Factorio Forums

I wanted to collect some feedback from the community. You may vote on several options. Please leave a comment if the poll is inadequate.

How do feel about managing the power of your equipment grid?

Not enough options. Where is the "I use solar until I can get the PFR" option?

I heavily disliked the "have to wait until the sun comes up to recharge my batteries before I assault that next nest" portion of the game.

Fuel or not is rather irrelevant if I can automate it away with bots and logistics. Logistic request to top up supply when "in town", and if necessary have bots insert the next piece of fuel. The whole game is about automating stuff away from the player having to deal with it, and the PFR goes right with that flow.

Trific wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 8:41 pm

I heavily disliked the "have to wait until the sun comes up to recharge my batteries before I assault that next nest" portion of the game.

Use weapons, Luke. Personal defence called "defence" for a reason.

I wonder if those single votes “against” the pfr are from OP?

Also interesting that (at least now) the most popular opinions are “I don’t like to think about it” and “don’t change anything”

i guess no one else likes having fun in this game because they don't like the "Challenge" of fueling the PFR.

Koub wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:01 pm

[Koub] I'd like not to have and actively moderate things in here, so please, don't get in the personal attack realm : my scissors are always ready.

scissors incoming!

Reasons for my votes, which match for the most part the most popular answers.

• I always user the Personal Fusion Generator.
  Obviously, I don't use it until I've unlocked it. But I tend to rush it and when I get it, those portable solar panels go in the trash bin.
• I prefer to not have to think about powering my equipment. It is a gameplay mechanic I find tedious.
  "Tedious" is a bit harsh, but it's far closer to my personal feelings on it than "Yay personal power management!"
• I like getting fuel-less energy from the PFR.
  As a feature that is very much on the outside of Factorio's core mechanics (factory making) I think managing the fuel in your armor is unnecessary.
• The vanilla PFR is balanced.
  If anything, I'd prefer a more advanced PFR that is smaller for the same (or even more) power.
• The vanilla mechanics for powering an equipment grid are imperfect.
  Of course they are. We live in an imperfect world. But they're not worth changing.
• Vanilla should not focus on the conservation of "stuff" at all.
  Stronger than I'd put it, but again better than the alternative from my perspective. Vanilla should focus on enjoyment and factory building puzzles. If you can also make it realistic sure that's cool, but don't take away my train full of trains, my unsleeping, non-eating engineer, or my free suit energy just to adhere to principles of realism.

pichutarius wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:15 am

Koub wrote: ↑

Mon Feb 01, 2021 10:01 pm

[Koub] I'd like not to have and actively moderate things in here, so please, don't get in the personal attack realm : my scissors are always ready.

scissors incoming!

[Koub] Indeed (except when I'm sleeping obviously). I keep an eye on ALL threads, maybe should I have mentioned that. For those who may think a 18 items poll is not OK, it actually is. Most of the time, polls are too short on complex subjects : there are always items missing to make the poll complete for everyone (take viewtopic.php?p=535925#p535925 as an example).

5thHorseman wrote: ↑

Tue Feb 02, 2021 4:28 am

Reasons for my votes, which match for the most part the most popular answers.

• I always user the Personal Fusion Generator.
  Obviously, I don't use it until I've unlocked it. But I tend to rush it and when I get it, those portable solar panels go in the trash bin.
• I prefer to not have to think about powering my equipment. It is a gameplay mechanic I find tedious.
  "Tedious" is a bit harsh, but it's far closer to my personal feelings on it than "Yay personal power management!"
• I like getting fuel-less energy from the PFR.
  As a feature that is very much on the outside of Factorio's core mechanics (factory making) I think managing the fuel in your armor is unnecessary.
• The vanilla PFR is balanced.
  If anything, I'd prefer a more advanced PFR that is smaller for the same (or even more) power.
• The vanilla mechanics for powering an equipment grid are imperfect.
  Of course they are. We live in an imperfect world. But they're not worth changing.
• Vanilla should not focus on the conservation of "stuff" at all.
  Stronger than I'd put it, but again better than the alternative from my perspective. Vanilla should focus on enjoyment and factory building puzzles. If you can also make it realistic sure that's cool, but don't take away my train full of trains, my unsleeping, non-eating engineer, or my free suit energy just to adhere to principles of realism.

That's basically where I'm at, although TBQH I don't feel the need for more output out of them. It was more pressing pre-Spidertron because robots are power-hungry little suckers, but these days, with Spidertron support, even major building projects are a breeze.

I would only add an option to use PFR for cars and tanks, just stick it into fuel slot.
We all know that for cars it worked, in the Future.

I would have a hard time saying the system's design is perfect, but it is good. Unless you exclude things like "diversify options."

As for solar, I use it when I can't yet get PFR. If I can get PFR it is essentially always better. That is its whole design principle.

Oh, on a related note from my modded playthroughs: In Space Exploration, the PFR is pretty heavily nerfed (until VERY late game) and the end result is that I use solar cells instead. The biggest difference is I can't get to the "super mecha" stage, so I can't use personal lasers or exos extensively, but the latter is offset by the (overpowered!) jetpack and the former by planning and different strategies (and by the modpack playing a bit differently). Mass construction robots are what I mainly use the power armor for, and it works just as well as with the vanilla PFR.