Swap input on chemical factory

[bulldog98]

What I would find awesome is, if the chemical plants would take the fluids from either input, so that e.g. it would be ok to switch the inputs for producing sulfur

[hikkiko]

yeah, the ability to cycle through different combinations would be great

[badminton]

This would be handy, especially for lines of chemical plants. I usually end up with a huge network of above ground and underground pipes snaking all over the place trying to get fluids to the right inputs, it's ugly and hard to navigate when I'm running through
It'd be so much neater to put chemical plants back to back and put a single pipe to each input.

[Ranakastrasz]

Suggest the ability to set which inputs and outputs correspond to liquids. This would make mirrored setups easier, as well as add more flexibility on setups.

[Xecutor]

I tried to make Alternative advanced oil processing recipe with reversed order of inputs and outputs, but that hasn't affected actual order of pipes of oil refinery.
It looks like both inputs and outputs are sorted somehow. Probably that's why oils cracking have it's water input in different pipe that advanced oil processing, which caused a lot of confusion.
Proposal 1: do not sort neither inputs nor outputs and assign pipes in the same order as in recipe.
Proposal 2 (more generic): Allow manual reconfiguration of inputs and outputs for fluids processing buildings in runtime (and make this configuration copy/pasteable).

[immibis]

Proposal 3 (even more generic) - accept any fluid from any pipe.

[Mur]

I would love to see an option to swap the inputs for the chemical factory, this would make it easier to make a line of plants as you would only need to put two pipes to the building next to it to connect one input

Suggestion


Pipe complexity - Left current, right Suggestion

[immibis]

I would say that any liquid should be accepted into any input. You shouldn't need to pre-define which inputs take which liquids - it's defined by which liquids you actually pipe in.

[ssilk]

https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... f=6&t=3241 Make chemical plants choose the right liquid input

[bobingabout]

I would say that any liquid should be accepted into any input. You shouldn't need to pre-define which inputs take which liquids - it's defined by which liquids you actually pipe in.

I'd have to agree, the first time I built an oil refinery and used the advanced oil refining recipe, I didn't have the information overlay turned on (these days I leave the overlay on by default), and just connected up the 2 pipes, then wondered why it didn't work.

[Choumiko]

I would like to disagree, choosing which input is what seems more logical.
Having the chemical plant accept anything anywhere is like a gas station not caring whether their gasoline storage gets resupplied with diesel or gasoline (the engine that gets diesel instead of gasoline will care )
If we allow input anywhere, we should also think how we would handle output, at the moment mostly for the refinery. Does it then randomly output whereever it wants?

[Cloner]

+1 I would want a chemoplant flip (8 positions total like rails)

[ssilk]

I want to throw in, that the great inspiration "Spacechem" is also not possible to change the input. Which doesn't mean, that it doesn't make sense for Factorio, but I want to point to it, cause I think the devs have thought about it and had a reason (I don't know, I just guess).

And another one to throw: I think it should not choose automatically. That would enable broken designs, which the player didn't understand anymore.

[bobingabout]

One of the main reasons why I'd go with auto-select rather than just mirror flip is that mods may add factories or buildings with more than just 2 input pipes, and pipes don't have to be aligned to be symmetrical. auto-selecting, or manually selecting inputs would seem better than just an input flip.

You can't even choose which way around the resources are in mods, the game uses sort order to decide which fluid should be first on the list, then assigns which input/output fluid goes to which pipe based on which pipe is defined first.


Another useful one would be to be able to select which fluid comes from the output pipes too, this is especially useful in base game on the oil refinery. I found it initially quite annoying on how you have to lay out the oil refineries because of the way the inputs and outputs are defined.

[Cloner]

the great inspiration "Spacechem" is also not possible to change the input.

Thats a puzzle game, so its part of the puzzle, but in factorio it would be reasonable to have 8 positions for refinaries and for Chemoplants.

[Khyron]

To be honest, I'd like it to remain as is. A huge part of Factorio's gameplay is figuring out small puzzles; little cookie-cutter patterns that are efficient. The fixed inputs serves to set the conditions of the puzzle. What does removing that add to the game?

[Koub]

I must admit I don't like much the fact I have to enter the recipe I want to be done in my chem plant in order to know where I should branch my liquid inputs, and I always get confused between refinery (where the water input is on the right for adv. refining), and chem plant (where it is on the left for oil cracking) when water is needed.

I'd love to be able to swap inputs if needed.

[immibis]

I would like to disagree, choosing which input is what seems more logical.
Having the chemical plant accept anything anywhere is like a gas station not caring whether their gasoline storage gets resupplied with diesel or gasoline (the engine that gets diesel instead of gasoline will care )
If we allow input anywhere, we should also think how we would handle output, at the moment mostly for the refinery. Does it then randomly output whereever it wants?

Instead of thinking of it as "any liquid inputs anywhere", think of it as "the liquid input placement is decided by whatever's at the other end of the pipe". Same gameplay effect - specifically, the positions aren't chosen in advance.

[ssilk]

With circuit controllable pumps that "what's on the other side" can be anything. Ever tried to build a pipeline for multiple fluid uses?

[joon]

joined, cause basically identical -- ssilk

Heya,

Suggestion:
A Mirror hotkey which changes the in and output of a factory mirrored wise, which will be besides the "R" Rotate hotkey. Why? For example easier builds with oil refinery when you want to build them back to back.

Thanks,

Jhonny