RIY+ (The Scientific Method)

This mod completely replaces the old RIY mod I made, if you’re using that one still, please plan on dismantling any and all buildings that one had and discontinue using it.

This mod allows you to research… well, how to do your OWN research! No longer will you have to rely on other’s findings and notes to advance your technology, now you can go down the research rabbit hole and be a self sufficient researcher! All of the researches for this mod can be found in the "Research" category of the Research window, and the benches in the "RESEARCH" category of the Build window. Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research require higher tech levels to learn how to make.

I wanted this mod to be reasonably balanced, a good thing to go along with any playthrough of Kenshi, that you can choose to use, or just don’t use for that playthrough but keep enabled just in case. I also wanted it to be of good use to outpost players who can’t spend too much time book hunting with the pesky bandits at the door! In case I didn’t make it clear enough… this is not a cheat mod, AI Cores remain uncraftable so you do have to find those when you get far enough. Making books will be slow at first with a low Science skill, and you need to increase your tech levels (ideally with the books you’re already crafting) in order to get to Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research.

I believe I have accomplished the goals I set out to do with this mod, it’s a much better version of my old research mod, I’ve fixed old problems and bugs with this version, and made it in a simpler way so I can support it better. I hope you find the mod useful, and feel free to leave comments!

Why do I need 4 books upfront to learn how to MAKE the books?

I know it sounds ridiculous at first, but it makes sense if you think of it like this: Caveman is cold at night and can’t see well. Lightning bolt or other environmental factor creates a fire. Caveman observes fire, touches it and burns himself, now caveman has the external stimuli to want to learn how to make this thing, how to control it. We have the same thing with our environment as a whole, and that’s how I justify this research mod’s existence too… and while that can allow you to learn that stuff without the need of someone SHOWING you how to make a fire… scientific pursuits are a different animal. This is post-apocalypse, after the fall of most modern technology and methodologies, damn near the DARK AGES! If anyone knew The Scientific Method from pre-apocalypse, they are probably dead by now. Scientific disciplines are not easy to just have an epiphany about, there must be a stimuli that shows what research looks like, how it works. I only do this to you once, you won’t have to do it for Ancient Science Books and Engineering Research, promise… once you learn the science of research, you won’t need any more books up front that you can’t already craft!

Does this break the Artifact System like the last mod?

I made sure that this one didn’t, I’ve been personally testing it as I developed it, and confirmed artifact prices are unchanged from their defaults. If there’s any other bugs, or anything you think might be unintended behavior, feel free to post in comments! Now that I know how to save edit, I can get a testing setup done in a reasonable way!

Can’t we just craft the research books and sell them for massive profit instead of unlocking new techs? Isn’t that unbalanced?

If you’re a dirty rotten cheater, sure! I’m kidding… there’s no way for me to stop this from happening without breaking the Artifact System entirely, and I really, really don’t want to do that (again?). I want this to be usable alongside finding artifacts, that way if someone ends up preferring to find them instead of actually craft them, my mod won’t have broken their ability to do that. There will always be ways to abuse mechanics, especially ones modded in, for unbalanced gains… and that is a choice you have. Just remember… you’re only ruining the game for yourself.

Why aren’t AI Cores craftable?

I was going to put it in initially, but then I started thinking about it… that wouldn’t make sense. With normal research books, Ancient Science Books, and Engineering Research, I can find ways to logically justify it like I did in the research descriptions in-game, but… AI Cores are end-game research. Once you get a handful of those, you’ll have researched everything in vanilla already that uses them, and you’re never going to end up crafting them again unless it’s to make a profit (see above). The big thing is, it doesn’t make sense to craft them because of what they are. I don’t know what Kenshi lore considers an AI Core to be, but the way it plays in my mind, it’s a glimpse of the world or some piece of technology pre-apocalypse. You can’t just craft that, it’s something you have to find because it wouldn’t make sense to "craft" it.

Why not make the benches upgradable so they can craft all of these researches eventually, instead of a single bench for each type?

While it’s possible to do this, it opens the mod up to be incompatible with potential artifact system mods, that may increase or decrease the amount/frequency of artifacts showing up in ruins and other locations if the price of these artifacts is modified. I made the call not to make this change as a result, sorry! (thanks to azazella on NexusMods for showing me this was possible though!)

The research is so slow! Can’t it be faster?

That would defeat the purpose of research. I tried making ways to speed it up, increasing bench efficiency through number of workers and research, just to find out it doesn’t seem to affect crafting stations. It’s all just as well, science and research is MEANT to be time consuming, but I did my best to make sure that high skill scientists have a more reasonable timer compared to a complete beginner. I’m open to tweaking the speeds if it’s reasonable, but I think I’ve got it pretty close as it is. If it’s really too slow… you could always find the artifacts out in the world! 😉

Why do books only take fabric, instead of ink and paper, to make?

When you craft clothing with a clothing bench, you don’t need thread or stitching for making the clothes, or a sewing needle. When upgrading your research bench to get higher tech levels, you only ever need iron plates, no building materials, no copper alloy, none of that. If vanilla Kenshi isn’t that concerned about realism in crafting… then I think I can get away with some quality of life shot calls with this new iteration of the mod. Besides, you’ll have enough benches as it is, you don’t need two more for making ink and paper too!

Is this mod compatible with X or Y?

This mod changes the production time of the Book, Ancient Science Book, and Engineering Research. Everything else is an added item with an added functionality, contained within its own tab, "Research" for the Research window, "RESEARCH" for the build window. If any mods you’re using mess with the production time of these three research artifacts, I wouldn’t say it’s "incompatible", it just may take less/more time to make the objects. The easy answer: Unless you have another mod that makes research craftable, it should be compatible without issues.