*Frequently Asked Questions* _How do I install it?_ Check the Newbie Modding Guide for tips on patching your Steam/GOG/CD copy and installing mods with the mod manager: www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4447.0 _Is this compatible with other mods?_ Yes, it's compatible with nearly every graphical mod and most NewDark gameplay mods. The Shock Community Patch (SCP) Beta 4 is required. SS2-RSD is not compatible with Secmod. _Will this be compatible with the SS2 Enhanced Edition to be released by NightDive Studios?_ I'm not sure. It depends on whether they can bootstrap NewDark features to their KEX engine release. Apparently they're going to be including SCP which also relies on NewDark, so it might be possible. _Is this recommended for new players?_ SS2-RSD was developed for both new players and veterans alike, with all mod changes intended to seamlessly extend the original designs. Normal difficulty is recommended for most new players, while veteran players will enjoy the challenge on Hard difficulty. _Does it work in multiplayer co-op?_ No, there are several limitations in scripting that precluded co-op support. _Does it work with old saves?_ No, as many of the mod's features, such as the UI extensions for the new weapon/armor modification system, are only instantiated when loading a map for the first time with the mod installed.
@@1kadavr were you trying to drag into the container interface window? Unfortunately that doesn't work, you have to drag the item onto the container itself in the world. The SCP mod is required as well, make sure you have that.
Hey man what great timing! I was just playing System Shock 2 but quit my playthrough about 70% of the way in because the balance just felt so wonky. I jumped back into Prey instead with your Core Balance mod for the nth time. There are certain mods out there that become essential and Core Balance is one of them. I really appreciate your work. I certainly wouldn't have nearly 300 hours in Prey without it. This has me very excited to jump back into System Shock 2!
I stand by my CORE BALANCE mod for Prey, but you should know that this mod for SS2 completely dwarfs it in scale and complexity thanks to the excellent modding tools for the NewDark engine. I think you'll be doubly impressed with this one!
@@rosodudersd260 I had heard that Prey was pretty hard to mod beyond a certain point. I thought I heard that was changing with the creation of something called Chairloader? I saw a clip of it being used to spawn a bunch of phantoms and the description seems to imply that it allows a much deeper depth of changes to the game, but as but as far as I'm aware I haven't really seen anything done with it yet. Thoughts? Thanks again! Installing this new one now!
@@harrisonbland6563 Chairloader exposes a little more of the game's debug utilities to modders, adds some kind of DLL injection, and makes it easier to merge mods. I'll be updating CORE BALANCE to work with it eventually (and hopefully modding Mooncrash too), so we'll see at that point how much it opens up the game's possibilities. I know it's now possible to spawn/manipulate entities and run console commands, I'm just not sure what the implications are yet.
Damn, I'm playing through SS2 for the first time right now and currently in The Body Of the Many. Love the game but there were tons of little papercuts through my playthrough. I wish I knew about this mod last week
Just finished a playthrough on Hard with this mod + all the recommended mods + Droid Immortality mod, thought I'd give some feedback: - I never thought I would say this but the Stasis Field Generator feeld a little too good now. I think I could have beaten the whole game with this, the Wrench and a Pistol since you can just stunlock everything. I like that it brings an alternative to hacking security panels to prevent the alarm from going off when you destroy one. - Just like the mod intended, Hacking felt a lot less mandatory. I think I spent the majority of the game with only 2 points invested. - Modify is SO GOOD now since you can't just French-Epstein everything. I think this and Tinker are in a good place. - The Repair rebalance is kind of underwhelming. It really benefits Heavy weapons users because you can recycle prisms (I never ran out of these) and get your weapons earlier, but it doesn't do much beyond that. And then there's also the fact that Maintenance is simply a better skill to have than Repair. - I don't know if the hacking minigame difficulty was changed, but at Hacking lvl 5 and Cyb-Affinity lvl 5, I still had trouble hacking crates and door codes... Overall, the game felt harder but in a good way, and playstyles other than Hacking + Standard Weapons seem viable now. I might try a psi + research build soon. Thanks for the mod!
