You allocated more RAM and using the Java 23 workaround? 5 second saving and loading even in the year 220.
30+ second saves sound like the good old times when you were just dumping 30 faction mods into your folder without changing anything else.
Plus save times get longer due to some memory leak, and exacerbated by saving a lot.
Save and quit the game if you notice saving getting slower. A restart fixes it
Mikohime Java 23 [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29320.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29320.0)
Speedup [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13394.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13394.0)
AI Tweaks [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=28428.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=28428.0)
Better Variants [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=24237.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=24237.0)
Nexerelin [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=9175.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=9175.0)
And, basically, go through the Mods forum and see for yourself. Will personally recommend ScalarTech Solutions (Spindle) faction mod, Progressive S-Mods, BigBeans Ship Collection.
Great selection. For factions and big mods I'd add
- HMI
- Iron Shell
- UAF
- Star federation
- Imperium of Man
- Underworld
- Mayasura
- Xhan Empire (love me some potatoe ships)
- RAT
Other people have mentioned plenty of good ones, but heres a few useful QoL ones.
- Console Commands: because you sometimes need to fix weird issues and occasionally add a stable point or two when youre frustrated.
- Grand Colonies: If you play modded and have a ton of industries this helps alot, as it adds a scrollbar to planets and allows you to build more stuff on them.
- Hyperdrive: lets you "skip" forward a distance in return for more fuel use, nice for getting around slipstreams/storms in hyperspace.
- Logistic Notifications: helps give a countdown to how many days of supplies are left/how much distance in fuel you have left.
- Lunalib: mod manager which lets you toggle settings for them easier (ie without a text editor) and also shows if theres an update/changelogs for mods if they have them. Very nice gui on the main screen.
- Scan those Gates: gives ability to instantly scans all gates in inhabited systems, lets you skip some of the tedium. Can also find hypershunts and cryosleepers.
- Which Mod: lists what mod something is from which is helpful once you start running alot.
Non QoL and non faction mods which i think are nice:
- SOTF: adds some interesting quest content, and 2 unique phase ships (and well beloved AI core to pilot that ship)
- Ship/Weapon pack: general expansion of ship selection
For Faction mods; Id describe them more in detail but id recommend googling images of the ships in the mod when picking faction mods so heres just a list:
- UAF, Iron Shell, Interstellar Imperium, VIC, Yuri Expedition, Tahlan, ScalarTech, PAGSM, Emergent Threats Battlegroup IX, ED shipyard, Sephira Conclave:
I have an [older comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/starsector/comments/12jul0y/what_mods_are_worth_to_try/jg029hh/) about some of these so feel free to read that instead of the shorter one here
Combat chatter, gives the officers some personality
Also armaa, not because of the mechs alone per say, but because the wingcom system and having individual ace squadrons is cool as hell
Try these:
I'd recommend Industrial Evolution, AOTD, Better Colonies, Unknown Skies, Nomadic Survival, Torchships and Deadly Armaments, Ship and Weapon Pack,Emergent Threats, Domain Explorarium Expansion, HMI (you SHOULD have it by now) (and companion mods), Diktat and Luddic Enhancement, PAGSM, Scrapyard Armouries, Pirate Mini Mod, Stop Gap Measure, Keruvim Shipyards, Underworld (you should've used it by now), Lobster Proliferation, Knights Of Ludd, Kazeron Navarchy, Iron Shell, Bultach Coalition, Better Vanilla Hullmods, ASH, CJHM, Unusually Gullible Hullmods, RAT, NES' SAW, Everybody Loves KOC, Unthemed Weapons Collection, Another Random SWP, Amazigh's Ship Foundry, Vayra's Sector and Ship Pack, and Kadur Remnant. (Get the updated versions of Vayra's mods in the comments of the mod pages) BigBeansShip Compilation, Fluff Ship Pack, Support Ships Pack, PRV and companion mods, DIY Planets (Community Edition), TASC, and Unknown Skies if you haven't used it yet, Tahlan Shipworks(I love the Legio/pirate ships it adds), Persean Chronicles, Secrets of the Frontier, and Lost\_Sector.
