Bad news: You crash-landed on a planet infested by hostile natives.
Good news: You managed to put 'er down in the only secure area!
The Safe Start mod can surround your Nauvis starting area with a perimeter canal, protecting you from enemy expansion, and/or a tree buffer to contain pollution. Biters will be cleared from the safety zone (achievements unaffected). Customize the number of chunks out from the spawn point to protect as well as the canal width, plus some other goodies.
Updates:
0.12.0: Added setting to rotate the chosen shape between -45 and 45 degrees. Has no effect on the 'circle' shape. Removed 'diamond' shape (same as a square rotated 45 degrees). Future shapes will also support rotation.
0.11.2: Added setting to include essential rocket-launching resources inside the safety zone if not supplied by the map.
0.10.8: D'oh! Removed a setting for 'rotation' that was in the prior release. It's not ready. Will return in a future release.
0.10.7: Performance improvements. The mod now does it's work at the beginning of a new game then completely shuts itself down to preserve UPS. The mod now pre-generates the canal before the first tick, meaning even if you never explore out to the perimeter it will still be there. This prevents aggressive biter settings from expanding into the area before you are ready, which could happen in the previous version. Crude oil tiles have higher yields and are not water-adjacent to allow for pumpjacks.
Known Issues:
- There will be a slight temporary drop in UPS (5-10) in the first few seconds of a game as the affected chunks are processed.
- The larger the safety zone, the longer the initial map load time. A 100x100 area could take a minute to start and then another 10 mins to fully process. If you're using a large safety zone please be patient. It's a one-time tradeoff for better performance for the rest of the game.
Unknown Issues:
- Have not tested adding to existing saves
- Have not tested in multiplayer
- This is for Nauvis only - starting on other planets has not been tested
- Can not guarantee compatibility with your mods
Future Plans:
- Shape rotation for more interesting starting areas
- More shapes like hexagon, star, etc.
- Rock/cliff perimeters for a more rustic feel
Inspired by the Moat Mode mod by LiterllyAtlas.
Disclaimer: This is my first mod. I'm sure there are some bugs (the irony). I'll do my best to fix and improve this mod based on feedback.