WX-78 Rework Ideas

[-Nick-]

10 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

(just hope they also nerf Wx)

I think WX-78 doesnt need a nerf per say, WX is A tier by himself. WX needs another player to have him gain his second upside. Without his overcharge, WX doesn't have any special abilities, he is just a Wilson that can upgrade stats with gears. Yes having 400 health is quite OP but thats all you get from WX.

Getting overcharged by mosslings or telelocator staff is possible, but it's inefficient and limited.

Other characters for example always have thier updates accessible when they need it and have usefulness for. WX however has to work for his upside much harder, and what you get is being hard to kill with just a large health pool. 

WX should have his overcharge more accessible and his upgrades more dynamic with different usefulness like gathering more, or able to deal electric damage when wet.

[QuartzBeam]

1 minute ago, Nickolai said:

I think WX-78 doesnt need a nerf per say, WX is A tier by himself. WX needs another player to have him gain his second upside. Without his overcharge, WX doesn't have any special abilities, he is just a Wilson that can upgrade stats with gears. Yes having 400 health is quite OP but thats all you get from WX.

Getting overcharged by mosslings or telelocator staff is possible, but it's inefficient and limited.

As WX-78 is now, their overcharge borders on being a flavor perk and their insane stats are not particularly impactful either. So no, they don't need an overcharge now.

But if the refresh comes out and gives WX-78 real perks for once (more reliable overcharge, blah blah blah), the ridiculous stats will probably be slashed to make way for those new perks. And I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlord.

[-Nick-]

9 minutes ago, QuartzBeam said:

As WX-78 is now, their overcharge borders on being a flavor perk and their insane stats are not particularly impactful either. So no, they don't need an overcharge now.

But if the refresh comes out and gives WX-78 real perks for once (more reliable overcharge, blah blah blah), the ridiculous stats will probably be slashed to make way for those new perks. And I, for one, welcome our new robotic overlord.

Yeah I completely agree. I think wx should have overcharge as a more reliable second perk that can work along side his upgrades. WX perks should be sliced down for more accessible upgrades and overcharge.

I would be fine for 250 max health.

[AlternateMew]

6 hours ago, Milordo said:

The question still remains, why creating a body like this?

A question that has been unanswered for ages. 

No excuse now, KLei. Most important mart of WX's rework shall clearly be its animated short! I'm only half joking!

[-Nick-]

Speaking of short. I really hope it involves Wagstaff aswell. Revealing both backstories at once.

[Mike23Ua]

5 minutes ago, AlternateMew said:

A question that has been unanswered for ages. 

No excuse now, KLei. Most important mart of WX's rework shall clearly be its animated short! I'm only half joking!

The final 4 reworks are the most lore heavy ones, I was pleasantly surprised when Wolfgang’s short ended up giving the most lore of any trailer yet, brought a tear to my eye to see just how deep that lore ran.

With WX78 we’re either getting lore on why it was created and how it got into the constant, or we’re getting the confusing “what the robot sees” version where it’s created switched on.. sees Wagstaff briefly before being switched off again, and THEN when it’s eyes open again it’s already in the constant somehow.

Like the Water Logged short of Wilson passing out and waking up in the new biome.

Of course that would be disappointing following Wolfgang’s short.. but it’s still a possibility if they wanted to.

Im more curious as to how someone as smart as Wickerbottom ends up in the constant… All we have to go off of is “fire in New York Library”

With WX there’s already a ton of lore around it.

And when I said Nerf WX I mean NERF WX.. lower it’s health, make rain actually do something worthwhile to it (like a rust meter: the more rusted it gets the slower it moves until oiled) I mean sounds like reasonable downside trade offs as long as it also gets neat upgrades too.

[-Nick-]

8 minutes ago, Mike23Ua said:

And when I said Nerf WX I mean NERF WX.. lower it’s health, make rain actually do something worthwhile to it (like a rust meter: the more rusted it gets the slower it moves until oiled) I mean sounds like reasonable downside trade offs as long as it also gets neat upgrades too.

I think rust would be a unique downside, but i dont think it should slow down WX, slow down mechanics are unfun. It think it should make him more vulnerable and weaker.

[W0l0l0]

I like the idea of rust, however trying to balance it with rain just sounds like a really inconsistent downside, having the difficulty dictated by the dice roll. 

