I'm still working on this but thought I'd toss the current readme out. Playtesting is going well with nothing broken that I've found so far. I still have a few perks to finalize but the base system seems fairly stable.

I'll emphasize that I don't think this mod is for everyone, or even for many. If it seems interesting though and you've got some feedback, I'd be glad to hear it. Thanks for reading.


Executive Summary

L.A.I.C.E.P.S. changes a lot of the basic rules of the S.P.E.C.I.A.L. system. Primary statistics, derived statistics, and perks have all been altered. Changes were made based on the 30 level game, so Broken Steel is required. The intent of this mod is to:

1) Make choices in primary statistics more important

2) Make your character less front-loaded and all-around good to start out

3) Make all perks at least moderately desirable

4) Encourage more speciailzation at early levels

5) Increase difficulty in becoming rich too soon

6) Moderate difficulty increase through altering the function of Perception and (to a lesser extent) Intelligence

Description

This mod started with irritation at how Intelligence functioned in relationship to skill point gain. I hated planning around it and then found that Comprehension was a good work-around, yet made things ridiculously easy. I looked around and wasn't really interested in the all the other changes of the overhaul mods. It was time to get my hands dirty in the GECK. One adjustment lead to another and LAICEPS sprung into being.

In LAICEPS, primary statistics have more weight, and the underutilized ones (Intelligence, Perception, Charisma) do more in the game. This takes away from some of the base scores for derived statistics like carry weight and health, making your character less front-loaded, and hopefully making your character building decisions a bit more difficult.

Weak and seldom used perks have been improved or completely reworked. You may be able to spot how some perks have gained some synergy and combine together better now to create more specialization paths. Now too with "Almost Perfect" and "Comprehension" in particular altered, there should be no fear in choosing lower level perks that become useless in the long run.

Trader prices are raised across the board and tied more directly to Charisma. At best, base prices in caps are doubled, making it more difficult to become filthy rich in early levels.

I make no claims as to LAICPES being perfectly balanced or suitable to everyone's preferences. You may find difficulty increased depending on how you build your character. You may even find it frustrating if you do not plan for your caps being worth less and want everything to be a cakewalk from the get-go. Others may find things more easy by heavily specializing using the improved perks.

Note that LAICEPS is not meant by itself to make specializations all you are at level 30. There are still plenty of ways to reach max skills and primary statistics.

Usage Warning

Use this mod at your own risk! Using this mod will more than likely set off a chain of events in Rube Goldberg fashion that will result in the death of you and everyone you love. Count yourself lucky if actual results are any less disasterous.

This mod is meant to be used when starting a new game. Console commands can be run to "fix" existing characters to work with the perk changes, but I do not recommend it and will not provide any guidance in doing so. You should have a thourough understanding of this mod (yes, that means in the GECK too!) and how to use the console commands before attempting any changes using the console. Note especially that reducing your Endurance at the exit to Vault 101 can result in you becoming one of the walking dead, which will cause severe complications.

Likewise, I do not recommend removing this mod and continuing to use the same characters.

Compatability

Mods that change core mechanics to the SPECIAL system, perks, and skills, or skill books like LAICEPS does are likely to be competely incompatible. Additional perk packs may or may not work depending on how they were implemented.

I place LAICEPS very last in mod load order. I playtested with Mart's Mutant Mod and encountered no compatibility issues, but your milage may vary.

Changes in Detail

Primary and Derived Attributes

The goal with these changes was to make each attribute more important, making your first decisions about which to raise much more important. Your character isn't as front-loaded now; so be careful because you can indeed have a very different experience just by moving around a few attibute points.

Also, experienced players (pre- Broken Steel at least) knew that Intelligence should not be skimped on and tended to run to Rivet City first thing. With LAICEPS, you can rest easy knowing that your high Strength and Endurance character can be played as a total moron without sacrificing points in melee weapons (but you may not understand how to make the best of vulnerable spots for big damage!).

Yes, this should let you specialize in the character type you want right out of the vault and miss absolutely nothing long-term. Note too that Charisma and Perception are quite a bit more important, so you may want to think twice about using them as dump stats.

Strength

Base Carry Weight is now 100, down from 150. Each point of Strength adds 15 pounds, up from 10. Max Carry Weight is 250 at 10 Strength, the same as standard.

Perception

Perception now additionally affects your gun spread. The Perception multiplier scales between 2.35 (Perception 1) and 1 (Perception 10), meaning a Perception score 1 is 2.35 times worse than having a Perception of 10. A Perception of 10 gives the same spread as the standard game. You will miss more outside of VATS, and the VATS percentages are decreased, except at Perception 10. This makes things overall harder.

Endurance

Player base health lowered to 40 from 90. Each point of Endurance adds 25 health instead of 20. An Endurance of 10 will still result in 290 health as normal at first level. Per level health has been reduced to 5 from 10.

Charisma

Charisma now plays a very large role in determining the base selling price for traders. Charisma of 10 gives double standard prices. 9 is 2.5 times standard, 8 is triple, and so on. Things are expensive now! You mean caps mean something? What a rip-off!

