Hello Helfima.
First of all: Thank you very much for this mod. I have been using it essentially right after finishing my first playthrough. And it has been in every playthrough I ever did since then.
I have to say that in the beginning I had some difficulties understanding every feature, but I believe I figured out most of it on my own by now. And thanks to your continuous work on the mod it has been getting easier to use.
However I'd like to make a small suggestion for improvement.
Short version:
0. Please abandon the concept of "Sub-Blocks". Mainly in your head ^^
1. Stop calculating Blocks and dividing them into Sub-Blocks via "maximum assembling machines per Block"
2a. Include an option to choose and design a Block however the user likes and only link it to the production line by the quantity of Blocks and not directly by the quantity of items
2b. Include an option where the player can input a static number to set a quantity for a certain Production Block
Ok. "0" needs a bit more explaining. Especially because if you think about it, 1-2 more or less will result from applying "0" to this mod.
But let's start with the status quo:
- status quo.png (319.33 KiB) Viewed 7871 times
What do we see:
We see a
production Block "Green Circuits" here. It shows us a lot of numbers. For every entry we see two numbers at least. We can see that this
Block has the quantity of 5. Ok, I get it. I need 5 "Green Circuits"
Blocks to make 150 Green Circuits. But wait? Now do I need 4*5=20 assemblers or do I need 20*5=100 assemblers?
And what is the meaning 4 or 17 Beacons?
Can you identify the problem I'm having?
There's something that doesn't make any sense with all these numbers.
But let's take a look in how I think, helmod works.
It's main idea is a split between
Production Line and
Production Block. They both interact. They form a (mathematical) relation.
The
Production Block wil always take some inputs and convert them to outputs, according to the recipe the player choses. Furthermore you can choose additional, (in-)dependent recipes to interact with other recipes. Still, the Block, when you look at it from the outside, will have inputs and some outputs. When looking from the inside of the Block you will see that there usually are in fact more items, that will be produced and be used inside the Block. Items inside the Block that can't be seen from the outside of the Block will be in balance - some will be produced and used completly. Well - that's the whole idea of helmod. Have recipes chained together, have (perfect) ratios, get what you need.
The
Production Block's internal view will be determined by the recipes, the amount of input or output items or the number of factories the player chooses. Usually the player can't set all the variables. For example the player can't choose to make 1000 iron plates from 1 iron ore, because there is no recipe with that balance.
The Block will calculate the missing and mathematically dependent numbers. It will show: input/output/internal items, needed machinery, needed energy and more.
But what is the difference between
Production Line and
Production Block?
To be honest, it is kind of hard to grasp in theory. As far as I understand, the
Production Line essentially is a list of (un-/linked)
Production Blocks that only recognizes the outside view of those Blocks.
It won't show the internal items of connected
Production Blocks, nor will it show the machinery needed for each
Production Block to do its job. I'd say its function is to allow the player to implement new recipes in a new abstraction layer, allowing for better overview for the whole base. For example, there is no recipe in the game to directly fabricate Green Circuits out of iron ore and copper ore. But the
Production Line allows this view. Also it summarizes every input and output item and will give you an idea of the necessary logistics between
Production Blocks.
I come to the conclusion:
Production Line doesn't represent 'ingame reality'. It merges and compresses information to give players another view on what to do and possibly how to do it.
The
Production Block is more 'real'. It calculates exact numbers for the game's recipes and respects the ratios for buildings, too.
Coming back to status quo. I was confused by the different numbers shown in the
Production Block. Ok, it's fairly easy to understand. The upper line/number represents a so called "sub-Block", which results from restricting the current
Production Block you're viewing to a maximum of assemblers in this Block. The bottom line/number will summarize the whole Block. But wait ..
So now the Block is doing the summation? Wasn't it supposed to be the job for the
Production Line? But in this Block internal summation it doesn't merge information but bloats it.
Also .. A Block inside a Block? Inception anybody?
