Factorio Forums

Hey, I'm new to modding Factorio (as in, I barely know Lua!), but I'm eager to get started. One idea I've got is for geothermal energy, with lots of stuff going on there... but the other is a mod that adds airplanes, airports, and automated flight. The latter is what this post is about (obviously).

This is only a draft, but I think I've covered most of the stuff I'll need. I just downloaded 0.8.8 so I can work on this mode. Once I have access to 0.9.x and the oil/fuel stuff, I'll be able to figure out the liquid fuel system and AvGas refining much better (probably with a refinery upgrade to also produce tar and aviation fuel), but until then airplanes will all run on coal. If you'd like to contribute to this mod, please let me know.

1. Most importantly, the Flight research will unlock a biplane. Just a simple propeller driven airplane, nothing fancy. It's not terribly durable, but as long as you take off and land on smooth, open ground, you'll be okay. The biplane will need a 2x15 strip of smooth, open surface for takeoff and landing if you're accurate with it, but movement on rough terrain will damage any airplane. The normal walking keys determine engine speed, braking, and turning, while there will be a new key binding to determine whether you're trying to fly or land (used only for takeoff and landing). Like every vehicle, the airplane has a storage space that can be accessed by inserters. An airplane in flight won't be touched by biters (even large ones), but worm acid will still hurt it. Biplanes will run on coal if necessary (0.8.x), or refined oil if available (0.9.x +), and do contribute slightly to local pollution when in motion.
1a. Flight research also unlocks new research: Airports.

2. The Airports research will unlock asphalt, a paving surface made (in 0.8.x) from stone and coal, or (in 0.9.x + with the oil and fluids system) stone and a fluid derived from crude or refined oil (basically, tar, or I could let you can use oil directly if necessary until the fractionating tower can be worked on). You can use asphalt to cover rough terrain and produce a smooth, flat surface ready for airplane use, or just for parking your spare car. It will also unlock the hangar, a building where you can house, refuel, and repair your airplane (or car!) without an inserter or repair kit. Hangars will have space for fuel, repair materials, and one airplane (or car) each. Airplanes which crash or break will spill most of their contents on the ground.
2a. Airports research also unlocks new research: Control Towers, and Jet Airplanes.

3. The Control Towers research will unlock airport control towers. These buildings can be used like train stations, to define an automated airport. Airplanes will automatically fly (in curved lines) between the airports they're scheduled to travel to. Note that an automated airport will need an extra-long asphalt strip next to the control tower, as automated airplanes won't automatically move between runways to ensure sufficient room for maneuvers. They also won't perform any necessary repairs for you, meaning you'll want repair drones or other automated units nearby, or occasionally check in yourself to make sure your airplanes are healthy. An airplane will be allowed to have only one control tower in its route, and will take off and land at that tower, turning away from the tower as it leaves the runway each time.
3a. A control tower with a radar next to it will be able to handle multiple airplanes in its airspace, letting you mark a waiting zone in which airplanes will circle while waiting to land. The radar must be powered. Too many airplanes waiting to land may cause them to run out of fuel or crash into each other, however.
3b. Control Towers research also unlocks new research: Bombers.

4. The Jet Airplanes research will let you build a jet plane instead of a cheap biplane. The jet will be more durable, carry more material, and have a higher top speed, with a higher material cost and a need for more fuel. You can also now get Aviation Fuel (AvGas) from your fuel, increasing the amount of energy your airplanes get per fluid unit, at the cost of a larger initial investment. Because jets have a higher top speed, shorter runways are riskier to use, so you'll need to add to your airport strips.

5. The Bombers research will need both Control Towers and Explosives research. In return, it will let you build a large bomber plane which needs a wide, long airstrip (though it'll still fit in a normal hangar). This airplane can carry one or more bombs, conventional-style area-effect explosives that will let you strike enemies from the sky. Bombers are only slightly resistant to acid, but they'll have a lot more health than a biplane, so they should last through a bombing run, but you'll probably have to repair your bombers after every air strike. Automated strikes via control tower mean you don't have to be in the bomber for a flyover; just load your plane, mark your target(s) (probably with a special map interface) and click the launch button.
5a. Bombers research also unlocks new research: Jet Bombers, Bomb explosion upgrade, and Bomb hangar capacity.

