Minor update to remove what was supposed to be sprites in Project Completion text that didn't actually work as intended.

work continues on more substantial things.

Skyhook Update Part 2: AKA Transport/Mining Dock emergency redesign

This mod is in active development and may change unexpectedly.

As of this update, this mod produces and eats Boost a lot more than in the base game, and eats a lot more Influence than it produces. Base Game Influence options remain available.

In other/future mods, there will be mods that produce Influence in different ways, and will probably have different resource appetites. Because this mod is focused on industry, and that tends to be very NIMBY, Influence makes sense as a secondary expense.



So, as might become QUITE clear to anyone who has been playing recently, the Transport Dock and Orbital Workshop series were NOT working as intended. In fact, they were quite broken, mainly taking eating 1 boost for pretty much nothing and producing only 0.1 Boost in exchange for........not much.

When I was working, just before the last update, I am 90% sure I made a breakthrough that let me code in getting resources with habs without using a mine. When I uploaded it, that was CLEARLY not in place.

And so we come to the redesign. In general, the place I want to move to is Surface Bases/Interface Orbits produce Boost and resources in exchange for other resources, and orbits outside of Interface take Boost and produce other resources. But with the twist that from the beginning, the population modules are more industrially focused than population modules from the base game or other modules.

Thus, Let's begin with the Radio modules. the new Space-based paradigm for "buying" Mission Control for Space Industry in particular is Influence. Thus the Radio Center/Broadcast Center are now -10/-20 Influence, -0.25/-.5 Boost for +1/+2 Mission Control respectively and +2/+15 Cash. Power needs for Radio Center reduced by -1 to -4 (Balanced against Hab Overhaul's 11 base power for solar/fission.

The Boost cost may seem like too much until you consider that Boost is easier to get in this mod.

Space Industries Population Modules (Apartments etc) now produce 0.1/0.3/1.5 Boost. per month, -1/-3/-40 Influence, +6/+35/+80 Money, and +3 Mission Control at Tier 3 only (with the Orbital City being both Population Module, AND serving as the Tier 3 Upgrade of the Broadcast Center)

This might seem like an abrupt jump in Boost, but this is balanced with 2 additional (each an upgrade of the last) Population Modules in Tier 2, with another 2 coming after in Tier 3, and possibly slight bumps to Tier 2 if I add more Industry-focused Population modules for Tier 1.

Transport Docks remain 1 per Hab and now use a trickle of boost (-0.1/-0.2/-0.3) in exchange for +5/+10/+25 Influence, +6/+20/+60 Cash, Farm effects for the Transport Dock itself, and retaining its shipyard abilities. They remain one per Hab.

Orbital Industrial Workshop Mining Docks remain 1 per Hab and are now considered to use mining vessels to mine from the orbital body whose interface orbit they inhabit, and thus use -2/-6/-12 Ops to fuel and run them to get 1/3/6 Boost, and pay their crews 7/21/42 Cash.

At some point in the future they will be locked out of LEO.

the Outpost Mining Dock now uses 8 cash to produce 1 Boost and 1% efficiency.

The Administration Complex still only gives you 20% of a hab site's potential and eats 3 Influence, but in exchange gives you 4% Efficiency, 2 Boost, and 3 Mission Control, with a crew of 150 (and Tier 2-3 iterations planned to scale in population with the Residential Module/Civilian Complex as an aid in both filling bad mining sites and boosting an orbital body's population.

Hotfix because some numbers didn't actually get changed.

Skyhook Update!

ALL NUMBERS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE IN SUBSEQUENT PATCHES


This update is a first pass at the Project tree, reducing most research costs by an order of magnitude, down to the levels of similar-tier module Projects. it also introduces something like 6-7 new Projects, while cutting the Space Elevator/Investment projects as well as the Orbital Refineries/Industrial Centers Projects.

These Projects have been turned into actual modules you can build (Space Elevator still on the Horizon, but its Tier 1-2 precursors are out in this update), as opposed to hand-wavey Projects.

The new updates to Mining and Transport Docks (see below), and the Skyhook series will take over these Projects.

Civilian Economy:

I am introducing the concept of a Civilian Economy with this update. Basically, the Civilian Economy is anything that touches Boost, and generally you will produce Boost on or in Interface Orbits of space bodies, and spend it out in space beyond Interface Orbits (Transport Docks, the Boost-eating population boosters, etc).

This is part of a wider focus I want to do where any resource you can PRODUCE in space can and will be EATEN by something in space. For now, I'm focusing on Boost.

