Unlabelled Factorio Friday Facts #232 - PAX, Bugs, Graphs

3/03/2018 11:12:00 am
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Factorio Friday Facts #232 - PAX, Bugs, Graphs

Friday Facts #232 - PAX, Bugs, Graphs

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:14 PM PST

I love the new concrete.

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:36 PM PST

Moving my base away from spawn

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:44 AM PST

My first rocket launch! It took long enough, but I got there in the end!

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:05 PM PST

My Noob Question Today

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 04:08 PM PST

Hello, as is obvious from the title I'm fairly new to the game. Having played only 130 hours and restarting often as I learn new things and notice limitations to my designs. I have not launched a rocket yet.

That said, I am starting to get my head around many of the basics, but I still have so much to learn. My burning question for today is, what is the big deal about belt compression? I'm curious how, in general terms, it can be achieved and also, in more specific terms, why compress your belt in the first place?

I went into a sandbox game to help illustrate my question. In this image I have crafted a smelting area. Side Question: Does it make a difference if I deposit the plates on the inside or outside as opposed to the ore? Anyway... https://imgur.com/TgguCQf

In the next one you can see the output section better. The belt isn't fully, but nearly compressed when it comes out of the smelters. Then I need to split it for the bus line. https://imgur.com/Nqa7zSS

This is only a two lane bus, but work with me here. Even with a fully compressed copper smelter, when I split it for the bus won't it always come out not compressed? This only gets worse with bigger bus lanes. How do I re-compress it? Does it even matter to? IS it just that I need more production or is it a belting problem? Maybe I just don't understand the belt flow yet either. Roasts that include something I can learn are welcomed.

THANK YOU GUYS IN ADVANCE! =D

submitted by /u/Reepecheepz
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[Linux] Streamlined blueprint editing script

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 09:03 AM PST

I'm manually editing blueprints frequently enough to streamline a bit of the involved hassle, so I want to share this script that reduces the procedure from

export blueprint, read the clipboard, strip version, decode, decompress, edit, compress, encode, add version, write to clipboard, import blueprint

to just

export blueprint, edit, import blueprint

Maybe someone else finds it useful.

You can get it here or copypaste from below. Usage instructions and dependencies are in the top comments.

Edit: Obligatory curl sudo sh one-line pile of"installer":

sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/bin; curl http://paste.pr0.tips/WO | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/bpedit.sh >/dev/null && sudo chmod 755 /usr/local/bin/bpedit.sh

.

#!/bin/sh # bpedit.sh, fstd 2018 # Dependencies (package names are for Debian) # - zlib-flate (package 'qpdf') # (for de/compression) # # - xsel (package 'xsel') # (for reading and writing the Xorg clipboard) # # - jq (package 'jq') # (for prettifying the json) # # - base64 (package 'coreutils') # (for decoding the blueprint) # # - $editor # (any will do, set your favorite below) # Usage: # 1. (Ingame) copy blueprint string # 2. ./bpedit.sh # 3. ($editor launches (see below), edit the blueprint then save+quit) # 4. (Ingame) import blueprint string # Use editor from environment, if present, otherwise default to vim editor=${EDITOR:-vim} # Check prerequisites check_installed() { if ! command -v "$1" >/dev/null 2>&1; then echo "Couldn't find the program '$1'." >&2 [ -n "$2" ] && echo "Please install the package '$2'." >&2 exit 1 fi } check_installed 'zlib-flate' 'qpdf' check_installed 'xsel' 'xsel' check_installed 'jq' 'jq' check_installed 'base64' check_installed "$editor" bp="$(mktemp /tmp/bpedit.sh.XXXXXXXXXX)" trap "rm '$bp'" EXIT trap 'exit 1' INT HUP QUIT TERM # Required blueprint format version is 0 if ! [ "x$(xsel -ob | head -n1 | cut -b1)" = 'x0' ]; then echo "Unexpected blueprint version (or bad copy, check ">&2 echo "whether 'xsel -ob' actually outputs the blueprint)" >&2 exit 1 fi # Decode, edit, encode xsel -ob | sed '1s/^.//' | base64 -d | zlib-flate -uncompress | jq . >"$bp" $editor "$bp" zlib-flate -compress <"$bp" | base64 | sed '1s/^/0/' | xsel -ib
submitted by /u/fstd_
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Laser turret energy death spiral ?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 03:31 PM PST

So I just observed something interesting, and I'm not exactly sure what caused it.

