[QOL] more functions for construction bots & blueprints

[malecord]

Wtih 0.15 I started a modless run. I wanted to feel how the game is mature right now and in the process I will also unlock some achievments. The game is indeed very close to perfection, but there are still areas to improve imho. The biggest one is blueprints and construction bots. The limitations have always been there but they weren't so annoying. In fact in 0.14 we couldn't use the map to place ghosts and blueprints so we could just use our already required physical presence to rectify things. Now though with this (supermegaamazing) feature (I love it, in case it wasn't clear) this is not the case anymore and the gaps become more clear and annoying.

Here is a list of stuff I would really like to have in game right now:

Construction bots can replace buildings. I.e. Given building A an upgrade of building B (like blue and yellow belt, or blue and grey assembly machine) make something like:
construction robot collects A
construction robot reaches B site
construction robot replaces B with A
construction robot puts A into a storage chest

Currently what we can do is deconstruct B and then replace it with A ghost. Upgrade planner mod for instance helps us doing it in a practical way. Although this workaround is practical enough in the mod (totally unpractical in naked factorio though) it does come with its own bunch of issues. When you apply it to a belt for instance the belt will stop working (blocking the production line, then construction bots will need to collect the stuff on the belt, then one will need to deconstruct the belt and then one to build it. It can take 10 bots to do this 1 job and it can clog your logistic network with raw materials and unwanted semi finished products.
This is a feature that would really improve the experience, even if it were gated behind an advanced tech it would make factory upgrades less tedious. Ofc the feature should work both for manually placed ghosts and blueprints as well: shift click on a B with A in hand or place a blueprint with A where B currently is. In this way we could create upgrade projects.

Player can place modules ghosts in buildings. This feature is partially implemented right now: modules ghosts can be in the blueprints but cannot be placed explicitly.

Construction bots can replace modules. An obvious feature once we have the two above: being able to mark modules for substitution will allow us to easily program bots to replace modules with newer versions as soon as these become available and without stopping the lines. Either manually or with blueprints.

Construction bots can reprogram machines. This is also a nice to have that could be gated behind a tech too. What happens now is that a player needs to be near a machine to program or re program it. What I would like to have is the possibility to do it remotely through construction bots. That is remote changes are not applied immediately but they become ghosts and a construction bot comes (with no cargo) to apply them. This is also a feature that is half implemented: blueprints can already contain programs. In fact right now what I need to do to work around this is to build the stuff I want to reprogram in front of me, make it, blueprint it and then use map to go to the actual stuff to reprogram, deconstruct it and then use blueprint. Tedious.

[nemostein]

All suggestions are great, but the first is a "must have"...
An upgrade planner is, to me, the next logical step to the BP system.

[Slayn25]

+1 to all of this. As for removing modules, I was thinking what if modules were added to the deconstruction planner. Whitelist x module then drag deconstruction planner over (assemblers, miners, etc.) and all x modules will be taken out and stored.