Friday Facts #423 - Research info tooltip & Online players GUI

[sarge945]

In line with the research UI changes, I propose that the green researching bar be changed to yellow if not all labs are full (due to limited science packs) or power is low, and the bar should be red if researching is completely stopped (like you require blue science but aren't producing any yet).

This will allow you to tell at a glance if you're short of a resource, and there's been a few times where I've accidentally selected a research I can't get yet, and having the bar be red would be a very obvious indicator that something is wrong.

Right now, with how long it can take to get a %age change on some researches, it's hard to tell if it's stopped entirely or just a slow research project.

This would also make the researching bar consistent with the green, yellow and red blobs we see on assemblers based on their status.

[Qon]

Does

it was a little bit annoying having to remote view to the labs back on Nauvis

count as confirmation that labs will only be buildable on Nauvis?

No.

[jockeril]

I'm totally pinned by that !

Those additions are so welcome, that IDK how I didn't think I'd need them before now - I hope it's going into v2.0 and not just the DLC

Way to pin those on us, guys !

[Double pun !! ]

[Qon]

I'm concerned about the drip drip of tiny FFFs. There's only 10 blog posts remaining until SA release and there's loads of enemies/final planet/etc. left to reveal. I'm getting a bad feeling they are holding back "secret" changes for hype purposes, which might help their bottom line but doesn't help the user/consumer.

I'm sure everyone appreciates QoL, but at this point I'm more interested in hearing about actual new mechanical and thematic changes.

At this rate, I plan to sit out a day one purchase and instead watch reviews before I decide about buying. And I say this as a long time fan (hundreds of hours in the vanilla game), but these teeny tiny drip feed of FFFs is quite honestly getting on my nerves now.

They don't have to reveal everything in FFF's before the release.

> Holding back "secret" changes for hype purposes

Why are you saying that is a bad thing? Isn't it fine to not have everything spoiled before release? You can't order it yet so how can it hurt consumers? It can't! Unless you are arguing that you are so spoiled that you take psychic damage from them not giving in to your demands and making all internal information public immediately...
I think their FFF information release strategy is made almost completely based on what most players will enjoy in the long term. You being unable to wait for release to know every single detail suggest that you would actually benefit from practicing patience. Thank Wube for teaching you.

Wow, so you vow to wait a day before purchasing. Wube is shaking and crying in fear right now, lol.
It's abundantly clear that it doesn't matter to Wube if 99% of people wait months before buying the DLC.

[mmmPI]

I like the science indicator, i regularly use the production tab, then type in "science" to see such stats, it seem like it would do the same thing, but it adds the ETA and it was an operation i did a lot mentally so it will allow me to play dumber to focus my attention on more important matter, like spaggetthi or combinators or trains or space things.

I feel a bit lost with all the pins and tags and camera and things like that, i think i will pin the area with the labs, just to make sure the previous stats are reliable but apart from that i rarely feel the need to regularly watch the same area remotely so as to justify a pin for it. I feel like i could make some but 2 hours later i would need to change them, and at some point i would have a list of obsolete one, or not find them. It reminds me a little of the mod "chopper" which adds helipad and you can have a camera view of what's surrounding the different helipad that would be the size of the "pin" window. The thing is after 10 helipads placed, all those window look very similar. For pins it could end up the same if one pins "the start of the green circuit prodution lane" and there are 4 lanes. So you need to properly name them or they look identical. Maybe i will need to learn how people use them and do the same, because to me that doesn't seem the most practical.

I understand much better the need to spy on other players, they keep moving and do unpredictable and funny things. I don't know if any of the feature presented here of before can be used for cars or spidertrons, but that's also something i end up searching.

[Stalinlover22]

Excelent QoL features , can´t wait to play.

[sychris9]

Really loving this QOL It should really help admins keep an eye on players to make sure there not greefing as well ^^

[kitters]

With more frequent cases when player works in remote view (and player avatar just stands around) I suggest adding... a chair.

Lol, no kiddin
Would be a nice touch to add animation for a player, instead of standing and staring into the sky for ten minutes without movement
For multilayer especially nice.

