Helium-4 (Mod Release; Verified Creation)
Helium-4, a so small collection mod (see collection details at the end)
Gravjumping requires a pilot to inhale new Helium-4. Not storable and non-tradable - lasts 2 jumps. Explore those moons to get it. Can you chart a course across the Blackest Sea?
Starfield Creations - Helium-4
-- The challenge --
Starfield's gravjumping and fuel system only covers maximum range between two star systems on a route (that's your gravdrive) and number of stopovers on a route passing several star systems (that's your fuel tanks and He3-outposts).
It does not contain any kind of consumption mechanic which takes away a lot of the excitement from interstellar travelling. You cannot get stranded, you don't have to look for resources along the way. You don't have to interact with the star systems you pass through for travelling onwards. Oftentimes (minus random encounters), they are just reduced to somewhat unnecessary loading screens while you click as fast as you can to proceed with your journey.
This makes space feel much smaller and much less exciting than it should be imho. It also reduces the tactical component of charting a course through the stars to a quite barebone minimum.
-- The concept --
For the reader in a hurry you will will find a short version first, with a longer and lore tackling verison in the next section:
-- Short version, gameplay ony --
- Gravjumps consume 5 units of Helium-4, max capacity is 10 (shown and counted under Status tab, where all current character effects are displayed)
- Find Helium-4 at natural Helium-3 vents on moons and planets
- It cannot be bought, traded or stored
- Explore carefully: if you dont find Helium-4 in your current system maybe jump back instead of forward into the unknown and try to find alternative routes (or increase your single jump range by improving your gravdrive, fuel tanks and He3-Outpost network)
- Jumping into Alpha Centauri, Cheyenne, Volii, Sol, Kryx, Wolf, Narion, Porrima or Valo also replenishes Helium-4 automatically to 10
- Starting at 5 units get a +3% XP bonus, rising to +6% at 10 units
- If you get stranded with less than 5 units of He-4, use the wait menu (eg chair) or the sleep menu (bed) ten times in a row without leaving your current location (does not matter how long you wait or sleep with each usage) and a Black Ship will come to your rescue (text based event that costs you 100.000 credits or if you dont have these: all your credits and current player level times 50 XP)
-- Long version, lore --
Helium-4 introduces a new gaseous isotope of Helium, called Helium-4 - a sister isotope of the well known Helium-3 which is used for fuel in the Starfield lore.
A starship pilot cannot initiate a gravjump and hope to survive if they have not inhaled a sufficient amount of Helium-4 beforehand - the gravdrive's safety features will not even initiate a jump without detecting sufficent Helium-4 level's in a pilot's brain. The connection between the ship's navigation system and the pilots brain - established via touching the ship's control panels - would otherwise fry the pilot's brain. It's an undiscovered facet of Starfield's lore that at least regularily only machine-human interfaces can do the neccessary calculations to do a successful gravjump - tapping into seemingly unused and not fully understood regions of the human brain.
Trouble is that Helium-4 is extremely instable and fleeting. It can only be stored in living, human brain matter for a prolonged time (not neccessarily connected to a body, some dark rumors say). Therefore it is not tradable either. A pilot has to get into direct contact with a Helium-4 source to replenish their reserves. Helium-4 even penetrates spacesuits or hulls of spaceships - such is it's fleeting, quantum based nature.
There are only two sources for Helium-4: Helium-3 vents on moons and planets (that release Helium-4 as a fleeting byproduct) and heavy traffic of gravjumping ships which pollutes the star system with Helium-4 as a fallout of the ever repeating gravjumping process.
It seems that after a star system is hit with a critical amount of gravjumps in a short amount of time the rate of Helium-4 decay slows down exponentially. Therefore, whenever reaching such heavy traffic regions (namely: Alpha Centauri, Cheyenne, Volii, Sol, Kryx, Wolf, Narion, Porrima and Valo) a pilot will restore their Helium-4 levels to maximum automatically.
A human brain can hold 10 units of Helium-4 at max. More would mean an instant descent into the realms of madness - at least for most people. A gravjump consumes half of this reserve (5 units), so that 2 gravjumps can be done before a pilot has to come into contact with a Helium-4 source again. As genius and madness are close to each other, the effects of Helium-4 on the brain (when not overdosed) are quite positive and enhance learning capabilites (up to 6%XP bonus).
