Friday Facts #144 - The gfx report

[Koub]

Personally, I'd like to see some tundra and taiga biomes in Factorio. Lack of snow is somewhat disappointing.

Given the output of solar panels, I think the planet can be anywhere cool enough for ice to form naturally on surface But well this is a game about automation, not astrophysics, so whynot

[FlyHigh]

Personally, I'd like to see some tundra and taiga biomes in Factorio. Lack of snow is somewhat disappointing.

Given the output of solar panels, I think the planet can be anywhere cool enough for ice to form naturally on surface But well this is a game about automation, not astrophysics, so whynot

Actually in-game solar panels are massively OPed.
Considering that today's photovoltaic panels in the market usually have an output of about 250-315W (considering best exposure conditions) and that the sprite for the panels contains 12 sections to it (i'm over estimating here) the total output of a 'Solar Panel' would be around 3000-3780W. Far from the 60.000W it currently is.
Just a though.

[Weresmilodon]

Personally, I'd like to see some tundra and taiga biomes in Factorio. Lack of snow is somewhat disappointing.

Given the output of solar panels, I think the planet can be anywhere cool enough for ice to form naturally on surface But well this is a game about automation, not astrophysics, so whynot

Actually in-game solar panels are massively OPed.
Considering that today's photovoltaic panels in the market usually have an output of about 250-315W (considering best exposure conditions) and that the sprite for the panels contains 12 sections to it (i'm over estimating here) the total output of a 'Solar Panel' would be around 3000-3780W. Far from the 60.000W it currently is.
Just a though.

Sure. It's just that Factorio isn't taking place on Earth, under the same sun, or with modern technology, so that's kind of irrelevant.

[FlyHigh]

Personally, I'd like to see some tundra and taiga biomes in Factorio. Lack of snow is somewhat disappointing.

Given the output of solar panels, I think the planet can be anywhere cool enough for ice to form naturally on surface But well this is a game about automation, not astrophysics, so whynot

Actually in-game solar panels are massively OPed.
Considering that today's photovoltaic panels in the market usually have an output of about 250-315W (considering best exposure conditions) and that the sprite for the panels contains 12 sections to it (i'm over estimating here) the total output of a 'Solar Panel' would be around 3000-3780W. Far from the 60.000W it currently is.
Just a though.

Sure. It's just that Factorio isn't taking place on Earth, under the same sun, or with modern technology, so that's kind of irrelevant.

If you're pulling the 'when physics is irrelevant' card then there really is no reason why anything needs to be done in factorio world. Why would you need power,belts,assemblers if stuff could be done by magic? Either the game has some basis is reality or it makes no sense.

[Weresmilodon]

Personally, I'd like to see some tundra and taiga biomes in Factorio. Lack of snow is somewhat disappointing.

Given the output of solar panels, I think the planet can be anywhere cool enough for ice to form naturally on surface But well this is a game about automation, not astrophysics, so whynot

Actually in-game solar panels are massively OPed.
Considering that today's photovoltaic panels in the market usually have an output of about 250-315W (considering best exposure conditions) and that the sprite for the panels contains 12 sections to it (i'm over estimating here) the total output of a 'Solar Panel' would be around 3000-3780W. Far from the 60.000W it currently is.
Just a though.

Sure. It's just that Factorio isn't taking place on Earth, under the same sun, or with modern technology, so that's kind of irrelevant.

If you're pulling the 'when physics is irrelevant' card then there really is no reason why anything needs to be done in factorio world. Why would you need power,belts,assemblers if stuff could be done by magic? Either the game has some basis is reality or it makes no sense.

I'm not telling you any of the sort. I'm just telling you that what we use in the modern day, on Earth, under Sol, is completely irrelevant to Factorio, where we are on an alien world, under another, unknown sun, with technology advanced enough to essentially build pocket-sized fusion reactors.

[Keks]

According to the translation strings, there will be possible to change color of locomotive from the gui.
Each train with the different color

If true, that would be awesome!! Then I could see which train it is at a glance without opening the GUI!