You will probably need to scrounge around more and visit more traders since trader cap amounts have not been altered. This was very intentional and you may even find the Fortune Finder and Master Trader perks useful now.

Intelligence

Intelligence no longer gives a bonus to skill points at level up. Instead, it now affects critical hit damage (you can figure out how to make the most of your shots). The Intelligence multiplier scales between 60% (Intelligence 1) and 150% (Intelligence 10).


Agility

Base Action Points are reduced to 35 from 65. Each point of Agility adds 5 Action Points instead of 2 for a total of 85 with 10 Agility (same as standard).

Derived Statistics Formulas

Carry Weight = 100 + STR * 15

Gun Spread Multiplier % = 2.35 - PER * 15

Health = 40 + END * 40 + LVL * 5

Buy Price Multiplier = 2 + (10 - CHA) * 0.5

Critical Damage Multiplier % = 60 + INT * 10

Action Points = 35 + AGI * 5

Perks

Most perks are changed because they were seriously underpowered or completely useless. Some were given additional benefits to extend their debatable usefulness beyond role playing encounters or to make them useful after reaching level 30. A few have been slightly reduced in power. Some have had their level dropped to make specialization planning easier.

Adamantium Skeleton - Also adds +1 Strength.

Almost Perfect - Gain up to 9 points to spend on any SPECIAL attibutes. The number of points granted could be lower if you are less than 9 points away from perfection. This change was made so that you need not plan for the "all 9s" perk and could keep your specialization all the way to 30 without worry. You can still become "perfect" with planning for Bobbleheads, other attribute building perks, and equipment.

Animal Friend - Animals are now allied with the player at rank 1, no second rank. You additionally gain 1 Charisma.

Cannibal - Health gain increased to 50 (from 25) and Karma lost to 25 (from 1).

Child at Heart - Added benefit of 10% speed increase. Selectable at level 2.

Chem Resistant - Addiction chance reduced to 25% (originally 50%). Additionally, your addiction durations are cut in half if you also possess the Chemist perk.

Comprehension - Available at level 2. No longer doubles skill book bonuses. Grants a small bonus perk for each skill after reading 25 books of that skill. The perk adds a note that keeps track of all the books you have read for each skill. The note will not be able to track any books you have read prior to activating the mod and those will not count towards the total. See spoiler area at the bottom for a list of bonus perks.

Computer Whiz - Now increases Intelligence by 1. Removed the Intelligence prerequisite and decreased the level requirement from 18 to 12.

Contract Killer - Added 5% damage against Good and Very Good characters.

Cyborg - Now two ranks. First rank adds 15 to Energy Weapons and 10% DR. Second rank adds another 15 to Energy Weapons and 10% Poison and Radiation Resistance. Level decreased to 8 (originally 14).

Daddy's Boy/Girl - Now a single rank that adds 15 points to Science and Medicine.

Deep Sleep - Added benefits of 15 AP, 40 Health, and 2 Perception while Well Rested.

Devil's Highway - Added 25% Critical Chance against Good and Very Good characters as long as you stay Very Evil. Prerequisite removed.

Educated - Reduced Skill point gain to 2 per level.

Escalator to Heaven - Now with a +25% Critical Chance against Evil and Very Evil characters as long as you stay Very Good. Prerequisite removed.

Explorer - Added benefit of 10% speed increase.

Fast Metabolism - You additionally gain 1 Agility.

Fortune Finder - The increased chance of caps doubles if you also have the Scrounger perk.

Ghoul Ecology - Fix so this only affects attacks on ghouls. Originally bugged to affect all targets.

Grim Reaper - Reduced the AP gain from full to 20 per kill. The perk as was took away any challenge to the game.

Gun Nut - Now a single rank that adds 15 points to Small Guns and Repair.

Gunslinger - +10% damage with one-handed guns if you also possess the Commando perk.

Here and Now - You gain 1 Luck along with your new level.

Impartial Meditation - You additionally do 5% more damage to non-Neutral characters as long as you stay Neutral.

Infiltrator - Now increases Perception by 1. Removed the Perception prerequisite and decreased the level requirement from 18 to 12.

Iron Fist - Each rank now additionally adds 10 to Unarmed.

Karmic Rebalance - You now have a +25% chance of criticals on Very Good and Very Evil characters. Prerequisite removed.

Lawbringer - Added 5% damage against evil and very evil characters.

Lead Belly - You additionally gain 1 Endurance.

Life Giver - Increased the Health bonus to 50 (from 30). 2 ranks available. Required level reduced to 10 (from 12). The prerequisite Endurance of 6 is also gone since you are probably taking this because you don't have all that much Health to start with!

Light Step - You also gain +10% speed.

Little Leaguer - Now a single rank that adds 15 points to Melee Weapons and Explosives.

Nerves of Steel - Bonus Action Point regeneration rate changed to 3/second.

Night Person - Additional +2 bonus to Charisma and 20 AP at night.

Ninja - Included the fix to actually make the improved critical chance work.

