Automatron Overhaul

[SuperSatan]

Alright, this isn't as much a request, as just a concept pitch. I've already started in on some of the work myself, but I've never created a mod before, and I'm not sure if everything is even going to work. Once again, I'll just state that this is a VERY early WIP and I'm not even sure if it's all possible or if I'll even finish it, came here looking for suggestions, to see what the general opinion for such a mod would be, and to hopefully have someone who knows a bit more about the Creation Kit tell me if this is even possible before I invest too much time into a fruitless endeavor.

 

Things started out with a simple enough idea, the ability to add synth parts to the Automatron parts pool, but having never created a mod before I'm still on just only the head for each generation of synth, and I already have two problems I've encountered so far:

1. The eyes are a separate mesh from the head entirely, I'm not sure how I'd even put the two together as a craftable head slot without just merging the two and making the eyes static.

2. The head seems to be the only separate mesh from the body; are there meshes for the individual appendages, or would I have to cut apart the mesh as a whole? How would I properly integrate this with the skeleton to have adequate mobility?

 

But from there I thought on and realized that the entire Automatron system could be overhauled. Synths could be created, and I thought it'd be cool to give them their own unique modules, similar to the lockpicking or hacking ones, but in a way beneficial to the settlement. At first I thought, "why not make them 2x as efficient at harvesting?" or "provide twice the defense at guard posts?" but after lots of looking into it, all of that is handled by the workshop entities and I've found no to use the assigned settler/automatron as a sort of modifier, so maybe there could be another way of going about this?

And since synths would be craftable, I thought it'd be a nice idea to give Nick his own unique mods, Ada, Codsworth, and Curie can all be modified, so why not give Nick a turn too? I'd like to keep things as lore friendly as possible, so no hulking Nick-inator on sentry legs, but possibly improved leg shocks to absorb fall damage and increase speed or carry weight, or to give him a dedicated laser or 10mm arm to replace his pistol.

But my concept didn't stop here, if those specific NPCs can be modified, why not make all settlers modifiable? My thought on the most lore friendly way of doing so would be to convert them to Robobrains. But once again, I'm not sure if this can even be done, really just in the spitballing phase of things. This would increase their resistances and their damage output, improving their survivability and the quality of defense your settlement your has. I see this as just being an immersive alternative to decking your settlers out with miniguns and power armor.

I'm not great with model or texture creation but I also had some (I think) pretty cool original content ideas regarding the Wasteland Workshop cages.

In one of FO3's DLC we see that the Enclave has enhanced Deathclaws, using them as controlled killing machines, my (somewhat) lore-friendly idea is modifiable creatures. Just like my idea with settlers, all creatures would be able to be built upon, each with their own unique mods adding both aesthetic and functional purpose, improving provided defense rating, damage output, and damage resistance. While also doing something that's already been done by mods before, allowing them to be taken as companions... The only issue that I foresee here is that automatrons are considered settlers, or are at least treated as such, and add to the settlement population. Creatures are more treated as settlement entities, like a turret, which is why they provide defense for just existing, so I'm not sure they'd even be able to be modified while still not being treated like a settler.

 

TL;DR: buildable synths, modifiable WW creatures, and unique mods for Nick

 

Anyway, that's pretty much the overview of my mod concept. Please leave your opinions, your suggestions, advice and comments. I'd really like to hear what all of you think.

[Qbert505]

Guess I will have to come up with a more unique name for my mod. :P

I feel that craftable synths & synth parts should probably be done at a different workbench apart from the robot workbench. Synths & robots don't seem compatible, & voice clips from the robots seem to confirm this. Making the synths piecemeal akin to the robots doesn't seem possible unless you completely change the synth class, Bethesda built them as two pieces same as the rest of the npcs, humans, ghouls, super mutants etc. However, what may be more plausible is having the synth mods not be visible, just add effects. This could possibly be done through adding perks. The only way I see settlers being modifiable is either through perks ("cybernetic implants") or by converting them to robobrains. Same goes for the creatures.

 

Just my two cents. Good luck to you!