Friday Facts #388 - Smaller things for 2.0

[Tooster]

A slider wouldn't be able to achieve the same thing as S suffix, because "4*12" would mean "4 stacks * 12 stacks" which is equal to... 48 stacks² ??? ... which is not useful at all (probably), unlike "4*12S" which means exactly 4 times 12 stacks.

If units worked like multipliers, then also expressions like (1*12+3)k could work which would multiply everything by 1000 in the end.

Also it would be good to make input boxes store the formula. This way when you make mistake you wouldn't have to retype everything from scratch, but just edit the formula. It would be nice if the formula value was lazily evaluated — first time the value is calculated the formula is evaluated and and it's value remembered. Any time the formula (or channel) changes, the formula is re-evaluated. This would make them both performant and user-friendly. Something like in Excel — you type the formula, it remembers it underneath, but it displays and returns the calculated value.

[Locane]

I really like the Max Range indicator idea.
It was tough to see what the post was talking about because I intuitively assumed the *cursor piece* would be changing color, it took me a couple tries to realize it was the lined overlay that was being referred to.

Why not just make underground belts made with "track drag" try to use maximum distance by default? It would circumvent most of the use cases this feature is trying to solve I think.

[Nidan]

Why not just make underground belts made with "track drag" try to use maximum distance by default? It would circumvent most of the use cases this feature is trying to solve I think.

Underground belts and pipes already work like that.

[Abarel]

It would be nice if the formula value was lazily evaluated — first time the value is calculated the formula is evaluated and and it's value remembered. Any time the formula (or channel) changes, the formula is re-evaluated. This would make them both performant and user-friendly. Something like in Excel — you type the formula, it remembers it underneath, but it displays and returns the calculated value.

User-friendly, sure; CPU performant, yes; however I wonder if there is a nice way to handle only the calculated value for memory bandwith performance, even if the formula is available to be used when the user edits.

[EnerJi]

I wonder why you didn't go one step further with visualizing the max belt range. While hovering in the range of the matched underground belt, display BOTH max range (blue) and selected range if the belt was placed where hovering (green). See the image. With what you have now you still have the problem that you don't immediately see what range is maximal until you drag to that range.

With this it would be immediately obvious and it could also hint the exact tile you have to click on to place it at max range. There is more to that — you could even visualize the first (non-matching) belt's range and what tiles it can reach.


Also, highly agreed with the above - add a constant for stack size "S" of the current item

I would even go another step further and display the max range while placing the underground entrance.
A bit like the "Show Max Underground Distance" Mod

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/show-max- ... d-distance

Maybe even add a shortcut to automatically build the exit at max range, too.

I like both of these suggestions. Hope someone at Wube is reading these comments!

[Locane]

Why not just make underground belts made with "track drag" try to use maximum distance by default? It would circumvent most of the use cases this feature is trying to solve I think.

Underground belts and pipes already work like that.

They don't when dragging track. Since everyone builds with track to start with, making the track-dragging-placed undergrounds use their maximum distance instead of minimum like it is now would circumvent a lot of these problems - we wouldn't need an indicator because we'd be able to just track-drag it and have it auto place.

[burunduk3]

A quality of life feature I'm missing is picking the right building from natural features.

We already have this for ores: if you press <Q> while hovering over a patch, a mining drill will appear in a hand. Very handy, but not enough, we should also:
— select landfill when trying to pick over water,
— select appropriate explosives when trying to pick on cliffs,
—̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶m̶e̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶i̶c̶k̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶r̶e̶e̶.

[GregoriusT]

—̶ ̶s̶e̶l̶e̶c̶t̶ ̶f̶l̶a̶m̶e̶t̶h̶r̶o̶w̶e̶r̶ ̶w̶h̶e̶n̶ ̶t̶r̶y̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶p̶i̶c̶k̶ ̶o̶n̶ ̶a̶ ̶t̶r̶e̶e̶.

select Grenades, since those are an Item and not a Weapon

The only reason I have Grenades on me is Tree removal. Luckily Grenades are also a component for Cliff Explosives, so I do not need to carry around Coal to craft those on the fly either!

[jagr_200]

I have now maxed out a save file. Hopefully this can be implemented sooner.

[dragon-architect]

This has probably already been suggested somewhere in this thread, but...! I'll add to the chorus if it has been!

Custom lamp colors could be set via circuit network by sending red, green, and blue circuit signals to them, with values ranging from 0 to 255. A lamp would need all three color signals present, and only those color signals present, in order to set a composite color of the three.