Make pollution management matter in endgame

[Radioactive Pretzels]

There have been ideas (and mods) to allow for ways to reduce or absorb or manipulate pollution. It would be fun to make pollution interact more with base design.
The basic concept is to make pollution transportable. This might be done using existing Factorio code by having a buildable pollution absorbing "machine" which removes pollution from the environment, but does not destroy it. Instead it takes (a lot!) of water as input and combines it with pollution to turn it into a toxic waste liquid. (There are several mods for pollution absorbers, this goes one step further.) The toxic waste now must be dealt with, and perhaps the only tool you have is a waste "venter" that takes toxic liquid and vaporizes it into the atmosphere, repolluting it just as much as before, if not worse. So no pollution is destroyed! In fact perhaps even more is created. The difference is that the toxic waste is transportable, so you can move it via pipes or train tanker cars from your main base to pollute another location.

Combine this with a mechanic where heavy pollution causes assemblers to become slower and also less efficient, and you'll be motivated to keep your base "clean" of pollution.. but now you have a whole extra requirement to pipe/train that pollution somewhere else. High pollution could also start randomly slowly damaging assemblers (or any item). I could see the gameplay being to create a distant outpost on a train line which leads to a super-well-defended outpost with heavy turrets and walls, and pollution is re-emitted there, where it won't interfere with the main base, and is able to deal with the inevitable aggroed biters.

The key mechanic is that you can't just void-pipe the toxic waste. You can load it into pipes and tanks.. but if you pick up a full tank, it immediately vents ALL that waste into the environment right where you stand, like a toxic waste spill! And maybe tanks themselves constantly EMIT more pollution when they hold waste, so you do NOT want to build giant tank farms just to bottle it up long term. Damaged waste-filled tanks emit even more pollution, You could also have toxic waste destroy tanks randomly like pollution bombs, again to discourage tank farms (but still allow them for temporary use like at a train depot).

This would add a lot of interesting mechanics to mid-late game when currently you start ignoring pollution because you're strong enough to ignore biters and its easy enough to flamethrower any nearby bases. It creates a new logistical challenge of needing to EXPORT materials from your main base, and a new kind of outpost design to actully deal with the waste (by emitting it again in its remote location). It does not change early game where pollution is still sparse.

[ssilk]

Added to viewtopic.php?f=80&t=21278 Recycling/Disassembling of Waste / Scrap / Trash


Hm. And this suggestion misses one important point: Peace with natives: viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3762
This is a game-target and your suggestion is orthogonal to that.

[Radioactive Pretzels]

That's interesting. Maybe you could make peace with local biters (by being a clean neighbor) but aggro distant biters because you're dumping waste in their home region. Thus biters themselves become factions hostle to each other! And you can manufacture weapons for your biter allies, transport them to the battlefront in your trains, give them intel with your radars, and your robots heal them with organic medpacks.

I wrote that up the last sentences as a joke extrapolation, but as I was typing it started to sound like it could be an interesting game mechanic! Pretty much beyond Factorio's scope though.

[Mroczny_Pasterz]

I think this could be done using chimneys or stacks.

Electrically operated they will suck dirty air (electric fans) at the bottom and release it at the top. This will smear the pollution over greater area, but it still would be the same amount of pollution.

[Kryptos]

I think this could be done using chimneys or stacks.

Electrically operated they will suck dirty air (electric fans) at the bottom and release it at the top. This will smear the pollution over greater area, but it still would be the same amount of pollution.

This is pretty much what mass paving does...

[Mroczny_Pasterz]

I think this could be done using chimneys or stacks.

Electrically operated they will suck dirty air (electric fans) at the bottom and release it at the top. This will smear the pollution over greater area, but it still would be the same amount of pollution.

This is pretty much what mass paving does...

What is mass paving?

[Gertibrumm]

I would suggest flue gas usage:
- for power generation (eco or further combustion of carbon monoxide)
- for flue gas cleaning with all sorts of devices which could even create plaster form sulfur contained in coal (little more energy consumption but drastically lowered pollution)
- treat flue gas like a fluid or the new steam -> heat exchange like a economizer
- pipe fresh flue gas toward or away from biter nests and release it there to prevent or provoce biters
- flue gas cleaning creates a lot of byproducts which could be used or even weaponized