While the biggest mod projects for Starfield likely won’t start until Bethesda releases the modding tools next year, there’s already a veritable treasure trove of smaller mods available on Nexus Mods, such as the newly released Starvival.
As you might have already guessed by its name, the Starfield mod created by lKocMoHaBTl attempts to introduce an immersive survival mode to the sci-fi RPG.
Starvival adds a rather complex mechanic called ‘NEEDS’. Players can activate it by reading a book in their inventory (it will be added by the mod), and they’ll get notifications on their watch.
- The Starborn will develop needs for food, thirst, and rest. Each NEED has several degrees of penalties: from the most moderately harmless to the critically serious.
- Each NEED has its own filling scale with a limit of up to 125 points. For each in-game hour, a certain number of hunger, thirst, and fatigue points will be depleted. Each NEED has its own number of points and its own depletion rate.
- From 76 to 100 there are no penalties. Starting from 75 points, the first penalties will appear and as you become hungry, thirsty, and tired, they will only increase. Maximum can be 4 penalties at a time.
There is also a special bonus called “Nutrition Manager” if you support a character needs beyond the normal limit.
- From 101 to 125 a special useful bonus for the character begins to take effect. But it will only work if hunger and thirst are BOTH filled above normal levels. As soon as both or one of the needs falls below the excess norm, the bonus will immediately disappear.
Note: Bonus will not work if you are “Oversatiated”; read about this in the “OVERSATIATION” section.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the survival experience introduced by Starvival. There are several brand new addictions, for example, including Alcoholism, Caffeinophagia, Cognitive Dissolution, Paranoid Treatment, and Heart Attack. Afflictions are also harsher now.
On the other hand, players can obtain a temporary adrenaline combat bonus if they manage to kill ten enemies in a short amount of time. However, the downside is that after the adrenaline rush is over, players will actually get a malus (adrenaline aftermath) that can only be removed by sleeping.
To install Starvival, you first have to ensure you’ve got the Plugin.txt enabler. Then, either use a mod manager or manually place the .ESP and .BSA files in the StarfieldData game folder.
In other Starfield news, Bethesda has recently updated the beta branch of the upcoming patch due to launch late this month.
