Friday Facts #120 - Spidertron

[mrgasp]

Ok, since Factorio Friday Facts #219 has now introduced cliffs, I guess my previous argument, in which I stated that spiders were not as good as jeeps/tanks due to the flat terrain, is no longer valid. The Spidertron now has a valid reason to be introduced into the game, because it should be able to climb cliffs.

sounds right to me.
-Snip-

I'm all for that, being able to crawl up and down and over pipes... That'd be helpful.

On a side note, I'm not too fond of robots you can't pick up and move/stop physically by picking it up... I love that handle on the black one

[yohannc]

No so long ago, i thought of factorio, when seeing that

[golfmiketango]

No so long ago, i thought of factorio, when seeing that
...

How did you get into my house?

[olafthecat]

Spidertron...best name ever!
Animation, though crude, is cool too!

[Neemys]

Spidertron...best name ever!
Animation, though crude, is cool too!

It has been cancelled for now.

[Tekky]

After now having played 0.16 a bit on a few maps, I have come to the conclusion that, currently, the Spidertron would not be worth being included into the game. Cliffs are rather rare in the game, so adding a vehicle that has the ability to climb cliffs would not be a significant advantage.

So I guess it would be best to improve jeeps and tanks (for example with equipment grids as in Bob's Mods), instead of introducing a new vehicle.

[Engimage]

After now having played 0.16 a bit on a few maps, I have come to the conclusion that, currently, the Spidertron would not be worth being included into the game. Cliffs are rather rare in the game, so adding a vehicle that has the ability to climb cliffs would not be a significant advantage.

So I guess it would be best to improve jeeps and tanks (for example with equipment grids as in Bob's Mods), instead of introducing a new vehicle.

There are multiple obstacles around and the main obstacle is the factory buildings/pipes etc. The idea of spidertron was introduced waay before cliffs were even considered. Water/trees are also valid obstacles and it would be nice to traverse freely on top of them without destroying them. Any addition on existing vehicles will not remove their collision box.

There is a plane mod which can fly over everything but its controls are similar to other vehicles (direction, acceleration). Spidertron could introduce other type of control - character like - by just moving to a direction you are pressing your keys - without "turning" the body. So I see a spidertron as an effective Power Armor MK.3 which can freely move over obstacles.

[mcst]

I want this

[Tekky]

After now having played 0.16 a bit on a few maps, I have come to the conclusion that, currently, the Spidertron would not be worth being included into the game. Cliffs are rather rare in the game, so adding a vehicle that has the ability to climb cliffs would not be a significant advantage.

So I guess it would be best to improve jeeps and tanks (for example with equipment grids as in Bob's Mods), instead of introducing a new vehicle.

There are multiple obstacles around and the main obstacle is the factory buildings/pipes etc. The idea of spidertron was introduced waay before cliffs were even considered. Water/trees are also valid obstacles and it would be nice to traverse freely on top of them without destroying them. Any addition on existing vehicles will not remove their collision box.

There is a plane mod which can fly over everything but its controls are similar to other vehicles (direction, acceleration). Spidertron could introduce other type of control - character like - by just moving to a direction you are pressing your keys - without "turning" the body. So I see a spidertron as an effective Power Armor MK.3 which can freely move over obstacles.

I like the idea of being able to freely traverse the map without obstacles. However, for this, I think that a helicoper or a jetpack would be more appropriate than a Spidertron.

[factoriouzr]

After now having played 0.16 a bit on a few maps, I have come to the conclusion that, currently, the Spidertron would not be worth being included into the game. Cliffs are rather rare in the game, so adding a vehicle that has the ability to climb cliffs would not be a significant advantage.

So I guess it would be best to improve jeeps and tanks (for example with equipment grids as in Bob's Mods), instead of introducing a new vehicle.

There are multiple obstacles around and the main obstacle is the factory buildings/pipes etc. The idea of spidertron was introduced waay before cliffs were even considered. Water/trees are also valid obstacles and it would be nice to traverse freely on top of them without destroying them. Any addition on existing vehicles will not remove their collision box.

