Friday Facts #187 - Space science & 0.15 graphics

[J-H]

Cheesus freakin crust. It's like you're releasing a standalone expansion pack / sequel at this point. I was gonna ask you if you could a release a "Last XP compatible version" branch to steam (Age of Empires 2 HD has something similar) that people like me can use when they're occasionally trapped with an old XP machine and suffer boredom. However, I'm having second thoughts just by the sheer amount of fundamental additions to the game. I don't think anybody will be able to go back a version after this patch hits. There is simply too much they would miss!

Wait, what is this about? Is 0.15 going to stop being compatible with XP? I don't want the game broken on me!

[aympacman]

TFW you really want your next mouse wheel turn to show the 0.15 reveal... AND IT DOES!

[AlexTheNotsogreat]

...BTW, I'm sure you are on some sort of government watchlist now, lol.

I doubt an object in a video game that resembles the most primitive nuclear device ever would be threatening.

[jaypee]

Even apart from the fact that there is a new version release coming, this has to be one of the best made FFF posts you guys have done. Those graphics look amazing -- give those folks a raise!

I'm curious about the space science. I totally love this idea, I just want to understand it better. Would this be just data transmitted down from the satellite and somehow magically distilled into packs inside the silo? Just thinking ahead for future ideas here, but if that is transmitted data then maybe we could have a separate communication tower or satellite dish that would be needed to receive it If it wasn't transmitted data but is somehow an actual physical science sample (space dust/debris?) then maybe it would be cool to have it land somewhere within a radius range of the silo that launched it (possibly flagged somehow so logistics bots could retrieve it).

It just strikes me as odd that the science packs would show up inside the rocket silo, to my way of thinking it would be cool if they are delivered somewhere else separately (data receiving comm tower or some kind of drop pods).

How would you describe the way that the science packs end up in the silo?

I can wait to give all of this a try next week.

I like the idea of recovering landed satellites. It'd be cool to designate a specific landing zone... like say a 10x10 area.
For extra special FUN (in the dwarf fortress sense) i think it'd be neat if sometime the inbound satellite's guidance fails... the satellite lands far, far away... deep inside biter territory... can you recover it before the biters notice it?

[Loewchen]

Wait, what is this about? Is 0.15 going to stop being compatible with XP? I don't want the game broken on me!

There at least will not be a 32bit executable.

[stahlinator13]

And I thought Easter was last weekend.

Can't wait till tuesday.

[J-H]

Wait, what is this about? Is 0.15 going to stop being compatible with XP? I don't want the game broken on me!

There at least will not be a 32bit executable.

I'm sorry, that doesn't clarify anything for me. Will Factorio 0.15 run on Windows XP, or do I need to set Steam to not update it to avoid a broken game?

[Loewchen]

Wait, what is this about? Is 0.15 going to stop being compatible with XP? I don't want the game broken on me!

There at least will not be a 32bit executable.

I'm sorry, that doesn't clarify anything for me. Will Factorio 0.15 run on Windows XP, or do I need to set Steam to not update it to avoid a broken game?

Simply put, if you are running win XP you will not be running any Factorio version beyond 0.14.22, but steam will not update your game on Tuesday automatically anyway, you would have to op-in the beta.

[J-H]

Okay, thanks.

I guess I will continue my existing game of 1.14, then. Maybe in a couple of years when I do a big system upgrade and finally tackle the Linux migration (thus breaking a bunch of my favorite old games, unless I manage a triple box system) I'll be able to pick back up with Factorio 1.1 or something.

[daniel34]

Okay, thanks.

I guess I will continue my existing game of 1.14, then. Maybe in a couple of years when I do a big system upgrade and finally tackle the Linux migration (thus breaking a bunch of my favorite old games, unless I manage a triple box system) I'll be able to pick back up with Factorio 1.1 or something.

You probably don't need a hardware upgrade, just a software upgrade of the OS to Windows 7/10 (x64) or any x64 Linux. I doubt you've until now been playing on a CPU that was only 32-bit, you system would need to be at least 10 years old and Factorio would lag most of the time. What are your current hardware specs?

[Mendel]

But surely there is a 64 bit version of XP, and the game would work with that, no? And I would think it is more than a 50% chance he actually has xp x64

[Vinnie_NL]

OMG usually on the evening of the FFF there are like 2 or 3 pages in the forum topic. Now it's 9 pages already! Thank you so much, the new graphics look amazing and I'm really looking forward to the new features like nuclear power and all the GUI improvements I'd never expected to say this on a Friday night, but I'm looking forward to Tuesday, after the weekend.

