[Mod/Mod Idea] Progressing Away From a Colonial Economy

[Lt Loco]

*** THIS IS AN IDEA AND NOT A PROMISED MOD. I HAVE NOT EVEN PLAYED THE GAME YET ***

The base game focuses on a colonial economy, where most of the jobs are being directed by a single individual (that'd be the commander, and breaking the fourth wall, the player) and into the production of necessary resources for growth in a hostile environment. In the late game, the colony should be transitioning away from this economic model and into one with businesses that handle creature comforts and produce money.

This mod will seek to help make that transition. As the colony grows, less of the population should be producing resources required for expansion. This is likely to produce balancing issues with maintenance that will need fixing. Obviously, given the hazards of Mars and the desire of players to micromanage, colonists won't really be given complete free choice.

At the minimum, what I'd like to do is:

1. Create Additional Buildings:
   1. Workshop Space. These will produce a new good (going with "consumer good" for now, borrowing from Paradox) which colonists will slowly need in order to be comfortable and happy. These will consume very, very small amounts of resources in order to produce works of art, devices that make colonists happy, and other forms of "the little things that make life comfortable".
   2. Market Space. Colonists will go here to "buy" (actual money not simulated) their consumer goods. Potentially, this could also include food for larger space requirements.
   3. Office Space. Colonists will produce small amounts of money for the colony in the form of taxes. Offices will have high capacity, to allow for lategame population explosions to have places to work. Office money will be very limited, and is intended as "overflow".
2. Add Colonist Specializations (artisan (potentially more than one type), business)
3. Add Colonist Needs:
   1. The consumer goods need would scale with the colony's population. How "filled" the need is will determine maximum comfort for the colonist.
   2. This would function similarly to the "New Colony Optimism" in Rimworld or similar games. The more established a colony, the more people are going to want creature comforts in order to continue growing.
4. New Resources - Consumer Goods
   1. I'd like there to be several buildings producing consumer goods of varying types - art, games, toasters, etc.
   2. The more goods available at the market, the more colonists can be comfortable.
5. Changing Birth Requirements
   1. The more established a colony, the more consumer goods it'll take to have kids. Potentially, certain traits will have an affinity for some consumer goods (Gamers want games) and some traits may allow bypassing this system completely (Sexy, Founder, potentially others)
6. Logistics
   1. With all the new consumer goods, and everyone wanting to go pick them up, there's going to be a lot of issues with balancing out resources. It sounds like Drone Transport Hubs already struggle with load balancing. My intent would be to make these goods *fractional* - that is, 1 unit of toasters is enough toasters for, say, 100 people/days.

I have a little skill at most things required for this, but I'm not sure I'll be able to pull this off on my own. I'm also not sure how easy it will be to make in Surviving Mars' modding tools. Any feedback from the devs on if this should be possible or offers of help/interest from the community, would be great. Anyone who wants to take these ideas and run with them is free to do so.