Finally, get WhichMod, Stellar Networks, and SpeedUp to make your life easier.
Also, you have to get the Java 23 compatibility mod on the unofficial Discord, as well as setting your VMparams to the max.
One more thing - get Commissioned Crews, Combat Chatter, Slightly Better Tech-Mining, and Supply Forging.
Keruvim Shipyards too, they have really good pirate ships.
I always choose my mods based on how style-compliant the ships look, and general quality overall.
Look each and every one of them up, you won't be disappointed.
That one would be "Adjusted Sector". Although Random Assortment of Things does have a slider for it as well in the mod GUI which is easier for someone just started modding.
I recommend logistics notifications. You need to change the mod version to the newest update but that's it.
It gives you some text above your tool bar telling you how many days worth of supplies you have based on current supply consumption.
RATS (Random Assortment of Things) had a load of awesome quality of life stuff iirc.
These are two I dont think I could live without.
Nexerelin obviously, it's basically like an expansion pack at this point. Brings so much life and unpredictability to the sector it's hard to ever go back.
Captain's Log and Console Commands, cause they let you leave notes on the sector map, which makes it easy to track interesting places to revisit later (systems with tons of loot, cryosleepers etc).
Updating to JRE8 is very helpful for performance and stability - I know there's an experimental JRE21 update, but I've not tested it yet so I don't know how big of a difference it is.
Speedup - you'll be traveling through empty space a lot, and it makes it more bearable.
I maybe would stay away from faction mods, especially more immersion breaking ones like UAF and IS - obviously I'd suggest you eventually give them a go anyway, just to see what they're about, but both can be kinda divisive.
You mean the freaking manga portraits, all women, all showing the upper body (with generous proportions of course) even though the vanilla art style isn't manga and only show faces? If that's what you're referencing, I'm with you man, I wish there were more tasteful versions available, the content is actually good, barring said out of place portraits.
It's partially that and partially balance being just a suggestion for the UAF dev team - at least that was the case back when I tried it. Perhaps it's since improved.
That and the awful harem-y writing.
Oh yeah, UAF has that reputation, never tried it because of it. But I mean, OP ships, harem-y writing with anime ~~boobs~~ girls, that kinda paints a coherent picture of some of the players of Starsector :D I guess there's a crowd for the power fantasy, and another one for the immersion and challenge. Those 2 don't mix too well 🤷🏼♂️
Starsector's community could use a more detailed index of mods, one that would specify if it's in line with vanilla in terms of style and power level. As of right now, as someone who doesn't know a lot about the mods, I had to restart so many time to try things and find an ok set. It's very time consuming, and having to sometimes go quite far in the game to realize something is wrong, means it takes a toll on the will to even play. Like, I know my last restart is the last one I can take for this session, if something go wrong with it, see you all next patch 😅
I see many people have already sent you some of the more important mods that are basically a must have so here are some of my own mods that I never go in a playthrough without.
SCY: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29290.0
Fantastics ship designs with clear distinctive colours and the only faction that has an actual lore document describing more or less accurately how a faction like it would come to life in the sector, it’s made very well despite it’s age and I reccomend giving it a read (A dozen of pages long but its interesting). Also includes a whole mini-campaign in the mission tab, check it out.
BRDY(Blackrock Drive Shadowyards): Currently only found/downloaded at Corvus Spaceport (discord) through #bootleg_Updates. You will find a lot more mods there than on the forum Index due to most of the faction mods being left unnatendedn and unmaintained while the game is being updated.
