Factorio Forums

overhaul the pump system

What ?

change name "offshore pump" to "water intake"
change function: it no longer pumps water, it only enables access to the water-ressource

to have water running in pipes, following needs to be attached to each other:
water intake <-> (optional pipes) <-> pump <-> pipes <-> ...

replace the existing "pump" by three new items "pump_1" "pump_2" and "pump_3"
(similar to the assembly machines)

pump_1:
available from the beginning
low material costs of ealy game materials for assembling it
can handle fluids but not gasses
runs on coal (same as e.g. burner inserter)
has low throughput
has a high pollution value
is one of the item required to start coal based electric power generation, by pumping water from the water intake to the boilers

pump_2:
requires research
medium material costs of medium game materials for assembling it
can handle fluids AND gasses
runs on electric power, medium power consumption
has medium throughput
has a medium pollution value
is the item getting available when setting up oil processing

pump_3:
requires research
high material costs of late game materials for assembling it
can handle fluids AND gasses
runs on electric power, high power consumption
has high throughput
has a low pollution value
is the item getting available at late game for mega-fabs
( maybe: is the only pump type capable of handling the "heat item" from the uran power supply,
pumping heat from the nuclear reactors to the heat exchangers)

Why ?

Makes the game more consistent.
I always wonder how the offshore pump is working without any kind of power supplay.

WHY do you think it increases the value of Factorio as a game?

Adds more resreach items & Enables one more path of progression,
thus makes the game more interesting & complex

Pumping heat from a reactor makes no sense logically unless your output is a significant heat sink (like the atmosphere). If you can do that, you might as well pump heat from the atmosphere into your exchangers.

That's why I put this specific proposal in brackets and added a maybe

But you are right.
Replacing a offshore pump which doesn't need any energy source
by heat that doesn't move without motivation from a pump,
is a step backwards somehow

opa_in_the_fab wrote: Tue Feb 02, 2021 8:22 pm But you are right.
Replacing a offshore pump which doesn't need any energy source
by heat that doesn't move without motivation from a pump,
is a step backwards somehow

Ya, we already had that discussion. The offshore pump needs no energy, because it would make the game too complicated for new players. There are mods, which already mod this into that direction. As the whole suggestion can be implemented as mod.