that or the other mod, I won't have any idea 99.9997% of the time. Like I said. One base form override, that likely wont affect any more than a handful of mods, and even then, mine is coded to not act on using that, to prevent overlap and conflict. Thats all I can say about that question.

NOTE: No DLC is required for this mod. Only the base game.

For those who aren't digging the mod and want to remove it:

To remove the mod, make sure the mod is set to ENABLED, then sit in your pilot seat so the mod registers your current ship, and then go into game settings and set the main mod control to DISABLED. You will be told the mod is going to undo all of the changes it has made to both your current, and your stored ships. Once it is done, you will be told that all ships are back to normal. At that point, you can do whatever it is you want to do.