Friday Facts #404 - Frustration not found

[Pentoxide]

Another blueprint-ish feature you'd might found useful:
when dropping your blueprint in request area of request chest it set to request blueprint item, but I think it should request all the items in the blueprint (overflow of items might be a problem though).
Thoughts?

[Zomis]

Something I find myself doing a lot is to search for the same item/fluid in different menus over and over again. This is something I have tried to improve in my mod Foofle and I'm using those features very frequently, but there's a big limitation on the amount of integrations I can do in a mod.

For example, searching for something in an inventory (why is it not possible to search in a chest inventory btw?), searching for a crafting recipe to make an item, searching for a signal in a combinator UI, searching for an item in a filter inserter, searching for a fluid in a pump circuit condition.... the list goes on and on, and it would be great if there was a quick button to press to just fill in whatever I selected most recently. I got a few UI/UX-ideas of how this can be improved.

[argbla]

QOLs are nice, but aren't exciting. I just hope that the devs are pushing out all QOL stuff first and once they run out of them they will post content FFFs (rather than the update and expansion being mostly about QOLs)

Poppycock. I can not express how excited I am for all the train QoL updates. I am reduced to a childlike state wherein all I can ask is "When?" Surely they couldn't pass up releasing on FF #420. Just imagine, all the trains arriving on time in an infinitely growing Factorio Reich. Or uh I mean "blaze it" haha.

[sarcolopter]

You can already make blueprints line up perfectly by designing them to overlap.

[woodmaker]

Pipette all the things? Manual craft all the things!
I want to manual craft things i see in bottom bar, on map and so on as easily as pipetting them.
And I also want them to craft one after another (not making gears for five machines and then crafting five machines, but making gears for one, then craft it, make gears for second, then craft it).

[bnrom]

I also think that RTS tool is a bizarre name (regardless of how many units the tool can instruct, tanks, etc...). One is not using the tool to play (or otherwise 'tool' upon) a Real Time Strategy game (RTS) so how is it an RTS tool?

A generic name like, "Command Tool" would, i.m.o., be a lot better.

[Qon]

I also think that RTS tool is a bizarre name (regardless of how many units the tool can instruct, tanks, etc...). One is not using the tool to play (or otherwise 'tool' upon) a Real Time Strategy game (RTS) so how is it an RTS tool?

The tool is used to implement a Strategy, in Real Time. So it's a RTS tool.

The G in RTS stands for game, ok thanks very helpful

[bnrom]

I also think that RTS tool is a bizarre name (regardless of how many units the tool can instruct, tanks, etc...). One is not using the tool to play (or otherwise 'tool' upon) a Real Time Strategy game (RTS) so how is it an RTS tool?

The tool is used to implement a Strategy, in Real Time. So it's a RTS tool.

The G in RTS stands for game, ok thanks very helpful

Hmm... you are right that I included "game" in the acronym. Good catch! The fact I automatically made that inclusion highlights how strongly the RTS acronym can be associated with an RTS game!

Regardless of RTS game association, the tool is still poorly named. We can conclude the name is bad, as your suggested understanding of the name doesn't actually make sense. One is not issuing strategy in real time. Strategy refers to high level decision making, and not movement commands!

For context the definitions:
Strategy: """The science and art of using all the forces of a nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war. The science and art of military command as applied to the overall planning and conduct of large-scale combat operations."""

Tactics: """The study of the most effective ways of securing objectives set by strategy, as in deploying and directing troops, ships, and aircraft against an enemy. Military actions or maneuvers used against an enemy."""

By using the "RTS tool" one is actually executing tactics in real time (Real Time Tactics - RTT). Using your naming convention (and the correct definition of strategy) the RTS tool would more closely be the research queue! The research queue is closer to a Real Time Strategy command issuing tool because determining research priorities is actually part of high level planning, e.g., strategy, while unit movement commands are not.

Btw, I'm still super hyped for all the changes, and delighted that the tool will be added. The quality of all the Friday Facts astounds me. I just think the game and the developers deserve the best quality game; they seem to really care about what they are making; and to me (and many others) the current name of the tool is a needless drawback (with no clear upsides).

[mmmPI]

By using the "RTS tool" one is actually executing tactics in real time (Real Time Tactics - RTT).

I think this is true according to interpretations like the one of Clausewitz, but then it would also apply for the whole genre of RTS game where most of it is tactic on a small scale, whereas strategy and planning are more to be found in games names "grand strategy" regarding the scale.