[-Nick-]

3 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

I like the idea of rust, however trying to balance it with rain just sounds like a really inconsistent downside, having the difficulty dictated by the dice roll. 

True, I just hope they make all water sources cause damage to wx, not just rain. I think rust could happen naturally but speeds up when raining. Its not as bad like a sprinkle in autumn, but in spring you have to watch out.

[CremeLover]

3 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

I like the idea of rust, however trying to balance it with rain just sounds like a really inconsistent downside, having the difficulty dictated by the dice roll. 

If we really wanted to make the rust mechanic work, we could add a "moisture" mechanic that would basically increase the speed rust would happen. Rust would be something inevitable like Wilson beard, but entirely negative that you need to get rid of by the use of items. Rust could increase if you're near the ocean and during spring or rain.

What rust would do would be decrease the max speed as well as the overcharge time duration, the more rust the higher the side effect, it can have different levels like characters beards.

As long as the mechanic is not too oppressive, it can make for an interesting downside.

[luvu2bits]

The ability to upgrade your inventory (I guess it'd be pretty costly) to encourage people to play differently and actually use chest gear would be pretty cool

My absolute favorite part about Wolfgang's refresh is that it's making me use things I normally wouldn't, like the Piggyback and Marble Armor. It would be really cool if WX could do something similar. 

[Mike23Ua]

6 hours ago, W0l0l0 said:

I like the idea of rust, however trying to balance it with rain just sounds like a really inconsistent downside, having the difficulty dictated by the dice roll. 

Not true, other players or yourself miss-timing boat rowing will increase wetness.. Metal things rust and become less functional (I think this would make for an interesting downside if they plan to keep WX78’s speed after removing it completely from Wolfgang) you can always repair yourself by oiling: such as how we see the Skittersquid blot ink on WX & Wilson in the Hook, Line & Inker trailer.

WX78 being a creation of Wagstaff should have Wagstaff level upgrades available so the rust mechanic only comes into play when WX’s Wagstaff like Umbrella is not upgraded onto them.

Rust would function similar to needing to oil your weapons in Red Dead Online, their still usable but become less & less effective over time until oiled.

I like WX78 as a character, but I would absolutely LOVE for them and Wolfgang both to have deeper gameplay mechanics beyond just increased/decreased stat bars, I’m actually keeping my fingers crossed Klei does more for Wolfgang before moving on to whatever is next because: I feel like the character they want to portray as being the mightiest.. just doesn’t feel mighty enough (and I’ve made several comments about the way I felt that can be improved)

With WX78 I think funky Wagstaff upgrades are the way to go.. maybe even having some connection or interaction with Winona.. But I also think if they aren’t planning to completely remove WX’s Go Fast ability, then it should diminish overtime without proper care (assuming they also plan to make go fast easier to charge itself)

Rust has been a popular suggestion for WX for awhile on the forums so I just wanted to share my take on how I think it could work.

Bonus points if they could somehow have more interaction with Skittersquid to obtain oil.

[IanKSB91]

Maybe oxidation could depend on the season, you know because probably the humidity of the air changes and so maybe wearing seasonal clothes could be more important to them. Although that may be annoying for some people.

[W0l0l0]

8 hours ago, Mike23Ua said:

Not true, other players or yourself miss-timing boat rowing will increase wetness.. Metal things rust and become less functional (I think this would make for an interesting downside if they plan to keep WX78’s speed after removing it completely from Wolfgang) you can always repair yourself by oiling: such as how we see the Skittersquid blot ink on WX & Wilson in the Hook, Line & Inker trailer.

Okay, but outside of specific water-based activities, wetness (and therefore rusting rate) would still be almost entirely dictated by rain.

[ArubaroBeefalo]

rust is also produced by the oxygen from the air so it doesnt need to be entirely atached by rain. Can be something happening all the time but quickly if there is water

[TheMelonNinja]

I've had a lot of brainstorming for WX's refresh in particular because robot characters have unlimited potential for abilities, but the ones I've thought of most include:

