What mods are you using - and why?

[dognosh]

Now you have me doubting myself, maybe I was wrong and I got that from bob's ?

[pieterhulsen]

at the moment just 2:

- Long reach (because walking up to everything sucks)
- Advanced electric, gives higher tiers accumulators and solar panels at a cost.

Advanced electric is great to have solar yet not pave over huge areas or patches.

[Mmmmmmorten]

at the moment just 2:

- Long reach (because walking up to everything sucks)
- Advanced electric, gives higher tiers accumulators and solar panels at a cost.

Advanced electric is great to have solar yet not pave over huge areas or patches.

Yes, Long Reach is kind of a must have... I would say the minimum mod to use for (for me) is:

• AfraidOfTheDark
• Bottleneck
• MaxRateCalculator
• PowerArmorMK3
• Zoom
• far-reach

Think that is the mod's I could not live without...

And just yesterday I installed Advanced Electric High Resolution. Not sure if that is the same as you use, but has Advanced, Elite and Ultimate solar & accumulators. Each tier is 10 x more powerful than the previous, so if I upgrade from vanilla solar panels and accumulators (using only upgrade planner on what is already placed) I would get 10 x more power production and accumulators store and give 10 x more power. But boy are they expensive to make... Building a full production facility outside my starter town as the few Advanced machines I have in the mall is sucking up all my green chips and steel.

Did the calculations for 1 Elite, 2 Advanced and 18 Vanilla (since advanced eat 10 each of solar and accumulators to crate 1):
Fully beaconized (12) I produce 1,125 solar or accumulator of any kind on each machine every second. Producing 18 solar, 2 advanced solar, 1 elite solar and same for accumulators would eat twice as much Steel and Electronic circuits as I have in my starter city BUS! That is insanely expensive, but I can live with that... but production has to go out of town to own facility - and we'll see how many I build... think this will be really long time production..
(sorry about rant on cost there)

/old dude

[LordWampus]

All of Bob's Mods (no Angel's: Angel/Bob is just masochism.)
Automatic Train Fuel Stop (pure awesomeness.)
Automatic Train Painter (saves so much time setting rgb values by hand.)
Bottleneck (can't imagine playing without it - instant feedback on what's running and what isn't.)
Bucket Wheel Excavators (haven't used these yet but they look cool - that was enough.)
Even Distribution (just get it - don't think about it, just do it.)
Flare Stack (obvs.)
FNEI (essential with Bob's mods for finding out what things you need to make the things you need, along with...)
Helmod (...for working out how many of the things you need you need to make the things you need.)
Logistic Train Network (compared to bot based logisticising it's waaay more fun, and...)
Nanobots (...life without construction bots isn't.)
NiceFill (makes landfills look nice.)
Orphan Finder (why did I always have an odd number of underneathies? because I didn't have this.)
Pathological (helps with train pathing, and...)
Resource Spawner Overhaul (... to help with actually needing trains in the first place.)
Reverse Factory (recycle all the used to be burnable but now aren't burnable even though they're mostly made from wood things.)
Squeak Through (build solar fields and refineries without boxing getting trapped.)
The Fat Controller (for remote control of trains and such - hella useful.)

edit: "without getting trapped"/"without getting boxed in" (delete as per preference)

[Mmmmmmorten]

All of Mods

OMG!!!

OK - sorry about the misquote there LordWampus - but you have so many mod's and I have not even heard about most of them...
Bottleneck, FNEI, LTN, Nanobots, Squeak Trough (don't like trees squeaking) etc.. I got, but the rest

I will have to look into them.. Still off of Bob's and Angels for the very reason you mention... Hard to know what do build to build what you need to build eh.. yeah..

You have a LOT of train stuff I need to look into.. Not using the LTN Tracker?

Thanks LordW - got a lot to look at here

/old dude

[LordWampus]

Don't be put off by the complexity - I'm finding Bob's (without Angel's although I am going to use his warehouses I think) to be about right difficulty-wise (although managing all the fluids/gases seems to be somewhat of an arcane art - haven't played about with them too much yet).

