"MageKing17" said:
If you want aliens to eat the corpses of other aliens, use the death blocks to drop your item and turn off the built-in corpse.

"Nocture17" said:
I'll figure out some way of forcing the alien to retreat on low health

"MageKing17" said:
Why not just make it not enemies with any side but the side that contains the smaller version of itself while fleeing? That way it won't actively chase after anything but them.

You may have to increase the number of sides drastically, but the results will probably be worth it.

"Nocture17" said:

"MageKing17" said:
Why not just make it not enemies with any side but the side that contains the smaller version of itself while fleeing? That way it won't actively chase after anything but them.

You may have to increase the number of sides drastically, but the results will probably be worth it.

Unfortunately, the AI doesn't seem to work that way. "Fleeing" makes the creature move away from its enemies. If, while it's fleeing, you change its side, it will start to flee from only the side that it's supposed to be feeding on, and ignore the player entirely. If you make its side different while on low health, to only be enemies with its prey, then other enemies will ignore it or kill it without retaliation. I am planning on making one side for each tier of alien, as you said. One side for each alien "grade", and just permanently adding the appropriate prey species onto the tier above its enemy list. They'll periodically kill and eat each other without needing the health much, but it will hopefully make life a little more interesting.

Version 0.95 almost ready. 1.0 will be reworked from the ground up for every item, creature and area to weed out derelict code to allow me to make some fairly sweeping changes more easily.

"MageKing17" said:
Hmm, the killing without retaliation is somewhat annoying. However, if it's low on health, will it really matter that much in the long run?

"OthobRithol" said:
Uberwaffe (sp?)

"MageKing17" said:

"OthobRithol" said:
Uberwaffe (sp?)

That's actually correct spelling.

"Grim Reaper" said:

"MageKing17" said:

"OthobRithol" said:
Uberwaffe (sp?)

That's actually correct spelling.

Not quite.

It's UberWaffe.

"OthobRithol" said:
You guys are strange

"Endymion" said:
It seems Scavenger's evolution is less personal than Stowaway's and more suited for managing and building armies and vice versa... Since simply giving Scavenger hive building abilities from Stowaway doesn't seem like a nice option so maybe if you want to do something about it you might want to make it so that Stowaway also uses the fat system(whom it suits much better) and have Scavenger's evolving be pretty much like Stowaway's but maybe more complex(with item requirements, several types of alien per level, some kind of special tough aliens that you can only find once you're almost ready to level up or something) or have a system where there are no different stages to evolving but only need to fulfill some conditions to get a certain ability. Of course some abilities might require you to have some other abilities already or be very hard to get without or a mix of both(Also you could just simply decide that there's no need for two aliens and just add the fat system to Stowaway and scrap almost everything you did for Scavenger Or if you feel like it ignore the whole matter )

I think Stowaway should also have some kind of roar to attract or scare enemies. Is it possible to make it do both at the same time to different enemies? Some kind of armor or skin that depending on the situation should be moulted could be interesting. Maybe an armor that cools you down(or warms you) constantly which you might want to get rid of during night or at least if you're going to arctic areas(Though I think that for some reason such an armor wasn't possible or hard to do so maybe it should be simple enviro armor or maybe something resistant to some damage type with some other disadvantage). Such armor could also be used for protecting your body against atmosphere's effect(other races most likely wouldn't be affected as much as aliens) to your thirst if thirst and water are ever implemented. For example when in tropical areas you would get more thirsty with strong moisture blocking layer of skin than without so strong hide but in desert it would have opposite effect.

Getting health from devouring aliens makes the game way too easy when Scavenger is already awfully strong. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to even be able to devour aliens other than small ones at all(not to mention that you'd need to be bigger than the alien eaten for it to be realistic though I don't think it really matters if it's that realistic or not) but it definitely IMHO shouldn't give health.

Something similar to devouring(and better ) could be achieved by making storing of your own acid possible which then could be combined with meat to make more nutritious meal. This acid could also probably be used for making your royal jelly(Naturally acid spit would also use it and maybe lethal bite too). Though I'm not sure what you should need to get and store the acid maybe fat or food and energy.