Thanks for playing! I think your account of the current balance is about right. I'd note that the Stasis Field Generator is only 50% effective on Rumblers, so it can become important to spec into more weapons as you go further into the game. Repair has a lot of utility now but is still supplemental to other skills. Since Maintenance tools are now less effective on weapons with higher skill requirements, it can be effective to double dip (e.g. EMP Rifle requires Repair 2, Maintenance 6, Assault Rifle requires 4/4). As for the hacking minigame, it does globally feature one more ICE node to counteract the fact that resetting is 60% cheaper nanite cost than before.
This is quite impressive! Nightdive studios should hire you to help remake System Shock 2 now that the 1st remake is out! Speaking of which, have you played the new System Shock remake yet? It’s awesome!!! 😅
Appreciate the kind words. I have to say I don't have an intention to be a game dev, presently I'm quite happy just modding my favorite games. And I'm also not really into remakes either!
I don't know who you are and I played thru modded SS2 back in 2018 and had a blast to the Moon. Now you want me to blow me up far away off the Solar System with these changes? Good.
Secmod is also a cool gameplay mod but it’s basically it’s own beast that adds a bunch of new gameplay and level features as well as vanilla mechanics being reworked enough that it is its own beast separate from Vanilla SS2 and most major mods
Note in RSD mod The Laser pistol overload mode Now have Proper cooldown instead of Instant Reset after weapon Swap This will prevent user have 2 Laser pistol swap to nother one (Both overload mode) Thus bypassing Cooldown Overload mode of Laser pistol.
True. You could even swap back to the same Laser Pistol from any other weapons to cancel the cooldown timer, not anymore. I can't take credit for that though, the fix is from Nameless Voice (NVScript), I just toggled it on.
I really like original muzzle flash for assault rifle, for shotgun as well fits perfectly. I was thinking to make for pistol similar to Unreal sniper rifle
It's impossible to change the size of any individual weapon vs any other weapon, without risking crashing the game. When you equip an item in your hand slot, the previous item is added back to the inventory at the same position as the newly equipped weapon. The game assumes, because all weapons are the same size, that it can simply add the old weapon back in place of the new weapon, which is a nice optimisation. But if you try to replace a weapon with a different one that's smaller than it, and there's not enough space for the old weapon, the game crashes. My only hope is that the anonymous creator of NewDark fixes this issue, because I too would like to see some weapons of different sizes. That said, Standard is already the most overpowered weapon class, do you really want to make it even better?
@@pt8306 I mean it's of no consequence to the weapon balance, just inventory management and clearance. It probably makes sense from a design standpoint like you said and it's easier for the game to read, but it's something that's always annoyed me.
I have been playing SS2 easily for like 6 years, nostalgia just makes me coming back at this game, always on Impossible difficulty so I will ask how fair is the mod in Impossible? A lot of changes seem good for Normal and maybe even Hard, but for impossible? Would you say is harder, but in a fair way? I would like some insight.
