[DEVBLOG#262] Vanilla Temperature Expanded

Hey folks and welcome to a development blog outlining our focus for Vanilla Temperature Expanded.

A lot of people have always told me that they love my smaller, more focused Vanilla Expanded mods. You know, the ones that take a very narrow slice of the game and sufficiently expand it. For example, Vanilla Nutrient Paste Expanded is a super popular mod simply because it's a very narrow in scope modification that only aims to deliver what's on the box, and nothing more.

As such, a new contender enters the arena: Vanilla Temperature Expanded. My goal with that mod is to expand the temperature-control solutions in the game by providing a selection of new coolers, heaters, AC system and a slight overhaul to how the temperature works.

The mod will feature three major pillars of content:

• Air Conditioning system
• New cooling and heating solutions
• Proxy heat

Lets take a look at the air conditioning system.

A new internal resource is added for the central heating system called Efficiency. It’s not pumpable, it’s not extractable, it’s more like a variable that affects how efficient the system is.

Each device connected to the same AC network counts towards the max number of devices connected. Player can construct AC Condensers to increase the maximum amount of devices supported by the network. Other structures also increase that number - for example a Climate Pump installed on the Steam Vent.

Technically speaking, there is no limit to how many devices the player can connect to one network. However, if the amount of AC units connected exceeds the MaxACDevicesConnected, this will affect the Efficiency, which in turn affects the power drain of every single device in that specific network.

The formula is as follows:

Each AC Unit above the MaxACDevicesConnected lowers the Efficiency by 5% and increases the power drain of all devices in the network by 5%.

This means that if the network has, for example, 2 AC Condensers and 10 AC Units, the efficiency of the network will be 70%, and the power drain of all devices will be increased by 30%.

If the Efficiency at any point reaches 0%, the system seizes to work. The following overlay should then appear on all devices in the network:

The inspect panel of all connected devices in that network should say: ‘Cannot work: Not enough compressors connected.’

Efficiency can actually go higher than 100%. If the number of AC Units is lower than MaxACDevicesConnected, it reduces the power drain of AC Units by 1% for each MaxACDevicesConnected - ACUnit count, but the lowest it can decrease the power drain is 50%.

AC STRUCTURES

This mod introduces a number of new structures, explained below.

AIR DUCT

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• Type: Building – Temperature
• Market Value: 2 Silver
• Beauty: -2
• HP: 80
• Flammability: 70%

Building

• Size: 1 × 1
• Minifiable: False
• Placeable: True
• Passability: standable
• Edifice: false
• Terrain Affordance: Light

Creation

• Required Research: Air conditioning
• Work To Make: 35 ticks
• Resources to make: Steel 1
• Deconstruct yield: nothing

This air duct pipe network connects all AC units with AC Compressors and an AC Control Unit.

A new deconstruct Air Duct gizmo should also be present in the same tab.

AC CONTROL UNIT

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• Type: Building – Temperature
• Market Value: 840 Silver
• Mass: 60 kg
• HP: 200
• Flammability: 100%

Building

• Size: 2 × 2
• Minifiable: True
• Placeable: True
• Passability: pass through only
• Cover Effectiveness: 50%
• Terrain Affordance: Medium
• Power: -200 W

Creation

• Required Research: Air conditioning
• Skill Required: Construction 8
• Work To Make: 12,000 ticks
• Resources to make: Steel 80 + Silver 100 + Gold 20 + Component 6

This unit is required for the network to operate, and allows the players to dictate what temperature to keep on all connected AC Units.

Without an AC Control Unit, the system will not work and will display an overlay icon showing the lack of the AC Control Unit on all AC devices. On inspect panel, devices not connected to AC control unit should say: ‘Missing AC control unit.’.

If there is too many AC Control Units connected to one network, the system will also stop working and will display an overlay icon showing a warning that two AC Control Units are connected. On inspect panel, devices connected to two or more AC control units should say: ‘Connected to more than one AC control unit’.

AC Control unit has following five gizmos that allow the player to specify the ideal temperature for all connected AC units. This information is then applied to all connected devices and informs them whether they should be heating up the rooms they’re in, or cooling them down.

• Gizmo label: -1C (Network)
• Gizmo description: Decrease the target temperature of the AC network.

• Gizmo label: -10C (Network)
• Gizmo description: Decrease the target temperature of the AC network.

• Gizmo label: Reset
• Gizmo description: Reset the target temperature of the network to room temperature.

• Gizmo label: +1C (Network)
• Gizmo description: Increase the target temperature of the AC network.

• Gizmo label: +10C (Network)
• Gizmo description: Increase the target temperature of the AC network.

These gizmos should work the same as the gizmos on a cooler/heater.

The AC Control Unit itself has an indicator informing the players about the efficiency of the system. It’s embedded in the art itself.

This progress bar should decrease as the efficiency of AC lowers. It should also change color to more red as the percentage goes down.