Some of the easier endings should be removed from the game at least escape pod(so that life support chip can be removed from taking unnecessary inventory space and communications array given some other more interesting uses(now that I think about it what's the point of getting food generator chip right away, Wouldn't it be better if you had to do something to get it?)) and alien ending (to make killing queens have some effect to the game like reduce the amount of aliens on hive area.)

I'll probably consider starting to do some modding by myself instead of just "wasting" your time once you have version 1.0 done. Of course I could start now but since you seem to be doing many of the things I would've I'll just wait until you're done with some of them.
By the way things you have planned for Psionic sound very cool and interesting!

"Nocture17" said:

"Endymion" said:
It seems Scavenger's evolution is less personal than Stowaway's and more suited for managing and building armies and vice versa... Since simply giving Scavenger hive building abilities from Stowaway doesn't seem like a nice option so maybe if you want to do something about it you might want to make it so that Stowaway also uses the fat system(whom it suits much better) and have Scavenger's evolving be pretty much like Stowaway's but maybe more complex(with item requirements, several types of alien per level, some kind of special tough aliens that you can only find once you're almost ready to level up or something) or have a system where there are no different stages to evolving but only need to fulfill some conditions to get a certain ability. Of course some abilities might require you to have some other abilities already or be very hard to get without or a mix of both(Also you could just simply decide that there's no need for two aliens and just add the fat system to Stowaway and scrap almost everything you did for Scavenger Or if you feel like it ignore the whole matter )

Actually, I disagree. The Scavenger's evolution is 100% personal. He has no means of calling forth allies (in fact, asides from turrets, which will be unavailable for him in 1.0, the Scavenger is the only character to have no allies at all), no abilities to help friends, and benefits the least from assistance. The Stowaway is the hive builder, and she won't have as many hoops to jump through as in the current version (where she could spend a month killing Dire Reapers but not evolve, because she needs to kill small blue aliens - like the Psionic, having to engage in special behaviour to level makes a character less likely to be chosen by players, and harder to fit into the mod as it grows). This will end as soon as she matures to adulthood - Lay Eggs. After this, her enhancements will come from hive size - building armies and managing them. Without a hive of a certain size and/or quality, no upgrade.

I think Stowaway should also have some kind of roar to attract or scare enemies. Is it possible to make it do both at the same time to different enemies? Some kind of armor or skin that depending on the situation should be moulted could be interesting. Maybe an armor that cools you down(or warms you) constantly which you might want to get rid of during night or at least if you're going to arctic areas(Though I think that for some reason such an armor wasn't possible or hard to do so maybe it should be simple enviro armor or maybe something resistant to some damage type with some other disadvantage). Such armor could also be used for protecting your body against atmosphere's effect(other races most likely wouldn't be affected as much as aliens) to your thirst if thirst and water are ever implemented. For example when in tropical areas you would get more thirsty with strong moisture blocking layer of skin than without so strong hide but in desert it would have opposite effect.

A sheddable skin would be easy enough, make an item that whilst in your inventory increases your temperature, can't be worn and can't be dropped. The only way to stop it would be to Break it, but when there's already a perfectly functional equipment system without the aggravation, that sort of upgrade would just be a disadvantage for the Stowaway that she doesn't deserve or need. Coding the actual temperature script would actually be easier than Enviro armour, since it would just be constant temperature increase/decrease, without the need for multiple scripts for each condition.

For thirst, I've definitely considered it since I started the Werivar Expansion, but I don't want to feel derivative of roburky's excellent work on S.O.S, which already has a thirst system. Perhaps if enough people ask for it, I'll introduce it, but other than that, it won't be until much later that I even consider implementing that, especially since it falls outside of the core Notrium gameplay I want to be expanding upon and improving. On that same principle, messing with the Stowaway and Scavenger over all the other races, who wouldn't have to deal with such nonsense as swapping armours every other map, doesn't fit with core Notrium gameplay either, which has never been about super-punishing one species over the other.

