Friday Facts #388 - Smaller things for 2.0

[sorahn]

While this looks like a great idea... I don't like it. If this gets implemented by devs, there should be an option to disable it.

I don't like it because I don't need to be reminded of what I could do when I have no intention to do it. This might be a far fetched comparison, but to me it feels the same as an advertisement. No thanks, I don't need to be reminded daily that I could drink this fantastic cola soda, eat this fantastic oily cocoa paste, or buy this fantastic electric car that relies on coal plants energy.

OTOH, Since you usually want to place undergrounds forward, I would really like to be able to see the farthest it can stretch before I place it.

[MrDayne]

I have two suggestions.
Configurable size for tags. My blocks are sometimes too big, I want to zoom out enough to see them all, and I can't see the tags for each thing.
Ghost indicator (of whatever sort) of maximum length of whatever pipe or belt you are placing. Dragging it to see the green indicator is not good enough. It would also be awesome for power poles. Dragging is a good option, but sometimes you can't drag for whatever reason, seeing the edge of range with some sort of indicator would probably be a good thing.

[SeaRyanC]

How much is

Code: Select all

10/2k

?

What is ten divided by two thousand? The answer is 0.005, or 0 as Factorio calls it. There's no ambiguity here.

This is the only sensible result. If 10/2k is parsed as (10 / 2) k, then a bunch of nonsense follows:
* 1k / 1k would be 1M, not 1!
* 5000000/2k (a completely sensible computation to do) would be 2.5B, not 2,500
* Same for other reasonable operations like 6M/3.4k

[Rockstar]

Not having the cliffs marked for explosives is all I've ever wanted in life. Thanks.

[oisyn]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-388

I noticed a small mistake. The maximum integer a double can represent contiguously is 2^53, not 2^52, which makes it playable for ~4.75 million years

[TheJogMan]

Being able to sort saves by more values could be nice, such as playtime, research progression, world seed (to group together multiple saves with the same seed), etc.

[Gemma]

Wonderful!

I don't think I'm colorblind, but I can't see the difference between normal-ghost color and max-range-ghost color. Maybe it will be easier to notice in game.

(Also, I think I will probably still default to going past max range then back most of the time, because I expect it will be smoother and more enabling of laziness than going square by square looking for the right color, if you get what I mean.)

[mrvn]

my wish? multithreading

I wouldn't be surprised if they allow different surfaces (planets, platforms, etc) to be processed in parallel. Although I think cross-platform power is currently possible, and maybe other things, which would probably have to be cut then.

The rocket silos transfer circuit signals between surfaces if I read that right. You can also have chests, underground belts and pipes connecting surfaces. So different surface doesn't mean you can parallel process.

[mrvn]

How much is

Code: Select all

10/2k

?

What is ten divided by two thousand? The answer is 0.005, or 0 as Factorio calls it. There's no ambiguity here.

This is the only sensible result. If 10/2k is parsed as (10 / 2) k, then a bunch of nonsense follows:
* 1k / 1k would be 1M, not 1!
* 5000000/2k (a completely sensible computation to do) would be 2.5B, not 2,500
* Same for other reasonable operations like 6M/3.4k

That's simply a question of precedence. And it's perfectly reasonable to have quarter mile: 1/4 mile. Why should a quarter kilometer be different?

If you just do substitution this also becomes natural:

10/2k == 10 / 2 * k == 10 / 2 * 1000 == 5000 == 5k.

Taking 10/2k to mean 10 / (2k) is actually the stranger interpretation. And hey, 6M/3.4k == 6 * M / 3.4 * k == (6 / 3.4) Mk. As in mega kilometers. Totally reasonable. The problem here is that the division operator "/" isn't the same as a fraction "-----" where the "k" would be below the line.

But either way the new combinators show the output so when you type in 10/2k you immediately see what the game makes of it and then you can add "()" to make it mean what you want.

[Stormcaller]

regarding formula in text fields...

is it possible to do 4*iron chest or 4*steel chest or similar? (or even better 0.5 iron chest)(not sure if it would need to be "ironchest" or "iron_chest" or "ironchest")

granted this is less needed in the base game, but allowing for it would allow for modpack chest sizes to be easily handled.

presumably this would require a change to the item classes for chests to have an identifier that allows for them to be recognised as allowed in these formula, with the default being not allowed, but it would mean for example if you have an 8 carriage train, with 6 chests with loaders being able to write that in the circuit logic as "8*6*steel chest" would allow for easy updates with chest upgrades (or train size upgrades)

[Ranakastrasz]

https://mods.factorio.com/mod/Underground%20Indicators
While I absolutely agree that underground distance indicators are a good addition, I feel that flat-out indicating the max distance tile would work better, because it gives the information instantly, instead of still needing to wait until you hit thr max distance. This is an improvement, but could be improved further as the above mod did.

[FuryoftheStars]

Wonderful!

I don't think I'm colorblind, but I can't see the difference between normal-ghost color and max-range-ghost color. Maybe it will be easier to notice in game.

(Also, I think I will probably still default to going past max range then back most of the time, because I expect it will be smoother and more enabling of laziness than going square by square looking for the right color, if you get what I mean.)

Well, it wasn't the ghost color itself, but rather the color of the dashed lines interlinking the two ends. Honestly, it took me several viewings of the animation before I noticed. It's not the easiest of things to see.

