Version 0.13.9

[daniel34]

I didn't see mention of the broken Solaris achievement... though I am glad to see that Watch Your Step has finally been fixed! Is Solaris still being worked on?

From 0.13.7:

• Bugfixes
  • Fixed that the solaris achievement unobtainable.

I've got it immediately after updating to 0.13.8 (from 0.13.6) so if you didn't get it then make sure you don't have had any steam engines running in the last hour, have no mods and never used console commands.

[ytsejam]

Terrain generation is being worked on, but is a deeper issue than these bug fixes, we mentioned this in a previous friday facts

Thanks! That's all I wanted to hear, I figured it would have to be something complicated to take so long!

The thread about the bugged terrain was moved to the "confirmed bugs" subforum about a week ago - viewtopic.php?f=182&t=27521

I'm code illiterate, but I don't think it's an easy fix. My optimistic guess is it will be moved to "Waiting for 0.14" at some point.

However, I'm a "glass half empty" kind of guy, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's something that will only be fixed in 0.15, 0.16...

[Jj250]

Terrain generation is being worked on, but is a deeper issue than these bug fixes, we mentioned this in a previous friday facts

Thanks! That's all I wanted to hear, I figured it would have to be something complicated to take so long!

The thread about the bugged terrain was moved to the "confirmed bugs" subforum about a week ago - viewtopic.php?f=182&t=27521

I'm code illiterate, but I don't think it's an easy fix. My optimistic guess is it will be moved to "Waiting for 0.14" at some point.

However, I'm a "glass half empty" kind of guy, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's something that will only be fixed in 0.15, 0.16...

I should have checked what subform those threads were on now, after 0.13.5 or so I stopped looking at it.

I reeeeally hope it's on the table for 0.14.something at least!

[cmatt85]

Thanks for all the great work, and experimental access.

[Fish]

Also waiting for land generation to be fixed till I start playing again.
Don't feel like spending 50+ hours on a map that's ugly and bugged

Good work on all the updates so far though

[nuhll]

Yeah i also think generation should be prio nr 1 because without it you cant start a new map, srsly..? ...

[Evo]

Is there any update on the literally unplayable multiplayer for those with slower internet?

I love the game but it sucks when you can only play alone.

[Klonan]

Terrain generation is being worked on, but is a deeper issue than these bug fixes, we mentioned this in a previous friday facts

Thanks! That's all I wanted to hear, I figured it would have to be something complicated to take so long!

The thread about the bugged terrain was moved to the "confirmed bugs" subforum about a week ago - viewtopic.php?f=182&t=27521

I'm code illiterate, but I don't think it's an easy fix. My optimistic guess is it will be moved to "Waiting for 0.14" at some point.

However, I'm a "glass half empty" kind of guy, so I wouldn't be surprised if it's something that will only be fixed in 0.15, 0.16...

Its being worked on for 0.13

[ChurchOrganist]

Its being worked on for 0.13

That's good to know

[ChucklesTheBeard]

I don't have enough detail / reprodcability for a real bug report, but I managed to get the watch your step achievement by standing in fire with powerarmor + shields in a trainless playthrough...

[againey]

TL;DR - Targeting behavior of biters seems different than in 0.12, increasing the need for spamming turrets everywhere to keep the base safe; I suggest that biters should wander along walls a bit before attacking them.

Regarding how biter behavior feels more aggressive than before, I'm guessing it might have to do with what they choose to attack. In the past, my experience was that they tended to run for the nearest gun turret, and so the gun turrets saw a lot of action, but they're designed for that, so it was all okay. But now the biters just bee-line for whatever piece of pollution they don't like, and start attacking the first thing they run into. Even if they're just barely out of gun turret range. So you really do have to spam turrets everywhere.

Walls don't force the biters to run along them looking for easier access to the source of their ire. Walls merely slow biters down a bit, so that you actually have a chance to drop what you're doing and deal with the problem yourself before the biters get through and destroy half your iron smelters before they finally catch some flak from the nearest turret. Which is indeed a major irritation if you're trying to focus on building a factory.

I've noticed a lot of those square-ish pile of stones that drop from the big rocks when I finally get the tank and start driving around. Apparently even when biters are on their way to attack the base, enough of them run into the big rocks and are so easily distracted that they have to destroy the rock before they carry on.

I can appreciate that biters are too stupid to plan advanced attacks or anything. But I think that just about any aggressive animal, when faced with an obstacle, will first attempt to go around the obstacle before giving up and attacking the obstacle itself. So ideally, free-standing rocks should thus never really be attacked, and walls should cause biters to roam to the left and right some before the they choose to eat through the walls.

So 0.12 might have had overly knowledgeable biters (prioritize turrets that they magically know exist), but 0.13 feels like it's gone too far the other way, where biters are so incredibly stupid and full of blind rage that they can't even be manipulated the way a person would expect when using walls.

[Mooncat]

Finally got the time to read the release note....

Mods are now sorted alphabetically in the mods list.

huh!?
Isn't sorted by last update a better solution?
viewtopic.php?f=189&t=28680&start=10#p182796

[nuhll]

Maybe sort them by lines in the code, or let the player decide how they want to sort their mods..

