Feature Request(s): Entity Ids & Non-vanilla fallbacks

[Forekast]

Hey there,

If it's alright, I'd like to make a couple feature requests. One for QoL, another for compatibility.

For QoL, it'd be really handy if we could set an id on an entity "entity": "planet", "id:" "my_entity", "orbitRadius": 1200 to be referenced later for things like focus "focus": "my_entity" and orbitRadius "orbitRadius": "my_entity.orbitRadius", possibly allowing math (I don't know if that's possible)? Maybe something like, "orbitRadius": (my_entity.orbitRadius + 100)?

For compatibility, I've got a bunch of non-vanilla conditions from US_* and rat_* (I imagine this would apply to TASC planet types, too). If I want to share my star system with people—on the forums, or elsewhere—I would need to provide them with a list of required mods or it will probably break. I would like to be able to provide vanilla fallbacks for non-vanilla types, conditions, wrecks, etc.

Vanilla fallback for a non-vanilla planet type: "type": ["archipelago", "terran"]
No fallback for a non-vanilla condition, but safe removal: "conditions": [ ("rat_bionic_plantlife","")]
Vanilla fallback for a non-vanilla ship: "wreck": "variantID": ["acs_junkhubship_module_standard", "onslaught_xiv_Elite"]

Thank you for your consideration!

[Tranquiliti]

The first part about setting entity ids for later reference is likely not going to happen due to the limited nature of JSON parsing (e.g., no such thing as referencing an earlier entry within a JSON file). It might be theoretically possible to implement that with a lot of special handling on my end, but I just do not think it is worth the time to make that happen.

As for the second part about having fallback options, that is actually something I had planned before. However, due to the limited nature of JSON (again), implementing it is not straightforward - especially since the "type" option already uses lists ("["archipelago", "terran"]") to randomize planet types.

That said, I'll leave this issue open since I do like making fallback options a possibility, though I do not see that happening in the near future.