• Changing the way WX upgrades. No longer do they have to eat gears, but instead they can craft Upgrade Chips, which are used as crafting ingredients for their three different System Updates (HEALTH.EXE, SANITY.EXE, HUNGER.EXE). 
• Adding different Reconfigurations that WX can temporarily upgrade into. There's a long list of potential Configurations but the two I've always thought of most were
  • CONFIGURATION: FURNACE (lasts for 1 Day) 
    • WX passively generates warmth for themselves and other players
    • WX can cook food on themselves, and can be cooked on by others 
    • WX passively warms Thermal Stones in their inventory 
    • WX dries off significantly faster and is immune to freezing 
    • WX can extend the duration of CONFIGURATION: FURNACE by eating charcoal
  • CONFIGURATION: FREEZER (lasts for 1 Day) 
    • WX passively generates chilliness for themselves and other players
    • WX can preserve food in their inventory, like an ice box 
    • WX passively cools Thermal Stones in their inventory 
    • WX can extinguish fires and is immune to world overheating
    • WX can extend the duration of CONFIGURATION: FREEZE by eating ice 
  • Plenty more to brainstorm too. A Nightmare Fuel configuration? Maybe one that makes them tankier? Faster? Who knows!

I definitely think WX needs more punishing downsides. The damage they take from rain is pathetically ignorable and given how easy it is to avoid being wet, I think players should be punished more for neglecting it. A few changes could be:

• Increasing the amount of damage WX takes from water.
• Making WX occasionally shortcircuit when high on wetness, which causes a flinching animation.
• WX begins to rust when exposed to the rain for a while, and rusts immediately after sinking. When rusting, WX
  • Moves slower 
  • Deals less damage 
  • Constantly loses sanity 
  • Loses their current Configuration or System Overload 

I also figured there should be a reason for them to not permanently stay in their Configurations, so WX:

• Begins to overheat when they remain in their Configurations for too long. Configuration: Furnace overheats them much faster while Configuration: Freezer overheats them at a slower rate. 
  • WX's movement speed is slowed by system overheating
  • WX will occasionally bluescreen while overheating, making them shortcircuit and flinch

Could also maybe do something involving them gradually collecting dust, which they need to clean periodically. More dust is collected with more uses of their Configurations, and if left for too long, WX will slow down their performance. If the maximum amount of dust is collected, WX will need to hammer themselves to remove it all, damaging them. 

Also, change the way WX views the world when insane. Rather than it being all wavy and disorienting like it is for the organic characters, have WX's view be really glitchy. Whether they expand on this idea to make insanity a more meaningful downside, or use it just for flavor, I don't really care. 

[ArubaroBeefalo]

3 minutes ago, TheMelonNinja said:

Also, change the way WX views the world when insane. Rather than it being all wavy and disorienting like it is for the organic characters, have WX's view be really glitchy

omg i love this!

[-Nick-]

1 hour ago, TheMelonNinja said:

WX begins to rust when exposed to the rain for a while, and rusts immediately after sinking. When rusting, WX

• Moves slower 
• Deals less damage 
• Constantly loses sanity 
• Loses their current Configuration or System Overload 

 

I think WX should rust naturally, but rain speeds it up. To make it more of a relevant downside. 

I completely disagree with rusting causing WX to move slower. As i mentioned before, slowdown mechanics are not fun. I do like the other downsides though. Damage vulnerability and weakness should def be one of them.

[SkyistheGround]

bringing this thread back because i had a sudden idea. it's not something i actually want per say, but it's more like a ramble i wanted to share.

i've seen quite a few people here suggest that wx's hunger meter should be replaced with a fuel meter, citing that robots having hunger doesn't make much sense. at first, i shrugged it off, thinking to myself "they get fuel by eating" and backing that up with personal headcanons, but then i started thinking about if wx's hunger meter was actually replaced with a fuel meter

with the fuel meter, wx would be able to eat anything that's edible. raw or cooked foot, monster meat, rot, if it has an option to eat it, wx can consume it with no problems. they experience no health or sanity downsides, and instead just gain hunger (even if the item, such as rot, has a negative hunger value)

but on the flipside, they don't gain any health or sanity benefits either. they can't taste it, and they aren't gaining nutrients, rather just an energy source to keep them "self sustaining"

and of course, to prevent them from just dying, in that character tab wx might get, they would have modules to heal themselves or repair sanity reserves. 

this sounds sort of similar to wormwood, but i imagine wx's modules would heal/repair more then rot/manure, or even compost wrap (at certain tiers), but the modules would be a lot harder to obtain + wormwood only has that effect for health, wx would have it for health and sanity

i even imagined a few tiers of healing, a recipe that's easy to make but heals less, along with one that heals a lot more but is harder to get the materials for

 

im at least glad everyone here is in agreement to make wx stop eating gears. i main them and im very self conscious about gear eating. but what sucks is that when you get fully upgraded, gears are one of the only ways to get a lot of stats fast. but its expensive, heck, the amount of food needed to bring wx to full stats is expensive also

wx doesnt need 400 hp and 300 sanity

[minespatch]

Maybe make Tesla trees real so we can have a gear alternative? It'd be just like the stone fruit or Marble trees.

