Factorio Forums

It doesn't make sense to me that wires need an electronic circuit. They're just wires connecting machines that already have circuits in them. Feels like we're paying twice for the same product. That wouldn't be so bad by itself if they didn't have a nasty habit of disappearing into the aether when trying to pick them up. Even ignoring the cost of the wires this is still annoying and either results in multiple trips or overpacking.

I had heard that this is due to some exploit from the past that involved tricking the game into giving you extra resources from picked up poles or something. If this is so, this is a huge case of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and has resulted in me being hesitant to try to learn and implement circuit networks for fear of wasting time and resources. I despise games that punish you for playing them, and part of what attracted me to this game is the concept of being free to experiment and fail.

It seems to me that they either need to be retrievable and reusable or be cheap to make to the point of it being trivial to make more. I would even be okay with a compromise of a crafting recipe that still uses copper wire but forgos circuit boards in favor of plastic (or rubber?) made from petroleum like real data wires.

Tendies4meplz wrote:It doesn't make sense to me that wires need an electronic circuit. They're just wires connecting machines that already have circuits in them.

Not quite. Wires add functionality to objects they connect. That functionality is not covered by circuitry already present in those machines, otherwise it would be available even without circuit connection.

Funfact: Construction robots can place circuitry wires without actualy having any available.

If you are willing to put in the work, they are without cost once you have an appropriate blueprint.

See this Ideas and Suggestions post, "Red/Green Wire Tools".