@@IanImperial19 I will say up front that SS2-RSD is primarily designed around Hard difficulty, however I personally play on Impossible since I know the game so well and need the additional challenge. Several of my playtesters have done Impossible runs as well. I might suggest you give it a try on Hard first, or skim through the change list so you can plan your build. My intention is always to communicate systems design within the game rather than requiring players to check a readme, but Impossible is so tight with cyber modules that you need to have meta knowledge to succeed. Impossible in vanilla is actually pretty easy if you know how to exploit the RPG systems. You can skip Research altogether with the LabAssist implant and still research all the organs for +25% damage, you can stop at Modify 2 or 3 and use French-Epstein devices for all level 2 weapon mods, you can stop at Hack 2 for security panels and unlocking crates, you can stop at Maint 3 or 4 to cheaply maintain most weapons, and then spend your remaining points on maxing a weapon skill or two. Same for psi builds skipping tiers 3 and 5 since they're less valuable. Metagaming like this can be fun to figure out, but build variety is limited as a result. SS2-RSD makes the game harder by negating these loopholes (e.g. organs have higher Research skill reqs, FE devices can only do level 1 mods without the Tinker trait, security hacks require Hack 3, maintenance tools restore less condition on weapons with higher skill reqs) and so the player's needs become greater, however there are also counterbalancing factors that make the game more flexible. The highest tier of stats, skills, and psi disciplines are cheaper than in vanilla, so higher levels of investment are not as prohibitive, which is a key factor on Impossible. The cyber module distribution is also shifted towards earlier levels, so your build can come online in Hydroponics rather than Ops/Recreation. Replicator costs are lowered a bit since they were nigh useless on Impossible. Many skills and O/S upgrades have new utility as well, so you may have a new experience running Heavy weapons with Repair, or Exotic weapons with Research, or you might choose a trait you never considered before like Security Expert or Pack Rat. I should also note that enemy health and damage is pretty much the same as vanilla. My Scary Monsters AI Enhancement mod is recommended for veteran players to make them more aggressive, but it doesn't give them any cheap attacks or unfair moves, it just makes them more effective at their intended roles - pipe hybrids don't get locked into slow uppercuts, grenade hybrids are better suicide bombers, rumblers are more dangerous up close, assassins are more slippery at escaping, midwives can hurt you if you're crouching, spider jump attack is no longer harmless.
I came across a major issue with this mod. When I upgraded my Pistol to both levels, I then went to upgrade my shotgun...but for some reason wheneverI upgraded the shotgun, the upgrade I chose was not enabled. I also know this cuz when I upgraded the capacity, I was unable to actually hold more shells in the shotgun. So yeah there is an issue with the weapon modification, seems to only work for one weapon at a time. Very serious problem.
I've never received any report like this, and I cannot replicate the issue. Please make sure you've installed the latest SS2Tool patch and check your mod install order (SCP at bottom, SS2-RSD at top). If you're still seeing this issue, please contact me on my Discord server (link on my website) or leave a comment on the systemshock.org thread.
@@rosodudersd260 Oh, I discovered what caused it, it was caused by the RealSG_Rebirth mod. It made changes to how the shotgun works in game so that figures. Removing that mod fixed the problem ^^
For some reason the mod keeps getting flagged for some false positive. The entire mod archive is only 233KB of text and image files, so rest assured there's no room for a trojan. If you're unable to let the download through, hopefully you can sit tight for the next update which should hopefully be free of this issue. I have a few small bugfixes I need to do anyway.
Weapon degradation was one of the strongest elements of the game's survival resource management. I've refined it a little, but in a direction that generally makes it more involved, rather than reducing it. Exotic weapons don't degrade anymore, but degradation of other weapons is either the same or increased, e.g. Shotgun triple shot mode and Laser Pistol overload mode now degrade more than the single shot modes. Maintenance tools are also now less effective on weapons with higher skill requirements, so you'll need to manage your weapon condition MORE carefully, if anything. The only aspect to all of this that makes weapon degradation indirectly more manageable is that Repair has a lot more separate utility now, such that investing a little or a lot into it isn't a waste of cyber modules, so that's a backup to have if your weapons break.
It's pretty great for a first time. On the one hand, you get a nice balanced experience from day 1 without the cruft of the original game's balance. On the other hand, you don't really know what's been fixed because everything just works and you don't have the old crappy version to compare it to. I would recommend playing vanilla eventually, but only once you've fully understood the mechanics and had enough time playing the more fun version of the game, as a way to go back and see how far things have come. I wouldn't recommend playing vanilla for a proper play through, especially for your first play through, because you will likely have a bad experience when you do things like invest in skills that turn out to be crappy, or find a really powerful cheesy tactic to win. That may ruin your experience a little, and since it's your first time you won't know about what the noob traps are.
