After a long development cycle, we have now released Vanilla Gravship Expanded - Chapter 2: The Battle.
The aim of this add-on is to take your precious gravship and plunge it into the unforgiving theater of orbital combat. Instead of being undefeated in the late game, your gravship must now contend with an expanded selection of threats, turning your home into a heavily armed fortress. Your super colonists or killbox will be irrelevant when a powerful enemy gravship fires volleys at you from another location in orbit.
This chapter delivers the core combat systems: a dynamic gravship threat detection mechanic that ensures your actions have consequences, drawing hostile attention from the orbit. You’ll engage in epic encounters against exceptionally rare enemy gravships, endure shelling from automated bombardment platforms, and survive overwhelming mechanoid orbital clusters that test your defenses.
A key part of this is military progression. Survival demands researching advanced weaponry, armored hulls, and signal jammers to stay ahead of the enemy. From massive artillery pieces and launching hellpods for boarding actions, to salvaging ancient wrecks and assaulting heavily defended pirate stations, your vessel must constantly be prepared to fight off threats.
Chapter 2 is about confrontation and defense. While ship-to-ship battles are rare world-spanning events, you must prepare for massive, static artillery exchanges. It’s the next step in ensuring your home among the stars can properly defend itself.
Since it builds directly upon our previous overhaul, it is safe to assume that any mods that alter gravships in any way will be incompatible. We're doing some pretty extensive changes to the system after all. It is recommended to only use mods confirmed by others as compatible.
You can get the mod from Steam, or from Github:
STEAM: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3799737423
Github: https://github.com/Vanilla-Expanded/VanillaGravshipExpanded2/tree/main
As you know, mod development takes time and effort. It is in fact quite similar to game development - it goes through the same discover-define-develop-deliver loop, it takes planning, coding, drawing art, sourcing sounds and most importantly managing it everything.
We do it because you support us. Be it financially or by playing with our mods, your support means everything to us.
If you'd like to stay up to date with our development, to see what we're working on next, and to get an early look at some of the cool megacorp content, be sure to check out our Patreon at:
www.patreon.com/OskarPotocki
Every dollar matters to us and allows us to continue doing what we're doing. Can't wait to see you there!
Below you can see the FAQ of the Chapter 2 module that should answer any questions you may have:
Q: Do I need the Odyssey DLC to play this mod?
A: Yes. Chapter 2 is built entirely around Odyssey’s orbital systems and vacuum mechanics.
Q: Do I need Vanilla Gravship Expanded - Chapter 1 to play this mod?
A: Yes. You need all previous chapters to enjoy the latest one - in this instance, you need Chapter 1.
Q: Where is this mod placed progression-wise?
A: While it adds some minor unlocks throughout all of the gravship progression, majority of content is unlocked after Advanced gravtech, so at the end of the progression tree.
Q: Is it save game compatible?
A: Yes, you can add it to an ongoing save.
Q: Will this mod break my saves?
A: It shouldn't!
Q: Is this mod compatible with other gravship mods?
A: No. It’s a complete gravship overhaul and will conflict with anything that changes gravships. This can result in unwanted behaviors. If you encounter any unwanted behavior, consider disabling any other gravship-altering mods.
Q: How is it different to SoS2?
A: I haven’t played with SoS2, but from what I know, their mod adds space ships. Gravships aren’t space ships. While you can engage enemies over huge distances, you don’t do it ‘mid-flight’. You can’t do evasive maneuvers and such. It’s primarily two bases attacking each other from different world map tiles.
Q: How can I check my visibility rating?
A: Visibility is a hidden mechanic meant for us to ensure we trigger a gravship-level threat at the right time, instead of at random. You’re not meant to see your visibility. If you’d like to see it, however, you can see it in your graphs window if you have dev-mode on.
Q: Chapter 3 when?
A: Chapter 3 will focus on letting you build your own orbital station and exploring the local moon. We will work on it in 2027.
Q: Does this mod work with Save Our Ship 2?
A: It’s unlikely, as we both change gravships heavily. SoS2 will remain focused on space ships. Our focus is on Gravships themselves. You’re welcome to try to run them both, but I expect it won’t work. Sorry for lack of definitive answer.
Q: Why doesn't my grav engine generate power?
A: Grav engine power generation scales based on how much substructure you're using up compared to your limit. If you remove some substructure, the power generated will go up.
Q: Can I make my own exohives?
A: With Vanilla Factions Expanded - Insectoids 2, you can indeed get new pherocores and make your own exohives.
Q: Can I somehow add my own starting gravships?
A: We have expanded the functionality into a new Def system. You can add your own starting gravship as a new StartingGravshipDef, and then link a prefab to it.