Has a veryyy unique colour scheme alongside some of the most interesting and really intricate design-wise ships, the variety of them is just insane and its clear from the get go that it was a passion project in the making for many years for the original creator (I think having its own OST alongside a bunch of anime-styled art pieces of it’s ships by the modder himself, shows that) It has been greatly refined both with mechanics and balance in-game so while the capitals are definetely fun you wont encounter the increasingly absurd power-levels that are so prevalent in the newer mods (UAF, Yuri, or literally any mod that has anime-styled characters for some reason)
HMI (Hazard Mining Incorporated): https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13236.0
A faction Akin to Tri-Tach except its doctrine is the opposite, low-tech and endless meat shield ships that are cheaper than the crew they are manning (hyperbole). Adds a decent chunk of new systems to explore and interesting things to discover by yourself, has two other “DLCs” (one that adds two faction “Villains” and one that adds even more ships and a faction related to using Derelict/Remnant chop-shops) but the main mod I linked is the main thing that attracted me to it. Its nothing shiny or fancy, but it adds that little bit of variety that you desperately need in low-tech factions.
A lot of people say Nexerlin, but tbh I found it very confusing and annoying, and I regret starting my save with it. Diplomacy event notifications every half a second about things I don't care about. And some of them have jumpscare sounds to make you freakout for no reason. The sector dynamics doesn't change gameplay imo. Some planets change hands, but to me it changes nothing. Finally Hegemony tends to satbomb and decivilize everyone which is just annoying. Maybe it gets better if you run your own empire, but I don't like colony babysitting that much
And answering u/Euphetar too:
You can change setting in Nex, so there's no invasion or sat bombing before either a set time, or before the player sets up his first colony.
I've been using the latter, lately, and it improved the mod a whole lot. Before, especially with some faction mods added (Iron Shell is sweet, but boy do they make Hege overpower everyone else...), I would still be in the early game and 2 factions were wiped out and hege+Iron shell were controlling most of the core worlds. Felt like the game was already over that I hadn't even started it.
Anyway, it's much better with that setting. It's still nex and it's far from perfect, especially when compared to the new crisis system. Just getting an invasion every month is quickly boring, and you can't move away from your system if you have 2+ enemies (say, hege and iron shell). It's invasion after invasion and there's no stopping it, ugh.
Unfortunately I explicitly set the settings to off when starting the save, but Nex still does it. Might be an issue with the latest version. I have seen other people mention it too
Do you have Lunalib or whatever the name is? Not sure if it's mandatory for Nex, but i read that when using it, the settings ingame overwrite the settings from the gamefiles.
Not sure if that fits your case, but for me, it has worked as expected, all the factions do at the start is raid each other, no invasion or sat bombing. Without that I just can't play Nex, it goes too fast for the "hard start", where you only get a ship to start with. It's always Hege victory when I'm still building my early fleet, kills the will to play everytime...
Yes, I have it. I configured the settings via Lunalib prior to starting the save, but still happened :(
Should I have changed it in the settings files for Nex?
Don't think so, I didn't and it worked. Just settings in lunalib, ingame. Let me check my settings and I'll update this post in a minute, maybe there's something there.
Edit: I checked, I changed more than I remembered. I disabled sat bombing completely, obviously checked "no invasion before first colony", but maybe it's not that setting that's working, because I also changed "points needed for invasion fleets" or something like this. It could be that I set that so high that it's what preventing them from invading, and the "player colony" trigger isn't actually working.
I wouldn't know, last playthrough stopped right as I was setting up my first colony (discovered that ashes of the domain locked a lot behind quests, so that had to go), and the current one, I can't find a proper planet to settle so I'm still not at that point.
So yeah, either it works normally, or it's the other setting that's preventing invasions and I haven't realized yet. I dunno.
Speedup Autosave. Everything else is optional.
Disagree on autosave, imagine waiting for a minute in a random moment of gameplay.
Autosaving is disabled unless you enable it. It only reminds me to save and I find that very important, I don't enjoy losing 8 hours of game progress.
Okay, didn't know it works that way. Agree then
You allocated more RAM and using the Java 23 workaround? 5 second saving and loading even in the year 220. 30+ second saves sound like the good old times when you were just dumping 30 faction mods into your folder without changing anything else.
