Modding Discussion Mod Design for who want to do

- "Bla bla bla"
Hi, I did a mod design to do with a friend who is good at programming, but he don't have time now. So, I will post my design here, if someone want to do mods with this ideas, crediting me, or calling me to the team (but I'm not good at programming or graphics, only at design and ideas).
I had designed 3 main concepts, but I will post here only one for now. If it help someone or inspire some mods, I will post the others.
English isn't my native language; in case of mispelling/grammatical error, please, tell me, this will help me to improve my english.

- What is this?
This concept is about: "Why I should stay?". Explaining, is a set of ideas for who want play Starbound focusing in stay in one planet. I know, the game is immense to do this, but if your friend want stay in a planet while you travel and grab resources in other planets for him? Or you explore all differents kinds of planets and want play like a Land Lord, building a civilization in that volcanic planet? Or maybe want build a huge city in all kinds of planets? No matter why you decided it, this is a set of ideas to improve this playstyle.

Notes:
- I didn't ordered the ideas;
- Since I didn't learned the mod programming of Starbound, I don't know what designs are possible or not. Comment, so I can adapt for something possible to do;
- I will call the tenants here as NPCs;
- Some numbers or values here are just to illustrate how the things works. Since I didn't test the things, I can't tell the accurate numbers for a good balance. Need tests and feedbacks.

#01 The planet can be attacked
> You need protect your city from enemies attacks, that can destroy your buildings, constructions, and kill NPCs.
> The next attack are stronger than the last, with more #enemies or hight tiered enemies.
> The enemies can attack in different ways:
1 - Like an alien invasion movie, with ships and enemies landing in your city. All spawns occour above your city, so, mechanic traps isn't very helpful here. This attack can do a massive destruction of your city.
2 - Like enemies camps, they land in your planet without warnings (you notice only wandering in the planet or talking with specific NPCs), and build a camp or small dungeon. In every day that they stay in your planet, more enemies spawns, and less food you find (wild crops take more time to respawn and wild hunts/meat drops are less often). After a good days, they attack your city, and some enemies stay in the small construction to protect. This attacks hardly destroy your city (besides the enemies carry siege weapons, like in mission "Baron's Keep"), but the enemies are toughts and kill lots of guards NPCs, lowering your defenses, and while in the planet, you have less wild resources (food). If you kill the NPCs that attack you, but don't destroy the small dungeon, in some days, you will receive a new attack.
3 - Wild attack, some aggressive mobs attack your city. A wave of one kind of enemy, with high status, will try take down your walls (or climbing, bypass the guards, etc), and go inside your city to kill NPCs. This attack focus in kill non-guards NPCs.
>> Just for reference, in the mission "Baron's Keep" have a wave mechanic, and NPCs using machines that can destroy blocks.

#02 NPCs need eat
> You need keep a storage in the NPC houses, and save food. The food inside the storage will act like "fuel", considering the hunger restoration of each food. For example, if a food recover 4 segments, when this food was eaten, after 4 game hours, the next food will be eaten.
> A good dispense can provide food for a long time to NPCs, but take caution to spoil. The spoil time of the foods need a nerf too, and a hunger restoration rebalance. Also, you will need craft better houses with fridges.
> With this idea, you need keep a good farm and hunt meat/fish, because higher city means more NPCs, and need more food. With less time to spoil, and needing replenish NPCs dispenses, higher cities become hard to manage.

#03 Hunt time
> You need hunt to find more food. But the huntables enemies are tough and live in groups. Hunt alone is a very hard task (more enemies, tough enemies, hard to find or low meat drop chance), you need hire NPCs to go with you.
> Every NPC reduce the hunt difficult (less enemies, weakening enemies, finding then easily or high food drop chance).
> The possible hunts are different if you hunt during day and night, and seasons too.
> After every hunt, the chance to find the same enemy group are reduced for some days. This can accumulate.

#04 Wild Boss
> From time to time, will spawn a boss version of one enemy in the world (higher sprite, different colors, etc, the player can identify easily). This boss have high status and deal quicker attacks in less time perior, don't need a super specific boss IA.
> This boss will chase you whenever you go outside of the city, and replenish their life in good speed when stay off screen. When you enter in the city, they run. You can fight close of the city with others NPCs and mechanic traps, but the boss can kill NPCs and destroy the city.
> Every time you kill this boss, the next one will came stronger but with lower health regen, and you will need more NPCs, days and resources to kill him.

