I’m just beginning to learn the ADK, but have some very ambitious plans for a series of mods. The goal is to rebalance Ark to feel like a less grindy single player experience. I thought I would share my plans here and possibly get feedback on better solutions and or new ideas that fit this goal. I’m also not “claiming” these ideas, so if you are more skilled/ambitious than I, feel free to run with them. Listed in order of my priority/ likelihood of finishing.
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Easier Arena access (boss fights). Reduce requirements for Tributes are obelisks to access boss arena. Remove dino parts and possibly reduce artifacts to 1,2,3 for easy, medium and hard bosses. Less grind overall. I’ve never fought a boss so I don’t know if the NPCs themselves need to be rebalanced for single player.
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In game way to find Artifact Caves. The best solution I’ve come up with here is to create a series of notes (like the food recipes) that include the map name, cave name and GPS coordinates. I’m still not sure of the best way to add them to the world. Possibly as rare drops in higher level beacons. This would allow players to find caves without looking online or scouring the map(s).
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Beacon rebalance. Only drop manufactured items (no resources/blueprints). With the exception of DLC resources for cave/biome crates. Generally higher level drops than vanilla to speed up game progression. Possibly enough to make base building beyond spawn points optional.
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Rebalance a few structure costs. A lot of high end structures feel like they are expensive for multiplayer/PVP balance reasons (platforms are a good example). Though this might just be solved by adding them to beacon drops.
Other misc changes I probably wont tackle, but I’m still working out how to achieve:
-make the gas mask function like the aberration glider. Fitting onto an existing helmet like a cosmetic, but offering it’s effects. Also making it protect users from Aberration spores.