Getting health from devouring aliens makes the game way too easy when Scavenger is already awfully strong. I'm not sure if it's a good idea to even be able to devour aliens other than small ones at all(not to mention that you'd need to be bigger than the alien eaten for it to be realistic though I don't think it really matters if it's that realistic or not) but it definitely IMHO shouldn't give health.

Devouring aliens to gain health is something lifted entirely from the Stowaway, who gains somewhere in the region of 200 Health from a small blue alien corpse. For the Scavenger, only Blue Aliens and Reapers gave health at all, and even then, they were harder to acquire, rarer, and didn't give as much health. The main reason I extended the Scavenger's devour was because as the Stowaway you could and would completely ignore brown aliens, medium blue aliens, and even reaper corpses because all you ever needed was small blue aliens. On the question of realism, the Captain, a human, can eat perhaps twenty to thirty human-sized blue aliens, and still not be full. One can assume that realism is waived. =p

Something similar to devouring(and better ) could be achieved by making storing of your own acid possible which then could be combined with meat to make more nutritious meal. This acid could also probably be used for making your royal jelly(Naturally acid spit would also use it and maybe lethal bite too). Though I'm not sure what you should need to get and store the acid maybe fat or food and energy.

I love this idea to pieces. I'm rewriting the Scavenger and Stowaway abilities it's such an awesome idea. This works beautifully, it saves having to use more than one hotkey for Devour, it works with every single tier of alien (each race. including the new ones, will enjoy five or six tiers. Small, Medium, Dire, Grand, Great, and Queen. though Grand and Great may be the same tier, I lack my notes on this computer as always), allowing "digestion time". Any extra Devours would replace the old and serve as markers, allowing consuming the resultant meal of each alien race to have different effects as you increase in level and potency. Devour would never serve as immediate health regain, but the player could keep a reserve of meals which, though not much, would have a weight, preventing stacks of 100+.
Acid would be weightless, but perhaps with a cap of around fifty, and generated once per second by scripts (many scripts concerning the player refuse to work while combining, which may stop acid production whilst "digesting". Upgraded Devour at higher levels would allow for more acid to be stored, and higher benefits, in a much more subtle way than suddenly being able to consume elephant size aliens to gain 1000 health.

For the Stowaway, different devoured aliens could be used for producing new eggs of each race, again preventing the need for a hundred buttons on one ability, and controlling availability, whilst having to produce acid would make rapid-fire spit an easily balanced addition to her arsenal, provide a thematic reason for her ability to produce multiple species (but not her own, which isn't around to eat), and would be able to convert any of the meals
For the Scavenger, different alien meals could serve as nutrition, or as ammunition for things like venom or flame weapons, which gives the Scavenger a purpose for alien corpses which otherwise would have had no use beyond decoration.

Devour could be given much earlier to both races, since it would be much better balanced thanks to the new time aspect, and would not be exponentially better with each higher tier of alien, discarding the need to "level" the ability. Acid combined with a larger alien would simply provide more "meals" (though I'll perhaps have to come up with a slightly less nauseating term than "soup"), which would individually have the same effects as a smaller alien, only more of it, at the expense of more time digesting.

Some of the easier endings should be removed from the game at least escape pod(so that life support chip can be removed from taking unnecessary inventory space and communications array given some other more interesting uses(now that I think about it what's the point of getting food generator chip right away, Wouldn't it be better if you had to do something to get it?)) and alien ending (to make killing queens have some effect to the game like reduce the amount of aliens on hive area.)

I'll probably consider starting to do some modding by myself instead of just "wasting" your time once you have version 1.0 done. Of course I could start now but since you seem to be doing many of the things I would've I'll just wait until you're done with some of them.
By the way things you have planned for Psionic sound very cool and interesting!