There is a plane mod which can fly over everything but its controls are similar to other vehicles (direction, acceleration). Spidertron could introduce other type of control - character like - by just moving to a direction you are pressing your keys - without "turning" the body. So I see a spidertron as an effective Power Armor MK.3 which can freely move over obstacles.

I like the idea of being able to freely traverse the map without obstacles. However, for this, I think that a helicoper or a jetpack would be more appropriate than a Spidertron.

Or we could have them all

Spidertron by devs,
mod support for vehicles by devs (in case any functionality is still needed),

other vehicles by community mods

[Sad_Brother]

I like the idea of being able to freely traverse the map without obstacles. However, for this, I think that a helicoper or a jetpack would be more appropriate than a Spidertron.

Helicopter, Jetpack and almost anything would want fuel to hang above your factory. Especially when nowhere to land.
Spidertron idea is fun, interesting and fit the theme perfectly.

[dog80]

its not going to come ever and remain a meme status guys get over it

[luc]

I like the idea of being able to freely traverse the map without obstacles. However, for this, I think that a helicoper or a jetpack would be more appropriate than a Spidertron.

Helicopter, Jetpack and almost anything would want fuel to hang above your factory. Especially when nowhere to land.
Spidertron idea is fun, interesting and fit the theme perfectly.

Indeed. A heli/jetpack (feels like a cheat) would not fit the game better than a big mechanical construction.

[Hannu]

Indeed. A heli/jetpack (feels like a cheat) would not fit the game better than a big mechanical construction.

I agree. It would not change the game compared to trivial aerial vehicles but aesthetics of walking mechanical spider would be awesome. In my opinion much more than for example overhaul of belt graphics, in which they use considerable amount of work but I probably look once and think "nice", but practically I zoom out when I build and do not notice it in game.
But of course I see why it is easy to discard when finalizing takes more time than estimated.

[hobbitmax999]

has spidertron been scrapped or is it still a thing maybe?

[Tekky]

Personally, I see no need for a Spidertron. However, since so many people want a Spidertron, and there has been so much hype about it over the years, I think it would be worth the effort for the devs to implement it. But I think I would prefer it to be implemented as an optional mod. I'm not sure if I'd like to play multiplayer games where half the players run around in a Spidertron.

[dood]

Like other alternative vehicle mods, this would be a neat gimmick for 5 minutes unless you can at the very least automate it to go to places without crashing into trains while being at least as fast as a train and go back to base to restock on materials on its own because every vehicle has to compete with the almighty building train once rails are laid down, none have succeeded so far.

They're either just slow loltank mc roflfirepower so why jump into something with terrible tank controls that moves slower than you walk if you have nukes anyway or fast flying vehicles but you really wish you could use that speed to send them to fetch stuff for you which so far no mod was really designed to do.

We don't really need a powerful combat vehicle, combat is over after a few nukes and the ability to traverse water is quaint but we have landfill.
We do need some alternative to trains tho.
They are still the alpha and omega when it comes to logistics vehicles, still all we have.
Keep that in mind.

[BlueTemplar]

Ah, but perhaps Spidertron is able to walk over trains !

[Hannu]

Personally, I see no need for a Spidertron. However, since so many people want a Spidertron, and there has been so much hype about it over the years, I think it would be worth the effort for the devs to implement it.

Yes, it is difficult to see actual need. It would be easier and more practical to give for example more powerful tier of power armor and fusion reactors to make it possible to have 10 exoskeletons. But walking spidertron would be visually very fun. It should move independently on objects on ground, be fast and have massive armor and shoot tank cannon shells, rockets (including atomic bombs) and have powerful machine gun.

But I think I would prefer it to be implemented as an optional mod. I'm not sure if I'd like to play multiplayer games where half the players run around in a Spidertron.

Maybe it would be better to give multiplayer server admins options to disable spidertron (and other techs and weapons too, if they feel that they do not fit well in multiplayer game). If someone does not like spidertron in normal game he can easily play without building it.

[nuhll]

What you guys think about using a nuclear bomb under spidertron to launch and jump to a far destination?