Hi Doc i think the ISS is like 250 million dollars per year or something, but its a worthy project
btw, i still have to try and find a way to be able to keep my version 0.14 factorio, (which has a current solo and coop campaign that i need to finish with a friend), and to find a way to be able to also try getting v0.15 to try it out, along with your (this) mod, which sounds cool.... if there is such a way to get both versions and (copy paste or switch between them?)
i posted a mod idea at the link below or in my sig, but also mentioned a smaller mod idea near the bottom too, which i think might have a cool way of possibly being something added to this mod which you could do to add a new feature, if you are happy to accept ideas etc
basically, when you outlined your mod on the first page, you mentioned this as one of the bullet points:
"Deploy portals remotely to asteroids so you can travel there to set up a mining outpost"
what if this "mining outpost" actually required some kind of (virtual) mini setting up of a colony?
if something like that could work, then maybe my idea from the idea page, could actually end up simply slotting into your mod (as far as i understand it so far, since i havent actually been able to play it yet), and maybe something like this could be the steps?
a) once your portal is established, some plot text could appear, mentioning something about needing to set up a mini colony of engineers, to act as a Maintenance Crew since things can often go wrong, or maybe its just to be able to provide supplies, and defence from comets or something.
b) in order to do that, they need some kind of forward operating base (or Engineer Colony Base or something)
(maybe this could help to counteract some of the possible aspects about satelites breaking down too often but i still need to try the mod)
c) this could simply be the end product result, of a recipe, which then just gets included on a satelite for launching (or something similar with portal tech)
d) this recipe could require vast amounts of resources, but in order to split things into quicker, easier to manage tasks), they simply make up the sub recipe inputs, maybe as follows:
d1) needs 1000 Compressed Iron Plates (via one of the mods, such as Compressor), Needs 1000 Compressed Copper Plates, and same for some of the other items.
d2) these recipe output something like "Iron Package for Colony", Copper Package for Colony, etc
d3) and the final "Engineer Colony Base" from b) above, could simply be made after taking in its recipe inputs of "X Iron Packages for Colony" + "X Copper Packages for Colony" etc.
d4) X values could be used, instead of just "1", if you wanted, depending on how the newly found asteroids are classified, so that if you had some way in future of finding larger types, then they might require larger amounts, hence the X values)
e) if it is easier to code, and if the game only allows a max amount of inputs for recipes, then maybe the above packages could be split up in Groups, such as:
e1) "Base Metals Package" = made up from say 1000 Iron Plates, Copper Plates, Steel Plates
e2) "Heavy Metals Package" = made up of say, 1000 Titanium, 1000 Cobalt, 1000 Tungsten
e3) "Organics Package" = made up of say, 1000 Oxygen, Nitrogen, and Water Barrels
e4) "Military Package" = made up of say, 1000 Normal Ammo, 1000 Piercing ammo, and 1000 Turrets (or something less if thats too much)
e5) "Electronics/Tech Package" = made up of say, 1000 Gold Plates, Silver Plates, Electronic Boards
f) 1 of each of these "packages" from e) above, could then simply be required to craft the necessary Engineer Colony Base, which then allows you to start mining it
that was the idea (i will add this to that page too)
btw i forgot to paste the link to my main idea page
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=50256