There will still be the vast majority of those endings, at least for some players. They won't be necessarily be "easy" anymore. For example, for the Alien Queen ending: The Hive will no longer have the queens sitting out in the open, as opposed to there being several underground maps as the players delve into deep, super-dangerous hives with rapidly spawning aliens of all shapes and sizes, one distinct region for each colour queen, all across Notrium. The escape pod will require a tech-savvy race, and likely remain the easiest ending to achieve (after all, the player is simply fleeing from Notrium - they don't "win", they escape).

Calling for help is one I'm thinking about hard, and may end up introducing something extra to the game, but for the current version, I'll be keeping it the same.

A vague guess at what your script does (do feel free to correct me if I'm wrong), is set ADD to the % you desire, then multiply that by Times and add it to the Result, finally when Times = 0, a second calling script does whatever it needs to do with Result?

But I don't have the effects and conditions list handy, and you must really know your scripts, because that one's over my head. I think I remember that discovering 1% of health is actually covered by the system normally though (set bar to N% of maximum is the effect used by stasis field if I recall?)

Having experimented with the item token, there are a few niggles to using multiple items in the same script, but overall, it seems to work the way I thought it would, allowing you to essentially apply multiple conditions during the same script, basically replacing the Times and other bars with items.

For right click.... I'm not so sure. Something I don't want happening is someone trying to pick something up with right-click, and accidentally starting world war 3, using up valuable ammo, and with right click to pick up, I don't think it cares if you're picking something up or actively shooting. Nor does it really care if you're changing ally AI settings. It works for the Aleryon mod; there's virtually no right-clicking that isn't shooting someone in it (which is great, since it's very much a shoot 'em up), but in Notrium where 50% of the game is you scrounging for supplies? Not so convinced.

I'm all for the android having the weapon pod upgrade for its internal weapon systems, allowing it to fire everything at once in a grand orgy of devastation, but I'd be more for having it operate as a weapon that called upon the other weapon systems and consumed their ammunition accordingly than as "free" uses of the other weapons available to it, which may not have any ammo at all. Eventually, the android will be able to produce fresh ammunition for all their weapons, and have a ball going into overdrive.

If there were thematic enough options, then I might consider alternate uses for right click, but they would have to be cool enough to make it irresistible, and still make sense. The Scavenger, for example, only has two pairs of claws, no matter what they use them for, but can easily have four separate claw weapons in their inventory at once; most of the Scavenger's higher level claws are awesome close combat weapons, with more damage, range and versatility in damage than any other race's close combat features. Four of them active at once? That's 200 damage every tenth of a second or so, in four different damage types, which most races will have at least one they aren't immune to.... Overpowered.

"OthobRithol" said:
Niggles? Quaint word. Do explain, I hope to recreate an approximation of the system to work with in testing my work and keeping it easy to integrate.

Good point(s). Well then on to plan B : Using the middle mouse button. And for those that don't have one, I will make a simple combination pair for the toolkit to swap back and forth between the wielded weapon / middle button version of the items. To comply with your ideals I'll make the wieldable default, and the mouse click version the combination.

I'd be fine with allowing an optional device to let people customise their own gameplay to their desires. Possibly by a 0 weight auto item. If and when further potential abilities that fit for other races come to light, being able to combine to pick which has the middle click associated with it would work out for people who want that action.

Since my goal is to have my work integrated into yours, rather than be a mod thereof, I will have to yield to you on this point. I'll recode what I have to simply use relevant ammo types. Saves one bar and a script anyway. I had, however, looked forward to making the Pod bar upgrades you suggested, and liked your idea of health fueled weapons.

Maximum ammo capacity upgrades should still be in the game; they'd however apply to all the android's self-replicating ammo weapons except for grenade launcher (which will always have one shell), and they will still be fuelled by the android's health to restore the expended ammo. The only different I'm enforcing is that the pod will use multiple types of ammo, and therefore more health to restore them all, not removing the features.

