Friday Facts #156 - Massive Multiplayer

[Rockstar04]

What are those things on the bottom belt in the last image?

It looks like rocket fuel on top of the belt, and low density structures maybe?

[AnodeCathode]

Watching the various MMO Factorio. Clearly some additional admin commands are needed. Would love to see:

- A limit on number of connections for those that get disconnected for their computer being too slow. 5 cracks at that one and get banned.

- Obviously the admin commands need fleshing out. But also need a second 'Trusted' level for some commands. Preferably multiple levels and commands added to each level.

I suppose ideally that lots of hooks be added for admin/group/support/security/logging/etc and let the modding community go nuts.

[Earendel]

I had a lot of fun in the MMO event.

For multiplayer games it would be useful to have:
A button to toggle the show/hide of player names on maps.
A players interface. Something a bit like the trains interface?
Entities to show the player that last damaged them. (e.g: Player: Aruma. Last damaged by: Steejo)
A formal connect-to-game queue system where players can see what position in the queue they are in - so they don't have to keep trying to connect, re-entering the password, etc.

Regarding saved/shared blueprints.
I think the simplest option is to have a couple of blueprint buttons somewhere. Either at the top-right of the screen or on the 'e' dialogue.
Each button opens up a container dialogue (like chests), but one contains all account-saved blueprints. The other contains a copy of every blueprint you have created on this map.
At any point you can drag a blueprint from one container to your inventory or back to copy (not move) the blueprint there.
To access other people's blueprints click on the player you want to investigate.

Optionally a third button could be provided for built-in blueprints such as ones provided by mods. You could have all of the blueprints mixed together at first but have filter buttons at the top to filter the list by ones from a specific mod. You can't copy blueprints to here or remove them, only copy from.

[TheTom]

Great ida on the blueprint library. I hate recreating blueprints between games - or having to use a mod.

One other element getting slowly critical is train management. There simply is not enough information the moment you have more than 4-5 trains about what the trains DO. SmartTrains comes to rescue (defined train lines) but the UI is minimal. WIthout even the ability to name trains and group them in the trains overview - the overview is close to useless.

[Koub]

Nice news, but the one thing that shocked me was ...

This

Factorio - Cabelts.JPG (36.65 KiB) Viewed 8858 times

[ssilk]

@Koub: Do you mean the character standing there looking onto the wall?


Ideas for blueprints: There is a link-collection, where some of the ideas may fetch into blueprint-library-idea:

viewtopic.php?f=80&t=4682&p=35582#p35582 Planing, Cloning, Ghosting, Blueprinting and further...

[nobodx]

Instead of a permanent present button to browse through your blueprints, what about a building you must place, where you can get those blueprints ?

Im thinking of a Library-Style building, that require a empty blueprint as input, a selectable saved blueprint as recipe and a crafting / copying time before it is finished.
Maybe even the same thing to save a blueprint, a full on goes in, an empty comes out, and the stuff on it get saved.

[Mooncat]

Nice news, but the one thing that shocked me was ...

Because they used long belts to transport copper wires? lol


Who about this:

This is a bug

ThisIsSoWrong.jpg (86.59 KiB) Viewed 8807 times

It is unplayable! Please fix it ASAP!

[Mercury044]

Optionally a third button could be provided for built-in blueprints such as ones provided by mods. You could have all of the blueprints mixed together at first but have filter buttons at the top to filter the list by ones from a specific mod. You can't copy blueprints to here or remove them, only copy from.

This would be both amazing and scary as some of the fun is trying to figure out the best way to do something and have it work well. While the personal library and shared over multiplayer would be awesome and I cant wait to see what happens with it I would like a way to import something as well (like the blueprint string mod (https://mods.factorio.com/mods/DaveMcW/blueprint-string)).

[impetus maximus]

I think we need a setting in the options, and maybe a hotkey that isn't mapped by default for toggling player names both on the main screen and in the maps.

A similar arrangement could be made to filter messages. Let players hide (but still invisibly receive) connection/disconnection messages and the like. If they unhide them then the messages could be displayed as if they were never hidden. The same hiding mechanism could be used to "mute" players.

i agree. with that many players the map is unreadable. after seeing that video, i'm sure something will be implemented.

