Changelog

Version: 2.5.31
Date: 2026-09-29
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed a player in mech armor getting stuck in the air when a
      companion was right underneath them.

Version: 2.5.30
Date: 2026-09-28
  Features:
    - Added a fifth companion drone, Prism, unlocked on Aquilo. It has huge
      health, shield and strong resistances. It fires short bursts of white
      laser light at up to 4 targets at once with MK1 equipment, and up to 6
      with MK2.
    - Prism's roboport heals any hurt player inside its range, and the
      healing uses the drone's own power. A green beam shows who is being
      healed.
    - Prism's equipment is crafted mostly from lithium plate.
    - Added three general upgrades for Aquilo, shared by every companion:
      Survivorship bias (+200 health, +1 flat and +2% to every
      resistance), Complex aerodynamics (+25% fuel efficiency) and
      AI-driven protocols (+1 companion limit, up to 5).
    - Added two upgrades only for Prism: Prismatic convergence and
      Advanced cryogenic doctrine.
    - Prism says a few words the first time you build it, and reacts to
      the other companions you already have.
    - Atlas says a few words when you discover Aquilo.
    - Added an optional overlay in the bottom-right corner that shows each
      of your companions with its name, health, shield and fuel. When a
      companion dies, its row shows DESTROYED for 15 seconds. It is on by
      default and can be turned off in the mod settings ("Show Companion
      HP overlay").
    - Aegis stays on a Demolisher: it circles the creature's head and keeps
      firing, and follows it further from you than it would follow other
      enemies. More lore-accurate Aegis.
  Changes:
    - In the crafting menu, every companion now has its own row: the
      drone first, then its equipment.
    - Every weapon in a companion's grid now fires on its own, so each
      extra weapon adds its full damage.
  Balancing:
    - Companion weapons now fire exactly as fast as their numbers say.
      Before, most of them fired extra shots on top, so Atlas, Flora, Volt
      and Aegis deal less damage with one weapon than before.
    - Aegis fires one shell every 5 / 4 / 3 seconds (MK1 / MK2 / MK3).
    - Volt's coils fire every 13 / 11 / 9 ticks (MK1 / MK2 / MK3).
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed a crash when a companion came back to you with a full cargo.
    - Companions now hand back their whole cargo, whatever its size.
    - Companions no longer leave a broken copy of themselves behind when
      the ship warps (Warp Drive Machine by MFerrari, 1.4.3, Factorio 2.0).

Version: 2.4.35
Date: 2026-09-25
  Balancing:
    - Atlas now has 4 equipment slots instead of 3 with Space Age.
    - Atlas's reactors give more power (MK1 0.6 MW, MK2 1.875 MW), so
      they can power a full grid of 3 roboports.
    - Improved chassis now gives +100 health, +1 flat and +5% to every
      resistance (was +20 health, +1 flat and +1%).

Version: 2.4.34
Date: 2026-09-25 (Preview)
  Info:
    - The mod is renamed from Companion Drones 2.0: Full Autonomy to
      Companion Drones 2.0: Remnant's Protocol.
    - Loading a save from 1.2.2 works, and your base and progress are
      untouched. Your companions survive with their name, colour and
      inventory. With Space Age their MK3 and MK4 equipment does not
      survive, because those tiers only exist without Space Age.
      Companion health was also rebalanced, so an existing companion
      comes back with the same fraction of a smaller pool. If you had
      more companions than the new limit allows you keep them, you just
      cannot build more until you are back under it.

