Friday Facts #262 - Hello my name is: Compilatron

[Oktokolo]

+1 for modding API additions. Now we finally can have ultra-efficient non-flying logistics, construction, and sentinel bots - and believable magnetic storms.
Rampant will probably get god-like AI that will constantly harass the player like a StarCraft master league progamer.

Also like the new Tutorial helper and would like to have it as a (maybe a bit less powerfull) replacement for Nanobots in freeplay and the campaigns. But it also is okay if it is only present in the NPE in vanilla and can easily be added to freeplay and given bot abilities by making a small mod using the new unit behaviour API.

And yes, you should scrap that power pole.

My dream of playing this game like a Red Alert or Supreme Commander RTS is slowly coming through!

Try the god mode of Creative Mode. You do not need to activate the other cheats.

[vanatteveldt]

April 1st already huh?

[Omnifarious]

My main worry is that it will take away from the lonely castaway feeling of the game. And it's only a worry, a point of concern. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, just that you should consider this change by applying a few different lenses to how you view the game and possibly adjusting accordingly.

I agree this is one of the setbacks. However, seeing as in the Campaign you will find some pre-built structures, this feeling is already compromised. Freeplay is of course, unaffected.

If it won't appear outside the Campaign, then my objection goes away. Though now I'm curious as to if there will be any sort of early game robots in vanilla Factorio. I heard a rumor that this might be the case, otherwise, I wouldn't be wondering at all.

[SpoonUnit]

Perhaps if the tutorial had a different look and feel to the empty wasteland of a planet you've crashed into, then the feeling of being alone and in trouble wouldn't be lost. Our player is stranded for sure, but the tech tree he works through is not really one of discovery, but of advancement through a known set of advancements, presumably documented and bought with him in his ships encyclopedic database (which thankfully survived the crash). If that were true, then the tutorial could actually be staged with an entirely different tile-set, back on the world our intrepid traveler left.

[H8UL]

I think that the sense of isolation in the NPE can be achieved with the right plot points anyway.

Anybody who's experienced that the nearest thing to a friend in Portal 2 is a nervous robot called Wheatley, or walked with dogmeat in the barren and unfamiliar landscape of Fallout, will know the feeling of having a companion but being terribly alone...

[marcello639]

Imo this robot guy could serve a purpose of early game blueprinting. It could just move slowly and place all entities it can reach around it, directly from player’s inventory. And when idle it would just follow player. Maybe it should be flying untargettable to prevent pathing and combat issues. This reminds me of Fallout servant hovering robots. It makes sense you get one such entity when crashlanding a space ship. Also it makes sense that it holds all those blueprints and performs “hand crafting” for a player

THIS... make them as slow early game land bots in freeplay!! please!!!!!!

[aka13]

I am most excited about pathfinding improvements for mods. Since AAI Programmable Vehicles, I sure hope that it will bring useven more content in that gameplay direction.

[Szpak]

Imo this robot guy could serve a purpose of early game blueprinting. It could just move slowly and place all entities it can reach around it, directly from player’s inventory. And when idle it would just follow player. Maybe it should be flying untargettable to prevent pathing and combat issues. This reminds me of Fallout servant hovering robots. It makes sense you get one such entity when crashlanding a space ship. Also it makes sense that it holds all those blueprints and performs “hand crafting” for a player

THIS... make them as slow early game land bots in freeplay!! please!!!!!!

Or maybe something like a mobile chest (like Chester from Don't Starve). Also, he could also act as a early game, logistic bot. Taking out trashed items from the player into his inventory and providing requested ones.

[Raziel2244]

I love the Compilatron, and to all of those people complaining about it - JUST DON'T PLAY THE TUTORIAL AGAIN Ngl I am so playing the tutorial again JUST for it I really hope it is added as an option to enable in freeplay later, though yeah probably not by default! Maybe a craftable object that you can only make one of? (per person for multiplayer)

[gaelyte]

I just seen a problem of the Compilatron image : the shadow in the bottom-right changes during the animation for no reason.

