Factorio Forums

I am not 100% sure if this is a bug, but it seems like it. Factorio in general is working fine for me, but in my first non-campaign mission I am having problems firing my submachine gun. In the campaign my gun was very consistent, but in this game I tried to attack an enemy base and the gun wouldn't always fire. I got within a few squares of a spitter and held down space (the button for shooting) but it didn't shoot. I can reproduce the issue and it doesn't matter how close I get.

I know that the gun itself has a good rate of fire because when I highlight a tree or a rock and hit C it works the way that I expect. It just doesn't work when fighting enemies especially spitters.

EDIT: I am also having the same problem with my pistol, so it is not just the submachine gun. I have already tested my Space button and it is working perfectly fine.

EDIT 2: This is a Mac, running latest version of OSX and of Factorio.

Welcome to the forums!
There might be 3 reasons for your guns not to fire,
You are not in range, try traping a biter and shoot it
You are reloading, you can see a yellow overlay "timer" appear on your weapon in the lower right
Smoother reason related to the "C" key, try firing with the space bar (correct me if im wrong)

Unfortunately I don't think that any of those are the reasons. It happens even when I am right next to the enemy. There is no reload animation of any kind, and I am trying for at least 10 seconds which should completely rule out the reload issue.

It happens *only* with the Space bar. I can fire at items w/ C totally fine if I am pointing at them.

It isn't happening 100% of the time, so far it seems random when the problem happens.

Make sure in Options --> Controls --> Shoot enemy that it is actually assigned to SPACE.

Can you post a screenshot (of the whole Factorio window) while trying to attack a biter/spitter?

I've attached a screenshot. Right before I took this I was holding down on space and nothing was happening.

I've confirmed it's set to space in the controls.

Honestly I am willing to do a Skype session or whatever with anybody. I have tried all I can already.

Space is "free fire" for weapons such as the shotgun, rocket launcher, and flame thrower, and tank main weapon. "C" is "targeted fire" for weapons such as the pistol. SMG, and car/tank SMG.

"C" only fires when the weapon has a target to shoot at and space won't fire for none "free fire" weapons.

Is this what you're experiencing?

That is weird, because -- when it is working -- space definitely lets me fire my pistol and SMG. I almost never use C, and it has been fine until now.

I don't know if this is the same problem as yours, but I often get the feeling that if I press space (and keep it pressed) before ennemies are in range, it won't fire at all when they are, until I release space and press it again.

So the comment by rseding91 (factorio staff) implies that Space is not to be used for pistol, SMG, etc, but it does work. Which one is it? I don't really understand the explanation.

Do you use any mods?
Can you provide the log file?
How often does it happen?