@@pt8306 yep, very much developed with new players in mind. While gameplay depth is the overriding concern, SS2-RSD's design is mindful of the game's fiction, and every altered system had to be clear and logical without reading the changelist. Normal difficulty is only slightly harder than vanilla, and as a function of resource management and strategy rather than traps in character development. I can respect caution towards installing a mod for one's first playthrough without understanding the context for any of the major changes, as I rarely feel I can trust random mods myself, but rest assured that the mod is for new and veteran players alike.
*Frequently Asked Questions*
_How do I install it?_
Check the Newbie Modding Guide for tips on patching your Steam/GOG/CD copy and installing mods with the mod manager: www.systemshock.org/index.php?topic=4447.0
_Is this compatible with other mods?_
Yes, it's compatible with nearly every graphical mod and most NewDark gameplay mods. The Shock Community Patch (SCP) Beta 4 is required. SS2-RSD is not compatible with Secmod.
_Will this be compatible with the SS2 Enhanced Edition to be released by NightDive Studios?_
I'm not sure. It depends on whether they can bootstrap NewDark features to their KEX engine release. Apparently they're going to be including SCP which also relies on NewDark, so it might be possible.
_Is this recommended for new players?_
SS2-RSD was developed for both new players and veterans alike, with all mod changes intended to seamlessly extend the original designs. Normal difficulty is recommended for most new players, while veteran players will enjoy the challenge on Hard difficulty.
_Does it work in multiplayer co-op?_
No, there are several limitations in scripting that precluded co-op support.
_Does it work with old saves?_
No, as many of the mod's features, such as the UI extensions for the new weapon/armor modification system, are only instantiated when loading a map for the first time with the mod installed.
I can't put any item in the crate. Should i install any additional mod?
@@1kadavr were you trying to drag into the container interface window? Unfortunately that doesn't work, you have to drag the item onto the container itself in the world.
The SCP mod is required as well, make sure you have that.
@@rosodudersd260 I didn't know that. Thanks for help and great mod.
Thanks for info ;-)
The shotgun can't be modified for some reason. This needs to be looked into.
Thank you for choosing my music :DDD
Super hyped! System Shock 2 is the most immersive game I have played in 90s.
Time to replay the game once again, thanks RoSoDude !
This looks like must play! It's time to replay System Shock 2. Thanks RoSoDude, huge amount of work
Man that's a lot of change. seeing it listed in a video really puts into perspective what you worked towards since early 2022
Subscribed. This is unbelievable mod
This man is genius! After SCP this mod is the best out there! Subscribed
I love this mod straight away. New subscriber. If this is single man mod hats off
Yep, it's all me on this one. Check out my website for more mods for System Shock 2, Deus Ex, and Prey!
@@rosodudersd260 This is a Great success of yours RSD well done on accomplishment
God tier, excellent job my man!
Hey man what great timing! I was just playing System Shock 2 but quit my playthrough about 70% of the way in because the balance just felt so wonky. I jumped back into Prey instead with your Core Balance mod for the nth time. There are certain mods out there that become essential and Core Balance is one of them. I really appreciate your work. I certainly wouldn't have nearly 300 hours in Prey without it. This has me very excited to jump back into System Shock 2!
I stand by my CORE BALANCE mod for Prey, but you should know that this mod for SS2 completely dwarfs it in scale and complexity thanks to the excellent modding tools for the NewDark engine. I think you'll be doubly impressed with this one!
@@rosodudersd260 I had heard that Prey was pretty hard to mod beyond a certain point. I thought I heard that was changing with the creation of something called Chairloader? I saw a clip of it being used to spawn a bunch of phantoms and the description seems to imply that it allows a much deeper depth of changes to the game, but as but as far as I'm aware I haven't really seen anything done with it yet. Thoughts? Thanks again! Installing this new one now!
