Friday Facts #255 - Construction tools

[nuhll]

Well done!

Thanks for readding research... (what have you thought???? - but happy you listen to us)

[Cellfire]

This is great. I always wanted a way to auto upgrade my belts in base game.
Also look forward to research queue for late game and starting new games.

[QuadeHale]

Will copy-paste work without bots? Like, small and locally?
It's probably my #1 pet peeve, if you want to scale quick in early game, it feels super grindy running up and down in straight lines doing the same thing over and over without making choices and getting in to the meat of the game.
If I could paste within my local area a pattern and have it go down, that would be amazing. There used to be a mod that did this, called QuickPrints: https://github.com/erisco/quickprints/releases but it hasn't updated since 2015.

Like, basically a quick way to place entities locally over a ghost would also work, but copy-paste seems to fit this bill - I'm just curious how it will work?

[Sander_Bouwhuis]

Will copy-paste work without bots? Like, small and locally?
It's probably my #1 pet peeve, if you want to scale quick in early game, it feels super grindy running up and down in straight lines doing the same thing over and over without making choices and getting in to the meat of the game.
If I could paste within my local area a pattern and have it go down, that would be amazing. There used to be a mod that did this, called QuickPrints: https://github.com/erisco/quickprints/releases but it hasn't updated since 2015.

Like, basically a quick way to place entities locally over a ghost would also work, but copy-paste seems to fit this bill - I'm just curious how it will work?

I agree completely. Useless busy work is no fun. Luckily, there is a mod called "NANO BOTS" https://mods.factorio.com/mods/Nexela/Nanobots.
That will approximately do what you want.

[POPISowyNumer]

What's your damned problem with belts?

They're so weak that they make bots look like gamebreaking cheat and almost got them out of game, all while one stupid trick with trains eclipses the belt bus completely

The upgrade to belts is long overdue

[DaleStan]

What would you change in order to make belts better? (Please post your reply as a new thread in Ideas and Suggestions; it'll be easier to keep track of that way.)

[steinio]

What would you change in order to make belts better? (Please post your reply as a new thread in Ideas and Suggestions; it'll be easier to keep track of that way.)

Lol please not...

https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-224
https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-225

[Oktokolo]

What would you change in order to make belts better? (Please post your reply as a new thread in Ideas and Suggestions; it'll be easier to keep track of that way.)

Lol please not...

Why not - all FFF that where about bots or belts where great and spawned quite interesting discussions.

[kevin28115]

I have a suggestion for factorio blueprint for future update. The current blueprint works well if all tech has been researched. However, sometimes we put down blueprints where the given tech is not researched yet and the blueprint is just a blank assembler machine. The fix for this right now is to re-blueprint after the tech has been research. However, why can't it be blueprinted like the normal blueprints? (the one with the red circle with a slash through it). This way the tech automatically initiates itself when the tech is researched?

[Gergely]

Are filtered deconstruction planners a thing?!

[HurkWurk]

so where is a 17 alpha build for US to play with!?

these new features look awesome.

[Oktokolo]

so where is a 17 alpha build for US to play with!?
these new features look awesome.

Likely this xmas.

[Koub]

so where is a 17 alpha build for US to play with!?
these new features look awesome.

Likely this xmas.

Some day in the future. Don't spread rumors based on your wishes (otherwise, if you have a source, i'ts welcome)

[<NO_NAME>]

Best FFF so far!
I'm going to print it and place above my desk!

ALL ABOARD THE HYPE TRAIN!!!

[Nova]

Yep, I also really like the new additions. Looks like good work and a great quality of life improvement!
Oh, and good work thinking again about the research queue.

[factoriouzr]

Some questions and suggestions:

upgrade planner (I'm glad this is finally making it into the game after many many requests by many players in the forums)
+is there a screen where you can pick what to upgrade to what?
+I would love if the upgrade planner supported upgrades and downgrades.
+I would love if the upgrade and downgrade was automatically picked, but there still needs to be a way to skip straight from yellow to blue belt for eg.
+I think that even with automatic related entity selection, a screen to manually put in the rules would be required for mods and cases where there is no upgrade that is better in every way then the previous

research queue
+can you pick a technology further down the tree and all prerequisites for it will automatically be researched? This is a key feature of the queue for me and many players

blueprint library
+i don't like the inventory idea as I and others mentioned it in the past when the ideas for the library were proposed and debated. We should have directories and contained blueprints instead of another inventory to mange (pros listed in great detail and some posted GUI mock-ups as well so I won't repeat them here)

[factoriouzr]

I have a suggestion for factorio blueprint for future update. The current blueprint works well if all tech has been researched. However, sometimes we put down blueprints where the given tech is not researched yet and the blueprint is just a blank assembler machine. The fix for this right now is to re-blueprint after the tech has been research. However, why can't it be blueprinted like the normal blueprints? (the one with the red circle with a slash through it). This way the tech automatically initiates itself when the tech is researched?

I agree. This is a big annoyance for me and I have requested this many times. I hope they finally implement it.

[RobertTerwilliger]

Research queue is implemented quite good in Oxygen Not Included: when research is finished, the queued one is started instantly, and player gets "sticky" notification (the one, that presists and annoys you until you open it or press "x" icon) - thus it
- doesn't stop game
- doesn't let player miss new tech
- doesn't need odd "advanced option" (like weird always-enabled "free skill choise" in Diablo 3)

Clipboard history is a good idea, especially to negate missclicking, but don't make it longer then few steps to avoid making kinda "lazy blueprint book")

[factoriouzr]

Can we please have the ability in this version to re-take/update existing blueprints without changing their text and icons. Updating blueprints and re-setting their icons and text is a pain right now.

Also I don't think it's a good idea to keep flashing the research bar when research is finished as that is distracting and can get annoying. Maybe a solid colour would work best and show a log (in order) in the research window (it can work really well with the current system of icons on the left). Just put the researched ones in the order they were researched and maybe highlight the new researches since the window was last opened by butting a border around them as I suggested above.

Thanks

[factoriouzr]

Can we please have the ability in this version to re-take/update existing blueprints without changing their text and icons. Updating blueprints and re-setting their icons and text is a pain right now.

Also I don't think it's a good idea to keep flashing the research bar when research is finished as that is distracting and can get annoying. Maybe a solid colour would work best and show a log (in order) in the research window (it can work really well with the current system of icons on the left). Just put the researched ones in the order they were researched and maybe highlight the new researches since the window was last opened by butting a border around them as I suggested above.

Thanks

Still no comment from the devs on this?