Factorio Forums

TL;DR:

Reduce the weight of Space Platform Foundations and add weight to individual entities.

What?

• Reduce the weight of Space Platform Foundation from 20000 to 2000.
• Add EntityPrototype::weight.
• Default: this.weight = 18000 * area_of(round_up(this.collision_box))
• Override the default for certain entities we would like to make lighter (Solar Panels? Belts? Inserters?) or heavier (Reactors? Cargo Bays? Foundries?).

Why?

2.1.21 recently changed the Space Platform thrust-drag formula, making weight (instead of width) the main limiting factor on acceleration and top speed.

But only Space Platform Foundations and the Space Platform Hub have weight. The latter is mandatory, so whatever, but the former is one-dimensional.

I dislike that 9 tiles occupied by a Solar Panel vs. a Cargo Bay vs. 9 Transport Belts all have the same weight. I think that Solar Panels need to be relatively light to remain even vaguely competitive against Nuclear an Fusion Reactors. I dislike that I feel that I MUST remove every tile of Space Platform Foundation that doesn't have an entity placed on top.

I think that individual weight properties for each entity will give both Wube and modders more levers to pull to improve the variety of space platform designs.

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HeliGungir wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2026 4:39 pmI think that Solar Panels need to be relatively light to remain even vaguely competitive against Nuclear an Fusion Reactors.

Nuclear reactors require a logistics train to Nauvis; fusion requires a logistics train to Aquilo. Solar panels have the inherent advantage of not having a logistics train.

Yes, if what you want is the fastest platform possible, nuclear or fusion is the way to go. But it's not like you can't hit 500kps with a solar-powered platform. And efficiency modules are quite a boon here. Especially coupled with speed modules and/or beacons.

HeliGungir wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2026 4:39 pm I dislike that I feel that I MUST remove every tile of Space Platform Foundation that doesn't have an entity placed on top.

Even if you feel like you should, you can still just not do that. It is 100% OK if your platform is not able to achieve the maximum possible speed it could achieve if you optimized it more.

HeliGungir wrote: Thu Oct 08, 2026 4:39 pm I think that individual weight properties for each entity will give both Wube and modders more levers to pull to improve the variety of space platform designs.

This feels like an extremely premature statement. We've had this system for barely 48 hours; we haven't had nearly enough experience with the system to argue that there need to be "more levers to pull to improve the variety of space platform designs".

I don't think the effort to give each and every entity it's own weight would be worth the benefit. it is reasonable to assume the the platform foundation carries the main bulk of the weight.

In terms of cargobays and items I do agree with you, though.
A legendary cargo bay has 50 inventory slots for 16 tiles, effectively 3.125 stacks per tile.
If you have a couple cargo bays on your ship I could see how it should make a difference whether those are filled or not. Think about it: One of those stacks could be 100 space platform foundations. The fact that this does not count into weight at all is very weird to me.

Basically it would be good if an empty cargo bay (and by extension an item-less foundation, below the cargo bay) should be buffed, i.e. have a lower mass/weight than it currently does. But a filled one should be worse than it currently is.

Items on belts and in production buildings could also be ignored, in my opinion.