@@harrisonbland6563 Chairloader exposes a little more of the game's debug utilities to modders, adds some kind of DLL injection, and makes it easier to merge mods. I'll be updating CORE BALANCE to work with it eventually (and hopefully modding Mooncrash too), so we'll see at that point how much it opens up the game's possibilities. I know it's now possible to spawn/manipulate entities and run console commands, I'm just not sure what the implications are yet.
this looks great! I can't imagine how much work must have gone into this
This is the best System Shock 2 mod available. Thanks god someone made such great improvement to my favorite game. Excellent work
This is insane. Awesome mod, thank you!
Insane!
Damn, I'm playing through SS2 for the first time right now and currently in The Body Of the Many. Love the game but there were tons of little papercuts through my playthrough. I wish I knew about this mod last week
I just started playing ss2, this is great!@!!
Looks like I'm reinstalling ss2 again
Just finished a playthrough on Hard with this mod + all the recommended mods + Droid Immortality mod, thought I'd give some feedback:
- I never thought I would say this but the Stasis Field Generator feeld a little too good now. I think I could have beaten the whole game with this, the Wrench and a Pistol since you can just stunlock everything. I like that it brings an alternative to hacking security panels to prevent the alarm from going off when you destroy one.
- Just like the mod intended, Hacking felt a lot less mandatory. I think I spent the majority of the game with only 2 points invested.
- Modify is SO GOOD now since you can't just French-Epstein everything. I think this and Tinker are in a good place.
- The Repair rebalance is kind of underwhelming. It really benefits Heavy weapons users because you can recycle prisms (I never ran out of these) and get your weapons earlier, but it doesn't do much beyond that. And then there's also the fact that Maintenance is simply a better skill to have than Repair.
- I don't know if the hacking minigame difficulty was changed, but at Hacking lvl 5 and Cyb-Affinity lvl 5, I still had trouble hacking crates and door codes...
Overall, the game felt harder but in a good way, and playstyles other than Hacking + Standard Weapons seem viable now.
I might try a psi + research build soon. Thanks for the mod!
Thanks for playing! I think your account of the current balance is about right. I'd note that the Stasis Field Generator is only 50% effective on Rumblers, so it can become important to spec into more weapons as you go further into the game. Repair has a lot of utility now but is still supplemental to other skills. Since Maintenance tools are now less effective on weapons with higher skill requirements, it can be effective to double dip (e.g. EMP Rifle requires Repair 2, Maintenance 6, Assault Rifle requires 4/4). As for the hacking minigame, it does globally feature one more ICE node to counteract the fact that resetting is 60% cheaper nanite cost than before.
This is quite impressive! Nightdive studios should hire you to help remake System Shock 2 now that the 1st remake is out! Speaking of which, have you played the new System Shock remake yet? It’s awesome!!! 😅
Appreciate the kind words. I have to say I don't have an intention to be a game dev, presently I'm quite happy just modding my favorite games. And I'm also not really into remakes either!
oh man and i just finished system shock 2 today and yt recommend me this after
having played the original balance for so long i fear i'll not be able to adapt and break old habits, but i give you credit where its due
I get where you're coming from. My mods will always be here if you ever want to shake things up!
I don't know who you are and I played thru modded SS2 back in 2018 and had a blast to the Moon.
Now you want me to blow me up far away off the Solar System with these changes?
Good.
Secmod is also a cool gameplay mod but it’s basically it’s own beast that adds a bunch of new gameplay and level features as well as vanilla mechanics being reworked enough that it is its own beast separate from Vanilla SS2 and most major mods
God damn. This should be combined with scp, advanced ai and secmod for ultimate shock experience
SCP and Secmod are incompatible as gamesys-replacing mods. My mod is built for SCP, though, and my Scary Monsters AI mod is compatible as well.
@@rosodudersd260 sounds good to me. I prefer yours than secmod. good work
Noice!
Note in RSD mod The Laser pistol overload mode Now have Proper cooldown
instead of Instant Reset after weapon Swap This will prevent user have 2 Laser pistol swap to nother one (Both overload mode) Thus bypassing Cooldown Overload mode of Laser pistol.
