Just where was I manufacturing that ....

[lyallp]

Once a map gets large, it would be nice if there was some assisted way to guide me to where I produce widget X.

I am not the best industrial designer and sometimes, my supply chain gets stuffed up, and I wonder why I am not producing any widget Ys and find out that Widget X is in short supply, only to forget where the damn thing is being made.

It would be nice if the 'map' had a means of selecting a widget and showing where it is being produced by flashing squares or maybe selecting a widget and having a 'compass' showing the direction to the nearest factory that produces that widget, with maybe even some sort of distance indicator, so I can travel towards it.

Even some advanced research technology which gives you a central control over all your production, rather than having to run to every factory. After all, if we are building robots, surely we can have a 'Computer Central Control' building we could research and build that allows us to control production from a single spot.

Oh, aliens, how about naming them after the supporters? Makes it more likely they will turn up more and people will swear at them

[ssilk]

Moved from General.

[SHiRKiT]

It's been suggested a few things:
- Markers on the map (like pins)
- Drawing on the map/minimap
- Ping on the map/minimap

[ssilk]

A marker has been suggested here:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=6437

Scribbling:
https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=4670

[SHiRKiT]

I should start linking those things. Will do next time.

[lyallp]

The problem with both of those suggestions is that they are both multi-player communication ideas.

My problem was single player, incompetent factory designer trying to find out where I built stuff, let alone letting someone else know where I want them to build stuff.

The ability to ask 'where do I make x?' and 'Where do I consume y?'
The ability to identify an area by name.
The ability to show where an area is on the map/minimap.
The ability to plonk signs to document my factory, such as "Area X - produces widgets A for use in Area Y".

[johanwanderer]

The problem with both of those suggestions is that they are both multi-player communication ideas.

My problem was single player, incompetent factory designer trying to find out where I built stuff, let alone letting someone else know where I want them to build stuff.

The ability to ask 'where do I make x?' and 'Where do I consume y?'
The ability to identify an area by name.
The ability to show where an area is on the map/minimap.
The ability to plonk signs to document my factory, such as "Area X - produces widgets A for use in Area Y".

One thing that you can do now is to build a train station. The station's name is visible on the map.

[SilverWarior]

Why not simply add the ability to name roboports?

I mean when you are still using belts for hauling most of your items you can quickly find out where certain thing is manufactured by simply following the belt to its origin.

But with roboports this becomes impossible. And since the roboports are usually placed in the middle of machine clusters the ability to name them could be very helpful.
And what is best this is easy implementable since the necessary code is already in the game. It only needs to be enabled for roboports as it is enabled for train stations.
And that is much easier than adding custom flashing markings on map and less likely to lead to new bugs.
Perhaps this could even be achieved through modding. I haven't checked the train station definition files to whether this is hardcoded or not.