Deconstruction in blueprints

[mrvn]

TL;DR

A blueprint should be able to include deconstruct entities.

What ?

When editing a blueprint one can remove entities, which makes the disappear from the blueprint.

One should also be able to mark tiles for deconstruction. Then when placed and any entity is at the location of the tile is then marked for deconstruction.

Why ?

Blueprints are there to be used, to place many copies of the same thing on the map. But what if you later need to change things?

For example I have a blueprints for the train networks with stations, junctions, long straight parts with all the right signals included. I started with LC trains but later I switched to LCCL. For that I have to remove half the signals on all straight parts. It would be great if I could mark the signals for deconstruction in the long straight rails blueprint and then place that on top of all the straight parts.

Or I have a blueprint for oil processing. Later I notice the pipe throughput is insufficient and want to add a pump. I can update the blueprint but then I have to manually remove the old pipes by hand before placing the blueprint over the old setup. Would be easier if I could make the tiles below the pump for deconstruction and then the blueprint could be placed over existing setups directly.

[PyroFire]

This is interesting.

Options to treat the blueprint as a square to deconstruct any non-matching entities/tiles in the area, e.g. random belts and pipes or concrete or whathaveyou are removed if they don't match the blueprint.

I don't know if mods can do the blank tile thing without doing very weird and janky things to the tiles.

The entity match thing is reasonably possible with mods but not very convenient or intuitive to use -- where does the button to toggle it go?
To get the outcome though, i'd imagine you just need to add a dummy entity to it and use that as a flag assuming blueprints themselves can't be given flags.

How does this not already exist?

[ssilk]

I like the general idea, and additionally want to bring here in the idea of "layers".


The blueprint is currently just a layer of to be constructed entities. We have also deconstrcution planner and the upgrade planner. They can be seen also as filtering layers. Destruction planner is: Filter those entities, that match the type in the filter, then delete, Upgrade planner: filter entities and change the type.

Now what this is about is could be seen so: There is another layer/planner/call it as you like, which could be a mask (filters only those entities which can be seen through the mask).

So what we have here is this:
Actions:
- Build
- Destroy
- Replace
Filters:
- Entity filter (blacklist/whitelist)
- Mask filter (new, filters items which look through the mask)

Filters and Actions can be stacked in any order. Which means:
Current Blueprint is a "Build Action".
Destruction Planner is "Entity Filter" followed by "Destroy Action"
Upgrade Planner is for each replacement an "Entity Filter" followd by "Replace Action".

And your suggestion is a "Mask filter" and "Destroy Action".


So the general idea would be to enable for the advanced placer such kinds of filter/action stacking and so generate some very cool new effects.

[Impatient]

A lot of times I wished the blueprints had that kind of feature.

So I +1 this suggestion.

A use case is laying paved walkways through wooden areas. The floor tiles are placable by blueprint but the trees can not be removed at the same time.

Another usecase includes trees again. Trees are removed when they collide with entities in the blueprint. But if the placed entity is something I also need to be able to visually check on, it might be hidden behind trees. So again it would be helpful if I could define in the bp what areas should be deforestet additionally.

[Honktown]

Technically, a mod can almost do this already:

We don't have an event for when a blueprint is used (SERIOUSLY) but you can use on-built-entity, and check what's in the cursor (automated blueprinting would be a lot harder).

Create two "blueprint" slots: one for a decon planner, and one for an upgrade planner. Technically they could hold either, but at least two slots worth.

If the player used a blueprint, an entity named "ghost-entity" is built, so you can surface filter search 'nearby' for name = "ghost-entity". If you find one, search again, keeping a track of the previous entities/positions checked. See if their position is at a greater extreme than the other ghost entities. The extremes of -x/+x and -y/+y can determine the area.

Use the information contained in the "extended blueprint" slots to act on the area we assume the blueprint was used in.

(If we could get an actual player_used_blueprint event which returned the area, there'd be no guesswork, and would help me a lot in other things.)

Having multi-layered blueprints when I want to upgrade/downgrade/filtered decon almost sounds convenient to me, but I'd have to do it for every blueprint. If I had a mechanic like I described, an "extended" blueprint effects, I could apply upgrades/downgrades/etc without having to create a new item each time.

Having the filters kept separate would also make it workable for copy-paste, or even shift-ghost placing. If I don't have a tier 3 assembler on me, but I have a tier 1 or I can make one, I could ghost-place and auto-upgrade it to a tier 3, delivered by robot. Or select an area and have it auto-decon things I don't like, or auto-upgrade things I'm working on, without having to cursor-select things.

[Impatient]

Made a shot after the super force build feature was revealed.

viewtopic.php?p=595804#p595804

[Qon]

I wrote in the other thread:

The only piece in the puzzle, that is missing now, to fully close the circle is: NOTHING ... to be buildable

You can put e.g., wooden boxes in the blueprint and then use a filtered deconstruction planner to remove them after. This allows you to build landfill in otherwise empty spots to avoid holes. And you can remove belts from the gaps in your belt balancer so leftover belts don't mess the balancer up after Super Force placing it on a bus.

I was considering making a mod that had an entity that marked itself for deconstruction when placed, to get your suggestion. But how would you add it to a blueprint if whenever you place it it is already gone? If it only removes itself when placed by bots then you have to manually add one for each tile, impossible for large blueprints with large areas needed. If you add a tool to mark areas then you kind of have to duplicate the blueprint placement tools, force area and super force on area. And actually it needs to be available inside the blueprint editing view also, but that view needs to be reworked then because large blueprints have tiles so small that blueprint view is useless for manual edits. A button to "fill empty space with nothing" with some coordinate input might be needed then.

So in the end, wooden boxes in empty spots of a super force built blueprint that are then removed with a filter planner seems like it does the job even better, just requires an extra step simple step. But the setup is so much easier because you can edit where the wooden boxes are with all the blueprint tools without them disappearing while you edit them.

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I like the general idea, and additionally want to bring here in the idea of "layers".

I like this, but the blueprint editor needs to be a complete surface you travel to, the current view is to small to even place the flag for large blueprints. And you would want to be able to undo, copy paste, zoom in and out freely, add new entities, etc...