Large post incoming.
I would say yes, but laser and plasma weaponry would be a pain in the ass to model correctly. Sooo... Random suggestion time.
Mass Drivers/Rail Guns - Extremely hard hitting magnetic weapons, with heavy ammo that is produced in small stacks, and poor melee useage, with no bayonet options, and no shield option. Resource-intensive to produce, probably needing lots of gold, silver, and copper for wiring and some kind of nuclear battery. Should splatter a human-sized target on a hit regardless of protective measures.
Coilguns - Mid-tier magnetic weapons. Encumbering ammo, but not ridiculously so. Rifle version mounts a bayonet. Can't splatter a human like Rail-guns should, but can be produced for a considerably lower cost and has a pistol version comparable to a ballistic rifle to allow a shield.
Ballistics - Lower-end weapons, but serviceable, especially in large numbers. Rifles can knock targets down and defeat armor + has a bayonet, pistols allo shield use of course and can injure foes (good early support weapon,) and shotguns (can take off limbs and in general cause severe bleeding, but ammo can't defeat armor + bayonet)
Hunting bows and crossbows - absolute bottom rung survival weapons. Ammo should cause horrendous bleeding but can't best any sort of military level armor.
Would it be possible to model Laser/Plasma using a bolt labeled '(Laser/Plasma) Shot' that would break on contact? Considering most ballistic weapons would need that as well since you tend to not be able to reload a shot into the gun (due to deformation from impact, using up the gunpowder fuel), I would not think it is too much of a leap.
There's a way for entities to rename professions/skills, right? Got an idea for renaming the combat skills that wouldn't see use in the far future to represent different categories of weapon, but I need to be certain whether that would work or not.
Factions
Star Raiders - Two versions, one that steals shit and one that kidnaps people, presumably for ransom. Typical enemy.
Tribal aliens - Animal-man type civ. Hostile to human factions. Possibly make'em playable and try to fight the space age with sticks, stones, and stolen weapons?
Glittertech - G-Techers are a lategame trade partner, a company that deals in advanced industrial building and weapon schematics and crates of ammo or parts for advanced weapons and armor (at downright extortionate rates.) Need to work with them to unlock late-game things. Piss them off and face enemies armed with the best kit available. Also a RimWorld reference.
Voidfarers - Regular colonists and the player faction. Can buy crates of certain materials (such as wood or copper) from them. Active twice a year to make up for no elf stand ins.
This sounds good for a basic set. For the alien tribes, could even use DF's animal men. Might make some changes though.
Goblins replaced as two types of Raiders sounds good. Might have them both be organized named groups, though, with a kobold replacement representing the unorganized raiders.
Dwarves being replaced by a high tech mining/manufacturing group sounds good as well, though I don't think the civ should be directly named after anything in particular, just taking after the style.
Humans being replaced by regular colonists supported by the government sounds good. Hope to make it so this isn't the only player faction in the future, but this seems to be a good starting location. Might go with the name of the nation rather than 'Voidfarers', as the major name, though.
As for an elf replacement, what about using a biotech corporation, maybe utilizing genetic engineering in some capacity (if made playable, then through a workshop that produces a transformative gas to transform them into a lower-than-average frequency set of castes (caste rather than separate to allow showing up regularly in history and allow them to still have kids with the rest of the population))?
Some means of making plastic to make cheap and light tools and parts, refining uranium for advanced technologies, and a gunsmith to make basic military grade ranged weapons and ammo.
Would using a custom job to extract an 'oil' resource from pieces of shale make sense as a way to get material for plastics, or should I use a different method?
Armor includes...
Power Armor - Without DFHack, simply all encasing armor that is a bitch and a half to face off against head on. Only found on Glittertech mercenaries and wealthy Voidfarer militaries.
Impact Armor - Armor made from materials that can feasibly stand up to coilguns and advanced melee weapons.
Combat Armor - Military grade armor. Basically just renamed from vanilla. No chain armor of any sort.
Hardened Leather Armor - One can harden leather at the tannery and use it to make leather body armor and helmets to protect against wildlife and tribal threats. Useless against anything else.
This makes sense. However, what would I be able to do to the Power Armor with DFhack?
Animal life would depend on the type of planet the mod is set on. More avian, insect/arachnid and lizard-y critters would probably dominate a fungal or arid world, while more lush ones would probably have something like typical mammals and amphibians in charge.
I was somewhat thinking of having each biome somewhat be a reference to a sci-fi franchise with such a setting (ex. Tundras being similar to Hoth, Deserts having Starship Troopers-like insects or Dune-esque, etc) combined with a bit of the DF stuff (Underground life will likely largely be the same, but renamed). I can't think of too many franchises off the top of my head, so suggestions would be welcome.
If you want any part of First Landing (or the entire thing even) you have my blessing
You may want to take a look at the Underhive Settlement reboot too, as it builds on techniques I developed with FL.
Thank you. I'll look into both mods to see what you did in each.
This would be EPIC if done right I would like to help if at all possible.I like the idea of different factions having different specialties maybe adding in some aliens too with their own weapons,armors abilities if possible IDK just throwing things out.
Right now, I want to keep it to just various human factions encountering a strange world, but if I ever get to the point I could make a Masterwork-style launcher, I could add the option to enable some sort of alien civ.
I am willing to help part time! I shall be the royal loremaster if I am wanted!
Any help is welcome. Could have you to write up the descriptions of the creatures to sound like a short scientific analysis when they are being overhauled, if you are interested in that.