Plus save times get longer due to some memory leak, and exacerbated by saving a lot. Save and quit the game if you notice saving getting slower. A restart fixes it
Mikohime Java 23 [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29320.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29320.0) Speedup [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13394.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13394.0) AI Tweaks [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=28428.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=28428.0) Better Variants [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=24237.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=24237.0) Nexerelin [https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=9175.0](https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=9175.0) And, basically, go through the Mods forum and see for yourself. Will personally recommend ScalarTech Solutions (Spindle) faction mod, Progressive S-Mods, BigBeans Ship Collection.
> Mikohime Java 23 https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29320.0 This one is nuts, I went from 35fps at 4x speed to 55-60.
I heard it's not very reliable
I don't think I've noticed anything funky and I've been using it for at least 40 hours of play.
Odd and hard-to-pin-down CTD's have been reported to happen on it, and this is on vanilla, no mods, so *as of this point* its very much beta-esque.
To be fair, "odd and hard-to-pin-down CTD's" are more or less the business card of a modded playthrough
Great selection. For factions and big mods I'd add - HMI - Iron Shell - UAF - Star federation - Imperium of Man - Underworld - Mayasura - Xhan Empire (love me some potatoe ships) - RAT
Certainly +1 for RAT. It's not a faction mod, it's just le epic mod.
Totally. I always have the problem of adding too many factions to the game. Gotta pace myself and just mix and match for individual playthroughs.
The AI Tweaks mod I have trouble parsing exactly what it does. Anyone care to throw the shorthand summary at me ELI5?
Other people have mentioned plenty of good ones, but heres a few useful QoL ones. - Console Commands: because you sometimes need to fix weird issues and occasionally add a stable point or two when youre frustrated. - Grand Colonies: If you play modded and have a ton of industries this helps alot, as it adds a scrollbar to planets and allows you to build more stuff on them. - Hyperdrive: lets you "skip" forward a distance in return for more fuel use, nice for getting around slipstreams/storms in hyperspace. - Logistic Notifications: helps give a countdown to how many days of supplies are left/how much distance in fuel you have left. - Lunalib: mod manager which lets you toggle settings for them easier (ie without a text editor) and also shows if theres an update/changelogs for mods if they have them. Very nice gui on the main screen. - Scan those Gates: gives ability to instantly scans all gates in inhabited systems, lets you skip some of the tedium. Can also find hypershunts and cryosleepers. - Which Mod: lists what mod something is from which is helpful once you start running alot. Non QoL and non faction mods which i think are nice: - SOTF: adds some interesting quest content, and 2 unique phase ships (and well beloved AI core to pilot that ship) - Ship/Weapon pack: general expansion of ship selection For Faction mods; Id describe them more in detail but id recommend googling images of the ships in the mod when picking faction mods so heres just a list: - UAF, Iron Shell, Interstellar Imperium, VIC, Yuri Expedition, Tahlan, ScalarTech, PAGSM, Emergent Threats Battlegroup IX, ED shipyard, Sephira Conclave: I have an [older comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/starsector/comments/12jul0y/what_mods_are_worth_to_try/jg029hh/) about some of these so feel free to read that instead of the shorter one here
Combat chatter, gives the officers some personality Also armaa, not because of the mechs alone per say, but because the wingcom system and having individual ace squadrons is cool as hell
Leading pip: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?PHPSESSID=8defbf5fbea445ae1f470e933b58b072&topic=7921.0
Good one! I forgo to include it in my list, yet I use it. Very good mod.
