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Deep Orbit

This mod only works on new saves as it adds an Orbit Layer to world generation.

This adds a secondary deeper orbit layer with rich asteroids, filled with danger intended for a mid/late game rewarding challenge. This secondary orbit layer is twice the height of the default orbit layer and has roughly 8 rich asteroids filled with resources (roughly 1-2k of a random resource), a loot stash, and a Megahive with an accessible Bug Hive pit you can explore. That means if you're successful then each of these special asteroids has a gravcore in its depths with the queen. These asteroids are finite and cannot be regenerated, nor will quests appear in deep orbit.

You can see this secondary "deep" orbit by zooming out with your mouse wheel in the map view like you can normally to see the Odyssey orbit, or once you're in orbit click the "view deep orbit" gizmo.

The visible planet in the background is also smaller to show you're farther up in orbit than normal.

Balance notes:

Horizontal movement at this extreme height intentionally takes a LOT of fuel, it is recommended to caravan or jump horizontally at a lower orbit or on the surface roughly beneath these asteroids to get to them when you're ready.

No quests or events should populate in this secondary orbit (Orbit2 PlanetLayerDef in the code), as quests/OrbitalScanner etc all manually target the vanilla Orbit PlanetLayerDef. I did several hours of testing and digging through the vanilla code and have not seen a single thing spawn in this deep orbit layer other than the initial 8 that spawn on a default sized world. Smaller/larger worlds will have less or more than 8 big asteroids.

I have no plans to add a method to regenerate these asteroids, they are intentionally finite. If you really want to add more then use the Generate World Object dev mode action while on the map screen.


This only works on new saves as it is dependent on world generation.

10/13/2025 Update:
Added the possibility of deep orbit sites to spawn via the Orbital Scanner.

09/19/2025 Update:

Added compatibility patch with Layered Atmosphere and Orbit. This is backwards compatible with existing saves.

I also changed the height of the deep orbit from 400km to 750km by request. No impact to existing saves from what I can see.


08/19/2025 Update:
Major Compatibility Patch

I've re-written my compatibility patches to use nested conditional PatchOperationAdds to account for all custom scenarios, including patching in the Odyssey Orbit layer if the modded scenario you're using hasn't patched Odyssey yet.

Please note: if the Orbit(Odyssey) or Deep Orbit(this mod) are not showing up in the zoomed out map view, you must load Deep Orbit at the bottom of your mod list, after whatever mod's scenario/custom start you're using is loaded. If you encounter this just let me know and I'll update the About.xml so that mod automatically loads before Deep Orbit.

Mods I've tested for compatibility

• WorldBuilder - any scenario
  
• WorldBuilder: The Earth[url] - any scenario
• SoS 2 Unstable[github.com] - custom starting scenarios
  
• Vanilla Factions Expanded: Pirates - starting LowOrbitCrash scenario
  
• Sky Islands - any scenario
  
• Yuran race - custom starting scenarios
  
• Layered Atmosphere and Orbit - works fine

Known Issues:

• Regrowth 2 has a Harmony Prefix patch on asteroid generation that I need to figure out how to account for. I've asked Helixien for tips so I'll work on this as I can. The current impact of the red error when visiting a Deep Orbit asteroid w/ Regrowth 2 is that the resource veins (gold etc), simply don't generate but the rest of the asteroid generates as intended.