Keybind to auto-request temporary items to personal inventory

[Cronie]

TL;DR

The keybind would set a temporary request in personal inventory to request the items needed to create an item.

What?

07-08-2026, 19-32-39.png (338.17 KiB) Viewed 719 times

I suggest a keybind that creates temporary requests in personal inventory to request the items needed. After the item is created, the temporary requests would auto-delete. Or the player could manually delete them if there are not enough resources.

Example: If you want to create Power Armor MK2, you would open inventory and CTRL+left click the power armor. CTRL+ left click automatically adds temporary logistic requests for any items that you don't already have in inventory. Once the item is created, the logistic requests are removed. A possibility is to color code the item request to red if the requested items are not available in the logistic network.

The keybind would not create the item, it would just set logistic requests for precursor ingredients.

Why?

There are many items which require many intermediate ingredients to create, but are not worth automating (rocket silos, tanks, Power armor, rocket launchers, etc.) When creating items by hand, it is necessary to adjust personal logistics to request specific intermediate items. For an item like a rocket silo, there are 5 requests to adjust. This can be annoying if you just want an item quickly that is not already in the logistic network. It would make things less fiddly and easier to manage. I believe this type of temporary automation would fit very well in factorio, similar to a temporary train stop.

Thank you for your consideration

[Cronie]

gotta admit, I was hoping for a bit more of a response to this

[mmmPI]

Maybe not the kind of response you expected , but here's one anyway : This give me a bit the same feel as request to reorder the manual crafting queue to make it easier to use. In a certain way it makes sense, and in another way i want to say "you shouldn't make easier to use something that you shouldn't use in the first place". Which awfully sounds like a "you're doing it wrong", i know.

The precise things you mention "(rocket silos, tanks, Power armor, rocket launchers, etc.)" as "not worth automating" are typically those that i feel were made "worth" automating with quality, "if you are going to use them in such small quantity that you could handcraft them", then it's precisely also where "having a lucky quality roll could have a noticeable impact". You can have a single assembly with your only/best quality module in there and change manually the receipe for those, instead of the manual request for handcrafting. Or have it change receipe on its own, for a less fiddly alternative, if you already expect robots to deliver to you the 1K concrete and steel, you may be at a stage where they "could" handle the delivery to that particular assembly.

The proposition is otherwise "effective" i feel for the problem it mention, it would i feel "make it easier and less fiddly" to request material for handcrafting. ( but you shouldn't be doing that )

It would help if there was already such things as temporary request for players ( like for space platform construction material ).

[Cronie]

Maybe not the kind of response you expected , but here's one anyway : This give me a bit the same feel as request to reorder the manual crafting queue to make it easier to use. In a certain way it makes sense, and in another way i want to say "you shouldn't make easier to use something that you shouldn't use in the first place". Which awfully sounds like a "you're doing it wrong", i know.

The precise things you mention "(rocket silos, tanks, Power armor, rocket launchers, etc.)" as "not worth automating" are typically those that i feel were made "worth" automating with quality, "if you are going to use them in such small quantity that you could handcraft them", then it's precisely also where "having a lucky quality roll could have a noticeable impact". You can have a single assembly with your only/best quality module in there and change manually the receipe for those, instead of the manual request for handcrafting. Or have it change receipe on its own, for a less fiddly alternative, if you already expect robots to deliver to you the 1K concrete and steel, you may be at a stage where they "could" handle the delivery to that particular assembly.

The proposition is otherwise "effective" i feel for the problem it mention, it would i feel "make it easier and less fiddly" to request material for handcrafting. ( but you shouldn't be doing that )

It would help if there was already such things as temporary request for players ( like for space platform construction material ).

I appreciate the response, but I am not sure I understand it. Are you saying that you don't like it because you disapprove of handcrafting? Because that seems like a question of style and factorio is big enough for all styles

[Alfonse215]

I appreciate the response, but I am not sure I understand it. Are you saying that you don't like it because you disapprove of handcrafting? Because that seems like a question of style and factorio is big enough for all styles

I don't know specifically about mmmPI's point, but the developers have made it fairly clear about using mechanics to dis-incentivize hand-crafting. Or more specifically, not adding mechanics that would help hand-crafting. It's why they don't add reordering to the crafting queue, or other things that might make hand-crafting more reasonable. There are achievements for hand-crafting as little as possible. For getting logistics requests. For placing more buildings with bots than by hand.

There are no achievements for hand-crafting, say, a rocket silo or some other end-game item. Indeed, you can't hand-craft quality goods, even if you have the quality ingredients on you.

Put simply, Factorio is a game about automation, and so its gameplay guides you to automate things. You may choose not to for certain things, and that's fine. But the game isn't being designed to make that choice easier.

[nzer]

I don't know specifically about mmmPI's point, but the developers have made it fairly clear about using mechanics to dis-incentivize hand-crafting. Or more specifically, not adding mechanics that would help hand-crafting.

And this should not be blindly assumed to be the right course simply because it's what the devs believe. No one is out there wanting to play this game entirely with handcrafting. That isn't a problem that actually exists, so it doesn't need to be "solved" by withholding quality of life features, if such a thing could ever be considered a solution.

