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FISHMANPET posted:It sounds like what's getting you is trying to connect two tracks that are directly parallel, which you can't do. Thanks! This is definitely part of the issue, but it seems like there is a bit more. Even with rails more than 2 spaces away, I just have a difficult time actually getting them to line up. It always feels like the curve is a space short or a space too far. If I can figure out how to take a quick screen video I will, and upload it to show the problem in more detail.
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Feb 7, 2021 17:37
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SlyFrog posted:Thanks! This is definitely part of the issue, but it seems like there is a bit more. Even with rails more than 2 spaces away, I just have a difficult time actually getting them to line up. It always feels like the curve is a space short or a space too far.
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Feb 7, 2021 17:39
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I love the idea of trains but don't like the practice of trains, which is why I exclusively use modular rail blueprints that were my one and only cheat for a process I hadn't figured out.
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Feb 7, 2021 18:12
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Nea posted:I love the idea of trains but don't like the practice of trains, which is why I exclusively use modular rail blueprints that were my one and only cheat for a process I hadn't figured out. I depended a lot on other people's rail blueprints in my early days. This current game, because it's modded so most of the recipes are 'off' is the first time in a very long time that every single blueprint I am using, including the rails, is a blueprint I made inside of this actual run. The rails were pretty funny in retrospect, because I built all my blueprints, but failed in one important check, so I laid down a fairly large distance of rails before I discovered the mistake and that the rail system wouldn't be properly scalable with intersections off of both sides when needed, and had to redo all my blueprints, and then tear out every single intersection along with one side of the two-way tracks, and replace it all. Thank goodness for the construction bots when I did that.
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Feb 7, 2021 18:22
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yeah, there's a way to curve diagonal rail sections through each other that makes it look like they intersect, but trains can't actually switch tracks 
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Feb 8, 2021 02:35
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I'm trying out the Beekeeping mod and keep running into an issue where my filter inserters won't work properly when Queen Bee is the item they're whitelisting since there seem to be 10 different versions of the Queen Bee item (denoting the number of uses they have left). Is there a way around this other than using an array of 3 filter inserters to cover all 10 remaining quantity versions of the Queen Bee? In particular I'm just trying to get the queen bee to loop back into the hive so I guess the answer is to filter out the regular larva bees she creates, but I still want to know if there's a way to easily filter the queens! deep dish peat moss fucked around with this message at 16:12 on Feb 8, 2021 |
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Feb 8, 2021 16:04
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No, the queens are 12 (?) unique items; that they look the same is only visible to the player, not the game. You'd either need three splitters or filter on "not queens" (which is probably easier). Or you could do what my friend did and do literally the entire process with robots because logistics chests can have enough requests to make it work 
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Feb 8, 2021 16:23
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Can biter attacks, other that through killing you directly, put you in a game over state? Do they become anything worse than a recoverable setback?
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Feb 9, 2021 05:06
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You can get stuck into a death spiral if they take out critical infrastructure
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Feb 9, 2021 05:12
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if you turn them all the way up you can get to a state where it is impossible to rebuild, or isn't feasible to break out of the starting area (a lot of better weaponry requires oil)
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Feb 9, 2021 05:13
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Because evolution (which drives you towards larger biters & spitters) advances with time in addition to pollution, if you go too slow you can also get too far behind. Then any attempts to ramp up production/research to catch up will trigger too much pollution and thus attacks you cannot yet defend. This is quite possible to do on deathworld settings because time based evolution is dramatically increased.
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Feb 9, 2021 16:05
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The other death-spiral you can get into with a deathworld is when you reach a point where the resources to feed the ammo consumption of your defenses exceeds your entire production ability leaving you with no resources left to research or increase production.
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Feb 9, 2021 16:21
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I don't know how common it is but even with 100's of hours into vanilla I still think the biter evolution is too fast by default. Deathworlds are fine and fun if you are playing multiplayer and have enough free hands to triage any sudden issues, but overly grindy in single player.
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Feb 9, 2021 16:45
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Sounds about like my feelings on the matter. I just turned them off for my current run. Enjoying it much more than with standard biter settings.
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Feb 9, 2021 16:47
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I've maybe posted this in this thread a long time ago. But I really prefer either just turning them off, or running one of the crazy biter mods like pitch black or rampant. Either make it a real challenge or don't, but the grindy time-wasting nature of default biters is no fun to me.
