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[Deprecated] Custom deepchem deposits — a Vanilla Chemfuel Expanded patch
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Mod, 1.4
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12 Aug, 2023 @ 12:00pm
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[Deprecated] Custom deepchem deposits — a Vanilla Chemfuel Expanded patch

Description
This version is now deprecated.
From now on, please use the new one instead.

 

In VCE, one deepchem deposit yields a colony 18000–36000 chemfuel, which is enough fuel to power 66–132 chemfuel generators (66000W–132000W of power) for a year. This mod rebalances the amount of deepchem found using a ground-penetrating scanner to 240–480 chemfuel per deposit and allows it to be changed in the settings. Essentially, a patched deepchem deposit is a researchable infinite chemreactor that scales with a colony’s roster of research specialists (more on that below).

Important notice: this patch won’t change existing deposits, only new ones.

Here’s why it’s (hopefully, better) balanced:
  1. A colony has other sources of power or chemfuel.
  2. Refineries and pumpjacks are temporary power sinks that work fast.
  3. Ground-penetrating scanner becomes very effective at finding deposits when a pawn operating it has high research speed[rimworldwiki.com]. A pawn with level 10 in intellect finds ~4 random deposits every 10 days (and specifically ~4 deepchem deposits per year); a pawn with level 20 finds ~8 random deposits every 10 days—in other words, while you probably won’t have all that much chemfuel once you get all the necessary research done, your late-game colony eventually will.
  4. You can have multiple ground-penetrating scanners.
  5. You might be playing a research-centric Ideoligion.
  6. You might be using Better Ground-Penetrating Scanner or some other mod that affects the progression curve.
  7. Having too much of stuff affects wealth, and wealth attracts unnecessary attention.
  8. A colony can profit from less than a thousand chemfuel.

As a side note, storage tanks were also changed: since deepchem to chemfuel conversion is fast, deepchem storage tanks now hold a mean amount of one underground deposit (120) to force an expansion when deepchem is hoarded, and chemfuel tanks were made consistent with vanilla shelves (1350).



The MIT-licensed source is available on GitHub[github.com].
13 Comments
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J  [author] 11 Apr, 2024 @ 1:43pm 
As of 1.5, this version is now deprecated. From now on, please use the new one instead.

This wasn’t a good attempt at rebalancing VCE; with 1.5 here, it’s the right time to reflect on what didn’t work and deliver something better. I also exposed more constants.
CTH2004 15 Aug, 2023 @ 6:56am 
@J

Precisly!
J  [author] 14 Aug, 2023 @ 6:30pm 
@123nick:
>Have you thought about making a balance patch for the Beacon, from VFE Classical? right now, it can instantenously (doesnt even need a pawn to get to it, like the comms console) summon massive friendly reinforcements, without costing any reputation. its one use and has a 3 day cooldown, but its fairly cheap and 3 days is nothing since how often do you get 2 massive threats within 3 days.

No plans at this time. @Oskar Potocki and @legodude17 are very active on Workshop, I think it would be best if you asked them about it over at Classical’s comment section. They do listen to feedback, it’s just that they’re often very busy with all the things that they’re doing.
123nick 14 Aug, 2023 @ 5:43pm 
Have you thought about making a balance patch for the Beacon, from VFE Classical? right now, it can instantenously (doesnt even need a pawn to get to it, like the comms console) summon massive friendly reinforcements, without costing any reputation. its one use and has a 3 day cooldown, but its fairly cheap and 3 days is nothing since how often do you get 2 massive threats within 3 days.
J  [author] 14 Aug, 2023 @ 3:09am 
@CTH2004:
>Well, I need that 30k chemfuel! After all, what else am I supposed to detonate?

>And, I need to save some to be able to quickly get rid of prisioners, so they don't talk about the stuff that may (or may not) happen!

That’s fair! War crimes on the Rim aren’t going to do themselves.
CTH2004 13 Aug, 2023 @ 7:18am 
Well, I need that 30k chemfuel! After all, what else am I supposed to detonate?

And, I need to save some to be able to quickly get rid of prisioners, so they don't talk about the stuff that may (or may not) happen!
J  [author] 12 Aug, 2023 @ 10:05pm 
1/3 @The Blind One:
>Don't you need to build the deep chem pumpjack and infrastructure stuff to access it though? Seems like you'd be wasting more resources on building the infrastructure than the chemfuel is worth or am I missing something here?

The whole infrastructure is 670 steel (plus pipes that are cheap), 8 components and -900W total if you don’t count the ground-penetrating scanner that’s useful for other stuff too. Pumpjack can be moved to new deposits without rebuilding it—it’s a long-term investment of 150 steel and 4 components. Since we’re talking about mid-game, it’s possible that other parts of the chain are also going to be build only once.

If you’re mainly interested in how much can be made on trading, let’s say the total cost is ~800 steel and 8 components with a market value of 1776 silver—you’ll start profiting after getting 772 chemfuel or roughly 2 underground deposits.
J  [author] 12 Aug, 2023 @ 10:05pm 
2/3 @The Blind One:

-900W of power are covered by 1 chemfuel generator (+1000W) that eats 270 chemfuel per year (or zero if you use another source of power). The deepchem to chemfuel conversion is fast (takes 10–20 in-game hours depending on the size of an underground deposit), so that power loss of -900W will only be a thing for several days per year. Fill up the storage tanks, convert deepchem, turn everything off untill you scan for another underground deposit.

So let’s say you find 2 deepchem deposits every year (a pawn with level 10 in intellect can do that), that’s extra ~720 chemfuel per year, you’ll then eventually get at least one infinite chemreactor (450 chemfuel per year), you’ll upgrade your researchers to find 3–4 or even more deposits per year—the number of spare chemfuel will snowball. Not to mention that chemfuel production can be occasionally supported with biofuel refineries and boomalopes.
J  [author] 12 Aug, 2023 @ 10:05pm 
3/3 @The Blind One:

Either way, there’s no right or wrong way to express yourself through modding, so I think the numbers come down to your in-game goals and what kind of run you’re currently doing. Let me know what you think!
J  [author] 12 Aug, 2023 @ 9:59pm 
@Rinzler0001:
>Well, I say it's a nerf... it is, but it isn't. At least the way I interpret it.

Pretty much. Pre-patch, you find a deepchem deposit once and it sets your colony up with enough chemfuel to last until late-game and beyond—unless you play an endless colony, it’s very difficult to go through 18000–36000 of chemfuel. With these numbers and after researching the ground-penetrating scanner, you never have to worry about chemfuel ever again; might as well just spawn it with development mode.

Post-patch, you’ll still want to have an infinite chemreactor, you’ll still have to choose if you want to search underground for, say, plasteel or deepchem, you’ll still have to choose how you spend your fuel—all the interesting in-game choices are still there.