0.16 changes
Posted: Sun Dec 17, 2017 3:02 pm
Hi,
I really like most of the 0.16 update, however there are three changes I really dislike and I would like to request / suggest an option to, if we can't have a full roll-back on these changes which would be preferabele, have an option in the menu to turn these features on or off as we please.
Here are the three changes I would like this option for:
Cliffs -
They add no real value to game-play as they are solely there for aesthetic, and some would argue hinderous, reasons. That doesn't make the game more fun, it just makes it more frustrating as you now have to spend time dealing with arbitrary obstacles instead of designing great factories. Yes there are trees that also sometimes "block" progression but they at least serve a purpose. They provide wood, an easy to acquire fuel and building material, that you need to do certain early game things to progress. But later they are no longer a real obstacle as blueprints and robots make trees virtually a non existent entity. Same goes for rocks. However with cliffs, you don't have that. They will always be in the way of what you want to build as they cannot be conveniently removed by robots by just placing down a blue print or marking them for removal. Also they don't provide anything to be used in the game, giving their existence even less meaning. Unless you are building up to a 3D version of the game (or view) they make absolutely no sense.
Train destination decisions (aka Train stop penalty is applied when exiting the block with it instead of entering which should prevent searching for long paths just before destination train stop.) -
I have to admit I was somewhat confused by the phrasing here. But after testing it seems this means that trains will no longer decide to go to a train station with the same name if it is a seemingly arbitrary length away. As an example, my unloading area is still working fine (stations next to each other) and the trains go to which ever station is unoccupied at the time, showing that they are indeed capable of changing their destination based on station availability. However when it comes to the several copper mining stations I have all over the map, the trains have now apparently no intention of going anywhere but the closest loading area creating giant traffic jams and grinding everything to a halt.
This is very counter-intuitive to what you would expect a train to do and what they have always done in the past.
Concrete -
This one, admittedly, is a less important one but still important enough for me to at least mention it here. The only reason for a large site to be covered by concrete (irl) is the have a nice smooth surface to work on. Things don't shake around as much and, depending on the needs of the site, can have other beneficial properties like noise reduction, high liquid absorption coefficients or, the opposite, extremely low absorption rate for easy cleaning.
One thing it always has in common is smoothness. Having the concrete look like "normal" stones makes it much less aesthetically pleasing then the smooth look it used to have. And much less industrial-like. Concrete is supposed to have an homogeneous smoothed out look. That is it's purpose.
Thanks for reading and keep up the otherwise fantastic job you're doing.
I really like most of the 0.16 update, however there are three changes I really dislike and I would like to request / suggest an option to, if we can't have a full roll-back on these changes which would be preferabele, have an option in the menu to turn these features on or off as we please.
Here are the three changes I would like this option for:
Cliffs -
They add no real value to game-play as they are solely there for aesthetic, and some would argue hinderous, reasons. That doesn't make the game more fun, it just makes it more frustrating as you now have to spend time dealing with arbitrary obstacles instead of designing great factories. Yes there are trees that also sometimes "block" progression but they at least serve a purpose. They provide wood, an easy to acquire fuel and building material, that you need to do certain early game things to progress. But later they are no longer a real obstacle as blueprints and robots make trees virtually a non existent entity. Same goes for rocks. However with cliffs, you don't have that. They will always be in the way of what you want to build as they cannot be conveniently removed by robots by just placing down a blue print or marking them for removal. Also they don't provide anything to be used in the game, giving their existence even less meaning. Unless you are building up to a 3D version of the game (or view) they make absolutely no sense.
Train destination decisions (aka Train stop penalty is applied when exiting the block with it instead of entering which should prevent searching for long paths just before destination train stop.) -
I have to admit I was somewhat confused by the phrasing here. But after testing it seems this means that trains will no longer decide to go to a train station with the same name if it is a seemingly arbitrary length away. As an example, my unloading area is still working fine (stations next to each other) and the trains go to which ever station is unoccupied at the time, showing that they are indeed capable of changing their destination based on station availability. However when it comes to the several copper mining stations I have all over the map, the trains have now apparently no intention of going anywhere but the closest loading area creating giant traffic jams and grinding everything to a halt.
This is very counter-intuitive to what you would expect a train to do and what they have always done in the past.
Concrete -
This one, admittedly, is a less important one but still important enough for me to at least mention it here. The only reason for a large site to be covered by concrete (irl) is the have a nice smooth surface to work on. Things don't shake around as much and, depending on the needs of the site, can have other beneficial properties like noise reduction, high liquid absorption coefficients or, the opposite, extremely low absorption rate for easy cleaning.
One thing it always has in common is smoothness. Having the concrete look like "normal" stones makes it much less aesthetically pleasing then the smooth look it used to have. And much less industrial-like. Concrete is supposed to have an homogeneous smoothed out look. That is it's purpose.
Thanks for reading and keep up the otherwise fantastic job you're doing.