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Feb 9, 2021 17:16
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I've found I'm happy with biters in peaceful mode and they expand, but with no evolution. That way to get to new areas/resources I have to clear them out, but they won't become impossible, and I don't have to put up walls everywhere.
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Feb 9, 2021 17:18
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M_Gargantua posted:I don't know how common it is but even with 100's of hours into vanilla I still think the biter evolution is too fast by default. Deathworlds are fine and fun if you are playing multiplayer and have enough free hands to triage any sudden issues, but overly grindy in single player. I've been playing with evolution on kill only for years and it works great, would recommend. It basically just means the biters only become more of an issue as you expand, which feels right. Time/pollution evolution is just obnoxious.
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Feb 9, 2021 17:29
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Rescue Toaster posted:I've maybe posted this in this thread a long time ago. But I really prefer either just turning them off, or running one of the crazy biter mods like pitch black or rampant. Either make it a real challenge or don't, but the grindy time-wasting nature of default biters is no fun to me. Honestly I'd probably like them more if the combat mechanics and vehicle controls weren't absolutely terrible to actively participate in. Whoever came up with "hold space to shoot at an enemy you may or may not lock onto properly with no useful range indication" and "highly responsive WASD-only top-down driving with a camera that doesn't track orientation"... well, I hoped for better by the time Factorio was "done". Guess not now.
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Feb 9, 2021 17:31
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I still don't understand why you can't automate combat. At least AAI vehicles lets you order things around like an RTS. There's a few mods that try to do automatic build + deploy, but I've never seen one that didn't suck in some way.
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Feb 9, 2021 17:48
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power crystals posted:I still don't understand why you can't automate combat. At least AAI vehicles lets you order things around like an RTS. There's a few mods that try to do automatic build + deploy, but I've never seen one that didn't suck in some way. I have automated combat. I build walls with guns! I have also discovered, after god knows how many games without ever making one, the wonder of nukes for clearing biter nests for expansion. Of course I'm playing K2 now, so I make nuclear artillery shells which solve all problems in a very large area for expansion.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:14
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So basically biters can screw up your game if you are not careful but it only sounds like if you turn up the settings on them? I mean I want to try this game again since Dyson Sphere Program is putting me in the mood for it but I always Hm and Haw over the drat biters weather I want to stick it out because it is part of the base game or just get rid of the anxiety and turn them off/set to peaceful mode.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:34
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Unlucky7 posted:So basically biters can screw up your game if you are not careful but it only sounds like if you turn up the settings on them? If you want to play in peaceful mode or completely without biters, just do it. This game should be played in the way that you personally get the most enjoyment out of, and if that means you crash landed on a world without biters, then so be it.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:37
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Biters are fine in default settings. They'll cause you some stress early game before you have your whole factory walled because they will destroy your infrastructure when you first get an assault from an unexpected direction, but past that point as long as you make any effort to keep your defences supplied and up-to-date you'll keep up with their evolution. A large chunk of the tech tree is dedicated to fighting them, covering a large proportion of the new mechanics that research unlocks for you, so playing without them entirely will cut you out of a good chunk of the game. Peaceful Mode is a good compromise, letting you have fun with all your guns without needing to fret about maintaining a wall. The bigger problem for veteran players is just that expanding your defences every time you grow your factory is kind of tedious and doesn't give you much to show for your efforts (since a successful defence means things don't happen). Of course, if you just plain don't like combat, play without it; you'll have a better time that way. But my advice for a new player would always be to play with them as default.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:43
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Biters can screw you over on normal settings if you're very slow and very careless, it's just not common since defending is easy. Automate turrets and ammo, protect your power and core factory, etc. I think the most common death spiral is people not defending their generators beyond maybe a manually loaded turret or two, and suffering a fatal blackout when those run out of ammo. This won't happen if you are even remotely on the ball on normal settings, and if it somehow does you have autosaves. Biter attacks ramp up quite slowly, you will have time to adjust. Personally I turn off biter expansion and turn down the evolution settings to a third of default or so, in addition to expanding my starting area. I like clearing a few biter bases as a part of the exploration and expansion process well enough, but I don't find the wave defense particularly interesting so I tweak the settings accordingly. Mostly it's just a matter of figuring out what you enjoy. Some people get a real feeling of satisfaction from setting up big buff defenses and seeing them in action, so they play on death world settings where that's a thing. By default it is not, the biters are basically fluff. I wouldn't worry about managing to die to biters on normal settings, or missing out on some integral part of the game by turning them off.
