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Mechatronics



Overview

This mod allows you to build your own giant robot centipedes! Colony-built mechanoids can be controlled in the same way as human colonists, but differ in other respects:

• Much more durable than humans, but slower-moving
• Do not require food, rest or psychological maintenance
• Immune to fire
• Can be permanently drafted (you can use them like mobile turrets)
• Limited to combat, firefighting, hunting, hauling and cleaning jobs
• Slowly regenerate over time, and explode when killed (less violently than turrets)

Basically, they're big reliable endgame tanks intended to protect and support your fragile but flexible human colonists. They have sensible backstories and try to integrate into the setting without breaking immersion.

Making a Mechanoid

To construct a mechanoid, you first have to defeat one and disassemble it at the machining table. You'll also need the research prerequisite, and some metal:

• Research Machining and then Mechatronics
• Build a Machining Table
• Disassemble an enemy mechanoid to produce 5 Mechanoid Parts
• Acquire 500 metal
• Build "Mechanoid Centipede" as a building under the Security tab

As soon as your shiny new mechanoid is connected to a power supply, it'll become mobile. Currently it won't use any power after this; in future versions this may change.

Downloads

• Mechatronics 0.1.4.zip

Compatibility

Mechatronics has been tested on Alpha 4F, and appears to be compatible with existing save files. The only existing def it overrides is the ButcherCorpseMechanoid recipe; unfortunately, this means it is definitely incompatible with Mechanoid Turrets.

The code is available on GitHub, feel free to submit bug reports or pull requests there. You're welcome to dissect and otherwise use this mod for your own purposes

Known Issues

Mechanoids can't talk or think but they still get happy thoughts from people talking to them. Not sure if bug or feature.

Changelog

• 0.1.4

 
• Mechanoid shooting/melee skills now start at 8
• Fix mechanoids being incapacitated instead of exploding
• Fix ghost power connector after building mechanoid
• 0.1.3 - Fixed a bug with starting mechanoid job settings
• 0.1.2

 
• Decrease required Mechanoid Parts from 10 to 5
• Mechanoids now spawn with a random mechanoid weapon
• 0.1.1 - Mechanoids regenerate slightly over time to compensate for lack of sleeping
• 0.1 - Initial release

Just a heads up for anyone else trying to mod in new kinds of colonists: standardBodyGraphicPath currently doesn't apply to humanoid races. (and if you try to make a non-humanoid colonist it'll throw an error) Here's the relevant part of the game code:



It is still feasible, but you'll need to do some C# trickery to get around the hardcoded stuff. Proof of concept: https://github.com/mispy/DwarfColonists/blob/master/Source/DwarfColonists/DwarfPawn.cs#L17

Hopefully Tynan will make the defs more flexible at some stage. (I wish this were OSS so I could do it myself, it's kinda frustrating looking at all the lovely decompiled CIL I can't alter )

Dwarf Colonists



Overview

Replaces colonist graphics with good old-fashioned code page 437 dwarves from Dwarf Fortress. Creatures from other factions are unchanged, but will become dwarves if you recruit them. Drafted dwarves change their appearance accordingly.

You'll also now start with three ☼steel crossbows☼ instead of the default weapons. They're similar in effectiveness to Lee-Enfields.

This is a silly mod for learning purposes, not planning on a DF total conversion or anything

Downloads

• Dwarf Colonists v0.2