Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

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Deadly-Bagel
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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Deadly-Bagel »

blaine wrote:> Firing at the biters from far away isn't all consequence free, as they will come running to your train, so you will have to make sure there are some defences nearby

this kinda sounds like it is only feasible to deploy the artillery train to an already well defended outpost with turrets, supply lines etc.

So how is it functionally different from a regular (but very large) turret that you build in a regular way (sans the need for rail access obv)?
I have been saying since it was first announced that this isn't well thought-through.

What's going to be the idea exactly? You need to deploy it somewhere well-defended so generally it's going to be making rounds of your outposts, presumably wasting space with its own station or just holding up your other trains. How many people are just going to lay a short section of track in each outpost and park this wagon on them? It's not like Factorio is a game where you need to have mobile defences that you occasionally need to move around to defend against some massive assault - though how cool would it be to need to have a button in places that calls like 15 Artillery Trains to that location to help you fend off some horde or queen - so what are the advantages of having a mobile weapon over a static one?

I would prefer entirely the opposite. A static Artillery Cannon with basically the same stats but that cannot be placed directly, instead you need to place some sort of construction building and feed it parts (much like the Silo) which eventually becomes the cannon. Have it take ages to build and maybe incur a loss of resources when dismantled. Rather than hyper-mobility, you need to seriously consider where you want to place it because it's not easy to move. It also means you need to establish a foothold in an area to expand into it, either wade in deep and set up a small fortress to defend the cannon while it is built and fired, or expand with slow but long (and expensive) steps.

The only advantage I can see to having it train-based is that you could build a rail out to your new potential outpost, put up some guns and call in the train. Maybe it brings supplies or something with it idk (though you would need to have set up walls and turrets already) but this is a very slim advantage, just that you wouldn't need to carry it with you in your inventory.
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wvlad
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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by wvlad »

Yes, I would like a separate stationary cannon + a turret-wagon that can guard its train and rails from biters.

Avezo
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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Avezo »

It is soooo needed now to be able to detect either an attack (turret activity) or enemies in radar range and make either turrets or radars linkable to circuit logic to allow smart control of artillery train going to outposts.

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by c0bRa »

I
really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really really want
the shirt! :D

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Lav
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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Lav »

wvlad wrote:Yes, I would like a separate stationary cannon + a turret-wagon that can guard its train and rails from biters.
The way I see it, the intended use case was not expansion, but preventing biters' expansion into already claimed territory.

With arty firing range, you don't need to surround your territory with turret screen - a number of well-fortified outposts with a railway line between them should be enough. The train would make rounds along your perimeter, stop on each outpost, wipe out all nests that were established since it's last visit, and proceed to the next one.

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Meddleman »

I'm a little confused.

The FFF doesn't mention a link to a store page for ordering the tshirts. I've googled for one and found an old cached page preview that showed the link https://factorio.com/store.
Unless I'm overlooking something really obvious, it seems a little tight to be shipping the t-shirts on the 13th of December, yet at the time of my post its already the 11th and there isn't even a whiff of a page of where to order them from. :?

As always, the new artillery carriage looks amazing, reminds me of the Big Bertha gun from Total Annihilation. Send my respect to Albert, Vaclav and Ernestas for the intricate artwork and upcoming colour layering of it; that's no small project to handle ^^ . Will be interested in ways people will take advantage of building static gunnery platforms alongside the now relatively shorter-ranged fixed laser/bullet turrets. This scene from Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers came to mind as I imagined rapid expansion into enemy territory with said carriage.


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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by pieterhulsen »

I love everything about the artillery train except that you fire for free, building more than one just seems to destructive that way.
An upgraded thank shell with a stackload of 200 or so would be perfect.

and of course, now we need an gunn turret train :twisted:

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Speadge »

pieterhulsen wrote:I love everything about the artillery train except that you fire for free, building more than one just seems to destructive that way.
An upgraded thank shell with a stackload of 200 or so would be perfect.

and of course, now we need an gunn turret train :twisted:

who told u that the shells are free?

