Expanded Productivity Research

This mod adds technologies for increasing the productivity of all intermediate recipes, similar to other mods like Productivity Research For Everyone. Where it differs, however, is that it groups recipes that produce the same item into one technology. For example, you will get one technology for increasing the productivity of all solid fuel recipes instead of four separate ones. This is especially useful in combination with mods like Vanilla Galore or Space Age Galore.

Additionally, research is staggered. Similar to how mining productivity, you can unlock the first level of productivity as soon as one recipe is unlocked and it only requires automation and logistic science packs. The next level adds chemical science packs, then purple science packs and so on until the final level which is infinite and repeatable. Pre-existing productivity technologies are adjusted to follow the same logic (can be deactivated).

Lastly, the progression is completely configurable and is, by default, different for science pack recipes.

Version 1.1

With version 1.1 I added functionality to allow more productivity techs than just for intermediate recipes and the ability to overwrite my internal blacklist of recipes/items. This can be configured in the settings. For example, techs could be generated for intermediates and ammunition recipes and module recipes. Or you allow everything and then manually specifiy a long list of exceptions. Also, the mod groups some non-intermediate recipes into one tech, e.g. all types or magazines and shotgun, or all modules of one type. Feedback is appreciated.

Version 1.2

With version 1.2 I added functionality to allow multiple levels per "tier" of science. Meaning that there could now be several levels with only automation and logistic science packs being required (but with increasing cost), which are followed by several levels with automation, logistic and chemical science, and so on. This can be adjusted with the setting "Levels per tier" which defaults to 1. Costs should be dynamically generated to give a "nice-ish" increase in cost until the first "infinite" level is reached which has the costs as defined in the settings.

Version 1.3

With version 1.3 I made it possible to combine EPR with mods that add productivity to all recipes without it clogging up the tech tree. The mod now stores all recipes before they get changed and therefore knows what was an intermediate before. For best effect, it needs to run directly before the mod that changes productivity, which means the other mod would have to add this mod as a dependency. Nevertheless, some gaps for modded recipes might occur and would require manual fixing with the white- and blacklist.

The second new feature is the ability to customize the scaling of costs for the "finite" levels. Before, the mod tried to give a smooth progression from 0 to whatever the first "infinite" level costs. Now, you can select whether costs should rise linearly or exponentially (i.e., start lower, but increase more later on) or even put in a custom scaling. Between each tier, levels are linearly interpolated with some rounding to make smoother numbers.

The third (minor) feature is that the mod now ignores outputs which are not affected by productivity (like filling and emptying barrels). Those technologies wouldn't have had an effect in the first place.

Lastly, you can now change how much of a productivity increase each technology level gives.

Mod compatibility

The generation of technologies is dynamic and should be flexible enough to be compatible with most mods right out of the gate. However, other mods might need to be flagged as optional dependencies if they add/change recipes in the final phase of initialization.

Where the mod will struggle is for recipes with multiple "main" products or where the "main" product is not the first result. Additionally, mods that remove science packs will most likely break the progression.

New science packs or lab types will be ignored by default.

Fully compatible mods

Partial compatibility (i.e., works, but does not make full use of all features) or to be checked

Secretas & Frozeta
Moshine
Muluna, Moon of Nauvis
Krastorio 2 - the progression of EPR clashes with K2's philosophy of early tech cards getting phased out later. It will work, but lead to research where you still need low-level tech cards for infinite research.
Krastorio 2 Spaced Out - as K2, but additionally, it will crash with "Adjust existing productivity techs" active.

Incompatible

none known

How it works

The mod scans all existing recipes that allow productivity and picks the first item as the main product. For each distinct main product, a series of technologies is created which increases the productivity of all recipes with that "main" product.

The first level of the technology requires the "lowest" technology that unlocks at least one of these recipes and requires the same science packs. The next level adds a new science pack and so on, until the full array of science packs required is complete, at which point the technology becomes infinite.

