Gear Progression

Gear Progression, a so small collection mod (see collection details at the end)

-- The idea -- In the unmodded game I played much too long stretches without finding gear (Weapons, Suits, Helmets, Backpacks) that made me want to switch my current loadout. Many rewards and treasure chests felt disappointing therefore. The reason for this was that I had stumbled early on over gear pieces with stats that were vastly out of the loot progression sequence.

Gear Progression tries to remedy that and keeps motivating rewards always around the corner, even through the NG+ cycles (NEW in v2.3: added a gameplay option for NG+ cycles). All gear gets its own level that the character level must match to equip it. Like in the classic RPGs of yore.

The gear level is displayed directly in the UI now (see attached screenshots). When you try to equip too high level gear, it will just not work (and a brief message will inform you, too).

-- The details -- The gear levels stem almost directly from Starfield's loot tables, where they theoretically determine when a gear piece is supposed to appear first. Alas, Starfield breaks its own set up often by granting gear early on outside the loot tables (eg as decorative placement in POI/dungeons/quest locations, as early sales in stores or by having it drop as currently used weapon from various NPC types). And of course, save scumming a high level enemy until it is finally killed and the rewards are to the player's liking is not Starfield's doing - but also a main contributor to broken loot progression.

The base gear levels go up to level 45 for the best pieces (like a Varuun Inflictor). On top - again following the loot tables - up to 30 levels are added for the tier of a gear piece (so an Advanced Varuun Inflictor is level 45 + 30 = 75). There can be even negative base levels for some starter basic gear to enable correct egar levels for higher tier versions of this basic gear. NEW: As of v 2.2 this works exactly the same way for formerly differently treated melee weapons, too.

Unique Weapons (like Ambassador, Elegance or Ashta Tamer) only have the requirements of the base weapon they are build from (like a Regulator revolver in case of the Ambassador).This makes them especially attractive to hunt down. But beware, the prices of those Uniques that can be bought have been increased heftily in many instances (round about tripple cost). Furthermore, to retain their unique, flavorful names they do not come with a direct level indication in their weapon name.

Degrees of rarity (rare, epic, legendary) and modifcation loadout do not factor into the gear level. This way you can still look forward to very good gear rolls - in the context of the increased balance brought by Gear Progression.

Generally, you will find former low power gear much longer relevant for your gameplay and there will be much more interesting loadout decisions to make. Fair warning though, the game gets a bit more difficult this way almost right from the start.

Finally, each NG+ raises the gear level by further. NEW: You can find the currently added requirements for NG+ under Status effects on your character screen. This makes NG+ much more challenging as you will often have to rely on less powerful gear for fighting high level enemies. There's a catch up to do in each NG+ - and it builds up rapidly if you try to rush through the NG+ cycle. Starborn powers become increasingly important as they are needed to close the power gap created by the lower level gear you have to use until you catch up. As of v.2.4 this mechanism is optional (see under gameplay options).

The Gutter (Rispshank) & the Cutter have no level, so you can always use them as fallback. You can find a Gutter (Ripshank) right next to the landing plattform on Vectera as starter melee weapon now. Starborn suits also have no level requirements which increaes their usefulness greatly.

-- How is this different to my Equipment Level Requirements mod? -- Gear Progression has been rewritten anew form the ground up. It uses a papyrus script now instead of hacking into the perk system. This has fully removed the old bug of occasionally causing slow downs. It's much cleaner on the interface, too , now as no damage reduction has to be shown anymore (instead equipping too high level gear doesnt work in the first place). Melee weapons are handled differently, too (see above).And foremeost: It affects the New Game Plus cycles heavily now, increasing its longterm effect on motivating gamplay big time.

-- First time usage / Quirks-- After installation of Gear Progression please save and reload that save once. Afterwards it will be fully operational.

If you have a too high level weapon/armor equipped while istalling the mod: Just unequip that weapon/armor after mod install, and equip a different weapon/armor in its place. Afterwards you will be prevented from equipping that too high level weapon/armor as intended. Only a little quirk on first usage.

There is a little quirk with suits, helmets and backpacks: Gear Progression looks for the highest tier adder (eg advanced tier) on any suit, helmet or backpack curently equipped when checking whether you can equip a specific new suit, helmet or backpack (and not only for the tier adder of the one piece you currently try to equip). To sidestep that issue just unequip suits, helmets or backpacks with higher tier adders and simply requip them afterwards. Easy enough :-).

-- Uninstalling and load order-- To the best of my knowledge the mod can be removed anytime. It's very load order friendly and should not conflict with other mods, especially as it does not change the egar itself.

-- Contact, bug reporting and feedback -- Look for "Gear Progression" on NoSodiumStarfield reddit (I post as "YourFellowGlitch" there).

-- so small collection -- This Creation is part of the "so small collection" of Creations. These Creations 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.

Here's the so small collection's homepage for further info: https://youngneil1.github.io/so-small-collection/

And 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.

Runnnig out of space, so just a list from here on: Building Rarity Helium-4 Dusty Less XP The Waiting game Enter Unity POI Rotation Rarity Health Journey Time PPOI Deserted UC Listening Post Waylayer