Its true

is it possible to do that magical thing you did with those locomotives with the wagons as well? perhaps even with individual wagons in a train?
I'd love to color code my wagons carrying raw materials in matching colors (the front wagon would be gray for iron 2nd wagon red for chopper etc.)

and (purely by accident) give me a peek at the side of these lovely new Wagons when you confirm or deny it?

[lrb2_]

According to the translation strings, there will be possible to change color of locomotive from the gui.
Each train with the different color

If true, that would be awesome!! Then I could see which train it is at a glance without opening the GUI!

Its true

is it possible to do that magical thing you did with those locomotives with the wagons as well? perhaps even with individual wagons in a train?
I'd love to color code my wagons carrying raw materials in matching colors (the front wagon would be gray for iron 2nd wagon red for copper etc.)

and (purely by accident) give me a peek at the side of these lovely new Wagons when you confirm or deny it?

That would really be useful... That would give me a reason to transport circuits by train so that I can have a logical reason for having green, red, and blue wagons!

And have a long train carrying alien artifacts loop all throughout my railway system, just because.

[AlexTheNotsogreat]

Less than 24 hours...

[ToxicTiger]

I really thought is was Friday today omg.

[Hooch]

I really thought is was Friday today omg.

It would be great in future to release updates on Friday so that people have whole weekend to enjoy it.

[silverkitty23]

I really thought is was Friday today omg.

It would be great in future to release updates on Friday so that people have whole weekend to enjoy it.

developers, on the other hand, prefer to release on Monday or Tuesday so they have the whole work week to deal with emergency bugs, instead of having to give up their weekend

and, no, the answer isn't "so don't release with bugs" - the problem is we're asking some thousands of people to upgrade this software on a bunch of different operating systems and hardwares - with varying degrees of care taken to keep their computers running well. the expectation is for dozens of install issues reported in the first day, even if many of those are just "I tried to install when I didn't have enough disk space" or "I had this mod that changed everything and now it's broken" etc.

even if there aren't any bugs, there's going to be an increased need for support right after a new release, as people who don't read changelogs report every changed feature as a bug

[TheTom]

I really thought is was Friday today omg.

It would be great in future to release updates on Friday so that people have whole weekend to enjoy it.

Great as in "utterly ridiculously stupid"? Sure.

The problem is that when a bug appears then there is a whole weekend where the current version is broken. You NEVER release software Thursday or Friday so you have time available for an emergency fix without subjugating developers for a weekend of death. If you release on a Monday, you can push another 2-3 critical bugfix releases out if it needs to be done without too much delay.

[Koub]

No, because new release means possible game breaking bugs, and the devs do have the right not to work on week-ends.

[Killkrog]

I guess they wanted the release on a monday so that they have a whole week to patch stuff in case we find some major bugs.

// edit
wow, much too late ^^

[Eitelkeit]

F5 race starts here.

[vaderciya]

WAITS IMPATIENTLY FOR THE RELEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No but seriously I want it naaaooowwwww

[LotA]

F5 race starts here.

I guess it's true, the website feels kinda slow right now xD

Anyway i expect the release to happen later, probably this evening/night

[TheTom]

F5 race starts here.

I guess it's true, the website feels kinda slow right now xD

Anyway i expect the release to happen later, probably this evening/night

I would not expect that - but coming to the office they likely will see whether anything new happened the weekend (unless they did a code freeze Friday, which may be smart) and make a build, then upload it. I am not sure how long Steam takes to approve... European Lunch Time is my early estimate.

[MiiNiPaa]

Anyway i expect the release to happen later, probably this evening/night

European Lunch Time is my early estimate

Seems like it would be released in evening

[Proxy]

Anyway i expect the release to happen later, probably this evening/night

European Lunch Time is my early estimate

Seems like it would be released in evening

i just needed to Google to see what time GMT +1 is for me.
until i Facepalm'd because they are in Prague, and so i'm in the Same Timezone with them. -.-