Factorio Forums

Exposition
I think we can all agree, running between bases is about as enjoyable is getting poked in the eye. I personally try to take any trains I may have setup or even a car but that usually just an exercise in frustration because of all of those darn trees that just jump out in-front of me. So I purpose we get some sort of flying vehicle such as a helicopter. Because let's be real, if we can build flying robots and rockets, helicopters should be a cinch.

What?
A helicopter for transportation.

Why?
Because I want to spend less time running, crashing into trees, or waiting on trains in order to get to my remote bases/outposts, and more time engineering.

I agree on the car being more on less useless.
It's an absolute pain in the ass to steer, because it doesn't lock onto rotations, and unlike the tank can't handle trees at all. Well, it makes sense for a car not being able to handle trees, but you can't even build roads because it's impossible to drive on them. The tank is barely faster than walking, on only serves for a short time between the first blue science and the first exoskeleton. Trains are the best option for transportation, but you have to build train lines going everywhere, which means you can't use it to get anywhere where you haven't build a station first.

Unfortunately, it doesn't make sense for a heli in the tech tree earlier than the tank. It would be a really nice endgame option for transport. It could basically be a car without a collision mask and higher top speed. Landing and taking off would be realistic, but make everything too complicated.

Still doesn't solve the problem that getting around early game is a pain in the ass, but it's something I like.

Or just release the Spider!

I personally would prefer a propeller plane, such as a Cessna. However, a helicoper would have the advantage that it doesn't require a long runway at all possible destinations. A helicopter should be able to land anywhere.

Hi, I made a mod for this. Check it out.
https://mods.factorio.com/mods/kumpu/Helicopters

For some reason, I thought of transforming into a logistics robot. To be precise, I thought of how your normal avatar in Halo 3 is a Spartan, but in the map editor it is a Monitor. For those not familiar with Halo, basically the normal engineer and a logistics robot respectively I think a jet pack that puts similar functionality into modular armor would be an excellent addition to the late game as well. Despite its drawbacks, I use the car an awful lot. Also, it is not useless against trees, just hold down 'W' if you're in a rush, and keep an eye on your hit points. I've found it to be an excellent option in the early-mid game low frequency maps with Bob's Ores.