[MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

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SirRichie
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[MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

Train Outposts

for 0.13 support see the mod portal https://mods.factorio.com/mods/SirRichie/TrainOutpost

Info:
Inspired by RSO, this mod reworks the resource generation to strong encourage creating outposts connected by trains:
  • resources patches are much rarer and further apart
  • with growing distance from the starting position, resources patches grow in size
  • easy configuration via map generation settings
  • resource patches are endless, but yield soon drops below 100%, forcing constant expansion
  • to counterbalance this, enemies are also rarer
  • tracks are significantly cheaper (recipes yield 10x as much)
  • fine-tuning via config.lua possible
  • multiplayer compatible
Long Description
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TrainOutpost_1.0.3.zip
Last version for 0.12
(22.54 KiB) Downloaded 361 times
Last edited by SirRichie on Thu Aug 04, 2016 5:15 pm, edited 8 times in total.

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XyLe
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by XyLe »

Remarkable effort! Thanks for sharing. To see exactly how much i like this mod i'm gonna need some time to play around with it =)

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Alekthefirst
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by Alekthefirst »

You left debug = enabled in config.lua
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SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

Alekthefirst wrote:You left debug = enabled in config.lua
That is indeed true, thank you. I purged all debug statements from the code though, so this should really have no effect.

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Alekthefirst
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by Alekthefirst »

SirRichie wrote:I purged all debug statements from the code though, so this should really have no effect.
Oh, ok. I just found it by accident while going through the configs for my lightly modded game to see if there was some things i didn`t want there, and i thought that some debug mode was definitely something to want turned off. Seems like you fixed it before release anyways though. :D :mrgreen: :lol:
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SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

Check out data-updates.lua as well then, it contains some changes which you might not like then.
Also, curious to hear your feedback when you tried things out.

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by psychobarge »

Hi and thx for your mod,

I've tried it and so far i think it is a great alternative to RSO. For me the first map generated with train outpost was playable and well balanced :D

SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

psychobarge wrote:Hi and thx for your mod,

I've tried it and so far i think it is a great alternative to RSO. For me the first map generated with train outpost was playable and well balanced :D
Thank you for the kind feedback.

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cpy
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by cpy »

Do you have other mod support? Like bob?

SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

cpy wrote:Do you have other mod support? Like bob?
No, not yet. It is planned for the next release though.

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Lime
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by Lime »

Great idea. I was also fiddling with RSO once to get the same result (rare patches with small endless resources), and I like what you're doing. There's two thing this mod lacks though - make those patches somewhat smaller, twice at least; and second - add support for mod ores. That's the priority #1 I'd say. Could be a great competitor to RSO. ;)
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SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

Lime wrote:Great idea. I was also fiddling with RSO once to get the same result (rare patches with small endless resources), and I like what you're doing. There's two thing this mod lacks though - make those patches somewhat smaller, twice at least; and second - add support for mod ores. That's the priority #1 I'd say. Could be a great competitor to RSO. ;)
Thank you as well.
Have you tried playing with the map generation parameters (i.e. in your case, setting size to small or very small)?
You can also get smaller patches by modifying the base sizes and the distance adjust factor in config.lua. One goal was to make the balancing easier compared to RSO.
If map generation parameters do not give enough options, I might include a few prototype config files.

Support for mod ores is definitely coming. I wrote the code with that in mind, but mod support will need a few tweaks still.


Oh and as a final note: I do not really see this mod as a competitor to RSO (it probably is though, since it does pretty much the same thing). RSO was too much of an inspiration.

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by NotABiter »

This mod appears to be incompatible with the Natural Evolution mod. Starting factorio with both mods results in:

Code: Select all

Error Util.cpp:49: __TrainOutpost__/data-updates.lua:20: attempt to index field 'autoplace' (a nil value)
That's unfortunate because for me there are three parts to having permanent outposts:
1. need for far-away resources
2. resources don't run out
3. a reason to not just kill all of the biters

Without #1 there's no need to expand. Without #2 there's no reason to have permanent outposts (just temporary ones). And without #3 there's no need to have distinct outposts - just wipe out all the biters and make one giant base. This mod takes care of #1 and #2. I wanted to use the RAGE Ore mod and the natural evolution mod (for the thumper) to take care of #3. And although the Natural Evolution mod is modularized, the thumper is part of the buildings sub-mod and unfortunately the conflict happens even if I only use that one sub-mod with this mod.