And there's a payoff for the increased complexity - Bob's Warfare: I'm setting up titanium (i think?) to make some badass-as-nails looking Turret Mk4's tonight.

And an epic wall to house them in too.

With flame throwers.

Bob's mods FTW!

[Mmmmmmorten]

Don't be put off by the complexity
Bob's mods FTW!

Right LordW... I do actually like both Bob's and Angel's mods and will at some point play with both. Right now i'm trying out the changes in 0.17 (and updating my blueprint books) and I think these mods would interfere too much with that. As they really do change the game - big-time!

Also, have a feeling Bob's and Angel mods are something you should start out with - not install 75% through your build as it might mess up a lot of stuff you have done - right?

I do have my eyes on Angel's Warehouse too... them there storage chests are just huge (and who does not love a big chest?) so might get it in this run...

/old dude

[dognosh]

Have a look at the last piccy I posted, do you see a green light on each factory ?
The mod is called Bottleneck, and as a poster above said, I cannot imagine playing without it !
The lights can be green, amber or red. Green means factory working, amber usually means blockage at output(belt or storage chest), red means something wrong.
You can check a whole screenful of your factories/pumpjacks/refineries/miners in seconds, get it now !

[ChuckCurby]

Nice list.

[DaleStan]

I'm currently AngelBob-ing it, but I'll leave those aside except to mention ShinyAngelGFX and ShinyBobGFX. (And no, don't add Bob halfway through. Not if you like making — Oh, I don't know — green chips? Angel's Add-Ons should be fine, but core Angel would be similarly problematic.)

Other things that haven't been mentioned before:
Advanced Underground Piping (Why put your fluid junctions above ground when you can put them below ground instead?)
Module Inserter (use robots to add modules after the building is built)
Multi-Product Recipe Details (What's the name of those other products?)
LTN Combinator (custom combinator for configuring your LTN stations)
LTN Content Reader (custom combinator for finding out what your LTN stations are doing as a whole)

And I settled on the Picker family of QoL mods, including:
Picker Belt Tools (on-demand blueprints for arbitrary-width buses and bus corners)
Picker Blueprinter (reflect blueprints left/right. Also, required for Belt Tools)
Picker Dollies (move most built objects without deconstructing them -- and without removing their circuit wires)
Picker Extended
Picker Inventory Tools (sort your chests)
Picker Tweaks

[vedrit]

My mods:

• Alien walls - My mod, nuf said.

• Bio Industries - Provides a handy way to create trees, and also provides an alternate route for certain chemicals

• Bob's Functions Library - needed for Bio Ind.

• Bottleneck - Allows me to quickly see why machines aren't producing.

• Bullet Trails - Makes guns a little cooler

• Recycling Machines - Reduces waste from things that can't be upgraded but become outdated.

• Shield FX - Eh, it's not as cool as I thought it'd be.

• Walls Block Spitters - I felt that walls were not very useful if spitters could just take down the turrets anyway.

[Mmmmmmorten]

Other things that haven't been mentioned before:
<removed list as I kind of comment on them below>

WOW!
Loong list of stuff

Could not find the Advanced Underground Piping mod...?
Module Inserter is a mod I used to have installed (0.16), but with the Upgrade Planner in 0.17 I can basically do the same thing.. so removed it.
Multi-Product Recipe Details - guess this is a must-have when using Bob's or Angels or the other mods that has a gazillion new recipes. FNEI that I have kind of do the same...
LTN Combinator - do that manually (read, copy from another station and adjust)
LTN Content Reader - not found the use yet, but still fresh with LTN

Had a look at the Picker stuff - and was some really nice stuff there.. will have too look at that one more closely!

Thanks DS

/old dude

BALLET DANCERS DO NOT COME IN CHUBBY SIZE.

[Mmmmmmorten]

My mods:
<list removed as I comment it below>

Way cool man - made you own mod re-generating walls.. nice
Into Bio stuff I see.. a LOT of really cool stuff in Bio Industries mod.. got the solar panel and accumulator upgrade I just done myself, but with anther mod.
Not sure I would ever have a mod that can grow trees.. so far i have killed more than 500.000 (counted again) 894.000 trees - if you need more I can ship a train load or two...
Bottleneck is a must for absolutely everybody - still pondering why this is not part of Factorio as standard.
Recycling.. hmm has something similar, but removed it as I never used it.. is this mostly Bio-waste?

