The Underground Belt Changes

[Bluebones]

I would like to ask the community for help. I do not see the recent changes to the underground belts as positive. I see it as removing and important challenging part of the end game. In the game you always have to make a choice about how much space to have around and how to get stuff from point A to point B. How to order and arrange your assembly machines. How to have beacons around your factory but still get all the resources in. I felt that the old underground belt added to these challenges. I have absolutely felt frustrated with the limitation of the old underground belt. I wished for just 1 more space!! But it made me think and adapt. I feel that this limitation has gotten me to think more creatively. So many blueprints are designed are impart dictated by the limitation and challenge of using an underground belt. With the blue belt being 8 apart I can’t imagine at this point being limited by its length.
I must say that I disagree with Kovarex that it will force a much large variety of blue prints. Maybe that is a personal issue as I don’t really use underground belts in my factory until I have beacons. But once you have the tech and resources for beacons the tech for bluebelts is not that far away.

My question to the community is how is this going to stimulate more interesting game play?

[Lav]

Personally, I would prefer a research to increase the length of all underground belts, but current setup works too.

All old blueprints are still workable, but now we can try to design more efficient ones.

And you get a choice in early game to either accept yellow belt limitations and limit yourself somewhat in later game, or design your base with possible longer UG belts in mind - pretty sure it will spawn a new branch of base designs.

[Koub]

Personally, I would prefer a research to increase the length of all underground belts, but current setup works too.

Fast and express belt length increase
This came up when reviewing one of the trello card for possible underground belt length research. It sounds nice until you realize how much problems would it cause with blueprints. Blueprint made with higher research of length wouldn't work with lower one. So we decided to go with the simple way of increasing based on the belt level.

Source : https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-189

[Lav]

Okay, so how about an alternative solution.

All underground belts have the same base distance of 5 (i.e. an interval of 4 tiles between entrance and exit). However higher-level belts allow to increase the distance by 4 at the cost of consuming more underground belts. Red belts allow player to increase the distance to 9, but for as long as it's higher than 5, full 4 underground belts will be consumed. Blue belts allow increase to 13, consuming 6 underground belts at higher distances.

[bman212121]

I will say that if you play with Bob's mods, you'll have already been used to the increase in belt length. You can go even further with the higher belts in his mod, and it's never quite enough. Yes it makes it easier now to skip over 1 item, but what about 2? Or 3? There are many times where it comes in handy to jump over a pair of factories instead of just one. So I do see what you're saying about it makes it easier for micro management at the smallest level, but I can assure you that you'll still be quite limited once you start branching out into bigger designs.

For me the increase in length is a welcome change because it's certainly something I use all of the time with Bob's and can no longer use those designs when I go back to vanilla.

[Jürgen Erhard]

I like the change (and I use a mod for longer belts because it's still too little ).

If you don't like longer belts, you don't have to use them. "But..." Make some blueprints for belts, and only use those, and limit them to length of five.

But I'm pretty certain you will "absolutely feel frustrated" again even with the longer belts.

Sheesh... how is "feeling frustrated" fun? Are you all masochists? Is that why Americans voted Trump? They too love the pain and frustration?