Version 0.18.4

[FactorioBot]

Balancing

• Wave defense difficulty will scale with online player count.
• Wave defense hard difficulty will give 50% less bounty on each kill.

Sounds

• New sound for small explosion.
• Combat robots now have their own explosion sound.
• Shotgun has more variety so it sounds less repetitive.
• Vehicle impacting wooden objects (e.g chests) now sounds subtly different to crashing into trees.
• A few minor volume level changes including lowering the offshore pump and electric furnace.

Bugfixes

• Fixed a crash when saving fails due to mod issues. (80691)
• Fixed a crash that would happen when the player entered a vehicle when some biters were aggroed at them. (80613)
• Fixed that cargo wagons built while a train is moving didn't animate the doors correctly. (80671)
• Fixed an error when using modded night vision defined in zip files. (80877)
• Fixed a performance issue with assembling machine result slot tooltips. (80718)
• Fixed that items marked with the mod-openable flag couldn't be opened from the quickbar in some cases. (80794)
• Fixed that train could fail with chain signal sequence escape maneuver when path goes multiple times through a rail segment.
• Possibly fixed seam on terrain at certain position and zoom level. (80677)
• Fixed that sometimes wave defense would trigger victory before killing all spawners. (80769)

Scripting

• Fixed that writing to LuaForce::stack_inserter_capacity_bonus was limited to 200 instead of 254.

Modding

• Changed definitions of map colors of beacons, pipes, heat pipes, roboports and steam engines, so they can be overridden by friendly_map_color. (80669)
• Added ParticlePrototype::ended_on_ground_trigger_effect.
• Added fuel burnt results to the item tooltip.
• Loader remnants will pick rotation the same way as underground belts do. (80901)

Use the automatic updater if you can (check experimental updates in other settings) or download full installation at http://www.factorio.com/download/experimental.

[posila]

Unfortunatelly, macOS Steam build failed Apple notarization, so macOS Catalina users who play the experimental releases on Steam need to revert to 0.18.3 or donwload the DRM-free package from factorio.com.

[Omnifarious]

There are two mods that are non-game changing (well, one is a tiny bit game changing) that I think would add a lot of polish to the game, and who's ideas I think should be incorporated.

The one that's a tiny bit game changing and is the one that I think would add the most is MushroomCloud (which has not yet been ported to 0.18). The atomic bomb is... underwhelming. It doesn't need to be more powerful from a game mechanics perspective, but the way it shows up needs to be a little more startling and profound. I also think the addition of an invisible radiation cloud (aka poison field) in the central region of the area affected by the explosion would also be fun (and that's the game changing part). That should probably fade relatively quickly, within a minute or two.

The other is Concretexure. It bothers me that there is no really smooth concrete texture. I think refined concrete should be a fairly smooth surface. I don't know. Maybe that's too much of a break from the aesthetic of the rest of the game. I'm less convinced on this one.

I've really enjoyed the sound updates in general. Thank you.

[Antyradek]

Looks nice.

But what about adding little sign items, so I can visually mark my belts and meters with something else than constant combinator?

I know, I know, there is section for that in forum, but look, third comment under version release doesn't happen that often.

[riking]

Unfortunatelly, macOS Steam build failed Apple notarization, so macOS Catalina users who play the experimental releases on Steam need to revert to 0.18.3 or donwload the DRM-free package from factorio.com.

Why oh why is this even a thing that can happen?

Mad at Apple, not at you. They were clearly not prepared to run a service like this, and I'm disappointed it hasn't been fixed yet.

[posila]

Why oh why is this even a thing that can happen?

Mad at Apple, not at you. They were clearly not prepared to run a service like this, and I'm disappointed it hasn't been fixed yet.

I am sorry for not resolving it yet. I wasn't able to find out why it was rejected, and wheybags, who set up the notarization for our deploy, is currently out-of-office (he might be able to look into it tomorrow remotely, no promisses, though).

[Solinya]

Why oh why is this even a thing that can happen?

Mad at Apple, not at you. They were clearly not prepared to run a service like this, and I'm disappointed it hasn't been fixed yet.

I am sorry for not resolving it yet. I wasn't able to find out why it was rejected, and wheybags, who set up the notarization for our deploy, is currently out-of-office (he might be able to look into it tomorrow remotely, no promisses, though).

Can you go into what’s involved in that process (maybe in an FFF)? All I know is it’s a major pain for indie devs, to the point where some of them have given up developing for Mac.

[Klonan]

Why oh why is this even a thing that can happen?

Mad at Apple, not at you. They were clearly not prepared to run a service like this, and I'm disappointed it hasn't been fixed yet.

I am sorry for not resolving it yet. I wasn't able to find out why it was rejected, and wheybags, who set up the notarization for our deploy, is currently out-of-office (he might be able to look into it tomorrow remotely, no promisses, though).

Can you go into what’s involved in that process (maybe in an FFF)? All I know is it’s a major pain for indie devs, to the point where some of them have given up developing for Mac.

We talked about it here: https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-316

[Drury]

The one that's a tiny bit game changing and is the one that I think would add the most is MushroomCloud (which has not yet been ported to 0.18). The atomic bomb is... underwhelming. It doesn't need to be more powerful from a game mechanics perspective, but the way it shows up needs to be a little more startling and profound. I also think the addition of an invisible radiation cloud (aka poison field) in the central region of the area affected by the explosion would also be fun (and that's the game changing part). That should probably fade relatively quickly, within a minute or two.

Mushroom Cloud is a fantastic graphical update. Can vouch for it 100%.