True. You could even swap back to the same Laser Pistol from any other weapons to cancel the cooldown timer, not anymore. I can't take credit for that though, the fix is from Nameless Voice (NVScript), I just toggled it on.
Nice !
IT'S AMAZING!
I really like original muzzle flash for assault rifle, for shotgun as well fits perfectly. I was thinking to make for pistol similar to Unreal sniper rifle
It's a simple file swap, so if you do make a new muzzle flash mod it'll be compatible with my mod and everything else!
I was half expecting a change to the pistols requiring 3 inventory squares instead of 2... that was such BS in the original lol.
It's impossible to change the size of any individual weapon vs any other weapon, without risking crashing the game. When you equip an item in your hand slot, the previous item is added back to the inventory at the same position as the newly equipped weapon. The game assumes, because all weapons are the same size, that it can simply add the old weapon back in place of the new weapon, which is a nice optimisation. But if you try to replace a weapon with a different one that's smaller than it, and there's not enough space for the old weapon, the game crashes. My only hope is that the anonymous creator of NewDark fixes this issue, because I too would like to see some weapons of different sizes. That said, Standard is already the most overpowered weapon class, do you really want to make it even better?
@@pt8306 I mean it's of no consequence to the weapon balance, just inventory management and clearance. It probably makes sense from a design standpoint like you said and it's easier for the game to read, but it's something that's always annoyed me.
I have been playing SS2 easily for like 6 years, nostalgia just makes me coming back at this game, always on Impossible difficulty so I will ask how fair is the mod in Impossible? A lot of changes seem good for Normal and maybe even Hard, but for impossible? Would you say is harder, but in a fair way? I would like some insight.
@@IanImperial19 I will say up front that SS2-RSD is primarily designed around Hard difficulty, however I personally play on Impossible since I know the game so well and need the additional challenge. Several of my playtesters have done Impossible runs as well. I might suggest you give it a try on Hard first, or skim through the change list so you can plan your build. My intention is always to communicate systems design within the game rather than requiring players to check a readme, but Impossible is so tight with cyber modules that you need to have meta knowledge to succeed.
Impossible in vanilla is actually pretty easy if you know how to exploit the RPG systems. You can skip Research altogether with the LabAssist implant and still research all the organs for +25% damage, you can stop at Modify 2 or 3 and use French-Epstein devices for all level 2 weapon mods, you can stop at Hack 2 for security panels and unlocking crates, you can stop at Maint 3 or 4 to cheaply maintain most weapons, and then spend your remaining points on maxing a weapon skill or two. Same for psi builds skipping tiers 3 and 5 since they're less valuable.
Metagaming like this can be fun to figure out, but build variety is limited as a result. SS2-RSD makes the game harder by negating these loopholes (e.g. organs have higher Research skill reqs, FE devices can only do level 1 mods without the Tinker trait, security hacks require Hack 3, maintenance tools restore less condition on weapons with higher skill reqs) and so the player's needs become greater, however there are also counterbalancing factors that make the game more flexible. The highest tier of stats, skills, and psi disciplines are cheaper than in vanilla, so higher levels of investment are not as prohibitive, which is a key factor on Impossible. The cyber module distribution is also shifted towards earlier levels, so your build can come online in Hydroponics rather than Ops/Recreation. Replicator costs are lowered a bit since they were nigh useless on Impossible. Many skills and O/S upgrades have new utility as well, so you may have a new experience running Heavy weapons with Repair, or Exotic weapons with Research, or you might choose a trait you never considered before like Security Expert or Pack Rat.
I should also note that enemy health and damage is pretty much the same as vanilla. My Scary Monsters AI Enhancement mod is recommended for veteran players to make them more aggressive, but it doesn't give them any cheap attacks or unfair moves, it just makes them more effective at their intended roles - pipe hybrids don't get locked into slow uppercuts, grenade hybrids are better suicide bombers, rumblers are more dangerous up close, assassins are more slippery at escaping, midwives can hurt you if you're crouching, spider jump attack is no longer harmless.