I'm currently clearing large spaces of the map out to make space for my first expansion, I'm doing this the good old fashioned way of building clusters of laser turrets near biter nests to destroy them. I'm still quite early in the game so when these clusters actually start firing my energy satisfaction goes down to something like 25%, which I thought wasn't a problem since the energy drain is short-lived.

But while I'm clearing out a particularly large biter nest, suddenly my turret clusters start firing slower and slower until they eventually stop. It's not just the turrets either, my whole factory just shuts down due to a lack of power. So I manage to run away while the biters are chomping down on my now useless turrets and go to the my steam engines to investigate, and sure enough everything is powered down because there's no coal inside the boilers. Which is strange since there is actually plenty of coal available on the belt.

From what I can figure out, the energy overconsumption that happened when the laser turrets clusters were firing slowed down the yellow inserters that were feeding coal in the boilers, and it seems that if the turrets were firing for an extend period of time (as was the case since here since I was clearing a large nest) the boilers will consume coal faster than can be supplied by the underpowered yellow inserters and eventually shutdown.

That's my best guess at any rate. I replaced all the yellow inserters feeding coal to the boilers with burner inserters, which should fix it if that was indeed the problem. Has anyone else run into that issue too ?

submitted by /u/ZenosEbeth
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Portable Fusion Reactor - is it out of place?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 03:09 AM PST

Hi friends,

So before we start, I just want to put a disclaimer that I'm not really advocating change, just kind of wanting a discussion and to hear people's thoughts for my own curiosity.

Okay so the Portable Fusion Reactor (referred to as PFR going forward) is a great piece of kit, and it's all but essential to have at least one, probably multiple, in any module loadout set. However, I feel like it's a bit out of place for a couple of reasons:

Firstly, it's very much a 'set it and forget it' thing. You find a ratio of PFRs-to-other-modules that works for your particular game and playstyle, and stick with it. You rarely have reason to change modules outside of fringe cases (for example, maybe you're doing tons of construction in a short bust, so you take out your energy shields for more roboports), but even those fringe cases are rare. On top of that, once it's installed, it just generates free energy all the time, no matter what. No conditions, no player input, no nothing. I feel like if things are in the game, they should be fun to engage with. Something that required no engagement can't really be considered fun.

Secondly, and this is a more minor point, it doesn't really fit with the grungy industrial sprawl kind of aesthetic of the rest of the game. It's a super high tech piece of kit in really immediately obvious ways. Obviously gameplay should come first, but I feel like having it fit the theme of the game would make it stick out a bit less. Like I doubt there are many players who have made one, and not thought "Well, if I can make a machine that generates unlimited free energy for my suit, why can't I just hook a whole gang of them up to the mains"

I feel like having solar panels be your only option (even if they were improved) could get pretty frustrating. Sometimes you just need a bunch of suit power, and having to wait until dawn (at least) isn't particularly engaging either, and I'm not really down for anything that increases time spent waiting around. Within your base though, I don't really feel like time spent waiting around is actually a concern though. Like suppose the PFR gave you actual unlimited energy generation and could power everything in your suit forever, would that actually change gameplay much outside of breaking combat or earlygame stuff? I mean, probably not. You could build a little faster, but that's about it, and with 3 or 4 personal roboports, you already build pretty damn fast, especially if you're playing constructionbot lacrosse, and catching them + throwing them back out instead of waiting for them to charge.

So, my solution would be to allow you to charge suit power from the mains within your base. If you're within the wire-connection range for any power pylon, your suit could charge up. This could either be just a default thing, or could be balanced to an extent by having some kind of transformer or wireless inductive charging module which allows you to hook up to the mains, but only charge at a certain rate so that within your base , things wouldn't really change - you'd just have to be aware of your position in relation to your power grid. Then, remove the PFR, and either buff or create a new tier of solar panel. These solar panels would be your power solution whenever you have to leave the base.

