SS2 Shard Hybrid

[66490e94b3609ZylonBane]

The number of pokémodders who blindly harvest unfinished assets from the Engineering forum never fails to astound me.

[66490e94b37e6voodoo47]

whatever rows their boat, I suppose.

[66490e94b3c8fsarge945]

The number of pokémodders who blindly harvest unfinished assets from the Engineering forum never fails to astound me.

There's some good stuff on there

The distinguishable implants stuff is pretty good.

I guess there's a few occasions where a mod is basically ready to go, but didn't get that final bit of release preparation.

Obviously people need to be careful though.

[66490e94b3dedvoodoo47]

proper, full beta now available, ops, rec, command, rick and botm should now spawn shard hybrids here and there. this obviously means less spiders, assassins and other pests.

as always, bug reports and suggestions are welcome.

[66490e94b3f02voodoo47]

updated - rick3 dml removed, mod now also compatible with vanilla. will auto-deactivate if Secmod is detected.

do not update by extracting the new zip into an already existing Shard Hybrid modfolder.

[66490e94b4231JDoran]

Great, thanks for this.

because it's not-yet-a-mod, hence, the Engineering subforum. anyway, it will be later this week.

System Shock 2 is such a complicated game that even it's fan-made mods exist in a quantum state of uncertainty!

[66490e94b435evoodoo47]

added readme, cleaned up, added the Rebirth version, and lets release. I may make the shard lootable in some way should the masses really demand it.

not going to bother with Arcaniac unless someone requests it.

[66490e94b4519sarge945]

I wonder if it's possible/desirable to replace pipe hybrids with shard hybrids on engineering, once the "Set engine core to self destruct" objective is given, so that backtracking down there carries at least SOME level of threat.

It's pretty silly going from hard enemies in command down to fodder in engineering, even if it makes sense from the perspective of the game. It would be feasible that the hybrids are upgrading themselves over time, like the player is.

Might not even need a special case for engineering. Just, once a certain progression point is reached, all new pipe hybrid spawns become shart hybrids.

[66490e94b466dvoodoo47]

there already are extra ecos that spawn high level enemies to make you entertained once the quest activates placed in the levels, and once that is over, there is next to no reason to revisit any part of VB ever again, so any spawn modifications made there would be pretty much wasted.

I was already thinking maybe I'll put together a full mod that would add pistol hybrids, shard hybrids, fusion cannon and assault rifle hybrids, but that WOULD require fully modifying ALL spawns in the entire game (AND fan missions), no chance of pulling this off in any universal/smart way. hrrrmmph.

[66490e94b476csarge945]

Oh for some reason, maybe I've just been really lucky with the spawns, but I usually only see one or two assassin's down there which I thought were hand placed.

Well thanks for clearing that up, I guess

[66490e94b492fGuyFawkesGaming]

I like the lootable beakers; it's a lot like the purchasable cyber modules mod where it allows you to get a few more out of something without horrendously affecting balance. The only major reason I can see for making the shard it's self lootable would be having them use RocketMan's model, but that can probably be done through a separate version instead. Never mind, it works with RocketMan's shard but they hold it backwards.
[Screenshot (46).png expired]

[66490e94b4a43voodoo47]

I may take a look at it and see whether it can be fixed in an appropriate manner.

yeah, worm clusters are the only ammo type that cannot be farmed or purchased, so there is a hard limit to how much you can collect (unless you go psi and duplication). SCP beta5 will most likely remedy this by adding replicator purchasable beakers.

[66490e94b4b1dZylonBane]

Yikes, nice two-megabyte screenshot.

[66490e94b4c45voodoo47]

just a little note to myself - lower the chance of looting the large beaker a bit, doing a (first) full playthrough with this (and the Pistol Hybrid mod) enabled, and while everything slots in seamlessly (actually forgot I had it enabled, and the first shard hybrid almost managed a jumpscare - nearly forgot how that feels. good job, me), the hybrids spawn often enough to drop a fair amount of large beakers.

I'm literally swimming in worms.

[66490e94b500dsarge945]

I'm literally swimming in worms.

When are you releasing a mod to replace the water texture with worms?

[66490e94b516avoodoo47]

sounds delightful.