Friday Facts #351 - Beacon re-redesign & Simplified fluid mixing

[PsyhoBelka]

there one perfect idea that maybe should implement for entire machines in game - place module icons which will show what modules inserted in machine!

[posila]

there one perfect idea that maybe should implement for entire machines in game - place module icons which will show what modules inserted in machine!

This used to be a plan long time ago, but lately, especially after doing it for the beacon, I am glad we have not done that. It would fine to do if the game was 3D and we could just rotate and place 3D models of modules into the slot positions on machines, but dealing with all the 2D variations of module sprites would be huge pain for us and for modders.

[bobucles]

A troll with grenades or a troll with a nuke can do much more damage than purging your pipe network.

It might be okay to give the purge effect some inertia. If it drained the system at a finite (but fast) rate, that gives the player some reaction time to go "oh shi" while still letting players freely purge small defects in their network.

[terradus]

New design of beacon is full suck

Reasons(Negative effect):
1) No more icons for modules
2) The contrast level has decreased.
3) These are no longer beacons, this is some kind of underground crap with a magic spire in the middle. It does not fit into the design of the game!
4) Correct light falls on old beacons, light does not fall on new beacons, or the light is completely different.
5) The color scheme of the new beacons is not included in the overall style of the game (you can compare with the assemblers).

The old beacons is much MUCH BETTER!!!

[5thHorseman]

1) No more icons for modules
2) The contrast level has decreased.
3) These are no longer beacons, this is some kind of underground crap with a magic spire in the middle. It does not fit into the design of the game!
4) Correct light falls on old beacons, light does not fall on new beacons, or the light is completely different.
5) The color scheme of the new beacons is not included in the overall style of the game (you can compare with the assemblers).

1 is a simple options change away.
2 is a plus in my opinion. I like that they fade to background and let the actual factory shine.
3 is ignoring that the beacons were always magical towers, and always will be. They were designed to work that way.
4 I can't comment on. I didn't notice it in game and I can't really see it on my phone now.
5 is a plus in my opinion for reasons similar to 2.

[terradus]

A troll with grenades or a troll with a nuke can do much more damage than purging your pipe network.

It might be okay to give the purge effect some inertia. If it drained the system at a finite (but fast) rate, that gives the player some reaction time to go "oh shi" while still letting players freely purge small defects in their network.

You can see grenade and nuke troll!

How you can see troll who removed oil ?? Where information about it ? Who it was ? Who removed oil ? how are you going to determine who is troll?

[terradus]

1 is a simple options change away.
2 is a plus in my opinion. I like that they fade to background and let the actual factory shine.
3 is ignoring that the beacons were always magical towers, and always will be. They were designed to work that way.
4 I can't comment on. I didn't notice it in game and I can't really see it on my phone now.
5 is a plus in my opinion for reasons similar to 2.

1 - What you mean ?
3 - I talked about style and not about LOR

This new redisign good for solo game! But when gaming over 20 peoples - any can change modules inside beacons (and it will not always be right) - and i want checking it on old icons.
I not have solo game for a long time! I've been playing on servers for a year now, where the average number of players is more than 14. I understand what I'm talking about!
Please tell me what type of game are you playing? is there anyone besides you?

[valneq]

1 is a simple options change away.
[…]

1 - What you mean ?
[…]

Go to
Settings → Interface → Show beacon modules in alt-mode
and set the visibility however you like. This is per player, so even in multiplayer people can see whatever they prefer.

[Cooldude2606]

Edit: Removed reply about where the module setting is located due to the above reply being exactly the same

You can see grenade and nuke troll!

How you can see troll who removed oil ?? Where information about it ? Who it was ? Who removed oil ? how are you going to determine who is troll?

Dev Quotes

So kick the griefers, or disable the permission to flush

If you have griefers, they can do a lot more damage than flushing 1,000 oil.

Can we get raised event when the flush button is used? Possibly with accessible amount and type of fluid flushed ?

Because honestly, this is just ultimate troll/griefing button for public servers...

You can disable the permission for flushing in /permissions:

As the devs have already said you are able to disable the abilty for people to flush pipes. I run a server and have already implemented this for players who have played on the map for less than 3 hours.