    - This update adds:
    - Three Tier 2 companion drones: Flora, Volt and Aegis.
    - Their own companion research line.
    - A line of general upgrades shared by every companion.
    - Reworked and improved combat behaviour for every companion.
    - A way for companions to repair each other during combat.
    - A new damage type, Flux, specific to this mod.
    - A new player support equipment.
    - A much stronger Atlas for games without Space Age.
  Features:
    - Added a second companion drone, Flora, unlocked on Gleba, focused
      on combat against enemy nests, which she prioritizes. She has very
      large health and no shield. She cannot be repaired, but
      regenerates health continuously and carries light resistances, and
      cannot construct anything. She attacks with acid spit that deals
      acid damage. Her equipment cannot be replaced once installed: only
      the first tier is crafted, later tiers grow on their own over time
      if researched.
    - Added a third companion drone, Volt, unlocked on Fulgora. He
      attacks with chain lightning that arcs from his target to nearby
      enemies, and every arc briefly stuns, slows and knocks back what
      it hits, for modest damage per hit. He has large health, a very
      large shield, light resistances, slow health regeneration, and can
      be repaired. He can build with a long construction range. His
      equipment is replaceable.
    - Added a fourth companion drone, Aegis, unlocked on Vulcanus. Aegis
      has a huge health pool and some shield with him, tankiest of all
      the tier two companions. He fires guided rockets loaded with Flux
      that inhibits enemy regeneration for a short time, dealing 'true'
      damage. Aegis has a slow but exceptionally high burst damage.
      While fighting, if the player or other companions are hurt beyond
      a threshold, Aegis will create an unbearable shockwave, taunting
      nearby enemies to attack Aegis. He cannot build, but his internals
      are swappable and can be repaired.
    - Aegis stops taunting once his own health runs low, so he does not
      die in an automatic death-loop triggered by his own behaviour.
    - The original companion is now named Atlas. With Space Age, its
      equipment line goes from four tiers down to two (MK1/MK2). Atlas
      is now the weak, unspecialized starting drone - no resistances,
      but fully repairable, with every tier craftable and replaceable.
      He'll help you build and fend off early attacks, but don't expect
      much from him - he's your first companion, after all.
    - A new class of companion equipment that buffs you instead of the
      drone carrying it. The bonus applies for as long as that companion
      is alive, wherever it is. Volt's makes you move and hand-craft
      faster; Aegis's raises your health and the damage of your own
      weapons and of the vehicles you drive. Only one fits in a
      companion, and a second companion carrying one does not stack with
      the first - the better of the two is what counts.
    - Companions that can construct now carry repair packs in a
      dedicated slot and repair other companions/buildings, including in
      the middle of a fight, more smoothly. Only companions able to be
      equipped with a roboport have this special slot.
    - Without Space Age, Atlas is your only companion, so he is built much
      stronger. He has 500 health and real armour, room for five pieces of
      equipment, 20 cargo slots and 3 fuel slots. His equipment goes up to
      MK4: MK3 needs production science, MK4 needs utility science. Each
      laser tier is made to beat one size of worm, and outranges the
      smaller worms. His general research gives a lot more, and a second
      Command Bandwidth research raises your limit to 5 companions.
    - When you load a save that was last played with a different Space
      Age setting, a notification tells you what changed for your 
      companions.
    - Your first companion is no longer just there when the game starts.
      A minute after you land you pick up a strange signal, Atlas tells you
      a little about who he is, and then he flies in to join you.
    - Flora, Volt and Aegis each introduce themselves the first time you
      build one. They tell you a bit about themselves and their world, and
      they react to the other companions you already have.
    - Atlas now comments on your progress through the tech tree, starting
      when you research space science.
    - Three new general research techs shared by all drones: Command
      Bandwidth, Lean Burn, and Improved Chassis.
    - Technology tooltips for this mod now show the exact numbers each
      research grants. Every description was rewritten to say what the
      drone actually does, what it is good and bad against, and what
      each equipment tier is worth - to guide the player better.
    - Every companion technology is now connected in the research tree
      to the research that unlocks each science pack it costs, so the
      tree draws a line to the technologies properly.
    - Give one order to several companions and they now split it into
      strips, one strip each. They sweep their own strip instead of
      crossing each other and doing the same spot twice. A companion
      that finishes early takes the next strip along, so the whole
      order ends as one clean sweep.
    - Introduced improved combat behaviour with priorities and
      self-preservation methods. In short - companions no longer run off
      during a fight, they stay in a group, and they act differently
      against different threats.
    - In a fight each companion picks the answer that fits the threat.
      It backs off from something chasing it, but only once it is really
      losing health. It circles a worm instead of standing in front of
      it, at the furthest distance its weapon still reaches. When
      neither fits, it stands its ground and shoots.
    - A companion commits to a nest or a worm and comes back to finish
      it. It keeps to the outside of an enemy base instead of walking
      into the middle, and it fires from the side where it is least
      exposed.
    - Several companions in the same fight stay close to each other
      instead of drifting apart.
    - A companion stays within a distance of you that grows with its
      weapon range. At the edge of that distance it runs along it
      instead of getting stuck against it, so it keeps fighting and
      never wanders off across the map.
  Optimizations:
    - Fighting with several companions at once no longer costs framerate
      the way it used to.
    - Handing a large blueprint or deconstruction order to several
      companions costs less framerate than it used to, and the cost no
      longer grows with the size of the order.
  Balancing:
    - Equipment tiers are now built out of one another: an MK2 needs a
      finished MK1 of the same piece, an MK3 needs an MK2. A top tier
      cannot be crafted straight from raw materials once it is
      researched, and what you pay in total for a tier is the same
      either way.
    - Your companion limit no longer grows from researching vanilla's
      "Follower robot count" - only from this mod's own research.
      (Current maximum is 4 companions in the field with Space Age, and 5
      without it; more will come with future updates.)
    - Companion weapons now use a real amount of energy from the reactor
      for every shot. A full equipment grid still has enough power.
    - The "can't support any more companions" message now tells you if
      more research will raise the limit, or if you have reached the true
      maximum.
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed a companion's death sometimes permanently costing you a slot
      in your companion limit with no visible cause - over a long game
      this could quietly shrink how many companions you were able to
      field.