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by pieterhulsen »

Speadge wrote:
pieterhulsen wrote:I love everything about the artillery train except that you fire for free, building more than one just seems to destructive that way.
An upgraded thank shell with a stackload of 200 or so would be perfect.

and of course, now we need an gunn turret train :twisted:

who told u that the shells are free?
the friday facts did....

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Loewchen »

pieterhulsen wrote:the friday facts did....
Could you give a quote of that?

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Meddleman »

pieterhulsen wrote:the friday facts did....

It said
Twinsen wrote:Firing at the biters from far away isn't all consequence free, as they will come running to your train...
which means that one should be careful when using the artillery gun because it attracts massive attention from biter nests and sends aggressive swarms running to your location you fired from.

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by mrvn »

stretch611 wrote:
lffs wrote:Anyway, I think gun traverse arc needs to be limited to +-30 degrees. It dosn't make sense that train can absorb recoil of huge gun firing broadside
It can always have to be forced to be deployed outrigger extensions from the chassis and possibly counterweights. With the proper amount of stabilization, any angle would be possible.

Many other games with artillery units have them deployed (and later retract stabilization) before they can fire. This can either be done manually or automatically when a train stops. Personally if this is considered as an idea, I would prefer automatic to avoid adding extra steps in the GUI. There is no reason why it can't take more time to start the train moving while waiting for the artillery unit to retract the outriggers, making it harder to shoot a biter base and run.
Which also naturally explains why the train has to stop, take the time to deploy them and only then can fire. Reverse before fleeing the horde of angry bitters. No drive-by shooting.

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Matthias_Wlkp »

Is it safe to assume that the 0.16 to be released this week will include cliffs?

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Twinsen »

Matthias_Wlkp wrote:Is it safe to assume that the 0.16 to be released this week will include cliffs?
It will.

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Mday »

Twinsen wrote:
Matthias_Wlkp wrote:Is it safe to assume that the 0.16 to be released this week will include cliffs?
It will.
Exciting stuff! Do you have changelog of everything that's included in the upcoming experimental release?

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by torham »

Meddleman wrote:
pieterhulsen wrote:the friday facts did....

It said
Twinsen wrote:Firing at the biters from far away isn't all consequence free, as they will come running to your train...
which means that one should be careful when using the artillery gun because it attracts massive attention from biter nests and sends aggressive swarms running to your location you fired from.
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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by tekbot »

I know the gui update was pushed to 0.17, but what about the trains "temporary stop" mechanic mentioned in https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-212 ?
Control-clicking on any point on the locomotive's map (or any station) will add a 'Temporary stop' to it's schedule.
It sounds a little pointless to implement this before reworking the whole train ui, but it could also be a very valuable feature, especially with the artillery train.

typically i keep a few "taxi" trains around the base. they have a deleted station in their list and can be "called" by placing a station of that name, but being able to send trains anywhere on the track sounds much cooler.

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Andrzejef »

pieterhulsen wrote:I love everything about the artillery train except that you fire for free (...)
Oh, I'm pretty certain they will come up with some special shells for that.
I really hope so, in fact.
Standard, HE, Atomics, shrapnels, napalm... I need those, especially napalm ones. To purify the world once and for all :twisted:
Also, combine that with the locomotive roboport (cause I recall they saying they plan on making equipment slots on them), for its own turrets and capsules, and the train isn't all that defenceless :)
Last edited by Andrzejef on Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by thecatlover1996 »

Meddleman wrote:I'm a little confused. (...) there isn't even a whiff of a page of where to order them from. :?
The store is open, I repeat, the store is open! :D

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Re: Friday Facts #220 - The best Friday Facts ever

Post by Starfox »

But you can only order with paypal :-(
Or is this a firefox issue? Are there other payment methods?

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