Friday Facts #381 - Space Platforms

[mward]

How is the platform repaired without bots?

[DanGio]

So much content in this week's FFF ! I have been reading it for an hour. Congratz for the high quality GFX

[madpav3l]

One question, in space, the items on the belts are held by a magical force so that they do not float away?

[mmmPI]

That's really amazing !

I was really surprised to read the engineer cannot walk onto space platform, that's a risky move ! on the other hand the explanations for how to build expand supply and move the space platform make a lot of sense. No need to be there, no need for robots, that's straightforward. I'm still curious how is the engineer gonna explore other planet if not by means of space platform travel i feel there's still a lot to discover

I really like the idea that the space platform can travel to other planet like trains to carry item, all the implications with the space junk harvesting, size/speed/functionnality puzzle feel like it will be possible to make a very custom playstyle, with various size and purpose for them and some nice blueprint puzzle to create a whole fleet for different strategy/organization.

Interesting to read about the introduction of carbon as a resource maybe related to wood and coal who knows , maybe oil or steel or some high tech material that open the door to many speculations

Finally we have a vanilla way to void item that is realistic ! just dump them into space ! It also look very nice like everything else The floating into space with different relative speed is working nicely for me, the incoming asteroïds are somewhat colored like iron and copper or have a different for ice it seems, i like it, the background stars following platform's speed is a nice touch too.

I like the modular cargo-bay entity, i can only imagine it has implications on the game engine that may be further exploited

I like the look of it too, the blending between the entity and the platform for the thrusters too with the thickness the no-power pole and flying robots i found give the look of a solid ship where things are attached to it, almost to the point where i'd like to see something covering those belts for fear of seeing the items on it start to drift off to space when the thrusters are active, like a transparent curvy plastic-glass cover so it still look animated

And what a thruster Doesn't look like it could turn or be turned easily, which i think is also a nice implication, similar to ribbon world, the front/the back, some sort of imposed space constraint that is not existing in Nauvis endgame, giving a purpose to weapons for peaceful players on top of that !

Now i'm left wondering if the number of asteroid-grappling-robotic-arm need to be optimized in regard to the platform's speed and the density of debris for the travel. And if one need to make probes to clear the way, or if debris are generated each flight, which may require another kind of exploring platform, so many possibilities !

Also i like the name "space-platform starter pack"

[morhp]

Very interesting, love the concepts.

Weird question however, as the space platforms are remove view only and you can't seem to get the engineer character on them, how do you travel to other planets? Or are planets remove view only, too?

One thing that I might have missed, is it possible to have multiple space platforms?

Yes, that was already revealed in the last FFF.

[aka13]

I like it.
I think this really captures the spirit of what makes SE fun, when you first get to space, and amplifies it.
I am also cautiosly optimistic, that it seems that kovarex feels similar to how I feel, on what is not fun in SE.

I also really like the "organic" size limit. While a bot fan, I can get behind banning them from space.
Would this FFF come before quality, I would have had an easier time welcoming quality in.
The graphics are certainly "out of this world", and look amazing, it looks really enjoyable.
When are you guys doing closed beta-testing, I want in

[tom.i]

Very cool.. I like it very much..
Just a question.. which end Factorio 2.0 will have if Factorio 1.0 ends with launch rocket.

[FuryoftheStars]

All looks really neat.
And not to reopen the debate, but some of this seams like it really puts a dent in the idea of Quality being "optional".... But obviously we'll see how all of that plays once released.

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Do the costs for the rockets stay the same as in vanilla?

I believe it was mentioned in one of the first FFFs that the costs of rockets was going to be reduced.

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I can understand why the platform shouldn't have logistic bots, but why couldn't it have construction bots? It feels like a break in realism...OK, OK, I already know what you're thinking.

I was a bit confused by this as well. Building is done purely by ghosts, but yet no bots? How does that work? Besides that, this all looks amazing.

Well, how would construction via bots in space work? By looking at the graphics of (at least) construction bots, their flight is powered by a turbine, not repulsors or mag-lifts or anything like that. Even the technology & flying robot frame show a turbine. So without atmosphere, how would they fly? As another poster mentioned, the platforms seem like they have a heavy amount of greebling to them. Considering the platform also acts as power delivery, I can see the platform also having it's own built in constructors.

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My first thought was that the platforms are made from 100% pure unadulterated greeble!

Greeble being semi-random stuff modelers tend to layer onto basic spaceship designs to give them visual interests, think pipes, hatches, rivets, antenna, decals, etc that don't necessarily have a function in the design.

See my reply above about bots.

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How is the platform repaired without bots?

My guess would be a) it isn't while in transit, or b) slowly, automatically, with any stored repair packs.

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I'm still curious how is the engineer gonna explore other planet if not by means of space platform travel

Weird question however, as the space platforms are remove view only and you can't seem to get the engineer character on them, how do you travel to other planets? Or are planets remove view only, too?

