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Vanilla Xenotypes Improved

Introducing Vanilla Xenotypes Improved! This is a mod for the vanilla-lovers out there, with an emphasis on adding content that lines up exactly with Biotech’s original aesthetic, xenotype design, and balance.

This mod does the following:

• Adds 34 new genes, each one with an icon designed to fit right in with vanilla genes
  
• Adds 6 new xenotypes which can be found naturally in the world’s factions
  
• Rebalances the vanilla xenotypes, keeping with the original lore as much as possible while refreshing each one to make them feel more unique and interesting. Several of them have new genes to make them more useful or make their downsides more rewarding to work around.
  
• Rebalances the effects of many vanilla genes so they make more sense and feel more engaging to play with – even the negative ones! Full list here[github.com].
  
• Rebalances metabolisms across the board, with a special emphasis on ensuring detrimental genes provide metabolism that properly offsets their effects
  
• Many, many minor changes to make your experience more engaging and immersive. For example, butchering furskinned pawns now nets you human fur, cat ears are hair-colored, xenotypes can spawn over genotypes, etc.
  
• Ensures compatibility with popular mods like Alpha Genes and the Vanilla Races Expanded series

This mod requires Harmony.


Every vanilla xenotype has been rebalanced to add new genes and remove unfun mechanics while keeping things balanced and lore-friendly. For example, Hussars are famed for their hussar stare, a “dead expression that unsettles many people." Hussars now have the unsettling gene, which makes non-hussars uncomfortable to be around them.

But it’s not just hussars! Every xenotype has been tweaked, with an emphasis on lore-accuracy, balance, and refreshing new content.

You’ll find impids and yttakins much better-adapted to their natural environments, highmates more charming and slower to age, and neanderthals no longer slow to learn.


This mod adds many new genes, adding them to both new and old xenotypes. These genes include:

• Charming and Unsettling, which influence trade prices, romantic prospects, and interpersonal opinion between pawns
  
• Solar and Lunar Enthusiasm, which increase work and move speed when the carrier is out during the day or night
  
• Nerve Stapled, which trades the ability to do complex tasks for a large happiness boost

And many others! Full list here[github.com]


As this mod is an update and rebuild of an old mod of mine, some people may recognize these new xenotypes. However, they’ve been rebuilt from the ground up, with new genes and a special emphasis on balance to make them fit right in with vanilla Biotech.


An athletic race possessing superficial animal features, Kituls are a germline race with genes that grant them sharp eyesight and keen reflexes. They are prolific raiders, but if captured make for excellent snipers and ranged combatants.


A xenotype talented at working among plants and animals, Artemids have a natural touch as a result of their genetic modifications. However, they are somewhat neurotic. Their multicolored hair and skin colors, pointed ears, and monkey-like tails make them a unique sight.


A xenotype engineered to be a peak physical combatant. Nizhar are excellent melee fighters, but their complex genetic modifications have left them with a dependency on wake-up and a need to regularly kill.


Easygoing and kind worker drones, Proles are excellent builders, miners, and cooks. Though they have no maluses to any skills, they have weak immune systems, short lifespans, a predisposition to cancer, and are horribly ugly.


Lithe and upbeat dog-like germline xenohumans, gwennins are a bridge between the reclusive and stubborn yttakin and the rest of the Rim. Though they are furskinned, they have a foot in two worlds, with their excellent social skills making them valuable in many Rim factions.


A rare xenotype with several powerful genes, Reapers are mentally resilient medical specialists. Their improved fine motor precision greatly helps their abilities in many areas, including surgery. However, they are utterly incapable of violence.


If a mod does not mess with xenotypes and genes, it will be compatible with this one. If the mod does mess with xenotypes and genes, it will only have soft incompatibility if they change the exact same thing. This mod changes vanilla gene metabolisms, which will affect any xenotype that uses them. The following mods have been checked and have patches included (if needed):

• All Vanilla Races Expanded mods
  
• Alpha Genes
  
• Resplice Charmweavers

Let me know if there's an xml conflict with a mod and I can update this to accommodate. You are free to upload your own patch if I haven't gotten to it quickly enough.

This mod should NOT be used with the following:

- Vanilla Genes Rebalanced: This is an excellent mod and I very much enjoy it, but many of its changes overwrite my own. Much of what’s changed in that mod has also been changed here.


A special thanks to the following people:

chiomaus, author of Horns & Ears & Things, who created the horizontal elven ears

Anthitei, who created the imp tail for me