Companion Drones 2.0: Remnant's Protocol

A standalone fork of Companion Drones (based on the mjlfix 3.1.2 build) rebuilt around one goal: Autonomy with character.
- The PREVIEW of 2.X. version has been released!

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 (more in FAQ), and I'm actively working on it in my own free time!
Expect borked stuff or unoptimized performance in some cases! Expect that the next patch could rewire some Companion content in your existing save within this mod! (It won't corrupt your save. Your save is always secure; Factorio handles this well. Some companion-related context, however, can migrate or disappear, showing a spooky message at your next save load.)

What it is

A companion is a flying drone that follows you, carries its own fuel and cargo, and works on build orders or attacks enemies when they are near.

There are four of them so far, each unlocked on the planet it comes from. Atlas is where everyone starts. The other three are a step above him, but not above each other - each is built for a different job.

Atlas is your humble companion on Nauvis. It builds, it repairs, and it fends off what wanders in. Nothing it does is exceptional, and it is the only companion you have for a long time.
Flora is grown on Gleba. She spits acid and loves hunting nests and worms before anything that moves. She builds nothing and repair packs do nothing for her, she heals herself instead. You'll love to have her!
Volt is assembled on Fulgora. Specializing in building and crowd control, carrying a lot of shield, but his chain lightning barely scratches anything. Neat bodyguard!
Aegis is cast on Vulcanus. He has a huge health pool, fires one enormous rocket every few seconds, and pulls enemies off the rest of your fleet onto himself. A true tank for your battles.
Drone 5 is not here yet. It comes from a world where nothing lives, and where cold and the sea are the only authority.
Drone 6 is not here yet either. It comes from the place where nobody knows what happened. Only theories are left.

Volt and Aegis also carry equipment that buffs you, the player, in various ways.

This mod works with or without the Space Age DLC. Most of the drones come from its planets, so without the DLC you get a stronger Atlas and everything he does, and the rest simply do not show up. Nothing breaks either way. Neat, right?

Autonomy, with a dash of story

Autonomy here means you hand over the goal and keep none of the method. It shows in two places: the work you give them, and the fights they end up in.

The work

Give a companion a large deconstruction order or a blueprint and it will work through the entire thing by itself.
The components for build orders are fetched from your inventory, so keep them on you. A drone can only restock while it is near you.

They follow you by default, but a job you actually gave them outranks that. Walk off and do something else, it will be done when you get back.
It comes back to you when its cargo is full or it has run out of what it is building, then picks the same task up again.
Several companions on one task split it into strips and each sweeps its own, instead of re-treading each other's routes. One that finishes early moves on to the next strip along, so the task ends as one clean sweep.
Opportunistic on the side: a stray ghost, something marked for deconstruction or a damaged building near you gets handled while they follow you.

The fight

They do not go looking for one. What starts a fight is you walking up to it, so your drones will not wake a nest you were trying to walk past. Once it starts, each of them reads the threat and picks its own answer.

Something that chases them gets kited, but only once they are actually losing health. Giving ground to a biter that has not hurt anyone or hurts too little costs damage for nothing.
Something that stands still and shoots, like a worm, gets circled instead of stared down.
They keep to the outside of a nest instead of walking into the middle of it - smart repositioning.
When several of them are in the same fight, they stay close to each other. One drone alone in a crowd does not last long.
They come back to finish a nest, and they patch each other up while fighting, as long as you stay near.
If you get hurt, every armed companion breaks off and comes to you, then goes back to work. Player life conservation at all costs.

The story

Your drones remember where they came from. Atlas arrives with a message, every other drone introduces itself the first time you build it, and they react to each other. As you move through the tech tree, Atlas has more to tell you.

None of it gets in your way. It is there for the ones who read the chat.

Equipment and progression

Every companion has a small equipment grid, so you choose what it carries:

Reactor - powers everything else. One per companion.
Shield - takes the hits before the hull does, and recharges.
Roboport - lets it build, deconstruct and repair. Higher tiers reach further.
Weapon - every companion has its own: Atlas a laser, Flora acid, Volt chain lightning, Aegis flux rockets.
Player support - Volt and Aegis only. It buffs you, not the drone. One per companion.
Carapace - Flora only. She heals faster.

Progression is one straight line for each companion: research the drone, then its equipment tiers one after another. Every tier is crafted from the tier below it, so you climb MK1, MK2, MK3 in order. Flora is different - you craft her gear once, and it grows into the next tier by itself.

General research on top makes all your companions tougher and burn less fuel, and lets you field more of them. You start with 3. With Space Age research takes you to 4 for now (5 in the future), and without Space Age to 5.

Your first companion starts with a reactor, a shield and a roboport, so it works from minute one. The weapon you research and build yourself.

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 if you want the mod to do less work per tick. Companions then react a little slower.
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.
Two weapons in one companion: a second weapon adds only a little damage for now, and none at all on Flora and Volt. Put something else in that slot until this is fixed.
Update interval setting: if you raise it, the fastest weapons (like Volt's) fire a bit slower.
Icons are experimental: some of the equipment and research icons are here to try things out and to get your feedback. If you imagine them differently, open a thread in the discussion and tell me.
Multiplayer: the player buffs from Volt and Aegis apply to everyone on your team, not only to the owner. Companions can also act a bit strange with more players around. For example, they pick up building and deconstruction work from other players near their owner, even from players who have no companions at all.

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