Friday Facts #266 - Cleanup of mechanics

[leadraven]

Sorry for raising this old thread, but I've just read this FFF and got some ideas.

1) Hardness, Mining power.
Production already has "time XXs" and "speed XX" parameters. Why miners will have "speed XX/s" and "time XX%" instead of the same format?

2) It's veeeery minor, but:
"research that unlocked steel pickaxe just increases player mining speed" - it's very counter-intuitive. Make it a separate research "steel instruments".
OR. Could modular armor increase player's mining and crafting speed? Or, may be, some internal device to boost manual crafting capabilities.

[EstebanLB]

Sorry for raising this old thread, but I've just read this FFF and got some ideas.

1) Hardness, Mining power.
Production already has "time XXs" and "speed XX" parameters. Why miners will have "speed XX/s" and "time XX%" instead of the same format?

2) It's veeeery minor, but:
"research that unlocked steel pickaxe just increases player mining speed" - it's very counter-intuitive. Make it a separate research "steel instruments".
OR. Could modular armor increase player's mining and crafting speed? Or, may be, some internal device to boost manual crafting capabilities.

1)It's not counter-intuitive if the steel research includes the steel recipe and also a pasive bonus to mining speed, like the combat robots bonuses, etc, with a steel pickaxe icon, a "plus" symbol and the bonus ammount.
2) On the same line, the research for each modular armor can also include a pasive bonus to crafting speed, or make the pasive bonus to the armor when equiped

[majikkan]

I'm a casual player. I probably reinstall once every 6-12 months and inevitably forget about the ingredient limit on each factory when I do return. You'd think that would make me in favor of removing the ingredient limit in vanilla, but I'm not. That's a really boring change which seems to eliminate nuance and a sense of achievement in exchange for simplicity.

I can assure you that nobody plays Factorio for its simplicity. Factorio rewards success by making things more complicated. The increased ingredient limit with factory progression worked well. It was a tangible "reward". Nobody's going to get excited over increased efficiency and module count.

I get it. You're trying to identify cruft and remove it. I'm actually in favor of ditching the hand tools. That's not what the game was about. I'm fine with overhauling the resistances (Do you really need more than Kinetic, Thermal, and Chemical?). As for the other stuff... honestly, most of it went over my head as far as knowledge of the game (which goes in and out with the tide as I leave and come back), so I'm in no position to judge. But the factories? Bad move.

I've owned a copy of Factorio for years and felt strongly enough about this that I registered this account just to say so.

[Lithane]

Well, I am extremely disappointed. What I want is a mod with different tools that go in the tool slot. Maybe an axe that only cuts trees and not the ore underneath. Or maybe a tool that only removes buildings so I don't have to chop multiple trees simply to pick up a segment of wall/track. A whole bunch of options just went away, Great.

I don't get it, this is factorio, the game where you automate things. If you are using hand tools then you have already lost.

If you prefer sandbox mode I am happy for you. I prefer freeplay myself.

But why do you want to turn my freeplay into the same thing as your sandbox?

How is it sandbox mode to automate your base? It's the core gameplay of Factorio, am I missing something?

And the hand tools are just silly, unlocking a bonus whenever you unlock steel makes entirely more sense. It's the exact same, minus the need to build a tool that you never look at again.