Very interesting mod, enjoying it a lot so far. Quite creative! A few notes:

1. The extremely low stacking of carotenoid feels punishing. A couple times I've repositioned underground belts with it and it's left me with a huge amount of stacks to deal with. Is there some gameplay reason this can only stack to 5?

2. Overall I found getting started on the planet to be quite difficult. Some challenge is good of course! And I forgot to look in the "tips and tricks" section, which would have helped me. A couple specific thoughts/suggestions:
   a. Having ALL normal resources locked in the vaults might be a bit much? I would consider putting one "normal" resource with regular availability - maybe iron ore, water, or sulfur could be mined. Alternatively, maybe offer a "free void" mechanic like on Vulcanus.
   b. Is the intended way to get iron from recycling the ammo from mining intruder remains? If so, possibly calling that out more?
   c. The vaults are a bit confusing to interact with. Somehow I ended up completely destroying the vault access consoles on all of the vaults near me. This leaves behind a vault that seems completely unusable? Suggestions:
   i. Make access consoles indestructible, or at least remove the vault if the console is destroyed.
   ii. The "shoot the console with a gun armed with the key" concept is really interesting but counter-intuitive and I'm not sure it adds much. Maybe regular insertion would be fine?
   iii. The way the vault console's "health" works (essentially the timed access) seems unclear. Maybe this could be clearer with a progress/crafting bar more like consuming fuel?

3. The bunny hop interface is a bit confusing/seems a bit buggy. Is there a way to cancel out of it? The "build up kinetic energy" concept is cool but the process overall is a bit involved.

4. It really feels like this is one of the best planets to use trains/rails on! I love that because most of the other planets I've visited the resources are all very close by and trains are just silly. Maybe this could connect better to the machining assembler - what if it could produce rails and/or locomotives?

5. Speaking of machining assembler - it's maybe a bit too difficult to get high quality energetic concrete. My suggestion would be allow the vaults to accept quality modules.

6. Haronite plates - I'm not even sure how you're supposed to make these. Ammonia/ammoniacal solution can't be barreled. I'm importing N2 rich minerals from Cerys. Am I missing something?

Thanks for the fun mod!

OK, N2 rich min extraction can only be done in Fulgoran cryo (on Cerys) so I see no way to get ammonia to Rabbasca.

Also, one more note about the vaults - it's a bit hard to see my active hacked vaults on the map. Maybe some kind of automatic marker?

One last thought - a really interesting way to extend this mod would be to use a similar "multi surface" concept to Maraxsis, where we actually get to delve down into the vault somehow. This could require the higher level access cards and have more difficult enemies, requiring the player to really bring their military A-game.

Hey, thank a lot for the feedback!
1) Yeah, agreed, had this happen a lot too. I guess it would make sense to increase.
2a) Well, that's kind of the gimmick with this planet. You get circuits for free from the lakes, although needs a few assemblers I guess.
I have decided against a free void mechanic mainly because of the free circuits recipe giving you trash and that would be a simple workaround. Might change in the future though, still thinking about that one.
2b) The scrap is really limited and only supposed to get you started. So yea, possible for sure, but not intended in a way that I want players to specifically do that.
2c) Hm interesting, there are reasons for why they are destructible separately, but it should not be easy to accidentally kill the console. Will look into that and make it more robust. "Shoot the console" is sadly the way it has to be done without making this more complex, I would love to have it just a recipe (it was in the past)
3) Yes, open the map. It also says so in the shortcut's tooltip. Maybe not clear enough though.
4) Cool, that was one of the thing I was looking for when making this :) Yeah, have thought about that, too. It doesn't quite fit its theme though but might be worth re-considering.
5) Huh, I thought they would accept quality modules. Would make sense for sure.
6) As the tech says [WIP], this is not done yet and 0.8.0 will change the recipe completely. But the idea was (and still is) for this to be a lategame challenge that involves sending stuff between different planets. I am still trying to get it balanced but the way I think it will work that it requires recipes with different
surface conditions.

Thanks for the fun mod!

Thanks! Glad you enjoy it so far :)

Maybe some kind of automatic marker?

Interesting, will look into this. I think they also vanish on the map currently for some reason, which is not great. Maybe a bright color is possible only when captured.

a really interesting way to extend this mod would be to use a similar "multi surface" concept to Maraxsis

Yeah, I had this thought, too. I agree this could be interesting. Would be more of an adventure kind of thing in my mind though (opposed to building a factory inside etc.), so it would need to give rewards that are not required in large scale. Need to think about this more. Maybe something for a 1.0.

2c) Hm interesting, there are reasons for why they are destructible separately, but it should not be easy to accidentally kill the console. Will look into that and make it more robust. "Shoot the console" is sadly the way it has to be done without making this more complex, I would love to have it just a recipe (it was in the past)

I'm playing with bobs mods (among many others) and have about 10 personal laser defense 6. With a lot of damage upgrades. Basically if I spend more than about half a second near the console, it dies.

