Page 1 of 1

export data to csv, excel...to be able to compare and visualize

Posted: Wed May 13, 2015 11:53 am
by Tontaube
Hi,

my idea is the implementation of an option to export data of your game so that you can visualize this data beautifully in Excel or Tableau or... Data e.g. like "Time played", "Throughput of XY per minute...", Attacks,... Mined ressources...

SOME of this data is already available via either the production-window or via game stats at the end. What I want is to export this data for different times spent in the game so that one is able to optimize and compare using it.

This would deliver insights to players (the great "aha"-moments), allow for easier balancing, increase involvement among data geeks (swaggering rights: "look at my statistics!) - and be a great feature. And in a game about building, automatization and optimizing nonetheless...

What do you think?

Re: export data to csv, excel...to be able to compare and visualize

Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2016 4:39 pm
by Kwang2846
This is not a reply but more of an add on to the post.

The uses of being able to excel will make it able for people to do their own calculations using their own preferred programs.
I am currently using a couple(most) of Bob-mods that increases the complexity of the game a lot (especially the chemicals part).

I personally would like to export the production statistics tab to start with. The reasons being:

1: With the amount of products that I have it's impossible to find a line of the specific product that I wish to inspect. A simple pie graph would make life easier.
2: I would use the data from excel to model and graph my historical growth rates of products, compare this to my current production rates. This would make it easy to see which products are approaching a supply-demand equilibrium. (Making it easier to see what i should build and what products are on constant oversupply or oversupplied due to a disturbance in my production line. )
3: It would make it possible to model what the impact of future buildings would make on my production line while taking my current production rates into account.
(The available production excel-sheets are not useful in that account)
4: More modelling. Most of the factories that I designed or am currently designing is a steady state factory or a logic modulated factory. The possibilities with the logic system is enormous but it still has its limits, one being that you cant calculate disturbances (or the actions of some switch.) Lets look at an example. This example will be about oil handling but the concept I want to use for my chemicals and advanced product balancing (BOB-mods). Lets say that I intend on expanding my base borders using walls and laser turrets. To build laser turrets you need a lot of batteries and sulfuric acid. For sulfuric acid you need petroleum gas. Lets also say that I am heavy dependent on heavy oil. So I build a few temporary chemical plants and factories and switch my refineries to the advanced oil processing option to increase petroleum output. Now how long can i keep making batteries for my laser turrets until my heavy oil storage tanks run empty and some of my production lines come to a halt? Now this problem a can solve with differential equations and other mathematical instruments but why do i need to to a few pages of calculations every time i need to disturb my factory if I can modeled it and simply look at a graph and see the effect. Please do not criticize the example but rather concentrate on the idea that I'm trying to convey.
5: More modeling... (but that's for another time)

I use to play Factorio for fun, but now it's an obsession