My guess would be that the Engineer can sit in the central building.

[mmmPI]

My guess would be that the Engineer can sit in the central building.

I dont know if that is very safe, asteroïds could damage the platform to the point where the thrusters can't operate leaving the engineer stuck in space same softlock as when you run out of fuel with cargoship mod forcing a reload or cheat , not very multiplayer friendly ( although you could receive help you can't reload).

[NaurEnForven]

Thank you for the explanations.

[FuryoftheStars]

My guess would be that the Engineer can sit in the central building.

I dont know if that is very safe, asteroïds could damage the platform to the point where the thrusters can't operate leaving the engineer stuck in space same softlock as when you run out of fuel with cargoship mod forcing a reload or cheat , not very multiplayer friendly ( although you could receive help you can't reload).

Yeah, that is a good point, though it may be that the platform (once sent towards a destination) will always move, just at a very slow pace without thrusters. Will be interesting to see.

[Rebmes]

Engineer can't go to space. Assuming engineer can go to other planets somehow.

o.O

Looks nice, interesting, exciting!

[thedoh]

These graphics look AMAZING!!! Can't we have the expansion now??

I am curious about a couple of things:

Thing the first: Will the space platforms' primary use of solar panels invalidate the steam all the way achievement? I guess this depends on the victory condition for the game. If, like today, victory is the same as launching a rocket, then we can continue on as today by launching the rocket and then using solar to our heart's delight. If, however, the victory is after the launch to space, then it seems like the achievement here is going to be difficult or impossible to achieve. I really hope there's an FFF with achievements in the near future.

Following the first, there's mention of

The rocket silo is directly connected to the logistic network and works as a requester chest.

Will this invalidate the logistics embargo achievement?

[Upserter]

Another great update - this one definitely raises at least as many questions as it answers!

Do multiple space platforms exist on different surfaces or can they interact with each other?

Do thrusters always have to go at the bottom, or could you build a platform with thrusters on the left that moves rightwards instead of upwards, and would it make any difference if you could?

What happens if a space platform in transit runs out of fuel or critical items, but falls short of being totally destroyed? Can you rescue it? Or self-destruct it?

Finally, I feel the player should be mildly punished for dumping large quantities of items into space and contributing to Kessler Syndrome. More aggressive asteroid chunks?

[FuryoftheStars]

Can't we have the expansion now??

Well, they are still working on it....

Will the space platforms' primary use of solar panels invalidate the steam all the way achievement?

You can use Nuclear on the platform.

Following the first, there's mention of

The rocket silo is directly connected to the logistic network and works as a requester chest.

Will this invalidate the logistics embargo achievement?

They mentioned you can also send stuff manually, so my guess on this would be no (for simply building them seems they are required structures).

[picklock]

And again a very interesting FFF with lots of news.

Since the space platforms are supposed to transport the player to other planets, but the player cannot move on the space platform, the question arises as to what the player can do during the flight and how long a flight from planet to planet will take lasts.

[StahnAileron]

Two comments, both related to suspension of disbelief:

One: Exposed belts in space. Things would be flying about. It feels like bots-only in space would make more sense in terms of believability. But I get the point of making it belt-only. But exposed belt in space as a concept is just utterly wrong. It breaks the immersion for me. (Granted, I probably won't care THAT much once we can actually play the game.) I think something like a pseudo-pipe system with loaders would make more sense conceptually, but that's probably asking for a lot, practically. New graphics, new entities, etc. I'm not really asking for change (it's an aesthetic thing that, if "corrected", would affect gameplay), just something that crossed my mind.

Two: The thruster exhaust plume. The exhaust itself looks amazing. The plume behind it, not so much. In my head, it means you have some really bad combustion ratios going, being very inefficient. It also looks messy to me for some reason. (Maybe because it's a giant expanding cloud of smoke in space...) Again, just an aesthetic thing. However, changing it won't harm gameplay, so I do kind of hope you take this criticism into consideration.

[BrainlessTeddy]

Ok that is a really interesting concept. Especially how they work like trains but with factories on them. And the item request thing from the home planet sounds really cool. I've never been a huge fan of how the space platforms look even in SE but I think I can work with that. Idk the fact they don't seem to have a roof just seems weird. But maybe it just takes some getting used to.

[rigrig]

Considering the platform also acts as power delivery, I can see the platform also having it's own built in constructors.

I agree, not looking for more complexity*, but just for the look of things it would be nice if stuff was built by e.g. thruster bots instead of space-magic.

* Just having the hub magically supply unlimited bots would be fine with me, to avoid build queues and bot counting. But I could see not everybody agreeing with that, and then we're going down the rabbit hole…

[volkoff]

There are an achievement "finish game without solar panels"

steamwebhelper_ehtbz9LDwo.png (18.5 KiB) Viewed 6009 times

how would it work now ?

will be new achievements in addon ??


Thank you

UPD: saw answer about solars in prev post. but what about new achievements ? ))