Have you considered addressing #3 within your own mod? One way I thought of doing it would be to make spawners (at least mid-to-late game ones) have a lot of HP and be fairly impervious to laser fire, enough to make them prohibitively expensive to take out (and maybe that expense can go up without limit the more spawners you kill). It would then perhaps make sense to just take out a swath of them to run rail through rather than wiping out all the space that a monolithic base would take. Having an even higher evolution-type hit due to taking out spawners might be another way to go, but there would have to be some real consequences. (Right now I pretty much don't care about evolution because eventually it maxes out anyways without it ever becoming a real problem/concern.) Another option would be to have biters, regardless of pollution, have a tendency to attack any large area with no spawners in it (and some player stuff in it) - the larger such an area, the more intense the attacks. That would not only encourage outposts, but a "production towns" approach rather than a single central base. (I like this last idea the best, even more than using the RO+NE mods.)

In anticipation of someone suggesting that sheer size (e.g. cost of walls being prohibitive) will take care of #3, I would point out that (assuming uniform distribution and static costs) N^2 (available resources) always overtakes k*4*N (perimeter costs) eventually. (And if you have to defend things like rails and power lines, that only makes the monolithic solution that much more tempting.)

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by Elusive »

I had to fix data-updates.lua to look like this (to get it to work with Natural Evolution):

Code: Select all

require "config"

function add_peak(ent, peak)
  if ent and ent.autoplace then
    ent.autoplace.peaks[#ent.autoplace.peaks+1] = peak
  end
end

for resource_name, resource in pairs(data.raw.resource) do
	-- do not spawn the resource naturally
	add_peak(resource,{influence=-1000})

	-- make resource infinite
	data.raw.resource[resource_name].infinite = true
	if ((resources_config[resource_name] ~= nil) and (resources_config[resource_name].type == "resource-liquid")) then
		data.raw.resource[resource_name].minimum  = liquid_min
		data.raw.resource[resource_name].normal   = liquid_normal
	else
		data.raw.resource[resource_name].minimum  = resource_min
		data.raw.resource[resource_name].normal   = resource_normal
	end
end

for _, spawner in pairs(data.raw["unit-spawner"]) do
		add_peak(spawner,{influence=-1000})
end

for _, turret in pairs(data.raw.turret) do
	if turret.subgroup == "enemies" then
		add_peak(turret,{influence=-1000})
	end
end

data.raw["recipe"]["straight-rail"].result_count = 20
data.raw["recipe"]["curved-rail"].result_count = 20

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by NotABiter »

Thanks, that seems to be doing the trick.

SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

Thanks from my side as well.
I will check and include the code in the next release

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by Olix »

Hello,

This seems like a good idea for a mod, I will try it.

However, in my attempts with RSO the problem I found was that sometimes my trains between outposts would make crash into the largest biters and so explode. I found this to be very frustrating, so in the end I just exterminated all the biters and made a huge perimeter wall anyway.

So perhaps you might consider increasing the toughness of the trains in this mod, or recommending a different mod that does that?

SirRichie
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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by SirRichie »

Actually, I never encountered this problem myself, but I agree that this may cause some frustrations (do you have modified biters?)

Anyway, I do see potential to make this mod modular, so people can choose to their preferences. I am currently in the middle of moving, so do not expect updates too soon.

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by kaptcha »

Thanks, I've been looking for an endless resource mod a quite long time. The train tweaks is just a nice addition.
OP stated a radar mod is recommended, what are some good ones?

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Re: [MOD 12.11+] Train Outposts

Post by Olix »

I had a go with your mod. I do like the idea, but I think the resource spot sizes get excessive as you travel away from the starting spot:

Image

I had all resource locations on 'Low' frequency and 'Big' size though.

I was also surprised by the large empty area the algorithm generated in the area above and to the left of my starting location:

Image

I wonder why that would be?

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