Chemistry Tools 1: Add some basic science tool qualities #27206
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Separating: This is a vague, catch-all category basically to represent separating things that aren't separated by distillation or chromatography. A good example would be a separation funnel which separates hydrophilic/phobic chemicals. Concentrating: Another vague category to represent a wide range of chemical functions. Refers to increasing the concentration of things that can't be concentrated by distilling. A good example might be a centrifuge. Analysis: A category meant to include various ways of identifying that the chemical you have is the chemical you want. Needs to be a pretty commonly required quality, so basic detection sets need to become more common and I am adding some equipment to existing chemistry stuff.
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Awwwwww yeahhhhh boiiiiiiiii |
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Reduce reading burden of having a single enormous items.json file
This is why multitasking is hard.
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Great work with great attention to the details, actually. But I'm curious about how would it affect the gameplay. I mean, chemistry is already mid-to-late game stuff, because at the start player usually spends time and resources to the basic survival, i.e. cooking food, boiling water, crafting simple weapons, seeking shelter etc. |
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Part of this is about moving the threshold for midgame up. Depending on how you define midgame, this is largely about adding more requirements before reaching that "I can craft anything I need" point. It's also about a few more things. Not all equipment can simply be built in your car, and is too big too easily carry around, encouraging players to have at least a semi permanent base, for example. |
data/json/items/tool/science.json
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| "type": "TOOL", | ||
| "category": "tools", | ||
| "name": "basic chemistry set", | ||
| "description": "This is a basic chemistry set which includes glass containers, hoses and safety glasses. It might be used to craft some chemistry projects if you're so inclined, but you'll need a source of heat.", |
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The metal wire in the original chemistry set was to keep the glass containers in a place. Either mention it in both descriptions or not mention it at all, as it serves only that purpose ;)
Summary
SUMMARY: Infrastructure "Add tool qualities to the game for later use in scientific tools"Purpose of change
This is early groundwork for adding a large number of scientific tools to the game. This will allow further expansion of chemical recipes in realistic ways, and make some existing recipes more realistically complex.
Currently this is not implemented in game. This is just the first PR to get the infrastructure set up.
Describe the solution
Separating: This is a vague, catch-all category basically to represent separating things that aren't separated by distillation or chromatography. A good example would be a separation funnel which separates hydrophilic/phobic chemicals. This also represents chemical extraction.
Examples of current recipes that should have Separation added: almost all high grade pharmaceuticals where purity is an issue. This will take a little review. An example would be that with a separation tool and a solvent like, say, ether (now in game) a lot of interesting chemicals can be extracted from plants, then concentrated down (see concentration below). This would be a decent way to get something like cannabis oil in game.
Tools to be added: Separation funnel (separation 1), laboratory glassware set (furniture that includes separating 1), burette (separation 1).
Concentrating: Another vague category to represent a wide range of chemical functions. Refers to increasing the concentration of things that can't be concentrated by distilling. A good example might be a centrifuge or rotary evaporator (rotovap).
With current recipes, concentration could justify things like making mutagenic serum. For new recipes, a tool with concentration could be used eg. to rapidly boil off ether in extracted plant oils (see separation, above), or to make strong acid from weak. A lot of the time a concentration tool is probably going to be more of a time saver for the player than a necessary component, letting you put an intermediate product like weak acid into the rotovap and let it do its thing for a few hours
Tools to be added: Rotary evaporator (rotovap), concentrating 1. A powered furniture tool that works like the charcoal smoker etc - you put items into it and it concentrates them over hours. I'd prefer this to use a power grid but it could also use batteries like the charcoal smoker uses charcoal.
Centrifuge (already in game) can also have concentrating as a quality.
Either of these tools, besides being used to concentrate dilute chemicals, can also be part of recipes where you'd wind up with a solution or suspension that you then want to concentrate down.
Analysis: A category meant to include various ways of identifying that the chemical you have is the chemical you want. Needs to be a pretty commonly required quality, so basic detection sets need to become more common and I am adding some equipment to existing chemistry stuff.
The prototypic use for analysis I'm working on is drug synthesis. Using meth as an example, the current existing meth recipe will produce "untested meth". You can then analyse that meth to get good stuff, or eat it if you don't mind risking it. Or, if you have an analysis tool on hand when making the meth, you can analyse it in a single step with little added work. Meth found in baggies on the ground counts as untested; who knows what crap it's cut with?
Tools to be added: "basic analytic kit", analysis 1. "laboratory analytics suite", analysis 2 - there aren't many recipes currently in game that would justify this besides advanced mutagens at the moment, but of all the tools I'm adding I think this one justifies more complicated cooking the most.
I'll be adding mass spectrometers and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometers, but I don't know what they'll be for besides NPCs, nor whether or not they'll have analysis 3.
Fine Distilling: A category mostly occupied by a lab grade fractional distillation apparatus, this is about finely separating miscible liquids (eg alcohol and water) very precisely, but slowly and in small quantities. It's a very good way to purify, for example, a mixture of ethanol and methanol into its component parts, or get pure alcohol from wine. It's a bad way to make whisky.
I'd suggest removing the option to make pure ethanol (as opposed to denatured) with a still, and move it to fine distilling along with recipes for several other alcohols.
Tools to be added: fractional distillation apparatus, which can be built as furniture or used in inventory.
Chromatography: An extremely versatile tool for separating and purifying chemicals, I admit I don't have an immediate idea for a recipe using this tool... I've added it because I need it for NPC lab expansions. However, it's a very important technique on a par with the others, and I'm sure someone with more recent chemistry experience can suggest some recipes using it.
Tools to be added: Chromatography column set, which can be built as furniture (chromatography 1). High performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography will have chromatography 2.
Additional context
Debating adding the "purification" quality, but I am not sure it should be separate from those currently listed plus the already in game "chemical making" quality.