Fuel Costs

In the dairy year

Summer irrigation is water, time, and diesel. Autumn harvest is a week of thirsty machines. Winter is when those litres sit next to wages in the Cockpit.

Vanilla fuel is free. Free diesel makes the pivot an obvious yes. Here you wait for the rain when the price is ugly.

The feel

Fill at a station. Pay the day’s rate. The price moves with season and shocks. Autumn combining can sting. Plan the big runs.

One mechanic. It touches every chapter that burns hours.

How it works

Each game day the price takes a random walk, then seasonal modifiers layer on top. Autumn harvest season pushes prices up. Spring is milder. Now and then a market shock hits: a multi-day spike or dip of 15–35% lasting 3–7 days. You get a notice when the shock starts and when it ends. The price state saves with the farm.

Difficulty scales the whole bill:

Difficulty	Multiplier	Feel
Simple	×0.60	Noticeable but forgiving
Realistic	×1.00	Real-world ballpark
Hardcore	×1.50	Fuel dominates the margins

Volatility is a separate dial:

Mode	Daily swing
None	0% (seasonal curve only)
Low	±3%
Medium	±7% (default)
High	±14%

The HUD shows diesel per litre, colour-coded, with a trend versus yesterday:

• Green — under 80% of base. Fill now.
• White — normal range.
• Red — over 125% of base. Expensive.
• UP / DN / – — direction since yesterday.

The HUD hides when any game menu is open. A fill-cost notice appears when you refuel.

Press Shift+F for the settings panel. The Fuel tab is a live dashboard (current price, shock status, season modifier, volatility, and a force-tick for admin / singleplayer). The Settings tab holds the dials. On a dedicated server only admins change shared settings. HUD position and notification preferences stay local to each player. Twenty-six languages ship.

Console: FuelCostsInfo for the live picture, FuelCostsSetPrice to override the base.

A Market Dynamics oil-price world event is planned. It is not in the current release.

How you use it

• Watch the price before a long hire or a long irrigate.
• Fill when the day is kind.
• Remember AI and dedicated hosts need the same rules the player has. The suite aims for honest diesel, not a local-only tax.

The outs

Crop Stress makes you want the pivot. This mod asks what the pivot costs. Time Guard settles the calendar. Pro Staff can soften some of the year’s other bills. Fuel remains a real line.

What you need

This mod alone makes diesel cost money. Time Guard and the tablet are comfort. Not required.