[Topis]

2 hours ago, minespatch said:

Maybe make Tesla trees real so we can have a gear alternative? It'd be just like the stone fruit or Marble trees.

do we really need an alternative way to get gears? i think klei needs to add more use to gear before they add alternative ways to obtain it.

[Spino43]

Gears has the problem with can be so rare at early game and can be so abundant late game. I just don't even bother with them anymore when doing ruins clearing.

[Nullum]

What would be my rework ideas for WX-78.

Combustion Chamber
Perks and Downsides
-Newly introduced meter which replaces the hunger meter for WX-78.
-In this meter, WX-78 can only take combustible material as its source of fuel.
-Combustible materials in the terms of Don't Starve Together can be defined by materials that can be used to refuel campfires and firepits.
-The act of sleeping for its benefits wouldn't have no effect on WX-78's combustion chamber but doesn't stop that WX-78 can still sleep soundly.
-The combustion chamber produces heat all throughout and would produce light on certain conditions are met.
-Freezing and overheating affects the combustion chamber negatively. Freezing instantly removes a portion of the fuel while overheating increases the combustion drain.
-Wetness negatively affects the combustion chamber drastically. It is the gateway for WX-78 to be even prone at freezing.
-If the fuel item is still wet the effectiveness of the fuel is cut in half.
-When WX-78 is wet the combustion chamber cannot produce heat and light.


Health and Sanity
Perks and Downsides:
-Given that WX-78 cannot consume the benefits of edible ingredients and crockpot dishes the use of mineral based materials in order to repair the integrity of the automaton.
-Electric doodads, frazzled wires and gears can be used to repair the automaton.
-In terms of health and sanity restoration values upon repair I would recommend a variety of choices from highest health restoration and least sanity restoration values to least health restoration and highest sanity restoration.
-The act of sleeping wouldn't restore health and sanity.
-The severity of the hit that would take a toll on the health meter determines how much sanity will be instantly be lost.
-Freezing and overheating wouldn't drain both meters.
-WX-78 isn't affected by insanity auras.
-WX-78 doesn't take the benefit of sanity on clothing.
-When WX-78 is wet the automaton loses health and sanity together much like the original WX-78 would be when it comes to health when wet.

 

I'm packaging WX-78 as a character that takes inedible materials for fuel and takes joy of being repaired  and hated taking a beating of its precious body. The automaton that can be easily be affected by the seasons more than any other character.

If ever these ideas are well liked by a Klei developer I'd like the fairy to give me the title of 87-XW as payment.

 

[Dunk Mujunk]

So I've been keeping an eye on this thread (to be honest I'm a bit mortified), and I figured I'd throw my 2 cents in. Obviously my opinion is no more valid than anyone else's, my ideas (which I don't really have) no better than anyone else's. I'm just a guy that's a WX main for fun.

So let's start with Wetness

The original (supposed) downside to WX. Obviously this needs to change, it's completely a non issue. I'm personally not a fan of the Rust proposal, I think it's just extra steps to achieve a "normal" state. And if we are talking about an extra meter for Rust (we would have to be, the Wetness meter can't really be removed) you would have 2 meters, both of which only AVOID negative impacts and both of which are more or less tied to the same general mechanic. I feel that it becomes complexity for the sake of complexity, and just not very fun.

I'd much rather see the Wetness mechanic reworked for WX. Obviously it needs to be much more of a threat. I don't have numbers, but take for example the first Autumn of a world. Currently you might see a complete day/night cycles worth of rain in Autumn on a normal world in the first 20 days, at MOST. As it stands now, this is a total non issue. I do NOTHING to avoid or protect myself from this, there is absolutely no need to craft even a Straw Hat or stand under a tree. It's such a negligible amount of Health/Sanity damage it can be totally ignored. Not to say anything should be based on this scenario alone, it just demonstrates how inconsequential Wetness is atm.

