Friday Facts #388 - Smaller things for 2.0

[Cork]

I think having the train size indicator light up green when placing signals and stations would also be useful. This would help prevent having stations that are 2 tiles too small and other issues

[mcdjfp]

Again, a warning about the cliff explosives change. I initially was excited about building around the cliffs when they were first announced, but at the density they appear at currently, the fun has completely worn off. Unless I want to make a pile of spaghetti base, it is simply too much of a chore to be fun (at least for me).

As a result, if the plan to delay cliff explosives remains unchanged, and the density of cliffs is not turned down by default on standard biomes (rough biomes like the one previewed for the new planet can stay dense), I will be forced to either manually set them down to about 1/10 of their current value, and/or find a mod that will revert the cliff explosives change.

And please, don't even think about delaying construction bots to after traveling to another planet. There needs to be some way of fixing my home base while I can't get back to it that does not involve restarting or reloading a previous backup save.

[pleegwat]

For smart numbers, it looks in the animation like it forgets the formula after closing the screen and just remembers the value. It would be valuable if it stored the formula for re-display later. After all, `12h` is clear but `43200` (seconds) is meaningless at first glance and `2592000` (ticks) is hopeless.

Not that I'd expect time to end up here but it's a good source of confusing conversion factors for a metric person.

[GregoriusT]

And please, don't even think about delaying construction bots to after traveling to another planet. There needs to be some way of fixing my home base while I can't get back to it that does not involve restarting or reloading a previous backup save.

I would not worry about that one, Bots are basically necessary for Interplanetary Logistics.

What I worry about is that I cant take Construction Bots to the other Planet because there is no dedicated "Weapons Bar" Inventory Slot for Construction Bots... That will be a real pain to constantly have to change the Filter Slots in my Inventory and reclaim my Conbots all the damn time when I go places... I can take my Roboport Armor, why not its Robots too! (not to mention its a hassle to have the bots in the main inventory as opposed to a dedicated slot)

Add pls to checkbox `Trees/rocks only` Cliff -> `Trees/rocks/cliff only`. I don't understand why didn't add cliff here right away.

Did you know you can put Deconstruction Planners into the Blueprint Library already? You can make a custom Decon Planner for "Coal Rocks only" or "Cliffs only" even!

[doktorstick]

Always enjoy those QoL changes.

Would it be possible to keep the formula in the text field for future edits? It would be kind to my future self when I revisit part of a factory to see why I chose that value of 141331233.

[ChefOfRamen]

Finally, I can retire my elaborate system for naming save files and just sort by date.

Curious what will happen when you set a lamp to black.

[Zaflis]

Nice QoL things. I wonder what the current stance is on rail signal planner. Currently it shows wagon preview behind the signal, but when you want to measure distance from a signal ahead and train length backwards there are no helpful guidelines. I will have to place signal for try, measure, remove it and place again and again in slightly different positions until train fits.

[Tooster]

Also, daaaamn, I was kinda hoping for new a new Lua version for a long time

[FuryoftheStars]

How much is

Code: Select all

10/2k

?

could be interpreted as (10/2)k, so 5k is my guess.

And yet my interpretation of it is 10/2000.

Very much agree with this post here:

I'm betting it will be 0. But some might expect it to be 5000. I'd wager the expression evaluation does letter replacements in a first pass (so 2k becomes 2000 internally) and then does the math on the numeric-only expression (10/2000).
I'm hoping it supports parentheses, so you could do "(10/2)k".

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my wish? multithreading

Unless you're referring to something completely different than what I'm thinking, this game is already heavily multithreaded. There have been many posts and FFFs on the subject. Ultimately, though, there is a limit to the multithreading before you start introducing extra overhead that offsets the gains of multithreading by needing to check and verify the results against each other and even have some threads wait for others.

[Splitframe]

Great now that we have the big and small things I can't wait for the release next week ;_;

[garrotte]

Math expressions and max range indicator made me cry. Taking away so much boring pain, only now.
Maybe you could add a way to easily see distances between buildings of the same prototype: to make a chain of turrets or other things at the same range in absolutely any direction - not only vertically/horizontally/diagonally, so blueprint can't help here. I'm using a mod for it, but still it's not so comfortable.

[ThatGuyStyx]

Can you actually set item requests by indicating desired stack quantity? It only shows liquids in the video.

[Premu]

So you're planning to abandon the support of the game in 2 million years?

I'm outraged!

[mrvn]

I really like the changes to the underground belts and pipes, but one thing that bothers me about it is that it only changes color for one block, i.e.

Yellow.
Yellow.
Yellow.
Green!
TOO LONG

I think it would work slightly better if it changed color on a gradient depending on how extended it is

Yellow
Lime
Light Lime
Green!
TOO LONG

Actually why not turn that "TOO LONG" into:

multiple-underground.png (5.63 KiB) Viewed 3175 times

Maybe this isn't as useful for underground belts but with pipes building a long stretch of underground pipes has better throughput than plain pipes and with this you could build a long pipeline with 2 clicks.

[SerhiiS]

Add pls to checkbox `Trees/rocks only` Cliff -> `Trees/rocks/cliff only`. I don't understand why didn't add cliff here right away.

Did you know you can put Deconstruction Planners into the Blueprint Library already? You can make a custom Decon Planner for "Coal Rocks only" or "Cliffs only" even!

I can customize anything. But we are talking about adding cliffs to this checkbox, since this checkbox prohibits changing anything in the blueprint. And try sets 100 types of rocks, trees and rocks in vanilla/mods. Could you do it in 1 click (Trees/rocks only) and add rocks there?