/old dude

HUMANI HIHIL A ME ALIENUM PUTO

[DaleStan]

Advanced Underground Piping is here. It's called Advanced Underground Piping in info.json, but Advanced Fluid Handling on the mod portal. And the filename is "underground-pipe-pack".

I haven't used LTN Content Reader yet either, but the plan is to automatically balance my ore consumption efficiencies based on the ore supply. If you always use max productivity bonuses from Bob's modules, Angel's will let you burn through 100 iron ore to produce 300 iron plate, or you can use a mere 11 iron ore plus 22 of other ores to produce that same 300 iron plate.

[Mmmmmmorten]

"Advanced Fluid Handling"
Angel's will let you burn through 100 iron ore to produce 300 iron plate, or you can use a mere 11 iron ore plus 22 of other ores to produce that same 300 iron plate.

Found it.. look's interesting, but I have become concerned about mods that adds to much new manufactured stuff to use. I'm guessing from the mod site pic's and description that I would end up with a new selection of pipes to take up even more priceless inventory space?
Installed "Text Plates" as it looked really cool (and is), but with small and large letters in both copper and iron you can take up 4 slots of plates in your inventory... Right now I count letters I want to write and make exact number of plates - so ok.. but almost kicked it out as inventory space is premium!

Angel and Bob is insanely complex from what I have seen and read... I will try both one day in the future... from the start.. Actually want to try what's done in Skyrim - 300 mods and stable running

/old dude

SEMPER IDEM

[5thHorseman]

Here's all of mine:

Actual Craft Time - Trying it out. Not sure it's useful to me. I'll probably drop it eventually.
Auto Deconstruct - I like cleaning up miners that run out, and knowing at a glance what's going on at my mining outposts.
Bottleneck - Should be stock. The best way to build a factory by feel instead of math.
Enhanced Map Colors - I don't even remember what the map used to look like.
Even Distribution - Another should-be-stock.
Free Circuit Wires - My mod, made because I'm sick of paying full price for dozens or hundreds of circuit wires every time I troubleshoot a circuit build, and refuse to do some stupid workaround with blueprints.
GhostPlacerExpress - Makes pre-bot blueprinting a breeze.
Long Reach - I know people think it's cheating. I don't.
Squeak Through - I'd use a mod that just ignores all hitboxes for player movement if it existed.
VehicleSnap - I never, ever want my car to drive 1 degree north of East. Ever.

[Mmmmmmorten]

Here's all of mine:
<list moved down for my comments>

Nice list backup-horseman

Actual Craft Time - Interesting... similar to MaxRateCalculator that I use all the time when building and tweaking...
Auto Deconstruct - I actually discussed this with my brother.. he likes it, but I found when searching my soul.. that I wan't do do that manually... Keeps me updated on how fast the mines deplete, and I really want to remove belts, undergrounds and lightpoles at the same time - and the mod only takes the miners.
Bottleneck - Should be stock. Right you are.. even for us that do the math.. need to know when something is wrong, clogged up, misaligned, or under-fed.
Enhanced Map Colors - I think I tried this in 0.16 - and would be very good for early-mid game where you go from yellow to red and red to blue belts. Not sure after that?
Even Distribution - This I had not seen before - BUT I LIKE!!! But this is also something for early (early-mid maybe) game - isn't it?
Free Circuit Wires - Interesting.. Do I actually use inventory red & green when I put down train station blueprint. hmm have to think on this...
GhostPlacerExpress - ohh... cool... Another mod I have never heard (or thought) about.. but I like! Also early game mod IMO.
Long Reach - Nope.. not cheating.. I'm really tall and have really long arms.
Squeak Through - hmm no think it's ok to not be able to walk through buildings etc... Do not like that the trees can squak trhough also... got trees everywhere in builds instead of robots removing them - and I'm blaming it on this mod (with no proof at all....)
VehicleSnap - hmm... nice.. not sure I would use it, but early game help (if it only had auto-avoidance from pipes and lightpoles). Don't use car at all after mid-game.. use my trains... PAX go everywhere with tons of stuff loaded in the cargowagons.. and if I need more I send the train back for auto-refill so I don't have to go myself...