#05 Water and thirst mechanics
> Like eat food, you need drink water (and NPCs too, look below).
> You can build wells (craft item, or crafting with blocks and put a craft item on the bottom), and tanks to save water from rains.
> You need link some pipes to connect houses and water tank, and need one furniture with tag "water", or NPCs willn't come. Every house will consume [rand(2, 3) + 1 * #furniture] water blocks per day. Each furniture in the city will consume too (fountains and other water decorations).
> Ocean water doesn't count as common water. In some craft station, can craft Water from Snow/Ice Blocks.
>> Just for reference, some good blocks/items/furniture to consider with this mechanic:
- Sewer Pipe, Well Cover, Liquid Sensor, all fountains, Sprinkler;
- Furnitures with can have the tag "water": Large Metal Tank, Water Cooler, Wooden Sink, Bathroom Sink, Bathroom Sink (Apex), Traditional Water Feature, Bathroom Stall, Bathroom Urinal, Protectorate Bathroom Mirror, all toilets, Frontier Water Pump* (in lots race descriptions, he is broken);

#06 Light mechanics
> You need craft a generator, that provide at maximum X energy points (ex: 100).
> Every generator can store an amount of fuel to work (ex: 1000 units, and works during 5 days, providing 1, none or all energy points availables).
> Furnitures that consumes energy need be linked to wires to work. Every furniture consumes 1 (or more) points of the generator. Every house consume [5 + 1 * #furniture] points of energy. Note, the furniture consumes energy in On or Off status, and don't affect the fuel usage (for easy code and less lag).
> Houses not connected to a generator don't attract NPCs.
>> Just for reference, some good furnitures to consider with this mechanic:
- Wireless Generator, Power Generator, Wooden Telephone Pole, Wooden Utility Pole.

#07 Heat and Cold mechanics (H/S)
> The Visual/Costume/Cosmetic clothes provides some Heat OR Cold resistence (and one decreases the other).
> Some biomes and seasons, based on planets and day time, have a H/C value; each resistence point below this value makes the player lose 2 HP per second (ex: The Snow biome have Cold 5 during day: With 0 Cold resistence, the player will take 10 damage per second; With 3 Heat resistence, he will take 16 dmg/s; With 4 Cold resistence, 2 dmg/s; with 5 or more, will take any damage).
> Some foods give temporary Warm/Refreshment.
> The Cosmetic clothes provide this resistence even in Vanity/Visual slot.

#08 Seasons and Time mechanics
> Affect Heat and Cold, Hunt, Farm, Fishing and other mechanics.
> Some enemies don't spawn in certain Seasons or daytime, and vice versa (hibernating, mating season, etc)
> The seasons change after 15 days, and the day/night duration are reduced in 25/33%.
> Some farm animals don't give drops (hibernating, mating season, etc), and some farm crops don't grow up or give crops, and some plants/crops drops seeds in certains seasons.

#09 Farm mechanics
> See #08.
> New temporizers to grow and give crops (more time; so, foods are less often, specially with #02, what you will need create greats farms).
> Some seeds drops in certain conditions (day/night time, temperature, tool, etc).

#10 Farm animals mechanics
> See #08.
> Need feed animals, with some eater with food working like a fuel.
> Farm animals take more time to give items.
> Farm animals can receive damage and die (better with #01).
> Farm animals die after some time (90 days).

#11 Culinary mechanics
> See #05.
> See #07.
> You can craft Water Bottle (with 1 Empty Bottle and 1 Water, without craft station), that recover Thirst. Some crops and recipes recover Thirst too.

#12 Land Lord mechanics
> You have a Leader points, that work like a score. You need craft a board to check this value.
> You lose points: In every problem in the city (no water/food/energy (-1, and -1 for every 1 minute without solution), for every 1 minute of any #01, for every 1 day while #04 is alive, etc), when a NPC die.
> You receive points: When you complete a NPC mission, in every season (1 per NPC that was in the city at the start of the season, and stay alive in the end of the season).
> This points are necessary to grow up your city, unlocking new #NPC limits, increasing the status of older NPCs, unlocking crafts and crafts stations, items that new merchant NPCs will sell, etc.
> After complete a NPC quest, this NPC have a delay of [rand(2,5) + 1*city_rank] days to give a new quest.
> City rank, based on living NPCs in the city: Rank 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 => 5, 15, 50, 100, 250 NPCs (hardly I think that someone can reach rank 5 managing all mechanics, but this is the challenge).
> Every 5 Leader points, you increase the max number of NPCs (#NPC) in 1; Merchant NPCs can sell tier 2/3/4/5/6/7 itens with 20/50/100/220/500/1000 points.

#13 Collectible NPCs (for personal objective)
> New NPCs with different Cosmetic items, for who wants achieve to have all different NPCs in your city.
> You can try achieve this without leaving the planet. Good luck.

