Greetings, Sector!
Better late than never. Yes, after 3 years of getting shoved to the side, Shipmodding is here at last. There's plenty going on here under the hood, including a huge upgrade to how ships work behind the scenes which will facilitate more dynamic options to-- I'm getting ahead of myself. You probably want to hear about Ship Modding.
Shipmodding on the surface looks a bit similar to weapon and armor modding. You establish your workshop, you get your assistants into shape, you get leads from your manager, research effects, reach out to manufacturers, etc.
Major Difference #1: Ship Mods Are Not a Physical Object. You don't stock them in stores, you don't design them. You get your darn butt deep into the service crawlways and access tubes of ships, probably get grease all over you, and get the darn job done. There are no fancy "Shipmods" that slot into things. There are only Shipmodders, professionals who know the ins-and-outs of ships and ship systems and perform the aftermarket modifications they, or their clients, need.
Major Difference #2: Ship Mods Do Not Decay. Ship Mods Are Not Insured. Once an aftermarket modification has been performed to a ship, it's there for good, unless the modification is removed by a Shipmodder or the ship is destroyed. Insurance companies turn a blind eye to such aftermarket modifications. When your ship is rebuilt, it is rebuilt as before, but with no mods.
Major Difference #3: No Mod Drops. Since there is no such thing as a physical ship mod, there is no such thing as dropping a ship mod from defeating an NPC, like with weapon and armor mods. Everyone who spends time in space will occasionally find some salvaged tech though, which is what Shipmodders reverse engineer to gain insight into various manufacturing techniques, which they can then use to progress their research. The modder will have to have the salvaged tech commodity on the station or planet where their workshop is located, then they just WORKSHOP <RE|REVERSEENGINEER> <comm>.
Major Difference #4: Ship Mod Effects Have Penalties. Ships are delicate systems. Ask more of some component and it'll probably ask for more power. Compensate by reducing the power to some other component and probably that component won't work as well. Make a weapon type use less capacitor and probably it won't hit as hard. You get the picture. You can dramatically change the way your ship flies over 6 different mod effects up to 60 levels worth, but there's no free lunch.
I think I've covered the most important bits now. Since ship components and modules now have dynamic halon and cycle costs that can go up or down depending on modifications, the shipforge will now let you checkout a ship that is not spaceworthy, but a ship that is not spaceworthy cannot launch or fly. So take care. Additionally, once a specific component is modified, it cannot be uninstalled in the shipforge until all the mods on the component are removed. Certain mods that affect hardpoint and module capacity will also ask that you uninstall all modules first.
Last thing, the workshop manager quest for shipmodding will send you out to a high-material asteroid known to have a guaranteed supply of salvaged tech and a possibility of part crates hidden in a weak point. These asteroids have slipped through the cracks and aren't on the public surveys and thus do not show up on STATION ASTEROID LIST. Just get there pretty quick, they have a tendency to not stick around as long. Also in the rare chance someone else stumbles on it and gets the goods before you... tough luck.
That's about it. Have a look through all 47 new effects in MOD EFFECT LIST. In truth there are about 1000 more ship mods I wanted to include, since ships are so vast and potentially infinitely customizable. But take 47 for now and we'll see what the future holds. I'm sure there will be bugs, so do let us know by filing BUG reports. Additionally, some patience as we still have to rewrite HELP SHIPMODDING!
Regards,
Neritus
