Slower XP Curve - 0.75x or 0.65x Experience

[size=5][b]What it does[/b][/size]

Every level costs more XP than it does in vanilla, so all your experience is worth less and the climb from 1 to 132 takes longer. Two versions:

[list]
[][b]0.75x[/b]: every level costs 133% of its vanilla XP[/]
[][b]0.65x[/b]: every level costs 154% of its vanilla XP[/]
[/list]
Pick one. 0.75x is the gentle one, 0.65x is the steep one.

It works on the level curve rather than on individual rewards, which means [b]every source of XP is slowed by the same amount[/b]: missions, tasks, scans, exploration and kills alike. Nothing is rebalanced in favour of one activity over another.

[size=5][b]Why it exists[/b][/size]

Someone asked for it. I published [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectandromeda/mods/1349]XP Curve[/url], which makes experience worth more, and the request on that page was for the opposite: a slower progression, to make the game harder and more challenging. This is that, built from the same tool with the multiplier pointed the other way.

What it changes for certain is the pace. You spend longer at each level, and the levels themselves feel earned rather than handed out for scanning rocks. I am not going to promise you a harder game on top of that: enemies in Andromeda scale with your level, so slowing your levelling does not straightforwardly make fights harder. That part is yours to judge.

[size=5][b]What it changes[/b][/size]

One asset,
[code]game/progression/singleplayer/progression_player_sp[/code], which holds the cumulative XP needed for each level from 2 up to the 132 cap. Every threshold is multiplied and rounded up.

Nothing else is touched:
[list]
[]No change to XP rewards, so quest and task values stay vanilla[/]
[]No change to skill points per level[/]
[]No change to the Nexus / AVP viability system, which does not run on XP[/]
[]No change to the squadmate progression assets[/]
[/list]
[size=5][b]Installation[/b][/size]

[list=1]
[]Extract the .fbmod into your Frosty Mod Manager mods folder[/]
[]Tick it in the manager[/]
[]Launch the game through Frosty[/]
[/list]
Use one version at a time, either 0.75x or 0.65x, never both.

[size=5][b]Read this before you install it[/b][/size]

[b]These two builds have been checked file by file, but they have not been run in game yet. A fresh playthrough from level 1 is what I would recommend.[/b]

Putting them on a character you have already levelled is the risky case, and I want to be straight about why. Raising the thresholds means the XP you have already earned no longer buys the level you are on. Andromeda does re-read your XP against this table when a save loads, which is proven in the other direction, so there is a real chance it recalculates you downward. If your level drops, your available skill points drop with it, and there are reports from the trainer-using days of allocated skills disappearing on reload when that happens. I have not tested it.

[b]Back your saves up outside the game before you try it, and do not count on unticking the mod to put things back.[/b] Disabling it swaps the thresholds again, which is another recalculation, not an undo. Restoring your backup is the only reliable way back.

If you do try it on an existing character, I would like to hear what happened.

[size=5][b]Compatibility[/b][/size]

Anything that does not touch the same progression asset. It does not conflict with mods that change XP rewards, though stacking the two means multiplying their effects together.

Not compatible with [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectandromeda/mods/1349]XP Curve[/url], Fake Level Cap, LevelUp, Instant Max Level, or any other mod that edits the player level curve.

[size=5][b]Credits[/b][/size]

The vanilla curve was recovered from the copy of the progression asset shipped inside [url=https://www.nexusmods.com/masseffectandromeda/mods/1171]Fake Level Cap[/url] by GuitunScarfin, which is otherwise untouched. Thanks for making it reachable without a full editor pass. None of that mod's own changes remain in this one.

Requested by Sirlancelot2011.