Speaking of yielding on a point : you mentioned at some point the android would no longer gain energy regen. I can completely understand why: with enough reactors, the android is no longer dependent on any resource (which breaks the balance). In a vain effort to keep the reactor upgrades in the game ops: , and because I think it adds to the subtlety of the upgrade system , how about a compromise? Assuming the android loses X energy per second by default, it can use reactors to reduce said usage to X/2 per second.

I'd just decided on allowing the android an equippable reactor (yes, equippable) that whilst equipped halved their energy consumption, but prevented the android from equipping other important gear. This goes with other equippable items for the other characters which will have similar effects. The android will be able to drastically reduce their dependency in return for hindering their capacity in other ways.

There will still be immobile battery generators, ones that require fuel and one that does not. The android will be able to construct superior versions of each (since he is of course, highly skilled in creating energy supplies for ship-systems), so the android will periodically have to go back to base to recharge (much like humans have to go back to Stasis Fields to Regenerate).

Otherwise, the reactors serve only as superior battery extensions, or are made irrelevant by them. That would make battery extensions the ONLY base/universal item used to "upgrade" the android. I think thematically that is a sore spot. I suppose a better battery extension is feasible, but it lacks the depth of systems integration I am trying to create. Whereas our brave Captain is scrounging for parts to make a new machine, the Engineer is scrounging to add to itself.

The android will be able to combine android circuitry to battery extemsions, creating a more efficient, dedicated power storage system from the technology that would otherwise be unable to interface with their internal battery technology. Just because the android uses the same technology as everyone else doesn't mean they can't do it in their own way.

I don't quite follow this. Four claws active at once? I was not suggesting a scavenger claws pod, but just binding one to the other button. With the addendum I made just above, you could still pull it off elegantly. It was just an example actually. Other nifty tricks that could be bound to a middle mouse (since right is wrong ) would be zoom features (toggle), a power-dodge (while held speed increases, drains something), special vision (toggle), dual mode weapons (like the missile launcher you described). One nifty use for the Stowaway (once she is a queen) would be to fire off the "baby swarm".

So... which claw would be linked? The Scavenger can have as many as four claws at once, all different types, or he can have exactly one of them greater than all the rest. That's the main problem with the Scavenger, there's simply so much potential for difference, you'd need an extra version of every single one of his claw weapons to function, and there are at least eight different claws or more. With your combination idea, I suppose Bites could be linked to middle click, which would work well for the Scavenger. I like the baby swarm idea for the Stowaway too. You've convinced me, I'll check to see what would fit the Werivar, Human and Psionic.

Some things I want to run past you before I start coding again:
1 )What weapons to include in the first-run pod? I was thinking options for: Pulse Laser, Rapid Fire Pistol ,Flamethrower, Pebble Shotgun, and Sonic Oscillator. These are all good weapons, but not the best in their class (meaning wielded weapons still serve good purpose)
2 )I assume Temperature will be using a similar token system; or will it continue as is?
3 )The caps for the android's health regen, and the value of each "token". I'll need to scale the complexity of the Repair Upgrades to compensate.
4 )Do you have a specific item(s) in mind for the lesser armor upgrade, or should I leave the recipe as is for a placeholder?
5 )Any objection to the Robot Recharge ability (carried battery charger) having an auto-use script for fuel cells when energy hits zero? Alternately, it can use "Stored Fuel", a non-breakable item made by combining a fuel cell with And. Recharge. Also thinking of adding in a battery maker upgrade(costs 100 energy, 10 health) for use in repair packs.
6 ) Hmm, come to think of it, that might be a use for the "reactors" -determining capacity of stored fuel. But that'll need a bar and extra scripts.
7 )Can I make references in journal entries to the Android calling himself Kryton, calling the Captain Lister, the Weriver "Cat", and some poor sod that didn't live "that Smeh..that Smeh..that Smeghead"?
8 )Working on the salvage turret ability:
* Combining And. Tools + broken turret(each type) = salvaged turret parts(one for each type), The combine time is currently 20, might go higher for balance.
* The token runs a series of condition 8 (random 1 in X chance) followed by effect 16 (give item) for each possible item type
* valid items are all components, not weapons (machine gun turret would give a particle accelerator, not a rapid fire pistol)
A)Currently it is used to activate, but I'd like to make it run automatically on creation. Any idea how?
B)Do you think every item should be salvageable, given that the chance of 100% salvage is likely around 1 in 1000 or more?
C)If no, what items should be omitted? Computer Units are the reason this exists (either 50% or 100%), Otherwise repair packs makes this pointless.

