Pressing "Q" auto-selects Offshore Pump if cursor over water

[wpirobotbuilder]

TL;DR

When I press "Q", an Offshore Pump is automatically selected from my inventory, like how pressing "Q" over an ore patch auto-selects mining drills from my inventory.

Why ?

It would make placing of Offshore Pumps take less user effort.

[Caine]

I like "Q". Q makes things quick, easy and efficient. We should do more of it, like this one.

[yohannc]

Yes, for exemple, Q on :
- grey assembling machine = blue assembling machine (or inserter ?)
- yellow belt = red belt (or alternate between splitter and UG belt ?)
- multiple Q on rails = alernate between train stop and signals
Etc, the list can be long
And call it «smart key».

[Caine]

- grey assembling machine = blue assembling machine (or inserter ?)
- yellow belt = red belt (or alternate between splitter and UG belt ?)
- multiple Q on rails = alernate between train stop and signals

That does not make any sense to me. It is a picker tool it copies what you highlight.
Ores and water are exceptions as you cannot place them and their respective miners make sense.
Though you could just as easily argue that clicking 'Q' on water should select landfill.

[yohannc]

Ahh yes, i was off topic, i thought Q was unaffected, i changed the key. I thought you were talking for a new key.
So yes copy tool could select pump on water and ore extractor on ore field.

[vicarion]

Reviving an old thread, would like this.

[ickputzdirwech]

Reviving an old thread, would like this.

+1

Since people argue that selecting landfill when clicking Q over water would make sense as well, I would suggest to select landfill by clicking Q over solid ground.

[eradicator]

I would suggest to select landfill by clicking Q over solid ground.

That is already used for "clear cursor".

[FuryoftheStars]

I would suggest to select landfill by clicking Q over solid ground.

That is already used for "clear cursor".

I'm pretty sure clear cursor is actually if you have something in your cursor, regardless of where you are holding it. I just gave this a quick try in game and that was the behavior I was observing. Hitting Q over empty land does not appear to otherwise do anything currently.

Provided I didn't mess something up with those tests, I would thus put a +1 myself to the ideas of Q over water gives offshore pump and potentially Q over empty land gives landfill.

[boskid]

down-vote

Then there will be angels mud pump as an option to offshore pump and what to choose?
then someone will proposition to auto-select pumpjack over crude oil patches
then there will be mod that adds more pumpjacks and what to choose?
then someone will proposition to auto-select electric mining drill over iron ore patch
then there will be question why not burner mining drill?
then there will be proposition to auto-select cliff-explosives...

in terms of added value this is quite useless - mechanics that is available in only one use-case

[posila]

Why offshore pump, why not landfill?

[FuryoftheStars]

then someone will proposition to auto-select pumpjack over crude oil patches
{...}
then someone will proposition to auto-select electric mining drill over iron ore patch

These already exist.
And in terms of what to select when mods add items, it should always default to vanilla.

then there will be proposition to auto-select cliff-explosives...

Good idea!

in terms of added value this is quite useless - mechanics that is available in only one use-case

I'm pretty sure these would be super easy to implement and the core functionality is already there, so....

Why offshore pump, why not landfill?

You could, but as a couple others suggested, you can also make it choose landfill when the cursor is over open ground. Allows both that way.

[ickputzdirwech]

Why offshore pump, why not landfill?

As I understand it the basic rule of the picking tool is that if you press Q you will get whatever entity you are hovering over, in your Hand. So it would make perfect sense if it would work for tiles (not only landfill but also concrete etc) as well. There is one exception I know of: If you press Q over ore or oil you will get the entity that mines these resources: an electric mining drill or a pumjack. Getting ofshorepumps by pressing Q over water would fit perfectly well in this, since ofshorepumps "mine" water.

[Darinth]

Why offshore pump, why not landfill?

Because landfill is offensive and it should feel bad.

In all seriousness though, consistency with other mechanics. Q over something you can place to get it, Q over something that is 'mineable' to get the 'miner' for it. Q over water to get landfill is inconsistent with existing mechanics.

[wpirobotbuilder]

Why offshore pump, why not landfill?

I think if you did either Landfill, or Offshore Pump, it would be a valuable addition to the game. Yes, there will be people who disagree with the choice, whatever it is, but right now there is nothing.

[ssilk]

Modded game with new types of offshore-pumps: which one should the game select then?

[AngledLuffa]

Whatever logic is used to select pumpjacks or drills when mods are available should work fine for water pumps as well.

[vicarion]

Why offshore pump, why not landfill?

I'll make the case for offshore:

1. Q over a resource selects the thing that gets that resource. oil>pumpjack, ore>miner, water>offshore pump.
2. The offshore pump is an available technology immediately, no research required, landfill is not
3. Offshore pump is required to beat the game, landfill is not.
4. It is easier to spot landfill in your inventory than it is an offshore pump, especially because you're likely to be carrying many stacks of landfill if you're using it.
5. Offshore pump is reversible. If you press q and click and it was a mistake, no problem, just pick it back up. If it's landfill, it's irreversible.

Despite all of this, I'll echo wpirobotbuilder and say, either option is better than neither.