[MOD 0.9.x +] Zlowdown v1.6
Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2014 8:05 pm
tl;dr: This mod slows down most automated processes in your factory. Manual actions remain unchanged.
Motivation:
I like to play Factorio in an economics-minded way, maximizing my ROI and growing as fast as possible; if not to keep up with the ever-evolving biters, then as a speed-run. However, I think the game is too fast-paced; The factory is churning out items at great speeds, and you don't have time to plan carefully. I often find myself pausing most of the time while I'm thinking, to avoid wasting very precious seconds.
I want to increase the focus on design and optimizations. With this mod, things won't happen quickly on their own, so to grow quickly you'll need to design the factory at every step to utilize its resources effectively - and you'll have the time to do so.
Description:
The mod starts by defining a slowdown parameter (2.5 by default), and slows down most aspects of the game by this factor. The game simulation speed (ticks per real second) doesn't change (slowing that down makes the interface feel sluggish and unresponsive). Running, combat, manual crafting and manual mining are not affected, so you still have the same power to affect the world around you. However, the automated parts of your factory will take longer to accomplish things.
The slowdown parameter can be changed by editing data.lua for the mod. 2.5 was chosen partly because most speeds in the game are a multiple of 0.05, so this makes round numbers. You can also make it lower than 1 to speed up the game instead.
Detailed effects:
Drill - All Mining Drills have their mining_speed reduced. (This includes pumpjacks)
Furnace - All furnaces have their smelting_speed reduced.
Inserter - All inserters have their extension_speed and rotation_speed reduced. Their energy_per_movement and energy_per_rotation is increased to maintain the same power consumption.
Belt - All transport belts, belts to ground, and splitters have their speed reduced.
Assembling - All Assembling Machines have their crafting_speed reduced. (This includes refineries and chemical plants)
Fuel - Slowing down means each fuel unit should last longer. Hence the fuel_value of all items that have it is increased.
Robot - The speed of all logistic robots is reduced. However, the speed of construction robots is unchanged (so you can build with blueprints with the same speed).
Lab - I could find no "correct" way to reduce research labs speed. The main options are increasing technologies' research time, or decreasing the lab's power consumption. I've chosen the latter method. For all labs, the power consumption is reduced (which does lead to slower research), and the animation speed is increased to compensate. This affects the balance of the game, however, the power consumption of labs is not very significant anyway, so this makes a minor difference.
Biters - The pollution to join attack for all units that have this field (biters) is increased. So the ratio of biter attacks to items produced is maintained (assuming this does what I think it does).
Evolution - The time factor and pollution factor for enemy evolution is reduced.
Trains - The weight of all locomotives and cargo wagons is increased. This slows down their acceleration and the maximal speed that air resistance will allow. The max speed attribute is not affected, which is meaningful mostly with a lone locomotive; leaving it unchanged allows it to still be an effective mode of personal transportation.
Other mods:
The mod should affect new prototypes added by other mods, though I haven't tested this. Any type referred to with "all" above is applicable.
Name:
The mod was originally supposed to be named "Slowdown", but I've been told mods are loaded in alphabetical order, so to increase the chance this mod will be loaded after others and apply to them, I started the name with the letter "Z". And "Z" sounds a little like "S", so...
Comments:
This is my first public mod. I started with a mod for my personal use with this and other balance tweaks. But I figured this might be useful for others so I split it out to its own feature mod which I'm now publishing. Feedback welcome.
The first thing you'll notice is probably that inserters and belts run veeeery slooowly. You'll get used to it.
Mod in text format:
Motivation:
I like to play Factorio in an economics-minded way, maximizing my ROI and growing as fast as possible; if not to keep up with the ever-evolving biters, then as a speed-run. However, I think the game is too fast-paced; The factory is churning out items at great speeds, and you don't have time to plan carefully. I often find myself pausing most of the time while I'm thinking, to avoid wasting very precious seconds.
I want to increase the focus on design and optimizations. With this mod, things won't happen quickly on their own, so to grow quickly you'll need to design the factory at every step to utilize its resources effectively - and you'll have the time to do so.
Description:
The mod starts by defining a slowdown parameter (2.5 by default), and slows down most aspects of the game by this factor. The game simulation speed (ticks per real second) doesn't change (slowing that down makes the interface feel sluggish and unresponsive). Running, combat, manual crafting and manual mining are not affected, so you still have the same power to affect the world around you. However, the automated parts of your factory will take longer to accomplish things.
The slowdown parameter can be changed by editing data.lua for the mod. 2.5 was chosen partly because most speeds in the game are a multiple of 0.05, so this makes round numbers. You can also make it lower than 1 to speed up the game instead.
Detailed effects:
Drill - All Mining Drills have their mining_speed reduced. (This includes pumpjacks)
Furnace - All furnaces have their smelting_speed reduced.
Inserter - All inserters have their extension_speed and rotation_speed reduced. Their energy_per_movement and energy_per_rotation is increased to maintain the same power consumption.
Belt - All transport belts, belts to ground, and splitters have their speed reduced.
Assembling - All Assembling Machines have their crafting_speed reduced. (This includes refineries and chemical plants)
Fuel - Slowing down means each fuel unit should last longer. Hence the fuel_value of all items that have it is increased.
Robot - The speed of all logistic robots is reduced. However, the speed of construction robots is unchanged (so you can build with blueprints with the same speed).
Lab - I could find no "correct" way to reduce research labs speed. The main options are increasing technologies' research time, or decreasing the lab's power consumption. I've chosen the latter method. For all labs, the power consumption is reduced (which does lead to slower research), and the animation speed is increased to compensate. This affects the balance of the game, however, the power consumption of labs is not very significant anyway, so this makes a minor difference.
Biters - The pollution to join attack for all units that have this field (biters) is increased. So the ratio of biter attacks to items produced is maintained (assuming this does what I think it does).
Evolution - The time factor and pollution factor for enemy evolution is reduced.
Trains - The weight of all locomotives and cargo wagons is increased. This slows down their acceleration and the maximal speed that air resistance will allow. The max speed attribute is not affected, which is meaningful mostly with a lone locomotive; leaving it unchanged allows it to still be an effective mode of personal transportation.
Other mods:
The mod should affect new prototypes added by other mods, though I haven't tested this. Any type referred to with "all" above is applicable.
Name:
The mod was originally supposed to be named "Slowdown", but I've been told mods are loaded in alphabetical order, so to increase the chance this mod will be loaded after others and apply to them, I started the name with the letter "Z". And "Z" sounds a little like "S", so...
Comments:
This is my first public mod. I started with a mod for my personal use with this and other balance tweaks. But I figured this might be useful for others so I split it out to its own feature mod which I'm now publishing. Feedback welcome.
The first thing you'll notice is probably that inserters and belts run veeeery slooowly. You'll get used to it.
Mod in text format:
info.json
data.lua
