Make uranium centrifuge use a constant instead of chance

[thereaverofdarkness]

My suggestion is to use something like the productivity bar to both display how long until the centrifuge gives you one U-235 as well as keep a very specific ratio rather than the current way which is chance-based. In real life it is a very specific ratio.

Also, the ratio is determined by characteristics of the accretion disk during planetary formation and the age of the planet. It is unlikely that this alien planet would have the same ratio as Earth, so I ask that the ratio be made significantly different just to make the planet seem more alien. Sometimes it seems too much like Earth with Biters. What ratio really should depend on game balance. I haven't been running my uranium factory for very long so I can't say but I heard some folks complaining they aren't getting enough U-235. One person said they had too much but that might be an indication that the Kovarex Enrichment Process is too strong.

[AndrewIRL]

rather than the current way which is chance-based.

If by "chance" you mean random then it definitely isn't, the entire game is deterministic meaning - no random chance. It can perfectly predict state across multi-player games because if it doesn't then you get a desync, as below:

As you may or may not know, our multiplayer code uses Deterministic Lockstep to synchronize clients. "Deterministic lockstep is a method of synchronizing a game from one computer to another by sending only the inputs that control that game, rather than networking the state of the objects in the game itself". You can read more about that in this article.

https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-188

It is unlikely that this alien planet would have the same ratio as Earth, so I ask that the ratio be made significantly different just to make the planet seem more alien.

Before looking it up, how many people actually knew the ratio of U235/U238 typically found on Earth? In a million players there might be 1 or 2 who are familiar with nuclear fuel processing. Most players (including me) aren't going to have a clue.

If you want gameplay vs realism then look no further than Kovarex enrichment - there is no such process in the real world because it transmutes an element (alchemy) which is impossible to do in volume outside a nuclear reactor.

[thereaverofdarkness]

If by "chance" you mean random then it definitely isn't, the entire game is deterministic meaning - no random chance.

Yet somehow my centrifuges which all went online at the same time and have been running at the same rate produce U-235 at different times. It can be deterministic and still randomized.

If you want gameplay vs realism then look no further than Kovarex enrichment - there is no such process in the real world because it transmutes an element (alchemy) which is impossible to do in volume outside a nuclear reactor.

That isn't necessarily true. Uranium 235 has fewer neutrons than Uranium 238. It would require an energy input to make U-238 lose neutrons and become U-235, but that energy can theoretically be provided by the decay of U-235. The process does not betray the law of conservation of energy because you're still using up Uranium and converting it to lighter elements with a net loss of mass.

[DaveMcW]

The most unrealistic gameplay element is uranium ore processing. It randomly makes 100% pure U-235 out of rocks.

Most governments would kill for that kind of technology.

[AndrewIRL]

The most unrealistic gameplay element is uranium ore processing. It randomly makes 100% pure U-235 out of rocks.

Most governments would kill for that kind of technology.

FTFY

ALL governments would kill for that kind of technology.