[pleegwat]

my wish? multithreading

I wouldn't be surprised if they allow different surfaces (planets, platforms, etc) to be processed in parallel. Although I think cross-platform power is currently possible, and maybe other things, which would probably have to be cut then.

[GregoriusT]

Add pls to checkbox `Trees/rocks only` Cliff -> `Trees/rocks/cliff only`. I don't understand why didn't add cliff here right away.

Did you know you can put Deconstruction Planners into the Blueprint Library already? You can make a custom Decon Planner for "Coal Rocks only" or "Cliffs only" even!

I can customize anything. But we are talking about adding cliffs to this checkbox, since this checkbox prohibits changing anything in the blueprint. And try sets 100 types of rocks, trees and rocks in vanilla/mods. Could you do it in 1 click (Trees/rocks only) and add rocks there?

Yeah "Trees and Rocks only!" being the way it is is garbage, why not "Trees and Rocks too!", so you can select Cliffs manually, since Cliffs are just one Menu Item you would need to add manually.

[mmmPI]

Would it be possible to keep the formula in the text field for future edits? It would be kind to my future self when I revisit part of a factory to see why I chose that value of 141331233.

For smart numbers, it looks in the animation like it forgets the formula after closing the screen and just remembers the value. It would be valuable if it stored the formula for re-display later. After all, `12h` is clear but `43200` (seconds) is meaningless at first glance and `2592000` (ticks) is hopeless.

I think it will be possible to use the description fields shown in a previous FFF for this , at least that's part of why i wanted such description field in combinator, because 141331233 could be a number of ticks or a number created for its binary form and you never know a month or more later.

Otherwise for non-combinators entity +1.

Additional suggestion for lights to allow RGB to be set via circuit:
I send a signal of 50 Red, 205 Green, 50 Blue I can wire up some nice lime green lights.

I hope this will be the case too; accumulator charge go from 0 to 100 so * 255/100 it gives the number of green i want. and 255- this number is the amount of Red i want on my battery charge display. Not sure if that would look nice, but it should be green when full, red when empty, and a smooth gradiant in between.

[pancreas]

Love the FFF and this one does not disappoint. Read through the suggestions that this one sparked and I love most of those too!

As a fan of Factorio and of Lua, I was very slightly sad to see that they aren't upgrading to 5.4. I'm pretty sure there isn't much in 5.4 that would have a direct impact on users, but I would venture to make a strong guess that many of the features between 5.3 and 5.4 would benefit Factorio overall, and therefore users and moders indirectly (probably directly for moders):

• Performance Boost with Integer Type (Lua 5.3): The introduction of an integer type can optimize calculations, particularly beneficial for math-heavy operations in game mechanics. I'm sure team Factorio is doing their own optimizations here, but it's better to use the heavily optimize code already in 5.3, IMHO.
• Efficient Data Manipulation with Bitwise Operators (Lua 5.3): Native support for bitwise operations can enhance performance in handling game state, map data, and binary data operations.
• Enhanced Internationalization (Lua 5.3): Basic UTF-8 support allows for better global player engagement and accessibility.
• Intuitive Integer Division (Lua 5.3): The // operator simplifies integer divisions, often used in game logic, reducing potential errors.
• Improved Memory Management (Lua 5.4): A generational garbage collector offers more efficient memory usage, crucial for long gaming sessions and complex simulations.
• Advanced Debugging and Maintenance (Lua 5.4): The new warning system and improved debugging API facilitate easier troubleshooting and code stability, enhancing overall game reliability.
• Optimized String and Table Handling (Lua 5.4): Enhanced functions for processing strings and tables can lead to faster script execution.
• Automatic Resource Management (Lua 5.4): The introduction of close variables and the __close metamethod helps in preventing resource leaks or resources that don't get released efficiently, ensuring efficient resource usage during gameplay.

I'm also curious about what bugs they found in 5.2 and if those bugs were reported to PUC Lua team.

Of course, you have to decide what's worth doing and what's worth saving for later, and what doesn't matter enough to do at all. I can't argue with the quality of Factorio, so this isn't a complaint or wish as much as just me spouting an opinion.

Very much looking forward to 2.0 and, in between, to the next FFF!

[FasterJump]

[...] With this it would be immediately obvious and it could also hint the exact tile you have to click on to place it at max range.

While this looks like a great idea... I don't like it. If this gets implemented by devs, there should be an option to disable it.

I don't like it because I don't need to be reminded of what I could do when I have no intention to do it. This might be a far fetched comparison, but to me it feels the same as an advertisement. No thanks, I don't need to be reminded daily that I could drink this fantastic cola soda, eat this fantastic oily cocoa paste, or buy this fantastic electric car that relies on coal plants energy.

I might be wrong though, hard to say without testing it!

When you drag a belt it would be nice if underground belts would be created with maximum length instead of minimum length you get now. Ideally with equal gaps on both sides of the obstacle.

That's a good idea. Personally I would rather have it default to half (or two thirds) of the maximum length.

[...]I think it would work slightly better if it changed color on a gradient depending on how extended it is

Yellow
Lime
Light Lime
Green!
TOO LONG

Good idea, but color gradients would make it hard to see the difference for long belts. However, we could have a number appears as an indicator (either absolute length or distance from maximum length such as 0 would display when the maximum length is reach, 1 would be 1 space smaller than maximum, and -1 would be one space too long. This should be optional too, via a tick-box.