Quality of Life Blueprint Building

[Tias]

TL;DR

When Placing an entity on it's Blueprint, it will only continue to place the entity on other blueprints when holding the build key down, not as soon as space is available.

What ?

When placing furnaces on this blueprint (by holding down the build key):

Screenshot 1.png (454.24 KiB) Viewed 5590 times

this is the result:

Screenshot 2.png (457.7 KiB) Viewed 5590 times

even though this would be what the player wanted:

Screenshot 3.png (470.89 KiB) Viewed 5590 times

Why ?

It makes building blueprinted setups without robots a lot easier, specially when placing 2 or more diffrent entities in the same row, or inserters facing in 2 different directions.

[Koub]

I totally dig this suggestion.
Such QoL. Much wow

[Jap2.0]

Just... yes.

[sparr]

I like this idea.

Example would be more clear if the pole ghosts weren't there. Currently the example could be what you describe, or it could be just not placing when they overlap another ghost.

[voddan]

Yes, that, yes!
It would increase the value of blueprints dramatically, alleviating the need for construction bot in the early game.

[Koub]

Thinking about it, I'd like even better that ghosts within reach are automatically built with the content of your backpack (with a way to toggle on and off maybe). Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

[Jap2.0]

Thinking about it, I'd like even better that ghosts within reach are automatically built with the content of your backpack (with a way to toggle on and off maybe). Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

Kind of OP though, in my opinion.

[dood]

Thinking about it, I'd like even better that ghosts within reach are automatically built with the content of your backpack (with a way to toggle on and off maybe). Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

Kind of OP though, in my opinion.

Yeah. Your KDR would definitely be through the roof with that.

[voddan]

Thinking about it, I'd like even better that ghosts within reach are automatically built with the content of your backpack (with a way to toggle on and off maybe). Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

Kind of OP though, in my opinion.

How is that OP? You are still required to design, connect and customize the blueprints. This just removes annoing repetitive staff like placing down the inserters in a raw 2-down-1-skip.

auto-building within the characters reach

I would like some more fine control thou. Something like filling in blueprints only under the mouse instead of automatic placement in the reach (reach can be quite big with some mods).

[sparr]

Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

That's not QoL. That's making construction robots much less valuable.

If you want this, there are plenty of mods for it. Nanobots is a good one; it uses a consumable "bot ammo" to build nearby ghosts.

[voddan]

That's not QoL. That's making construction robots much less valuable.

Yes, exactly. It is making the early game much more enjoyable and automated in the spirit of Factorio.

[sparr]

It is making the early game much more enjoyable and automated in the spirit of Factorio.

The spirit of Factorio is that you get more automation capabilities the further into the game you get. The start of the game is supposed to involve zero automation. Mining by hand, assembling by hand, moving items by hand, placing structures by hand.

Any change that honors the spirit of Factorio would put new automation capabilities later in the game, behind tech and resource gathering requirements.

[Koub]

I don't see auto placement within reach that much OP tbh, and it shouldn't even trivialize nanobots mod. I really dislike having a blueprint set up (typically my first smelting arrays), and having to manually place dozens of inserters by hand. What's the fun in the tedium ?

[Jap2.0]

Thinking about it, I'd like even better that ghosts within reach are automatically built with the content of your backpack (with a way to toggle on and off maybe). Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

Kind of OP though, in my opinion.

How is that OP? You are still required to design, connect and customize the blueprints. This just removes annoing repetitive staff like placing down the inserters in a raw 2-down-1-skip.

You're required to make the blueprints for bots as well - and this is basically a free roboport mk. 0 - much smaller range, but no power requirements and instantaneous.

[PyroFire]

+Support.

Removing entity ghosts when you build over them always felt like a bug.
When i first played with blueprints, i was expecting the ghosts to behave in the suggested manner.

What i am saying is, this suggestion would make blueprints in the early game feel more natural & function as expected

People in this thread have argued it would trivialize the construction process.
Yes and no.
Yes, it makes things easier. But thats why you placed the blueprint to start with.
And no, you have to design the blueprint first.

[5thHorseman]

This is a good compromise between auto build and the nothing we have now. Add auto-rotate (for belts and the like) and I may not even install Bluebuild anymore.

Can you pipette select a ghost? If so even better. If not, you should be able to.

[Maddhawk]

I just bought this game a few days ago after seeing a random video of it on youtube. Yesterday I started to experiment with blueprints. To be honest, I they are both quite a nice and useful tool, but one that is also extremely frustrating. From being actual inventory space consuming items, to the non-intuitive interface in the blueprint manager, to being able to build the wrong thing over a blueprint ghost, to not being able to drop a blueprint wherever I want even if something else is already there and in the way.

My expectations as a totally new player and complete novice has been:

1) Opening a blueprint book should be done with a left click, not right click.
2) Opening a blueprint itself should be done with a left click, not a right click.
3) That it would be more logical sense to right click a blueprint to tag it to the cursor to be placed on the ground.
4) That once done, clearing the mouse cursor should leave the blueprint in the blueprint menu and not my inventory.
5) That the F1-F12 keys could be utilized as hot keys for commonly used blueprints or blueprint books. Or perhaps some other keys that may be undefined in the options menu and can be user defined at a later date once they become familiar with blueprints.
6) That once a blueprint is down, either you place an incorrect item over a ghost and ghost remains until right clicked, OR it doesn't let you place anything except the correct item, again unless you right click to clear the ghost.

These are the expectations I came into the game as things that "just make sense" without any real prior knowledge or experience. Now, since I spent a good portion yesterday learning how to use blueprints to expand my factory a little better, I now know a bit more. That said, I still consistently make clicking mistakes while trying to use blueprints because they are just so COUNTER-INTUITIVE to use. They really are the most frustrating useful tool I have encountered in any game in a long time.

[Lav]

Thinking about it, I'd like even better that ghosts within reach are automatically built with the content of your backpack (with a way to toggle on and off maybe). Just plopping a blueprint, running through it, and auto-building within the characters reach would be such a QoL feature.

I totally dig this idea. Binding it to a key (so a player would be able to run through a ghost field without automatically building everything) and placing items one at a time at decently good fixed rate (like, 5-8 objects per second) would be fantastic.

[lovewyrm]

Are more clicks more fun than less clicks?

If not:
Blueprints get filled even without bots when inside the players reach.

If they are:
Well, I guess you gotta aim and click more.

Pros of less clicks:
Less RSI.
Less time spent.
Less mental effort.

Cons of less clicks:
Makes personal robots less impressive.
Arm don't get as sore, and you gotta get rid of your money somehow, right.
That doctor didn't get his degree for free, after all, you want him to starve?!

I'd even go as far as welcoming an automated "manual" mining mode.
You press some key combo and click and ore patch and your character keeps mining without having to hold down the mouse button.