System Shock Refibrillated (Balance) v2.1

How to install? Super easy:

1. navigate to (...)\System Shock Remake\SystemShock\Content\Paks

2. unzip .zip file there

3. play the game

The aim of this mod is simple: to improve the game's balance and thus deliver a more satisfying overarching experience.

This is not meant to be an overhaul or an easy/cheat mod.

"Less is more."

Changelog

◢ Dragon's Breath damage 150 > 180 (20% buff)

(kinetic/incendiary split 30/120 > 60/120)

◢ Flechette damage 100 > 120 (20% buff)

◢ Assault Rifle damage 25 > 27 (both ammo types)

◢ Ion Rifle OC damage 200 > 210 (better scaling coming from 35/70)

◢ Ion Rifle energy costs 7/15/70 > 6/14/60 (5/12/52 with modkit)

◢ Ion Rifle armor pen 50/70/90 > 60/80/100 (now +10 than modded Sparq)

◢ Sparq low mode armor pen 30 > 40 (better scaling into 60/80)

◢ Magnum normal/laser fire SFX fixed (was it that hard, Night Dive?)

◢ Magnum laser target acquire 3 times faster (nearly instant)

◢ Magnum damage 65 > 70 (armor pen unchanged, just a minor buff)

◢ Magnum target lock cost 1 > 0 (buggy targeting logic on inanimate objs)

◢ Railgun damage 300/350 > 360/410 (20% buff; though it adds 50 dmg when loaded)

◢ Plasma Core damage 300 > 480 (60% buff; endgame enemies having under ~400 HP)

◢ Gas Grenades damage 150 > 180, blast radius 250 > 300 (20% buff)

◢ Staminup duration 70 > 105, max HP +20 > +30 (50% buff)

◢ Enviro-Pack V1 protection 83% > 88% (+5%, same as V2)

◢ Enviro-Pack energy tick rate 4s > 6s (50% less draining)

◢ Head Lamp energy tick rate 4s > 6s (50% less draining)

◢ Infrared Unit energy tick rate 5s > 8s (~50% less draining)

◢ Sensaround energy tick rate 5s > 8s (~50% less draining)

◢ Target Identifier hack cost 20 > 4 (80% cheaper)

◢ Target Identifier V2 hack time 2. 5 > 2 (20% faster)

◢ Target Identifier V3 hack time 2 > 1 (50% faster)

◢ Pulser damage 5 > 10 (100% buff, less Cyberspace tedium)

◢ Human Corpse loot Sparq 2% > 0% (Junk Food 3% > 5% instead)

◢ Human Skull resized 11 > 22 (see Abe's Head, Crew Cap, etc.)

◢ Monkey Wrench damage 18/30 > 21/35 (more meaningful upgrade to the Pipe)

◢ (Unique) Cyborg Drone drops Virtual Reality Headset now instead of Access Card

New since v1. 2

◢ Pseudo Pulser damage 10 > 20 (100% buff, less tedious finale)

◢ Pseudo Disc Launcher damage 20 > 40 (100% buff, idem)

◢ Pseudo Nova damage 70 > 140 (100% buff, idem)

Reasoning & Explanation

◢ The Shotgun in System Shock, contrary to most video game tropes, is actually not OP! It slightly suffers from ammo deficit (which also costs 15 14 creds, while Teflon only 5) and its damage falls off past the midgame (while Skorpion, Mag-Pulse and even Sparq remain relevant). But the real big deal with Dragon's Breath in particular is: its damage being split between 30 kinetic (to the face) and 120 incendiary (DoT), which means things won't die quick enough. That, and there aren't that many organic enemies to warrant its use (outside Exec/Groves).

So a higher upfront damage (15% armor pen, mind you) should make Dragon's Breath feel somewhat more impactful without altering its (incendiary) role. And higher Flechette damage should help it become a more practical alternative VS cyborgs/bots late-game.

PS: Tested VS Mutated Cyborgs on hardest difficulty and 4 shots of Dragon's Breath will down them (over time), whereas it'll take 6 Flechette rounds otherwise.

◢ Assault Rifle is a "worse" Skorpion. Not bad per se, it's just Skorp's sheer DPS (coupled with the game showering you with Teflon rounds handsomely) overall beats it in a straight fight. Ideally, AR sho