Factorio Forums

I'm trying to put together an island-hopping game. Think "rail world" for boats. Focus on lots of scattered bases with freighters moving between islands. I've got a decent start for mod build, but I'm running into a few problems.

Good:
Islands World - by kapaer. Great worldgen, just what I had in mind.
Cargo Ships - by rude_grass. Of course. Necessary for anything here.
Hovercrafts - by Arcani_Victus. Seems useful.

Maybe:
Airccraft - by SuicidalKid
Aircraft Realism - by haih_ys. These two seem good for midgame exploration, with the runway requirement putting a limiter on their use.

The problem:
Noxys Swimming
Noxys Waterfill - by Noxy, of course. Without swimming, biters simply can't reach my islands and I can deal with them at my leisure. But WITH swimming, I run into conflicts with boats. Because swimming modifies the baseline speed of player movement (but notably NOT enemy movement), boats move at a crawl. I can modify this in settings by changing movement speed to 1.0, but then I just run across water with no limitations faster than the basic boats can move, and bugs just treat everything as open land, which is not ideal.

Potential solutions (and what I'm hoping people here can help me find):

1. A water movement mod that allows biters to swim, but actually slows them, and doens't mess with boats (may not be possible with available mod hooks)
2. An alien mod that allows bugs to spawn "flier" types that can cross water, at which point I can run with NO water modification mods (I don't need to swim).
3. ??? Something I'm not thinking of that fits this general theme. I'm sure I'm not the first to try setting up a game like this.

Also happy to take any suggestions for other things that would enhance the concept. Bobs and Angels mods terrify me, though.

In my playthrough that I'm doing on YouTube right now I seriously considered just not bothering with boats, once I tried them. It's nice to have a personal boat but the cargo ships are HUGE and SLOW. I'm going to be running trains (on bridges) everywhere anyway, so the extra logistics for boats is very likely not worth it. It was fun to learn though and the mod is very well made IMO. And I'll keep up with them for ores just for the variety.

However, if you drop the boats and instead rely on train bridges and slow swimming, that could be a fun mix.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:12 am In my playthrough that I'm doing on YouTube right now I seriously considered just not bothering with boats, once I tried them. It's nice to have a personal boat but the cargo ships are HUGE and SLOW. I'm going to be running trains (on bridges) everywhere anyway, so the extra logistics for boats is very likely not worth it. It was fun to learn though and the mod is very well made IMO. And I'll keep up with them for ores just for the variety.

However, if you drop the boats and instead rely on train bridges and slow swimming, that could be a fun mix.

I tried boats and they are indeed HUGE and SLOW but also eat up fuel like nothing. Would be nice to have some smaller boats that are more energy efficient. Something more in line with cargo wagons with their 40 slots.

mrvn wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:25 am I tried boats and they are indeed HUGE and SLOW but also eat up fuel like nothing. Would be nice to have some smaller boats that are more energy efficient. Something more in line with cargo wagons with their 40 slots.

100% agreed. A smaller transport ferry would make the boats far more usable. Even for ore, the big ones seem just too big.

If I was a better coder I'd look into the code and try to make something. Even being not a good coder, I may give it a shot.

Well damn. Boats were like... the entire point of this run. Ocean trains, I might as well just play another trainworld.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:07 am

mrvn wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:25 am I tried boats and they are indeed HUGE and SLOW but also eat up fuel like nothing. Would be nice to have some smaller boats that are more energy efficient. Something more in line with cargo wagons with their 40 slots.

100% agreed. A smaller transport ferry would make the boats far more usable. Even for ore, the big ones seem just too big.

If I was a better coder I'd look into the code and try to make something. Even being not a good coder, I may give it a shot.

Pretty sure the basic tugboat fits that niche. Still a bit slow though.

Jarin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:36 am Pretty sure the basic tugboat fits that niche. Still a bit slow though.

TIL the tugboat can be automated. Never thought to try it

Though depending, it may be easier to just run trains.

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:51 am

Jarin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:36 am Pretty sure the basic tugboat fits that niche. Still a bit slow though.

TIL the tugboat can be automated. Never thought to try it

Though depending, it may be easier to just run trains.

Easier? With the water rails mod, certainly. Landfill? Probably not. But that's beside the point. This is about style.

Oh I should add I'm using the Beautiful Bridges mod.

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/beautiful_bridge_railway

I have decided to only use landfill (Platforms, really, from another mod https://mods.factorio.com/mod/platforms ) to fill tiny inland water tiles (fill in swamps) and to make shore lines straight enough to be docks. I will NOT use it to extend or connect islands. Else why use an islands-only map?

So no assist on the "help bugs get over water without just *ignoring* water" front?

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Noxys_Swimming allows you and also biters to "swim"

steinio wrote: ↑Sat Aug 29, 2020 9:19 am https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Noxys_Swimming allows you and also biters to "swim"

I did mention that, and the troubles with it, in the first post. Biters just treat water like open land.

Jarin wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:36 am

5thHorseman wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 2:07 am

mrvn wrote: ↑Wed Aug 26, 2020 1:25 am I tried boats and they are indeed HUGE and SLOW but also eat up fuel like nothing. Would be nice to have some smaller boats that are more energy efficient. Something more in line with cargo wagons with their 40 slots.

100% agreed. A smaller transport ferry would make the boats far more usable. Even for ore, the big ones seem just too big.

If I was a better coder I'd look into the code and try to make something. Even being not a good coder, I may give it a shot.

Pretty sure the basic tugboat fits that niche. Still a bit slow though.

Can't be used for liquids.

Another thing that would be nice would be if boats could drive in reverse (real slow). This would need a second engine that's turned backward. That way one could have the boats drive into an end station. After loading/unloading they back out into a waystation (or fuel station given how much fuel they consume) and then drive out forward again.