I've looked into this, and I've come to the conclusion that a Vulcanus start isn't really possible with this mod.
In this mod, solar panels ARE conduits. The whole point is that the sun is gone. That means you really need steam power unlocked to be able to power your base, and a single starting conduit to kickstart sulfuric acid production. APS doesn't allow this, and puts steam engines behind automation science packs. This could be fixed with some tech tree rearrangements, but that's not something I want to do be doing on my side.
Basically, APS Vulcanus start would need to:
- Start the player with a single conduit, (solar panel)
- Move steam engines back to pre-automation science,
- Either start the player with wood for power poles, or move medium power poles from solar panel tech to steam power tech,
- Revert automation packs needing solar panel tech, and remove the research trigger for solar panels (This fixes the tech loop)
Though I wouldn't be surprised if a sunless Vulcanus start is out-of-scope for APS. I'm not really sure who's mod should be handling the compatibility in this sort of situation, I'm almost tempted to write up a third mod to add support between the two but that seems a little extreme.