Also I'm pretty sure it's been ported to 0.18, given that I've been using it in my recent game

My "why is it not in vanilla yet" modlist is as follows:

Vehicle Physics
KS Combat
Burner Leech
Colorblind Circuit Network/Palette Cleanser
Explosives are explosive
Flammable Oils
Light Cone
Nukes Destroy Cliffs
Realistic Decoration Cleanup
Sound On Rotate
Volume Control
Wire Shortcuts

[peternlewis]

Can you go into what’s involved in that process (maybe in an FFF)? All I know is it’s a major pain for indie devs, to the point where some of them have given up developing for Mac.

To Notorize your app, you have to zip the app in to an archive, then run a tool which sends it to Apple and returns an ID. Apple then scans the app for whatever the heck they think should not be there (which down the track gives them full ability to disallow anything, so this is terrifying). When they are done, they make available the status of the scan. Annoyingly, this process takes several minutes, and you have to poll Apple with the ID waiting for a response, so it is a pain to script. Assuming it is successful, there is a process to add a signature of sorts to your app so that even without a network connection, OS X can tell it has been noatarized (this process is somewhat optional though, because if the Mac has a network connection, then it can tell the app has been notorized even without this extra signature attached to it).

The script I have to perform this exercise is about 30 lines of perl code - there isn't much point stopping developing for the Mac over this (although Apple do seem to be doing everything they can to dissuade developers, and I'm frankly disgusted with a lot of what they do).

[deepdriller]

For some reason, this update trips my antivirus.
It identifies it as "HEUR/AGEN.1038008", and honestly, you know it's a false alarm if it begins with HEUR.

[BlueTemplar]

Ah, yet another reminder as to why OS makers should be legally forbidden to control what software is allowed to run on their OS. (Installed on computers that are NOT theirs !)
Or to control an "app store" for their OS, because it will eventually end up there due to the conflict of interest : see how users are complaining about devs using .apks instead of Google Play - and devs not releasing on Google Play are mostly struggling, because why would Google bother designing .apks to be easy to use and secure instead of the other way around ?
I very worried about where Canonical is going with their Ubuntu Snap Store...

Also it's funny - IIRC one of the major reasons why the iPhone succeeded is because Nokia's Symbian "ecosystem" was a pain in the ass for the devs to use, so once third party software was allowed on iPhones...

[Koub]

For some reason, this update trips my antivirus.
It identifies it as "HEUR/AGEN.1038008", and honestly, you know it's a false alarm if it begins with HEUR.

Only thing to do : report this false positive to the editors of whatever antivirus your using.

[Jazzer008]

Unfortunatelly, macOS Steam build failed Apple notarization, so macOS Catalina users who play the experimental releases on Steam need to revert to 0.18.3 or donwload the DRM-free package from factorio.com.

I've just ran Steam 0.18.4 with no issues. I'm using Catalina 10.15.3

[dee-]

Ah, yet another reminder as to why OS makers should be legally forbidden to control what software is allowed to run on their OS. (Installed on computers that are NOT theirs !)
Or to control an "app store" for their OS, because it will eventually end up there due to the conflict of interest : see how users are complaining about devs using .apks instead of Google Play - and devs not releasing on Google Play are mostly struggling, because why would Google bother designing .apks to be easy to use and secure instead of the other way around ?
I very worried about where Canonical is going with their Ubuntu Snap Store...

Also it's funny - IIRC one of the major reasons why the iPhone succeeded is because Nokia's Symbian "ecosystem" was a pain in the ass for the devs to use, so once third party software was allowed on iPhones...

Apple and Canonical are in the same vein and proceed on locking down their ecosystem and their users in, always have.
If you can consider switching.
Dropping Ubuntu is quite easy as it's just a downstream Debian. MacOs is more difficult but then again, what has Apple to offer anyway? Their graphics-stack is stone-old and Metal lock-in (again). Switch early before you spend too much (time, money, nerves). Never look back.

*steps off soapbox

[DanGio]

The offshore pump sound is now almost hidden by the fluid flowing in pipe sound + wind. The buzzing was cool, as we don't stand very often near offshore pumps. I can't explain why, but it made me picture a japanese movie. Like, a Kitano one.

Thank you for your work !

[Astree]

Hello,
I put a post in "gameplay help" but got no answer.
When you start the wave defense 0.18, it says you can win by clearing all the island, OR by launching a rocket. I've played several games (normal difficulty), and never found a way to launch a rocket.
Is it a bug, or is there no way at the moment to launch a rocket ?

Edit : by the way, I love how it works now, it's really better, and offers a nice challenge -)

[5thHorseman]

Hello,
I put a post in "gameplay help" but got no answer.
When you start the wave defense 0.18, it says you can win by clearing all the island, OR by launching a rocket. I've played several games (normal difficulty), and never found a way to launch a rocket.
Is it a bug, or is there no way at the moment to launch a rocket ?

Edit : by the way, I love how it works now, it's really better, and offers a nice challenge -)

That's a bigger question than I think you expect. Some, most, or all of this will help.

https://wiki.factorio.com/Rocket_silo

[Astree]

That's a bigger question than I think you expect. Some, most, or all of this will help.

Tks for your kind answer. Just a detail : I've a bit more than 4000 hours of gameplay in factorio, I've sent thousands rockets in the sky, sometimes at 10 RPM, please believe me if I tell you I know how to launch a rocket in the vanilla game
Here, I'm talking about the "wave defense" scenario. In 0.17, you could buy the rocket and launch it after killing enough aliens. This feature seems not to be there anymore with the 0.18
I think if you try the scenario, you'll quickly understand my question ... you'll never have enough ore on the island to build it the way you think

[5thHorseman]

Ah. Never mind then. I only ever play freeplay or creative and don't really see the appeal of the scenarios so just assumed it was possible

Maybe they wanted to cover every base or something.

Maybe I'll try a scenario or two while waiting for Krastorio 2 to be released