Obviously Wetness needs to do far more damage, WX should probably get wetter FAR quicker than the other characters, and any sources of Wetness that don't actually currently damage WX (mis-row, Water balloons) should have the proper effect.

Another issue is really the lack of Wetness applying situations. Obviously Spring is a big deal, but that is about it. WX could be reworked to also gain Wetness from snow on the ground, though I'm not sure how this would work as obviously any head/hand gear meant to prevent Wetness would give no protection in this scenario. I also thought about certain biomes applying Wetness (as well as interacting with certain mobs/materials) by just being in them (Swamp, MushTree) but it ends up being the same scenario of this application not being able to be negated by any current methods (other than maybe a Raincoat or something), requiring a special craft to simply move around as normal. Not very fun.

As I mentioned, I don't really have any answers, mainly just observations.

Now on to Gears

The original (supposed) upside to WX. Just like Wetness eating Gears was suppose to be one of the big bullet points with WX, and just like Wetness it....really doesn't matter all that much.

As others have said (and I've been saying for years now) really at the end of the day eating Gears simply increases the amount of Hunger/Health/Sanity items you need to consume to fill their respective meters, and the timing at which you fill them. Are you tanking 300 points of damage then consuming 6 healing items, or are you tanking 150, consuming 3 items, then tanking another 150 and consuming 3 more items?

You could say very early on this might matter, however aside from maybe a speed run how often are you taking 1 shot massive damage in the first 30 days of a world? And on top of that how often are you consuming such a large amount of Gears in the same time frame? Available armor and health crafts are obviously well within reach of anyone who can obtain a meaningful amount of Gears early. Of course you don't NEED to have your meters filled, you can simply stay a bit above half which then begs the question why even consume Gears to begin with?

I don't really see any way this mechanic can remain post rework. To be the big "thing" for WX and to be so absolutely underwhelming just doesn't work.

Unfortunately Gears in some way HAVE to be the big "thing" for WX obviously, and I have absolutely no idea how to make it so. I'm really not a fan of modules and upgrades as they've been presented here (no offense meant to anyone).

I originally wondered aloud (somewhere) if Klei somewhat regretted commiting to reworks of every character. Obviously some characters were a lot more cut and dry than others, however once the ball got rolling they couldn't really massively overhaul some characters while only slightly tweaking others (which is probably the route I would have taken, then again I'm not a developer with a successful company, so there is that).

Now we have giant Teddy Bears, Catapults, Gym equipment and Human to Animal mutations. The game has changed a lot since the reworks began, and while I'm not saying it's bad or I don't like it I do in a way miss the simpler times when it was about the world, not the characters. Anyway, I'm rambling, this probably should have been at the end of my post but it is here now, so yeah.

Back to Gears, I don't really know what I would do. In my experience worlds vary wildly with how many Gears are available up top (I've had 0 Clockworks up top before, and my current world has two 4 Knight 1 Rook set pieces, as well as 2 or 3 other locations with 1 to 2 Knights). If any new crafts are meant to require Gears AND be meant to be viable early game, Gear availability must be tweaked and normalized.

This doesn't feel great in my head as Gears (to me) should always retain that "special material" feel, and making them more available takes away from that feel. And if you do require a decent amount of Gears for special crafts but do not address the up top Gear situation, you either punish WX until a Ruins push, or you add crafts/mechanics that are again more or less inconsequential as they can be avoided until later in a world when all the regular crafts/items are easily available in large numbers to mitigate any issues that special crafts/Gears are meant to address.

I mean, that pretty much leaves us with either Modules/Upgrades or some kind of mechanic in relation to WX and Clockworks, similar to Wurt and Merms or Webber and Spiders. I personally don't know what to think of any of it, and I feel as it stands WX is in the most precarious position of all the survivors. WX has no massive upside, and no massive downside, on top of not really intended to be a robotic Wilson. WX will HAVE to take some massive "nerfs" (the easy part, Wetness) and will have to be given substantial "buffs" (the hard part, WX doesn't really have a "role" or a "thing" atm). I worry that out of all the survivors WXs role/gameplay post rework will be the most changed, and the changes simply can't push WX further into the intended niche as WX has absolutely no niche to begin with.