#14 NPCs rework
> You can use recovery items (or other methods to recover their HP). NPCs also have natural HP Regen, but works only when in the city and isn't hired.
> The NPCs pay the rent in every 3 days.
> Changes in NPCs:
- Villager: Is who pays higher rent. Good source of money.
- Guard: Medium Attack value, high Defense, have a low HP regen, walk slow. Good to protect the city.
- Merchant: Pays with common items. Good source of random common items (health items, materials, etc).
- Chef Merchant: None at the moment (I was thinking in NPCs selling a limited amount of food, 10 for example, recharging after few days, and the Chefs Merchants sells more foods passively. But I think that is impossible to program this limit).
> New NPCs:
- Hunter: High Attack value, low Defense, walk quick. Good to hire in hunts.
- Farmer: Reduces the time to crops or animal grow and give items (Need think in some kind of formula, cap value or way to deal with, for example, a city with 200 farmers; instant food?). Good to produce food.
- Noble: Pays with rare and valuable items. Good souce of rare items (ores, rare materials, etc).
- Scientist: Helps to unlock craft station (selling items/craft station, or giving research point). Good to raise your tier.
- Traveller: Give missions with less time delay. Good to raise your city.

#15 Renewable fuels
> Useful only for #06 with #05. May useless otherwise.
> Merchant NPCs can sell Oil/Erchius Fuel.
> If have some "automatic delayed craft", can put wood/corn/sugarcane in some machine to receive coal/fuel/alcohol.
> Throwing Meat or items like that in a bone well (or storing in a container, idk), and after some days, turn in Oil like tar biome (I know, I know, but it is a game, right?).

#16 Renewable Poison
> Useful only if you want raise your city without leave the planet. May useless otherwise.
> Merchant NPCs can sell Poison.
> Some enemies can drop (like when you obtain coconut milk)
> Farm animal can drops.

#17 Configurable difficulty
> A NPC that you can configure the difficulty, or an easy option in some file to change the mod difficulty (Leader points and quest delay from #12, scaling from #01, #03 and #04, time delay for #02, #03, #09 and #10, limit for #05 and #06, etc).
> Options:
1 Easy solo (very easy multiplayer 2~3)
2 Normal solo (easy multiplayer 2~3)
3 Hard solo (normal multiplayer 2~3)
4 Very hard solo (hard multiplayer 2~3)
5 Insane solo (very hard multiplayer 2~3)

 

I think the same about extending the possibilities on single planet experience... I found them too short. Survival for example is on a third plane, if I start the game and 5 minutes later I have 3 uncommon weapons that vaporizes everything in the way, and next I arrive the Outpost without needing more than the initial cans of food....

I like a lot #6 and #7, (I had some similar ideas time ago, after playing ’oxigen not included’) these are just the kind of mechanics that i love... Maybe if I improve my skills in modding I take one of these ideas but they seems really complex...

I think is great there's other players thinking about innovate on SB. Hey if U want learn modding just start downloading the ”Unofficial SB modding ebook ”. You can make basic mods (patching) without any programming skills, it's really simple .. and later how knows, you can reach so far as U want.

Note: In Fracking Universe I saw a very similar mechanic to the #6, it has a 'energy generator' that consumes wood or coal to make electricity that can be used by other stations to work.

I suggest you check if other mods are implementing your ideas.. maybe some of them are very similar to what you want.

@English isn't my native language; in case of mispelling/grammatical error, please, tell me, this will help me to improve my english.
#metoo

 

Me too, I think that the game have some cool features that do better than other games (in Terraria, you can create a town, but have limited NPCs to occupy, and none have extended AI, but in SB, you can create a village or metropolis, because the NPC population is infinite, can hire then, and they have an AI; in Don't Starve Together, Unturned, and Terraria too, you have some farm and cooking mechanics, but is too limited; except for cooking in Don't Starve and Unturned, this mechanics are too poor, but in SB you can organize this things better, have a good variety of vegetables, and have possibilities to do it much better). But the game are so superficial besides their possibilities, looks like a Lamborghini Gallardo running at 40km/h .

I can clarify you of how do the things, I'm good at logic, and alread know about modding, but in other games. I can't study SB modding now because I'm studying Android dev, so, is much programming, and in my free time, I prefer an easy fun instead of boil my brain ^^'.
But you can call me if want some directions, I think with the documentation and thinking step by step, this can be done (maybe with few changes). I can design for you all the content in a way to take an easy idea of how can be done.

And I didn't checked others mods because I could think in same way after know then. And lots of mods don't share their codes, need talk with the modder, looks like "worky". But sounds nice, I'm trying to play the Frackin Universe now, after had the ideas, have no problem to see what the people did.

 

I can clarify you of how do the things, I'm good at logic, and alread know about modding, but in other games. I can't study SB modding now because I'm studying Android dev, so, is much programming, and in my free time, I prefer an easy fun instead of boil my brain ^^'.
AND I have been saw that these are best available in the form of drug rug that was the best one in these types of clothes.