edited for inadvertent smilies

The token runs a series of condition 8 (random 1 in X chance) followed by effect 16 (give item) for each possible item type.
Currently it is used to activate, but I'd like to make it run automatically on creation. Any idea how?

I'm pondering how to achieve a very similar thing with random marine drops, once I have more on how to work that, I'll come out with a more comprehensive answer for this.

I'd just decided on allowing the android an equippable reactor (yes, equippable) that whilst equipped halved their energy consumption, but prevented the android from equipping other important gear. This goes with other equippable items for the other characters which will have similar effects. The android will be able to drastically reduce their dependency in return for hindering their capacity in other ways.

The android will be able to combine android circuitry to battery extemsions, creating a more efficient, dedicated power storage system from the technology that would otherwise be unable to interface with their internal battery technology. Just because the android uses the same technology as everyone else doesn't mean they can't do it in their own way.

I assume Temperature will be using a similar token system; or will it continue as is?

Temperature will likely share starvation's %-based damage, but without its regeneration halting powers. Your body isn't dying from lack of resources, it's being damaged just like anything else.

You can make all the Red Dwarf references you like, but don't be offended if they don't make it into the finished journal, they'll at least have given me a chuckle.

A Bullet Salvaged.;//--------- START OF MG AMMO ---------
    			none;//event failure text
    			none;//no sound, could get annoying
    			0;//does not vanish after event, removed at end
    			u;//normally done by script, but just in case
    			-1;//no quick key
    			begin_conditions;
				8;// occurs if random # is zero
				2;// range, 1=50%, 2=33%, 3=25%, etc
				0;// not used
			end_conditions;	
    			begin_effects;
      				16;//give item
      				72;//Bullets
      				1;//quantity
      				0;//to main inventory
      				0;//not used			
			end_effects;
		Some Bullets Salvaged.;//
    			none;//event failure text
    			none;//no sound, could get annoying
    			0;//does not vanish after event, removed at end
    			u;//normally done by script, but just in case
    			-1;//no quick key
    			begin_conditions;
				8;// occurs if random # is zero
				2;// range, 1=50%, 2=33%, 3=25%, etc
				0;// not used
			end_conditions;	
    			begin_effects;
      				16;//give item
      				72;//Bullets
      				2;//quantity
      				0;//to main inventory
      				0;//not used			
			end_effects;
		Some Bullets Salvaged.;//
    			none;//event failure text
    			none;//no sound, could get annoying
    			0;//does not vanish after event, removed at end
    			u;//normally done by script, but just in case
    			-1;//no quick key
    			begin_conditions;
				8;// occurs if random # is zero
				2;// range, 1=50%, 2=33%, 3=25%, etc
				0;// not used
			end_conditions;	
    			begin_effects;
      				16;//give item
      				72;//Bullets
      				4;//quantity
      				0;//to main inventory
      				0;//not used			
			end_effects;
		Some Bullets Salvaged.;//
    			none;//event failure text
    			none;//no sound, could get annoying
    			0;//does not vanish after event, removed at end
    			u;//normally done by script, but just in case
    			-1;//no quick key
    			begin_conditions;
				8;// occurs if random # is zero
				2;// range, 1=50%, 2=33%, 3=25%, etc
				0;// not used
			end_conditions;	
    			begin_effects;
      				16;//give item
      				72;//Bullets
      				8;//quantity
      				0;//to main inventory
      				0;//not used			
			end_effects;
		Some Bullets Salvaged.;//
    			none;//event failure text
    			none;//no sound, could get annoying
    			0;//does not vanish after event, removed at end
    			u;//normally done by script, but just in case
    			-1;//no quick key
    			begin_conditions;
				8;// occurs if random # is zero
				3;// range, 1=50%, 2=33%, 3=25%, etc
				0;// not used
			end_conditions;	
    			begin_effects;
      				16;//give item
      				72;//Bullets
      				16;//quantity
      				0;//to main inventory
      				0;//not used			
			end_effects;
		A Lot of Bullets Salvaged.;//
    			none;//event failure text
    			none;//no sound, could get annoying
    			0;//does not vanish after event, removed at end
    			u;//normally done by script, but just in case
    			-1;//no quick key
    			begin_conditions;
				8;// occurs if random # is zero
				4;// range, 1=50%, 2=33%, 3=25%, etc
				0;// not used
			end_conditions;	
    			begin_effects;
      				16;//give item
      				72;//Bullets
      				32;//quantity
      				0;//to main inventory
      				0;//not used			
			end_effects;------ END OF MG AMMO --------
		

