White board function / Better "Plan" a Factory on the map ?

Post your ideas and suggestions how to improve the game.

Moderator: ickputzdirwech

Post Reply
Aski.CZE
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:48 am
Contact:

White board function / Better "Plan" a Factory on the map ?

Post by Aski.CZE »

Any chance of adding basically some sort of overlay that would work on map view and in regular gameplay where players could turn it on grab a marker chose color and scribble all over everything just like u could on some sort of transparent “white board“

Intended use

You start a new game with some buddies there's more of u so communication might be a bit harder so u start to do basic stuff not much collaboration is needed at that point but once u get a bit further u start to plan where what goes so all of u jump in to map view and point out locations by actually marking when with circle or with exact border around that location no matter what shape it is

I play a lot with just 1 person and we use “ping” function all the time but that's way too much inaccurate and its ok basically just to call out resources that one might miss and and we have to elaborate to one another what we actually want where with this u could mark exact location for something and even with this in regular gameplay u could somewhat sketch out some layout in advance by showing u could literally draw it in, add text, notes etc.

Also it would be nice if u could choose how long this text scribbles whatever u want to do with it stays there u want it to last 10min set that way u want it to last forever? also an option to set it to

And i'm not saying this would absolutely remove need for communication but it would make it definitely easier IMO

Hope it makes sense and its not too chaotic :D
Last edited by ssilk on Wed Jun 08, 2022 2:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Extended topic

Qon
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2119
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2016 6:27 am
Contact:

Re: White board function

Post by Qon »

I don't play multiplayer very often. So at first it didn't seem very useful. But after reading through it all I'm actually fully convinced that this is a fantastic suggestion. And it could even be useful for planning in single player. The icon labeling system exists but one icon here or there doesn't convey the size of builds or the routes between them or the borders and directions to move in etc. For large scale single player or for medium size multiplayer it might have potential comparable to blueprints, just by having drawings on the actual map.

User avatar
eradicator
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 5206
Joined: Tue Jul 12, 2016 9:03 am
Contact:

Re: White board function

Post by eradicator »

+1 This is one of the the reasons I requested draw_on_map several years ago.
Author of: Belt Planner, Hand Crank Generator, Screenshot Maker, /sudo and more.
Mod support languages: 日本語, Deutsch, English
My code in the post above is dedicated to the public domain under CC0.

User avatar
ssilk
Global Moderator
Global Moderator
Posts: 12888
Joined: Tue Apr 16, 2013 10:35 pm
Contact:

Re: White board function

Post by ssilk »

Cool suggestion: Eatable MOUSE-pointers.
Have you used the Advanced Search today?
Need help, question? FAQ - Wiki - Forum help
I still like small signatures...

TheRailmaker
Burner Inserter
Burner Inserter
Posts: 14
Joined: Tue Aug 31, 2021 1:50 pm
Contact:

An Option, to better "Plan" a Factory on the map ?

Post by TheRailmaker »

Hey, There.
Im playing alot of MP, and i allways missed a tool, to plan "the basics of the Factory" via the map.
Lets say you need some space, to build your reactor. You want to know, if someoen else also had a plan for this area.
What do you do ?

-You can spam map tags to mark the borders, but it takes quite long, and looks kinda bad.
-you can place ghosts of something on the borders ,but thats also only possible with vision, (and some players will just build them/ remove them :D )

I miss a possibility to "free write" over the map, or draw a colorued half transparent square or shape.
Would help alot to coordinate in MP Sessions. What do you think ?

FuryoftheStars
Smart Inserter
Smart Inserter
Posts: 2530
Joined: Tue Apr 25, 2017 2:01 pm
Contact:

Re: An Option, to better "Plan" a Factory on the map ?

Post by FuryoftheStars »

My Mods: Classic Factorio Basic Oil Processing | Sulfur Production from Oils | Wood to Oil Processing | Infinite Resources - Normal Yield | Tree Saplings (Redux) | Alien Biomes Tweaked | Restrictions on Artificial Tiles


nosports
Filter Inserter
Filter Inserter
Posts: 274
Joined: Fri Jan 19, 2018 5:44 pm
Contact:

Re: White board function / Better "Plan" a Factory on the map ?

Post by nosports »

The factorian way of planing / reserving some space would be a combination of two mods i would guess:

* Holographic sign mod
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/holographic_signs

* some laser lines
https://mods.factorio.com/mod/laserlines

Post Reply

Return to “Ideas and Suggestions”