Thanks 5thHorseman for your input... a lot of new stuff there...

/old dude

OMNE IGNOTUM PRO MAGNIFICO

[GrumpyJoe]

having just started a vanilla map to get the last achievment (20M green chips) off our list, i really miss some mods

afraid of the dark (since i never really use solar, i usually end up making it permanent day via console)
squeak through
QoLresearch, mostly for far reach, tho it feels like the reach was increased in 0.17

usually, when playing big packs like AB or pY i cant play without
LTN as a big train based logistic net to sort out mats that go from everywhere to everywhere else
Be sure to check out LTN tracker, its awesome
Helmod
FNEI

Waterwell or Waterfill, for convenience of having water aviable everywhere
my own BigPoleReach, since i like symetric and chunk aligned rails without wasted mats
mods that give you armor, legs and pers.roboports from the start. Ive built way too many early game bases, i dont need to to prove to myself that i can do it again manually

since i now have a collection of useful console commands myself, instead of googling them every time i need them, im not using creative mode as much. Some things just dont have an appeal to me any longer, like researching and building armor equipment, again. (also see "always day" above)
To me, a base starts with the first rocket


What i sure will miss in that vanilla game are warehouse and loader mods. I like trains, but the game of emptying single chests evenly is not a challenge i wanna put alot of efford in.

[fishycat]

I really like those threads. Sometimes you can find new handy mods, that you have overseen on the mod portal.
So here are my mods in 0.17:

• Bob's mods - my favorite mods, I use all but the character classes
  Aircraft - when you need to go quick somewhere
  Auto Research - It has handy filter functions
  Auto Deconstruct - very useful when you have bots
  Automatic Fill - some might see it as cheating, for me it's just super handy
  Automatic Train Painter - paints the train depending on its content
  Belt Legacy - my little mod
  Blueprint Flipper and Turner - super useful additions to blueprints
  Robot Replacer - When you play with Bob's mods, easy way to upgrade bots
  Bottleneck - better overview of problems in production
  Bullet trails - it's...beautiful
  Configurable Lamp Times - let's you set the time when lamps turn on and off
  Copy Assembler Pipe Direction
  Crafting Speed Research - I like to have a faster crafting speed and so it isn't too cheaty
  Deadlock's Larger Lamp - more light
  Enhanced Map Colors
  Even Distribution - distribute quick and easy stuff in entities
  Fire Extinguisher - safe the forests!
  Fewer Trees and Rocks - pretty useful settings
  Flare Stack
  Flow Control
  Ghost Placer Express - normally I use Nanobots, but trying out this one now, a littly cheaty
  Gun Turret Alerts - alerts on low ammo
  Helicopters - because aircrafts are not enough
  Helmod - super planning tool
  Laser Lines - helping laser lines for building
  Long Reach Research Upgrade-017
  Loot Chest+ get all the loot !!1
  Max Rate Calculator
  Miniloader - UPS friendly loaders
  Multi-Product Recipe Details no more guessing the output ingredients, especially handy for large overhaul mods
  NiceFill - cosmetic mod
  Noxys Extra Settings Info - gives you standard and limit values in the settings
  Picker Atheneum - Picker stuff bundles several small mods and functions in its mods...
  Picker Extended - ... it is all configurable in the settings
  Picker Tweaks
  Picker Dollies
  QuickBar Import/Export - huge time-saver
  Resource Spawner Overhaul
  Santa's Nixie Tube Display
  ShinyBob GFX - a mod for bobs gfx
  ShinyIcons - sorts the icons
  Shortcuts - more shortcuts
  Soundpack: Alerts and Sirens
  Space Extension Mod
  Squeak Through
  Text Plates
  Factorio Standard Library
  Train Supply Manager
  Vehicle Snap - Driving is much better with this mod
  What is it really used for? - I just love it
  YARM - Resource Monitor

Most are just QoL mods and pretty self-explanatory, so I didn't wrote a text to all. My main overhaul mods are Bob+SpaceX.