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Feb 9, 2021 18:52
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An option to play with biters but with less logistics is to up the water settings so that you have chunks of land connected with pretty narrow isthmuses (isthmi?) or narrow straits that you can landfill in. That way you can pick and choose where you want to fight the biters. It also makes logistics easier because you'll only a have a few small areas where you actually have to build defenses and you can train in bullets or oil or whatever. Those choke points will see a LOT of biters depending on your settings so it almost plays a bit like a tower defense game. When you need to expand you scout a new chunk of land, build your defenses at the new choke points, then go back and clear out any existing biters. Note that you may want to up the resources on map creation as I *think* ores are spawned before water so if you have a ton of water it will overwrite those ore deposits.
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Feb 9, 2021 19:53
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I personally find the best middle ground for biters (if you're like me and find turret defense games unenjoyable) is to set them to peaceful but leave expansion & evolution on (or even increase those values). You are forced to deal with them to expand your factory, you have plenty of use for military tech, but you never have to worry about base infrastructure, or afk'ing to read the wiki for 20 minutes and coming back to a horror show of destruction.
thunderspanks fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Feb 9, 2021 |
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Feb 9, 2021 20:21
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I'm at about 40-45% evolution in my first real game on vanilla settings and my defensive perimeter is in "barely adequate" territory - guns and piercing ammo, not even auto reloaded yet. I mostly try to pre-emptively destroy any biter bases my pollution is about to touch, but modular armour and grenades / assault rifle / rockets aren't cutting it anymore. What should I be aiming for next to help me manually destroy bases with ease?
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Feb 9, 2021 20:31
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Drive by land mines laying, Drive overs with tanks, Poison capsules. Longer term, artillery.
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Feb 9, 2021 20:46
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Also a neat trick I learned recently is there is a pollution graph. It shows consumption by bases which directly leads to attacks. So if it's nonzero you know there are attacks brewing, even if that's all outside your fog of war.
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Feb 9, 2021 20:47
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Maugrim posted:I'm at about 40-45% evolution in my first real game on vanilla settings and my defensive perimeter is in "barely adequate" territory - guns and piercing ammo, not even auto reloaded yet. I mostly try to pre-emptively destroy any biter bases my pollution is about to touch, but modular armour and grenades / assault rifle / rockets aren't cutting it anymore. What should I be aiming for next to help me manually destroy bases with ease? It mostly sounds like you need upgrades. All those things are viable. Explosive rockets are endgame viable, AP ammo is endgame viable although uranium is better, cluster grenades are a good upgrade from regular grenades. The damage upgrades are bigger than you think because Factorio has both % and flat damage reduction on enemies. Big biters have 8 flat damage reduction from physical weapons, with 0 upgrades they would take 1 damage from piercing ammo, while with +80% cumulative damage they'd take 6.4 damage per shot. 640% damage is an absolutely huge increase. The fire rate increases are a big deal too. At that evolution percentage you should still be melting things pretty hard with properly upgraded versions of the equipment you have. Also if you aren't yeeting grenades/capsules out a car window, try that. The car is squishy but it's very fast and that lets you avoid damage very well by circling around the base chucking things into it. Defender capsules and poison capsules are two things you should definitely automate if you haven't been using them yet.