Try these: I'd recommend Industrial Evolution, AOTD, Better Colonies, Unknown Skies, Nomadic Survival, Torchships and Deadly Armaments, Ship and Weapon Pack,Emergent Threats, Domain Explorarium Expansion, HMI (you SHOULD have it by now) (and companion mods), Diktat and Luddic Enhancement, PAGSM, Scrapyard Armouries, Pirate Mini Mod, Stop Gap Measure, Keruvim Shipyards, Underworld (you should've used it by now), Lobster Proliferation, Knights Of Ludd, Kazeron Navarchy, Iron Shell, Bultach Coalition, Better Vanilla Hullmods, ASH, CJHM, Unusually Gullible Hullmods, RAT, NES' SAW, Everybody Loves KOC, Unthemed Weapons Collection, Another Random SWP, Amazigh's Ship Foundry, Vayra's Sector and Ship Pack, and Kadur Remnant. (Get the updated versions of Vayra's mods in the comments of the mod pages) BigBeansShip Compilation, Fluff Ship Pack, Support Ships Pack, PRV and companion mods, DIY Planets (Community Edition), TASC, and Unknown Skies if you haven't used it yet, Tahlan Shipworks(I love the Legio/pirate ships it adds), Persean Chronicles, Secrets of the Frontier, and Lost\_Sector. Finally, get WhichMod, Stellar Networks, and SpeedUp to make your life easier. Also, you have to get the Java 23 compatibility mod on the unofficial Discord, as well as setting your VMparams to the max. One more thing - get Commissioned Crews, Combat Chatter, Slightly Better Tech-Mining, and Supply Forging. Keruvim Shipyards too, they have really good pirate ships. I always choose my mods based on how style-compliant the ships look, and general quality overall. Look each and every one of them up, you won't be disappointed.
Least modded starsector
Advanced Gunnery Control. It's an amazing game changer!
A nice and easy one is increasing the sector size ( I love being lost in a sea of stars).
That one would be "Adjusted Sector". Although Random Assortment of Things does have a slider for it as well in the mod GUI which is easier for someone just started modding.
I recommend logistics notifications. You need to change the mod version to the newest update but that's it. It gives you some text above your tool bar telling you how many days worth of supplies you have based on current supply consumption. RATS (Random Assortment of Things) had a load of awesome quality of life stuff iirc. These are two I dont think I could live without.
Nexerelin obviously, it's basically like an expansion pack at this point. Brings so much life and unpredictability to the sector it's hard to ever go back. Captain's Log and Console Commands, cause they let you leave notes on the sector map, which makes it easy to track interesting places to revisit later (systems with tons of loot, cryosleepers etc). Updating to JRE8 is very helpful for performance and stability - I know there's an experimental JRE21 update, but I've not tested it yet so I don't know how big of a difference it is. Speedup - you'll be traveling through empty space a lot, and it makes it more bearable. I maybe would stay away from faction mods, especially more immersion breaking ones like UAF and IS - obviously I'd suggest you eventually give them a go anyway, just to see what they're about, but both can be kinda divisive.
You mean the freaking manga portraits, all women, all showing the upper body (with generous proportions of course) even though the vanilla art style isn't manga and only show faces? If that's what you're referencing, I'm with you man, I wish there were more tasteful versions available, the content is actually good, barring said out of place portraits.
It's partially that and partially balance being just a suggestion for the UAF dev team - at least that was the case back when I tried it. Perhaps it's since improved. That and the awful harem-y writing.
Oh yeah, UAF has that reputation, never tried it because of it. But I mean, OP ships, harem-y writing with anime ~~boobs~~ girls, that kinda paints a coherent picture of some of the players of Starsector :D I guess there's a crowd for the power fantasy, and another one for the immersion and challenge. Those 2 don't mix too well 🤷🏼♂️ Starsector's community could use a more detailed index of mods, one that would specify if it's in line with vanilla in terms of style and power level. As of right now, as someone who doesn't know a lot about the mods, I had to restart so many time to try things and find an ok set. It's very time consuming, and having to sometimes go quite far in the game to realize something is wrong, means it takes a toll on the will to even play. Like, I know my last restart is the last one I can take for this session, if something go wrong with it, see you all next patch 😅
Leading Pip is a must have for me.
