Factorio Forums

Pipe-to-ground should automatically turn to an adjacent pipe tile (ignoring the current tile/entity placement orientation); if between two pipe tiles, turning to that direction, the mouse cursor is closer to. Only when placing the pipe then, the "global placement orientation" should be changed too (to the opposite direction of the placed pipe).

Similar might also work for rails, with the difference, that if a rail is turned into the direction of the cursor position, the new rail aligns with it, if not, the rail turns parallel to it. If the algorithm is "in doubt" it uses the "global placement orientation"...

Nooooo. If I mix two fluids together it sometimes destroys one fluid and puts the wrong fluid in the wrong pipes. Then I have to rip up all the pipes and relay them. This is a huge pain in the neck. When I'm laying pipes I want the process to be totally predictable, and the computer shouldn't guess which direction to lay the pipes.

Such guessing is only useful if you're not laying just an underground belt but a long pipe through your headquarter. -> Automatic belt laying, automatic pipe laying....