New Modules:


Skyhook Series (1 per Hab):


- Skyhook: Used to bring materials up from an orbital body. Produces Boost. Tier 1
- Rotovator: Used to bring materials up from an orbital body. Produces Boost. Tier 2 (Stats configured around 5 Skyhooks in 1 Rotovator

- Terran Skyhook: Earth-Specific version of a Skyhook, more efficient, produces more Boost for less upkeep. Tier 1
- Terran Rotovator: Earth-Specific version of a Rotovator. More efficient, produces more boost for less upkeep. Tier 2. (Stats configured around 8 Skyhooks in 1 Rotovator)


Tier 3 versions of the Skyhook series are planned and mostly coded out, but are being held back for now. The Tier 3 Skyhook will be a Space Elevator, and it is an endgame Megaproject. its tonnages are 16k for off-Earth Elevators and 24k tons for the Terran version (highest tonnage in base game is 8k), but will produce MASSIVE amounts of Boost and Mission Control. A "regular" Tier 3 module that I have in mind but not coded out right now are Space Trams.

Tier 4 endgame Megaproject planned for the Skyhook series whenever Pavonis brings us Tier 4 is an Orbital Ring, which will be even more massive than Space Elevators.


Administration Campus Series:

an experimental module, currently only available for Tier 1, the Administration Campus takes the Mine slot in Bases (habs on bodies). Their mine production is cut by 80%. Instead have large populations and produce Boost, Money, a 4% efficiency bonus for the Hab, completely offsetting the Base's Mission Control footprint, and 20% of the resources of that particular mining site. Intended primarily as a way to help increase a body's population, with numbers bumping up significantly in Tiers 2-3.

the Admin Campus line is very much an experiment I want to pursue, in giving you options for Bases that take up the Mine slot that let you focus on other things. It is not intended for "valuable" mine slots, instead for going on "junk" mine slots that you don't really need.

Mining Dock Split:

After figuring out how to do things the way I had originally intended, the Mining Dock series is split in two: Surface Mining Docks, which will retain the classic Mining Dock nomenclature, and Orbital Mining Docks, which inherits the Refinery project names.

(Tier 1) Outpost Mining Dock: Produces 1 Boost and 1% Efficiency. It has to lose its Farm ability for this because of the game coding, BUT it will negate up to 2 water, 2 volatiles, 2 metals, and 0.1 Noble Metals requirements. One per Hab


Orbital Mining Docks. Intended to in effect be Space Miners. Sadly they can't TRULY be this because of the way the game is coded, so for now this is the best approximation. Produce trickles of resources and are locked to Interface Orbits so they don't 100% replace mining

(Tier 1) Orbital Mining Dock: Now "Orbital Industrial Workshop"

Produces 0.1 Boost, 0.25 Metal, 0.1 Water, 0.1 Volatiles per month. Acts as a Farm for up to 40 people, and negates 2 Metal and 0.1 Noble Metal consumption for the Hab. One Per Hab.


(Tier 2) Advanced Orbital Mining Dock: Now "Orbital Refinery"

Produces 0.3 Boost, 0.75 Metal, 0.3 Water, 0.3 Volatiles per month. Acts as a Farm for up to 125 people, and negates up to 5 Metals and 0.5 Noble Metals consumption per month. One per Hab

(Tier 3) Orbital Mining Complex: Now "Orbital Refinery Complex":

Produces 1 Boost, 2 Metal, 1 Water, and 1 Volatiles per month. Acts as a farm for up to 750 people, and negates up to 20 Metals and 3 Noble Metals consumption per month for its Hab. One per Hab.


Tier 2-3 Surface/Base Mining Docks: Thought I'd included them but they will be for another (soon!) update, along with tweaks and additions of Tier 2-3 Admin Campuses.


Transport Dock changes:

Transport Docks are intended to be the deep-space equivalent of the mining Dock. producing a trickle of resource in exchange for eating Boost, to make Boost a viably valuable resource after the early game. Right now only the Transport Docks and the population modules are competing for it, but many more Boost-eating modules will be added, requiring you to make choices about where it goes.

Before I figured out what I was doing wrong, Transport Docks had been intended as a Boost producer. Now it consumes Boost and provides you with raw materials, intended not to be placed in Interface orbits (Will probably be coded in later)

The Transport Dock is also changing after I figured out how to do not-!Space Mining!, but does not violate the 1 Boost=1 Ton of resources rule Pavonis set up.

(Tier 1): Orbital Transport Dock:

Eats 1 Boost, produces 0.4 Metals, 0.2 Water, and 0.2 Volatiles, and 10 Currency per month.. Acts as a farm for up to 50 people on its hab, Power reduced to -5.

(Tier 2):

Eats 3 Boost, produces 15 Currency, 1.2 Metals, 0.6 Water, and 0.6 Volatiles per month. Acts as a Farm for up to 75 people on its hab. Power reduced to -30.

(Tier 3):

Eats 6 Boost, produces 35 Currency, 3 Metals, 1.5 Water, and 1.5 Volatiles per month. Acts as a Farm for up to 750 people on its hab.

WOW this game doesn't want me to change the thumbnail

fuckery and whatnot to change the thumbnail