energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post Reply
User avatar
eradicator
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5206
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:03 am
Contact:

energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by eradicator »

What?
An new energy source type that does not require fuel / a connection to the electricity network and instead runs entities for free.
Why?
Mods often require the use of hidden entities such as assemblers, furnaces, beacons, inserters, etc, to implement new functionality. But all of these prototypes can not be used in a way that makes them function without some sort of energy source ("energy_usage = '0W'" doesn't work). The only current workaround is to specify a really low energy_usage and hide with connection icons, but this still has some major problems:
1) The hidden entity shows up on the energy network page where it confuses the player.
2) The hidden entity has to have the exact same collision box and position as the visible parent entity to ensure that it is always connected when the parent is.
3) The hidden entity might stop due to energy shortage when it should still be running.
4) Usage of hidden entities is limited to usecases where the player connects the parent entity to the electricity network (unless one wants to spawn in an additional power pole + eei for everything outside the network).

Being able to simply specify that an entity does not require external energy would fix all of those three problems (and maybe as a side-effect some memory too?) :).

User avatar
bobingabout
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 7351
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 1:01 pm
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by bobingabout »

Sounds reasonable to me.
Creator of Bob's mods. Expanding your gameplay since version 0.9.8.
I also have a Patreon.

User avatar
darkfrei
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2903
Joined: Thu Nov 20, 2014 11:11 pm
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by darkfrei »

Ammo turrets now don't need fuel, only ammo. If it possible, they are need burrning fuel or electricity.

User avatar
eradicator
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5206
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:03 am
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by eradicator »

darkfrei wrote:Ammo turrets now don't need fuel, only ammo. If it possible, they are need burrning fuel or electricity.
If you want gun turrents that use fuel/energy please make a seperate thread for that. That's the opposite of what this request is about.

Villfuk02
Long Handed Inserter
Long Handed Inserter
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2018 7:23 am
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by Villfuk02 »

That would be very useful!

Rseding91
Factorio Staff
Factorio Staff
Posts: 13175
Joined: Wed Jun 11, 2014 5:23 am
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by Rseding91 »

This is something we've had planned for a few years now. I'll be doing it for 0.17.
If you want to get ahold of me I'm almost always on Discord.

User avatar
bobingabout
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 7351
Joined: Fri May 09, 2014 1:01 pm
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by bobingabout »

Rseding91 wrote:This is something we've had planned for a few years now. I'll be doing it for 0.17.
Cool.
Though I was going to give it a try as practice for doing the other types of energy I've been talking about trying to do.
Creator of Bob's mods. Expanding your gameplay since version 0.9.8.
I also have a Patreon.

User avatar
eradicator
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5206
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:03 am
Contact:

Re: energy_source.type = 'null' to not require energy

Post by eradicator »

Rseding91 wrote:This is something we've had planned for a few years now. I'll be doing it for 0.17.
Yay! With the advent of power-free beacons i can finally implement a certain mod idea i've had for a long time :D.

Post Reply

Return to “Implemented mod requests”