I am going to have to pull out of this discussion (I might still respond if quoted but other than that I am done). The way this change was presented, "We have decided to make a major change, and release it Monday," created a panic, and many bad feelings. I am also not convinced basic oil processing is even the issue (see the end of the post beginning with the quote).
But before I do I first want to apologize if I offended anyone.
I also wish to explain why I feel so strongly the way I do.
In high school, I and everyone else in an honors math class ended up losing a half credit's worth of elective time. To explain:
The school used a trimester system (3 x 5 = 15) to gain an extra credit each year as opposed to (2 x 7 = 14). The honors version of this particular math course ran the entire year (3 trimesters) because it also was supposed to cover one of the 2 half credit math courses from the next year. These were the smart math students, almost a quarter of these students (based on test scores following an opportunity to take the ACT/SAT during jr. high) could have potentially skipped high school and gone straight on to college if they had had the motivation.
That isn't what happened. In the end the honors course (the "smart" students) ended up taking the entire year to cover the same material that the standard version (taught by a different instructor) of the course covered in the 2 trimesters it was supposed to take.
The problem was this. In the preceding course the teacher was new and as a result (the specific cause doesn't matter) we were left a small hole in what we were supposed to learn. The instructor of the honors course was a firm believer in working it out for yourself. The teachers favorite phase was "Now I C" (Now I See), to describe the moment someone finally figures something out. Due to this, this teacher would not stop and take the time to plug the knowledge gap that we had. Instead, the teacher plowed on as the initial small lack of knowledge kept on ballooning as each successive concept tried to build upon a foundation that wasn't there. In the end, the teacher finally broke down and tried to fix the problem, but it was far to late, and by the time the repairs were done, the third trimester (which was supposed to cover a new topic) was already used up. (Meaning we still had to take it next year in place of one of the electives we should have had.)
This is why I absolutely despise delaying any part of teaching process. This could have been fixed early (and was by the teacher of the standard version of the course), but was left to cause an even bigger problem when it was finally dealt with. In my mind, putting a lesson off is simply not an acceptable option.
In addition, as far as I am concerned, an attempt must be made to actually teach the lesson. The teacher plowed on expecting the solution to finally hit us. Some of us got it, but other people (for any number of reasons) went the wrong direction, and as a result learned more and more material wrong based on a false or incomplete understanding. I feel that there is no way to make a game with anything but the most basic mechanics that can teach itself. There
will be a group that goes the wrong direction. Games which attempt to do away with instructions and tutorials, they are the ones that are
failing their players.
Thankfully, Factorio does have a nice tutorial system built in, in just needs the rest of the lessons added.
Finally, as each day goes by, I become more and more convinced that you are trying to solve a problem which does not exist. Or at least you are solving an imagined problem while ignoring what is really going on.
Please read this post by Antaios again. I tried to say this in words, but the pictures do a far better job.
Antaios wrote: ↑Sun Jul 28, 2019 12:33 pm
The each science pack is a challenge. Each one grows in scale and complexity from the last. In addition what is going on around the player is also getting more complex. Biters are becoming more of a threat finally, outposts need building (and with the removal of the starting oil deposit a couple of versions back, a requirement). Oil is just a small part of what is going on. It is new, and does bring with it the first required example of multiple outputs in the game, so people complain about it. If oil wasn't there the complaints
would be about something else. If I were to guess it would either be, "The biters are too hard/grow too fast." or "The starting deposits are too small to establish enough of a starting base."
Basic Oil Processing is not the issue here. It is a symptom. Ignore it for the moment. As the developers you need to determine whether or not Factorio is too hard. And if you feel it is, realize that all of the later game science packs will have to be adjusted, not just basic oil processing. Go back to those pictures in Antaios's post. Imagine the progression jump if blue (chemical science) is made easier, the build smaller. Perhaps even doable before the biters are as much of a threat, and before iron (typically) needs an outpost too. I wonder how many complaints will come in about some component of purple science if it is not made easier as well.
Excluding the current oil crisis, I agree with 90% or more of what you have done. I am really impressed with the optimizations that allow for so much to be going on at once. There is of course a 5% or so I didn't like, but I could understand the why. I do not wish to insult you at all. You, the developers, have really done a great job so far.