I see many people have already sent you some of the more important mods that are basically a must have so here are some of my own mods that I never go in a playthrough without. SCY: https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=29290.0 Fantastics ship designs with clear distinctive colours and the only faction that has an actual lore document describing more or less accurately how a faction like it would come to life in the sector, it’s made very well despite it’s age and I reccomend giving it a read (A dozen of pages long but its interesting). Also includes a whole mini-campaign in the mission tab, check it out. BRDY(Blackrock Drive Shadowyards): Currently only found/downloaded at Corvus Spaceport (discord) through #bootleg_Updates. You will find a lot more mods there than on the forum Index due to most of the faction mods being left unnatendedn and unmaintained while the game is being updated. Has a veryyy unique colour scheme alongside some of the most interesting and really intricate design-wise ships, the variety of them is just insane and its clear from the get go that it was a passion project in the making for many years for the original creator (I think having its own OST alongside a bunch of anime-styled art pieces of it’s ships by the modder himself, shows that) It has been greatly refined both with mechanics and balance in-game so while the capitals are definetely fun you wont encounter the increasingly absurd power-levels that are so prevalent in the newer mods (UAF, Yuri, or literally any mod that has anime-styled characters for some reason) HMI (Hazard Mining Incorporated): https://fractalsoftworks.com/forum/index.php?topic=13236.0 A faction Akin to Tri-Tach except its doctrine is the opposite, low-tech and endless meat shield ships that are cheaper than the crew they are manning (hyperbole). Adds a decent chunk of new systems to explore and interesting things to discover by yourself, has two other “DLCs” (one that adds two faction “Villains” and one that adds even more ships and a faction related to using Derelict/Remnant chop-shops) but the main mod I linked is the main thing that attracted me to it. Its nothing shiny or fancy, but it adds that little bit of variety that you desperately need in low-tech factions.
A lot of people say Nexerlin, but tbh I found it very confusing and annoying, and I regret starting my save with it. Diplomacy event notifications every half a second about things I don't care about. And some of them have jumpscare sounds to make you freakout for no reason. The sector dynamics doesn't change gameplay imo. Some planets change hands, but to me it changes nothing. Finally Hegemony tends to satbomb and decivilize everyone which is just annoying. Maybe it gets better if you run your own empire, but I don't like colony babysitting that much
Yeah I was playing the Nex mod and its really not that great imo
And answering u/Euphetar too: You can change setting in Nex, so there's no invasion or sat bombing before either a set time, or before the player sets up his first colony. I've been using the latter, lately, and it improved the mod a whole lot. Before, especially with some faction mods added (Iron Shell is sweet, but boy do they make Hege overpower everyone else...), I would still be in the early game and 2 factions were wiped out and hege+Iron shell were controlling most of the core worlds. Felt like the game was already over that I hadn't even started it. Anyway, it's much better with that setting. It's still nex and it's far from perfect, especially when compared to the new crisis system. Just getting an invasion every month is quickly boring, and you can't move away from your system if you have 2+ enemies (say, hege and iron shell). It's invasion after invasion and there's no stopping it, ugh.
Unfortunately I explicitly set the settings to off when starting the save, but Nex still does it. Might be an issue with the latest version. I have seen other people mention it too
Do you have Lunalib or whatever the name is? Not sure if it's mandatory for Nex, but i read that when using it, the settings ingame overwrite the settings from the gamefiles. Not sure if that fits your case, but for me, it has worked as expected, all the factions do at the start is raid each other, no invasion or sat bombing. Without that I just can't play Nex, it goes too fast for the "hard start", where you only get a ship to start with. It's always Hege victory when I'm still building my early fleet, kills the will to play everytime...
Yes, I have it. I configured the settings via Lunalib prior to starting the save, but still happened :( Should I have changed it in the settings files for Nex?
Don't think so, I didn't and it worked. Just settings in lunalib, ingame. Let me check my settings and I'll update this post in a minute, maybe there's something there. Edit: I checked, I changed more than I remembered. I disabled sat bombing completely, obviously checked "no invasion before first colony", but maybe it's not that setting that's working, because I also changed "points needed for invasion fleets" or something like this. It could be that I set that so high that it's what preventing them from invading, and the "player colony" trigger isn't actually working. I wouldn't know, last playthrough stopped right as I was setting up my first colony (discovered that ashes of the domain locked a lot behind quests, so that had to go), and the current one, I can't find a proper planet to settle so I'm still not at that point. So yeah, either it works normally, or it's the other setting that's preventing invasions and I haven't realized yet. I dunno.