Friday Facts #187 - Space science & 0.15 graphics

[Alice3173]

I thought we would be getting an orbital/space platform eventually. From a previous Friday facts https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-74 Is that no longer the plan? I had really had looked forward to this as the picture you guys posted looked so fun. The space Science to me look dull in comparison.

It's important to keep in mind that that Friday Facts was over two years ago so plans could have changed since then. The game seems to support multiple world areas though so it's completely possible for it to still be added in later though. There's one mod that has a basic underground area (Beyond maybe? I forget off the top of my head) as well as one called Factorissimo or something close to that which has factory buildings you can physically enter and both of those rely on new world areas.

[OmegaStorm720]

I really like the idea of the rocket finally getting a proper use in the game but I feel that the rocket brining down the science packs is not the right way to go. Maybe instead it could bring down moon rock or something else that is required in the construction of the science packs. If it is moon rock that it brings down maybe we could send up some miners too. Anyway that's just my opinion, hope this helps.

[vanatteveldt]

Shortly after the release of Win10, I determined that my next "upgrade" is going to be a full-on jump to Linux. It's going to be a lot of work, but I value my privacy highly, and despise the SAAS "You buy it, then you keep paying a subscriber fee for it" model that Microsoft is pursuing. They have earned "I wouldn't pee on their data center fire" status. I'm not sure if you have a similar saying in Europe.
So to upgrade I'm looking at a whole new tower, new OS, major file transfer, and several software changes (I can get Pale Moon on Linux, but the office and graphics programs will have to be re-learned, plus I'll have to mess with Wine and emulators and stuff to run games that I don't have a Linux version for). Big big headache.

OT, but I think you'll find it much less painful than you think. dosbox will run your really old games probably even better than on XP (If you're old school enough to enjoy games like 1830 or Colonization), and I've found using wine to be easy for software that they list as supported. LibreOffice is mostly fine and quite similar to older versions of MS office, only gripe I have is with compatability for complex documents, but that's as much an MS problem as a linux one. I use ubuntu+i3, but that's a bit niche, you should be happy with any of the major distros out there. I'm a very light graphics user, but I've found gimp to be quite similar in working as photoshop (layers, tools, filters etc). The community is mostly quite friendly as long as you show that you've actually spend a couple minutes googling your problem before posting.

That said, It might be a good idea to get a cheap used computer and install linux on it first to just play around a bit, and you can later use that as a file/media server (or as a learning device for your kids when they grow old enough - I "used" computers from around 4 that only had a text interface (ZX sinclair -> Acorn Atom -> Acorn Archimedes), so that might be earlier than you think

[maniak1349]

I hope that 0.15 will have a small ammount of bugs and devs will have their well deserved rest. Great job guys! It may be only the 3rd longest patch by time, but it's probably the most feature packed one. Here's only things that were mentioned in FFF's and there's probably much more stuff that was not:

0.15

=== ui/visuals ===
High res graphics introduction (partial)
New resource graphics
Updated concrete visuals
Gui reskin and possible improvements / UI rewrite
Stations colors
Chem. plant recepie colors

=== performance/usability ===
Update opts. (belts + pipes)
Circuit network opts.
decoratives opt.
chunks update opt.
"Death by a thousand cuts" (up to 2x overall)
Modded load-map perf.
Multithreaded update (intro)
-
Mod loading/downloading automation
Mod settings/Mod gui, unification~ of ingame mods' UI
Blueprint preservation (Export/import blueprints)
Kill Statistics
New map (with different modes)
Minimal mode

=== balance/content ===
Nuclear power (Pu ore, processing, reactors, new boilers, steam gen. mk.2
Research Revolution (AA-free science, 6 types of SP, Infinite research (upgrades))
Liquid wagon + universal barrelling + new pump, Fluid values x 10
New terrain
Circuit network improvements and optimisations
Programmable Speaker
Vehicle equipment
New NVG
PvP (configurable)
Fighting rebalance (169)
Difficulty settings
Deannoyance tweaks (160)
Scenario pack extension (Wave defense and PvP mode)
First set of interactive mini tutorials

A quick question about mod automation - it was stated that system already in place and will load and download (if necessary) mods required by server/savegame. Will there be a support for having installed (as in "stored on the hard drive and available for automatical or manual switch in-game") multiple versions of the same mod at the same time? If it is not in 0.15 then is there plans for that feature in later versions? Thanks.

I thought we would be getting an orbital/space platform eventually. From a previous Friday facts https://www.factorio.com/blog/post/fff-74 Is that no longer the plan? I had really had looked forward to this as the picture you guys posted looked so fun. The space Science to me look dull in comparison.

It was previously stated that space platforms will not be part of the game at least 'till after the version 1.0 and will probably be in a form of expansion. There are some mods that utilise the multi-surface mechanics already though.

[pr0n]

I value my privacy highly, and despise the SAAS

The fact that you're using XP in 2017 says otherwise also I promise you aren't that interesting, setup whitelist firewall rules if you truly value it anyway and there is no windows subscription at all...