Version: 1.2.2
Date: 2026-07-19
  Info:
    - This patch gives the companion real combat awareness: it
      repositions during fights, avoids standing in fire or acid, and
      comes to your defense when you're attacked.
  Features:
    - Companions now keep their distance from enemies while fighting
      instead of standing still or drifting in close - higher-tier
      equipment lets them hold a farther, safer range.
    - Companions steer clear of fire and acid on the ground instead of
      standing in it and taking repeated damage.
    - When you're attacked, nearby armed companions break off whatever
      they were doing and rush to your defense, then return to their
      previous task once the threat is gone.
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed companions sometimes not resuming their construction job on
      their own after a fight ended.

Version: 1.2.1
Date: 2026-07-12
  Info:
    - This patch focuses on stabilising Companion work and sharing its
      work load between other Companions.
  Features:
    - Multiple companions working the same large task now divide it into
      sections and work them in an orderly pattern instead of overlapping
      and re-treading each other's routes.
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed companions occasionally zig-zagging across the whole task area
      instead of making steady progress.
    - Fixed a crash that could occur on certain existing saves after
      updating the mod.

Version: 1.2.0
Date: 2026-07-09
  Info:
    - This patch adds tiered equipment progression (MK1-MK4) and
      rebalances combat and roboport range around it.
  Features:
    - Companions can now be equipped with four tiers of gear (MK1-MK4) for
      their roboport, shield, laser, and reactor. MK1 is cheap and needs no
      research; MK2 is the free starting loadout; MK3 and MK4 are further
      research-gated upgrades.
    - Laser damage and range now scale with tier, and lasers stop
      overkilling nearly-dead enemies.
    - Max companions now increases with the "Follower robot count" research
      instead of being capped at 3.
  Changes:
    - Removed unused leftover equipment tiers.
    - The "can't support another companion" message now points to the
      right research.
  Balancing:
    - Roboport range and shield capacity/recharge are tuned so stacking
      multiple copies of the same item can't make a companion absurdly
      far-reaching or unkillable.
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed companions hovering near a job without starting work, caused by
      a mismatch between "close enough" and the equipped roboport's actual
      range.

Version: 1.1.0
Date: 2026-07-07
  Info:
    - This patch fixes the companion abandoning large tasks partway
      through and removes the old difficulty system.
  Bugfixes:
    - Fixed the companion abandoning or "forgetting" large tasks
      (deconstruction orders, blueprints) before finishing them.
    - Explicit tasks are now worked through unattended, without needing the
      player to stay nearby the whole time.
    - Large tasks are no longer truncated to the area around the player's
      position at the moment the order was given.
    - Fixed "islands" of untouched entities being left behind within an
      otherwise-finished task.
    - Fixed a full cargo hold causing the companion to freeze mid-task; it
      now reliably returns to unload and resumes the same task.
    - Fixed a resume loop where the companion endlessly circled between the
      player and an already-finished or unreachable job site.
    - Task selection now prefers proximity over arbitrary order, reducing
      "indecisive" hopping between far-apart parts of the same task while
      closer work is available. Not fully resolved yet.
  Changes:
    - Removed the challenge/forgiving/combined difficulty system entirely.
    - The companion now always starts fully equipped with a single,
      consistent set of recipes and stats.

Version: 1.0.0
Date: 2026-07-07
  Info:
    - Initial release of this fork.
    - Initial standalone fork of Companion Drones 2.0, based on the
      mjlfix 3.1.2 build.