Factorio Forums

So does anyone else feel that suit solar panels suck, and fusion reactors are the only option and make the first power armor usless and the MK 1 kinda lackluster? Can't they add a middle ground like a large solar panel that take up 4 spots but acts like 10 little ones, like MK 2 batteries, to add to the modular and MK1 power armor.

Search for, and necro old posts before making a new one in the future.

Uhm, they kinda upgraded the solar panels significantly. Like, they went from ~1/6th of a reactor to roughly 1/2th of a reactor. 160kw to 480kw out of 750kw.
The modular armor isn't nearly as crappy as it used to be, because it doesn't use blue circuits.
Try the new version now. Back before when I buffed solar panels 3x they were fine, so given that is vanilla now, it should still be fine.

They just buffed the solar panels to 30kW. That's enough for static equipment like night vision and exoskeletons. If you put in a ton of them they might make some other stuff usable too for a short time

The whole power armor energy generation should be overhauled. Some large burner generator would be nice. And the portable fusion generator doesn't fit at all with the other tech. It should be replaced by a portable nuclear reactor, that - if it does not consume fuel cells - should need them in the recipe

Yea yea, I'm working on updating my mod.


Hey, at least we can support a Leggs equipment in basic modular armor. you only need 7 solar panels instead of 20, so it only takes up 15 slots instead of the old 28. Which was more than 25. Plus you got slots for batteries or shields or w.e. left over. Its awesome.

The PSP got a very sorely needed buff. The power went up 3x, and the cost ALSO went down. Now it needs You can now get about 3.5 new PSPs for the cost of the old one.

Ranakastrasz wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:56 pm Search for, and necro old posts before making a new one in the future.

Uhm, they kinda upgraded the solar panels significantly. Like, they went from ~1/6th of a reactor to roughly 1/2th of a reactor. 160kw to 480kw out of 750kw.
The modular armor isn't nearly as crappy as it used to be, because it doesn't use blue circuits.
Try the new version now. Back before when I buffed solar panels 3x they were fine, so given that is vanilla now, it should still be fine.

Didn't even know this I thought they where still the same ad before

Serenity wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:58 pm They just buffed the solar panels to 30kW.

I try to soak up every bit of information about 0.17 and yet manage to miss out on some of the most interesting parts

This is essential, now the lower tier power armors will be a lot more viable.

I also agree that the portable fusion reactor doesn't really fit, unlimited power feels kinda cheaty to me. I would love to see a portable nuclear reactor that takes uranium fuel cells like his stationary brother, this has been discussed in the forums before though.

MoleOnDope wrote: Fri Mar 01, 2019 4:36 pm I try to soak up every bit of information about 0.17 and yet manage to miss out on some of the most interesting parts

This is essential, now the lower tier power armors will be a lot more viable.

I also agree that the portable fusion reactor doesn't really fit, unlimited power feels kinda cheaty to me. I would love to see a portable nuclear reactor that takes uranium fuel cells like his stationary brother, this has been discussed in the forums before though.

Yea. I'm kinda amused. I noticed the 3x buff to the solar panel, but totally missed the rocket range increase. I now have a score of 3 mods implemented into vanilla. (Mineable rocks, Pre-fusion, and rocket range. Ignoring big belt because everyone else was doing it, and technically they just redid the whole hotbar instead)

Ranakastrasz wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:56 pm Uhm, they kinda upgraded the solar panels significantly. Like, they went from ~1/6th of a reactor to roughly 1/2th of a reactor. 160kw to 480kw out of 750kw.
The modular armor isn't nearly as crappy as it used to be, because it doesn't use blue circuits.
Try the new version now. Back before when I buffed solar panels 3x they were fine, so given that is vanilla now, it should still be fine.

I would like to get automated construction before yellow science. Personal roboports use so much energy that buff is negligible. Even single fusion reactor is very weak if you build larger things and your batteries are soon empty and bots stop to recharge.

I have told that those portable solar panels can be used in some defense setup, even with 5*5 grid of modular armor, but I have never personally found any need for such function. From building point of view solar panels and modular armor are completely useless and I think most complainers think building and not defense.

Personal roboports use so much energy that buff is negligible.

But personal roboports don't use ANY energy. Robots deploy for free without any energy restriction. You merely have to hand crank them when they're done.

bobucles wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 1:45 pm

Personal roboports use so much energy that buff is negligible.

But personal roboports don't use ANY energy. Robots deploy for free without any energy restriction. You merely have to hand crank them when they're done.

Yea, but bug abuse doesn't count.

It's not a bug, it doesn't crash the game or take the player out of bounds. It's just an exploit of existing mechanics. It can just as easily be patched out as it could be added to the game Protips.

bobucles wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 2:58 pm It's not a bug, it doesn't crash the game or take the player out of bounds. It's just an exploit of existing mechanics. It can just as easily be patched out as it could be added to the game Protips.

True enough, but, well, when I see rule exploits that make no sense in-universe, like denying in Dota-type games, I always consider those bugs. If it becomes official like you said, or is patch, I don't care. Right now I consider it a bug.

I think what we could really use is some kind of charging interface to hook up to your main power grid. Then you could run on batteries when you're out and about, switching to solar if the batteries run dry.

xfir01 wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 3:06 pm I think what we could really use is some kind of charging interface to hook up to your main power grid. Then you could run on batteries when you're out and about, switching to solar if the batteries run dry.

Yep. Several mods do that, and they are pretty nice. That said, having to swap equipment out sucks.
Also also once you have the ability to charge from your power grid, the next step is to run a line of power to whatever you are attacking, kinda like laser turret creep, and using it to keep yourself charging. Not that that is bad, but eh.

