Mod or mainline
When you have an idea for new content, you have two options for introducing it to the game: you can either add it as an optional mod in data/mods/ , or to the mainline content in data/json . I wrote these guides under the assumption that you are going to add mainline content, because that’s what you probably should do.
Why not a mod?
A lot of stuff gets added to the game via mods. Adding content through mods makes a lot of sense when dealing with a commercial, closed source, game. But CDDA is open source, and welcomes contribution. Content that’s in a mod gets updated haphazardly at best, and sometimes mods get broken when the mainline game changes underneath them. Content that is in mainline is much more likely to get updated when the game changes.
You should add new content to a mod if, and only if, your new content wouldn’t be the kind of thing that most players would want to see. If you want to add a new mission chain where the Old Guard rep sends you out to assassinate rival faction leaders (please add a mission chain like this!), that should be in mainline. If you want to add a total overhaul of the game around an alien invasion called Cataclysm: Enemy Unknown (please add a total overhaul of the game like this!), that content should be in a mod.
In general, there’s very few good reasons to add content via a mod and lots of reasons not to.
