Science Cost Tweaker

[UberWaffe]

A tiny simple mod that allows you to adjust the cost of research with multipliers, in terms of:

• Time per research step
• Number of research steps to complete the research
• Number of science packs per research step

Download @ https://www.dropbox.com/s/zrj2e2rmh5aw6 ... 1.zip?dl=0
(If Dropbox asks you to sign-up, and you don't want to, just click the little "X" close button on the dialogue.)

More Information:
It breaks up research into 4 tiers, allowing you to adjust the multipliers for each tier individually.
Tier 1 is simply any research that uses no green, blue or purple science packs.
Tier 2 is simply any research that uses no blue or purple science packs.
Tier 3 is simply any research that uses no purple science packs.
Tier 4 is simply any research that uses uses purple science packs.

Per default, the multipliers are as follows (these are all selected willy-nilly, I have no idea what would make sense for default multipliers):
Tier 1

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timeMultiplier = 1.0; -- How much the time of the research is multiplied by
countMultiplier = 1.0; -- How much the count (number of research steps) of the research is multiplied by
costMultiplier = 2.0; -- How much the number of science packs per research-step of the research is multiplied by

Tier 2

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timeMultiplier = 0.5;
countMultiplier = 2.0;
costMultiplier = 3.0;

Tier 3

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timeMultiplier = 0.2;
countMultiplier = 5.0;
costMultiplier = 5.0;

Tier 4

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timeMultiplier = 0.05;
countMultiplier = 20.0;
costMultiplier = 5.0;

I've only just created the mod (and it is my first attempt), so there can, nay, will be bugs.
People trying it out and reporting said bugs will be appreciated.

Known Issues:

• Any research that doesn't use science packs will be treated as tier 1 research.
• This uses data-final-fixes, so research added / changed by other mods during data-final-fixes will likely not work. (Still to test if adding dependencies will solve this.)

Future plans:

• Create 4 tiers of labs, each drawing significantly more power than the last. (Each tier of lab can research up to its equivalent tier of technology.)
• Create an option that makes science packs use their own dedicated production lines (i.e. not made from gears or inserters or circuit boards or any items used in normal production of other items). Instead have their own dedicated intermediary products/steps.
• Get an image overhaul for science packs. Rename to something that makes sense, Ex: Science Pack 1 -> Sacrificial Electromagnet.
• In mods that add more diverse resources, let science packs cost a wider variety, rather than more of the same.
• Test and make compatible with mods as needed.

Reason:
The reason behind this mod is that I want a playthrough where items aren't expensive*, but research is very expensive*. And as I started working on it, I figured that the science cost tweaks on their own would make a small easy mod. Hence here it is.
*I.e. You have to spend tons of resources researching something, but once you have it isn't expensive (i.e. you don't black-hole compress 22 circuits into one blue one.)

[orzelek]

I wanted to do something like this
I was also thinking about items so it would be more complex - your idea with science costs only might be much better

Any idea how it would fare after putting it into shadows modpack?

[UberWaffe]

Any idea how it would fare after putting it into shadows modpack?

I've never played shadows modpack, so I have no idea. You are more than welcome to give it a try.
I do currently use bob's mods + treefarm + cursed exp, and it works fine for any tech that gets setup before data-final-fixes, which should be near nearly all technologies.
(I specifically used data-final-fixes since bob's mods already has some technology adjustments happening during data-update.)

I wanted to do something like this
I was also thinking about items so it would be more complex - your idea with science costs only might be much better

Figured there would be at least a few people who would want to give this a shot. The idea itself is a very simple one.

[orzelek]

I'm slowly progressing with shadows mod pack + RSO (with richness x2) - endless mod.
I looked around the research tree and I think some multipliers might be kind of harsh.

For example (tier 4 ) - Supreme warfare tech has cost of 15 each science and 6k units.. thats a looot of science packs including alien ones. And time of research is 4.5.

I think that higher tier stuff gets to much from the fact that count and cost multiplier cumulates. It creates totally unreasonable effect (getting 90k alien science packs.. no way ).

As another example the military 4 tech requires 15k alien science packs (and red+blue plus twice the greens). It's an endgame tech on base game sure but still I can't see how much bases would need to die to get it. Rocket defense ends up at 100k of each science pack.

[SpeedyBrain]

I'm slowly progressing with shadows mod pack + RSO (with richness x2) - endless mod.
I looked around the research tree and I think some multipliers might be kind of harsh.

For example (tier 4 ) - Supreme warfare tech has cost of 15 each science and 6k units.. thats a looot of science packs including alien ones. And time of research is 4.5.

I think that higher tier stuff gets to much from the fact that count and cost multiplier cumulates. It creates totally unreasonable effect (getting 90k alien science packs.. no way ).

As another example the military 4 tech requires 15k alien science packs (and red+blue plus twice the greens). It's an endgame tech on base game sure but still I can't see how much bases would need to die to get it. Rocket defense ends up at 100k of each science pack.

Science Cost Tweaker is not an easy task! you can do that for vanilla stuff, but DyTech and others add their own system of balance.
Like orzelek said if you would use your System on SupremeWarfare costs would explode :O
SupremeWarfare's balance is based on things like:
-What will you get after reasearching
-What mods are enabled (e.g. with DyTech costs are higher and the reasearch tree changes)
-user changes (The user can tweak supremewarfare values by himself)

I think you'll have to think about a System that fits for all the mods and/or modmakers can adjust to!
E.g. make a interface for tweak tiers so that mod makers can include it in their mod an change the balance.

