Starfield Mod Makes Space Exploration More Unpredictable

gamerant.com:

A recently released Starfield mod aims to make in-game space exploration much more unpredictable by expanding the RPG with a wide variety of extra content. To that end, the mod adds dozens of new space encounters to Starfield.

Bethesda's latest RPG has been touted as a space exploration game ever since its reveal. The way the developer delivered on that promise was by going all-in on making the Settled Systems as vast as possible, with the day-one version of the game ultimately featuring over 1,000 explorable planets. And while the company's decision to double down on procedurally generated points of interest remains a polarizing topic among the fandom, a more commonly accepted point of criticism is that Starfield missed a big opportunity with exploration by not offering more space encounters.

A newly released add-on by Nexus Mods user Kaosnyrb addresses some of those grievances. Called Dark Universe — Crossfire, this mod adds 50 new space encounters to the game. It introduces ten types of events in total, most of which revolve around some kind of warfare between Starfield factions. One such category of encounters offers players a chance to stop pirates from taking over a ship, while several others will see them engage in two- or three-way spacecraft battles. A few involve following distress beacons, never knowing exactly what kind of threat triggered them.

Aside from adding skirmishes, Dark Universe — Crossfire also extends the game's list of space encounters with lost unmarked shipments containing a wide variety of randomized goods. Boss battles are also part of the package, catering to players eager to seize more opportunities to engage with Starfield's ship combat mechanics.

Elaborating on the reasoning behind the mod, Kaosnyrb explained that they never felt like the game made «space-only characters» particularly viable. Adding a bunch of combat encounters that are a great source of both loot and experience points is the modder's attempt at remedying that