[MOD 0.14] Flux's Expensive Technology

[Flux Faraday]

I bumped the version to 0.14. No other changes. Let me know if you need one specifically for 13, I'll see if there is a way to do that simply.

[doktorstick]

There may be an unintended consequence you probably want to factor in your increased cost calculations.

Some mod authors choose to make research deviate from "low-number-stack-size * large-repeat-count" and instead make an item have a large stack size. In this specific example, Natural Enemies Buildings added a Mk 2 and Mk 3 version of the Terraformer. The recipe stack sizes are 3r 2g 50p and 4r 3r 2b 100p, respectively. I don't know what their base multiplier is since I'm playing with your mod. But, what happens is that the recipes become x525 and x600 due to the tech depth and your mod, which makes the purple requirements at roughly 26k and 60k.

I've let the other mod author know what happens with your mod, but you might consider gating recipes that have odd requirements like this as it effectively neuters using your mod (or their mod).

See this post.

[Flux Faraday]

There may be an unintended consequence...

It's tricky to fix though. Part of the reason this mod works with most others is that it is strictly algorithmic. There is no hand-tweaking or exception table built in. It doesn't have tunings like "if the research is follower-robot-count, then reduce the cost multiplier." Maybe it should, but that opens a gate for really weird things to happen when other modders change the base research tree. There are other algorithms, though, instead of simple tree-depth. One could use logarithmic depth, or one could scale the research tree so that the biggest multiple is, say, ten, no matter how big the tree is. Is the research tree in your example particularly large? It might be useful to know what multiples you're seeing. Ultimately though, I don't know how to detect that a particular research is going to be a problem based on its values. I suspect the best I could do for those would be to have an override table for depth which is still not what you want. It is possible, by the way, to change the purple costs for a given tech in a little mod of your own, or by hacking on the original. Reducing the extreme purple cost seems to be the most direct way to get the results you want.

-ff

B.T.W. Your example makes me think you need a mob-trap. Some mods, Dytech for example, have dead mobs leave loot that can eventually be turned into purple research. I saw a image from a player who had built his base around a bunch of alien spawners, so that they would attack and be killed over and over. Belts carried the loot out. Good stuff!

[doktorstick]

Yeah, I understand; it would be a maintenance nightmare. It's the the flask stack size that drives the algorithm crazy; the multiplier itself was not unreasonable (at x525 and x600). For reference, a laser upgrade I'm working on is x3600 at 1 alien flask stack size.

FWIW, the mod author looked but doesn't think there's much he can do.

A solution that is still algorithmic is gate the maximum alien flasks per depth and then adjust the multiplier accordingly. In the example 4r 3r 2b 100p, at that depth you have calculated the default multiplier to be x600, but the maximum alien flask at x2500 (using vanilla's recipes as a guide), and so the multiplier becomes (4r 3r 2b 100p) x 25 since 60000 alien > 2500 alien. Or, as you say, it works fine most of the time, and let the users work out the rest

RE: BTW. I do have mob traps. NE drops 1 small alien artifact, and 100 smalls = 1 large = 10 flasks. The laser tech I mentioned is going to take 36000! biter kills (minus my productivity modules) or I need to hunt nests (blech!). It takes a good while, but the biter waves are steady and plentiful due to NE's thumper item that draws aliens to it.

I setup defense trains that make the loop restocking circuit controlled logistic networks--but only if items are needed--and pick up the collected alien artifacts (NE has an auto-artifact-picker-upper) and delivers to the main factory. The other defense train delivers light oil for the storage tanks that feed the flamethrowers. One of those "Proud of Factorio Creation" designs