[drmason13]

One suggestion for the rocket/satellites that would add to game play:

Have two satellite types:

Explorer and Destroyer

An explorer would provide radar type functionality, but over a far greater area (simplified, it could cover the whole map, more complex, you could deploy the satellite over a specific area of the map.

A Destroyer satellite would be loaded with weapons that could be called upon until depleted. The two could be used in conjunction to clear out distant parts of the map we want to expand to.

Everything looks great - looking forward to tank cars for hauling oil around!

Sounds like a great idea! Luckily we can mod that pretty easily. Launch a satellite with radars = radar satellite
Launch a satellite with tactical nuclear rockets = destroyer satellite!
A nice touch would be for the ammo to depend on the number of tactical nuclear rockets you supplied.

[doppelEben]

well done guys... really... erm.. just.... awesome and absolutely stunning work over there.

But just a question by looking at the map-screenshot: no labels in 0.15 as mentioned in an earlier FFF?

[IronCartographer]

well done guys... really... erm.. just.... awesome and absolutely stunning work over there.

But just a question by looking at the map-screenshot: no labels in 0.15 as mentioned in an earlier FFF?

From the linked album in the FFF: http://i.imgur.com/dvHwQWa.jpg

While that factory demonstrates the space science, it actually predates some features like nuclear and the fluid wagon.

While we're on the subject, that screenshot is the finest, densest bowl of pasta I've ever seen.

[hoho]

Belting the science center will be challenging with so much different science packs though...

Break out the rainbow belts!
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=28414

I've built belt systems that can deliver a total of 12 different types of items *per-side* of a 3-tile wide building without requiring rainbow belts

[aRatNamedSammy]

i bet im gonna be late at work on wednesday
lolll

[POJO]

Wohooo

Mentioning the self-replicating wall, we built one in our last megabase with a different design:

image

the_wall.png (4.85 MiB) Viewed 7749 times

It's super expensive and does not built full automatically but delivers the ressources to build and maintain it, except for yellow and purple chests.
The chests transfer items between separate networks, so you have lots of buffer storage, even with limited chests. Roboports are build to insert 50 of each robot max.
To build it just place the blueprint and as soon as the roboport is done by your own construction robots, throw 3-5 logisic bots in it which starts the entire cell.
As long as you have the roboport, inserter, blue chests and red wire in the logistic request and enough supply at the begin, you can build this forever (we have something around 300-400 of these cells around the entire map ).

[Green_Baron]

Amazing news !

You started the hypetrain. If something goes wrong now they'll walk up on you with pitchforks in their hands

You said you made blue science less complex. I personally never found it too complex, mainly a logistical problem to get the 4 ingredients to the same place at the same time.

Looking forward to the release, good news, great job, nice game !

[mcwaffles2003]

Is there any chance of increasing the volume held by storage tanks in the future? The idea that barreling liquids compacts them for storage is really counter intuitive, unrealistic, and makes getting storage tanks a pointless effort for the most part

[joon]

Is there any chance of increasing the volume held by storage tanks in the future? The idea that barreling liquids compacts them for storage is really counter intuitive, unrealistic, and makes getting storage tanks a pointless effort for the most part

1 or 10 units acid per 10 ore ... keep in mind that fluids were multiplied by some number, so it's really small amount

[brunzenstein]

you can't say it better then
ShredGuy99: https://youtu.be/xbc5NgdHwTk

[joon]

Friday Facts #187 - Space science & 0.15 graphics

I really hope they change it to Rocket science...

[mcwaffles2003]

Is there any chance of increasing the volume held by storage tanks in the future? The idea that barreling liquids compacts them for storage is really counter intuitive, unrealistic, and makes getting storage tanks a pointless effort for the most part

1 or 10 units acid per 10 ore ... keep in mind that fluids were multiplied by some number, so it's really small amount

Right, but i believe the volumes of both barrels and storage tanks would also be multiplied by 10 as well then. Im asking for the ratio of storage quantities for barrels and storage tanks to change
i.e. barrels hold 25, now supposedly 250, units where storage tanks hold 2500, now supposedly 25000, units so at the end of the day nothing changed
To me it would make sense that the storage of a storage tank should at least be 9x what a steal chest can hold, since 9 chests fit in the same area as 1 storage tank.
Thinking realistically about it storing barrels are not nearly as compact as a tank of homogenous fluid.
So at the end Im hoping to see barrel stack size reduced, or more wishfully, storage tank volume increased

idk, its just weird how a chest can fold 320 barrels and 8000 units of fluids in a 1x1 space where as a facility specifically made for holding fluids holds only 2500 units of fluids in a 3x3 area. As they are now, storage tanks are surely pointless

[commandoby]

Это правильно, что у твердотопливных котлов дым выходит из решётки, а не из трубы?

Is it correct that in solid fuel boilers smoke leaves the grate, and not from the pipe?

[posila]

Это правильно, что у твердотопливных котлов дым выходит из решётки, а не из трубы?

Is it correct that in solid fuel boilers smoke leaves the grate, and not from the pipe?

The screenshots were taken on a build that had smoke spawn positions bugged.

[Morivy]

When the inserters textures are updated?