Team Nessassity Mods - Lazy Summer Beach Bum Edition! Come To Think Of It, Are There Beaches On Desert Planets? Is A Large Body Of Water Actually Required For A Large Body Of Sand To Be Considered A Beach? I Propose That In The Interest Of Improving Climate Change's PR, Desert Planets Should Henceforth Be Reclassified As "Beach Planets" (Patreon)

WELCOME TO THE-

...what month is it again? Uh... Umm...

WELCOME TO THE JUNLYGUST MONTHLY MOD REPORT!

My favourite month of the year, except when it's so hot I can't leave the house and my PC nearly catches on fire and I just want to lie down in front of a fan and become an inanimate object.

S A V E  M E !  x_x

Oh... and I guess this is that time again when Patreon completely reinvents its layout and I'm lost and confused again. Ah, some things never change... except the things that constantly change! *shakes cane*

ANYWAYS! I have a backlog of the entire summer to talk about so I should probably get started now before this intro takes me another month!

SOWITHOUTFURTHERADDFDGFNHGNHJ!

Team Nessassity

So, to start with, it's my pleasure to announce that the team is growing again! Let's welcome the incredibly talented alex_greyven, our new writer who submitted many contributions via the Community Writing initiative and expressed interest in participating in other projects as well! Including one... long-neglected little thing that desperately needed someone to take care of it. But... shush for now!

???

Moreover, Nessa and I have recently gotten involved in an external Stellaris modding project which... I can't say absolutely anything about yet, but... it won't be long until you see it and I hope everyone enjoys the results n_~

It was a bit of a sudden opportunity with a tight deadline, so we had to put some internal projects on pause until our part was done, BUT don't worry, it's only temporary, and it is actually quite relevant to one of our own projects. Soon we'll be able to directly transfer the skills and resources we've acquired into our own work.

So please stay tuned! It's actually going to be playable sooner than you think! And the moment it goes public, you can bet I won't let you miss it!
(￣▽￣)

And speaking of, we've been working on a whole mountain of things, and my laziness with posting updates means that quite a lot has piled up over the past couple of months. I'll try to keep everything relatively short, but there's a buttston of developments to cover, so no promises!

Elves of Stellaris 

So you may or may not remember we started working on Orbital Rings and Hyper Relays a few months ago. Well, we're happy to update you that the Elven Relay is complete!

In the end, we went with an elegant and understated design that's meant to be reminiscent of a portal. It's a very ubiquitous megastructure that you will see a lot of along your hyper-highway, so we felt that simple was best when it came to the structure itself, and instead the star of the show is the vortex of OOOOH! swirling within!

But we also have something a lot fancier in the works! You may remember the very early draft of the Elven ring (not to be confused with Elden Ring, which I still haven't had a chance to play >.>)

Since then, we have settled on how to fill it with modules, the actual infrastructure that makes the ring functional. AND ALSO PRETTY! (which is obviously the more important part)

Normally, vanilla Orbital Rings attach their modules on top of the ring superstructure. However, with Elves, we wanted to preserve the silhouette and symmetry, so instead, the contents of the modules will be contained within these cute gem-like domes!

For now, we have not yet settled on the design of each module, but as we're working on the Asari Orbital Ring (which we'll talk about later) we're experimenting with a lot of different concepts which might be possible to translate into this format.

It's going to be a little more time and a lot more thought than we originally expected, but the result should be a very unique Orbital Ring design!

BUT... perhaps not as unique as what we are planning for the Lhùren rework!

Oh... did I mention that the Aurlûnor is getting a bit of a makeover, both visually and mechanically?

Upcoming Lhùren Overhaul

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures just yet, but one of the things we are planning is a complete reimagining of the great shield encasing the Lhùren homeworld. Now that Orbital Rings exist, we want to enhance the shield with some actual utility!

The shield will now be projected not by some generic generators, but instead a unique Orbital Ring in the shape of a sea serpent coiled around the planet!
Like all the other megastructures included in our Origins, initially the Orbital Long (name pending) will have limited functionality, featuring only the special shield module that adds a layer of (take a guess...) shielding which any invading fleet would have to punch through before laying siege to the planet.
But when the player researches the proper technology, they will be able to expand the Orbital Long's (name pending) capacity and attach standard Orbital Ring modules as they please.

Alongside this change to the Origin, we're also hoping to overhaul the associated Civic. The Celestial Grace mechanic needs more interactivity and be a bit more clear on what affects its factors and how to manipulate it.
Likewise, with the vanilla expansion of mechanics related to subjects, we're also hoping to go a little more in-depth on Aurlûnor's relationship with their tributaries, as well as introduce more means to acquire and create subjects.
One of the ideas that I'm hoping to implement is the creation of a new subject type: Jiedushi (name pending).
This Tang-inspired subject type can only be created by vassalizing a sector to create an autonomous extension of Aurlûnor managed by a Protector-General (name pending) who will be able to wage independent wars and expand their territory to widen the protective buffer between Aurlûnor and the rest of the galaxy unworthy of its splendour.
The Jiedushi (name pending) will build grand fleets and defensive structures throughout their territories, leaving the core of the empire to focus on research and economic development in peace, far removed from the conflicts and struggles of the savage frontier.
However... there is a catch. Each Jiedushi (name pending) will cost Celestial Grace to maintain, and the level of their Overlord's overall Celestial Grace will determine how loyal they are.
Should the Emperor prove to be a weak and unvirtuous ruler, some Protector-Generals might claim the Celestial Mandate and seek to replace the declining dynasty. Should the disgraced ruler refuse to step down willingly, they will undoubtedly face a civil war.