To touch on the possibility of Frazzled Wire crafts and the like, once again the current availability early game (and really over all) would have to be addressed, and there really isn't any way around this other than shoehorning in mobs or entities that provide a reliable number of Wires, simply for the benefit of WX alone. I suppose a parallel could be drawn to Wendy/Pipspooks, but I think it would feel a bit cheap and non-organic to squeeze in an entity simply to provide the required amount of Wires to a WX characters crafts.

My worry in relation to Modules/Upgrades is that as I've said, WX certainly has no massive upsides or actual roles atm, so any activity boosted by a "Module" would have to have a significantly worse "normal" state than is the situation currently. A module for Combat? Well WX probably shouldn't be stronger than Wolf or Wig, so really the benefit would be questionable to start with. On top of this if you do introduce such a module, WX' "normal" state damage wise would have to be significantly worse than what is the current "normal".

The long and short of it would be that to introduce modules that greatly benefit WX in certain scenarios would more than likely infringe on other survivors niches and require WX to be significantly weaker in the areas that are mod-able but not modded at the time. The other option would be to only allow for small increases and only slightly decreased "normal" states, which pretty much leaves us with the situation we currently have with WX.

Food/Fuel/Combustion etc

Another topic that's come up that I'm not crazy about. If I'm being honest it makes total sense for WX to gain no healing/sanity/hunger from food, and maybe not be able to eat food at all.

While there may be some parallels to this (Wig and only meat, Wurt and only veggies), I think to completely take away any positive status effects from all food/consumables (or clothing/structures) and tie it only to craftables is a bit insane and completely warps WX into a totally different character. Again, it does make sense, but it doesn't necessarily make things fun. And if we were to simply go by what makes sense, we can completely do away with WX' Sanity meter, as it's easily within the realm of believability that an automoton would not have to contend with Sanity.

But I don't feel this is the way to go as currently WX' ability to consume food of any spoilage level and still gain the full benefits is really the only actual upside to the character at the moment. It's not much, and it's easily negated in the late game by massive availability of literally everything, but it's something, and it isn't OP. It makes for a bit more of a relaxed Early game (for me at least) and allows WX to not be as tethered to a "base", or food concerns in general.

Overcharge

The other big bullet point about WX. As it stands now it's pretty meh, at least in my view. If you've ever played Shipwrecked and obtained Coffee (especially stacked with the other speed boosting items) you know that losing that speed modifier is horrendously painful, and once obtained the game goes from Don't Starve to Remain Caffeinated.

I personally cannot handle the wild swing in speed from being Overcharged to not being Overcharged. I do enjoy decking out a Tele-Locater area for looks around base and occasional use, but the noise is very obnoxious (I think we can all agree this part is guaranteed to be changed). On top of this, even with my wife maining Wicker for a time, I was never particularly interested in grinding mats to remain Overcharged for long periods of time, partly due to the inevitable loss of Overcharge, and partly due to having more interesting things to do than grind book mats to provide Overcharge for a meaningful amount of time.

That's just me of course, and I'm certain Overcharge will remain in some form, and probably remain one of WX' big "things". But between the work needed for constant Overcharge, the pain of losing it, the inconsequential light and heat bonus, and the sound, I've never cared much for Overcharge in general. I would imagine at the very least we will be able to tap into a charged Lightning Rod, and the sound will also be toned down as I mentioned.

Summary

I know this is mostly me rambling and I don't have many if any suggestions or solutions, I don't have much time to myself these days to focus on placing my thoughts coherently into text, but I do believe WX has the most to lose/the most change to expect from any rework. There is currently no mechanic/niche to play into, and after seeing the fairly extensive changes to many characters who DO have niches that they filled pre rework, I am fairly worried about what the future could hold. I am consoled by that fact that all previous reworks seem to have been received pretty well, even after initial periods of doubt, and I do trust Klei to make the right choices. I just don't want to see massive downsides introduced to balance out new, possibly silly and immersion breaking upsides, or the other way around.

[Hornete]

15 minutes ago, Dunk Mujunk said:

Unfortunately Gears in some way HAVE to be the big "thing" for WX obviously, and I have absolutely no idea how to make it so. I'm really not a fan of modules and upgrades as they've been presented here (no offense meant to anyone)

Why can't they coexist? I've been reading the ideas of modules and upgrades with the assumptions that they'd be crafted with gears.