Factorio Forums

I imagine some people will be against this as pistol is such a Factorio staple item.

I felt the same when iron pickaxe disappeared. So I'm happy to hear other people's opinions.

Basically this. You start with pistol but it is not a craftable item or even visible, just like the pickaxe. And when you upgrade to military 1 you just get increased speed and damage.

There can also be a debate about making the smg visible or not and how to reconfigure the empty slot. Pickaxe slot used to be above or under armor slot and now it just left a gap.

Anyway, let me know hwat you guys think!

Why? What purpose does this achieve?

Where does the ammo go if there's no weapon?

If you don't have any visible weapons, how do you switch between different weapons?

I can't even?

redlabel wrote: ↑

Mon Mar 02, 2020 7:59 pm

Basically this. You start with pistol but it is not a craftable item or even visible, just like the pickaxe. And when you upgrade to military 1 you just get increased speed and damage.

Change it to "There is no pistol, but the SMG is nerfed to be like the pistol was. When researching Military 1, the SMG is made great again." and i am in.

Pickaxe was removed because it has no alternatives.
Player has a lot of wepons to choose from. He can not to use pistol/smg at all.

P.S. OMG, I want a chainsaw...

I guess all weapons have to become virtual for this suggestion to be consistent : I wouldn't like seeing pistol disappear while shotgun and its combat shotgun upgrade are being kept as items.

Then we're left with flamethrower & rocket launcher, and it is already very late in the game to learn that weapons can also be items that need to be equipped.

As the character GUI is being worked on, maybe almost finalized, the suggestion should probably be very precise to get a chance of being considered.

My go on a virtual weapons only solution :
1/ All weapons are virtual and given for free when respective technology is researched :
- player begins with pistol as only available weapon.
- military 1 grants the shotgun and transforms the pistol into an SMG.
- military 3 transforms shotgun into combat shotgun.
- rocketry grants the rocket launcher.
- flamethrower grants the flamethrower.
2/ you don't fill in ammo slots : ammo is used from inventory when corresponding weapon is fired.
3/ there's 2 weapons keybinds : 1 for cycling amongst researched weapons, 1 for cycling available ammo for active weapon. Maybe it's worth to add a keybind for each weapon. Or even allow player to bind a weapon to a quick bar slot.
4/ the 3 weapon slots and ammo slots at the bottom right corner are replaced by 2 images : 1 image of the current active weapon and 1 image of the current active ammo, overlaid by total ammo count in inventory. If there's no ammo of any kind available for active weapon, the image turns red.
5/ character GUI shows every weapon researched and each ammo count next to it, so one can quickly look at ammo availability.

I honestly fail to see the gameplay benefit of such an alteration.
Analogously light armor (especially compared to heavy armor) has a very limited usecase, but an existing one non the less (discussed here)
The pistol is comparable. It’s a bad weapon maybe adequate enough for some small biters, but ,depending on the map setting, quickly renderd obsolete.
The SMG is better, therefore you research it and the build it. No need for some magic upgrade. If you die and respawn, well bad luck. Better have some gear in stockpile. This teaches IMO a core mechanic of Factorio quite well, if you want something, build it or even better let the factory do it. Research only gives you the ability is no deus es machina for free items. Besides I’ve considered equipping the character, one of the more appealing things especially in mid game and a measurable factor of survival in the early game.