[terradus]

Go to
Settings → Interface → Show beacon modules in alt-mode
and set the visibility however you like. This is per player, so even in multiplayer people can see whatever they prefer.

Thank you for this information - now beacons normal for me.

[MrFaul]

viewtopic.php?p=488255#p488255
I love you guys, you are by far my favorite developer studio.

And I wonder shouldn't pipes that are not connected to any I/O or storage be flushed automatically?
Sure it's a waste, but honestly as somebody who witnessed idiots putting a chemical reactor 180° wrong on its pedestal,
I can tell you those mistakes aren't cheap.

It's not like there were BIG RED ARROWS on the pipes...
Thankfully the guys bolting the pipes together noticed and thought it would be a good idea to ask someone.
But the crane had to be rented again. Add that to the delay and ongoing pandemic and people were very very unhappy about that...

Never ever outsource this kind of job to a cheap workforce 😑 the damage is more then paying the pros.

[The_Dark_Nate]

i appreciate you took the feedback.

But now the beacons just look like demolished buildings. Gonna look like biters been poking around my base.

[POPISowyNumer]

This used to be a plan long time ago, but lately, especially after doing it for the beacon, I am glad we have not done that. It would fine to do if the game was 3D and we could just rotate and place 3D models of modules into the slot positions on machines, but dealing with all the 2D variations of module sprites would be huge pain for us and for modders.

What about adding sets of diodes for each modullable entity that lit up in accordance with modules inserted?
I mean, if I recall correctly Industrial Revolution pulled off much more ambitious stunts than that, and it looked hella cool

[foamy]

there one perfect idea that maybe should implement for entire machines in game - place module icons which will show what modules inserted in machine!

This used to be a plan long time ago, but lately, especially after doing it for the beacon, I am glad we have not done that. It would fine to do if the game was 3D and we could just rotate and place 3D models of modules into the slot positions on machines, but dealing with all the 2D variations of module sprites would be huge pain for us and for modders.

Assemblers all have a blank wall regardless of rotation, even if you allow for the pipe input/output for fluid recipes. I don't see why it wouldn't be simple to add it to them? Admittedly, chemical plants and oil refineries would be a bit trickier.

[kirazy]

Assemblers all have a blank wall regardless of rotation, even if you allow for the pipe input/output for fluid recipes. I don't see why it wouldn't be simple to add it to them? Admittedly, chemical plants and oil refineries would be a bit trickier.

Speaking as a modder, who is currently making custom versions of the slot graphics so that there are eight tiers and not just three...

The idea of having to do that for every entity, because they'd all be slightly different and at different angles, is nightmarish.

To say nothing of then needing to figure out how to put even more slots on an entity, because someone decided for example Beacons should have four slots, or six slots.

The beacon is cool, but working with module sprites is a voluminous amount of work.

[Illiander42]

I like the new beacons, but I'm not a big fan of the multiples holes in the ground . It would be interesting to connect them to form a straight line.
In most layouts, the beacons are aligned and stick together, so it would be really interesting to show how to use these beacons and make players want to align them!
In addition, these connections allow you to create a grid that visually organizes the base from a distance.
I made a photoshop to see what it could look like, I hope it will convince you!

before

after

The connection is just a "tile" that fit between two beacons


before


after

Borders are sharper and the beacons darker to make the lines even more visible. I hope you like it!

Is it possible to mod this in?

[kirazy]

Is it possible to mod this in?

If I had to speculate, some script to detect when placed, if a beacon is adjacent, if the beacon lines up, then places a hidden entity that has that texture. Any number of existing mods place hidden entities pretending to be other things, so it's probably doable.

[jokerwm]

Guys, how can i automate to push this flash button in my depot???

[DanGio]

Guys, how can i automate to push this flash button in my depot???

You shouldn't. It's only meant to manually fix rare weird fluid behaviors. There's always better to do than simply deleting items or fluids (in vanilla at least).

[Koub]

Guys, how can i automate to push this flash button in my depot???

You shouldn't. It's only meant to manually fix rare weird fluid behaviors. There's always better to do than simply deleting items or fluids (in vanilla at least).

However, should you desire such a feature, a suggestion has been made here to add this ingame : viewtopic.php?f=6&t=86216. Feel free to add your voice.