Allow me to plan, please

[Rock5]

When I pod drop into a new area to create a new base I like to pause the game and spend a lot of time planning it. So, I immediately pause the game, click the Wall tool and get a message "You have no usable materials from which to build this. No! Stop clicking, you can't do that. You can click as much as you want, I'm not changing my mind. No! Stop it! ..."  .

I have a work around for this, I just go into God mode, select the Wall tool (or other tool) and then turn off God mode. And once I have some wall plans placed I can select them and click "Make Copy". This is annoying and impractical, especially when I forget to turn off God mode. Grrr.

Why does it even do this? I'm quite happy it showing me which resources I don't have in the tool tip as it does now. It doesn't need to stop me from making plans before I have the resources.

Anyway, can this be changed? If there is some 'Can the user select this tool" function, is it possible to make a mod that replaces it with one that always allows it?

[SpaceDorf]

You could plan with wood walls, of which you got some at the beginning,
or like you said use the build copy tool on one of the many walls placed around the map.

But you are right, sometimes it is really annoying if you can't designate or even select walls you don't have the materials for.

I understand the reasoning behind this, but having the number of materials shown behind the selection rather than forbidding it outright would be nice.

[skullywag]

Could just add a brick of each type to the drop containers via editing the scenario.

[{insert_name_here}]

You could make it so that instead of displaying the amount of materials needed to build the wall while laying down the plans (let's call this number "a") it will display the amount needed AND the total i.e. "a/b" where b is the total amount of that material stored. So if you have 400 marble in storage and the wall requires 100 blocks it will display "100/400".

If you don't have enough resources to build the wall (or don't have that resource at all) the text will turn red. Upon letting go of the mouse, a message can appear. "are you sure you want to build this wall? You don't have enough resources needed." This could easily be dismissed with ESC or Enter so it's not annoying when planning.

[SpaceDorf]

Please no "do you really want to.. " - dialog.

I planned the wall. Of course I am sure, and the red marker allready showed me that I need more stuff than I have.
In my oppinion this is the most common case, that you don't have enough ressources to finish planned buildings but have to produce some/most of them while your construction crew starts building.

So a big fat red zero that tells me I don't have the ressource is enough, what I decide from there is my free will as player.

( though skullys workaround is useful to have the option right away )

[Rock5]

or like you said use the build copy tool on one of the many walls placed around the map.

Actually, I realized that just after I posted. So that's convenient enough I guess, for walls anyway. But I also like to select the turret tool so I can get an idea of the spacing needed between defenses. And the Orbital Beacon to know how big to make my storage area. So it's still an issue.

Could just add a brick of each type to the drop containers via editing the scenario.

I'm talking about building new bases after starting the game, not the first base.

{insert_name_here}, sort of off topic. So - no comment.

I planned the wall. Of course I am sure, and the red marker allready showed me that I need more stuff than I have.
In my oppinion this is the most common case, that you don't have enough ressources to finish planned buildings but have to produce some/most of them while your construction crew starts building.

Exactly!

[SpaceDorf]

select the turret tool so I can get an idea of the spacing needed between defenses.

which tool ? .. turrets are 1x1 or 2x2 .. modded emplacements are usually workbench sized, ..

And the Orbital Beacon to know how big to make my storage area. So it's still an issue.

.. shame on you .. it's a cross 5x11 and a 9x9 square ..

and have you ever heard of the "more planning" mod ?

[AngleWyrm]

Please no "do you really want to.. " - dialog.

[Rock5]

select the turret tool so I can get an idea of the spacing needed between defenses.

which tool ? .. turrets are 1x1 or 2x2 .. modded emplacements are usually workbench sized, ..

I was thinking more about the shooting range.

And the Orbital Beacon to know how big to make my storage area. So it's still an issue.

.. shame on you .. it's a cross 5x11 and a 9x9 square ..

Um ... I think that's the Sun Lamp size. The orbital beacon is like 15x15. But even though I know how big it is, it's still easier to wave around the Orbital Beacon designator to help decide the best place for the storage rooms.

and have you ever heard of the "more planning" mod ?

I don't think so. But after checking it out now, I don't think I like it. It's still little pale squares, even if they are colored. It's better that the vanilla planning tool but not by much. Nothing beats using the actual objects.

[Rock5]

Please no "do you really want to.. " - dialog.

LoL.

[Rock5]

New colony, more planning, same issue.

Please, can't someone who understands the inner workings of Rimworld make a mod like this? I wouldn't think it would be that difficult if you know what you are doing. I would think there is some common function somewhere that is called for every construction tool selected that checks if the resources are available before allowing you to select it. All you would have to do is override it to always allow the selection, bypassing any resource checks. Or am I completely talking out of my ass? (I suspect the latter. Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

[faltonico]

As far as i have seen, Dwarf fortress has a planning mode, In which you can place blueprints of stuff you don't have at the moment. Instead of overriding, creating a separate mode, like a god mode but in which you would place only blueprints may be less conflicting.

[Jibbles]

Rock5

I like fluffy's blueprint mod.  I make presets that displays an items radius such as turret or orbital beacon so I load them up into other games. May not be the method you're looking for, but that's how I get around it for now.

[Rock5]

I have it installed and occasionally use it. If it remembered my blueprints then it would be a solution for my issue, assuming it does allow selecting and placing the blueprint without the resources, but it never remembers my blueprints. Is it suppose to?

[Jibbles]

You can export a blueprint if you want to save it.  When you want to use that blueprint in other games you can use the import option. All this is done by right clicking.

It doesn't care if you have the resources or not as far as i know. You can even change resources such as stone types in the original blueprint.. But it does care about research. If you imported only a turret, it won't let you build that blueprint if you haven't finished the research. So I would use walls or other resources to display the radius in the blueprints and trace the outline of the walls with the planning tool, or simply use it  as a guide.

Again it's not the best method, but it's another way to try if don't want to enable god mode.