Hannu wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:23 am I have told that those portable solar panels can be used in some defense setup, even with 5*5 grid of modular armor, but I have never personally found any need for such function. From building point of view solar panels and modular armor are completely useless and I think most complainers think building and not defense.

You seem committed to the idea that modular armor with personal roboports are useless, I assume it's a play style thing because I found them incredibly useful even when PSPs were 10kW. The cost is close to nothing and the benefit is way bigger than close to nothing.

I mostly play on Deathworld or Marathon Deathworld on otherwise default settings so it's hard to build too big too quickly. The portable roboports have large built in batteries which can take 10-20 minutes to charge but most the time I'm in my factory relying on the grid roboports so the portable roboports would fully charge up. Then I would go out building railways and outposts and stuff, and the roboport charge would normally last long enough to accomplish my goals, like building a railway to a new ore patch or adding a few 10s of MW of solar power. A lot of the work of the construction bots is deconstruction of obstacles. Very occasionally I'd have to resort to hoovering up construction bots. And then after my excursion it'd be back to base for the next hour tinkering on things, during which time the portable roboports would charge to full again, the flow of the game between doing stuff in factories and doing stuff in the wilderness meant the slow charge just didn't matter.

I'd also use combat setups, typically 1x roboport, 2x Energy Shield, 2x Battery, everything else PSP. This proved more than adequate for repairing the Tank (you only need 1 Roboport, and robots don't use any charge for short excursions so I'd actually get infinite endurance in terms of energy). It's also very useful in conjunction with the Flamethrower for burning down nests, admittedly the basic batteries don't last long in that case, but on Deathworld if you go genocidal vs the biters early in the game you don't accomplish much other than blowing out the evolution factor so I'd just burn down the odd nest that really has to go, and the batteries would last long enough for several nests. The combat endurance increase from having 2 energy shields over just heavy armor is really huge, it's not god-mode but you can take way more punishment.

This general setup would also be useful for repairing and rebuilding outposts which is more fiddly work than heavy work, 10 bots can quickly replace whatever the biters destroyed and do any needed repairs much more quickly than can be done by hand.

Overall my experience is that Personal Roboports and PSPs are very useful on worlds where biters are providing a constraint on expansion. 0.17 hasn't changed much for me, except now the battery charge never falls below green and I haven't had to resort to hoovering up bots even once. Also I found I had enough juice to use a Portable Laser and Exoskeleton (in Power Armor) even with just solar without the power ever getting low (in 0.16 I would use Exoskeleton on PSPs, but not Portable Laser), I also continued to use PSPs in PA2 for a while since they were providing enough juice to run my toys, I always use battery heavy setups, with between 4 and 8 MK II batteries, and once those batteries are charged rather long excursions are possible, and the batteries do charge up while I'm building up the factory.

Hannu wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 10:23 am

Ranakastrasz wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:56 pm Uhm, they kinda upgraded the solar panels significantly. Like, they went from ~1/6th of a reactor to roughly 1/2th of a reactor. 160kw to 480kw out of 750kw.
The modular armor isn't nearly as crappy as it used to be, because it doesn't use blue circuits.
Try the new version now. Back before when I buffed solar panels 3x they were fine, so given that is vanilla now, it should still be fine.

I would like to get automated construction before yellow science. Personal roboports use so much energy that buff is negligible. Even single fusion reactor is very weak if you build larger things and your batteries are soon empty and bots stop to recharge.

I have told that those portable solar panels can be used in some defense setup, even with 5*5 grid of modular armor, but I have never personally found any need for such function. From building point of view solar panels and modular armor are completely useless and I think most complainers think building and not defense.

Hmm, after using modular armor I've felt It does help a lot. For combat you just need to pair it with bots and it's amazing, having only one roboport is limiting but not to the point of it being useless. Basic outpost maintenance and light building /teardowns are what it's really good at.

BlakeMW wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 4:54 pm You seem committed to the idea that modular armor with personal roboports are useless, I assume it's a play style thing because I found them incredibly useful even when PSPs were 10kW. The cost is close to nothing and the benefit is way bigger than close to nothing.

Maybe that "useless" was too generalized statement. Off course I can write only experiences based on my personal style and attitude and I understand that what is useless for me may be very useful for someone else.

You are right about usefulness for light works. I have tendency to build too big constructions when I get bots and be frustrated when they are not able to fulfill my expectations. And at next game I get some upgrades before I begin to use them. On the on hand I hope that game would force me to develop step by step. Marathon and deathworld settings would do it but if I have enough time to play such game I prefer complexity mods, like Bob's & Angel's (which give almost infinite amount of tech steps to skip over).

I remember when the grid system was first introduced to vehicles with 0.14. Rseding asked for ideas on what new equipment could be added to the game as possible mod options. IIRC, none of it happened.

Serenity wrote: Thu Feb 28, 2019 9:58 pm ...
The whole power armor energy generation should be overhauled. Some large burner generator would be nice. And the portable fusion generator doesn't fit at all with the other tech. It should be replaced by a portable nuclear reactor, that - if it does not consume fuel cells - should need them in the recipe

I also feel the same with you. Portable fusion reactor is much more powerful (when compared to portable solar panel), and looks too good because the energy comes for free.
Also, there is no corresponding fusion reactor in a "building" form. If there is a "miniaturized" version available, I don't see any reason why a "normal" version cannot be made.

I also feel some burner generator equipment and portable nuclear reactor equipment should exist in game. So I made my own in my Schall Tank Platoon mod.
If you test it and look into my code, you can find no event scripting or extra API are needed. I believe this should be in base game, not in my mod.