3) Yes, open the map. It also says so in the shortcut's tooltip. Maybe not clear enough though.
Just opening the map does not seem to clear it. However, if I open up another planet in remote view it does clear.

Yeah, I had this thought, too. I agree this could be interesting. Would be more of an adventure kind of thing in my mind though (opposed to building a factory inside etc.), so it would need to give rewards that are not required in large scale. Need to think about this more. Maybe something for a 1.0.

That's sort of what I was thinking; not necessarily another area to build in.

OK, some further testing and frustration. I spent a lot of time trying to get the warping tech going. It was extremely difficult to get the pylons to spawn and then capture them.

I think the biggest problem is that they are a "rare spawn" (or at least were in my game, even playing with the alert level/hack). There's also no particular alert of "hey, warp pylons spawned here". So I'm running around the map and seeing a lot of purple concrete patches. It's hard to diagnose why my design isn't working because I am not there when it fails. When I came back with a more robust design and built up slowly 1 vault at a time, the pylons just refused to spawn for over an hour.

One possible change would be to make capturing one the trigger tech but then allow the player to build further ones themselves.

It seems like the interplanetary cargo landing pad can only be built on Rabbasca. Is this the intention? If so, why would I ever really need more than one of these things? (They are automatically made in pairs).
Possible Suggestions
1. Make the ICLP the same as Vulcanus' foundry - only creatable on Rabbasca but can be placed on any surface.
2. If the intention is to limit the warping source to just Rabbasca, don't allow the player to craft a bunch of ICLPs. Maybe it's not crafted at all - it's a defunct structure found on the planet that the player repairs (similar to Cerys mechanics)
3. If you really want it to be a crafted item only usable on Rabbasca, make the recipe more expensive and time consuming (not joking) and only buildable in the assembly machine. That suggests to the player that they only need one.

There also seems to be a hidden cooldown on the bunny engine. That is, if I try to use it again too quickly, it just refuses to trigger (no "you must wait to use that" type message)

There's also no particular alert of "hey, warp pylons spawned here".

Sounds like a good idea, will add that. Maybe they should also take longer to despawn, be more durable etc.

One possible change would be to make capturing one the trigger tech but then allow the player to build further ones themselves.

Yeah, this is currently planned for 0.8

(They are automatically made in pairs)

I can see this being confusing, though about having it craft just in normal assembler because of this. You definitely only need one. I guess the upside is that the second one can be recycled to get some warp cores back. But not an ideal solution. The issue with allowing them on multiple surfaces is that I feel the warp is pretty strong as is, you still need to ship buildings to rabbasca that you can't build there before they can be warped in. Maybe I will change my mind on that though. But I agree that the current behaviour is a bit weird and needs change.

Is it intended that when you "upgrade" a building with E.A.R.S. that it duplicates the item?

For now it is, makes up a bit for how long it takes to obtain them. Though you can quadruple inputs if you build the normal version first, so this might be too strong for expensive buildings.

There also seems to be a hidden cooldown on the bunny engine

This is also mentioned in the tooltip. I am not aware of a way to catch when the player uses an on-cooldown item, so no popup message possible sadly.

Tooltip of what? I'm looking at the item description for the Bunnyhop Engine, not seeing any mention of a cooldown/reset period.

Thoughts on the power system - I like the idea. I was initially a bit confused but mostly because I didn't read the tips/tricks. The one thing I feel a bit mixed about is the quality issue. I brought a bunch of legendary assembling machines, chem plants, foundries, and so on. In order to upgrade those to the "EARS" system it requires me to have legendary EARS core (basically).

On the one hand - you could say that's a good balancing factor/challenge. On the other hand it can feel a bit "punishing" for having that high-quality stuff. This mechanic is basically similar to the biofluorescent conversion on Tenebris; in that case it doesn't double, also offers an opportunity for quality upgrade, but the resource consumed (biolum crystals) doesn't need to be the same quality as the upgrading building. Not necessarily suggesting any change.

Tooltip of the shortcut on the bottom. where blueprints, upgrade planner etc. are. Because you can't use the engine itself as it is an equipment.

I mean, if you come to Rabbasca with legendary stuff, they usually use less energy per craft, and I would assume you have legendary quality modules etc. available, so you could farm for legendary EARS cores reasonably quickly by spamming beacons around the vaults, upcycling through subcore->core->2x building etc. So there are some options. Interesting point though, I have not yet gotten to do any quality stuff on rabbasca.

No big deal, but I'm not seeing that shortcut in that area. Possibly other mods I have installed are taking up the space your button wants? I have a few.

Also one other problem with the warping tech - the ICLP (which is sort of a weird name, since the primary new function is actually sending stuff OUT) does not seem to allow inserters to put items into it. I guess it's inheriting this limitation from its parent entity, the regular CLP. I would suggest that maybe the cargo landing pad isn't really a great base for what you're trying to do. Maybe the "warp depot" is just a separate entity? Not sure of the programmatic limitations of sending things out.

