ASM: Reduced Station Clutter

Built and tested for the 2.2 update.

If you use NSC2, use this version instead: Reduced Station Clutter (NSC)

• Removed random mineral, energy, and research deposits from spawning.
• Added 3 dynamic starbase buildings for collecting minerals, energy, and research.
• Starbases may now build 6 buildings in total, with 2 available as an Outpost.
• Strategic Resources and Orbital Trade Value deposits not affected.

Do you avoid clicking on individual star systems because you fear the abrupt, visual gore of 9 mining and research stations cluttering up your otherwise picturesque system view? Do you mindlessly build mining and research stations like a bored automaton? Do you fail to get exited when your science ship researches an awesome anomaly, only for the result to be a +3 mineral or energy deposit? If you’re like me, you said yes to all three of these sagacious questions.

This mod’s primary goal is to reduce the cluttering gore that otherwise inconsequential mining and research stations add to a system view. It also is intended to reduce the micromanaging of construction ships, which I thought fit nicely with the updated changes for 2.2. Anomolies that add deposits to a celestial body now feel truly special. For example, no longer do toxic worlds just give random society bonus deposits unless there’s a plausible explanation, such as the drifting shadows anomaly event.

This mod centralizes orbital mineral, energy, and research production to the local starbase. This mod adds three dynamic starbase buildings that can be built: 1) Mining Terminal, 2) Hauler Hangars, and 3) Stellar Observatory. Two of these can be built immediately when the starbase is just an outpost. The AI will also prioritize and build these buildings as well.

This mod does not touch strategic resources or trade value deposits.

There are four classes of the Mining Terminal and Harvester Hangar building, each with increasing mineral or energy yields, upkeep costs, and construction times which dynamically change based on what planets the system has. Just like mining and research stations, these yields will increase with the new technologies that add +10% bonus to orbital station yields as well as leader bonuses, such as Space Miner.

Mining Terminal: Counts barren, rocky asteroids, and molten worlds. For every mining planet or asteroid in the system, the mining terminal will gather an additional 0.5 minerals.

Hauler Hangars: Counts stars, gas giants, toxic planets, frozen worlds, and ice asteroids. For every energy planet or ice asteroid in the system, the hangars will produce an additional 0.5 energy. For every star in the system, an additional 1 energy is produced.

Once a hauler hangar and/or mining terminal has been built at the local starbase, and the technology Zero-G Refineries has been researched, two new building options will appear on any colonized planets in the system. These buildings can only be built on one planet per system. Once built, they can be upgraded with the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th tier technologies after Zero-G Refineries and if the system has enough energy/mineral planets to gather/mine from. Each building adds additional specialist pop jobs: Cosmo Miners, which gather minerals, and Gas Haulers, which gather energy.

Like minerals and energy, random engineeing, physics, and society deposits have also been removed. Special systems (such as the Dragon’s Horde) has been left untouched. Anomalies will still add deposits, making those discoveries actually feel special. There are starbase buildings that primarily produce physics, which should make up for the lost research stations. The physics output bonuses increase if the starbase is orbiting one or more "crazy" stars like neutron stars or pulsars.

Stellar Observatories

• Stellar Observatory – Produces 1 physics research.
• Binary Stellar Observatory – Produces 2 physics research.
• Trinary Stellar Observatory – Produces 3 physics research.
• Quadruple Stellar Observatory – Produces 4 physics research.

For every pulsar or neutron star, an additional +2 physics research and +1 engineering research is added to the building’s yield bonus. This building may not necessarily be valuable or worth the slot, unless in a particularly interesting binary or trinary system. This was done purposefully, as 2.2 toned down the number of random physics deposits. The vanilla starbase building, Black Hole Observatory, can also be built separately and its physics research bonus will stack with one of my stellar observatories if there is a second or third non-black hole star in the system.

Additionally, for every habitable or unqiue world (infested, shrouded, ring world, habitat), the System Observatory produces +2 society.

• Crew Quarters must be built manually now.
• Nebula Refineries now benefit from the tech that grants bonuses to mining station yields.
• Orbital Mining & Research Mandates now only require 1 station to be built to be fulfilled.
• Orbital Stations now use alloys, instead of minerals, to build. The AI budget has been adjusted to account for this change.

Altered Vanilla Files:

• 00_starbase_buildings.txt (prevents building vanilla starbase buildings in outposts)
• 01_orbital_deposits.txt (prevents the spawning of random deposits)
• 00_starbases.txt (adds starbase buildings to the outpost)
• 00_starbase_types.txt (tells the AI to actually build the buildings)

Built-in Compatibility:

• Planetary Diversity: Gatekeeper’s Ammonia, Methane, and Hothouse worlds count as "energy" planets.
• Real-Space 3.2: Annatar’s rare or dangerous stars count as "crazy stars" for the stellar observatory physics & engineering bonuses. Quadruple stars yields additional physics for stellar observatories.
• Guilli’s Planet Modifiers 2.2: Disable the Planetary Rings Option on the start up menu.

Compatibility Patches:

• New Ship Classes 2: If you use NSC2, you can use this version of my mod instead: ASM: Reduced Station Clutter (NSC)

Got feedback? Cool deal! I am particularly interested in the balance of minerals and energy with the new 2.2 update. I tried my best to match the general average of minerals and energy that the vanilla system would typically create randomly. See a bug or quirk? Let me know.