Friday Facts #437 - Cargo Pod Deep Dive

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-437

[KuuLightwing]

I thought it will touch more on gameplay aspects when I saw the title.

Biggest gripe is I really feel like we should be able to set minimum payload size for orbital drops so that it doesn't send 1000 pods of 1 science over just sending 5 pods with 200 science or so.

And contrariwise the rockets delivering only full stacks is awkward to use sometimes. I know there's workaround with custom minimum payload, but that's a lot of manual work. I wish it could use some greedy algorithm trying to fill up the rocket the best it could with the required items and send it.

Also pods should fold solar panels when reentering.

[Terrahertz]

No matter how often I travel between surfaces, I never get tired of this animation, good job as always

Also good to know, that the different cloud colors on each planet are not just my imagination

[EurypteriD]

Since your talking about the subject here is a bug releated to the transition..
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=120632&p=636111#p636111

[Kalanndok]

Biggest gripe is I really feel like we should be able to set minimum payload size for orbital drops so that it doesn't send 1000 pods of 1 science over just sending 5 pods with 200 science or so.

It's solveable by the player though.
Have the platform in a state where it must not unload

You can achieve that by setting a schedule from Nauvis (unload checked, wait condition science packs < 200) to Nauvis (unload not checked, wait condition science packs > 200).

[BraveCaperCat]

As always, orbitally deliver your thoughts to the usual places.

By usual, you mean your cargo bays?
Of course, there are multiple space platforms which can deliver to those cargo bays - such as the forums.

[BlueTemplar]

Please don't sully forums and e-mail with the moniker 'platforms'.

[Zaflis]

At some point, the whole screen needs to be covered up to maintain the illusion when the pod teleports from one surface to another. Just swiping a flat image across the screen would have been serviceable. In fact, Albert favored leaning into a more stylized aesthetic.

I'm not sure how it works with default tooltips, but when player is arriving to platform i can already highlight all entities on platform even though i don't see them, and their tooltips appear on cursor I might even be able to do deconstruct orders or whatnot.

You may need to have some kind of UI lock that mods too can turn on when desired. I was thinking of a black obstruction frame in a level between game UI's and the animation, but turning off all input (mouse/kb/pad) tracking with a command is still probably more elegant and foolproof. Then again, people may choose to press M and play remote view elsewhere instead of finish watching it...

So your original idea of flat image across screen is better in the end, just that it needs to be solid black with alpha value 0 making it completely transparent "glass" layer.

[KuuLightwing]

It's solveable by the player though.
Have the platform in a state where it must not unload

You can achieve that by setting a schedule from Nauvis (unload checked, wait condition science packs < 200) to Nauvis (unload not checked, wait condition science packs > 200).

Only works with stationary platforms though, with spaceships that's going to be annoying to make

[Panzerknacker]

I like the current animation but it would be even cooler if the pod had small thrusters on the side which it will use to flip around when closing in on the platform, then it will use the main engine to fire in the opposite direction of it's travel to first slowdown and then gain some momentum in the direction of the cargo door.

[T.Shirt]

I am not a mod author so you can freely steal this idea.

I would like a silly mod that transforms the descending pod into either a pot of petunias or a sperm whale. Whichever is more improbable at the time.

[Delen22]

I am not a mod author so you can freely steal this idea.

I would like a silly mod that transforms the descending pod into either a pot of petunias or a sperm whale. Whichever is more improbable at the time.

Nope, this should be vanilla...

[wizcreations]

I didn't notice it until this post, but the stars in the background should not move. They are far enough away that they should look stationary from our vantage point above Nauvis.

[Usul]

The old rocket looked so much better! From the very first time I saw the new rocket ingame, it looked "crooked" and asymetric from the angle depicted. It's only now from the scetches in this FFF that I realize it is not actually supposed to be crooked, it's just the angle that makes it looks so.

It's very sad to me that the old *famous* chunky rocket with it's three cones is gone. Yet in the icons used througout the game it's still there and everywhere in the official screenshots and website aswell (inconsistent and confusing).

I don't understand why the devs did not at least leave the old rocket for playing 2.0 without Space Age.

[Akontio]

The old rocket looked to much better! From the very first time I saw the new rocket ingame, it looked crooked and asymetric from the angle depicted. It's only now from the scetches in this FFF that I realize it is not actually supposed to be "crooked".

It's very sad to me that the old *famous* chunky rocket with it's three cones is gone, yet in the icons used througout the game it's still there and everywhere in the official screenshots and website aswell (inconsistent and confusing).

I don't understand why the devs did not at least leave the old rocket for 2.0 without Space Age.

To be completely honest (and I may speak for a good amount of people here) I didn't really notice at first, nor care upon realizing it.

At least for me personally that's a pretty big mental blur of imagery, most people have only launched a rocket once or twice, and if you'd already launched hundreds of rockets, it would be a bigger blur.

[Usul]

I think I may speak for a lot a people who's first reaction was also similar to: "WTF is that ugly rocket!?"

[mako00]

The animation is very nice, but please, please fix the drop pod spam.

[Akontio]

I think I may speak for a lot a people who's first reaction was also similar to: "WTF is that ugly rocket!?"

No, I don't think people were saying that. If you're going to be immature and rude about it, I don't think the developers will nod in agreement about something that's very easily modable. If it makes you feel better there is a pretty good chance someone will make a mod, probably even a DLC port for it too using the tools literally mentioned in the post.

[Daid]

I saw this sequence in the trailer, and assumed it was "doctored" for the trailer. So I was extremely pleased to see it in the actual game, it's an amazing sequence. Really well done!

[Ricecream0x03]

The care and intention put behind modding compatibility is so, so appreciated.

On a different note, I'm not sure what the team's plans are going forward, but if another big expansion is in the works, it'd be cool if Nauvis (and/or the other planets) had an underground layer (basically akin to a new planet (and could probably be implemented as such), but thematically speaking exists under the surface). We have the game sense that we are on a surface world, and that there's space and other planets "above" us, but what about below us? Are we really on a planet, or is it just a mostly hollow sphere with nothing underneath? I think the potential for new resources, lurking creatures, and interaction with the surface above (or what's even deeper below) is grand.