MeduSalem wrote:If I don't even understand what half the combinators are actually doing and why they are necessary then how am I supposed to find or fix bugs when they happen? I'm sure Xknight tested everything out, but strange things still may happen in weird circumstances like damaging some part of your factory or if you accidently connect a wire wrong.
I don't think that this Smart Furnace is supposed to be a "practical" solution for general use, whatever that even means in a game such as this.
However, it is at the same time, an incredibly clever combinator setup that
does solve an actual problem; as opposed to other, equally clever designs that are just toy designs (tetris game, very fancy digital displays, general purpose computers unless you actually use them to control the factory, and so on).
There are not many circuits that meet that criterion.
It's not relevant if it's easy to understand or easy to break if you don't know how to set it up, unless it is explicitely made to be used as a black-box. XKnight has never claimed that, he took the problem and solved it in the most complete way possible, for his own enjoyment, and then left it there.
Also I don't like Copy&Pasting blueprint strings from the board because... what's the point in playing the game then if I don't come up with my own solutions.
If the blueprint is a start, and then you improve on the design that you've copied, then I see absolutely nothing wrong with it. The game gives you enough opportunities to do just that.
Of course, if the original design is so complex that you could not possibly wrap your head around it, then simply using it without actually understanding it is not really satisfying at all -- and for much the same reason as you I wouldn't use such designs in my maps, unless I actually reverse engineered them to my satisfaction.
Also, currently the game is not constrained enough that it actually requires most of these clever setups. A "perfect" Smart Furnace is not required to run a mega-base for example, and neither is a train controller like the one that I have built.
These setups are "toys" that you can only really enjoy if you are deeply involved in building them, which would maybe not require that you design them yourself, but at least you need to understand them in detail.
Factorio would have to contain a lot more constrained, very specific goals in order to warrant high-end solutions. What I'm thinking of are things like extremely limited space (e.g. the "Tight Spot" scenario or a single Factorissimo building), or very costly resources that cannot possibly go to waste and so on.
In the current game, "good enough" does not even have to be very "good". The only goal that the game has (build rocket) is too easy to achieve, and most of the coded achievements also do not really require a lot of skill.
Even mega bases are a lot more reliant on organizational skills, discipline and stamina than on an ability to invent very complicated stuff.
Let me finish by saying that not everybody thinks like you. Quite a few people took my train controller and were more than happy when they made it work on their maps, and they never even asked for in-depth explanations in order to understand the circuit. That would not have worked for me, but apparently not everybody thinks like we do.
Somebody even asked why I don't turn the thing into a mod, basically solving the problem in a "cheap" way (that would be possible for a Smart Furnace, too, I guess).
It's like the people who watch other people play games on Twitch or Youtube... what's the point in that?
Two reasons, mainly:
1. Learn to become better at a game; it's very useful to watch players who are good at Dota, Heroes of the Storm, League of Legends, Hearthstone and so on. Many of these games are way too difficult to become really good at them without some guidance (unless you're a natural talent or a pro who spends most of your time in the game, and even the pros have teachers who help them improve).
2. Pure entertainment; good commentary and a personality are required on the part of the streamer/YouTuber in this case, of course. The game can become quite a background activity in some cases.
It could also be compared to watch any sport, really. I like to watch Snooker and Tennis, and I'm not proficient in any of these. It's not that different with competitive computer games ("e-sports").