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Childrens Books

Note: While Biotech isn't required, it is highly recommended as most of the content is locked behind it. If you use this mod without Biotech you're basically just getting coloring books.

Adds coloring books with vanilla, and children's books with Biotech. While reading them LearningRateFactor is increased with Biotech installed. Children's books can only be read at length by children, teens and adults will quickly become bored trying to read them, but pawns can read them to babies. On top of that teens and adults can now read them to children as bed time stories, and pawns can make art of themselves reading to babies and children. Coloring books can be read by anyone and have higher recreation and learning rates vs novels or children's books, but reading them will lower their hit points until they are "fully colored in" and become trash. Any trader that sells novels should also sell 0-1 of each of these books. Check the settings, I added several.

Notes about reading to baby:
Reading pawn need to be able to see and talk, baby needs to be able to hear
Baby play rates are increased by books learning rate
Teens and adults will get recreation like other play types, but isn't affected by books quality
Kids with reading learning desire get learning, increased by books learning rate
Fires from play with baby under Childcare work, and kids will do it to satisfy reading learning desire.

Notes about Bed Time Stories:
Pawns will do as Childcare work when a child is in a bed with less then 35% rest and no story thought
Gives child a story thought based on the quality of the book for 18 hours, when it runs out it's replaced by an invisible grace period thought for 5 days, then a negative "no bed time story" thought for 30 days, kind of like withdraw. 1st thought will replace the other 2 so just keep reading bed time stories to your kids, or else they will be sad.
If child has reading learning desire they will get learning while listening
Teens and adults will get recreation with book joy bonus, so another way for them to actually read them


Mod Support/Compatibility:

Vanilla Books Expanded - Adds Recipes to VBE benches, both use research speed stat. Children's books use Social skill, coloring books use Artistic.

Books from Paper - VBE recipes are patched to use paper, dye, and leather.

Surrogate Mechanoid - Mechs can read to babies and children, I may add a setting to disable this if I can find a good way to do it.

Toddlers - No Issues reported, passed basic testing

Young at Heart Trait - Teens and adults with trait can read children's books without getting bored

Combat Extended - No patches needed, no issues reported, passed basic testing


To do:
Add setting to disable Mechs being able to read
Clean up how the math works and try to explain it better to the end user
Rule packs need sorted out better, this mod is up to 8 defs that have them
Better textures, current ones are just the vanilla textbook textures recolored in an art program

Feel free to make suggestions, or volunteer for anything on the to do list


GitHub Link [github.com]
(CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) [creativecommons.org]