Changelog

1.0.1

• Store page text refresh. No code or data changes; the plugin and data pack are identical to 1.0.0.

1.0.0

• The data pack now installs itself. On Thunderstore the mod manager can only place files under BepInEx/, so the pack ships next to the plugin and the plugin copies it into Ostranauts_Data/Mods/VolunteerShift on startup. One manual step remains, by design: enable Civic Volunteer in the in-game MODS menu, then restart. The plugin never edits loading_order.json; the game owns that file.
• Copies are keyed on the pack version, so future updates refresh a stale pack automatically. Steam Workshop and manual installs are unaffected; the installer does nothing when the pack is not shipped next to the DLL.
• No gameplay changes since 0.1.0.

0.1.0 — first release

Adds Civic, a fourth roster shift alongside Free / Sleep / Work. On a Civic shift your character seeks out damaged public station infrastructure and repairs it, working off the Altruism discomfort.

Why

StatAltruism drifts upward at a flat +8.33/hr in real time with no shift-based offset, and has the worst satisfy-to-frustrate ratio of any need in the game — the only one where conversation moves that worsen it outnumber those that improve it. Left alone a character pins at the 240 cap. This adds an earned sink rather than retuning global constants.

Behaviour

• Only counts on hulls registered as orbital bodies — real stations. Other ships, salvage hulks and derelicts are excluded.
• You must be aboard; the mod will not path you across a docking port.
• Pays per repair action, scaled inversely with faction standing: charity counts for more the less you stand to gain from it. Repairing for a faction that dislikes you is worth double what the same work is worth where you're Honored.
• Fast-forwarded Civic hours pay a flat hourly payload instead, so the shift works whether you play it out or skip it — but playing it out comes out ahead.
• Studying is suppressed during a Civic shift. It raises Altruism by 6, which would undo roughly 20 repair actions, and it gets more likely the better the shift is going.

Requires

BepInEx, plus the VolunteerShift data pack copied into Ostranauts_Data/Mods/ and enabled in the in-game MODS menu. The plugin logs a clear error on shift entry if the data pack is missing.

Config

BepInEx/config/com.ostranauts.volunteer.cfg — AltruismPerRepairAction (default 0.2) sets how much altruism each repair action works off before the faction multiplier. 0 pays only on completed repairs.

Uninstalling

Saves with Civic hours assigned expect the fourth shift to exist. Set those hours back to Free before uninstalling, or the save will error on load.