The reality is that there are scenarios where hand crafting is useful. And not only is that not a bad thing, it's actually a good thing to present the player with moments of realization that they don't need to automate 100% of everything right this very second. In the same way there are moments of realization that they don't need to be making a full belt of gears or circuits right off the bat, or that they don't need to build their mall to run all of the machines 100% of the time, or that their first interplanetary space platform doesn't need to be self-sufficient at 200 km/s just to get them to Vulcanus, etc.

This is called understanding requirements. It's a critical concept in real world engineering, from which Factorio draws enormous influence, and dismissing it out of hand with "you shouldn't be hand crafting at all" diminishes the game.

So +1 from me. I've wanted this for a while as well.

[Cronie]

And this should not be blindly assumed to be the right course simply because it's what the devs believe. No one is out there wanting to play this game entirely with handcrafting. ..........

Yeah, I guess that's what I don't understand ... there will never be a situation where handcrafting will outperform automation, so what are people worried about? If they want to automate making their first few rocket silos, no one is stopping them. I am just looking for a minor quality of life improvement that in no way would disadvantage any other aspect of the game.

If they want the game to be more challenging, why not get rid of all the other thousand QoL additions the dev team has made over the years also? Tanks used to take damage when hitting small rocks and trees, it was annoying but it certainly made sense in the context of the game at the time. So why did the devs get rid of this damage? because the inconvenience added nothing fun to the game. By the same token, I feel that my suggestion gets rid of a minor annoyance and people would gladly use it if implemented.

[elfxiong]

There is a mod for this Pocket Crafter's Logistics. I’ve been using it in 2.0.

[Cronie]

There is a mod for this Pocket Crafter's Logistics. I’ve been using it in 2.0.

thanks, yeah, there's a mod for everything, but I really hope the devs will consider this still

[mmmPI]

I appreciate the response, but I am not sure I understand it. Are you saying that you don't like it because you disapprove of handcrafting? Because that seems like a question of style and factorio is big enough for all styles

My response is more a "i don't expect this to ever happen", similar to re-ordering crafting queue, i may be wrong obviously, it's not "me" who disapprove handcrafting, rather I feel the game is disapproving it. It would have been an "easy QoL" and yet it's not there, i believe to incentivize players toward more automation and discourage manual crafting, ( and the "reward" achievement for lazy bastard ) that seem designed with the same intent.

I think the suggestion would solve "a problem" , the one you describe, but the game also offer some way to avoid having the problem in the first place or solve it with different methods.

The reality is that there are scenarios where hand crafting is useful. And not only is that not a bad thing, it's actually a good thing to present the player with moments of realization that they don't need to automate 100% of everything right this very second.

This is called understanding requirements. It's a critical concept in real world engineering, from which Factorio draws enormous influence, and dismissing it out of hand with "you shouldn't be hand crafting at all" diminishes the game.

If you speedrun, you do need to manage your crafting queue it's very important and strategic, i understand that handcrafting is necessary in the game and sometimes "good", but one may argue that if you face yourself posting on the forum for some part of your handcrafting routine to be less tedious, it may possibly be a case where you have not adequatly answered to those requirements. Space age increase the requirement for "Silos" by quite a lot x), it may be one to automate, that one is particularly annoying due to the volume of material, the armor is quite slow to craft, it may also be wise to use a one time hand fed assembly, and you come back to it when it's done, it doesn't mean there wouldn't be situation where one could be tempted to handcraft things even at the stage where robots are plentyful but there are those logistic filter to keep you stocked of material if you want to, for certain "rare" item like silo and armor , you need different unusual material it's the kind of thing that makes me want to "avoid handcrafting" those.

If the suggestion was in the game it would address the "tedium", but there would then be less incentive for players to build a more sophisticated factory that have a part for those rare demands, i don't necessarily have a strong opinion on either.

[Cronie]

I think we will just have to agree to disagree.

[mmmPI]

Fair enough, i knew it was probably not the kind of answer you hoped for.

I can only agree with "it's a matter of style", i think the suggestion makes sense and i wouldn't mind if it was in the game, which is not always the case; After the discussion maybe even some moment in the game i'll be wishing the hotkey exist. It's not a -1 ! I feel the relation with handcrafting makes it unlikely but here it's just my opinion, i can understand disagreement

[Cronie]

Fair enough, i knew it was probably not the kind of answer you hoped for.

The answer I am hoping for would be from a dev ... anyone else responding is good because it keeps the conversation going

I fully expected resistance to this idea because this community is extremely hostile to change and to any type of idea that doesn't come from Wube. Also it is maybe a difficult idea to imagine in practice, since it is sort of subtle, so it has that going against it too. I believe it it were implemented, no one would have a single issue with it

[Erfar]

+1 it not reasonable to ever automate production of for example cargo landing pad, vehicle, tank and orher one-off items unless you setup whole recycling loop to get legendary shotgun

[LizardOfOz]

There is a mod for this Pocket Crafter's Logistics. I’ve been using it in 2.0.

This mod has been a very good QoL addition. Not just for manual player character crafting, but also for tasks like sending rocket silo ingredients to space when I'm about to first land on the next planet.

After all, if you can break down a blueprint into a logistics request, breaking down an expensive machine like the silo or the spidertron also makes sense.