Discovery Freelancer mod for Freelancer

The award-winning Discovery modification was designed as a full-scale expansion pack for Freelancer. It breathes new life into the familiar PC game by adding lots of new features without taking away the atmosphere and balance of the original. Discovery allows players to develop and explore far beyond the reaches of unmodded Freelancer, both in multiplayer and in singleplayer modes. The modification adds 68 new systems, 152 new ships, hundreds of new weapons, equipment and commodities, new factions and NPC encounters, its own storyline, and much more - everything seamlessly integrated into Freelancer universe. View distance limitations, 1 billion player credit limit, and 10 million item price limit are all things of the past for Discovery.

Version 4.84 contains more changes than any previous Discovery version. Dozens of new ship models custom-created for the mod by our community members completely changed the way how the mod looks. Many more faction systems received long-awaited updates, and 5 new systems were introduced. With numerous new weapons for fighters and capital ships, it became much easier to create versatile and balanced setup for any ship you like. More equipment types were introduced, including new scanners, thrusters, and countermeasure droppers. In addition to that, many profitable and dangerous trade routes were added, involving both new and original commodities. Top-level NPCs became more challenging than before.

The year is 816 A.S., and the history of Discovery continues. While Kusari onslaught into Bretonia has been stopped, fierce fighting in Tau systems still continues. The Wild are building a Nomad gate in Omega, its destination yet unknown. Rheinland accuses Liberty of illegal experiments with Nomads in the Alaska system that could cause dangerous consequences for the whole humanity.

If you prefer online play, you are welcome to official Discovery Freelancer RP 24/7 and PvP 24/7 servers, and a number of other servers running Discovery mod. Server operators are allowed to run this mod without any restrictions, IONCROSS data files are included.

In January 2007, Discovery mod was chosen to receive the Simulation Genre Award of ModDB.com's Mod of the Year-2006 contest (MOTY-2006).

Features

- 152 new pilotable ships of different classes, including brand new ships, custom ships based on original game models, and ships previously available only for NPCs: Starblazer, CSV, Juni's Defender, advanced versions of House fighters, transports, trains, liners, gunboats, cruisers, destroyers, and battleships.
- Each new ship carefully customized - weapons, shields and equipment balanced, cameras placed where they should be.
- 68 new systems, including:
12 fully populated systems - Newcastle (Bretonia), Dundee (Bretonia), Munich (Rheinland), Omega-15, Omega-55 (Border Worlds), Omega-47, Omega-49, Omega-52, Omicron Delta, Omicron Eta (Edge Worlds), Omicron Iota, and Omicron-99 (Nomad Worlds);
30 populated faction systems;
Arena system (Connecticut), Prison system, and many more.
- Numerous new bases both in new and original systems.
- Player credit limit increased to 2 billion; maximum item price increased to 1 billion.
- Unique and simple docking system - large ships can dock everywhere.
- New assignable hotkeys for up/down strafe and selecting subtargets.
- Evolving storyline about the war between Kusari and Bretonia, the conflict between Liberty and Rheinland, and the pirate war between Corsairs and Outcasts.
- View range increased - you'll see stations, ships, trade lanes from a longer distance (can be changed in mod options).
- Numerous new factions, including 30 guardian factions, Freelancer faction, and more.
- Many dozens of balanced new guns and turrets for fighters and capital ships.
- New equipment, including armor upgrades, scanners, thrusters.
- New commodities and trade routes; all ships drop pilots when destroyed.
- Battleship encounters in most populated systems, Nomad battleship encounters in the Unknown systems.
- Battleship killing missions available, all mission rewards increased.
- NPC AI enhanced, NPCs use shield batteries and nanobots.
- Faction IDs available for role-playing purposes. ID item also serves as a tractor beam.
- Serverside options when activating the mod: server administrators can set starting money and reputation, choose character uniform.
- Clientside options when activating the mod: players can disable or enable intro movies, player engine trails, spinning planets, change view distance.
- Open Singleplayer (Open SP) can be enabled as mod option; players can choose Open SP starting system, credits and reputation.
- Storyline singleplayer available when Open SP is disabled.
- Correct and complete infocards for all new ships, items, and commodities.
- Everything is ready to start your own server: IONCROSS data files included.
- Many other features - see the changelog in this Readme.txt file!
- And last, but not least - retained original Freelancer atmosphere and playstyle.

New in Discovery 4.84

- 45 new ships, most of them created by Discovery community members and never seen before.
- 5 new systems:
Omicron Eta (Edge World system controlled by Outcasts and Corsairs)
Omicron Iota (Nomad system)
Omicron-99 (Nomad system)
Omega-58 (Edge Worlds system controlled by The Wild)
Bastille Prison System
- 5 updated systems:
Baffin (Zoners system) by Denelo.
Londonderry (Mollys system) by Sawtyss
Puerto Rico (Junkers system) by Commodore
Sigma-59 (GMG system) by Commodore
Tau-44 (IMG system) by Denelo
- 19 new stations in different systems, and one new dockable planet. More stations have ship dealers.
- Extensive ship balance changes.
- Cargo jettison hardpoints added for all new ships.
- Countermeasure slots added for most transport ships.
- Components of Vanilla VHF ships became less vulnerable.
- Many hitboxes for large ships updated.
- Battleship License items added for sale.
- High-level NPCs are now tougher; low-level NPCs slightly downgraded.
- 12 new capital ship turrets added. More forward cannon types added.
- All capital ship weaponry rebalanced.
- High-level fighter weaponry rebalanced; more weapons added, including Nomad weapons.
- 4 new codenames added, along with new wrecks. Sound effects for many codenames changed.
- Supernova torpedo added to replace Nova; Nova remains an anti-capital energy weapon with extremely high energy capacity and very low refire rate.
- Maximum missile velocity is now higher.
- Cost of all ammo types significantly reduced.
- 2 new countermeasure droppers, 2 new thrusters, 4 new scanners added.
- 5 new IDs added, including Miner ID, and Smuggler ID.
- 3 new commodities: Counterfeit Software (contraband), Plutonium, Slaves (contraband).
- Many trade routes rebalanced. Smuggling became more profitable.
- History of Sirius commodity available from major planets.
- Certain mineable asteroids fields are now easier to mine.
- Shields for transports and freighters separated in different classes. Freighters can no longer mount transport shields.
- The History of Discovery continues: added news about the war between Bretonia and Kusari, the Liberty Conspiracy, The Wild, and more.
- Multiple bugs fixed, infocard errors corrected, balance issues resolved.
- Shortcuts for quick connection to Discovery Freelancer RP 24/7 and PvP 24/7 included.
- Many more changes and additions. See the Readme.txt file for details.

Download & Installation

The latest version of Discovery, as well as a number of previous versions, are available for download from our profile download section.

Freelancer Mod Manager (FLMM) v1.31 is necessary to activate/deactivate the mod. You can download FLMM from this page, Useful Goodies section.

To update Discovery, simply deactivate the older version, and activate the newer one. Each version of Discovery is standalone, including beta releases.

More Information

Visit Discovery forums at Discoverygc.com and Discovery website at Discoveryfl.com. Also, refer to mod's Readme.txt for installation instructions, troubleshooting hints, information on mod options, credits, and thanks.