[MT] Analyze Those Chips!
Analyze those chips and summon those mechs!
[i]Important note: the 'Summon Those Mechs!' feature has been found to make it impossible to draft mechanitors. If you're planning to play a colony that will eventually have a mechanitor, please turn off this setting and restart Rimworld. You can also toggle this option off on an ongoing save, and in my brief testing this corrected the drafting bug and showed no other unexpected drawbacks.
I am sorry for the inconvenience. I am currently working on resolving this issue, and if I don't find an immediate solution, I'll push an update to default that optional setting to OFF.[/i]
Analyze Those Chips!
The core function of the mod: you no longer need a mechanitor to analyze the chips dropped by mechanoid bosses, and mechtech research can be started in colonies without a mechanitor. These changes are done via xml patching and should be very compatible, but are also completely reversible if there's a conflict.
Summon Those Mechs!
[i]Currently in a broken state: when enabled, the player cannot draft a mechanitor pawn.[/i]
'Summon Those Mechs!' is an optional feature that removes the mechanitor check from summoning bosses through the comms console and mechband buildings: now any colonist can summon a mechanoid boss.
This feature is optional, and is currently enabled by default. If you don't want this feature (since it is currently broken), toggle it off and restart the game. It is recommended to make changes before starting a new save, but this feature can be disabled on an ongoing save, but will still require a game restart.
I haven't noticed any weird behavior from disabling the feature mid-save, but I doubt it's not without its risks, so I make no guarantees.
Disclaimers
This mod's scope is not intended to affect anything related to gestating or maintaining colony mechanoids - that's still the mechanitor's job, and you will still need one if you want to use those features of the DLC.
If you're planning to run a colony that has a mechanitor, this might not be the best mod for your needs (and not simply because one half of the mod is broken currently). This mod's features are only really 'conveniences' if you have a mechanitor, as it only removes a few bits of busywork from their workload. But for colonies that don't have one - or don't want one - this allows them to fight the mechanoid bosses and progress through the mechtech tree.
Compatibility:
The scope of this mod was centered around fighting mechanoid bosses without ever getting a mechanitor colonist, and might overlap or interfere with mods more catered to mechanitor playthroughs, or mods that also alter the chips, research projects, and the raiding quest.
Pre-emptive Q&A
"Why?"
'Robot racism' is the easiest answer. Maybe you run a colony that hates everything mechanoid, and so will never entertain installing a filthy mechanoid chip into their brain - even if it allows them to start waging war against the most powerful enemies in the mechhive.
In general, though, I just think it's an unnecessary and arbitrary obstacle to a pretty fun part of the game. And like how a toddler might repeat swear words they overheard or were taught to seek attention, your colonists don't need to know 'why' specific signals enrage the ancient mechhive - they just need those signals to work. And since the mechhive already hate anything fleshy, it should not be so difficult to draw the wrath of their deadliest units.
"Just use the mechanitor transponder - it comes free with your starting tile!"
No.
"But getting a mechlink is easy!"
No.
"You're being--"
Yes, I am.