[henke37]

Goodie. Now we have an announcer for the production challenge.

[torham]

Jesus Christ, not another annoying critter to tell me what to do! I absolutely detest the helper bot in Fortresscraft, and is the main reason why I do not play that game. Now you say you want to bring that stupid thing into Factorio???KHBN Y!E*(&YIUASHDJKXCNJAYHD(*&"£

Agreed but not that harsh. I just say I don't like it, it makes the game look childish in my opinion.

Compilatron (sorry about the name : P ) is an entity designed for new comers to learn how to play the game in the NPE. That's all.
It's a great resource for us (devs) to communicate some concepts and mechanics to somebody not used to Factorio. And it's great for modders.
Factorio is still the same, just better for non pro players. If you're not a beginner and never play the new NPE, you probably won't see this lovely robot ever in your life.

Unless we change our mind. : )

Sorry for flipping out yesterday, but I just saw it and thought "well this is life now, from now on I will be followed by this bucket of bolts barking commands at me..."
If the bot doesn't show up in free play, my argument is invalid, sanity has been restored.

[Saunis]

Unit AI really need some tweaking.


My map have a lot of water. Actually there's too much water for enemy AI.
And there's bitters in islands that request paths all time but they can't execute them. So when there are a lot of them, they start make my ups go really low.
I hope, than you could fix this in 0.17.

[factoriouzr]

Can we please have the following features in the next version of Factorio given that you are reworking how blueprints work:

1)allow updating existing blueprints and keeping the existing icons, blueprint name, and existing settings for what to blueprint (eg. train stop names, etc)
2)allow blueprinting trains and cargo wagons with their settings and filters
3)ideally allow blueprinting other vehicles as well like cars and tanks though this isn't as important as the above two items

Also is there any ETA on the next Factorio release? I would rather have it done right then rushing it, but it would be nice to have an ETA.

Thanks

[factoriouzr]

I am most excited about pathfinding improvements for mods. Since AAI Programmable Vehicles, I sure hope that it will bring useven more content in that gameplay direction.

I agree. I'm most excited about what other features, bots, vehicles and automation this will bring to the game in future versions and that it will enable modders to make such mods, improve biters, varieties and difficulty, automated vehicles etc.

I would also love self driving vehicles where you put stops at different points on the map (and even just click on the map somewhere to mark a place) and tell the vehicle you are in to drive there (like shuttle train but for all vehicles).

[factoriouzr]

Imo this robot guy could serve a purpose of early game blueprinting. It could just move slowly and place all entities it can reach around it, directly from player’s inventory. And when idle it would just follow player. Maybe it should be flying untargettable to prevent pathing and combat issues. This reminds me of Fallout servant hovering robots. It makes sense you get one such entity when crashlanding a space ship. Also it makes sense that it holds all those blueprints and performs “hand crafting” for a player

THIS... make them as slow early game land bots in freeplay!! please!!!!!!

YES I WOULD LOVE THIS. Early game constrcution and logistics bots!!!!

+1

[meganothing]

Compilatron will never be a character to DO things for the player. The idea of a plot agent is that it can be a reason why something changed in the game world that is without using the verb "bite".

I agree. Because the robot that does things for the advanced player in early game (if he wants that as a non-default option naturally) should be a different model. Lets call it hydraulic-shovel-tron. Think burner inserter, fueled by coal, but mobile and doing what construction bots usually do.

[XATEV]

@Klonan Can we get the Compilatron gif with a transparent background?

[Therax]

So why Compilatron? "Compile" + "tron"? It seems odd since the primary task of the Factorio engineer is not compilation. Perhaps "Productron" or something that is more evocative of the factory?

[Artman40]

I would state that Compilatron would actually benefit for having no personality in order to still retain the feeling of isolation. So Compilatron would more be a tool than a character.