Friday Facts #383 - Super force building

[Twisted_Code]

If landfill is reversible now, and other tile placements like extending a space platform are likely to follow (you want every action to be reversible when possible, from what it sounds like)... should we even need to hold the "super" key if placing tiles is the only thing blocking a blueprint? Unlike the other stuff that has this extra key requirement, building or removing a tile generally will not impact production unless an entity is also created or removed on top of it, right?

[FuryoftheStars]

Supper Forced: Will work the same way as above but will also apply landfill in the areas where there is water. Therefore you do not need to landfill the place with water before you place BP or do this again because there was ONE spot with water right under a building.

If landfill is reversible now, and other title placements like extending a space platform are likely to follow (you want every action to be reversible when possible, from what it sounds like)... should we even need to hold the "super" key if placing tiles is the only thing blocking a blueprint? Unlike the other stuff that has this extra key requirement, building or removing a tile generally will not impact production unless an entity is also created or removed on top of it, right?

Super Forced will also remove your placed entities if they conflict, not just place landfill. Hence the solar field and crisscrossing belt examples they showed.

[Qon]

You know we have some capabilities to modify a blueprint like removing an entity or setting the snap anchor etc.
Maybe we could have a way of adding deconstruction marks to empty tiles in blueprints. So we can mark those tiles that can break the blueprint.

I already said that the blueprint view isn't good enough, it fails on big blueprints. Good luck hitting the 9876 tiles each a pixel, individually clicked and manually.
It doesn't work. Wooden chests that are manually removed are better.

[ElderAxe]

You know we have some capabilities to modify a blueprint like removing an entity or setting the snap anchor etc.
Maybe we could have a way of adding deconstruction marks to empty tiles in blueprints. So we can mark those tiles that can break the blueprint.

I already said that the blueprint view isn't good enough, it fails on big blueprints. Good luck hitting the 9876 tiles each a pixel, individually clicked and manually.
It doesn't work. Wooden chests that are manually removed are better.

I needed a scrollable blueprint preview before too. But that is not the concern of this topic.

Wooden chests, lamps or any other 1x1 entity will be the hacky solution to solve this problem. But it would easily become an annoying repetitive task when you play with lots of blueprints. Also, I love to share my blueprints I don't feel good about adding a comment like "Delete wooden chests after placing the blueprint" to all my blueprints.

My suggestion can be implemented in blueprint design which would solve the problem in an easily understandable way.

[Qon]

I needed a scrollable blueprint preview before too. But that is not the concern of this topic.

Wooden chests, lamps or any other 1x1 entity will be the hacky solution to solve this problem. But it would easily become an annoying repetitive task when you play with lots of blueprints. Also, I love to share my blueprints I don't feel good about adding a comment like "Delete wooden chests after placing the blueprint" to all my blueprints.

My suggestion can be implemented in blueprint design which would solve the problem in an easily understandable way.

Look, I agree that the wooden chest workaround is an ugly solution. I also want something proper. But your suggestion isn't good enough. I want it too, but I want the suggestion to be improved. As it is now, if they gave us that, I would super force chests instead or program recursive blueprints instead mostly because it is a more powerful solution for anything bigger than a 4 belt balancer. And it would be kind of sad to get this and then people realize it's a clunky tool that isn't worth using over wooden chests.

What are the cases where entities already on ground can break a placed blueprint? If a belt already on ground changes a turn inside a blueprint into a straight, maybe detect that and just remove that part automatically. Why do you need to place the red X yourself?
Pipes already on ground can connect separate pipe systems. But that can also be detected, if 2 pipes are not connected in some path within the blueprint, maybe what is on the ground should be removed then for that case also?
Inserters can also mess stuff up, if they connect entities within the placed blueprints.

When placing, you probably want things within the blueprint to connect to things outside the blueprint. But you rarely want things that are not connected within the blueprint to be connected to other things in the blueprint you are placing, by something already on ground.

It could just be a checkbox on the blueprint: "In Super Force mode, detect things on ground when placed that will mess up your pipes and belts and search and destroy them hard!"

[Hares]

You know we have some capabilities to modify a blueprint like removing an entity or setting the snap anchor etc.
Maybe we could have a way of adding deconstruction marks to empty tiles in blueprints. So we can mark those tiles that can break the blueprint.
Screenshot 2023-11-11 154026.jpg

YES, PLEASE

[AiraTheFairy]

I think this will end up replacing walls, because the aliens can't cross water. Frankly, makes it far too easy to defend unless you make severe changes.

It also makes water a relatively useless resource, you can setup a pump everywhere.

If you want this, I think tiles should be marked "Natural" and "Artificial" and you can only remove artificial tiles, with perhaps a band of tiles around water sources being marked "artificial" as well, for a little customization of the border.

[Koub]

I think this will end up replacing walls, because the aliens can't cross water. Frankly, makes it far too easy to defend unless you make severe changes.

It also makes water a relatively useless resource, you can setup a pump everywhere.

If you want this, I think tiles should be marked "Natural" and "Artificial" and you can only remove artificial tiles, with perhaps a band of tiles around water sources being marked "artificial" as well, for a little customization of the border.

That's exactly how things will work. The only removable land is artificial land (landfill) built on water. It will just become revertable.

[Kyralessa]

My two cents on a couple of things:

I agree with those who say cliff destruction should be moved to Super Force Building. I usually want to keep cliffs.

I don't agree that automatic landfilling should also fill gaps between entities. There are already ways to do that, whether including concrete or brick in your blueprint, or just painting over with landfill afterwards, whereas if this happens automatically, it's awkward to undo it.

And finally, I agree with those who say that this feature looks fantastic. I'm wishing for it constantly in my current games, more so now that I know it's on its way.

[Ghoulish]

Super Forced Building is Long overdue! Great stuff.

[catpig]

Wonderful stuff
Just one little note: with the new ghosts, the beautiful animations of the space platform building are hidden to a substantial degree - maybe make the ghosts a little bit more transparent (or otherwise less intrusive)?

[Twisted_Code]

Supper Forced: Will work the same way as above but will also apply landfill in the areas where there is water. Therefore you do not need to landfill the place with water before you place BP or do this again because there was ONE spot with water right under a building.

If landfill is reversible now, and other title placements like extending a space platform are likely to follow (you want every action to be reversible when possible, from what it sounds like)... should we even need to hold the "super" key if placing tiles is the only thing blocking a blueprint? Unlike the other stuff that has this extra key requirement, building or removing a tile generally will not impact production unless an entity is also created or removed on top of it, right?

Super Forced will also remove your placed entities if they conflict, not just place landfill. Hence the solar field and crisscrossing belt examples they showed.

Gotcha. Thanks, o Furious One

[wizcreations]

What happens if you super force build on a belt at a corner where the belt direction changes? Belt still breaks I assume?