The payload unlock is a bit weird, or I don't understand something :-)

At least it seems that when you unlock the payload you cannot yet do anything useful with it yet, you first need todo another research?

Perhaps the atomic warhead and rocket control units should be unlocked together with the payload?

Hello again!

I believe my original intention (as I am still trying to think through how to do this) was for it to be a literal payload vehicle for customizable payloads, as in, you (the player) would more or less load a payload vehicle into a rocket-silo rocket, along with whatever the payload vehicle should deliver to the target destination; or something thereabouts, as I haven't settled on an approach/implementation.

That all said, I've actually only created specific payloads so far (Rods from God, Jericho, and Mjölnir) - so yeah, I do admit in hindsight that it is a bit weird at the moment.

Thinking I will likely move the payload vehicle to be unlocked with each potential recipe unlock that would require it, for the time being (i.e. researching any of the following - Rods from God, Jericho, Mjölnir - would unlock it).

Hello again, hope all is well. Just wanted to provide a follow-up if you (or anyone else) are curious:

I've managed to figure out/settled on an approach/solution for abstracting the payload, such that it should be more generic, and in theory, should allow for any ammo/capsule as a potentially deliverable payload, in addition to the explicit ones already created.

That is, the payload vehicle will have a small (configurable) inventory of its own. Ammo/capsules can then either be manually placed in the payload-vehicle, or can be automated through the use of a new building I'm currently referring to as the "Payloader" (a reskinned/repurposed assembling-machine-3): it will take in a payload-vehicle and a given ammo/capsule, and then will output the payload-vehicle with that ammo/capsule placed in the payload-vehicle's inventory. A payload-vehicle can then be loaded into a rocket-silo, and launched as usual; the contents of the payload-vehicle will then be delivered to the targeted location.

That said, while I do have most of this working presently at least from a technical standpoint (finishing up the Payloader functionality is the remaining primary task), I have no idea how long it will take to implement the remainder and work through any issues along the way - hoping for sooner than later.

tldr; The payload-vehicle will have a dedicated use to allow for generic payloads to be delivered with the next feature version (expected to be 0.9.0).

With the release of version 0.9.0, the above has been implemented, and the payload-vehicle should now have a proper use.