Factorio Forums

Would like the ability to set priority targets with the spidertron rocket launcher. I could configure spidertrons to only engage targets that the rockets are best for, while also not killing our own nest spawners in the base.

That's so missing, fully agree.

+1

+1 this is very important on Gleba.

Will help a lot if that would be possible

This is would be a very useful feature. If we could change the target priorities depending on the missiles loaded as well, this would be perfect. The spidertron's 'grid square removal' approach to targeting leads to a lot of waste of ammunition and inadvertent kills.

This would be overpowered on Nauvis for clearing spawners. Maybe it doesn't matter by the point Spidertron is unlocked, usually after artillery.

What challenge there is on Nauvis is clearing spawners & worms without their biter horde absorbing the attack, and this automates it. It will instantly wipe out nests of any size.

"But you can already wipe out nests of any size!!" Okay, then this makes it easier, which is worse.

It wouldn't really matter on Nauvis. Where this would be useful is on Gleba, where the stompers and strafers are *much* more pressing threats than then the hordes of wigglers that come with them. Definitely felt the lack of target priority when I was playing with my new spidertron toy this morning.

Nauvis: IMO this would make clearing the biter nests for future capture waaaayyy too easy. Currently probably the best strategy is to creep up with some power lines & laser turrets filtered for biters/spitters, take out the worms by rocket, and build a pattern of walls/pipes around each nest to block spawning. This is already easy enough with pre-space tech, but gets harder as the camps get larger.

Gleba: IMO this would reduce spider micro when clearing nests; players should be allowed to express their skill by using micro during combat. E.g. you could keep two spider squads, one armed with regular rockets for single-target DPS, the other with explosive rockets for AoE; depending on which kind of foes you're facing at any given moment, you could move different squads forward/backward.

Target priorities make perfect sense for static defence. For active combat, I don't see a good benefit to this proposal; it simply reduces depth.

I assumed this was included when targeting priority for turrets was added, and am disappointed to hear otherwise.

Well this is clearly an opinion, but to me "Creep up with power lines and laser turrets", "spider micro when clearing nests" both fall under the antithesis of factorio, a game about macro automation. "This automates clearing nests on Nauvis." Yes. Good. Rather, it further empowers the player to (pseudo-)automate this process. It's not like various ideas for a smarter splitter that gives a "free" solution to already solvable automation problems, it's a tool that lets the player control/automate something they currently don't control, and make decisions about how best to use that control.

My bias in all this is I already don't understand why half the combat tools in the game even exist, to me they seem obsolete next to the humble gun turret.