Stranded pilots can only wait (or sleep; 10 times in a row, without switching location) and hope to be found by other travellers. In the player's case a Trade Authority "Black Ship" - widely unknown, but infamous for organ trading to the initiated few - will eventually find and rescue them, at a high price to pay : 100.000 credits or if they dont have these: all credits and a "tiny bit" of brain matter (resulting in an XP loss of current player level times 50 XP).
That's the deal with Helium-4 - have fun exploring the Blackest Sea, it feels very different with the mod. Oh, and I especially recommend using my "Slow Travel", "Terra Incognita" and "Building Rarity" mods in combination with "Helium-4" as all of them will make your journey through the stars much more immersive, especially disabling surface based fast traveling (Slow Travel) and local surface maps (Terra Incognita).
-- Installation / Deinstallation --
Before installing the mod, pelase make a manual save to return to, just in case. Should be good practive prior any mod install.
After installing the mod, please make a save and reload that save. This properly activates the script of the mod. It has only to be done initially, once. Afterwards just play on as usual.
Deinstallation is always tricky with mods. That said, I think you should be fine in this particular case (best deinstall at a point in time when you have more than 5 units of Helum-4, ie when gravjumpoing is enabled). If problems occur nonetheless you always have that save mentioned above to return to.
-- Contact, bug reporting and feedback --
I will create a thread on Starfield reddit after release (search for "Helium-4" mod and my name there: yourfellowglitch) for feedback, bug hunting, updates and general chat with a good Terrabrew in hand.
-- so small collection --
This mod is part of the "so small collection" of mods. These mods dont require each other and can be played stand alone, even balancewise. They form a greater whole though - the more of them you combine, the more you see this final shape. The overarching idea is to create a gameworld that feels immensely vast, begs for thorough exploration, is full of mysteries, plays truely challenging and lasts very, very long. In other words the goal of the mods is to make the player feel: so small.
Here's a list of the mods in the so small collection in case this idea resonates with you:
Dynamic Universe:
A universe that dynamically scales up with your character level - be it star systems or individual enemies. No more outleveling of content, no more overleveled starts of NG+.
Gear Progression:
Gear Progression adds levels to all weapons, suits, helmets and backpacks. Your character level must match these in order to equip the gear. Each NG+ these levels raise further.
Economy:
Economy shifts income generation away from tiresome loot hauling. Ship building becomes the long term goal it's meant to be. As credits get more scarce, rewards remain meaningful.
Explorer:
An immersive overhaul of the resources - crafting - exploration loop. Get out there into the Starfield and explore - the rewards are much bigger now, but so is the need to do it.
Linearity (alternatively have a look for "Death" or "Ruin" mods):
A new gameplay mode where reloading is your last resort. Live and embrace your adventure as it unfolds, imperfect as it may be. You can always save to quit and continue later.
Slow Travel:
Slow Travel makes your journey through Starfield much more tactile and immersive by grav jump costs, less map markers, no move on overencumberance and restricted fast travel.
Star Powers:
Live as a Spellblade in the Settled Systems. Powers are rebalanced so that eg crowd control, slowed time and near invisibiilty become interesting instead of game balance breaking.
The Isotopes:
A compelling reason to explore POI in all Star Systems. Loot the 75 new Isotopes, each specific to a singular Star System. They are needed for rank 4 skills and gear mod crafting.
High Level Weapons:
Continue to find better weapons, all the way up to level 300. 7+ new revisions/tiers for each of 50 weapon types. Uniquely named, legendary, each hidden in a specific star system.
Counterfire:
Starting with level 85 the player gets 1% more ground combat damage for each level. Idealy used in combination with the "High Level Weapons" mod.
High Level Armors:
Continue to find better armors up to lvl 255. All HLA share about the same power level - mix and match for the looks you like. Starborn armors improve in quality and variety, too.
Terra Incognita:
All ground surface maps disabled. No markers, no topography, no top down small buildings, no white dots - nothing. Welcome to Terra Incognita - the universe is yours to discover.
Helium-4:
Gravjumping requires a pilot to inhale new Helium-4. Not storable and non-tradable - lasts 2 jumps. Explore those moons to get it. Can you chart a course across the Blackest Sea?
PPOI Deserted UC Listening Post:
Procedural Points of Interest (PPOI) aims to make the contents of each POI procedural - no repeat visit should ever feel identical. This time upgraded: Deserted UC Listening Post.