[Thourion]

...now the biters just bee-line for whatever piece of pollution they don't like, and start attacking the first thing they run into. Even if they're just barely out of gun turret range. So you really do have to spam turrets everywhere...
Walls don't force the biters to run along them looking for easier access to the source of their ire. Walls merely slow biters down a bit, so that you actually have a chance to drop what you're doing and deal with the problem yourself before the biters get through and destroy half your iron smelters before they finally catch some flak from the nearest turret. Which is indeed a major irritation if you're trying to focus on building a factory...

I really think that the new behavior you describe is just fine, as far as the game goes.
Imagine a human baby, that you really got its attention with something. Do you really think that it will try to find a path to get to you? or just run and obliterate anything on a straight line, in order to get to the point of interest? Maybe pollution equals ice-cream for the hungry bitters .. who knows..

Always, the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, and thats what the little buggers in factorio go for. Like newborn infants spawned from that thing they call "mama", the spawner in their case, they get out, smell something that drives them crazy, and go for it. And when you are crazy you dont have time to find paths, unless theres something that cant be broken-crushed along that way. (steel/lazer walls for an update maybe?)

Of course with that said, you can also argue that instead of going nuts from the get go, they instead take their sweet time to tag along with friends on some point near their base, and then attack together. Which shows hints of teamwork or collective mind like behavior, which in turn should give them the ability to "plan a path". I agree i find that a bit weird.

Still though, your solution of them trying to "ignore" walls, at least gamewise, is kinda meh ..
Since then, all you need to do is spam a wallbox, put 2-4 turrets on entrance points, and you are done, you just finished the game lol..
My point beign that walls are insanely cheap compared to turrets. Plus now that we got the range of the turrets visible, makes defence planning way smoother.
On the other hand, if you dont like messing with defences and the maintenance of, in order to focus, as you say, on factory building, you could just play with peace mode on. Nothing bad with that.

Well in the end, my real opinion on the matter is that we should standarize the aliens intelligence and abilities and work from there, if we really want to go that route.
Are they smart enough to understand "hostile turrets" in order to plan attacks based on them and their location, avoiding unnecessary infrastructure, like walls?
Do they just become "intrigued" by lights or sound from factories, so they try to come closer and see whats what, inspecting and leaving plain things like walls untouched?
Or in the end, they are just simple organisms, that all that is driving them "nuts" is pollution, and when they attack they go ------> boom?

And even more, beyond their initial intelligence, do they work like ants or like something else?
Are they football fans, that they just got out of a stadium (spawner), and see a bunch of opposite team shirts up ahead?
Or are they soldiers, that they just got out of the spawner training grounds, following some "sergeant" or whatever... (UNCLE STG NEEDS YOU!!!)

If we dont know what the hell they are, then i dont think we can safelly suggest "do this" or "do that" as solutions.

[ChurchOrganist]

You may also find the biter behaviour I have observed during testing of my reinforced wall mod relevant.

If you use a double wall with a gap in between the two walls, then the biters will attack the first wall they come to.

They do not, however, go on to attack the second wall immediately. Instead they move along the wall continuing to demolish that, leaving the inner wall alone.

This means that they will move along the wall until they come within range of a turret which will then pick them off.

This seems to be a change in behaviour from 0.12

[ytsejam]

Finally got the time to read the release note....

Mods are now sorted alphabetically in the mods list.

huh!?
Isn't sorted by last update a better solution?
viewtopic.php?f=189&t=28680&start=10#p182796

Personally I think alphabetical sorting way better. Last update will make the mod menu a huge mess if you have more than 10, 15 mods installed. I know there's people abusing it ("00000000_something" "AAAAAAA_something"), but I think the best way to deal with it is a "report" tool in the mod portals, and adding more ingame mod sorting options (alphabetical, last updated, author...)

[Mooncat]

Finally got the time to read the release note....

Mods are now sorted alphabetically in the mods list.

huh!?
Isn't sorted by last update a better solution?
viewtopic.php?f=189&t=28680&start=10#p182796

Personally I think alphabetical sorting way better. Last update will make the mod menu a huge mess if you have more than 10, 15 mods installed. I know there's people abusing it ("00000000_something" "AAAAAAA_something"), but I think the best way to deal with it is a "report" tool in the mod portals, and adding more ingame mod sorting options (alphabetical, last updated, author...)

So... does "mods list" mean the installed mods list, but not the list for installing mods? A little bit confused. xD

[5thHorseman]

So... does "mods list" mean the installed mods list, but not the list for installing mods? A little bit confused. xD

Good question. I don't know how it worked before 0.13.9 but right now, when you go into the list of all mods (not installed) the default sort is always by name, regardless of what you sorted on before. The list of installed mods is sorted by name, and there is no option to sort by anything else. Nor does the list show anything but mod name, so there's nothing available to even sort by.

So really they could have meant either or even both

[steinio]

The installed mods list looks more random then sorted.
Bob's mods come more at the bottom and so on.

[Aervanath]

Fixed transport belt madness being impossible.

Best release notes ever! LOL