Mass Effect: A New Destiny Dev Diary #1: The Economy
Hello and welcome to the first official dev diary for Mass Effect: A New Destiny. Some of you may remember I posted an announcement of the mod last year, if not you can find it here. Reddit.com If you don't feel like reading the announcement, this is a separate total conversion mod from the excellent Beyond the Relays focused on creating stories that may or may not follow the lore of the trilogy. Starting in the year 2150 you will guide your empire through the First Contact War all the way to the destruction or ascension of the Reapers. Those of you who read the original announcement will note I was going to originally focus on the map for this first diary, however, changing circumstances have made me decide to first show everyone how the economy of Mass Effect: A New Destiny will be different from base game.
Before we get started I want to note a few things. Number 1: The mod while having been developed for a good year and a half is in Pre Alpha stage. Any art, tech, event, or localization you see is subject to change. Number 2: The mod does not have a public release date. While I have a lot of time on my hands I am only one person working on the mod. Rest assured this will release when it's ready. In the meantime I plan on posting monthly dev diaries and eventually stream the mod in progress. Number 3: I want to thank Princess Stabbity, joshua.yathin.yu, Garry Windu and binaryhelixmods for allowing me to use their mods in conjunction with my own to make the Mass Effect project I have always dreamed of. Hundreds of hours have been saved through their hard work and dedication, you can find their mods here. Steamcommunity.com Steamcommunity.com Steamcommunity.com Steamcommunity.com Steamcommunity.com A full list of credits will be provided in the steam workshop page upon release and any future dev diary that may feature their work if you look in screenshots.
Existing Resources:
Stellaris already has plenty of resources that in theory work fine for a genuine Mass Effect simulation as long as you give them a few tweaks so we're going to go over them first.
Credits:
The currency of all the Mass Effect games, Credits are used to trade goods and services throughout the galaxy. While I won't bore you with all the technical lingo, I have replaced Energy Credits with just Credits as well as edit their description to make it more appropriate for the setting. You can see the WIP image of that here
. I'm well aware the art doesn't look perfect but, we'll get more into that in a bit. This transformation also includes an edit to the Energy Grid building into what I'm currently calling the Credit Vault.
Technician jobs have been replaced by Banker jobs to further commit to this overhaul. Other techs have been edited to fit better but seeing as that is an ongoing process, I'm not showing any of that now.
Light Metals:
The Mass Effect series, especially Mass Effect 1, are filled with a large variety of materials Shepard can collect throughout their travels. In my opinion too many to adequately represent in Stellaris so I've grouped them into two distinct categories. First up Light Metals. Mechanically these act the same as Minerals in Stellaris however, I've edited and added a few things to hopefully help with immersion. This image is a WIP of their new icon inspired by Mass Effect 1's collection missions
. For those of you that have played Krogan's Sci Fi Pack currently on steam here Steamcommunity.com , you'll recognize the Mineral Extraction Zone building. The building is a way to get some extra Light Metals without needing districts.
Heavy Metals:
There isn't much to say here other than they are effectively Stellaris Alloys with a more lore appropriate name. That said Alloy Foundries will only cost light metals since Motes are being Thanos snapped from the games economy. I also need a lore appropriate icon for them, if anyone has any ideas please leave them in the comment section below or on the mods Discord page link at the bottom of this article. Other than these three none of the other base game resources have been touched, they all have a purpose in Stellaris and are conceivable enough in the Mass Effect universe. Seeing as this is all WIP everything is subject to change but, these three feel solid for me.
New Resources:
As good as Stellaris is, Mass Effect has several iconic resources that separate it from other sci fi franchises. To get a lore immersed mod, Mass Effect: A New Destiny will add several resources that serve a multitude of functions. We're going to be going over four today but there are three more I have in mind for a future dev diary after I implement them.
Element Zero:
Element Zero is the lifeblood of Mass Effect ship design as well as biotics so I felt it was definitely important to represent within the mod. Element Zero will be a necessary resource for drive cores as well as shields. I want to thank Garry Windu as well as binaryhelixmods for allowing me to use Crucibles icon and code to get them to function properly. Meanwhile, Princess Stabbity's Biotic edicts have been converted to use Element Zero
. Asari will also generate a small amount of Element Zero with their Natural Biotics trait seen here
. Other species will discover Eezo throughout the galaxy in rare deposits and be able to build a mine specifically for eezo as seen here
. All species will start with the new Fuel Depot megastructure seeing as they were a major sight in Mass Effect 2 and 3. They will be placed in a species capital so that everyone has a base amount of Eezo but it isn't ready to be shown off yet.
Omni-Gel:
Mass Effect uses Omni-Gel for a wide variety of applications. From espionage to healing this stuff is everywhere and will serve similar functions in Mass Effect: A New Destiny. First, all spying operations now cost a combination of Omni-Gel and Credits to perform
. The Salarian Union and a potential Cerberus player may have special operations associated with them but that is very much WIP and subject to change. Omni-Gel also is used in research labs to simulate scientists' reliance on Omni Tools throughout the trilogy as seen here
. Certain ground army types will most likely use Omni-Gel for repairs but we'll talk about that in a future dev diary. The gel will be used to produce the third resource we're going to talk about right now...
Thermal Clips:
A controversial addition to Mass Effect 2 and 3, Thermal Clips are the ammunition of the Mass Effect universe. In Mass Effect: A New Destiny, Thermal Clips are mandatory resource for all ground armies as well as Kinetic Weaponry upon hitting Coilguns. I don't want to go into too many specifics since my space combat rework is just in the theoretical stages but expect Thermal Clips to be a major component of warfare. A new building will grant you as many bullets as you need.
Recruitable Population:
If you've ever played Star Trek: New Civilizations or Star Wars: Legacy of the Old Republic, you'll already be familiar with Recruitable Population or pops for short. Everything from system outposts and colony ships to warships and certain military buildings will require pops to function. Since Mass Effect as a series focuses quite a bit on the crews of military vessels, I thought this was the best way to reflect that in a grand strategy game. From a more gameplay perspective my hope is that pops reduce corvette spam. More testing on my end needs to be done to see if this is actually a reality. Like Omni-Gel and Thermal Clips, pops are primarily produced through buildings, new and old, the twist is certain races will have natural bonuses or penalties to pops based on the lore of the series. For example, almost all Quarians on the Migrant Fleet serve the empire for the greater good whereas the diplomacy-oriented Asari see little need for a standing army. That's all on resources for now but, like I said at the top, three more are in development.
Conclusion:
Thanks to everyone for reading this far, now for some housekeeping. Right now, I am a one man show and would love some help if anyone is interested in joining the project. I need 2D artists for event art, icons, city sets, UI and anyone familiar with Stellaris code who would like to help. You can contact me here or Discord or reddit. This is my third mod as I've worked for Beyond the Relays and Legacy of the Old Republic as well as self-published a small mod you can find Steamcommunity.com but I still have more to learn.
These dev diaries are going to be monthly until we get closer to release. Next month we're going over a new planet type as well as specific places it can be found on. Krogan here signing out.
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