I came across a major issue with this mod.
When I upgraded my Pistol to both levels, I then went to upgrade my shotgun...but for some reason wheneverI upgraded the shotgun, the upgrade I chose was not enabled. I also know this cuz when I upgraded the capacity, I was unable to actually hold more shells in the shotgun. So yeah there is an issue with the weapon modification, seems to only work for one weapon at a time. Very serious problem.
I've never received any report like this, and I cannot replicate the issue. Please make sure you've installed the latest SS2Tool patch and check your mod install order (SCP at bottom, SS2-RSD at top). If you're still seeing this issue, please contact me on my Discord server (link on my website) or leave a comment on the systemshock.org thread.
@@rosodudersd260 Oh, I discovered what caused it, it was caused by the RealSG_Rebirth mod. It made changes to how the shotgun works in game so that figures. Removing that mod fixed the problem ^^
@@unitkilla5967 Glad it's working for you now! You should still be able to use RealSG with SS2-RSD, though, try loading it below SS2-RSD.
@@rosodudersd260 This is huge success of yours !
newest update won't install due to "virus detected" for me at least. On multiple browsers as well.
For some reason the mod keeps getting flagged for some false positive. The entire mod archive is only 233KB of text and image files, so rest assured there's no room for a trojan.
If you're unable to let the download through, hopefully you can sit tight for the next update which should hopefully be free of this issue. I have a few small bugfixes I need to do anyway.
@@rosodudersd260 Yeah, the latter is my issue. I'll wait though. Thanks for the info. Gl =).
@@arcaniaagarthus7363 2.03 update is live and seems like it doesn't trigger any false positives! You should be good to go.
Any new mods for System Shock 2 ?
Anything new brother for System Shock2 modding ?
any chance this fixed the multi player bug with only 3/4 players able to play?
Unfortunately the mod is not presently compatible with multiplayer due to limitations in scripting with some of the mod's key features.
Does it make weapon degradation more manageable?
Weapon degradation was one of the strongest elements of the game's survival resource management. I've refined it a little, but in a direction that generally makes it more involved, rather than reducing it.
Exotic weapons don't degrade anymore, but degradation of other weapons is either the same or increased, e.g. Shotgun triple shot mode and Laser Pistol overload mode now degrade more than the single shot modes. Maintenance tools are also now less effective on weapons with higher skill requirements, so you'll need to manage your weapon condition MORE carefully, if anything.
The only aspect to all of this that makes weapon degradation indirectly more manageable is that Repair has a lot more separate utility now, such that investing a little or a lot into it isn't a waste of cyber modules, so that's a backup to have if your weapons break.
would you recommend this for a first run?
It's pretty great for a first time. On the one hand, you get a nice balanced experience from day 1 without the cruft of the original game's balance. On the other hand, you don't really know what's been fixed because everything just works and you don't have the old crappy version to compare it to. I would recommend playing vanilla eventually, but only once you've fully understood the mechanics and had enough time playing the more fun version of the game, as a way to go back and see how far things have come. I wouldn't recommend playing vanilla for a proper play through, especially for your first play through, because you will likely have a bad experience when you do things like invest in skills that turn out to be crappy, or find a really powerful cheesy tactic to win. That may ruin your experience a little, and since it's your first time you won't know about what the noob traps are.
@@pt8306 yep, very much developed with new players in mind. While gameplay depth is the overriding concern, SS2-RSD's design is mindful of the game's fiction, and every altered system had to be clear and logical without reading the changelist. Normal difficulty is only slightly harder than vanilla, and as a function of resource management and strategy rather than traps in character development.
I can respect caution towards installing a mod for one's first playthrough without understanding the context for any of the major changes, as I rarely feel I can trust random mods myself, but rest assured that the mod is for new and veteran players alike.