I feel like this way, it sort allows you free reign while you're at home to use the modules you currently do without much change, other than asking you to make sure you don't have power pole blackspots, but increases your engagement whenever you leave the base. You'd have to think about the length of your excursion, and what you want to do while you're out there and what the best module setup for that would be. There might also be some tradeoff between going out with solar panels so you can charge on the go, vs simply charging a whole battery of batteries at home, and hoping they last long enough to do what you want to do.

My biggest concerns though are that it makes some combat modules too strong while at home (currently, batteries can run out, but if you're charging from the mains then it could make things like shield modules too strong, and also that it might just force people to run power poles along with them whenever they leave their base, astroneer style, instead of switching to solar power when they go on excursions. This one is kind of the reason for the disclaimer at the top, because I'm not really sure of a way around it. If it's easier to simply drop power poles everywhere then people are just going to do that, but that makes things just the same as the current system with PFRs, only a bit more frustrating to use.

So I'm not really sure if that kind of system is the best solution, or whether we should just suck it up and stick with what we've got, but it just feels like if there's no player engagement with PFRs then why have them at all - why not just have your suit charge at a certain rate and leave it at that.

What do people feel about the current system? Are you happy with the portable fusion reactors? Do you think they need a change, or are we better just sticking to the system we have? Do you have better solutions? And how do the PFRs scale when you get to megabase level? Is there an aspect of them I'm not considering? Is there an aesthetic change we could make to them that would make them feel a bit less like magic tech?

Thanks for reading, have a lovely day! xx

submitted by /u/ErinBe
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My first game: I made the mistake of choosing the "rail-world" preset. About 33 hours, with a couple of *ahem* borrowed blueprints along the way.

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:40 AM PST

My first map (vanilla settings). Spent probably too much time gutting and rebuilding my base to maximize efficiency, but I finally launched my first rocket last night. I'm seriously obsessed with this game. Now onto try some mods...

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 12:36 PM PST

Looking for loading music

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:32 PM PST

Right when you start factorio there's a little theme that I can't find on any soundtrack. Can't find it with "Login" or "Loading" searches either. Anyone got my back?

submitted by /u/Steelkenny
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How do you organise your stations?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 03:13 AM PST

I'm starting to find the joy of train stations. My current set-up is that I dual track (left hand drive, because UK) and have a subfactory for each main thing, e.g. yellow science, with an incoming stack which leads to each of: input stations, output station, fuel station. I have one refuel train that tops up a subfactory (so all train stations refuel, solving that issue).

(1) Do people tend to have raw inputs, e.g. iron, copper, plastic, or is it more efficient to do green/red/blue/coal/whatever and then let an entire substation deal with making green on a vast scale?

(2) How about raw materials? Do you have one Uber Iron station that takes on all the iron ore in the world? Multiple of these? Or just do one for each major substation and then deal with running out of resources when that eventuality happens?

submitted by /u/ambystoma
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I made a new save every time I closed my first singleplayer map. Here are some highlights.

Posted: 01 Mar 2018 09:38 PM PST

A buddy of mine is starting to stream Factorio! Come join us if you're bored!

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 07:11 PM PST

I don't play the game myself, but my friend is teaching me the ways, and I hope to join him soon! He would be happy to have people to talk to about the game and whatever else! Hope to see you there! :D https://www.twitch.tv/subvertinggnome

submitted by /u/CaptainAJ42
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Is there a way to run signals remotely, or over a large area?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 09:05 AM PST

I want to know if an outpost has stopped producing. Without going there.

I can easily rig up a light. But I don't want to have to run a red wire all the way between the outpost and the main base.

Some sort of radio transmitter would be ideal, with a receiver in my base.

I can then have a bank of lights which show me what's gone down.

submitted by /u/SKZCartoons
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To anyone playing without Steam: is Factorio easy to update and mod?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 04:36 AM PST

Thinking of buying this game, but considering buying it direct, not on Steam, to support the developers more. Steam is convenient, though, with its automatic updates, one-click mod installations from the workshop and friend invites for multiplayer.

How easy is it to update and mod without Steam and its workshop? What about playing with friends (whether or not they use Steam)?

submitted by /u/BilgeXA
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Train Logistics

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 09:37 AM PST

I was trying to build an ore railway that was supposed to only go to reload when the cargo wagons are empty. I tried to do an inserter test that would enable the station when nothing could be unloaded but the problem here was to integrate multiple trains to the system.

