Companion Drones 2.0: Full Autonomy

A standalone fork of Companion Drones (based on the mjlfix 3.1.2 build) rebuilt around one goal: the companion should finish what you give it, on its own, without babysitting.

This is a standalone replacement & an alternative to the other mentioned mod. Do not run it alongside the original or any other "Companion Drones" mod.

This mod is STILL BEING DEVELOPED, and I'm actively working on it in my own free time! Expect borked stuff or unoptimized performance in some cases!
- As it is now summer, I will be taking a couple of vacations and then catching up with work that's going to pile up. You can expect longer delays between updates for the time being.

What it is

The companion is a persistent, upgradeable flying drone that follows you, builds/deconstructs/repairs/upgrades anything a construction robot could, manages its own inventory and fuel, and can defend itself in combat. A companion that's meant to help you - it's meant to be handed work and left alone.

Autonomy, the headline feature

Give the companion a large deconstruction order or a blueprint, and it will work through the entire thing by itself:

Explicit tasks like this are exempt from the normal "stay near the player" leash - the companion won't abandon a big job just because you walked off to do something else.
When cargo fills up, it automatically flies back to unload, then resumes the same task afterwards instead of getting stuck standing in the middle of a forest.
When several companions work the same task, it's automatically divided into sections. Hence, each companion sweeps its own part in an orderly pattern instead of overlapping or duplicating each other's routes. A companion that finishes its section early moves on to help whichever section is furthest behind.
When a companion is working on a task and is weaponised, it will rush towards you in case the player is hurt - to check up on you and defend you. Then it flies away to resume tasks.
Basically vanilla drone on steroids and in-game depth.

Everything not covered by an explicit task is handled as such: the companion opportunistically picks up nearby construction/deconstruction/repair work as it follows you around, within a leash range that keeps it from wandering off on its own.

Equipment and progression

The companion starts fully equipped and ready to work immediately - no crippled, boring vanilla start. From there, every piece of its gear (roboport, shield, laser, reactor) has its own standard four-tier upgrade path, from cheap starter gear all the way up to serious late-game equipment unlocked through research. So the companion keeps getting meaningfully better as you progress and doesn't become irrelevant.

Researching vanilla's infinite "Follower Robot Count" technology also raises how many companions you're allowed to have at once (starting from 3).

Customization

Toggle construction/deconstruction or combat independently, via shortcut buttons or (unbound by default) keybinds.
Turn the companion's idle chatter on/off, or adjust how often it speaks.
Raise the update interval to trade responsiveness for performance if you're running several companions at once.
Choose whether it burns its best or worst fuel first.

Known issues / Feedback

Feedback is appreciated: Have you encountered a bug? Would you like a feature to be added? Write it down on this modpage in discussions and I'll get to it as soon as possible.
Combat is still evolving: the companion now repositions during fights and defends you when you're attacked, but combat behaviour is newer than the construction side of the mod and hasn't been battle-tested as thoroughly, though I tried my best with testing. Feedback on both (de)construction/battle behaviour is appreciated a lot!

Notes for other modders

The dialogue system reads locale sections dynamically; line 0 of a section must be the integer count of lines in that section. Repeat a line to make it more likely to be picked.

Credits

Original mod and much of the core logic by Klonan
kubiixx, MrJakobLaich and Maoman - for coming in with "Companion Drones for 2.0" and their updated codebase
Forked, adjusted, fixed and maintained by Wearo