No Weakness - Fixed for Bobblehead increases before taking this perk. For example, if your Luck is 3 and you've already found the Luck Bobblehead, your luck will be 6 after taking this perk. Note that Almost Perfect no longer increases all stats to 9, so there is a point in taking No Weaknesses in conjunction with Almost Perfect.

Nuclear Anomaly - Reduced level to 28. Threshold changed to 10% base Health (15% with Rad Resistance). You can now take it along with Almost Perfect if you like and it should go off a bit more without you dying. Damage now increased by Radiation Level.

Party Boy/Party Girl - Now also recovers 20 Health when drinking alcohol. Recovers 10 more Health if you have the Chem Resistant perk. If you have the Chemist perk, all chems recover 10 health.

Pyromaniac - Now also affects the Zhu-Rong v418 Chinese Pistol, Burnmaster, and Nuka Grenades.

Rad Absorbtion - Rads are reduced at the rate of one per ten seconds (originally one per 20 seconds). Each rad absorbed heals one Health.

Rad Resistance - Now also increases the damage threshold of Nuclear Anomaly by 50%.

Rad Tolerance - Reduce all radiation level negative effects to the next lower level. Advanced Radiation Poisoning has the effects of Minor Radiation Poisoning and so on. 1000 Radiation is still fatal.

Scoundrel - Now a single rank that adds 15 points to Speech and Barter. Selectable at level 2.

Size Matters - Now a single rank that adds 30 to Big Guns. Level dropped to 2 (originally 8).

Solar Powered - Increased healing rate to one per second (was one per ten seconds). Added +2 Endurance and Agility, also while outdoors during daytime.

Swift Learner - Now only a single rank that gives +10% XP and +10% speed.

Tag! - Selectable at level 2 (originally 16!). Points count double in LAICEPS so plan ahead.

Thief - Now a single rank that adds 15 points to Lockpick and Sneak.

Warmonger - All schematic weapons also now do +10% damage.

Comprehension Bonus Perks

Interesting. I like a lot of your ideas. Particularly the fact that skill perks are actually interesting to get - they always seemed to be waste of a good perk to me. Also reducing the level requirements of some perks. However, I think that you reduced the requirement of Tag! a bit to much. Level 6-12 sounds better to me, but that is just a matter of taste.


I am a bit iffy on this one. Gathering 25 skillbooks of one skill is a large undertaking. When I play, I seldom get my hands on more than 5-10 of each skillbook, in practice making the perk useless. An alternative could be to reward every 2nd (or 3rd) book read with an extra skill point, or getting the skill perks earlier.

The total skill gain from this version of Tag! is going to be somewhere between 20 and 45 points or so, in line with the other skill perks, especially given that it's granted over time. It also fosters the idea of being able to better specialize at an early level.




Comprehension is one I couldn't ever bring myself to not take and was therefore a prime target for reworking. I decided to make it rather different and fun, and something for a completionist to enjoy. The reward perks are minor such as +5 AP or +10 Health, but altogether are worth quite a bit more than a single perk normally ought to give. I think the effort vs. reward in the perk is fairly balanced, and there are a lot more skill points in the basic perks so that I don't feel bad about taking the bonus ones for books away. I understand they would each take a lot of work, but hopefully the other perks will be tempting enough that not taking Comprehension won't feel like much of a loss.

Thanks much for the feedback, that's exactly what I'm looking for. I need to finish off the drug and radiation perk redesign (I may build some actual perk synergies for them) so it's probably still a couple weeks before I release the first version.

I've updated the perk list to include a few things that are works in progress. I've also added the Comprehension bonus perks to the spoiler section at the end.

Looks really promising- I'll be watching this. Thanks.

Updated again. Everything in the readme is now coded and ready for further testing. I've made various tweaks since the last post and added the names for the Comprehension bonus perks.

I'm pretty sure I'm going to rework Warmonger so that the found schematics increase individual weapon stats past level 3 instead of the flat 10% damage bonus. That will make it so collecting them isn't pointless with the perk.

Radiation perks may need some more work. I'd like them to somehow play together better.

The chem perks are all synergistic now and I think I'm happy with the results. Party Boy/Girl is no longer useless.

Another round of testing and a bit more coding and this should be good for an initial release.

Excellent mod, but could you also combine it with Wasteland Mastery so that it works for SPECIAL / Skills above 100? That would be truly perfect

Thanks for the suggestion. It doesn't look like they could be made compatible. I would have to implement something similar in LAICEPS for skills above 100. I am unsure if the right balance of LAICEPS has been struck without the uncapping factor mixed in. I think it would be interesting, but maybe more for prime stats. Anyway, consideration for something like that is pretty far down the development road.

Oops, sorry to anyone watching this topic. I forgot to bump this up with the release and the release topic has already fallen off the front page for me so you may have missed it . Apologies too for the late bump--I'm a bit rusty at this.

http://www.gamesas.com/index.php?/topic/1118651-release-laiceps/page__p__16440537 There have been a few big changes and a few tweaks since I last updated the readme in the first post of this topic.