Better Bad Skills

Most skills in Starfield are actually pretty good and well-balanced. This makes the few bad ones less excusable. I've tried to fix the bad skills so they're worth taking now. This is intentionally a very light mod of small tweaks, not a large overhaul.

Please load a hard save (not a quicksave or autosave) after updating this mod from version 1.12 or earlier. If you load an auto or quicksave that was using an older version, you'll permanently keep whatever Power and Power Regen you'd had from my old version of Astrodynamics.

· Astrodynamics - Every rank now increases both jump range and fuel economy by 15%, for 60% to both at rank 4. Now normally, the jump range is irrelevant because the maximum range of 30 LY is already easily achieved. I've doubled the maximum range to 60 LY. An extremely light ship with a powerful grav jump might hit the early to mid 40s in range without this perk. Taking all four ranks will let you hit the new 60 LY jump cap on light ships, or just have the full 60% range bonus on heavier ships. Rank 4 also now halves the time grav jump calculations take. This perk isn't amazing, but with the jump range bonus actually having an effect, it can be pretty cool.

· Research Methods - Instead of 10/20/40/60% cost reduction and double sudden developments at rank 4 only, it now is 15/30/45/60% cost reduction and +20/40/60/100% sudden development chance. This makes it valuable to just spend a few points if you want.

· Gymnastics now reduces fall damage by 30/60/90 for ranks 1-3, because fall damage is not really a huge deal anyway, so that needs to be large to matter. Rank 2 reduces oxygen cost of jumping by 25%, which rank 4 increases to 50%. Also, I've made combat sliding useful now: you will take 50% less damage for 3 seconds when you combat slide. The challenge for Gymnastics to improve rank has been changed to combat sliding in combat.

· Pain Tolerance rank 4's chance to ignore physical attacks now works when under 50% health like Energy Weapon Dissipation does. It was 25% before.

· Isolation now applies its bonus armor to you directly, no longer requiring a helmet and spacesuit, so you can wear whatever you want. It also adds energy and EM resistances, not just ballistic resistance. I've removed requiring no crew from the description, because that was never part of the effect. Finally, I've added to rank 4 that you will now retain a quarter of this bonus (so the values from rank 1) when you do have a companion. This lets you feel like you didn't totally waste four skill points when you're forced to use companions for quests.

· Fitness gives 5% bonus movement speed per rank, and I've improved the oxygen bonus. Instead of 10/20/30 for ranks 1-3, it now provides 15/30/50 oxygen.

· Wellness went from 10/20/30/40% health to 15/30/50/50% health, with the last rank adding 10% less damage taken, which is in a way a health buff, but one that will stack better with other sources of defense.

· Chemistry rank 4 was improved and fixed. Previously, it added a 6% chance when crafting anything to triple the amount. This was both too small to matter and bugged because it's only supposed to work when using the chemistry lab. I've fixed that and left the chance small, opting to improve it by adding a 50% duration bonus to chems, which is more impactful and reliable.

· Incapacitation has been boosted to match the 10/20/30 rate that other weapon types get for ranks 1-3. It's weird that it was half.

· Engine Systems ranks 1 and 3 went from 10/20% to 15/30% max speed. Rank 1 now increases the engine turning sweet spot size. Rank 3 now increases boosting fuel further.

· Piloting rank 3 and 4 give small further boosts to maneuverability, so they're still worth taking if you just want smaller ships.

· Rapid Reloading no longer splits the types weirdly. Ranks 1-3 makes all weapons reload 15/25/35% faster. Rank 2 now gives a 50% to not stagger while reloading, and rank 3 prevents staggering while reloading.

· Negotiation now also reduces bounties you generate by 10/25/50% for ranks 1-3. Rank 4 gives you a 50% chance to not incur any bounty when you are detected committing a crime (people will still get mad, though).

· Surveying now reduces damage taken by 10/20/30/50% while scan mode is active. This only applies on-foot, not ship. You're still limited to the Cutter and the social skills in scan mode, so this is mostly a nice defensive boost for scientists scanning hostile wildlife or smooth-talkers.

The social combat skills were updated: · Diplomacy's base 60% chance was dropped to 50% to match Intimidation, but it now grows to 60/70% at ranks 2/3. · Intimidation's base 50% chance now grows to 60/70% at ranks 2/3. · Instigation's base 40% chance now grows to 50/60% at ranks 2/3. · Manipulation's base 30% chance now grows to 40/50% at ranks 2/3, but I've dropped the boost from the Internal Neuroamp from 60% to 45%.

Also available on Nexus: https://www.nexusmods.com/starfield/mods/11431

LOAD ORDER: Lower than anything else that might touch skills, to ensure these limited changes take effect.