[Ivankon]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

+1

[cybersteve547]

It might be nice if the research info also had some way of presenting “your research is currently limited by the supply of <name> science pack”. Perhaps it could count and graph the number of labs that are idle because they have some, but not all, required science packs. That would help spot “oops I unplugged it” problems faster, and implicitly teach new players about producing a balanced-or-overkill supply of science packs.

yessssss

[sarge945]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

Yes please.

Although that begs the question, which monitor will I use to watch random YouTube videos while playing?

[Agamemnon]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

Or do the ultimate 300 IQ move: Buy a second PC and another copy of the game. Then join your own server.

[GregoriusT]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

Or do the ultimate 300 IQ move: Buy a second PC and another copy of the game. Then join your own server.

If you are on linux you wont even need the second PC for that!

[MeduSalem]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

Or do the ultimate 300 IQ move: Buy a second PC and another copy of the game. Then join your own server.

If you are on linux you wont even need the second PC for that!

Also doable on Windows if you use a hypervisor and a guest capable of running Factorio inside the virtualization.

[Silari]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

Or do the ultimate 300 IQ move: Buy a second PC and another copy of the game. Then join your own server.

If you are on linux you wont even need the second PC for that!

Also doable on Windows if you use a hypervisor and a guest capable of running Factorio inside the virtualization.

You can just run multiple copies of the standalone version. Nothing special needed. I've had to do it before to fix some desync issues with the Homeworld mod.

[Jap2.0]

Next step - multimonitor support, with the ability to pin remote views to separate game windows and put it on different screens.

Yes please.

Although that begs the question, which monitor will I use to watch random YouTube videos while playing?

Sounds like then it'd be time to get another monitor.

Or just watch Youtube on your telephone.

[__Catto__]

Look. When dealing with feedback of games, I despise beating around the bush, so I'll just say it straight up:

I have been a big fan of the concept of Factorio, I even made a game based on it, but there have been some really frustrating UX changes that have boggled me for some time now. I appreciate you working on this to improve convenience before release, but you REALLY need to do a second attempt at this "hotbar change".

I understand the importance of not wanting to have to have items on the hotbar and keeping them all in the inventory but ever since you removed it and replaced it with an infinitely worse hotbar where you have to select each slot manually I could literally never get passed the modular armor stage of the game. The hotbar becomes too frustrating to navigate.

I don't exactly know the solution but there is a huge overhaul that needs to be made on that front. It's unusable right now. I have been waiting literally years for that to improve and have seen no change, so what gives? Do people actually like this hotbar more?

[Zero1Two]

I am hoping. PRAYING. that you can filter alerts by "your material" vs "all material".

In most multiplayer games there are large sections of material that you have nothing to do with and cannot get to. Yet you will be alerted about these items forever. Every item on the map has a 'built by' field. There should be a button that lets you filter for only your alerts that does a client-side filter based on item built-by names.

Or maybe a 'quiet alerts' button that sets a client-side pause on all currently open alerts for 5 minutes. Something to be able to manage incoming alerts.

[XeToRoG]

~ ~ ~ ♥ ~ ~ ♥ ~ ~ ♥ ~ ~ ~

wow wow wow

so many really really good improvements

i thought game already near perfect

then you do this that ... all the stuff ... incredible

keep on the good work ... it ll pay off !!!

~ ~ ~ ♥ ~ ~ ♥ ~ ~ ♥ ~ ~ ~

[Brambor]

I am hoping the following entities can be tracked with the remote camera in vanilla:

1. A single biter in a wave to see the attack that the biter is part of. Use case:
   1. I see a biter attack is forming.
   2. I put a camera on one of the biters.
   3. I watch the baby cam with peripheral vision.
   4. I notice the biter group started moving.
   5. I watch the attack I was interested in closely.
2. Tracking an item for these cool shots of the factory - if the tracked item goes into a machine, take the first product of that machine as the new target.
3. Same with fluids. If there is a junction with fluids choose a random way.

Simply, if the item is a part of a bigger storage (fluid in tank, item in chest) it looks for the first output of that machine. Even bullet can be tracked:

1. It's made.
2. Travels on a belt.
3. Gets picked up into a turret.
4. It is shot from the turret into a biter.
5. (Now we are following the biter.)
6. The biter dies.
7. Camera stays on the body.
8. The body decomposes.
9. Camera either turns off or stays at position.