This mod starts way too early.

[angrysunbird]

I’ve really been enjoying this mod, but until today I’ve been playing with established characters. Well today I started a new character, got the quest straight after the first main quest with Sarah, like level 11 or 12, and heading to Indum for McClarence, and boom. No hopping off point really till you’ve taken out the first array, and none of the quests are balanced for players that fresh. Safe house full of high level robots, three mecha to take out in second safe house with just five flares (and those fuckers as bullet sponges when you have good guns and some ammo, so after I got the array location I had to bolt, and then at the array my stolen va’rrun hymn and Sarah in the Frontier were completely outmatched. Every time I managed to get one drone out two more were in their place. They don’t stop spawning and once they’ve taken your grav drive you’re done.


I love this mod, but Jesus balance that start. I see there’s another mod that delays the start, so I guess I’ll download that next time.

 

[Geldric]

So wait.... another mod author; saw the Watchtower issue of starting too early, checked here and read that Kinggath has added an option to delay the start reduce the ambush chance in v1.0.2 (which is in limbo... er oops, still being tested by BGS).... fired up the Creation tool, fixed the issue by adding a setting to select a Main Story mission to start before the Watchtower mod becomes active? Did I get the correct?

Yup, seems that is exactly what happened: https://creations.bethesda.net/en/s...077-4935-960a-d0723c35b053/Not_Yet_Watchtower

I mention the following in case anyone is dumb enough to want to try a low level run - having a toggle or setting for WHEN Watchtower activates is a help to us all.

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When I cleared the very 1st Watchtower installation (where Torin uses his ship to take out the AI Mech) The turrets were like level 6 and all the robots were at max, level 20. Am I remembering wrong? Ah... I almost always have level 2 or 3 of Sneak by that point and usually have one piece of Chameleon gear... usually. I think I'll do it again and pay more attention this time... thanks

EDIT: I'm level 11 (already) and the turrets are L6 and L12. Robots level 6, 12 and one was level 20. Once you are in the area to pull the controller; you can shoot all the robots ahead of time and activate a couple to help fight (some require Master lock which most won't have).

PS I actually love the current difficulty and on a recent fresh save it took me three tries to clear that first array (on extreme) at level 13. Interesting that we both put Sarah into our 1st fleet ship... At level 8 you unlock a second Particle beam weapon for your ship, hopefully you had both installed on your main and fleet ships. I also complete the Vanguard "training" mission since Tau Ceti is a level 10 system, it does not trigger Watchtower.

PPS For some "cheaty" excellent starting gear (weapons & armor), add the free "Regrets" mod and complete it before clearing the Watchtower installation.

 

[Geldric]

Given the newly added "Ambush Chance" in Game Options, from the v1.0.2 patch.... I'd say this mod (re-posted for clarification)

https://creations.bethesda.net/en/starfield/details/bcf080ce-b077-4935-960a-d0723c35b053/Not_Yet_Watchtower

Still better suits the "Watchtower starts too soon" complaint.

Has anyone used this with Watchtower v1.0.2?

 

[erlkonig]

I'd like to see this mod start with Watchtower becoming aware of you only after you use powers in a city or in some report of you attacking someone. Then some notification that would appear in some slate, or even from the Hunter in either bar, that the more you used powers in this universe, the more likely Watchtower is to come after you. There should be some ramp up in these before you actually get captured, so you'd have the chance to change your playstyle from middle-of-city swordmage to something more... circumspect. Players who don't use powers (or only attack wildlife and rocks with them) basically shouldn't encounter Watchtower. This does mean that using the "Powers Used" tracking variable isn't going to cut it to do it right. Lastly, they might actually leave you running around loose longer if you're killing other Starborn.

Personally I'm sick of having to just instantly bring up the starmap every time I hit a system to let me land or jump somewhere else when I'm at low level or not using powers in a run (at least, I suppose that happens, I use powers heavily). Or reload from Save. There should be a little interaction to let a player know how to stay under the radar a bit.

 

[Geldric]

@erlkonig - while what you describe would be an awesome addition to the Watchtower lore and basically give justification for their actions; personally I would not like it since I'd have to progress the main story a lot. My play style is to drop off the artifact and leave Sarah wondering when or if I'm ever coming back. Note: I usually didn't.

Granted since the Watchtower mod I absolutely play the main quest a bit further since after completing Sarah's/Constellations first mission, I can recruit both her and Moara for free.

It seems to me that the mod I listed above would kind of satisfy your requirements since you could delay the start of Watchtower until after you've obtained your first power (or later). In case you didn't look at that mod, here are it's choices for when to start Watchtower;

There are four options to choose from:

• Neighbourhood - just after meeting Constellation. This is in effect the same as vanilla
• All that Money can Buy - around 30% in, shortly after gaining your first power.
• Unity - takes place after a major event in the main storyline, 70% through the main campaign. Default setting, this feels a good point in the story to go off and do something different for a bit.
• Entangled- towards the end of the main campaign 90% through. Treating Watchtower as endgame content.

 

[erlkonig]

> I would not like it since I'd have to progress the main story a lot

I see where you're coming from, but I also think there should be a way to put yourself on their radar. Although only if you've actually taken the Artifact on Vectera (i.e. if some mod comes along that lets you escape the mine while still human, I can't see anything that's going to make Watchtower care about you). If one's skipping Constellation, that probably means no powers for a while, but you're still not human anymore, so there should be an option to get yourself seriously scanned at either a hospital or for the Vanguard signup that's (1) avoidable, and (2) would alert Watchtower to your existence. Something like a doctor commenting that a bunch of your vital signs are... unusual... and asking if you'd mind them sending your results to a colleague - to which the anti-Watchtower, power-free player could say, "No, privacy first!" ;-) Once you have powers, just using them in public (out of stealth) should sick Watchtower on you.

Would that work for you? It seems to fit into lore and have good immersion to me, at least.

On delaying Watchtower start. Well, I can evade them pretty easily anyway most of the time, so I'd rather see something immersive.