Default to ice platform + concrete when first arriving on Aquilo

[AntiElitz]

When you go to Aquilo for the first time, you cannot force print until you have placed at least one ice platform and concrete on every tile type. The game always uses whatever was used previously, but on first arrival there is no “previous,” so stamping just fails. This is very confusing for first-time players and also for speedrunners.

This behavior could be improved by making the default on first arrival not “empty and fail,” but instead concrete + ice platforms. After that, it could still change dynamically based on the last usage as it does now.

[AntiElitz]

This is still a problem in every playthrough and people struggle to understand why they cannot force print on aquilo water.

[juliawtapp]

This thread is interesting to me, because I have never personally run into this issue on my playthroughs (not that it doesn't occur).

It's very likely that I just already knew to put down ice platform and concrete from reading that I was meant to in the factoriopedia + tips and tricks briefing on aquilo.

Maybe another improvement could be something pointing players towards these planet briefings as I've definitely helped a lot of people with their playthroughs who didn't even know such briefings existed.

I do think it makes a degree of sense for stamping blueprints on ammoniacal solution to default to ice platforms and concrete as there are no other valid tiles that one can use as far as I know

[Nemoricus]

[T]here are no other valid tiles that one can use as far as I know

Foundation
Hazard concrete, refined concrete, refined hazard concrete

[juliawtapp]

[T]here are no other valid tiles that one can use as far as I know

Foundation
Hazard concrete, refined concrete, refined hazard concrete

I suppose this is true, but we could assume that a new player probably doesn't want to pave their first aquilo base in foundation and refined hazard concrete.

[CyberCider]

Foundation
Hazard concrete, refined concrete, refined hazard concrete

Actually, foundation can’t be placed anywhere on Aquilo

[AntiElitz]

This is still very bothersome, in particular to us speedrunners. But I can assure that my chat is consistently not understanding why force print is not working on Aqilo on arrival. I also happened to be confused on that on my first playthrough.

[Phoenix27833]

I agree completely
It is extremely arbitrary and unknown to the player that there are 3 types of tiles that you have to place concrete on before it allows you to build on them. In 2.0 this is rough ice, smooth ice, and ice platform.
If you place a blueprint without having placed the concrete it wont place.
It would be much better if it just defaulted to blueprinting the ice platform and concrete and then the blueprint will place. If the player does not have basic concrete and rather has refined or wants to use a different sort of concrete then they can place/replace the concrete with whatever tile they like, but the blueprinted entities will still be there.

[Shemp]

+1, I want to express the confusion I experienced around this for the longest time, and I was convinced it must be an engine bug.

I don't know if this is the best solution (how would you handle tiles on modded planets?), but receiving some kind of feedback about why a player action isn't working as expected would be appreciated.

[macdjord]

+1

I've never been able to figure out exactly what the rules are for when it will or will not automatically place ice platform, concrete, or both.

[worph]

+1

I assume there is some reason for why it is this way.
Just tell me: Is it an engine limitation, or is it an intentional design decision. If it's the latter: What is the reason to do it like this?
Because to me both don't make much/any sense without a dedicated explanation.

[Alfonse215]

I don't agree that concrete should be the default. But I do agree that whatever you pick for one tile type should apply to all of them. So you should still need to pick your concrete, but only once.

Or perhaps, provide a menu to the player when Aquilo is first generated, giving them the option to pick.

I also agree that the feedback is poor. If it's going to stop you from placing stuff, it should be more clear as to what you need to do to resolve the problem.

[sparr]

I have tried to fix this with a mod: https://mods.factorio.com/mod/default-cover-tiles