Right now, Zulser just contains the conveyor belts, as seen in the videos (5 wood; craftable by a level 4 carpenter). I have plans to expand the mod however. I’d like Zulser to
- be a mod about automatisation, machinery and all that fuzz without leaving Stonehearth’s setting too far behind.
- The conveyor belts are the first part of it. They allow moving of items much faster than doing it by hand, while having some limitations. The AI is still work in progress; expect some minor changes there. I’ll need to see how people use them to make proper adjustments, too. Currently, they’re quite fast, and not very bright.
- I’m not sure if things like auto-crafting will be added, because I feel like that’s something that can’t be really done in SH’s setting. However, I have some other ideas that add possibilities for other machines, especially in the theme of “going the extra mile”.
- A machine won’t be just a machine either. I’ve got plans for them.
- contain some sort of very simple energy network. It’s going to be easy to use and fun on top of that.
- Easy to use: If you’ve played Cities Skyline, that’s about the kind of energy network that I’ll use, simplified.
- Fun: Machines may draw power, but there’s so many different ways to produce or store energy. Giant springs? Mammoth in a rotating wheel? Why not?
- add components and services that makes interaction with the machines/energy network rather easy.
- of course, the whole energy business comes to mind - which will likely be modelled after some cruel mix of Minecraft’s systems (TE/RF, IC/EU, BC/MJ, AE).
- another thing could be the conveyor API. For example, conveyors could be used to feed items directly into a machine, or take produce from a machine and deliver it close to/into a stockpile.
- maybe adds new gameplay/mechanics
- Besides the automation and energy stuff of course. There’s a few ideas floating around, but nothing too concrete right now.
I probably won’t work full-time on this mod, so it’s more of a pet project that I’ll revisit from time to time.
And now, back to RepeatFeed.