TL;DR
Add icons for the required ingredients for an item, to the 'alt-mode' picture on top of the assemblers.- EnhancedAlt.png (514.14 KiB) Viewed 462 times
What ?
I suggest adding an 'enhanced alt-mode' to factorio.The enhanced functionality would add the required ingredients to the picture on the top of assemblers showing the production item, when alt-mode is used.
The enhanced functionality should be via an option (default on).
Why ?
Is the challenge of factorio simply memorising the ingredients required for an item, or is it a puzzle of how to build complex systems to produce the items required to progress the science and launch rockets?I believe the latter is the real (fun) challenge. As a player with 1900hrs in game, I still find myself spending time checking item ingredients, so I believe those new to the game must find it a real chore to learn the ingredients. I believe the game would be much more approachable and enjoyable for beginners if they did not have to spend time constantly checking ingredients because they can see the items required on top of the assembler.
This does nothing to aid in the balancing and logistic challenge of the game, and as an option, it can be turned off to aid performance on the big factories.