[Thrawn]

OMFG! That is how it's done.

I LOVE THE NEW MAP COLORS! HURRAY! Always hated them, but never complained.

[Mendel]

Belting the science center will be challenging with so much different science packs though...

okay so if you "only" need to feed 8 different kinds of science packs then you can run 2 belts on each side of the labs, each belt having 2 types of packs, one per lane.

If that is not enough then you could leave space between the labs and use underground belts between the labs. (you can take stuff with an inserter from underground exit and entrace belts even if it looks like it is taking stuff through a wall/roof/whatever)

[Loewchen]

But surely there is a 64 bit version of XP, and the game would work with that, no? And I would think it is more than a 50% chance he actually has xp x64

The last survey I saw when MS ceased support on XP had a 64-bit adoption rate of XP below 1% (which makes sense since almost no hardware manufacturer ever made 64bit driver for XP), I would even assume that the ratio of people running XP 64bit and not know what 64-bit even means would be even lower than that

[Killcreek2]

The steam comes out of the heat exchangers at 500 degrees, which is the maximum a steam turbine can utilize. A steam engine in comparison can only make use of steam up to 165 degrees - which is what a normal boiler produces. So if you use a steam turbine with normal boiler, it will work, but the turbine will have a poor efficiency. And if you use steam engine with heat exchangers, it will work, but a lot of the heat will be lost for no benefit.

Old steam engine used up to 100 degree water, at max 6 fluid / sec. With this change to 165 degree steam, how will that affect the fluid used in both engines and boilers? Will it still be 6/sec for engines but with a higher power production due to higher temp involved?

... This also allows for some new designs which is very nice. The ratio of boilers to steam engines is exactly 1 boiler to 2 steam engines now.

How much cold water will the new boilers require: 12 /sec, 30/sec? What about the reactor boilers>turbines using heat pipes ~ will it use the same amount of water / sec to make 500degree steam as regular boiler / engines setup?

Can other fluids still be used/destroyed in the engines, or will they only accept steam input now?


This patch is looking fantastic already, keep up the great work devs! [Loving the new nightvision preview btw]

[DerGraue]

I really really want to have a turret that shoots nuclear missiles at biter nests! And only biter nests! And minimum range 51 tiles!

[Mendel]

Am I the antsiest one here? Can´t believe nobody has asked this. At what time on tuesday will the release be?

Come to think of it, a nice big fat countdown on the website would be nice

[J-H]

Yeah, it's 32 bit. I checked. I fried my old motherboard a few years ago installing new RAM and this was an old tower from the office that was actually an upgrade graphics-wise.

details

I'm conservative with my money and don't lightly spend $500+ on a computer upgrade. Factorio, the Paradox Cities game, and Supreme Commander are the only games I'm interested in playing that don't run on what I have now. Why spend $500 to $1000, and, worse, several days of real time, screwing around with an upgrade that's likely to break a bunch of my older games like BG2, FS2, EU2, etc. If it isn't broken, why spend money and stress and time fixing it? I have two small children, so online multiplayer gaming is impractical aside from very short TF2 sessions during naptime on the weekend.

Shortly after the release of Win10, I determined that my next "upgrade" is going to be a full-on jump to Linux. It's going to be a lot of work, but I value my privacy highly, and despise the SAAS "You buy it, then you keep paying a subscriber fee for it" model that Microsoft is pursuing. They have earned "I wouldn't pee on their data center fire" status. I'm not sure if you have a similar saying in Europe.
So to upgrade I'm looking at a whole new tower, new OS, major file transfer, and several software changes (I can get Pale Moon on Linux, but the office and graphics programs will have to be re-learned, plus I'll have to mess with Wine and emulators and stuff to run games that I don't have a Linux version for). Big big headache.

I could keep my XP tower running in parallel for games and anything that doesn't play well with Linux, but I'd need to get another outlet put into the wall to support the additional surge protector/power strip, and I'd need to find a good 3-way KVM (my work laptop & my PC tower both already use the same monitor/keyboard/mouse for my convenience & comfort).

[laige]

I thought we would be getting an orbital/space platform eventually. From a previous Friday facts https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-74 Is that no longer the plan? I had really had looked forward to this as the picture you guys posted looked so fun. The space Science to me look dull in comparison.