AC UNIT

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• Type: Building – Temperature
• Market Value: 290 Silver
• HP: 100
• Flammability: 70%

Building

• Size: 1x1
• Placeable: True
• Cover Effectiveness: 75%
• Terrain Affordance: Medium
• Power: -100 W
• Heat Per Second: -21/21

Creation

• Required Research: Air conditioning
• Skill Required: Construction 5
• Work To Make: 1,600 ticks
• Resources to make: Steel 120 + Component 3

Works similar to a cooler, except it does not push out heat at the back. Instead, it pushes out either heat or cool air down the front of it, depending on the desired temperature.

The inspect panel should show the desired temperature and should show whether the AC unit is heating, cooling or maintaining temperature.

By default it is connected to the network. This means that it will take the desired temperature from the connected AC Control Unit, and then it will either heat up or cool down the room to achieve the desired temperature.

Without an AC Control Unit, the system will not work and will display an overlay icon showing the lack of the AC Control Unit on all AC devices. On inspect panel, devices not connected to AC control unit should say: ‘Missing AC control unit.’.

If a player wants to unlink a specific AC unit from taking the desired temperature from the AC Control Unit, a gizmo exists that when pressed will unlink the device.

• Gizmo label: Unlink temperature
• Gizmo description: Unlink this AC unit from inheriting desired temperature from the system.

When unlinked, the AC unit should get gizmos that let the players change the temperature, in a similar way Cooler has it.

The gizmo then changes into the following gizmo:

• Gizmo label: Link temperature
• Gizmo description: Link this AC unit with the system, inheriting the desired temperature.

Linking the AC unit again will change the desired temperature to that from the system.

Similar to a Cooler, AC unit has two states of power consumption, high and low:

• An AC unit that is actively cooling/heating consumes 100W (high power).
• If the target temperature is reached, an AC unit consumes 10 W (low power).

WALL-MOUNTED AC UNIT

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• Type: Building – Temperature
• Market Value: 245 Silver
• HP: 60
• Flammability: 70%

Building

• Size: 1x1
• Placeable: True
• Cover Effectiveness: 75%
• Terrain Affordance: Medium
• Power: -100 W
• Heat Per Second: -21/21

Creation

• Required Research: Air conditioning
• Skill Required: Construction 5
• Work To Make: 1,200 ticks
• Resources to make: Steel 80 + Component 3

Functions identical to the AC Unit, however it needs to be placed on a wall.

The ‘exhaust’ slot needs to be unoccupied for it to work.

Everything else is the same as an AC unit.

AC COMPRESSOR

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• Type: Building – Temperature
• Market Value: 180 Silver
• HP: 100
• Flammability: 70%

Building

• Size: 1x1
• Placeable: True
• Cover Effectiveness: 75%
• Terrain Affordance: Medium
• Power: -50 W
• Passability: Pass-through only

Creation

• Required Research: Air conditioning
• Skill Required: Construction 5
• Work To Make: 1,200 ticks
• Resources to make: Steel 60 + Component 1

Effect:

MaxACDevicesConnected: +2

AC compressors are required in order to increase MaxACDevicesConnected of the system, thus affecting the efficiency of it.

They need to be placed outside. If they are placed inside, they will stop working, and will display the following on the Inspect panel:

‘Not working: Needs to be placed outside.’

• If they are not working, they are not increasing MaxACDevicesConnected of the system they are connected to.
• If they are unpowered, they are not increasing MaxACDevicesConnected of the system they are connected to.
• If they are connected to more than one AC Control Unit, they display the special overlay and not work.
• If they are not connected to any AC Control Unit, they display special overlay and not work.

It should emit a low hum, similar to geothermal plant.

LARGE AC COMPRESSOR

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• Type: Building – Temperature
• Market Value: 180 Silver
• HP: 100
• Flammability: 70%

Building

• Size: 2x2
• Placeable: True
• Cover Effectiveness: 75%
• Terrain Affordance: Medium
• Power: -100 W
• Passability: Pass-through only

Creation

• Required Research: Air conditioning
• Skill Required: Construction 7
• Work To Make: 1,200 ticks
• Resources to make: Steel 110 + Component 2

Effect:

MaxACDevicesConnected: +5

AC compressors are required in order to increase MaxACDevicesConnected of the system, thus affecting the efficiency of it.

They need to be placed outside. If they are placed inside, they will stop working, and will display the following on the Inspect panel:

‘Not working: Needs to be placed outside.’

• If they are not working, they are not increasing MaxACDevicesConnected of the system they are connected to.
• If they are unpowered, they are not increasing MaxACDevicesConnected of the system they are connected to.
• If they are connected to more than one AC Control Unit, they display the special overlay and not work.
• If they are not connected to any AC Control Unit, they display special overlay and not work.

It should emit a low hum, similar to geothermal plant.

In future devblogs we will cover the new heaters and coolers, as well as what Proxy heat is and how it works. I am actually very excited for this mod and I hope it will provide natural progression in terms of temperature controls, without actually complicating the game.