curved belts need to be explicit, not automatic

[seronis]

Its really really frustrating when im trying to design some belt layouts and the belts either curve when i want them straight (for side loading) or wont curve the specific direction i want.

[ssilk]

And what is your suggestion to improve that?

[seronis]

Exactly what I said in the subject line. Belt orientations need to be explicit. Using the rotate button you go through all 12 orientations explicitly rather than go through 4, with the 8 curved orientations being a decision the game makes that you have no control over.

[gallomimia]

I feel that it's fine exactly as is.

But to build on the suggestion that's at hand, you could make the curved belts a separate object. It seems more realistic, since you can rotate straight belts to any orientation, but actual curved pieces need to be a different object. How to have them made is a trivial matter I leave up to you.

[Slayn25]

I know it's annoying at first but usually it just takes 1 extra belt to fix issues like that. Not sure if it's intentional or not though as it's just a simple logistic problem to solve in a game about solving logistics problems.

If it did end up getting changed then I would want something like keep R how it is now but Shift+R would cycle all 12 directions and force place a belt to keep it from auto changing.
-1 towards having curved belts as a separate item

[Neotix]

The solution for that "problem" could be adding function to connect/disconnect belts (it could be "G" key like for trains). So when you build curved belt (https://i.gyazo.com/fe64619d6252236492c ... 585dcc.png), just move cursor above and press "G" to make it straight (https://i.gyazo.com/64e4621a4f899856ac4 ... 01be1f.png). Press "G" again and it become curve again.

Of course for me it's not a real problem in the first place.

[steinio]

The belt is the simplest think in the whole game and before changing anything there it's better to improve more complicated stuff.

I also don't see the problem here because managing belts and their directions is the base of this game.
It's like this thread about the corner speed...

Greetings steinio

[bobucles]

The convenience of curving belts outweights the inconvenience of sifting through 12 belt sprites.

You can force a belt to side load on a turn by making a T-junction.

[ssilk]

Exactly what I said in the subject line. Belt orientations need to be explicit. Using the rotate button you go through all 12 orientations explicitly rather than go through 4, with the 8 curved orientations being a decision the game makes that you have no control over.

I don't see the sense in his suggestion, cause it replaces a simple system (4 directions of belt plus a handful of rules under which circumstances a belt connects with another belt) with something which is in every case more complicated to handle. Think to the 8 directions of the rails, which is in my opinion hard to the limit of what is useful.

So there is just no game value - in other words: this change doesn't make the game better, it fixes only a problem which can also be solved with a better tutorial.

I'm sorry, but I tend to move this to Won't Implement.

[Zeblote]

It's perfect the way it is now.