Captain’s Choice is not strictly a ship combat mod. It does, however, strongly influence how all ship combat in the game plays out with deep interplay between ship systems. No more useless habs and (fewer) useless structural components!

It is generally designed around two key concepts: Disparity and Modularity.

Disparity
Class differences between ships have been exaggerated, and in some cases trends have been reversed.
Quality is introduced as a scaling factor for all parts.
A large part of this is designed around Spacefaring Economy - as its tiered pricing makes less sense if all parts perform identically.

Modularity
Selection of each part is now more important.
Many decorative habs and structural components now serve a purpose, with many parts now having several roles.
It is now possible to build your ships ‘wrong’ in some ways. See below for details.



The main change is that most ship values are now calculated together.
You may recognize this from Apogee or Ship Combat Overhaul, which this mod draws heavy inspiration from.
However, unlike the above, there are a few key changes.

• Maximum ship speed is significantly faster than vanilla, but not additive like the above.
• There are also no weapon, shield, or hull rebalances - yet.
• CC is designed to simply enhance the existing systems.
  

Despite the lack of weapon changes, you will find combat playing out rather differently depending on how you build your ship.

Ship stats now scale heavily off of Class and Quality.
Class is unchanged - A, B, or C.
Quality is determined by the Manufacturer, Value and Utility of a part.
It scales somewhat with level.

Below are the Class changes, broadly defined.

Speed and Boost
All ships are slightly faster. However, Class C ships now boast the highest top speed, with Class A ships having the lowest.
Class C ships have limited boost without careful building. If built with insufficient engines, they may have none.
Class A ships offer tremendous boost with great escape potential.

Maneuverability
A few thruster values are additive. Most parts with visual thruster effects offer some bonus to strafing (unlocked with rank 1 of the Piloting perk).
Rocket-style engines (those with no Port or Starboard variant) have significantly less strafing ability. You will have to add side-mounted engines or invest in thrusters if you wish to use these nimbly.

The Quality changes are across all ship modules.

Manufacturer

Parts from Hope-Tech or Nova Galactic can be considered budget parts with little combat value.
They offer slightly better exploration-related stats than other tiers but tend to be heavier and slower.

Deimos parts are mid-range, focused around combat and efficiency.

Stroud-Eklund and Taiyo compete for the top spot in the luxury market, with Taiyo parts being more efficient by a margin.
Both are generally lighter in weight than competing brands for an equivalent part.

Hab Types and Effects

Captain's Choice 1.0 differentiates between Crewed and Static habs.

Static modules consist of all standard habs, liked the Crew Quarters, Cargo Bay, or Mess Hall.
Crewed modules are those that require a certain amount of crew present in order to activate their bonuses.

Crewed modules are assigned in priority order.
This means that each Hab Type's 'slots' will be filled before checking the next.

If you have one of each hab and 8 total crew, the maximum benefits will be gained.
Conversely, it is unwise to use these modules without Crew - as they simply drain power for no benefit.
Please keep both of these factors in mind while building.

• Battle Stations - Up to a 25% shield boost with 2 Crew.
• Engineering Bays - Up to 60% increase to repair rate with 3 Crew.
• Control Stations - Up to 15% reduction in lock-on speed with 3 Crew.
  

• Computer Cores are unique - for a significant power drain, they will add a small bonus to each category. They are a great option for solo pilots or for large ships with power and weight to spare.
  

Structural Components

• Thrusters are now functional and required for large ships to maneuver effectively.
• Landing gear adds a small amount of thruster maneuverability.
• Braking Engines are now functional.
• Shielded Cargo now draws a proportional amount of power.
  

There are no requirements except for Starfield version 1.14.70. DLC is not required.



Captain's Choice is compatible with anything that does not change records for the same Ship Part GBFM records.
It is generally incompatible with comprehensive ship module overhauls.
It is not incompatible with mods that add ship parts but they obviously will not reflect my changes.

It is recommended to use alongside Spacefaring Economy as its Quality changes directly reflect pricing in SFE.



All changes are contained in the plugin, which is a Light Master and should be loaded as late as possible.

It is recommended to install the mod while you are near a Ship Building facility of some kind, due to the following;

Your cargo capacity will decrease upon installation due to the changes of Cockpit capacities.
If you have some types of habs installed your power budget may change.

You may wish to add storage or adjust your total power before taking off after installation.

If installing on a new game, these are not terribly relevant.

Mid-game uninstallation is not recommended but should be safe if the mod is disabled first under Gameplay Options.
For the same reasons as above, I would recommend being near a Ship-building facility of some kind!



For patching, please see the values in the article.
These are not exact.

"Will you patch (X)?"

Nope. All of my mods have 100% open permissions for patching, and all information that might be needed for patches is either in the description or the plugin.

Any patches that I publish will be for mods that A. I use myself, and B. have open permissions. This list is extremely small.

Feel free to point out cool ship mods you use that could meet both above criteria - and I will take a look!



Bethesda for Starfield and the Creation Kit.
ElminsterAU for SF1Edit.
gpgpgpgp2019 for Ship Combat Overhaul, some of whose systems inspired changes made here.
AshkaariElesaan for APOGEE, which (in turn inspired by SCO) also inspired this mod.


Spacefarer is a modular, immersive Vanilla+ overhaul that aims to bring out the best of what Starfield already has to offer. Check it out below.

Combat
Deadly Effective - Overhauls numerous combat-related vanilla perks for playstyle diversity (and fun!)
Balanced Ballistics - Lightweight and immersive overhaul to weapon handling for Ballistic and Laser weaponry.
Suit Up [RTFP] - Smart and compatible system to make spacesuit selection more impactful.
Space Economy
Cost of Spacing - Simulates a reactive and complex space economy by introducing costs to space travel.
Spacefaring Economy [RTFP] - Overhauls prices and rewards with heavy scaling to avoid hyperinflation.
Captain’s Choice - Rebalances ship classes and modules for more thoughtful shipbuilding and combat.
Survival
Real O2 - Makes O2 a real consideration when exploring zero-atmosphere environments.
Peak Performance - A lightweight system to handle Hunger, Thirst, and Rest.
Immersion
Magic Boost Disabler - Disables the vanilla behavior of magically appearing Boost Packs.
First Person Messages [RTFP] - Converts game messages to first person.