"OthobRithol" said:

New Ideas:
-------------

In a wave of medication/illness induced delusion I came up with almost a "store" (but don't let that anti-thematic notation dissuade you) that would accurately be called the "Industrial Replicator".
*It uses an alternate inventory to hold its interface
*It is accessed by a plot object (computer terminal graphic) constructed from many parts (I'd want it to be one of the more complex combinations trees in the game)
*There is only one in the game, with the first piece in the hermit's hut: A heavy (100ish) housing. He had one (explaining how he is still alive) but it is broken
*Alternate location is inside the missile base, with the other wreckage.
*When right-clicked, the machine opens the alternate inventory.
*All items are zero-weight
*The "Store" inventory holds its stored supplies, and entries for each item it has data on.
*Each item entry has two hot keys, generate and recycle
*Upon generation, an item of that type is added to the player's main inventory, and the materials removed from "Store" inventory
*Upon recycle, the entry checks for its presence, removes it and adds to the stored materials (at a loss, perhaps 50%)
*The base unit only knows how to make a handful of items
*New items can be added to its list via a system like the refinery chips, use of a food replicator chip etc
*Energy and Health could be used to fuel it as well : Insert Appendage entry and Transfer Energy entry. Painful and expensive.
*If moveable, one entry would Pack it Up for Transport: Drop the inventory version (exceedingly heavy) and destroy the plot object. This is possible because everything is actually in the player inventory, just in a place they can't access.
*Technically, there can be multiple units, by using multiple inventories, but I think one is enough.
*Alternately, you could use this to just rework the current refinery system (since ores will be gone, and the system was unwieldy)
*Entries are easy to make: just copy the original item, remove all its uses/conditions/effects/combinations, set weight to zero, and add in the two controls.
*For added complexity and balance controls, multiple materials could be added to separate item types (Food is made up mostly of Organics, and thus cannot be made from recycled computer units. I'd suggest: Organics, Common Elements, Rare Elements and Radioactive.

How are you planing on making sure the player does not have too many health or energy regen tokens. When making the android self-repair upgrades, I am having trouble preventing A) the basic from working over 5, and B)either from working over 10. The best I can do is to have two to four hidden items or scripts (likely items in this case to keep them all together in one lump). The first checks if you have 5 tokens, and if so drops the hidden marker that blocks the basic. the next checks for 10, and if so drops the marker that blocks the advanced.

As you can see, I am keeping the two-tiered upgrade system going, so that to be at its peak, the android must have access to the prism crystals. Which, by the way is making the ultimate upgrade completely obsolete.

"OthobRithol" said:
I did it just the other way around, but the way you suggested is shorter in code lines overall.
Armor won't need proxy tokens, since it is a bar, and can be set with a maximum. Armor upgrades check themselves directly against the bar, and add directly to it.
I'll use the same system in modeling the enviro upgrades

I can understand the desire to get away from me

Anything I can do to take the load off? I have just about finished everything I set out to do.