What is Variety and Rebalance Overhaul (VRO) mod?
ALL currently released DLCs are REQUIRED
MOD CANNOT BE ACTIVATED ON ONGOING SAVE, REQUIRES NEW GAME START.
VRO is a major overhaul to the way the combat is implemented to make it more varied, enjoyable, less player-centric and less arcady (to my taste at least). This is done by changing the parameters of every ship, weapon, missile, engine, shield as well as adding numerous new weapons, missiles and even few ships. The main drive for me to create VRO was the huge potential in X4, where player can have a real impact on the universe, but combat felt a bit lacking to my taste.
New and updated weapons, ships, general combat overhaul and "feel" of combat mechanics is the focus of the VRO.
What VRO does NOT change:
AI behavior, including combat, faction AI, docking, subordinates behavior and others
Turret targeting logic, VRO changes just the "projectile" parameters.
Galaxy map, sectors, etc
Economy, though some minor changes may be done to e.g. ship/weapon prices/material cost as they connect directly to the combat balance.
You can discuss or leave your feedback on Egosoft forums for the mod.
Specific changes and my reasoning for them in Navigation at top of the page.
Below is fan-made trailer (thanks to GVMuk), other VRO - related videos in this channel
Mod is currently available in English, Russian, German, French and Japanese languages.
DISCLAMER
VRO makes game a bit more difficult (at least for new players in the series), there may be no “best ship” in the game as I strive for balance, early game may be more dangerous while you are flying starting ship, so avoid direct combat if you are not certain you can win. Remember to rely more on support of your other ships in combat, pulling attention and distracting your target is important part of a combat in VRO.
WARNING!!!
NoSuperHighways (either using mod OR setting them off in custom game settings)- makes game to feel bigger, closer to X3 and gives the opportunity to balance S,M and L,XL ships properly as highways are messing with that. VRO ship speeds were balanced assuming you ARE using this mod, but you may play without it if you feel too bad for disabling highways, it is not mandatory.
Credits, thanks and Support
In case you want to support me - here is Patreon link
Thanks to:
Egosoft - for awesome game and quite modding-friendly devs.
AngEviL for creating Shield and Weapon Overhaul mod that inspired me
mewosmith, h2odragon, Mysterial, Deadair, Brummbear, LeLeon, iforgotmysocks, SirNukes, MacBain, Unitrader, Mirek and everyone else form Discord modding community for help and inspiration.
Chirumiru ShiRoz for letting me use some of his Stellaris mod sounds; check it out if you play stellaris.
RoverTX for improvements to some ships and kind permission to use them.
SirFrancisDrake for permission to use his X3 ported models and BrummBear for porting and helping with implementation of them and for help with assets in general.
Axeface for Cyclops Frigate model.
ixm for updated textures for Hyperion, Centaur and Panther
KrYcHokE for Viper frigate model.
DeadAir for polishing some technical parts and great modding insights.
Russian translation by Blazard.
French translation by o-papaya-o
German translation by UH-XTC
Japanese translation by UresiiZo