For example, heavy oil is the first result of advanced oil processing, coal liquefaction and simple coal liquefaction. The first level is unlocked right after advanced oil processing and requires automation, logistic and chemical science (default configuration). The next levels add production science, space science and finally agricultural science.

With version 1.1 I added settings to also consider some or all non-intermediate recipes. They work just like the intermediate recipe, except that some are grouped together, like all assembling machines being affected by one single tech, rather than one for each machine. This is done according to personal preference and how useful I consider the items. For example, you usually craft each armor type only once, so I see little reason to have productivity on these recipes. But if you do, one tech for light armor productivity, one for heavy armor, and so on, seems excessive to me.

How to configure

There are two sets of settings, one for "regular" intermediates and one for science pack recipes. Both work analogous and can be set to the same values for a uniform progression.

The cost factor and cost base determine the research cost formula, which is FACTOR ^ level * BASE. The default is 1.5 and 1000 which matches the Space Age techs (1500, 2250, 3375, etc.).

The cost of non-infinite levels is based on the chosen progression. Linear scaling means that the numbers are simply interpolated between 0 and what the first "infinite" level of the technology costs. Exponential scaling starts slower and means larger increases later on, which is closer to the cost of many technologies in the base game. All numbers are rounded somewhat to make for cleaner numbers (e.g., 100 instead of 116). If a technology has fewer tiers, because it requires additional science packs for even the first level, the cost is analogous to what it would cost, if it didn't require any science packs at all. For example, by default, the automation+logistic tier costs 200, then 300 for chemical science, then 400 for production science. If an item requires production science to research, the first level starts with production science and requires 400, not just 200.

Levels per tier can be used to generate more than one technology level before the next science pack is added. For example, you might have five levels requiring only automation science, then another five which require automation and logistic science followed by five level which additionally require chemical science, and so on. The cost of each level is a (rounded) linear interpolation between the previous and the next "tier".

You can change how much bonus productivity each level provides. The default is 10%.

Infinite tech and maximum level can be used to limit the maximum available technology level, since productivity is capped at 300% (barring other mods that change this). Or if you simply prefer to have a custom limit on the productivity gained by this mod.

Minimum and maximum required science packs determine where a technology can earliest be available and at which point it becomes infinite. The technology will never start at a lower level than is needed to unlock its first recipe. E.g., even if you set minimum to automation science, advanced circuit productivity will require logistic science as well, since the recipe is unlocked by a red-green technology.

The setting "One Planetary Science" means that the infinite level requires one of metallurgic, electromagnetic, agricultural or cryogenic science pack in addition to all lower packs. The pack is chosen based on the most prevalent recipe-type (e.g. smelting for metallurgic science). "Any Planetary Science" adds all packs that apply based on recipes (and may need multiple), but not necessarily all of them. "All Planetary Science" combines the four into one "level".

As is the case in the base game/Space Age, military and utility science can be ignored from productivity technologies. They will still require these packs if the recipe-unlocking technology needs them (as is the strange case of coal-productivity, because coal synthesis is unlocked by rocket turrets).

Next, "adjust existing productivity technologies to follow the same progression" does exactly that.

You can include or exclude some recipes or items from being considered by this mod with black- and whitelists.
The whitelists ignores all other settings, like hidden recipes, non-intermediates and even the blacklists.
If an item is on the whitelist, all of its recipes are included, even if other settings would prevent it. If you only want some recipes added, manually specify them in the recipe section.

Lastly, you can specify which recipes will be considered by the mod. By default, only intermediates (i.e., all recipes that allow for productivity modules) are considered, but you can additionally include recipes for ammo, modules or tiles (landfill, concrete, etc.) or even the full list of recipes.
If you're also using a mod that adds productivity to recipes, you can activate the option "Cache intermediates at the start?" to try to circumvent every item generating a tech, even when selecting "intermediates only". This is not 100% fool-proof and may require manual black- and whitelisting.