TL;DR
It should be possible to enable the research queue after the game has started without using lua console commands which disable achievements.
Why ?
Without fail,
every time I start up a new Factorio playthrough I forget to enable the research queue in the world generation options. I get maybe 40 mins to an hour into the game before realizing that I never turned it on. At that point I have a few options:
1) Continue the game without the queue enabled (defeats the purpose of even having the queue feature)
2) Regenerate the world with the option enabled and replay the last hour or so (a waste of time since I've already done the fun part of early game -- planning my initial base)
3) Use
/c game.player.force.research_queue_enabled = true and lose achievements for this playthrough (I'm still working on those 20M circuits...)
4) Use a hack like the one outlined here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/factorio/comme ... rch_queue/
When the most appealing option involves directly modifying game files and exploiting the game's code, to me that indicates a disconnect between the UX the developers have designed and the goals of the player. I understand the developers have very specific thoughts about the research queue and its effects on gameplay (particularly for newer players) but as someone already familiar with the tech tree, the research queue is a great quality-of-life feature. As a player, I don't
think of it as a gameplay difficulty modifier, and that makes its current location in the UI really unintuitive (to the point where I always completely forget about it).
Solution
I want to propose an additional console command
/researchqueue <enable/disable> that will internally just do the exact same thing that
/c game.player.force.research_queue_enabled does, but without breaking achievements. This solution seems ideal for a few reasons:
1) Minimum development time (heck I would even PR this in if Factorio were open source). I know it's difficult for an outsider to estimate development time for new features, but if your console is implemented in any sane way then this should be super simple considering
/c game.player.force.research_queue_enabled = true already exists.
2) No new UI. Again, this ties into minimizing development time, plus the devs don't need to re-evaluate their stance on how the research queue fits into gameplay.
3) Advanced players are already familiar with the console, or are capable of learning. The research queue is a feature intended for "power user" type players to begin with. The devs actively do not want beginners using the queue, so there's no need to worry that a console command will be confusing to beginners.
4) Minimum pain solution for a problem that many experienced users encounter. I watch KatherineOfSky (unquestionably an expert player) pretty often and it seems every new series she forgets to enable the research queue. I constantly forget to enable the research queue. When you Google search "factorio enable research queue", there are plenty of people forgetting to enable the research queue. Some of those that forget surely want to keep working towards achievements, because achievements are fun! And entering a console command is much easier than starting over, and way more "legit" than using an exploit that may or may not be patched out.