6. The Jet Bombers research will require both Bombers and Jet Airplanes. It does what it says on the tin. A Jet bomber will be tougher, faster, and much less vulnerable to worm acid. On the downside, it will be much more expensive in terms of resources and fuel.

7. Bomb explosion upgrade research will increase explosion power and damage radius for your bombs. There will be 5 levels.

8. Bomb hangar capacity research will increase the number of bombs your bombers and jet bombers can carry by +1 each level. There will be 5 levels, for a total of 6 bombs per plane when maxed out.

Thanks for reading, and again, if you'd like to help make this mod with me, please let me know!

Well. Then we need only one mod for streets/cars and one for ships and we have an open traffic tycoon deluxe clone.

Some points (you asked for the hits! )
- 2 x 15 is ridiculous small. Compared with the trains a very, very, very small airport is about 6x35. A normal is about 12x60 and a big , hmm 20x120. This is huge! But otherwise I don't see a chance to land by myself.
- the speed: a airplane should be about 3-4 times faster than the current train. This is fast. You have no overview, you see nothing...
- with jets you need to move all the time. And need big airports. How about helicopters?
- with the bombers you shift the balance very strong in your direction.
- it would be fun to fly far away, place an airport (while sitting in the airplane) and then land on it.

I don't really have a good idea how areas are measured. To me, 2x15 is measured in building tiles, meaning 2x15 transport belts would fit in that. You're right, that would be very small, your measures are probably much better.

All planes would be fairly fast, but not ridiculously so. The biplane would top out at the speed of the car, the bomber maybe twice as fast, jets should be much faster (up to 4 times the speed of a train engine at max). No airplane (prop or jet) should ever stop moving while in flight, you'd stall and crash. Running out of fuel means at best you glide to a crash landing.

You shouldn't be able to build anything while airborne in an airplane, but a large cargo helicopter might be able to lay down buildings. I'm not sure about asphalt, it's not precisely a building as such, but it would probably have to be treated as one in the game engine (like transport belts are), rather than a terrain type (which would make more sense but mean you can't remove it once laid). Maybe a side tree of research: Helicopters (for a personal heli), leading to Cargo helicopters (for hauling materials and building things). They'd use a lot of fuel while airborne, have a smaller cargo capacity, but be able to hover in place.

Look at rockets if you want to balance your bombs -- it takes 15 normal rockets (without damage upgrades) to take out a large worm, and several just to take out a big biter! Even the explosive (area-effect) rockets aren't all that great without a damage boost. By the time you've researched enough bomb damage upgrades to get really effective, you've probably already got armor, rockets, and a shotgun that can easily take on enemy bases with only a few turrets for backup. The big thing is that this is a potentially automated attack. Still vulnerable to worm acid, which you'll have to repair unless you want to lose your bombers (and their ordnance), and fuel is an important consideration. The player's armor (even power armor) doesn't use fuel, and jet bombers shouldn't run on anything less than AvGas.

Zeeth_Kyrah wrote:I don't really have a good idea how areas are measured.

Use the debug mode. Press F5. The numbers in the left upper corner are the coordinates. A tile is the integer part.

All planes would be fairly fast, but not ridiculously so. The biplane would top out at the speed of the car, the bomber maybe twice as fast, jets should be much faster (up to 4 times the speed of a train engine at max). No airplane (prop or jet) should ever stop moving while in flight, you'd stall and crash. Running out of fuel means at best you glide to a crash landing.

I won't bring you down or away from that idea, but really: don't you think that an helicopter is easier and don't you think, that the game needs for a useful flight with the jets a new view-mode, that is a mix between map and normal?

You shouldn't be able to build anything while airborne in an airplane,

But you will. Use the train and you see that you can build while driving. I place long tracks like so.

The rest: well, I see you made many thoughts. Ignore mine and just begin.

The problem with building in an airplane is the same reason you're safe from biters. The train is on the ground, an airborne vehicle is not.

Thanks for the tip about debug mode! And thanks for your vote of confidence. I'll see what I can get put together, and then I'll put this mod in the WiP forum.

Sounds great , though I believe you will find significant limitations with the current API when you start implementing some things.
I'm very interested in how you manage with this and if you have any questions feel free to ask, I'll do what I can to help out