[Mmmmmmorten]

I really like those threads. Sometimes you can find new handy mods, that you have overseen on the mod portal.
So here are my mods in 0.17:

<removed the insane long list of mods>

Most are just QoL mods and pretty self-explanatory, so I didn't wrote a text to all. My main overhaul mods are Bob+SpaceX.

Great big god of all inserters!
At first I though it was a list of ALL Factorio mods

First of - I got sidetracked from your post by a mod called Remote Switch that has less than 300 downloads, but a feature I really wanted. I'm in the building phase of my magabase (4800 sppm) and all my builds shut down when I'm not testing (first for power needs from 15.000 extra beacons) as it does not need to run until all is built and rockets and labs ready.
The remote enabled me to turn it all on/off from anywhere (not just from the box at my Pax train-station at the mall). It also solved how I could keep trains from leaving my LTN depots when I shut things down. So taken a few days to fix, but Remote Switch now fully operational and very cool to have

I started on your list the day you posted it. Appreciate you putting in the links - saved a lot of time when looking them up - and it's a looooong list..
Some players do go all the way and you seem to fit that category with Bob's and SpaceX (and think I will do the same after this build).

Also see a trend in players that go this way having a lot more helper mods: (FNEI, Helmod, Max Rate Calculator, Multi-Product Recipe Details, What is it really used for, YARM, LTN). These are in no way cheating as they only give information and do nto change anything in the game.

I also see that players that go for Bob, Angel, SpaceX and similar are seasoned players with 100's of hours in Factorio - and they tend to do a lot of "convenience" mods (that would be cheating for vanilla players) such as: long reach, robot replacer, crafting speed research, ghost placer or nanobots, mini loaders, warehouse, picker tools, squeak through and similar.

Some like to fight Biters and have mods to make them tougher, more, bigger, smarter, faster and even part of bio production - and then more weapons to fight them as you have with airplanes, helicopters, laser tanks, ionic laser from space and so much more for the fighter inclined.
The rest you have - as far as I can see are just cosmetics and fun stuff that do nothing else but being cool

And I see that I do the same.. for this 0.17 build I wanted to test what was changed (thus no bob or angel etc), but still did not want the hassle of opening mines constantly (max size, density sites - biggest so far is 1,7G and still close to start site). And I use nanobots and other utils that make it go quicker in the start. Was fun redesigning all the 12 beacon setups for 0.17 since the all needed retooling with new belt speeds, assembler speeds etc.
But as someone else said - "For me Factorio starts when you launch the first rocket" - and I kind of agree.
It's a phase game.. first phase is starter city (and I still fail to do it right - as my BUS is too small and the buildings still to close together - never learn), and then it's your choice - end game and start a new - or build your dream MegaBase of 2.400 SPPM or 10.000 SPPM.

I have made a 2400 that worked fine, but also have some spectacular failures.. a 10.000 SPPM attemt in 0.16 that I stopped when savefile passed 400 MB and FPS was down to 30's...

I have seen YouTube videos of mega bases that are insane in design and I will never be able to do anything close that them as I don't even know how to start something in that magnitude and precision as showcased, and if you have not seen a speed build video it's worth the 2,5 hours as it's amazing! I'm still trying to get red and green up at 2,5 hours

As I said before, Bob, Angel and SpaceX is mods you should decide on when you start a new map - not in the middle as this is a hole different ballgame that changes most of your crafting recipes...
And when I do go Bob, Angel and SpaceX (and I will), I'm pretty certain I will use a lot more mods than I do now...

Do not see an armor upgrade like I have in Power Armor MK3 - or is that in Bob's Warefare?

Thanks again fishycat for you input - appreciate it!

/old dude

Bottleneck should be standard in Factorio - everybody should have this. Not a cheat in any way - just a very useful tool!