I've just checked this. There is nothing about the mod. It's only a quest. When you get to the nebula entrance you get 2 options: break through or lure the patrol. If you choose 1st you'll be blown up by pirates. Whole shield goes down in second so as you said they are meant to kill you. If you choose to lure the patrol you can easily get to the Elio.

Actually, first option is a valid option. You have to go exactly on the waypoint the game gives you on the map, than when you pick the first option, another waypoint will appear directly to the left of the first point. You go to that and the turrets wont hurt you at all. Than you are inside the sphere of turrets. Than there is a cutscene and 3 Brigands appear and try to run off, and you have to kill the three brigands before they run off. Afterwards you can either destroy the turrets, or go down towards the bottom of the map, than after some distance you can turn and head towards the portal.

But after this you'll get caught by pirates. These pirates will blow you up.
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new mod version added.

im not doing that quest. i bought my mother ship and flow there before i met the guy at the station. when you still have the tug.

The game restricts your playing area until after you do the Pirate Mothership mission. So you sort of have to do the mission. Got no choice in the matter.

Sorry for going off-topic, but need some clarification here. Are we talking about the events in Hephaestus? Because I've *always* ran instead of luring the patrol. The only pirates I encountered (not the scavengers whom you have to kill on the way) are the ones harassing that guy at the exit.

Edit: Oh, I see, he was trying to go *elsewhere* while that mission was still in progress? Yeah, I think the script auto-kills your mothership when you attempt to bail out during certain mission arcs. Sort of annoying.

ok thanks.

CTD when choosing new MS
 

I love the mod, great work. However, I get a CTD every time I try to change my MS for the second time. Not knowing how these ships stats are or how they behave, I have to try all of them to see what suits me best but I keep getting CTD's. I have now had to resort to starting a new game for each ship choice :(.

Just thought i would let you know :)

Pressing f5 will create a quicksave... make one just before you dock and get mothership ;)

Hmm..strange. Maintenance station should be inaccessible after buying mothership. What do you do to buy second?
Quicksave is the best option to try multiple motherships. Other is to leave the sector and enter again.