Less annoying trees/forests

[PaulV]

I would like to propose the following changes to how trees are interacted with, both when it comes to movement and building:

1. Trees will no longer block movement, but instead give a movement penalty (if you are overlapping multiple trees, this penalty stacks). This will make movement through dense forests far less frustrating, while maintaining a drawback. Enemies are also affected by this change, so they no longer have to fight their way through a forest to get to you. (Optionally, you could make it so that light enemies receive no movement penalty, medium ones do and heavy ones have the current behavior so they will still need to destroy the trees in their way (or maybe just clear the trees that they overlap with completely and receive a movement penalty for the rest).)
2. When placing buildings over trees, holding the mousebutton down will automatically first chop the trees that are in the way and then place the building once the area is cleared.

[FishSandwich]

I'm pretty sure number 2 is already possible, but number 1 I really like!

[PaulV]

I'm pretty sure number 2 is already possible

Yes and no. As far as I can tell, you can use the right mouse button to chop down trees while you are holding a building for placement. However if your mouse cursor isn't over all of the trees that are blocking your building, it will not cut all of them (and I also believe that using the regular chopping might chop trees that aren't actually blocking your building but are under your mouse cursor. I want to have the ability to chop exactly those trees that are in the way of the building I want to place. Also I want it to be seamless when I run through a forest holding my mouse button down to place (for example) a line of transport belts. I want the guy to automatically stop to chop any trees, then place the belt and then run along to the next spot and do the same, all while I just hold down the mouse button and hold a button to run in a direction. It will be a bit slower than placing belts on a stretch of clear ground, but otherwise just as easy.

[FishSandwich]

Ah, gotcha. So yes, actually I really like that idea too.

[DukeAl]

Having the mouse in the right position and holding both mousebuttons works for transport belts (everything that is just 1x1).
So you can build your belt and chop down trees in one go.

[bobingabout]

thats not quite true either, most trees contain fractions of a tile, EG, it might be 2 tiles wide, but centered on one, so it takes up 3 tiles total, being 1 and 2 half tiles either side.
if your mouse cursor doesn't actually cover the side of the tile containing the tree overlap, you don't mine it, and therefore can't place the belt/wall, and just run stright past it.

[ShenJingBing]

Totally on board with this. The trees feel really out of place in terms of gameplay.

It should either be faster or easier to chop. It's just annoying when your map is filled with massive forests and you first have to clear 1k+ trees to start a basic facility. After two times encountering and playing maps with massive forests I now just keep reloading until I get a map with almost no forests. The chopping itself takes quite some time but even more annoying is when you don't get the hitbox right exactly. It's frustrating...

[ssilk]

I my opinion forests are good and bad.

Good, cause they hinder the natives effecively to run directly to your turrets. The turrets get more time to fire. Good, cause they suck off the pollution. Good, cause it give you plenty amount of wood and energy. Good, cause it hinders other oposite players to built stuff.

Bad cause when building it takes you too much time. Bad, cause not all wood is needed. Bad cause it blocks your ways. This last one is the topic, but as you see, there is much more.

I thought a lot about this and I think we need three or four options.

1. Go through the forest.
In the early game this is needed, cause the trees block. The devs thought about slowing down the character, instead of blocking. Would be quite useful and I think this is the way to handle this issue.

2. Make a path through the forest.
The devs will definitely make something like the personal construction roboport. See the last FFF for example.
But there is something missing, before you got construction robots. I think to some kind of equipment. A tool, which let's you cut trees and clean other obstacles.

3. Built in the forest.
There have been quite good suggestions here: Trees etc. will be automatically cut, before placing. I think that would solve it.

4. Get totally rid of some forest.
There is of course the deconstruction. But also here: You need the bots first.
I think to fire. Place some benzin canisters, fire them and the forest will burn completely. There might be complex algorithms, which calculate the temperature, the wind influences also the fire.
Big pollution, It distracts the natives from your position. Useful, in such cases, when they come too near to get some time.

[ssilk]

Sorry for double-post. There is another thread about this theme: https://forums.factorio.com/forum/vie ... =23&t=8758
It's about the collision with vehicles.