Simple Questions and Short Answers

[Tertius]

It's possible to set filters for the ammo slots. Default key: mouse middle-click. However it's a bit tricky to set a filter different to what is already in the slot. You need to empty that slot first to be able to set a different item as filter.

[Nidan]

Doesn't the spidertron cycle through its ammo slots while shooting? Having mixed ammo types sounds like you're setting yourself up for an rather unwelcome surprise, especially with atomic bombs in the mix.

[mmmPI]

It's safer to use different spidertrons for the reason Nidan mention, and also because then you can use a spidertron to provide a mobile logistic network, where the bots from a spidertron can change the ammunition of another spidertron, and that is actionnable in remote view. You can even color them differently, and make sure there is always one "ammo supplier" in the mix.

[ManicDee]

It's safer to use different spidertrons for the reason Nidan mention, and also because then you can use a spidertron to provide a mobile logistic network, where the bots from a spidertron can change the ammunition of another spidertron, and that is actionnable in remote view. You can even color them differently, and make sure there is always one "ammo supplier" in the mix.

Thanks. I just need to send spidertrons out in packs instead of solo.

[mmmPI]

Thanks. I just need to send spidertrons out in packs instead of solo.

Yeah still, i would recommend if you have a nuclear one, to maybe have it as a solo spidertron, to avoid friendly fire on the rest of the pack x)

[ManicDee]

Yeah still, i would recommend if you have a nuclear one, to maybe have it as a solo spidertron, to avoid friendly fire on the rest of the pack x)

No fear! The spidertron carrying the capture bots, explosive missiles or atomic bomb is only going to be firing manually. No gunner enabled at all. For most purposes the other ammunition is just for the lulz: capture a spawner in the middle of nowhere so now I have to build a railway and bioflux depot to keep it going, and may as well wrap a productivity module 3 factory around it (and perhaps an upcycler to turn surplus PM3s into Legendary PM3) so it has a purpose other than passing the butter.

When it comes to clearing biters, a handful of spidertrons with normal rockets is quite sufficient. Being able to head out in the nuka-a-tron to drop a couple of atomic bombs on biter colonies has a certain vandalistic appeal though.

[jdrexler75]

I updated some of my blueprints for compatiblity with 2.1, but it required changing some red wires to green and vice versa to separate input/output.

Is there a simple way (like keybinding or mod) to place a blueprint and replace all red/green wires with those from the blueprint, instead of just adding them to the mess? Or to delete all existing wires in a region before placing it?

[jdrexler75]

Is there a simple way (like keybinding or mod) to place a blueprint and replace all red/green wires with those from the blueprint, instead of just adding them to the mess? Or to delete all existing wires in a region before placing it?

Since it looks like there wasn't, I made a script to hijack a deconstruction planner with the special icons "green-wire red-wire trash-bin" in the label to do this:

clear-red-green.lua

(2.17 KiB) Downloaded 25 times

Using a deconstruction planner with this marker will remove all red or green wires from the area. It will also still do the regular deconstruction, so make sure it matches nothing that you don't want to delete!

I'm putting it in the public domain so if anyone wants to put that in a mod or something, feel free!

Example deconstruction planner (removing legendary poles...):

0eNptkNFOhDAQRX+FzDON2CyaJeFpP4MQ0oURmwwttrOrG8K/OwVXo/Gp7Z3puTd3gQF77yKHS8/Wu24m4xwGqBaIyGzdGNMdHVu+dS+WGIMozQLOTAgVxMkQKSTsOdhezZ4Qcni7GJIPMicc0Q0m3ETt/TSbYNgLH2oRrBvwA6pibXNgS9jFDZSCTH4QvJadlG9zjHZ0hlKcL+8xIDr1bgPC+g17XPN/VgMOfxf12qYH4yTz3zWoew05kDmjgOBEaEImmIfNNUuwmDXpe/2To92Fu1vbXG1g6ULtger9UBxMfFVn61pxuEqj4glV+aSP5UEfjmWhn3Wxrp8pOJEG

Copy blueprint

[worph]

I'm wondering:
Is setting filters on inserters better or worse for performance when that inserter will only handle one type of item anyway?

[worph]

Also while were on the topic of performance, I noticed a few years ago that every additional circuit connection is tracked with it's own unique ID. Does this affect performance at all or in any meaningful amount or is having 100 vs 100,000 circuit networks negligible in every sense? It seems the game keeps track of each and every one of them. Is there any reason why it does not (seemingly) re-allocate ids after they aren't used anymore?
Hope this qualifies still as simple and short.

[jdrexler75]

Is there any reason why it does not (seemingly) re-allocate ids after they aren't used anymore?

Reusing IDs would not improve performance, they'll be used as arbitrary hashed keys in a dictionary structure or hash table anyway, where only the total number of them matters. However searching for unused IDs would cost performance because the entire dictionary will need to be iterated each time an unused ID should be reused, instead of just incrementing an integer. Or you would need to waste memory and cycles on a list of unused IDs that needs to be maintained, for no other benefit.

Really the only reason IDs even matter at all is when you need to compare if two things are connected to the same circuit or not, and for that purpose, numeric IDs aren't ideal anyway. When they reach four or more digits comparing them requires significant effort. Instead, they could be turned into word hashes like with HumanHash or RFC-1751 and become "loud-pen-jig" instead of 13753 and much easier to compare. Then nobody would get the idea that they should be reused either