Imperial Restraining Order
What it do
This mod prevents the Shattered Empire faction from the Royalty DLC interacting with you in any meaningful way. They will not raid you. The number of quests generated by them should be severely limited. The number of settlements generated for them will be severely limited. Empire-specific items will be available to purchase from exotic goods traders and outlander settlements.
Why make this?
Why not just exclude them when making a new game? Glad you asked! Some mods, such as The Dead Man's Switch by the wonderfully talented AOBA, add custom factions with their own honor, title, and permit systems. Due to a hardcoded issue with the game, it is impossible to open the permit menu for that faction unless the Shattered Empire faction has a settlement present on the world map. Depending on the specific theme you're going for, they might stick out like a sore thumb. If you befriend them, they send trade caravans and generate quests, which wastes opportunities for caravans and quests from the faction you actually want to interact with. If you become hostile to them, they will send raids after you, potentially preventing raids from the factions you actually want to be fighting.
This quick patch solves both of those problems as well as adding certain empire-only items, like techprints and eltex gear, to exotic goods traders.
Compatibility
It technically is "compatible" with VFE - Empire, however it would essentially softlock any progression, so I've marked it as incompatible.
Should be compatible with just about everything else.
In theory it [i]should[/i] be safe to add and remove mid-game, but I did not test that extensively.
For best results, install mod before starting a new game and do not remove it.
Future Plans?
This mod is as complete as it can be with my capabilities. As far as I can tell, there is no way to completely prevent the empire being selected as a faction for quests while also keeping functionality of the permit menu. If any coders want to take up the challenge, feel free.
Bugs?
Let me know in comments
Credits
Paint(dot)net - used for the stunning thumbnail
Rimworld Wiki - telling me how patches work because I forgor
Estrogen - actually making my life feel like it's worth living
