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X4 Modding Wiki

Mechanics overview

DA-Eco is not a “small tweak” mod. It’s a systemic rewrite of vanilla’s station-creation pipeline plus a ~700-patch rebalance of every production ware. Understanding why each subsystem exists is easier once you know DeadAirRT’s design philosophy.

Three core principles

Section titled “Three core principles”

1. Fewer / larger / more interconnected stations

Section titled “1. Fewer / larger / more interconnected stations”

Vanilla: places many small stations, each with 1 production module per type. When one goes down, the whole chain stalls.

DA-Eco: raises production=1→5 limits everywhere (libraries/parameters.xml) so a single station can host 5 identical Hull Parts modules. Fewer, denser, more resilient hubs.

Result: simulation runs on fewer bigger targets. CPU-friendlier, more visually impressive, less “12 half-working outposts” and more “one proper regional factory”.

2. Symmetrical breathing of production chains

Section titled “2. Symmetrical breathing of production chains”

Every vanilla production ware gets normalized:

  • cycle=600 (10-minute production tick standardized across the board).
  • workforce boost to product=0.5, cycle=0.5 (50% more output + 50% faster cycle when fully staffed).
  • Every product gets a secondaryresource slot with product=0.1, cycle=0.25.

That last one is the hook: any station can be ×2 boosted by supplying it with the right secondary resource. And the secondary resources are DA’s three custom wares → DA wares become the economy’s meta-currency.

3. Cargo-volume shortage matters more than production shortage

Section titled “3. Cargo-volume shortage matters more than production shortage”

DeadAirRT observed a vanilla failure mode: stations sit with empty cargo silos while production stalls waiting for inputs. The silos are empty because storage capacity is undersized for the actual production/consumption volume.

DA fixes this by automatically resizing storage at station creation to match projected 12-hour production+consumption volume. See Storage sizing.

Architecture map

Section titled “Architecture map”

Where the code lives and what fires when:

At gamestart

Section titled “At gamestart”
  • md/mlog_da_eco_init.xml — banner log line + DA-wares registration probe (checks ware.da_adv_schematics / da_mil_schematics / da_laborunion_contracts exist). Warns if not.
  • md/setup_mod_daeco_v2.xml — sets md.$DAEco=true (companion flag for DA-Scripts to detect DA-Eco is loaded); AdjustDiscountMap overrides PlayerRelationDiscounts.$DiscountMap to 1%/10%/100% at rep ≥5/10/15 (vanilla is milder — DA makes tier-3 rep radical); ApplyNewChanges enables Xenon in DA-Ship-Manager.

On every new station creation

Section titled “On every new station creation”

Post-hoc for non-factory stations

Section titled “Post-hoc for non-factory stations”
  • mlog_DAEco_BoostNonFactoryStorage (finalisestations.xml:563-727). Critical addition — God_DefaultFinaliseFactory only fires for factory stations. Shipyards / wharves / equipdocks / trade stations bypass DA’s original logic. This cue listens for event_god_created_station isgamestartgodentry=true and applies the same storage-floor table via add_build_to_expand_station.

On faction economy tick

Section titled “On faction economy tick”
  • md/factionlogic_economy.xml — patches vanilla Request_Factory and Request_Production_Module:
    • OverflowWareThreshold 7200→14400 — factions tolerate ware overflow twice as long before reacting.
    • Request_Factory ProductionLimit 1→5 — signature “bigger factories” patch.
    • safepos radius 3km→21km — stations get elbow room around each other.
    • Request_Production_Module WantedProductions +1-2 — expansion adds 1-2 modules per tick instead of 1.
    • Hatikvah gets CheckProductionCompatibility=true flag.

Continuous background

Section titled “Continuous background”
  • md/factionlogic.xml — wraps vanilla Ship_Construction_Manager in DAEco_SCM_Handler. IntervalChecker runs every 70-90s, dispatches to:
    • Xenon Job Helper for Xenon (custom SCM because Xenon lacks shiptrader control post).
    • Vanilla Job Helper for everyone else.

Library patches (silent, apply at load)

Section titled “Library patches (silent, apply at load)”
  • libraries/wares.xml (2084 lines) — ~700 vanilla ware replace-patches + 3 new DA wares. See DA wares.
  • libraries/modules.xml — module production limits + workforce chances + 6 new DA-ware modules.
  • libraries/god.xml (1395 lines — the biggest patch file). See Library changes → god.xml.
  • libraries/jobs.xml — trader/miner job adjustments, +3 Xenon jobs, +2 Antigone water traders.
  • libraries/parameters.xml — workforce growth ×10, production limits, threat scoring.
  • Plus baskets / modulegroups / constructionplans / loadoutrules / defaults / mapdefaults.

Xenon exception rule

Section titled “Xenon exception rule”

DA acknowledges Xenon are fundamentally different (no workforce, no DA-wares consumption, no habitation) and skips them in most subsystems:

  • DAIncreaseStartingStorage — skipped (Xenon staged construction).
  • DAImproveStationLayouts — skipped (no struct_xen_* racial connectors exist).
  • Defence rebalance — skipped.
  • constructionbias=10.0 (horizontal growth pref) — skipped for Xenon.

Instead Xenon get their own systems: custom Ship Construction Manager + 3 dedicated jobs. See Xenon specifics.

Circular economic dependency (design intent)

Section titled “Circular economic dependency (design intent)”

The DA-wares mechanic + the workforce boost pattern create a circular economy:

  1. Vanilla ware production is boosted by consuming a DA-schematic secondary.
  2. DA-schematic production requires vanilla wares (claytronics / computronic substrate / silicon carbide).
  3. DA-schematic production has the highest workforce impact of any recipe → requires habitation.
  4. Habitation requires food and medical → back to vanilla production chains.

Result: every part of the economy needs every other part. Player can’t just build “one super-station” and ignore the rest of the galaxy — DA-wares production drags in everything else.

vs vanilla’s laisser-faire (many small independent producers), DA is closed-loop and stateful.

Section titled “Related pages”