so, for the packs that add technologies (and gives items from those technologies) would it be possible to give an option to make those technology-unlocks optional? or maybe even MORE costly?
Reasoning: you give the player items from these technologies but it's sorta cheaty---although makes the game more enjoyable because you don't have to GRIND so much with a stone pick or take 30 minutes to get a bunch of burner miners or a few steam generators running science....Say, perhaps the player found these pieces of hardware on the planet, but don't fully understand them, and must research how they work before making more. Or, due to the player getting a headstart, they must pay extra to research the items once they run out (probably BEFORE they run out) so they can make more.
The idea of making the technologies COST more is to give the initial benefit some balance for those who may feel averse to just adding a bunch of mods to make the game quick and easy. The more stuff the player receives early on, the more those technologies may cost? IDK.

what is your take on this idea?

Done and updated.

I don't wish to play with tech costs as that would overlap with other mods out there which do a much better job at that. Sorry!

that's fine. was just an idea :)
i actually prefer playing without the early grind, but also don't want to feel like it's too overpowered, and the simplest solution was to say "okay, you can have some robots, belts, etc. now, but if you plan to use much more than this, you still have to pay for the research"

Yea, honestly this started as just a compatibility replacement for the original quick start mod, I don't mind adding more features that are being requested as long as it stays within the scope of this mod.

I think my next step would be to make the power armour independent of the set being selected. So you can start off with the MK2 power armour and still have the basic grind in the game. Thoughts?