Friday Facts #307 - 0.17 stable candidate

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-307

[Ryozuki]

nice!

[Gergely]

Is this the most number of releases we saw in a major update before one was declared stable in Factorio?

[jodokus31]

Congratulations for achieving 0.17 stable release

[Klonan]

Is this the most number of releases we saw in a major update before one was declared stable in Factorio?

Yep

[Yijare]

Declaring 0.17 stable after sneaking the oil changes in. ... A questionable move, but outstanding.

[justK]

some small surprises

I hope one of them is Spidertron mentioned 3 years ago?

[luc]

Did someone say spidertron? Spidertron!

[TackleMcClean]

There were fluid mechanic updates planned for 0.17 that were put on hold.
I'm curious if these will eventually come into play or if they are abandoned.

[TheBloke]

before we can call Factorio finished

I can't help feel a bit sad at the thought of this. I know it's selfish to think so, after all the many, many years of work, and of course it will be fantastic to see game complete and have many new users brought in by the game leaving early access. But at the same time I'm also not looking forward to the possibility of a time with no regular updates, no FFFs, and all the rest.

I very much hope Wube will still feel the desire to continue past that point, with updates/DLCs/expansions or whatever they think most suitable. It seems to me that Factorio is a game that could go on forever, if the motivation of the developers persists.

The FAQ mentions the possibility of Minecraft-style free updates, I suppose supported by new purchases alone. That'd be awesome. It also mentions DLCs or expansions. I wonder if something along the lines of the Paradox model could work, as used with games like Europa Universalis 4: regular free patches available for all, plus periodic paid DLCs, each focusing on particular areas of content or features, and all optional. I was an avid player of EU4 a few years ago, and very much appreciated that the development for the game not only didn't end at 1.0, but was really just getting getting started.

Whatever method was chosen, just for the game to continue in development at all would be wonderful, and I do hope it can.

but each day brings us closer to concluding this chapter of Factorio history.

And this comment gives me great hope. I love the thought of the release being just the end of the first chapter

Whatever happens in the future, thanks as always for all the amazing work and dedication, and congratulations on soon reaching the milestone of a stable 0.17. I can't wait to see what the community at large think of the amazing new features and polish to be found in 0.17.

[HammerPiano]

There were fluid mechanic updates planned for 0.17 that were put on hold.
I'm curious if these will eventually come into play or if they are abandoned.

I don't think that the fluid updates are abandoned, the devs love to optimize the game, and the fluid mechanic changes will help them become more intuitive (splitting pipes, moving fluid etc...)

[DOSorDIE]

I hope the Blueprint Libary update are still in work...
Gratulation for hopefully stable 0.17!
You have earned a break.

[crambaza]

Declaring 0.17 stable after sneaking the oil changes in. ... A questionable move, but outstanding.

I like calling it the "Construction Bot delay" change instead. And agreed, made the game just a little bit more un-fun just in time for stable.

*whew* that was close.

[Xterminator]

Great news! I too am curious about the fluid flow change and optimizations that didn't make it in earlier. Are those still planned at all?

Also, that cake looks absolutely delicious and I'm not usually a cake guy. I'm super jealous.

[meganothing]

Did someone say spidertron? Spidertron!

There were fluid mechanic updates planned for 0.17 that were put on hold.
I'm curious if these will eventually come into play or if they are abandoned.

Could we have a spidertron bringing new fluid mechanics please?

[Dixi]

What about new fluid mechanic? Is it already implemented, or postponed for future?

Because current performance of semi-long pipes is very low.

[conn11]

Oh my 8 legged friend you have haunted my dreams since FFF120

[Dev-iL]

I find it strange that you only count "unhandled bug reports". What about "minor issues", of which there are almost 400? I know you guys want to "be done with it already", but you already "admitted" that these were indeed issues.

So unless "minor issues" is another way of saying "won't fix", it would be nice to hear about your plan to address those issues as well.

[Astrella]

I find it strange that you only count "unhandled bug reports". What about "minor issues", of which there are almost 400? I know you guys want to "be done with it already", but you already "admitted" that these were indeed issues.

So unless "minor issues" is another way of saying "won't fix", it would be nice to hear about your plan to address those issues as well.

What this means is that, if all goes well over the weekend and nothing too serious comes up, we will mark it as the 0.17 stable next week. We will continue to fix bugs and issues after the stable, and we will also start our work on the features of the 'next stable', so the GUI improvements and all the rest we have mentioned in the past.

[DaveMcW]

Furthermore, each prototype page now provides a compact overview of not only its own properties and their types, but also the properties it inherits from other prototypes.

You should do the same thing in the control.lua API!