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Feb 9, 2021 22:04
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Maugrim posted:I'm at about 40-45% evolution in my first real game on vanilla settings and my defensive perimeter is in "barely adequate" territory - guns and piercing ammo, not even auto reloaded yet. I mostly try to pre-emptively destroy any biter bases my pollution is about to touch, but modular armour and grenades / assault rifle / rockets aren't cutting it anymore. What should I be aiming for next to help me manually destroy bases with ease? The flamethrower is pretty decent, too. Mid game, I'll set up 2-3 turrets with partial walls. Spam rockets at one of the spawners. Periodically retreat to the turrets, laying down a napalm zone in front. Clean up worms at end. Legs (speed) help, too. Multiple legs + flamethrower trivializes biters. edit:. the personal flamethrower. The tank version isn't so hot. edit2: I suck at driving vehicles. gaj70 fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Feb 9, 2021 |
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Feb 9, 2021 23:17
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My thing with biters is to play on a gigantic peninsula and have them only be on the main landmass so that I can wall it off early on and have a constant war front that I need to supply with shells and a danger area to expand to eventually, but it's not an overwhelming threat that makes me defend 100% of the outposts I build. Playing with them off feels a bit too aimless for me. Here's the seed I use to do that naturally but I restart in this game constantly so I end up making custom maps a lot: 3030814895  You can adjust the size of the peninsula by changing the Water Scale attribute. Super high scale = super large peninsula. 200% water scale and 600% starting area size is best IMO:  It keeps the biters off of the peninsula at the start and gives you lots of room for building plus lots of resource patches to last you quite a while. Now if anyone has seed like this with the peninsula at a 90 degree angle to the landmass I would love to know about it 
deep dish peat moss fucked around with this message at 23:52 on Feb 9, 2021 |
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Feb 9, 2021 23:37
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The Locator posted:I have automated combat. I build walls with guns! It's not automated until you let robots build walls with guns for you 
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Feb 10, 2021 00:09
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Maugrim posted:I'm at about 40-45% evolution in my first real game on vanilla settings and my defensive perimeter is in "barely adequate" territory - guns and piercing ammo, not even auto reloaded yet. I mostly try to pre-emptively destroy any biter bases my pollution is about to touch, but modular armour and grenades / assault rifle / rockets aren't cutting it anymore. What should I be aiming for next to help me manually destroy bases with ease? Combat bots are pretty useful for keeping your vehicle from being melee'd to death as you drive in loops too.
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Feb 10, 2021 02:31
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Also driving loops in the tank to kill biters will help you understand everyone else's hatred for rocks and cliffs.
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Feb 10, 2021 02:43
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Jabor posted:Also driving loops in the tank to kill biters will help you understand everyone else's hatred for rocks and cliffs. At least the Tank is effective against the true enemy, . . . . the vile TREES.
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Feb 10, 2021 06:22
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I tried starting another game. Were there supposed to be enemy bases within radar range on default or was I just unlucky (twice)? I still want to try to do this so: If nothing else, make sure the powerstations are guarded by automatically loaded turrets asap? Most everything else I can aford to rebuild? Also did they improve the sprites in 1.1? I don't remember the game looking this good.
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Feb 10, 2021 07:00
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They did increase base sprite resolution maybe a year ago, also some art was redone and there have been technical changes to add a lot of little niceties over time. If you're a new player increasing starting area size to maybe 150% will help, but I don't think it's necessary. The thing that will help the most is playing a world with a lot of trees near your spawn. Aside from expansion, which happens very slowly early game and isn't a real threat, biter attacks come when their nests absorb pollution you've produced. Trees easily consume the levels of pollution you produce early game. It makes it much easier for a new player to comfortably stumble their way to automated ammo and walls production. Once you have that, you can just plop down 2 turrets surrounded by walls at each key area of your base with 20-50 ammo each and you'll be fine. You don't need to worry about automating loading until much later in the game, maybe never depending on how aggressively you clear your cloud and what direction you take your defenses. As someone else said, in addition to looking at the map and consciously keeping your cloud clear of nests, you can also look at pollution in the production tab. If you see biter nests consuming pollution, you're about to be attacked.
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Feb 10, 2021 07:05
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It might help to make sure you start in a heavily wooded area, even if it means you have to chop more stuff down to clear space. The rapidity at which pollution can spread in desert vs woods is VERY noticeable. When I was going for the 8 hour achievement (I wanted to use default settings) I had to restart several times before I got a layout that didn't have biters crawling up my rear end before I could get proper turrets set up.
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Feb 10, 2021 07:07
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Chicken posted:An option to play with biters but with less logistics is to up the water settings so that you have chunks of land connected with pretty narrow isthmuses (isthmi?) or narrow straits that you can landfill in. That way you can pick and choose where you want to fight the biters. It also makes logistics easier because you'll only a have a few small areas where you actually have to build defenses and you can train in bullets or oil or whatever. Those choke points will see a LOT of biters depending on your settings so it almost plays a bit like a tower defense game. When you need to expand you scout a new chunk of land, build your defenses at the new choke points, then go back and clear out any existing biters. I'm playing a railworld like this right now and it is fun, but it makes it harder to go big with solar power. Tons of good oceanfront property for nuclear though.
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Feb 10, 2021 08:20
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