Well that's a problem. I never tried using inserters on it for some reason. Will be fixed in 0.7.4. Agreed on the name, needs something that makes more sense.

If you're set on that structure being only on Rabbasca, the name could reflect that. "Rabbascan Warp Storage Depot" ???

I would still strongly argue for allowing it to be placed on other planets, however. If the warp source is only on Rabbasca, then it creates this weird situation where the main thing I want to use Rabbasca for is just as a destination for all my quality buildings. Just dump a bunch of legendary everything there, take some pylons, and go do things on other planets.

I think there are other ways to keep it reasonably "balanced", which nothing in Factorio really is, in some sense. Like, the EM Plant is super OP, plz nerf.

One way would be to limit the tech with research, similar to how the bunnyhop works - where at first you can only warp something 10000km away, then you can upgrade that with research. This brings the importance back to Rabbasca because now I want to be getting more of that research.

Another way to limit this that could work is to require some of the resources from Rabbasca. Say, it takes Energetic Residue, or Harene Gas or something as an ongoing "fuel". This makes it effectively "free" to operate on Rabbasca but much more expensive/limited on any other planet as the player would have to import <resource>. Again, brings it back to me the player wanting to actually be on Rabbasca interacting, rather than just use it as a supply depot.

Just some thoughts on where this could go!

Also, :prayer-hands-emoji: if you're making quick fixes for the next version, something increasing the spawn rate or duration/health or something of the pylons would be much appreciated!

Balance wise, I think the machine assembler is actually more of a concern. Warping is cool, but you still have to build the buildings somewhere. The machine assembler's +100% prod on a lot of things that you otherwise cannot get any prod on is a huge deal. Maybe consider requiring it to be placed on energized concrete?

increasing the spawn rate or duration/health or something of the pylons would be much appreciated!

I made some changes in the last version, but given how different the balance would need to be depending on other mods present, this will probably need a lot more thought put into it than just changing the numbers. Too easy with modded weapons is at least better than too hard with vanilla-only tools.

The machine assembler's +100% prod on a lot of things that you otherwise cannot get any prod on is a huge deal

It is a lot, but its not as versatile or build-defining as the other things that do 50% on intermediates, so to me at least this feels like a good number. At least in my experience, having no materials for buildings is usually not a bottleneck.

I would still strongly argue for allowing it to be placed on other planets, however

I will keep an eye on that. There are some downsides to how it currently works, using the cargo landing pad slot etc.

Tooltip of the shortcut on the bottom. where blueprints, upgrade planner etc. are. Because you can't use the engine itself as it is an equipment.

I mean, if you come to Rabbasca with legendary stuff, they usually use less energy per craft, and I would assume you have legendary quality modules etc. available, so you could farm for legendary EARS cores reasonably quickly by spamming beacons around the vaults, upcycling through subcore->core->2x building etc. So there are some options. Interesting point though, I have not yet gotten to do any quality stuff on rabbasca.

It's saying that nothing with EARS in it is recyclable. So right now the only way to get quality EARS is quality mods in the vaults -> uncommon (e.g.) subcores -> craft with quality into rare (e.g.) cores -> upcycle to epic or higher subcores. It's a bit painful.

Coming in with the type of technology I have, this leads me more into "OK, let's just make a base that can function with 30MW". Which is definitely doable, but sort of sidesteps the intended progression of the planet.

But the more important issue I'm having at the moment - for Harenic lava, it says "tearing a hole in the crust would be necessary" but I'm not seeing any way to do this. I thought it might be a new spawn on the map or something so I explored some new areas but I'm not seeing any new entities. If this is currently available, a little hint at least please, if not, some kind of WIP/unavailable tag would be appreciated. Thanks!

It's saying that nothing with EARS in it is recyclable

Uh, you are right, I thought it would recycle normally. Will fix that.

it says "tearing a hole in the crust would be necessary"

If you follow the links from the tech through factoriopedia, there is a spoiler at the end. It requires you to do something specific that involves, well, making a hole :)

Thanks for the fix on the warp in. So far I have not yet managed to trigger the explosion necessary, though I've managed to get overwhelmed by a massive amount of pylons. Not sure what all changes you made to them between versions. They are definitely more durable and easier to capture now. But 99% physical resistance is a big barrier to overcome if the player decides to destroy them. That might be a bit much, especially because you're not allowing EARS on turrets.

Speaking of EARS, there is at least one discrepancy. When you upgrade the Forge (from Castra mod) with EARS, it is no longer able to produce Vault access key/vault security key.

Another weird one is that the EARS upgraded Chem Plant 6 (bob's mods) cannot make Beta Carotene. So it seems like some production buildings from other mods are having their recipes affected in weird ways by the EARS upgrade.

EARS upgrade has no effect on the recipes the machines can craft at all. Upgraded castra forge can still craft vault keys for me. So I wonder if other mods are interfering with this.
Is the Chem Plant 6 (no ears) able to craft beta carotene? Because it is an organic recipe, some chem plants can not craft it. Cryo plant can also not craft it.