[DEVBLOG#325] Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ultratech: Introduction (Patreon)

Hey everyone and welcome to the first development diary going into our plans for Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ultratech. That’s right, the time is here, and I’m more than ready to talk about what we want to do with this long awaited mod.

I think one of the first mentions was all the way back in 2021?

It has suffered through some bumps in the road - several times it was merged with other mods, and then unmerged again. You may remember that it all started with the concept for Vanilla Factions Expanded - Arkology many years ago. Since then the idea for an Arkology corporation has grown into a more general, ultratech megacorp, and that was meant to be the main element of the mod.

So, the Hunters became a thing. Vanilla Factions Expanded - Hunters was meant to add an ultratech faction of mercenaries and killers, hunting the citizens of the planet you’re on for sport. Not only that, the idea for Vanilla Factions Expanded - Androids became a thing too. Could these hunters hunt these androids? Perhaps. They were meant to have 'mega-bases', which are essentially bases consisting of several bases!

But androids were such a cool concept I have decided to fast track that mod, and you can enjoy Vanilla Races Expanded - Androids now on Steam. It’s been out for ages really. So we were back to Hunters, and the idea for the faction grew and grew, and with it, the expectations.

Then, I figured you will probably expect some ultratechnology. I mean, it’s an ultratech faction - it could come with some ultratechnology. I began coming up with some ideas - some overpowered tech that you can eventually gain access to.

I wasn’t sold on the idea of Hunters though. The idea felt like it lacked substance. We have plenty of ‘killer’ factions out there, so ‘high tech killers’ weren’t really vibing with me. I continued to think, over the years getting more and more inspired, and eventually decided to NOT make the killing 100% of their personality.

Instead, the new Megacorp was instead focused on bringing ‘outback experience’ for the wealthy elites. It’s a tourism-oriented megacorporation which sees your planet - your whole livelihood - as a tourist attraction. They advertise the ‘trip to the galaxy’s rim’, they sell their overly expensive tickets, and they send the bored quadrillionaires to this wild frontier where they partake in their posh sports - some of it includes raiding and killing the local population for fun, from the safety of their super-defended resorts.

And with that, once again I started thinking about splitting the mod up. I wouldn’t want to lock all the cool ultratech progression and new structures behind a relatively ‘out-there’ faction mod. After all, you deserve to get continued progression all the way into ultratech without committing to a very complex ultratech faction.

So now we’re looking at the main mod being Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ultratech, and an add-on for that called Vanilla Factions Expanded - Megacorp. This will allow us to flesh out the megacorporation even further, while also delivering something to you sooner!

I want to write a series of development blogs covering the content we will add. And there’s plenty of content to cover.

This post, however, is meant to serve as an introduction, as well as a bit of background. I think it’s also important that you know which direction I want to take the mod in, and ultimately what I want this mod to be.

Vanilla Factions Expanded - Ultratech is meant to polish and round up the end game nicely. It’s not an early game mod, and it’s not a mid-game mod. I want the content to be available more or less as the last content you will unlock.

I want this mod to essentially serve as a way to ‘end’ the game. Unlocking all of the content means you have unlocked everything there is to unlock. Time to start a new run.

The content added in this mod is meant to be strong. It represents the technology of the super-advanced glitterworlds, of the corporate planets from the galactic core. It’s a taste of the society that birthed the Archotechs, it’s meant to be borderline magical in a way.

I want the content of the mod to solve the issues you encounter in your colonies. One by one you will overcome the problems with permanent solutions. Food problems? Create food replicators that turn raw nutrition into lavish meals. Addictions? Run the autorehab wondercycle on the wonderdoc to make addictions go away in the matter of hours. Power issues? Tame the antimatter and use it to generate endless electricity.

As you solve those long lasting problems, you will eventually reach a point where you’ve achieved it all and advanced into the highest society.

That being said, you can use these new advancements to finally interact with the mods without worrying about the usual problems. You can finally take over VOID bases when you know that your base is impossible to be destroyed. You can finally play around with a gravship when you know your colonists can be cloned and replicated if they die.

I will make this and every following devblog into a little survey, where you get to decide which next devblog you’d like to see more. This will also allow me to see where I should put more focus.

I’m really excited about the Ultratech mod, and I can’t wait to show you more!

Would you prefer the next devblog to be about the new Ultratech research tree? Or would you like to hear about the UltraWatt power network?