[PatrickBlack]

I wonder why you didn't go one step further with visualizing the max belt range. While hovering in the range of the matched underground belt, display BOTH max range (blue or could be yellow) and selected range (green) if the belt was placed where hovering (green). See the image. With what you have now you still have the problem that you don't immediately see what range is maximal until you drag to that range.

With this it would be immediately obvious and it could also hint the exact tile you have to click on to place it at max range.



There is more to that — you could even visualize the first (non-matching) belt's range and what tiles it can reach.




Also, highly agreed with the above - add a constant for stack size "S" of the current item

I feel the same way, if you visually improve the placement of underground belts and pipes then I would have expected something like this, where the maximum range is painted directly on the ground as long as the cursor with the counterpart is on the same line.


Had already edited the image before I read through the posts and found the sketches.

I also like the idea of coloring blocked fields red.
But probably only for the preview of the maximum range.
I would leave it green between the in- and output, otherwise it could be interpreted as an error?

Edit:
Based on this idea and to support people with color vision deficiency (as noted in a later post), I have slightly reworked the image.
I think the difference between yellow and green should be insignificant in this case.
Because the symbols and outline show the possible range and the cursor determines the placement.

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The possibility of using an S for stacks, which I feel is already implied in the description ["I want 7.5 stacks here"], sounds very interesting but I'm afraid it's difficult to maintain the reference to the stack size.
A number remains constant no matter what is inserted in the reference field (on the left in the case shown).
I think a number of X stacks would have to disappear every time something is set in the reference field that has no stack size.

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But overall, as always, very cool optimizations.

[Stormcaller]

i would note, putting the max draw distance in each time will cause complications your pic with one belt doesnt show...

ie what happens when it runs into an existing underground segment running in the same direction, does it stop before it regardless of what it is? or only if its the same type? or what? and if it it running under existing belts its going to be hard(er) to see...

[Tricorius]

Often times you want to set some constant number, like "I want 7.5 stacks here",

Can I actually do this? Instead of just doing math (10*100), or typing 10k, can I do like "10s" and get 10 stacks? S for Stacks?

Yes! Please! This is awesome but if it could determine the stack based off what item is selected it would be amazing.

[Mycroft4114]

It has been noted over on Reddit that there appears to be a very interesting unmentioned detail here - check out the screenshot in the "Save sorting" section. The image preview of that save shows part of what appears to be a cracking setup. Two fluid inputs, one fluid output - but check out those input pipes. That's not how a row of chemical plants should get hooked up. Unless you can swap the inputs... (You can't see the next row, but the pipe pattern is clearly repeated there as well.)

Wube, are you sneakily teasing things in your screenshots again?

[Big_Snarly]

Okay, just signed up, first time post, as a reply no less.

I'm loving seeing the expansion and all the new changes, all the QoL stuff, I'm so looking forward to it!

As small as it is, the expansion on lamp colors has me excited. I really want to play around with making displays and loading up some blueprints. Having more colors to work with, oh, this made my day!

If I had any suggestions, I don't think they're really a priority though.

I wonder if there'd be a way to change the RGB values of the lamps by conditions? I'm not sure how that'd work though...

But what I'd really like to see is more aesthetic options. Trust me, I get into building bases and making blueprints. I was working on a new set of rail prints until I saw the raised tracks and the new track options, now I'm holding off until I can get into that.

What I'd hope to see is more tile options, things I could color code with in the factory areas and such. Or flags, signs, just something to add more visual options. Ways to personalize the experience. I noticed in, I think it was the creative mode, there's all sorts of colored concrete tiles, that was fun, but can't actually use it in the base game.

Also, I know there's an option to show signals on combinators and such, so you can kind of make "signs", but then you see all of your signals, and it's a little mucky.

It'd be great just to have something to make signage with, even with lamps.


I had an odd idea, about if your character could draw pigments from sources, and combine with light oil to make paint to apply to your stuff.

Anyways, I'm really liking everything so far. Checking the blog every Friday's a new thing for me now.

[DaDrunkCow]

It's very sad that Wube would say that they won't be around anymore after 2 million years.

[Svip]

That's simply a question of precedence. And it's perfectly reasonable to have quarter mile: 1/4 mile. Why should a quarter kilometer be different?

If you just do substitution this also becomes natural:

10/2k == 10 / 2 * k == 10 / 2 * 1000 == 5000 == 5k.

Taking 10/2k to mean 10 / (2k) is actually the stranger interpretation. And hey, 6M/3.4k == 6 * M / 3.4 * k == (6 / 3.4) Mk. As in mega kilometers. Totally reasonable. The problem here is that the division operator "/" isn't the same as a fraction "-----" where the "k" would be below the line.

But either way the new combinators show the output so when you type in 10/2k you immediately see what the game makes of it and then you can add "()" to make it mean what you want.

You are confusing units and shorthand. Thinking about miles and kilometres will do you no favours here. "k" and "m" are shorthands for thousand (kilo) and million, respectively. Notice they have no spacing with their numbers, unlike units. It would not be unreasonable to write "10/2k km".

"Xk" and "Xm" will be converted first, since they are likely not understood by an arithmetic parser, likely to "(X*1000)" and "(X*1000000)", respectively.

[Roxor128]

The expression-evaluation to produce values stuff sounds handy. Could we get a hexadecimal view option as well?