Friday Facts #304 - Small bugs; Big changes

[FactorioBot]

Here it is! (beep boop)

https://factorio.com/blog/post/fff-304

[Gergely]

Oh noooo...

This, is also why I'm waiting for stable before I start my free play session.

The changes to the basic oil processing are somewhat nice still.

[Koub]

Oh YESSSSSSSS them changes on the basic oil processing <3

[maxerature]

I really like these changes. I still think that it might be better to allow users to choose which inputs and outputs to use for oil. Setting configuration would make builds much neater.

Overall, I really like these changes. Especially the oil change, as I often abandoned maps when I got to oil because of the difficulty spike.

[ikiris]

Really hate the oil processing changes.
Thank you for not reverting the inserter change, the pause if miss is a much better solution.

LOVE LOVE LOVE the beam changes. That is straight up beautiful by comparison.

[Ojelle]

Lovely! I did not know the obstacle avoiding rail builder was removed, glad to hear it stays in the game.

[ThorsDragon]

It's been awhile- I've been distracted with other games. Sad, I know.

Just wanted to pop in and say THANK YOU for keeping the updates coming!!!!! I still very much appreciate them, and am always excited to hear about Factorio updates!!

[AnarCon]

looks like great changes, only one i might find a bit contriversial is the oil change, keep up the good work boys (n girls)

[Serenity]

Not sure about the oil change. On the one hand it was indeed a huge difficulty jump. On the other hand it seems a bit too simple this way

I don't think lasers need even more DPS. They are already ridiculously powerful.
Looks great though

[SuperSandro2000]

And now combine light and heavy oil!!!

[rhynex]

just logged in to say that I hated the oil recipe change. there is no challenge left in oil processing.

[Termak]

I really dont agree with the oil change seems really blunt force help for the "difficulty" which its not.
Better change would be something which would help the slow learners to understand that the outputs will get stuck if not used and direct them to the advanced oil somehow.

[RockDeicide]

On the oil change:

1. The refinery now looks weird with new basic processing, it looks impractically big. It would be better to have 2 refineries: a basic one and advanced one. The former should be small and it should have a flare stack, while an advanced one shouldn't have a flare stack, but otherwise can remain the same as old refinery.
2. I don't see any changes to the ratios in the advanced oil processing and that means a lot more waste products to deal with when needing lubricant.

[Deadlock989]

Really surprised by the oil change. Feels like a completely bizarre retrograde dumb-down to be honest, coming out of the blue. Fortunately modding it back again won't be much work.

[BHakluyt]

The new lazer beams do look awesome!

While a release is pending for Monday, how about looking at a few quick changes? I came across the following issues since playing a lot again lately:
- Can we PLEASE get a shortcut key to toggle manual/automatic for a train when sitting in a train, I propose the J key.
- Since assembly machines can do all recipies now it seems some old logic still remains in the blueprint functionality. Placing a BP with lvl 3 assemblers over lvl 2 doesn't copy/carry over the recipies. It seems to work with lvl 1 and 2 being interchangeable but using an upgrade planner to downgrade a BP lvl 3 machine to lvl 2, and then later getting the technology said assembler was set to, doesn't copy/set the recipe.
- It seems that when a BP is having circuit wires for blue inserters it doesn't paste the wires if a yellow inserter was manually placed. Could BPs see yellow and blue inserters as same when pasting a BP over existing built stuff when it comes to circuit wires please?
- When placing a BP and there is stuff in the way we can hold SHIFT which place the BP over stuff. Can we get the same sort of functionality to make a BP work like an upgrade planner? Example holding Ctrl+blueprint would mark red belts for upgrade if the BP belts are blue.

I hope my requests are laid out logically and clear.

Thanks for being an awesome Dev team and bringing us this fantastic game.

Edit: I also don't like the change to the oil recipe. N00bs can read a wiki or look at a YT vid if they really struggle soooo much.

Edit 2: Oh I see wooden boxes CAN be connected with circuit wires. So why doesn't a BP of a blue inserter plus provider chest pasted over yellow inserter with wood chest not connect the wire? Can that be implemented with the point mentioned above regarding the yellow inserters with circuitry?

[Soggs]

I will be honest I do not like the change for the basic oil recipe. My biggest gripe is it teaching a bad lesson about how you make solid fuel efficiently. The new oil recipe forces you to make solid fuel from Petroleum until you have researched Advanced Oil Processing.

As it already is a lot of people do not know that Solid Fuel made from Light Oil is more efficient than making it from Heavy Oil or Petroleum. Also with the change to flame thrower ammo, there is not required use of Light Oil in the game any more. People will glance over it and just think well, why even have Light Oil crack everything down.

I can see the reasoning behind making oil simpler (esp after looking at over 500 whitelist tickets for Gridlock) but this change is teaching the wrong lessons.

There are in my opinion a few options to solve the problem:

1. Keep basic oil processing as it is but make it require sulfur instead of solid fuel.
2. Revert the change and add some basic cracking recipes that do not require water. I would move Advanced Oil Processing to purple science in that case. Also think about making a fluid priority splitter.
3. Change how solid fuel making is communicated. Add a tech for an improved recipe when making it from Light Oil.

[Zaflis]

I would be ok with the oil change. There's also one compromise i could think of that Basic Oil Processing would output light oil as well as petroleum. It would better prepare for the transition to advanced oil and let you use the right oil for solid fuel.

Edit: Also if chemical plants were allowed 4 module slots it would emphasize that you get more out of using oil cracking with productivity rather than just going full on basic oil in lategame.

AND i believe you have to change the ratio of oils in advanced oil processing to give more heavy oil.

[Cooldude2606]

The enlarged server description is nice; but name limits are still an issue when we use icons and colors.

Also possible hint at tags being used for something? Talking with some server owners we found it hard to think of reasons not to use tags beyound: array vs string proformace; tag searching; or a furture plan for tags.

As always a great friday fact, maybe we need to find some more bugs for them to fix to keep them busy.

[kaleraven]

I would be ok with the oil change. There's also one compromise i could think of that Basic Oil Processing would output light oil as well as petroleum. It would better prepare for the transition to advanced oil and let you use the right oil for solid fuel.

I'm not a fan of the oil change as is, but I think this suggestion is a good alternative.

[vdreams]

I don't like the oil recipe change. It adds a good difficulty and usage of logic. Please, don't do the recipe change!