I think it helps to refer to "real time strategy element" sometimes , when dicussing about a game, and how to describe it, you could say it has some "base-building" and "rts" elements in it. Where the actual element are more "real time" than "strategy". It would be different than "turn based". But "turn-based" is not descriptive enough, there are turned based strategy or turn based rpg games for example. So in the end "RTS" refers more to the genre of game than the actual element of strategy. Where there could be strategy in business sim game, and decision taken in real time, not turned base, but no-one would call it a "RTS" if it's a business sim, despite fitting most of the description for "strategy" when considering it outside of the strict military context.

RTS element would refer then to similarities in a game with other game that are more specifically into that genre. ( like the ability to select combat units with rectangle box and giving them order on a 2D map from top down view without the camera following individual units ). "RTS unit-control tool" may be more fitting if considering literally everything. Since some of the RTS element were already present, and the functionning of one of them " the spidertron remote" was changed so that its use is more akin to what is found in some games called RTS(even if they are more about tactics ).

[Qon]

I also think that RTS tool is a bizarre name (regardless of how many units the tool can instruct, tanks, etc...). One is not using the tool to play (or otherwise 'tool' upon) a Real Time Strategy game (RTS) so how is it an RTS tool?

The tool is used to implement a Strategy, in Real Time. So it's a RTS tool.

The G in RTS stands for game, ok thanks very helpful

Hmm... you are right that I included "game" in the acronym. Good catch! The fact I automatically made that inclusion highlights how strongly the RTS acronym can be associated with an RTS game!

I agree that it is a term for a game genre. Though "proof by mistaken conclusion" is not a real thing

Regardless of RTS game association, the tool is still poorly named. We can conclude the name is bad, as your suggested understanding of the name doesn't actually make sense. One is not issuing strategy in real time. Strategy refers to high level decision making, and not movement commands!

[...]

Btw, I'm still super hyped for all the changes, and delighted that the tool will be added. The quality of all the Friday Facts astounds me. I just think the game and the developers deserve the best quality game; they seem to really care about what they are making; and to me (and many others) the current name of the tool is a needless drawback (with no clear upsides).

I know the terms. And I should have used "execute" instead of "implement", my mistake.

Yes, a "strategy" by itself can't have a tool, except maybe a notepad and a drawing board. It's a high level concept. But the execution of a strategy needs a tool with interactions like that of a RTS game. And "real time execution tool" is even more of a nonsense term, execution is kind of definitionally real time. And "tool" category in Factorio is all for execution, the research queue is not an item "tool". https://lua-api.factorio.com/latest/cla ... ml#is_tool
So both "Real Time" and "tool" shows that it is about execution of strategy. And strategy implies multi-unit control, while just the name "remote" implies singular unit control.

So anyone familiar with the RTS genre will understand the capabilities directly. And those who aren't will just read the description and learn what it does anyways. It isn't found by the player by searching for the name anyways, so the name doesn't need to convey its functionality to the few who haven't heard of the genre.

[varundevan]

Problem ,

we see that spidertron are good for construction, but the roboport area is limited , we can use spidertron to follow to have more robots constructing . but it is still annoting to move the spidertrons to nook and coreners to make sure the construction is fully complete.

Suggestion
Introduce spidertron formation , such that a group of spidertrons move in a formation that covers the larger roboport area without overlap. like an army drill. the position of the spiderton remains the same relative to the main spidertron which it follows.
this way a larger area can be covered with a single command.

[Qon]

Suggestion
Introduce spidertron formation , such that a group of spidertrons move in a formation that covers the larger roboport area without overlap. like an army drill. the position of the spiderton remains the same relative to the main spidertron which it follows.
this way a larger area can be covered with a single command.

There's no main spidertron to follow with the RTS tool. I guess you probably still can make a group follow a main spider if you really want to, but it's now pretty pointless.

Though formations seems like a neat addition.

[mrvn]

Nice improvement for the blueprint grid options. But "arrow" keys? The game moves with WASD, not arrow keys. On many laptops arrow keys are awkward to use. Is that so you can still move the player around while adjusting the grid?

The grid parameters should work better out of the box. Why is it impossible that after changing the size of the grid or editing the blueprint to make it so everything lands exactly where it was blueprinted from? I at least tend to build stuff already in the right position in a grid and then when I blueprint it with a grid setting I want the blueprint to exactly match the existing build I designed.


Maybe allowing the grid position to be edited all the time makes it too easy to mess up existing blueprints later on. Why not have a "adjust grid" button that you click and then you can move the positioning around. And once place the blueprint (or some other way to confirm) it locks those parameters again.

This would also free up the hotkeys to allow placing a blueprint with grid in an off-grid position.