I have two suggestions regarding that topic.

1: Being able for the train to enable/disable stations only for himself internally based on factors like item count or fuel left.

If this makes things too easy:

2: Train stations enabling only for trains who's IDs can be found in the circuit system or who's IDs were put in a whitelist from the circuit system.

Both suggestion 1 & 2 will be able to get their information over the existing way to read content and spread IDs in train stations.

If this is already possible please tell me so I can feel stupid, thanks.

EDIT: the trains are supposed to only actually physically move to the station if they are empty. I know how to not make them stop forever with waiting conditions but I want them to not even plan their paths there unless they need to.

submitted by /u/BluestoneMC
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Balancing Production/Assembly

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:13 PM PST

Getting back into the game after a 6-month hiatus, was never particularly successful. I always see these mega-bases and posts of giant assembly spaghetti, how do you all balance that stuff? I am always missing out on production of certain items because assembly blocks further upstream my main bus are hogging all the resources. How can I circumvent this? I've attempted using giant stacks of separators to send equal amounts to each assembly block but I end up with spaghetti too complex to handle.

submitted by /u/Jstone39
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Cell-shaded (cartoon) graphics using ReShade. Also the Sharpen filter is nice too!

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:12 PM PST

Best way to sample transport belt data?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 06:01 PM PST

Hi, I'm creating a big transport belt connected to a lot of assemblers and this belt needs to sampled more or less accurately so that I the assemblers can regulate production themselves based on the availability of their own produce in the belt. The technique works well, and in the past I've done this by simply putting a reader on all the belt, but that is just not feasible (and it´s quite ugly) now in a larger scale model. I've tried with lower sampling rates (like say every 2nd or 3rd belt) but the signals are, understandably extremely jittery and noisy. Is there any way to get a more or less stable reading out of that ?

I've been playing around clocks and pulse counters but I just want a stable version of what I'm getting on the samplers.

Bonus screenshot to show you what I'm talking about. https://imgur.com/a/l8a3W, the left one always reports iron plate 10, the middle one reports jittery but most of the time it's 10 and the right one is a lot more jittery. Thanks!

submitted by /u/Kronephon
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How big ore patches are required for a mega base of ish 3kspm?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 03:25 AM PST

Hey folks! Time to root up and move to a new location. How far out should I go? I've seen some people post pictures of ore patches of up to 1B and some only a few 100k. What would you say is low, medium, high numbers for this scale of factories?

submitted by /u/Baityboy
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"Rail segment visualisation" console command?

Posted: 01 Mar 2018 11:50 PM PST

Edit - Found it.
/c game.player.game_view_settings.show_rail_block_visualisation = true
.

Original post
Image - Rail segment visualisation
There is a console command that turns rail segment visualisation always on (not just when you are holding a signal in your hand / or / when you enable it in interface settings)
Image - Interface settings
Does anyone know what the console command is?
Thanks.

submitted by /u/Nmid
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Recover blueprints?

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 02:48 PM PST

I accidentally deleted a blueprint book of mine that i have been working on for some time. Is there anyway to recover it?

submitted by /u/_Nordic
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Idea : the Factorio Train Ram Challenge

Posted: 02 Mar 2018 01:03 AM PST

Hi! I was getting a bit bored and decided to try something new to spice up late game play.

The idea is to build a straight train track in any direction until as close as you can to a biter nest without having them attack you. At this point, build a small defensive base like the one I have in the pic, and bring up your train with 5 (or more I guess) artillery wagons.

The goal of this mini game is to survive until you've kill all the biters that will undoubtedly attack you after you've destroyed their home with the artillery wagons. I've powered my laser turrets with steam turbines connected to my steam-filled tanks, but there might be better ways to do this. I do like the fact that I'm on a timer to kill all biters before the steam runs out though.

Once you're done, you can drive the train back to base for refill, lay out some more tracks to get deeper into biter territory, and start again...

And here's the picture since I derped : https://imgur.com/a/Podyc

I guess the progress could be measured in terms of how many wood an unladen locomotive would go through from your refill base to the further point you've been without being overwhelmed.

submitted by /u/Solokian
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