Factorio Forums

Problem:
Setting up an outpost for 50+ pumpjacks is tedious.

Suggestion:
Increase size of single oil patch to 5x5 or even 7x7, increase yield from such patch and reduce their overall amount per field. You have HD model for pumpjack so it should be easy to scale it up, right?

Why:
Games are for fun stuff, not for tedious stuff.

Related (but not identical) suggestion thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56449 Give pumpjacks mining range!

In a previous patch, the number of oil patches has been reduced, but their output has been increased to compensate. This could be done again, if necessary.

I see no advantage in instead making oil patches multi-tile.

Tekky wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:16 pm

Related (but not identical) suggestion thread:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=56449 Give pumpjacks mining range!

In a previous patch, the number of oil patches has been reduced, but their output has been increased to compensate. This could be done again, if necessary.

I see no advantage in instead making oil patches multi-tile.

Fun fact is, it was my own thread you've linked
Well, it was seemingly ignored, so I've come with yet another idea.

Ah, I didn't notice.

oil patches are already effectively a 3x3.

Also, it isn't as simple as just making the mining area bigger, look at how ore miners behave. They pick a spot and mine it for a bit, then change spot.

Since pumpjacks are basically just mining drills that return a fluid instead of an item, if you extend the range of a pumpjack then it will behave the same way, pick an oil patch, mine it for a few cycles, then pick another. you gain nothing from covering more than 1 oil patch.

@bobingabout
I think you've misunderstood me - What I am suggesting is to increase size of both oil patch and pumpjack, effectively it would be still 1 pumpjack per 1 oil field, just less oil patches per entire oil field because they would be bigger.

Avezo wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:21 pm

@bobingabout
I think you've misunderstood me - What I am suggesting is to increase size of both oil patch and pumpjack, effectively it would be still 1 pumpjack per 1 oil field, just less oil patches per entire oil field because they would be bigger.

Seems rather pointless and bad. That would make simple pump jacks larger than huge and complex oil refineries. Just doesn't with with reality. It's just a pump, it shouldn't be big. Also you would still have 50 pump jacks in your oil field for the same amount of oil. Just now it would be twice as large, require double the pipes and 4 times as much walking around. No way.

Isn't what you really want just fewer oil patches per field with higher throughput?

Avezo wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:10 pm

Suggestion:
Increase size of single oil patch to 5x5 or even 7x7, increase yield from such patch and reduce their overall amount per field.

Why not mod request? If the mod will be helpful, then it has much more chance to go into vanilla.

mrvn wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:40 pm

Also you would still have 50 pump jacks in your oil field for the same amount of oil.
(...)
Isn't what you really want just fewer oil patches per field with higher throughput?

I think you missed this part from the first post:

Avezo wrote: ↑

Tue Sep 18, 2018 8:10 pm

increase yield from such patch and reduce their overall amount per field

-

darkfrei wrote: ↑

Thu Sep 20, 2018 2:54 pm

Why not mod request? If the mod will be helpful, then it has much more chance to go into vanilla.

I consider purpose of mods to be expanding gameplay, not fixing tedious stuff. Besides, they already know map generation is crappy.

I think just adding injector pumps to a nearby depleted one should re-pressurize and restore the output of everything around it for a little while. Maybe through an "Enhanced Oil Recovery" research

Jeeto wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:13 pm

I think just adding injector pumps to a nearby depleted one should re-pressurize and restore the output of everything around it for a little while. Maybe through an "Enhanced Oil Recovery" research

So in each field you would sacrifice one well to spruce up the others? I like it.

Jeeto wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:13 pm

I think just adding injector pumps to a nearby depleted one should re-pressurize and restore the output of everything around it for a little while. Maybe through an "Enhanced Oil Recovery" research

Not exactly that way, but here it a mod for it
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/HydraulicPumpjacks

darkfrei wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 10, 2018 4:10 pm

Jeeto wrote: ↑

Mon Dec 10, 2018 2:13 pm

I think just adding injector pumps to a nearby depleted one should re-pressurize and restore the output of everything around it for a little while. Maybe through an "Enhanced Oil Recovery" research

Not exactly that way, but here it a mod for it
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/HydraulicPumpjacks

Yeah, water injection where instead of a pumpjack that pulls oil out it pushes water in and then all the nearby normal pumpjacks have increased production for a limited amount of time (maybe for an additional 30% of original oil in place, what we in the oil industry call OOIP). You might then have a mix of oil and water coming out and will need a chemical plant to separate the two. Just another option to use with or without those beacons and modules.

Another way to reduce the tedium of setting up oil outposts, would be to force all oil patches in the world to align to a grid, and give enough space between them to always have room for pipes. Then you could shift-click + run, to place multiple pumps, or make a blueprint for the later game. Right now (unless it's changed since I played last), you need to hand-place every pump, because 1) they don't line up in a nice way, and 2) there's often two pumps right beside each other, forcing you to put the pipes in weird angles.