Watching the various MMO Factorio. Clearly some additional admin commands are needed. Would love to see:

- A limit on number of connections for those that get disconnected for their computer being too slow. 5 cracks at that one and get banned.

- Obviously the admin commands need fleshing out. But also need a second 'Trusted' level for some commands. Preferably multiple levels and commands added to each level.

I suppose ideally that lots of hooks be added for admin/group/support/security/logging/etc and let the modding community go nuts.

did anyone count how many times 'nuclearphoenix' tried to connect? a limit on disconnects would be great to have and save a ton of bandwidth.
having different privilege levels would be nice to have for a pub server. where new players are somewhat limited on abilities till they are more well known by admins.
no ghosting, deconstructing, [edit] changing science! [edit] etc. also announce what the new players are doing to admins. "joetroll" destroyed X
have all that configurable by the server owner of course.

great to see how well the mulit-player code has come!

[SHiRKiT]

Please allow us to use blueprints from the game startup. Or allow a research ASAP in the tech tree. Blueprints are not something for ROBOTS, but for PLAYERS. Robots merely happen to be able to build them faster.

[lux]

I really enjoyed watching that huge game. It inspired me to make a mod to prevent people from mining/rotating/shooting other people's stuff, not perfect, but check it out: https://mods.factorio.com/mods/lux/dont_touch_my_stuff

It is awesome that such large games even possible! Well done folks!

[lux]

Please allow us to use blueprints from the game startup. Or allow a research ASAP in the tech tree. Blueprints are not something for ROBOTS, but for PLAYERS. Robots merely happen to be able to build them faster.

They will probably have to make blueprints available earlier in the game to support early-game planning scenarios with the blueprint book.

In the meantime there is a mod that provides this exactly: https://mods.factorio.com/mods/canidae/ ... s-at-start

[Jan11]

Hi,

I like all the new Terrains etc, but there is one thing which disturb me.

I know I can choose more Water, (but no more Lakes)^^ and there aren`t hills. I think the landscape is to flat and big between the Water. I don`t have to deal with any problems. I can build a big factory without problems.

I think a lot of people like it but I don`t like it.

Please add a function to the game settings which generates a lot of small lakes or swampland to make the game mor e difficult

[aubergine18]

and there aren`t hills.

It would be great if there was something like this: viewtopic.php?p=202481#p202481

[RMJ]

The new terrain is very beautiful. Absolutely loving it. Cannot wait to see more.

[bobingabout]

So much stuff!

All I really have to offer for a comment is...
Allow users to clone blueprint. For example, the default action when moving from your personal library, to the team library would be to copy it, rather than move it.

Well... I'm sure you have a plan anyway.

[Ratzap]

So much stuff!

All I really have to offer for a comment is...
Allow users to clone blueprint. For example, the default action when moving from your personal library, to the team library would be to copy it, rather than move it.

Well... I'm sure you have a plan anyway.

Which mods (if any) parts come from would also be very useful on a blueprint. Or even a simple "uses mods" flag.

[Nilaus]

The new red map looks amazing. I am looking forward to playing that. Whether the liquid wagons will be useful heavily depends on how large they are compared to barreling everything.

Personally I am not so interested in the massive Multiplayer aspect. It feels very un-Factorio like somehow to have a horde running around stealing materials, redirecting belts and generally griefing. A few friends or a small team collaborating seems totally in tune with the idea. I hope you do not go overboard on focusing on the massive part. As interesting as it is on the short term, then I think this will be a totally different audience on the longer term than the current player base.

[CrushedIce]

Personally I am not so interested in the massive Multiplayer aspect. It feels very un-Factorio like somehow to have a horde running around stealing materials, redirecting belts and generally griefing. A few friends or a small team collaborating seems totally in tune with the idea. I hope you do not go overboard on focusing on the massive part. As interesting as it is on the short term, then I think this will be a totally different audience on the longer term than the current player base.

Exactly my thoughts when i read this FF. I hope they don't focus too much on this aspect. For me Factorio is a cooperative building game and not some sort of competitive game.

Nevertheless, kovarex did an amazing job at the multiplayer optimisation