Of course, this feature will be accompanied and complemented by the addition of more volatile and impactful Celestial Grace factors (which will be predominantly temporary and actively triggered, as opposed to the mostly passive ones we have currently) to ensure greater challenges in maintaining the Celestial Mandate.

However, the good news is that replacing the ruling dynasty or losing the civil war will not be a game over. Should the Jiedushi (name pending) be successful in overthrowing the old regime, the Empire will go on under a new ruler who will be free from all the temporary Celestial Grace factors that hounded their predecessor, thus offering a way to reset the Celestial Mandate to a relatively stable state and avoid a death-spiral.

MEC: Asari 

But don't worry, Elves aren't the only ones getting pretty things soon!

Our other favourite long-lived space snobs would die of envy if they didn't get their own versions of the Hyper Relay and Orbital Ring.

First off, the Hyper Relay!

You were probably expecting to see a Mass Relay here, but we really didn't want to overuse those more than we already do, so for this one, we decided to go with a much... humbler structure that is still very clearly derivative of Mass Relay technology, but looks a bit less advanced. You will be able to distinguish your hyper-highway from your Gateways at a glance.
Since, again, these relays are quite ubiquitous, easy and cheap to build, we didn't want it to look too special. Still! It does have pretty VFX and the inner ring does have a spinning animation, so it's still very nice to look at!

But you know what's even nicer to look at?

Other people, down on, from your luxury penthouse... IN SPACE!

And when your neck starts feeling sore from looking down (well, up, technically) at the old-fashioned planet and those boring planetfolk still living on it, you can enjoy a luxury cruise along the tropical beaches of the Outer Ring, the best holiday resort in the sector!

(Placeholder texture, beaches not pictured yet~)

But if lounging around for centuries on end begins to lose its novelty, you always have the option to travel along the ring's massive magrail highway, see new sights, discover new things!

But... where would you go? What else is there to see beyond the Orbital Ring's Habitat module?

The hangar bays, perhaps? Are you thinking of taking your private jet for a flight around the system?

Or the still-under-construction fortress module that will feature state-of-the-art defences once finished?

The uh... Okay, maybe let's avoid the power generator module for now. It's a bit of a mess and the administration hasn't quite decided what to do with it yet.

Or maybe... the mysterious Anchorage Module... that is currently being worked on and isn't ready to be shown just yet.

Wherever you choose to go...

...you're probably better off up here than down on the overcrowded rock you mined into oblivion to build this thing.

n_n

Oh! And speaking of oblivion, I was supposed to sketch up a concept art of the Asari Juggernaut, but a lot of things came up, one of which was my tablet breaking down, (but thankfully Kuri and Rastro helped me replace it on a super short notice and I can't thank them enough <3) and then I got distracted by other peojects so I'm afraid it will not be included in this MMR.

The Orbital Ring and the ??? Project took up all my attention over the past month, so the Jugs had to take a backseat, BUT now that our part in ??? has been finished, and the Ring is approaching completion as well, I can get my creative brain train back on the right track, and hopefully should have the big shippy all planned out and ready for modelling by the next Monthly Mod Report! Please look forward to it! >o<

MEC: Omega

> . >
< . <
o . o

Veiled Realms

Sigh.

And speaking of things that I didn't meet my milestones on and is likely to be delayed, Veiled Realms' playable beta probably won't be happening this summer after all. The next target is (probably, barring a miracle) October once again. Third time's the charm, right? n_n

Figures that on the last stretch, I would burn out a little and decide to switch my gears to Stellaris for a bit. As the result, I have worked on VR for maybe two weeks over the past three months.
Half of the reason is because my head has been in the clouds (or... stars, as the case may be), and the other half is the Bane system which I talked about a while ago.

And... with a heavy heart, I have to walk back on that feature. While I do want to implement a system like the Banes eventually, I don't think this is the right time or the right implementation. The more I tried to make it work, the less confident I was in its implementation, so I pivoted several times on the concept until I eventually ended up taking a long break from VR... and coming back to it with a clear head, which made me realise that it was time to "kill my darling".

Now, not all of the work that's gone into it will go to waste! In the process, I've come up with a few interesting mechanics which I think I will be able to repurpose into Lifestyle perks, enhancing the couple of old ones that I wasn't particularly happy with.

So although I haven't made much progress lately, I am determined to finish this project, BUT I'm never going to rush it out before it's ready, and I will ensure that it is up to Team Nessassity's quality standards in all aspects when it does come out.

So... that's it for today! Three months' worth of MMRs in one go. I am deceased. My brain is out of juice, so it's probably a good point to wrap it up!

But not before I thank you for continuing to follow and play Team Nessassity's mods and supporting their continued development! <3 You are the reason we're able to make monthly(ish) progress even after all these years.

Your creative feedback and endless patience keeps up going and lets us enjoy modding without burning out, and I cannot imagine a healthier, more wholesome work environment <3

We'll see you again soon (actually sooner than you might expect!) but in the meantime, you can hang out with us on our Discord and catch the occasional memes and minor updates on my Twitter!

And of course, let's always have fun playing Paradox games!