Well .. to be honest, I don't like it. I don't need to know what my total in inputs will be, when designing a
Production Block. The
Production Block should be: perfect, calculated ratios. Easy to understand and easy to read and build from. In our example from above. It's very easy to place 4+1 assembler with 4 beacons (I know, it's the wrong number, because i messed up), connect everything and copy-and-pace 5 times. I dare you to do 20+4 assembler+20 beacons.
The summation of information should be done in the
production line.
Alas! That's not all. With this knowledge you could just ignore the extra information. I mean, you know where to look (now) and what's important.
The (imo unnecessary) problem is the way, those "sub-Blocks" will come into existence. The only way to do so, is to limit the amount of assemblers for a recipe. What - you never used this feature and don't know where to find it?
- recipe editor.png (162.18 KiB) Viewed 7871 times
I knew that this option exits but still I had difficulties finding it. Nonetheless this limitation by amount of assemblers does not make sense. This way the player has only small and very indirect control over the whole "Sub-Block" process. Choosing a number of factories does usually not represent the natural way a player would construct parts of his base, which probably will be a desicion based on belt capacity and building area, less knowing exactly how many assemblers you want. And what's funny: If you have a
Production Block with more than one recipe, you can actually restrict the amount of assembers for every single recipe. This get's really confusing.
My intuition tells me that very few players using helmod will have actually used this feature.
But NOW, the good part
Forget about this sub-Block mess. Let there only be
Production Blocks!!!
.
.
.
And
production lines as well. Let's make the Best from this situation!
Right now the relation between
production line and one
Production Block will be one item. Or to be more precise, the amount of this item. In my example 30 Speed Module 1 which correlate to 150 Green Circuits. Let's say I have found a satifying setup for those 150 Circuits. If I now come to the conclusion that i need additional 10 Speed Module 1, helmod will automatically change the 150 Green Circuits to 200 Green Circuits. The ratios may be still technically be perfect but can it be build? Can it be build in a satisfactorio way?
By the way - changing an assembler or similar in the
Production Block will lead to a changed
Production Block as well.
Dear helfima, dead Ladies and Gentleman, dear Biters as well, I hereby present to you ... the solution.
Remove the relation between production line and Production Block via the amount of a key item. Let the Production Block always be defined by the player - he chooses how many items are made in a Production Block. It won't matter, how they are made, which assemblers or modules the player uses. This basically is the "unlinked" option. The link will only exist through the amount of Production Blocks.
If the player changes the production line it won't change the Production Block. It will only change the amount of Production Blocks needed to produce the necessary items.
- improved version.png (132.34 KiB) Viewed 7870 times
This is my idea of how an improved version could work like. It works like this:
- In my production line there is a need of 150 Green Circuits
- I choose to make them in a seperate Block. I will design this Block how I want it and it will be unlinked at first.
I can make as many Green Circuits in this Block, as I like. I can use as many factories as I want. And beacons however I like. In this example I choose to produce 30 Circuits per Block.
- Next I set the slider "Calculate Block Quantity" to "ON". It will now change the Block to "linked" but leave everything else in the Block as is! It will fetch the total amount of items needed in the production line (150) and will divide this amount by the products provided by the production Block (30). E.g. 150/30 = 5. Now helmod knows that we want to build production Blocks that produce exactly 30 Green Circuits and will tell us, that we need 5 of them. The total of needed inputs will be seen in the production line view
Additionaly it would be a good idea to make the quantity field in the
production line view editable by the user. There the user can input a static number which determines how many Blocks should be used. Everything inside those Blocks can then be calculated in the same way as helmod is now doing.
It really is the same thing, but in reverse direction.
I hope you like my idea and found enough time to read through all this text. I really hope that I didn't scare you with this and that if you decide to change something, it won't be too much work.
English is not my first language. If something is not understandable well, please tell me. I will try to explain.
If someone want's to add to my idea, please do so.