[UberWaffe]

I greatly appreciate the feedback!

I've also spent a bit of time the past week-end playing a first playthrough with this, and tier 3 and tier 4 costs do seem to get out of hand.
Currently I'm only up to tier having most of tier 2 research complete, but no tier 3 research yet.

This is the first time ever I was forced to rely on gun-turrets and piercing ammo for actual base defense, rather than having laser turrets ready by the time biters start paying attention.
And also the first time I'm forced to seriously expand territory to feed the industrial beast, and carefully pick research and plan ahead.

So I think I'm somewhat happy with Tier 1 and Tier 2 modifiers, but will need to rework the defaults for Tier 3 and 4.
I'll keep the multipliers to "science-packs per research step" to 1, and play only with the "count of research steps per research" multipliers.

Sidenote: You can adjust the multipliers and then use

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/c game.player.force.resettechnologies()

to make it reload the costs using the new multipliers.

And time of research is 4.5.

Since the count is being multiplied, I figured I want to keep research rather "fast" as long as you can keep up with the cost. Hence why time is reduced. So typically the time is reduces in relation to how much the count of the research is increased by.

I think that higher tier stuff gets to much from the fact that count and cost multiplier cumulates. It creates totally unreasonable effect (getting 90k alien science packs.. no way ).

As another example the military 4 tech requires 15k alien science packs (and red+blue plus twice the greens). It's an endgame tech on base game sure but still I can't see how much bases would need to die to get it. Rocket defense ends up at 100k of each science pack.

Agreed, will definitely be adjusting these defaults.
These defaults were based on my experience playing with Bob's Modules, since raw productivity modules (or God modules) in research labs + productions lines creating the science packs makes such costs rather miniscule. But I realize that this is just crazy.

I do also realize that I will have to include slowing down the evolution rate (time and pollution at least).

Science Cost Tweaker is not an easy task! you can do that for vanilla stuff, but DyTech and others add their own system of balance.
Like orzelek said if you would use your System on SupremeWarfare costs would explode :O
SupremeWarfare's balance is based on things like:
-What will you get after reasearching
-What mods are enabled (e.g. with DyTech costs are higher and the reasearch tree changes)
-user changes (The user can tweak supremewarfare values by himself)

I think you'll have to think about a System that fits for all the mods and/or modmakers can adjust to!
E.g. make a interface for tweak tiers so that mod makers can include it in their mod an change the balance.

I will definitely be looking into that, but since I do not (and cannot) have sufficient experience with all mods I need guidance as to what I should look out for / do / avoid.
But I'll start looking into the ability to have a means to define some sort of "tier" and "category" variable per technology, so that cost adjustments can be done according to those.
That should make a flexible enough system for mods to be adjusted easily.


The aim:
I want to achieve the following:

• The start of game is not slowed much.
• Force player to invest in fleshing out their factory by the end of tier 1, and again heavily at the end of tier 2. Tier 2 already allows the use of trains and robots (expect requester chests), so I figure that most of the QOL technology is already available by then.
• Force player to expand to new lands for gobbling up resources.
• Not make any recipes (not related to science and research) more expensive. Once you have a technology, it shouldn't be expensive to implement. (i.e. not marathon style where everything is more expensive.)

[orzelek]

Here are my current settings:

Code: Select all

	timeMultiplier = 1.0; -- How much the time of the research is multiplied by
	countMultiplier = 1.0; -- How much the count (number of research steps) of the research is multiplied by
	costMultiplier = 2.0; -- How much the number of science packs per research-step of the research is multiplied by
	if (tier == 2) then
		timeMultiplier = 0.5;
		countMultiplier = 1.5;
		costMultiplier = 2.0;
	end
	if (tier == 3) then
		timeMultiplier = 0.5;
		countMultiplier = 2.0;
		costMultiplier = 2.0;
	end
	if (tier == 4) then
		timeMultiplier = 0.5;
		countMultiplier = 2.0;
		costMultiplier = 3.0;
	end

Not playtested heavily yet tho - might be on low side. I went with idea that with bob's mods there is much more stuff in base so might do with smaller increases of costs. There is one more change - I made the cost multiplier not apply to alien science packs. Thats a personal choice tho - I wouldn't enjoy searching and hunting for bases to get those 100's of artifacts.

[UberWaffe]

I wouldn't enjoy searching and hunting for bases to get those 100's of artifacts.

Good point, I'll throw in a flag for that option at the very least.

Here are my current settings:

Code: Select all

	timeMultiplier = 1.0; -- How much the time of the research is multiplied by
	countMultiplier = 1.0; -- How much the count (number of research steps) of the research is multiplied by
	costMultiplier = 2.0; -- How much the number of science packs per research-step of the research is multiplied by
	if (tier == 2) then
		timeMultiplier = 0.5;
		countMultiplier = 1.5;
		costMultiplier = 2.0;
	end
	if (tier == 3) then
		timeMultiplier = 0.5;
		countMultiplier = 2.0;
		costMultiplier = 2.0;
	end
	if (tier == 4) then
		timeMultiplier = 0.5;
		countMultiplier = 2.0;
		costMultiplier = 3.0;
	end

Those look better than what I have, so I'll aim the defaults for something similar.